A Bad Boy's Worst Nightmare (Book 1)

10. Birthday

"Happy birthday, Kelsey!" everyone around the table yelled as she blew out the candles of her cake.

I smiled a little bit.

Kelsey was well known and widely loved, so a lot of people ended up showing up to her house for her party. I was in the corner, away from the other people, and eventually the crowd around her dissipated so that they could go enjoy their cake. Well, the cake I made that is. I couldn't cook many things as far as dinner or lunch, but desserts were my sweet spot, pun intended.

She walked over to me once everyone else left her table and I pulled out a cupcake that I had been holding in my hand behind my back. "Happy birthday, loser," I said, smiling.

Kelsey threw her arms around my waist, hugging me tightly, and I laughed quietly, awkwardly wrapping my arms around her tiny body. I had never been the best person when it came to affection, especially with people I wasn't related to, but Kelsey deserved a hug. She'd been putting up with me for a hell of a long time, and it was a celebration today.

"What kind is it?" she asked, wiggling a little bit as she held her cupcake.

"Carrot cake, but it has a kind of a butterscotch-ish icing and some cinnamon sugar sprinkled on the top."

Carrot cake was her favorite thing in the entire world, and I knew it. She hugged me again, tighter this time. "Thank you so much, Ryder. You're my best friend. I love you."

My heart stopped for a moment. No one had told me they loved me in a very long time. It made my eyes burn. I gently pushed her away from me, smiling. "Hey, go have fun, kid."

"I'm older than you now," she whined, "Can't you stop calling me 'kid'?"

I smirked. "Never."

She sighed, sent me another thankful smile, and disappeared to socialize somewhere else.

I smiled again as I watched her walk away, her bright blonde curls bouncing against her back, and played with a strand of my own hair. I needed to get it cut soon. Closing my eyes, I leaned against the wall of the living room and slid down it, sitting down. Kelsey's house was nice and all, but I had only been there a few times. Her dad wasn't my biggest fan, but her mom adored me. But, because it was normally her father that was home with her, I avoided coming over most of the time. She really was a sweet kid.

Someone kicked my shoe.

I opened my eyes and looked up at Corey. "What?"

He had ended up coming to Kelsey's birthday party anyway. She invited him last second because she thought I would be bored if I didn't have someone to talk to. The same girl that had seen me be alone for hours without being bored, mind you. Corey sat down next to me, and I couldn't help but enjoy his closeness a little bit. He was very warm. I was almost always cold.

I looked at him. He hadn't been talking much today, and he didn't say much last night either. His eyes were so pretty. Dark, dark green, with little flecks of gold around the iris. The white eyelashes highlighted his eyes more effectively and I blinked as I looked closer. "Did the white in your eyelashes spread?" I asked.

Corey didn't seem as bothered by me asking as he normally would have. "Yes. I think so."

Looking at his eyes, I let my eyes travel very slowly across each one of his eyes, and over the rest of his face. "It looks really nice," I said finally, having come to my final decision. Turning back to face forward, I watched Kelsey in the bounce house. Yes. An eighteen year old, legal adult, was in a bounce house. She was such a child.

I sat in silence with Corey for a while before turning back to him. "Do you want to go somewhere?"

"Where?"

"Anywhere. I'm not sure."

He smirked a bit. "You aren't trying to seduce me, are you?"

I snorted. "Not in the slightest."

"How disappointing."

I laughed and stood up, pulling him to his feet. As we weaved through the house, I kept a grip on his hand so that I didn't lose him; as if I would lose the tallest human being I knew. Finally, we got outside, and I let go.

He stopped and looked at me.

"What?"

Corey didn't say anything, but I felt his hand touch mine again, and he laced his fingers through mine.

I felt blush in my cheeks and turned away so that he couldn't see it.

But I didn't let go of his hand.