Only Us (Justin Fields)

|50| Baby Be Mine

Jillian

I never had much luck with birthdays. My 21st birthday I was in the hospital, my 18th birthday I was told to leave and to never come back. Not that I was complaining, didn't really see much of a point to celebrating another year of an insufferable life anyway. Wasn't much to celebrate here. In fact I've never had a birthday party, I might be one of two people who could actually say when my birthday is.

So no one should be surprised that I don't care much for my birthday. It's just another day really. But to Justin it meant a lot more. He made such a big deal out of it last year I figured if I tried to tell him to forget it this year he would just do more. So I agree to let him do something small as long as he promises not to overdo it.

This morning I walk out of my room expecting to see him at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee working on his school work. Only the dining room had no coffee and no Justin. Instead there was two big boxes sitting on the table that now had a table cloth on it. I see my favorite breakfast items and orange juice on the table and just shake my head. I should have known.

"Justin" I call out.

He pops up from the kitchen and frowns immediately when he sees me. I would be lying if I said he's looked at me like this before.

"You're up early" he pouts.

"It's the Tuesday, I have class at 9" I say.

"It's your birthday, you're not going to class" he tries.

"The only time I missed class was when I was dying" I remind him.

"It's a zoom class they won't even know if you're not there" he tried.

"I'll know" I defend.

"How about this? Open your gift, and if you still want to go to class after I won't stop you" he claims.

"Fine" I bargain.

We walk over to the table and I have to admit, the food looks good. Even though he is vegan he still made eggs and bacon and mini pancakes which I think taste better than the normal sized ones for whatever reason. And as much as I wanted to dig in that wasn't a part of the promise.

"Open this one first" he insists.

The box was huge and the way it moved the whole table cloth when he pushed it over I know it was pretty heavy.

I reluctantly tear off the wrapping paper to see a wooden top. "It's a box" I ask.

"No. Try unwrapping the rest" he teases.

So I pull down the sides and it took me all but one second to see what it is.

"Is this a new record player" I ask.

"Yeah. I know you said the needle on yours was getting bad and no matter how many times you replaced it, it wasn't getting better. And the speakers were going out too. But you loved playing records so you didn't throw it away but you also wouldn't spend the money to buy yourself a new one. Plus this one is also Bluetooth, can play cd's and cassettes and can even do 40's" he tells me.

"Seriously" I gasp.

"Yeah! It's the best one out there" he assures me.

"Justin this is so thoughtful. Thank you" I whisper.

"This is the first part. I got you some albums to break it in too" he claims.

"What do you have" I wonder.

"A little bit of everything. Some Prince, some ABBA, a little The Weekend and even Carrie Underwood" he claims.

"Not bad" I smirk.