SPACES [m.p]

1 year without you

it was the middle of december in new jersey. the snow gave it more of a holiday feeling for the people in passaic valley. with all the fuss of christmas planning for all the families, there was one family in particular that wasn't worrying about christmas too much. oh no the family was worried about celebrating a special boy's birthday.

in the polibio household, family and friends were celebrating gio's 16th birthday. that's all they've been talking about for the last four months, talking about how much he's grown and how he's becoming a man.

gio sat at the dinning room table with his cake sitting in front of him and his family surrounding him. they each had huge smiles and were singing the happy birthday song to the birthday boy. gio couldn't help but smile at all of them for making him feel so special.

he looks over at his dad who was recording the moment with his iphone and singing along with everyone else. he looks over at his siblings who were giggling, ellie and luke were mainly eyeing the chocolate cake. he then looks over at his best friend, parker, who gave him a wink with a small smile.

with all the laughs and singing, gio couldn't help but think of his mom. unfortunately she wasn't there for his big day, it made him feel sort of guilty for being so happy without his mom even being around him today. but he thought of inviting her since he knew she'd be all alone on this cold december day without her kids.

she called him through facetime this morning and sang him happy birthday with the biggest smile on her face, as if not being able to be with gio today didn't phase her when truly it broke her heart not being able to see her baby boy today.

and well gio being the sweetest person in the world he informed her about the little gathering mattia was throwing for gio's big 16. she hesitated at first but then replied with a simple 'yes'.

"make a wish, buddy." mattia patted his son's shoulder once everyone finished singing and waited for gio to blow out his candles. he thought for a moment, he thought about a wish that he's been wanting.

"i wish that everything could go back to normal."

he blew out each candle while everyone cheered.

"cake time!" the rosario twins, max and miles, said in sync with joy. "move, bitch. i call first piece!" luke pushes the younger kids out of his way that were in line for cake. "boy if you don't-" brayden, kairi's son, glares at little luke.

"actually, the birthday boy gets the first piece of cake. and the last time i checked your birthday was three months ago, ass hat." malia, kairi's oldest daughter, sassed at the little italian. "pfff. whatever. y'all are just mad that i'm cooler than all of you." luke fires at them.

"dude, shut up. you still listen to pitbull." brayden fires back.

it was now nearly ten o'clock and sara hadn't arrived. gio was the only one worried about his mom's arrival that no one knew about. he knew not everyone was going to be happy about it, specifically his father.

while everyone was inside enjoying each others company, gio went outside to his porch and sat on the porch swing. of course his partner in crime, parker, noticed that gio had gone outside so he went to check on him.

"hey bro, why aren't you inside with everyone else? you're missing out on all the fun for your birthday." parker points his thumb behind him where everyone was back in the house. "i know, man. it's just..." gio didn't know if he should continue or not. he never really talked about his parents situation with parker since he didn't want his best friend to worry about him.

"you can tell me anything, g. you know that right? i am your best friend." parker huffs. he walks to gio and sits next to him on the porch swing.

"it's just i wish my mom was here." parker's heart drops when those words come out of giovanni's mouth. he was slightly panicked since gio never talked about his parents separation to him but then calmed himself down immediately for his best friend's sake.