Truth be told

Chapter 2

I woke up and realised today is my 18th birthday. My mom came into my bedroom. She was blowing a party tooter and wearing a pink cone shaped party hat.
"Happy birthday, honey." She said and hugged me.
"Thank you, Mom." I said, smiling. I got out of bed and went in the shower.
I was going to brunch with my mother then, hang out with my friends, and we were going to order pizza.
At brunch, my mom gave me my birthday gifts. She got me a charm bracelet with charms representing her and my friends. There was also an 18th charm too, with plenty of room for more charms. She also got me a new tablet.
"Mom, thank you!" I hugged her again. I put my bracelet on. It was silver and glistened in the sun.
We ate our food and then went to the mall. I was meeting my friends here. This included Brendon. It was the first time that all my friends would be hanging out together. Mom and I walked into Hot Topic. I browsed through and saw a Fall Out Boy t-shirt. I took it off the rack and went to pay for it.
"My treat." I heard from behind me. I turned around to see Brendon standing there. "Happy birthday, Lizzie." He said and hugged me. He then tapped his credit card on the machine before I had a chance to protest.
My mother approached us.
"Mom, this is Brendon. Brendon, this is my mother, Carolyn." They shook hands. They chatted to each other when all I heard was,
"WHERES THE BIRTHDAY QUEEN?" I laughed at Caitlin as she came into the store. Sarah Kai and Kaylin were following. They had party tooters and confetti. They were singing Happy Birthday by Stevie Wonder to me.
Brendon and my mother looked at the birthday procession. I was handed my purchase, and we all left the store.
"You guys!" I said and hugged each one of them."
"Ok, I am off home." My mom said. My friends said their good byes to her. I showed my charm bracelet off.
"Where we going, guys?" I asked.
"Surprises." Brendon said. We walked towards the leisure complex. We all chatted among ourselves. Kai came around to me and slung his arm around my shoulder.
"So he seems pretty ok for a teacher." He said to me.
"He is." I said. I looked over at Brendon, who was talking to Kaylin. She was enchanted to meet him outside of school. Caitlin caught up to me and Kai.
"Hey Kai, we need to do the thing." She said, winking at Kai. Something was going on. I knelt down to tie my lace. As I stood up, a blindfold was put over my eyes. I felt someone take my hand and put a hand on my waist.
"Step up, Lizzie." It was Brendon. I knew we were inside the leisure complex by the various noises coming from the arcade machines. "Left, Lizzie." He said it right up close to my ear. I felt his breath. I shivered. What was that about? We walked for a little longer. I could no longer hear my other friends or the noise of the arcade. We walked a little more. Brendon was keeping tight hold of me. He whispered in my ear. "Happy birthday, Lizzie." He kissed my cheek and took the blindfold off. As I opened my eyes I saw that we were at the go Kart track.
"It's ours for the next 2 hours." Sarah said. "We all chipped in. Even Mr. U- Brendon."
I was grinning so much that my cheeks were starting to ache. I hugged all my friends.
"Thank you."
We sorted ourselves into teams. Me Sarah and Kai versus Caitlin Kaylin and Brendon.
We went in heats, racing against the other team. We got down to the semi finals. Me against Kaylin and Sarah against Brendon. I won my semi final. Now it was time for the 2nd one. We cheered Sarah on, she was winning at one point. Then Brendon sped up and by a whisker took the win.
The final was me versus Brendon.
Caitlin volunteered herself as the referee. She stood at the starting line.
"OK ITS BIRTHDAY QUEEN VERSUS TEACHER URIE."I revved a little and Brendon really revved. I let him carry on. I knew he could stall doing it too much.
"ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET....... GO!" And off I went. I looked and Brendon had stalled his. So I slowed a little. He managed to get started and was coming fast, but I was nearly finished my first of 3 laps. All of our friends were cheering for their team mates.
"LIZZIE, SPEED UP!"I heard Sarah shout. I accelerated. As I turned a corner I saw Brendon out the corner of my eye. He overtook me. I played catch up after that. I took corners faster than I normally would. I didn't want to lose on my birthday!
