"Happy birthday."
I opened my eyes to see Austin leaning over me with a cupcake. A birthday candle stuck out of the icing. I smiled and went to blow out my candle, but I hesitated. Since when was it my birthday? I decided I would tell him later, so he wouldn't be as upset. I blew out my candle and grabbed the cupcake, throwing away the candle. Austin smiled and laid down next to me.
"Thanks, sweetie," I said.
I dug into my cupcake and threw away the wrapper. Wrappers are for losers. I sat back down and looked over at Austin.
"Glad you liked it, babe," he said, leaning in and kissing me.
When we pulled apart my stomach had butterflies and churned at the same time. Sitting in Austin's place was Toby, grinning. What the hell? What was Toby doing here? Where was Austin? Why did he fucking kiss me?! My head swam, and I leaned over on my elbow. I was getting dizzy. Toby leaned over, concerned.
"Are you okay, babe?" he asked.
"Why are you calling me that?" I asked, fighting the waves of dizziness.
He looked confused. "Why wouldn't I? I'm your boyfriend," he said.
What.
The.
Hell.
Why is this happening? Toby doesn't love me, and I don't love him. We're just friends.
"With benefits," Toby said as if reading my thoughts.
Sick. That was how I felt. My shoulders were shaking, but I couldn't tell if I was laughing or crying. A pink zebra with green stripes opened the door.
"Why do you shake, my lady?" it asked, bowing. Weird.
*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
"Jacie, wake up. Jacie," Austin's voice said.
I opened my eyes to see him leaning over me and shaking my shoulders. He stopped when he saw that I was awake.
"Jacie, what's wrong? Were you having another nightmare, because you were twisting and mumbling," he said, searching my face for answers.
I sat up. "I guess you could call it that," I said, shaking my head.
That was just fucked up. He nodded and pulled me into a hug.
"You wanna talk about it?" he asked gently.
He was used to me having nightmares, and we usually talked about it until I calmed down. He was so sweet. But this one, I couldn't tell him this one, so I shook my head. He nodded, understanding, and kissed the top of my head. I loved how he was such an understanding and trusting person. You don't find guys like that everyday, you know. We had been going steady for almost a year and a half, and my friends would always tell me we would get married.
I didn't really think about it much, because I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of commitment. The only other nightmare he doesn't know about was one in which he proposed to me. It was sweet, but I didn't know the answer. I didn't want him to think I had doubts about our relationship, so I just kept my mouth shut.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, clearing my head.
He smiled and pecked me on the lips.
"Because, today is the day I finally wanted to ask you something," he said.
Oh shit, was he proposing? He took a deep breath.
"Jacie, I was wondering if we could live in a place together, either here or my place," he asked, raising his eyebrows.
