Tethered Hearts | ✓ | Books 1 & 2

Episode 53| Arrangements

Sophia's P.O.V.

ONE MONTH LATER

Early on, it came to my attention that birthdays weren't Bryce's thing. He despised them and would rather not acknowledge the day of his birth.

When I asked him what he was doing for the special day, he said he would go to class and then pick me up after I was done with my study session with Nicolas.

Even though my car was back from the shop, he was still persistent to drive me. He has nothing else in mind for the day.

I was determined to change that.

"Good luck, but it's not going to work," Kelsey said, sitting with me in the quad. It's only the second week she's been fully back from the hospital and socializing with us outside of class.

Conner had her on lock down, constantly making sure she doesn't burst her stitches and reopen her wound.

The smothering was getting out of hand. He was like a helicopter mom at this point, always waiting for her outside of the lecture hall and making sure she was driven on time.

Conner and Bryce were both upping the antics when it came to being an overprotective boyfriend. It was like an unspoken competition between them.

Kelsey and I joked about it one afternoon, saying that they needed to ease off this new helicopter trait of theirs, hovering above us.

Kelsey's gunshot wound and the kidnapping of the three of us was the reason behind their paranoia. It wasn't as though I didn't see where their fear was derived from.

With what happened, I wanted to celebrate Bryce's birthday even more. We hadn't been able to catch a break and relax since that dreadful day in October. It was almost Thanksgiving now and the semester was coming to an end.

"We should have a movie night." I snapped my fingers. "It would be only our closest friends over at your house, Kels."

Kelsey's parents had the nicest in-home theater I'd ever seen. It had eleven velvety red chairs, each one having a cup holder and facing the large projector screen.

"Do you think that'll be a good idea?" I asked, chewing the inside of my cheek.

"Bryce has hated birthdays ever since I met him. There's no way you can just turn that around. It's a deep-seated hatred." Kelsey said, picking up her fork and stabbing it into her salad. "You're better off making it a small get together between you and Bryce. I think he'd like that more. It would be the first birthday he's spending with you."

"That sounds sweet and all, but that wasn't what I was going for," I explained, putting down my tuna sandwich on to its wrapper. "I wanted to do something that involved all of us. You, me, Nicolas," I looked over at him. He was seat to my right, "Bryce, and Conner. Anthony and his girlfriend can come, too."

"Eh, that's not the brightest plan, Sophia." Nicolas cut in. "I would be trapped in a room full of couples."

"You can bring a date," Kelsey nudged him. "I have a cousin who's single and lives near by."

Nicolas wiped his hand on the side of his slacks. "How do they look?"

"She's got bright -"

"I'm not interested." He jumped in. "Me not having a date isn't the main problem though. Is it just me or have those two been acting oddly around each other?"

I cocked my head to the side. "Bryce and Conner?"

"Yeah. It's almost like they can't stand each other."