ONLY ANGEL | JJ MAYBANK

TWENTY-EIGHT... collins and kie

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

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"Rise and shine, birthday girl!"

Collins was suddenly awoken from her sleep by the loud voice and unexpected movement in her bed. The curly haired girl tried to blink and open her eyes, but they were practically sealed shut with sleep and so she couldn't really see either. Hands gripped her shoulders and shook her back and forth until her head hit her pillow, and Collins was left reeling from all the commotion.

"Collins, wake the fuck up before I shove these pancakes in your face."

The girl sat up as quickly as she could, rubbing her eyes and attempting to hold them open before sleep could close them again. The blurry image she saw in front of her eventually cleared up and Collins was able to make out the plate of pancakes being held up to her nose, dangerously close to giving her a face full of maple syrup and whipped cream.

"You didn't have to make me pancakes." Collins said groggily, smiling nonetheless at the gesture.

Charlie started lighting the singular candle stuck in the middle of the small stack, shrugging it off like it was no big deal. "You only turn seventeen once, right?"

"Whose birthday is it?"

JJ groaned as he sat up from the floor where he'd slept for the night. His hair was matted on one side and his eyes were squinty from sleep like Collins's had been just a few minutes prior. There was an ache in his back from the hard surface he'd definitely laid on wrong. Ever since he'd started sleeping over at Collins's house, this is where he primarily rested. Sometimes she'd let him sleep on her bed in an attempt to sneak around Charlie's rule, but last night, she'd politely told him that he should sleep on the floor. She must've known Charlie would do this and so she was smart enough to think ahead before he walked in on them tangled under the sheets.

"Jesus, Maybank, you're sleeping on the girl's floor and you didn't know it was her birthday today?" Charlie scowled in criticism at the boy.

Quickly coming to his defense, Collins said, "It's not his fault. I didn't tell him, Charlie."

"I guess you get a free pass then." Charlie looked at JJ in the corner of his eye before turning back to Collins. "Blow your candle out before your pancakes get all waxy."

Collins tucked her hair behind her ears before leaning towards the flame, closing her eyes for a brief moment before making her wish and blowing a small but strong puff of air, extinguishing the candle in milliseconds. She smiled and looked up at Charlie with gratitude as she took the plate from him and placed it on her lap. "Thank you, this is great."

"I'll let you eat, but tonight, we're gonna celebrate even more, okay?" Charlie pointed at her whilst he was making his way out the door, raising his brows for confirmation from her. "You still have a gift from me to open."

Nodding, Collins couldn't wipe the grin from her face as she glanced down at her birthday breakfast and she bubbled with excitement for the rest of the day to come. "You really don't have to get me anything. I'm so good with just hanging out and having dinner."

"No you're not." JJ blurted out, quickly getting up onto his feet. "It's your birthday, we gotta do something special. Like Charlie said, you only turn seventeen once."

"For once, me and Maybank are on the same page. You're not gonna let a moment like that go to waste, are you, Collins?" Charlie asked it like he didn't already know she was going to give in. Not to mention that he'd already gotten her gift and the return policy on it was out of the question so she was getting a present no matter what.