A Diamond for the Perfect Girl: A Matt Carpenter Love Story

Chapter Twenty-One

  (Time skip to the night of June 24th, at exactly 11:55 P.M.)
Ashton's P.O.V.-
I was laying in bed, half asleep, when there was a knock at the door. I cursed, but climbed out of bed anyways. If it was one of the guys I was going to be so angry. I would rip their head off because they got me out of bed at 11:55. I opened the door and sure enough it was one of the guys, Wainwright to be exact.
"Adam, it's 11:55 at night. What could you possibly want at this hour?" I asked pushing my hair out of my face.
"I want you to come with me. Don't ask questions and just do it." He said.
"Adam..."
"Just put your shoes on and come with me." I went over and slipped my on shoes before grabbing my room key and heading out the door with Adam. We walked to the elevator and headed down to the lobby. It was only 11:59 at that point. We had spent some of that time talking. He made me stop right before the corner to walk into the lobby.
"Will you please tell me why I needed to come down here with you? Are you to afraid to get a snack by yourself?" I asked him.
"Not at all. I'm a grown man. I can get a snack by myself." He defended.
"Sure you can." The clock then hit 12:00 and he pushed me around the corner. When I finally caught my balance, I saw the entire team standing in the lobby, surrounding a cake.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" They shouted at me.
I was shocked to say the least at this. I had totally forgotten about my birthday being that day. I was to busy working to even remember I was turning 25. I walked over to them and my dad hugged me first.
"Happy birthday sweetie." He mumbled.
"Thanks." I replied. The players then decided to tell me happy birthday one at a time.
"Who wants cake?" Adam asked. A chorus of 'me' rang out.
We sat in the lobby eating cake and just talking. I mostly talked with Waino, Holliday, and Carpenter, but I made my way around. Around 12:30 everyone started heading up to their rooms to go to bed. I was still sitting down there with Carpenter, just talking. About 1:30 ish Carpenter walked me up to my room.
"You guys really didn't have to do that." I told him.
"It was mostly Adam's idea. He figured since it was your 25th birthday, that you deserved something special." He said stopping in front of my door.
"I get that it's my 25th birthday, but it really wasn't necessary for you guys to do that." I crossed my arms and looked at him.
"Ash, it's your birthday. On top of it being your birthday, you're the only girl on the team, so you're like the team's daughter." He shoved his hands into his pocket. "Oh." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small wrapped gift. "Here. I got this for you."
I took it from him. "Thanks. You didn't have to." I looked at it before looking back up at him. "You really didn't have to get me anything."
"I know, but I think you'll like it. I saw it and thought of you." He turned to leave. "Oh and happy birthday." He kissed my cheek before turning and heading back to his room.
I opened my door and then shut it behind me. I turned on the lamp by my bed before I sat down on the edge. I looked at the gift and then I unwrapped it. Inside was another Dogeared necklace. It was the 'Piece of My Heart' necklace. It said:
'make a wish and put on your necklace. through it all, there's no one I would rather have than you by my side. wear your necklace as a reminder that you'll always have a piece of my heart.'
I took it off of the board and then put it on. I smiled at the thought of who gave it to me. I shut the lamp off and went to bed. This was turning out to be a great birthday.
*Next morning*
I was walking down to the lobby, when I noticed Carpenter talking on the phone. I shrugged my shoulders and just headed to eat breakfast. I got my cereal and sat down next to Adam.
"Thanks for the party last night/morning." I took a bite of my cereal.
"You're welcome, Mrs. Carpenter." He smiled and I shoved him over.
"Don't call me that." I said with a smile.
"Whatever you say, your highness." He ate his breakfast. We had some small talk for a while and then I noticed Carpenter walking into the lobby. He walked in with two gift bags. He came over to our table and set the bags down next to me. I gave him a confused look and he just sat down across from me.
"What is this?" I questioned glancing at the bags.
"Your gifts from the team." Adam explained.
"I told you guys, no gifts." I leaned back in my chair and looked at Matt.
"To bad. We all pitched in and we hope you like them." Adam got up and threw all the trash away. He then came back and sat down again. "So...open them."
I groaned, but put both bags on the table. "Which one first?"
"This one." Matt pushed it closer to me.
"Okay." I set the bag on my lap and pulled the tissue paper out of the bag. I then took out two boxes. I set them on the table and set the bag on the floor. I opened the first box to see a Cardinals jersey sitting there. I pulled it out and turned it around to look at the back. On the back it read 'Ashton' and the number was 29.
"What do you think?" Adam asked me.
"I like it." I set it down and looked at the guys.
"There are four of them, which the others are in the second box." Holliday explained.
"Thank you guys. You didn't have to do that. I like them, a lot." I said. "But you guys didn't have to do this."
"Yeah we did. You're part of the team." Adam smiled at me. "You're officially part of the team now."
"Thanks." I pushed some hair out of my face.
"Now, onto the second bag." Carpenter pushed it towards me.
I pulled the box out of the bag and then proceeded to open it. I pulled out another jersey, only this one was signed by everyone on the team. Some of them wrote a little message, while others just signed it, but everyone did put their number next to their name.
"I can't believe you guys got everyone to sign it." I turned it around and my name and number was on the back.
"We felt like you would enjoy that." Carpenter mumbled before taking a drink.
"I really do like it. Thank you guys." I smiled at them.
"You better wear one of those today." Adam told me with a smirk on his face.
"I'll wear it. Promise." And I did.