The Path To You

23. Arrested for murder

"This is a joke right?" Nico asked staring down at the counter.

"I thought it would mean more if it was homemade." I shrugged.

Realistically it didn't make a whole lot of sense considering the person the cake was for wasn't even here to eat it. But I'd felt the need to make him a birthday cake myself. Which meant that it looked like a huge disaster.

"It's probably better he's not here to see this." Nico muttered.

"It's not that bad." I argued.

Nico just stared at me looking entirely unconvinced of my words. We both knew the cake looked like a three year old made it.

"It's not bad, I'd say it's one of a kind." Sasha, Nico's girlfriend tried to be positive.

"You think I should add more sprinkles? Maybe it'll look better."

"Oh please dear god don't add any more sprinkles, I just finished cleaning up from the last time you tried to fix this cake with sprinkles." Jake grumbled.

"Also I don't think there's much room left to cover, the things a hot mess." Evan commented.

"Minus the hot part." Nico chimed in.

"Ok thank you guys but none of this is actually helping. We can't have a cake that looked like it got trampled by a stampede of elephants for Connor's birthday." I sighed frustrated with how the day was going.

I wanted it to be perfect. I felt like I needed it to be. I knew part of it was just that I missed him and I was throwing myself into trying to have this perfect day just so I didn't have to think about how much I wished he was here.

I just needed the distraction because all I'd been able to think about since he left was him and the way he'd kissed me goodbye. My mind couldn't let it go. Everything I did made me think of him and I didn't think I'd last much longer.

I really wanted to see him.

"The cake is totally ugly and probably tastes like shit, sorry Jet I don't trust your kitchen skills, but Connor would absolutely love this." Dom said.

I knew he was right. If Connor was here he'd take one look at that cake and crack up laughing. Then he'd probably try to shove either Nico or Dom's face into the cake just to annoy them.

"He'd eat the whole thing even if it tasted like trash." Jake agreed.

"He would not." I argued.

"Yeah he would, if you made it, he'd eat it." Jake said and I knew better than to argue with that.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself, it doesn't need to be perfect." Evan piped in.

I tried to get myself to believe that but it felt like nothing I did was right. No matter how much work I put into it nothing could make up for the fact that Connor wasn't here. It was his birthday and instead of being able to spend it with his friends, he was alone getting sober in rehab.

—

I didn't know how it started but things had spiraled into chaos. The Kingsley football house was bursting with people. It had went from having some friends over and celebrating Connor's birthday to a full on party.

I didn't mind, it had taken some of the pressure off trying to plan something for the day. Also Nico had used the party as a way to get rid of a lot of the alcohol Connor had stored all around the house. I guess it was better than letting it all get poured out.

Everyone was here. Dom and Callum were playing a game of beer pong against Sasha and Nico. From what I could tell Nico was kicking everyone's ass. Adam and few other football players were in the kitchen pouring drinks. And I was really hoping I wasn't able to see what Evan and Jake were up to right now. Jake had Evan pressed up against a wall and I was hoping they were planning on going upstairs sometime soon.