Sage

55

Ellie

"That pose with the little- ugh. I can't. I can't fucking wait to see how those pictures look, "Jenny gushes as she drives through the city's busy streets. The warm air blew gently through the car, sending my hair flying behind me in her roofless Jeep.

"I'm surprised I went that long without pissing everywhere," I can't help but smile at her while shaking my head. The memory of the brief photoshoot is still fresh in my mind. My head leans back against the seat, one hand on my bump and the other hanging out of the window as I drum along to the beat of the soft pop-rock song that plays.

Niall sat in the backseat, tapping on his phone with busy thumbs as he'd been doing since they picked me up to celebrate my twenty-fourth birthday. It was an occasion they've been overly enthusiastic about since seven this morning. Jenny had been knocking and singing at the condo door for a good ten minutes before I groggily waddled down Harry's stairs to open it.

I can't say I was too surprised to see Niall standing behind her and goofy grins on both of their faces as she pushed forward a cupcake with two fizzled-out candles that read two and four. I was still half asleep, yet to take a morning piss. I thought I was still dreaming when I squinted and croaked at them, "Huh?"

"It's your fucking birthday!" Niall had bellowed back, making my hiss as his voice caused a headache to pulsate in my temple. I was barely given any time to wash up and get dressed. Jenny shouted for Harry's Alexa to play an upbeat pop song as she attempted to hype me up, reminding me of our days at the club. A series of jokes, smiles, and catching up filled the air as I did my makeup, playfully rolling my eyes at her excitement.

Though I had nothing planned and would instead have not celebrated, there was something about a five-foot-three girl calling you the baddest bitch in the house as she shouted Robin Thicke lyrics that made you want to celebrate something.

I missed my friends and was genuinely getting in a great mood.

Until we were halfway through sushi.

The workers suddenly came out with yet another cupcake as they sang happy birthday, and my best friends clapped giddily. I smiled back, cheering as I pretended to sing along. When it was time to blow out the small candle, I did. And when I pulled away, I felt my smile slowly fade.

Then, I realized I'd gotten a happy birthday from two friends and a group of Lotus Bar workers- but nothing from Harry.

My mood went a little sour, and I felt ungrateful for it. How could the only thing on my mind be Harry when my friends were the ones who cared to remember my birthday? They were the ones who were trying to make it memorable for me.

All he did was go to work like it was any other day.

I knew I said I didn't want him to do anything, and I knew that I technically didn't even mention it to him, but he managed to find out everything else about me. He's in my medical charts, for fucks sake. There's no way he hadn't seen my birthday.

He didn't even know I didn't want to celebrate it, so there was no excuse. He could have at least sent me a text that wasn't simply asking how his "babies" were doing.

We'd left sushi and went straight to a spa, where my muscles were gently smoothed with thick oil and massaged into my aching lower back with skilled thumbs. It was enough to take my mind off of Harry for a while, but by the time I was in the studio, getting my makeup done by artists while Jenny and Niall gushed over the man who effortlessly moved the brush across my face, I wasn't all there. I couldn't be. I hated that I wanted to be mad at him but wasn't. Despite that, I still wanted nothing more than to be home with him. I loved spending the day with my friends, but the thought of how it would have gone had Harry remembered is an itching one.