He's Giving Me a Reason, an Emblem3 Fan Fic (Sequel to Riptide)

Chapter 57

"You guys really didn't have to do this." Wes was trying to be humble, but I could tell he was thrilled by the royal treatment he was getting on his birthday.

"Oh please, you know my dad is always looking for an excuse to cook." I laughed, watching as the man in question darted around my kitchen.

"Ugh, I can't tell you how much I've missed your dad's cooking." Wes said happily as he grabbed a stack of plates to set the table in the dining room. "I mean who needs to go to Italy when your girlfriend's dad practically rebuilds Florence in the middle of his kitchen?"

If you guys didn't know, my dad is Italian. Really Italian. Growing up without my dad around all the time, I always had questions about my heritage. My mom was born in America, but my dad moved here from Sicily when he was in his teens. The only thing I know about my name, is that I was named after his grandmother Aviana, and his mother- who goes by the name Luciana. Which makes me Averanda Luciana Bianchi. 

Or Avery Brayden, which I prefer to be honest. Averanda Luciana Bianchi wasn't me anymore. When my dad left, he took his heritage and his culture with him. My mom was so devastated that she even changed our last name.

But now that he was back in my life, there were so many things that started to come back to me. Suddenly, the house was aalways smelling like fresh basil again; and my father was on the telephone with business partners, jittering away in Italian like I remembered. It was familiar, but on the other hand also a little weird to me. But I definitely liked the sense of familiarity.

"Aves, can you grab the bread please?" My dad was pulling some chicken parmesan out of the oven. Apparently, he had decided on keeping it super simple and not overdoing it like last time. When I had a bunch of friends over the last time, they all filled up on antipasto and soup, so we had enough servings of the main course left over to last us through the year. Believe it or not, one does kind of get sick of lasagna after eating it every night. But tonight, it was straight to the point: no appetizers or anything, just pasta and chicken parm. I mean, everyone likes chicken parm.

I grabbed the bread and set it on the table just as my dad emerged from the kitchen, carrying a huge bowl of penne vodka.

"Hey, you guys ready to eat?" My dad called into the living room and all my friends started filing in, occupying the seats.

"Oh my god, Rick this looks amazing." Owen's eyes practically glazed over. Adrianna nodded and sat down in one of the seats across from me. 

"I miss your cooking more than our mom's." She agreed. "But ever tell her that and I'll deny it." Owen laughed in agreement as Wes sat down next to me, placing a kiss on the side of my head.

"Thanks for flying back for my birthday, really Aves, it means a lot." He whispered. "Being here with everyone- it's really been the best birthday ever." 

"Even better than last year when we all broke in to-"

"Yes, even better than that." Wes laughed, interrupting me.

"Well then I'm glad. Last year was pretty hard to top." I chuckled. Oh man... that was a crazy day. I looked around at all of Wesley's friends who were crowded around the table. Keaton, Drew, Kyle, Kenny, Tyler, Brianna, Owen, Adrianna, and Jason. We were all so different from the people we were a year ago. We were all growing up.

"Hey, everyone's here!" Tyler announced, seeing as there was not an empty chair in the room.

"Happy Birthday Wesley, I can't believe you're already 19!" Keaton said cheerily from the other side of the table. Wes grinned back at his brother and stood up to make an announcement.

"Thank you everyone, for coming home to celebrate my birthday with me. I can't even express how grateful I am to have such amazing friends." We all 'awww'ed at the same time, making Wes laugh. "Yeah, yeah, I'm corny, I know. Now let's eat!" 

* * * * *

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Wesleyyyyy: happy birthday to youuuuu!!!!" We all sang in unison. Most of the song was horribly off-key thanks to Jason's scratchy singing voice, but othewise everything turned out fine.

"Make a wish babe." I said, nudging him to blow out the candles in front of him.

"But I've already got all I need." He grinned, smiling up at me.

"Gah! Barf, guys. Get a room." Owen said and I started laughing. Instead of replying, Wes turned to me and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. As a reflex, I elbowed him in the ribs. I just prayed to God that my dad didn't catch that little exchange.

"Just blow out your candles, jerk." Wes laughed and obliged.

"The big one-nine: how does it feel?" I poked my boyfriend in the side.

"It feels pretty good." He smiled, but I could tell something was going on. I could practically see the gears turning in that cute little mind of his.

"What's wrong?" I asked, wrapping an arm around his waist so I could rest my head on his shoulder. It wasn't until now that I realized that he had actually grown a bit. I mean, he was always taller than me, but evenmore so now.

"I'm just worried. About tomorrow." He said, trying to shrug it off. Of course, the results show.

"Babe, you have absolutely nothing to be afraid of. You guys were amazing." I assured him.

"You're going to be there tomorrow?" He asked.

"Wouldn't miss it."

"Good. I can't really explain it, but I just felt something seeing you there in the audience tonight. You made me feel like everything was going to be okay, and that no matter what happened, I'd always have you." He smiled down at me.

"Well that's all true. And I'll be there because I love you." I grinned back up at him.

"I love you too." And he pulled me into a hug. We were still in the middle of the dining room, so Wes leaned down to whisper in my ear so no one would hear us. "So is birthday sex out of the question or...?" I pulled out of the hug, laughter ringing out loudly from my throat.

"Jerk!"

"You know you love me."

"That I do, my little Gossip Girl." I smirked. Wes rolled his eyes but laughed.

"Ooooh that reminds me- can we watch? I've missed the last few episodes because of rehearsals." Wes said.

"I've missed the last few too because of school." I replied. Which was true: I was really busy studying for finals these last few weeks.

"Which episode are you on?"

"Three. You?" I asked.

"Seriously? I'm on two." Wes told me.

"Okay, that's fine. I need a bit of a recap anyway, so we can start with episode three tonight."

"Well it's the least you could do: it is my birthday, after all." He said smugly.

"You're a piece of work sometimes Stromberg, you know that?" I laughed.

"Yes, but I'm your piece of work." He grinned at me, doing that cute little eyebrow wiggle.

"That you are."

Hey guys! Sorry it's been awhile :o

I hope everyone had a great holiday! Did anyone get anything emblem3 related for Christmas??? :D

If I don't see you guys again before 2015, Happy New Year!!! Thanks for reading :)