My Childhood Sweetheart's Brother

Part 41: Belated Birthday

A month later and everything was back to normal. If not for the constant reminder of the possibility that Caleb could have never woken up and I could have lost him forever every time I looked at him, it was almost like it never happened.

"Hey babe." The words were barely a whisper in my ear as Caleb caught up with me in the school car park. "Are you free tonight?"

"Yeah, I think so. Why?"

"It's a surprise. I'll pick you up at 6." After a quick peck on the lips, Caleb Spears disappeared from my sight.

6 o'clock came and Caleb was knocking at the front door. Before I knew it, I was stepping out of our taxi into an airport. I turned on my heels to face Caleb who was digging in his pocket.

"Caleb where are we going?"

"Well, it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you now would it?" He took out a piece of cloth.

I shook my head. "No."

"Come on—"

"No Caleb. You're no blindfolding me."

"It's wasn't a question Abbie."

"Caleb—"

"Abbie, you either let me tie this around your eyes or I can take you home while you kiss your surprise goodbye."

I didn't answer.

"C'mon it's only for a few hours."

I looked away. I hated surprises.

"Time is ticking Abs. We're gonna miss our plane."

I sighed, throwing my head back. I took a step back and turned my back to Caleb, lifting my hair up. My view soon turned black and Caleb's arms took hold of my waist encouraging me to carry on walking.

After hours and hours of begging Caleb to tell me where we are going, I could feel the plane land under my feet and I could finally properly breathe again. I lifted my hands to my face ready to tear the blindfold off, but before I could wrap my fingers around the cloth, Caleb's hand took hold of mine.

"Not yet."

"Caleb, this better be worth it God damn it." I muttered, causing him to chuckle.

After another twenty minute drive our taxi stopped. Caleb helped me out and let me take out my earplugs before taking my blindfold off.

"Finall—" I stopped in the middle of my sentence shocked by the sight in front of me. The Eiffel Tower. I was in Paris. Caleb had taken me to Paris.

"Happy belated birthday." The words vibrated against my ear as I spun around to face my boyfriend.

"Caleb. Are you insane?" I exclaimed.

His signature smirk appeared on his face. "This is where it all started. I mean, the hope of you and I."

"Caleb I..." I was speechless.

"Is it too much?"

"It's a lot." I agreed. "But this is amazing. I love you Caleb." I cupped his face and pressed my lips to his.

"Come on." He took my hand. "We have a dinner reservation."

The restaurant was beautiful; flowers and fairy lights entangled in each other hanging around every little branch of every little tree placed around the small room. It was small and humble, but romantic and intimate. I loved it.

"Caleb, why? Why all of this?" I asked as the waiter brought our order.

"I told you." He smiled. "I wasn't here for your birthday and I wanted to show you how much I care and how much you mean to me."

I took hold of his hand. "You know you didn't have to take me all the way here and—"

"Abbie I love you." Caleb stopped me. "I've known you pretty much all my life and I've been a dick to you for the majority of it. So forgive me if I want to make up for all those years and be this soppy hopeless romantic boyfriend that plans spontaneous trips to Paris and buys you flowers and chocolates randomly—"

"Okay I forgive you." I laughed. "I want all the chocolates and flowers you're willing to give me."

Caleb chuckled. "Good."

I took a bite of my food. "So are you ever going to tell me what happened that night?"

Caleb sighed. "I don't think this is the time."

"I need closure Caleb." I told him. "I spent weeks on end wondering whether you're going to wake up or..." I took a deep breathe not wanting to finish the sentence. "Caleb, I need to know what happened."

"I went to race."

"Caleb." I sighed.

"I know! I know I promised I wouldn't. I know it was dangerous and you wanted me to stop." Caleb took a deep breath. "But at that moment I thought I lost you. I was such an ass I thought I lost you before I even got you. I couldn't deal with that."

"So you went to get yourself killed?" I sounded much harsher than I intended.

"I needed to blow off some steam Abbie. That's all it was for me." He explained, taking a hold of my hand. "But I was distracted, I couldn't stop thinking about what happened between us. I fell off around a bend and some of Carltons guys decided to take advantage of that. Almost as if they were waiting for me."

"Caleb this needs to stop—"

"And it will. It has." He reassured. "I'm with you now and that's all I need. You."

I looked straight into his eyes and I saw it. He really meant it. He truly loved me.

I could feel my lips shaking and I knew what was coming.

"Why are you crying babe?" Caleb asked, a slight smile appearing on his face.

"I just love you so much." I croaked, wiping my tears away.

His words were like music to my ears. "I love you too."

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The end. This is it. I want to thank you all for reading and supporting me through my journey with this story. Thank you to all of you who have voted, it means a lot. I hope you all enjoyed it because I loved writing it. 

If you did in fact like this story, I hope check out my other ones and stick by me as I carry on writing. Thank you. xxx