Where Did The Time Go?

Olivia

August 28th 2015

"Happy birthday!" I was woken up by a screaming Jack appearing in my doorway.

"Dude, what the fuck?!" I sat up and frowned at him. He ran over and carefully pinned a huge '18' badge onto my baggy Green Day top. He grabbed my arm and tugged me out of bed.

"C'mon, it's present time!" He smirked.

"Fine." I yawned. We walked downstairs and into the lounge.

"Happy birthday!" The boys shouted in unison. There was a few balloons and a '18 today' banner pinned up above the TV. A huge group of presents sat in the middle of the room, which were all wrapped up surprisingly beautifully, and on top of the largest gift was a large pink envelope.

"Guys, you didn't have to do this." But I was ecstatic inside.

"We wanted to! Come on, open the presents." Rian smiled.

I sighed happily and sat by the mound. I grabbed the envelope and ripped it open. Inside was a huge card that had 'happy birthday!' written on the front. Someone had also wrote 'Olivia' underneath that in Sharpie.

Inside was a cheesy pre-written poem and then a short paragraph from each of the boys. They all brought me to tears.

"Thank you so much guys! But, why's it so big?" I laughed.

"That's what she said." Jack mumbled.

"Really, dude?" Zack shook his head and we laughed, "It was actually his idea."

"Bigger is better!" Jack smiled.

"Now that's what she said!"

"Seriously Alex? You two are gross!" I faked a disappointed face before bursting into a fit of laughter.

Once I'd calmed down I reached for the largest present.

"No!" Rian almost screamed.

"What?!" I took my hands away quickly.

"They have to be opened in an order." Rian stood up and took the large gift away, along with a handful of presents beside it.

"Fine." I laughed. I opened the presents that were left. The boys had bought me a bunch of joint presents including tops, bracelets, wristbands, a 3D Mickey Mouse mug, some new (and very cool) Nightmare Before Christmas bed sheets and a Vans galaxy print backpack to replace my old battered one.

"We've all got you an individual present too." Zack smiled. He walked out of the room and returned with 4 gifts, each with a name written on in Sharpie. He handed them to me.

Zack had bought me a necklace with a guitar shaped charm on it. On the back it was engraved with 'Somewhere In Neverland'. He put his finger up to his lips and made a 'shush' expression. The engraving was an inside reference to our music session the week before.

"It's beautiful Zack, I love it. Thank you." I stood up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He pulled me into a hug, "You're worth it, kiddo." He whispered.

Next was Rian. It was an array of photo frames all stuck together. They were filled with photos we'd taken over the past month, and one of me and Steph which had been blue-tacked to my closet door. I hadn't even noticed it was missing. But in the biggest frame was an old-looking photo of Rian. He was holding a baby in his arms, beaming down at it.

"Is this... Me?" A tear rolled down my cheek, "You look so young!"

Rian was welling up himself, "Yeah... I was only 12." He sighed, "You were taken away pretty much straight after you were born, but I was aloud to hold you for a moment. I never thought I'd see you again but-" He took a deep breath, "Here you are!"

I smiled through the tears and ran over to him. I threw my arms around his neck and he grabbed me, "I love you, dad." I felt him sobbing.

"I love you, too. So much." I felt him smile into my hair before I pulled away.

We both wiped out eyes before I looked around at the boys. They were all crying.

"God, you're such girls!" I laughed at them.

Next I opened Alex's gift. It was a cute pair of slip-on Vans with a Mickey Mouse print. I slipped them on my bare feet.

"Aw, Alex! They're awesome!" I hugged him quickly before opening the last present- Jack's. He had got me a brand new iPhone 6.

"Dude what the fuck?! I can't, this is too expensive."

"You're taking it. Your phone is from the fucking Dark Ages!" Jack laughed.

He was right. My phone was an old Samsung smartphone that I'd had for about 3 years- and it wasn't new when I got it.

"Thanks, dude." I hugged him quickly.

"Right, now you can have the other presents." Zack walked over and placed them in front of me. There was the large gift, and 3 other small ones.

"Biggest first!" Rian smiled.

I tore off the paper to reveal a guitar case. It was a solid black case with silver edging and latches. I gave the boys a puzzled look.

"Open it." Zack looked so excited.

I flipped open the latches and slowly lifted the lid. Inside was a gorgeous black guitar with a small white edge.

"It was Zack's idea..." Rian said.

"I know. You remembered my story?"

"Of course I did." Zack smiled.

"Thank you, guys. It's incredible!"

I hugged them all in turn before sitting back down with the last 3 gifts. In the smallest was a little leather pouch filled with different colour and pattern picks. The next one contained a fabric guitar strap. It was pink and black tie dye, and someone had sewn on little fabric band logos. There was all my favourites; Blink 182, Sleeping With Sirens, All Time Low, Pierce The Veil and more. I opened the final one, a silver capo engraved with the name Olivia Riley Dawson.

"Dawson?" I looked at Rian.

"I know you're surname is Gilmour, but you're a Dawson at heart!" He smiled.

I smiled back and he stood up. We embraced for a few moments before Jack pounced on us.

"Group hug!" He shouted. I heard Zack laugh before he joined in, quickly followed by Alex.

"Thank you, guys. I'm so so grateful." We all separated from the hug.

"Right, who's up for some lunch!?" Alex smiled.