Before You

3 Months.

"Tayler!"

The front door slammed.

"Three-two-one..." I counted to myself before my bedroom door swung open.

"Happy birthday, Tayler!" They all shouted in unison, Jessica and my new friend Kayla from class jumping up and down on my bed while Sarah pulled the blankets away.

I giggled with my friends as I was pulled out of the bed and pushed towards my bathroom. Katie, my other new friend from school who was also studying to become a teacher ran in ahead of me and turned on the water to my shower for me.

"Wear this." Jessica said behind me.

I turned around and found her smiling from ear to ear as she held out a bag from my favorite boutique downtown. "You didn't." I whispered, excitement already building inside me.

"We've all seen you eying it." Macy laughed, putting her arm around my shoulders.

I was beyond grateful that we'd been able to put our fight behind us. It hadn't been easy, and Macy took a while to come around, but now that she had, it was like we'd never fought in the first place. Sarah was just as easy. We were actually much closer now than we ever were before.

Jessica held the bag out further, pushing for me to take it while she shuffled her feet in excitement. "We knew you wouldn't spend your own money on it." She laughed.

I nodded, they were right. "Yeah, but only beca-."

"Yeah, yeah." Katie cut me off. "We know..." She paused while they all spoke the rest in unison. "You're saving to get your own place."

The air got thick with fog while the water ran and I knew this old apartment wouldn't have enough hot water for me to be wasting so I quickly took the bag from Jessica and pulled out the black sweater I'd been wanting that had the cut out shoulders and the satin belt.

"Thank y'all so much." I gushed, so excited to get to wear it. I just really couldn't bring myself to spend $75 on a sweater when I've got school to pay for plus like they'd said, I'm really trying to save to buy a place closer to the city and the better school districts that I'm hoping to work in.

"There's more." Jess jumped up and down, clapping her hands.

I dug to the bottom of the bag and found a pair of new black wedges that will go so perfectly with this sweater and a pair of my skinny jeans. A piece of paper fell out of the sweater when I unfolded it and I literally squealed when I picked it up.

"Is this real?" I muttered, unable to believe it. "I thought he wasn't coming back for a while and how did you possibly get tickets?"

In my hands was a ticket to see Ed Sheeran in Dallas.

"We bought them as soon as they went on sale and we just didn't tell you." Sarah explained. "Then they sold out and we knew you would want to go."

Sarah was the only one who knew that I'd actually already been to see Ed Sheeran before, but she played it cool. Just like she always did.

"I guess I better get ready." I clapped.

Everyone seemed to be on the birthday high when they left me in the bathroom to get showered. As the water hit me I couldn't stop my mind from going to the place I didn't want it to. Three months without a word from Hunter wasn't easy, but I've made sure I didn't have any time to think about it. School had started and I was already making all A's in all of my classes and my professors love me. When I wasn't distracting myself with school I was still working at the bookstore, plus shadowing at the local elementary schools.

Seeing Ed Sheeran again was definitely going to be awesome, but it was also going to bring up some memories.

Memories that would be easier to avoid, but I've stopped doing that. When Hunter pops into my head it always stings, but I don't let myself hide from the feelings. For a while it was easy to pretend that we hadn't really had anything, but it wasn't true. The short time I had with him was more real than anything else I'd felt in my life.

When I finished showering and getting ready I got dressed in my new outfit and went out into my bedroom, pausing for a moment to touch my top drawer that still housed my one and only letter from Hunter.

I closed my eyes for just a second, saying a quick prayer for his safety and happiness, then went to join my friends out in the living room.

"Lookin gorg!" Kayla cheered.

I spun around, putting on a little show and everyone hooted and hollered for me.

"Come on birthday girl." Jess flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and took my hand. "We're going to eat just us girls and then Aaron is picking us up and we are all going to ride over to the concert together."

"So he was in on this?" I asked, shaking my head knowingly.

She shrugged. "His parent's influence might have had something to do with how we got the tickets, but don't you dare tell him I told you that." She said seriously. "Hey, Tay?" She whispered so everyone else couldn't hear her. "I'm really happy for you, you know that, right?"

I smiled, my heart warm. "I do." I nodded. "And I am so happy for you with Ben."

Jessica shrugged nonchalantly, but then burst out laughing. "Oh my god, he is just so perfect isn't he?" She smiled.

"Let's go!" Macy shouted, everyone bounding towards the front door.

I followed, glancing back towards my room and my letter one last time before I left.