Connected.

16. Picnic date

It was the morning of my seventeenth birthday. I didn't want to do anything special, I just wanted to hangout at home with Emmerson, Seth, Alexander(Seth's boyfriend), Bug and Monroe.
I woke up and there was, my mother, standing next to me, stroking my hair.
'My big 'girl'! You've grown so much in so little time! You were a few months just yesterday!'.
'Thanks mom!', I said, scratching the back of my head repeating the words'I'm not a girl' in my mind. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back there was a present on my bed, with my deadname on it.
I figured it was from my mother, so I called her upstairs so we could open my gift together.
The gift she gave me were a new pair of sticks for my drums.
I thanked her, but she told me there's one more surprise.
She gave me five hundred dollars in cash that were from my father, because he couldn't make it today. I can't lie, I was a little bit saddened by the fact that my own dad couldn't make it home on my birthday.
After I opened my gifts I went downstairs to eat some breakfast. My mother had made me my favorite food, pancakes with chocolate syrup and chocolate ice cream. I finished my breakfast, but I couldn't even make it to the sink, because someone rang the doorbell.
My mother took the plate out of my hand and placed it in the sink herself.
When I opened the door, I saw Emmerson with two gift baskets.
One for me, and my mom.
Me and Em embraced and I introduced them to my mother, which was great! My mother really liked Emmerson.
My mother went to the bathroom to arrange all of the bath bombs, scrubs and creams there were in those baskets.
I thanked Emmerson for the gifts after giving him a kiss, and we went upstairs.
I asked him what he was doing here, and they told me that it was a surprise.
'What surprise?', I asked.
'If I told you, would it still be a surprise?' He responded.
'I guess n-', Emmerson grabbed my face and kissed me on my forehead.
He told me that I have to be ready at one, and it was eleven. Since it was my birthday I had to look remarkable, so I began getting ready.
I looked fantastic. Emmerson gave me infinite comments.
They said I looked like a sunset that makes the sky rosé, violet and royal blue, that my eyes looked like blue sea glass and that my lips look like they've been tinted with expensive red wine.
I felt loved and appreciated. That feeling wasn't very familiar with me, so I couldn't help but cry whenever I felt that way and I was alone with Emmerson.
I can't quite describe the feeling, but it is not me crying, it's my inner child crying of happiness, it's my inner child being proud of who I've become and what I've accomplished along the way, and it's my inner child being healed.
Emmerson knew how to comfort me best. They embraced me tightly and gave me a lot of kisses all over my face.
I explained the feeling to him, and he was happy he could help me heal my inner child, Emmerson was so happy because of that, that he started crying too.
When we were finished with comforting each other while crying, we were already late.
When we got to the surprise, all of my friends were waiting for me.
There were multiple foods of mine, and my favorite people. How can a man be more excited?
'Happy birthday beautiful boy!', everyone said!
Emmerson sat me down on the bed sheet my friends laid on the ground.
'May I give you my gift?', he asked.
'Didn't you already give me a big sized gift basket?', I responded.
'I'm going to give you another gift then, pretty boy.
Let me start.'
Emmerson pulled me aside so we could be alone.
'Should I give you the moon or the stars? Should I give you the milky way Galaxy, the Andromeda? Or should I give you the universe?
I cannot give you the moon, because I can already see the moon in your eyes, and I cannot give you the stars because of the beauty spots on your body, and because old stars that died billions of years ago, every atom of oxygen in our lungs, of carbon in our muscles, of calcium in our bones, of iron in our blood, was created inside a star before Earth was born. Hydrogen and helium, the lightest elements were produced in the Big Bang.
You are a star Zephyr. I can't give you your own self. I cannot give you numberless universes, because you are my universe.
I can only give you myself, I know it's not much, but I hope it is enough. I can only give you my body and my soul, do whatever you wish with it, it's yours, I'm yours.'.
'God, Emmerson, you are enough for me! Of course you are enough, I only need you, I breathe through you and I live through you.
I love you. I've always loved you, but at times I've been afraid to tell you that. But now I'm not, because I know you feel the same.
You don't even know how much I love you but I know you feel it.'.
When the both of us looked to the side, our friends were admiring the sweet words we exchanged that day.
We spent the rest of the day eating and laughing, what more could you want from life?