In My Life(BVB, Palaye Royale)

{1} - Panda, Ratatouille & Birthdays

In all nineteen years of her life, Bethany had always had her Panda. He had been there for everything. Every birthday, but this year he couldn't make it. For her birthday or her graduation. It made her sad, but it was life.
"Only four days until we're done with this hellhole." Bethany said as she shut her locker.
"Mmhm." Her boyfriend agreed as he threw his arm over her shoulders. They walked down the hall and outside. It was grey and surprisingly cool.
"Need a ride?" Her boyfriend, Luke, asked.
"Um. . ." Bethany looked around. Claire was nowhere to be seen. "Yeah." Luke led the way to the car and opened Bethany's door for her. She slid in and he closed the door. Luke got in and started the car while Bethany popped a cd into the player. Hey Jude began to play.
"Really?" Luke asked.
"What? The Beatles are fucking amazing."
"You're brother's band is better than this shit." Bethany glared at him.
"My brother's band is fucking awesome, but so are the Beatles. Shut the fuck up." Luke sighed and neither of them spoke for the remainder of the ride. Luke stopped in front of Bethany's home. The same blue house with navy trim that she'd spent the last twelve years in. Daffodils still lined the walkway. It was like a miniature bright yellow forest. Bethany opened the door and started to get out.
"Benny. . ."
"It's fine Luke. I'll see you Monday. Okay?" She got out.
"Okay." She closed the door and walked up to the house. Inside she kicked off her sneakers and dropped her bag.
"Mom?"
"Kitchen. How was school?"
"Same. But I'm feeling very confident that I  passed my history final, so there's that." Bethany said as she walked toward the kitchen.
"Well that's good. Do you have homework?"
"Nope. But Ratatouille and I are gonna FaceTime at four thirty our time." She pulled her phone out of her back pocket to check the time.
She walked into the kitchen and almost dropped her phone.
"Hey Peanut." She grinned and ran into Andy's arms.
"Panda!" He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her. Juliet stood beside him, leaning back against the counter, smiling.
"Happy birthday." Andy grinned.
"I thought you were too busy to come?"
"I'm never too busy for my Peanut." She finally released Andy and hugged Juliet.
"Happy birthday, Benny."
"Thanks." Bethany grinned. Her phone started vibrating in her hand. Ratatouille was written across the screen with a picture of her best friend with a flower crown on his head behind it. "I'm gonna go up to my room." She left the kitchen.
"Don't forget we're going out to eat. We leave at five thirty."
"I know." Bethany ran up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door behind her.
"Ratatouille!" She exclaimed as she answered the phone.
"Still doin' that huh?" She giggled and he smirked, "Happy bday, Ben."
"Thank you. I feel like I'm officially an adult now. And in four days I'll be done with school!"
"Got any plans for your future?"
"Nope." He nodded.
"How about for your birthday?"
"Goin' out to dinner. Panda surprised me! He's here! With Juls, obviously."
"I love that you still call him Panda."
"He will always be my Panda and I'll always be he Peanut."
"Wanna say hi to Em? He's right here."
"Sure."
"Emerson!" She heard heavy footsteps and then the door opened.
"What?"
"Say hi to Ben." He turned his phone so Emerson could see her. She waved.
"Oh. Happy birthday!"
"Thank you."
"That's not what I said to say." Remington said. Emerson rolled his eyes and Remington turned the camera back to himself.
"How's shit with Luke?"
"Eh. Lately it feels like we're drifting apart and I don't know how to fix it. All we do is bicker and fight. What about you and Monica?"
"Honestly? Not great. The distance is getting hard for her. It is for me too, but I guess I'm just more used to this life than she is." He sighed. "Her birthday is coming up though so  I'm planning to surprise her with . . . something." Bethany set her phone down on her nightstand.
"You can keep talking. I just have to start getting ready for supper." She told Remington.
"Excited for graduation?"
"You have no idea." Bethany responded as she pulled her shirt down over her head. Remington laughed.
"I can't wait to hear your new album."
"It's gonna be good. I keep forgetting that we haven't actually released it yet." Someone yelled something inaudible in the background. "Fuck. Sorry, Ben. I gotta go." Bethany picked her phone back up.
"No problem. Talk to ya later, Ratatouille!" He rolled his eyes and she blew him a kiss. He ended the call. Bethany changed out her jeans for a black skirt and fixed her hair a bit again before going downstairs.
"Perfect timing. We need to leave in five minutes." Her mom said when she walked into the kitchen.
"Is Dad meeting us there?" Bethany asked.
"Yeah. Well as long as he gets off work in time. Which he'd better or I'll have his ass." Andy shot their mother a look. Her demeanor changed instantly. "You look nice. Are you going to change your shirt?"
"Wasn't planning on it. Why?" Their mother sighed.
"No reason."
    Twenty minutes later they were seated in a booth at Winger's(1) waiting for Mr. Biersack. They all had drinks and were perusing the menu when he finally arrived.
"Sorry I'm late. Craig wouldn't not shut up and traffic is awful right now." Mr. Biersack said as he approached the table. "Ange! I didn't know you were coming! Juliet, always nice to see you."
"You too." Mr. Biersack kissed his wife and and daughter before pulling a chair over to the end of the booth. "Happy birthday, Bean."
"Thanks, Dad." The waitress came back and took their orders and their menus.
"Do we want to do gifts now while we wait or?" Mrs. Biersack asked.
"Now is fine." Her husband replied. "This is from me." He slid a small purple box across the table to Bethany. She picked it up and pulled the lid off. "Happy birthday." Inside was a heart shaped necklace that said All my love on one side and For all you are on the other.
"Thank you. It's beautiful." She carefully took it out of the box and put it around her neck.
"I guess this is just from me then." Her mother said and offered her a small pink gift bag. Inside we're four tubes of lipstick in varying shades of pink and Palatte Royale.
"Oh! Thank you!"
"This is from us." Juliet pushed a green gift bag, smaller than the pink one, toward her. Inside was a key. Bethany examined it for a few seconds, but couldn't determine what it was for.
"I don't understand." She finally said.
"You're always talking about moving to LA once you graduate and we thought, if you want, you can move in with us. We have plenty of room. And it doesn't have to be a permanent thing. This is just so that you can find a job and start saving for a place of your own." Andy told her. She stared at him with wide eyes.
"Really? You guys are okay with this?" She looked at her parents.
"You're nineteen, sweetheart, we can't make all your decisions for you." Her dad smiled softly.
"So?" Andy prompted.
"Yes! Absolutely! I'd love too!" Andy grinned and gave Bethany as much of a hug as he could over the table.
"One other thing. Black Veil Brides is going on warped again this summer and, as long as you don't mind being our merch girl, you can come with us." The excitement must have been evident on her face because they all laughed.
"Thank you so much, Panda!"
"You're welcome, Peanut. Happy birthday."

(1) For those who don't know Wingers is a roadhouse. I'm not sure if it's chain thing or not but we have one where I live and it's really good.

Also Andy's dad calls him Ange in real life so I thought I throw it in because I like to keep more story as true to real life as possible.