Convalescence

XL.

For as long as she could remember, Lili never liked birthdays. Mostly her own.

All the attention being on you and only you, the constant pressure to smile and be happy the whole time. It was awful. Talk about exhausting.

Plus, growing up without many friends made her birthday nothing but lonely and empty. The people she did have were obviously wonderful, but it always broke her heart growing up never having a birthday party.

She never handed out invitations and made a big plan for a huge group of people. The only people she'd ever celebrated her birthday with over the years were her parents, her brothers, and Jordyn. Quality over quantity, but it can get lonely very quickly.

Lili never even handed out goodie bags or cupcakes to the class on her birthdays in middle school because nobody liked her and drawing attention to herself typically made things worse.

It was one of the days of the year she dreaded the most. Every time her birthday came around, she wished she could sleep for 24 hours straight just so she didn't have to live through it.

But celebrating the birthdays of the people she loved the most was one of Lili's favourite things to do in the whole world.

And even though she always tried to make Niall feel as special as possible, what better day was there to really do that than his birthday? If anything, this was the most important day for making her partner feel special.

Now, 28 wasn't necessarily a 'special' year to celebrate. It wasn't a landmark age like a sweet 16, or your 21st birthday - ages that hold significance. 28 was just a measly birthday that meant you were one year closer to your dirty thirties.

But for Lili, this was the most important birthday of all.

Why?

Well, because it was the first one she'd be spending with Niall. The first of a million. So she wanted to be certain that he felt love and appreciation and so much more on this very day.

From the minute they'd touched down in LA after their vacation, Lili worked tirelessly to put together the most amazing birthday gifts possible.

She'd been gathering some ideas slowly after seeing different things on social media that she believed could be really great for Niall. He wasn't a materialistic person at all and would probably despise the fact that she'd even bought him presents at all, but she wouldn't hear it.

This love was what he deserved.

Lili really put all her focus and free time upon returning home into finalizing her plans and making sure everything would run smoothly so that Niall had the best birthday ever. Nothing she was doing with him was crazy, but it still needed to be perfect.

And now that the day had arrived, she couldn't wait to shower him with love and adoration.

She gathered up all of his gifts on her bed a few minutes before she left for his house just so she wouldn't have to worry about searching for them later on.

Knowing that each and every one of them would put a smile on his face filled her with a lot of pride.

Getting gifts for people was honestly not her strong suit, but she was pretty sure she nailed it this time around. It wasn't hard to find things Niall would appreciate, anyway, since he was always so kind. But he would never see these gifts coming, and for that, Lili was happy.

When she felt everything was ready, she picked up her phone and unlocked the screen, tapping on Niall's contact.

"Hey, princess," he said, picking up on the second ring. The smile in his voice was evident.