Chasing You

49

LACEY

Today is the day.

Carter's birthday party.

Her birthday was officially on Wednesday but Asher and her had an intimate evening by themselves. He bought her this gorgeous promise ring that I am slightly jealous about.

Honestly I am just surprised Asher didn't give her an engagement ring. Although Carter made it clear she wasn't ready yet.

Now that it's Thursday and we are decorating for the party tonight. The girls and I just decided to host because Carter didn't request too many people. She's at the gym right now so it's the perfect time for just us girls to decorate for the night. I set down a bottle of tequila onto the counter alongside her card. Everyone went in on a joint gift for her but the girls and I wanted to get her something too. Hence the tequila. Our joint gift for her is tickets for one of Asher's NBA games, which will probably make her cry.

"Lacey, is this straight?" Julie asks me. Her and Tori are hanging a banner over our balcony doors. I nod my head at her as Rae slides the cake beside the tequila and card. We blew up a bunch of balloons and hung streamers for when we take pictures. Although, Sixer keeps playing with all of the balloons.

"What time are people coming over?" Rae asks leaning against the counter. I check my phone to check the time and make sure we aren't running behind.

"We told the guys 8 for the pregame but everyone else we said like 10," Tori explains bringing the barstool back to counter. I nod my head in agreement. Carter should be coming back from the gym any minute now.

"Perfect, I am just going to get into the shower now," Rae says. She grabs her phone off of the counter and heads towards the bathroom. I grab a barstool and sit on it. Julie comes beside me and sits down.

"What should we do for dinner?" Tori asks.

"Chicken nuggets and mac n' cheese? It's easy and I am sure Carter will be down for that," I suggest. Julie and Tori both nod their heads in agreement. We get to making dinner since it's already five and we all still have to shower and get ready. Ten minutes later Carter walks through the door on the phone. She pauses as she looks around the apartment.

"Sorry Mom, I'll call you back in a second," Carter says over the phone. "Bye love you."

She hangs up the phone and excitedly hops towards the counter where the tequila is, "Guys! You didn't have to!"

"Of course we did," Tori laughs shaking her head at her. Carter walks around the counter and hugs each of us.

"That bottle of tequila will come in handy tonight," Carter says excitedly. "Thank you guys."

"Of course!" Julie says smiling at her.

"And we made mac n' cheese," I say handing her a bowl of Kraft mac n' cheese. Carter claps her hands excitedly.

"You guys know me so well," she says. We eat dinner quickly before heading into our rooms to get ready. I haven't even decided what I want to wear for tonight. I go to my closet and grab a pair of black jeans. I throw them onto my bed. I don't feel like looking for a top right now so that's after my hair and makeup problem.

I am honestly really excited for tonight. I feel like ever since the news that Jordan Kappalac's baby brother is going here next year the guys have been in a funk. Don't even get me started on the stupid little fight Braden and Jeremy got into with Asher and Robbie. In all honesty, I think Asher and Robbie are bullshitting when they said they would respect Jacob as their teammate. I also agree that Braden has a duty as their Captain to show respect and be a rolemodel or whatever. His brother did in fact almost end Braden's entire career all because of stupid Michael Burke.