Annoying the Stubborn

f o r t y e i g h t ( f i n a l c h a p t e r )

It all happened in a blink of an eye. New Year's passed and Y/N was all by herself again except for Lauren, who kept her from feeling lonely. The billionaire went with the green-eyed girl whenever she had some papers to fix regarding the money that was named after her, helped her with settling in her new house, and their trips usually ended up in pleasant dates that the couple would never forget. Y/N would attend to meetings and photoshoots from time to time and Lauren would be there to support her. When the Graduation day came, Y/N's family and Clara flew back to Ohio to celebrate it with them. It was a success for both families, and they spent the dinner splendidly.

The next day, the girls and their boyfriends, Lauren, Y/N and her friends, went to an amusement park and devoted themselves to the day they're saying goodbye to high school. It was a shame that Ally was no longer with them but they tried calling the blonde while they're at it and talked to her for almost an hour before they had to hang up because they were going home.

It was an evocative day for all them. They would still be in touch after that and it was easy to reach out to each other but they knew that this summer, it was different. When they go back to school, it was for college and not for high school. They'd be seeing new faces as they, themselves, will be strangers to the people they were going to meet. They would be sitting with new friends on a new table in a brand new environment. They didn't have to worry though. They still have summer to have time with each other and their moment in the amusement park didn't necessarily mean that they said goodbye to each other. They would remain best friends, no matter how far they were from each other, and no matter how seldom they meet.

Aside from that, Lauren's birthday was approaching. Y/N was talking their friends behind the green-eyed girl's back for the surprise she was planning. However, when she was talking to Lauren, she kept insinuating that she wanted nothing but the Cuban to be happy and she'd rather spend her birthday with a simple party exclusive to the people close to them.

"We can visit Mom on my birthday so she wouldn't have to leave work," Lauren suggested one day, alarming Y/N. "I mean, that's okay for you, right?"

Forced to comply, Y/N did her best to mask her apprehension and nodded happily. "Of course. We'll do whatever you want."

In fulfillment of Y/N's promise to the green-eyed girl, she asked Jamie to operate the celebration in Miami. Her manager was more than willing to help her with the surprise she had for the Cuban and since the beginning, he had been assisting Y/N with the plan. The billionaire paid for the plane tickets of the girls and their boyfriends, Y/N's friends, and shouldered the payment for the hotel they were going to stay at. Lauren was unaware of all this, and Y/N was enjoying the fact that she wasn't suspecting anything.

It was the night of Lauren's birthday and Y/N had a blindfold wrapped around her head to cover her eyes.

"What is this for?" Lauren asked nervously, chuckling to hide her emotions. She wasn't good with reacting to surprises because she didn't know what was going to happen and she hated the fact that she couldn't see anything.

"Relax," Y/N whispered beside her ear as she guided Lauren to the elevator doors of the building where they would be seeing Clara. "This is just the beginning."

It was. The first surprise—the only surprise that Lauren would think she'd have—was the special dinner with Clara on the rooftop of the new building funded by Warren to serve as the office of the partnership of the Vortex and the LM Innovations in Miami. The metallic shaft stopped exactly on the rooftop, and by this time, the pit in Lauren's stomach grew bigger, her hands stretched outward as she felt around her.

"Where are we?" Lauren asked, her red cocktail dress blown by the wind. "Oh, it's cold. Are we outside? But we were inside earlier. Now we're outside. Am I making sense? Sorry, I just don't know how to appreciate surprises yet especially when I feel like I'm being kidnapped and it feels wrong that I'm not doing anything."