As we were in the home stretch I gained on Brendon. Just as he thought he had victory I passed him, over the finish line I went. I did a lap of honour.
"WOOHOO!"I yelled. As I slowed down I breathed out with relief.
"Well done." Brendon said holding his hand out. I went to shake it and he pulled me in for a hug.
"Birthday queen wins." Kai said.
We left go karting.
"Ok, that was fun guys." I said. "Where to now?" Once again the blindfold was put over my eyes. Brendon guided me outside towards the parking lot. We walked and he directed me. Then we stopped. Brendon opened a car door and helped me get in. He leaned across me and fastened my belt. As he did this I caught the aroma of his cologne. It was delicious. Musk with something else.
"You good?" He asked me. I nodded and heard someone open a car door and get in the back. They put their arms around my neck.
"Don't worry. It won't be too long." It was Sarah. We started to move. After a while the blindfold was removed. I looked behind me to see Sarah scrolling on her phone.
"Where are the other guys?" I asked.
"Behind us." Brendon replied. He was wearing his sunglasses. He looked really cute. Huh??? Why do I keep thinking this way?
After an hour or so, the blindfold was put back on me.
We drove for a while and stopped. I could hear seagulls. Were we at the beach? Brendon and Sarah got out of the car, and then there was silence. I was about to lift the blindfold when my door opened.
"Ok, Lizzie." Brendon said, helping me out of the car. "Careful, there's 2 steps here."I climbed the steps, and we stopped again. The blindfold was removed once again. I looked and we were stood outside a house.
"Tada!" All my friends said.
"Wow! You guys!" I said.
"It's my parents' beach house." Kai said. "We can use it until Sunday." It was Thursday.
"Wait, I need clothes." I said.
"Fear not birthday queen." Brendon said to me. He went to his trunk and got the bags out, one being mine. Kai unlocked the door, and we all entered. It was huge inside.
"Wow," I said, looking around.
"There's 3 bedrooms, so we will all have to buddy up." Kai said. Caitlin and Sarah linked arms, and Kai stood with Kaylin.
"I guess it's you and me then." Brendon laughed.
"I guess so." I said. The only room left was a queen sized bed one.
We went upstairs and found the bedroom. It was spacious and had an ensuite.
"This is nice." I said bouncing on the bed.
"Not too shabby." Brendon said nodding. We unpacked our things.
"Hey, Brendon?" I said.
"Yea?" He looked at me.
"I just want to thank you. You didn't have to help with any of this."
"You are welcome. It was honestly my pleasure." He said. We hugged. Then he kissed my cheek. I pulled back and stared at him. He looked into my eyes. I gasped and wondered what was happening right now.
"Lizzie...." He said and touched my face. I closed my eyes at his touch. I pressed his hand against my face.
We heard footsteps and broke apart. It was Sarah. She walked into the bedroom.
"Guys we are cooking dinner for our birthday queen. So Brendon can you keep Liz busy?"
"I will certainly try." He winked at me. Sarah walked away.
"So what shall we do until dinners ready?" I asked Brendon.
Brendon thought for a few seconds then held his hand out.
"Come with me." He said and we walked out the house.
It was hot out still so we went for a walk down the beach. We walked along the shoreline. We started to mess about and I pushed Brendon towards the ocean. He fell down and I couldn't stop laughing. Brendon had a look in his eye. He got up and came towards me.
"Wha...." I backed away from him. "Brendon....." I said. I turned and started to run away from Brendon. I started laughing as I ran. I looked behind me and Brendon was chasing after me. He had nearly caught up with me.
I screamed as he grabbed me and lifted me over his shoulder.
"Bren" I said, "put me down " I laughed. He headed to the sand dunes. He knelt and placed me down on my back. I was still giggling. Brendon sat down next to me. He was getting his breath back. He trailed a finger along my arm.
"Have you enjoyed your day?" He asked.
"I have loved it. I couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday." I replied.
"Good." Again he stared into my eyes. I looked back into his.
He started to lean in and I found myself also leaning in. Was I about to make out with my English teacher?