Finn
Today is Scottie’s birthday. She’s officially nineteen, and she has no clue that I have quite the bash planned for her.
Everyone in our friend group has her under the impression that they’re either back home or on trips for the summer, as per my orders to keep it a surprise.
Ace is in the Bahamas with Julia and her family. Kayla went back home to hang with her folks in Texas. Blake is in California for the next two weeks.
At least, that’s what we’ve told her.
All of it’s bullshit, but my girl has no clue.
I hold the door for her as we head out of our new on-campus apartment. That’s right, we’re officially living together, and while these apartments on Broadway are generally reserved for juniors and seniors, Scottie milked her injury for all it’s worth, and Dean Kandinsky gave us an exception.
Sometimes, being the paralyzed girl ain’t so bad . Those are her words, not mine, and they were said when the housing office handed over the keys to us about a week ago. We wasted zero time moving in, and the past five days have been the kind of bliss I never thought was possible.
Scottie tries to act stubborn when I start to push her chair, but I roll my eyes and keep moving us down Broadway toward Zip’s Diner.
This place is our go-to these days, and all thanks to Ace’s friendship with the owner, Zip helped me get everything arranged this morning when Scottie had her meeting with her counselor.
“I’m just so freaking happy that Elizabeth was able to help me add all of the psych classes I needed to stay on track to get my bachelor’s in four years,” Scottie rambles, still excited about her meeting this morning.
“I’m proud of you,” I tell her.
“You’re proud of me?” she asks and looks over her shoulder to meet my eyes.
“You’re the strongest person I know,” I say and mean every word. “The way you face your own challenges and the way you’ve made it a priority to help other people? You’re amazing, Scottie.”
Her lips twist up into the most adorable grin. “Why’d you stop? Keep going,” she says through a giggle. “Tell me more about how awesome I am.”
I laugh at that, but I also give in to her easy demand. “You’re beautiful. You’re kind. You’re smart. You’re funny. And you have the most perfect tasting puss—”
“Okay!” she exclaims on a laugh. “That’s enough.”
“Hey, you asked, babe.” I chuckle and squeeze her shoulder. “And you know how it goes when you ask me to do something, I’ll always come through.”
“Speaking of class schedules, you horny beast, did you check yours?” she asks, and I shake my head.
“Nope, but I have a feeling you already did.”
She giggles. “Yeah. I did.”
“And how’s it look?”
“Like calculus is going to own your ass, but it’s all good. I’m sure Lexi can help you out.”
She’s not wrong that Lexi will be my go-to for all things numbers. She’s the smartest person I know, and lucky for me, she’s family.
“And what about you? How’s your schedule looking?” I ask. “I know you managed to get all of the psych classes you wanted, but what about your other classes?”
“Mostly good,” she says. “Though, I have to deal with Murkowski again.” She rolls her eyes, and I know exactly why. Professor Murkowski was the only professor who made Scottie take a final in order to get credit for the semester. Every other professor allowed her to keep the grade she had prior to her injury and just gave her some busywork that involved reading and writing a few essays.
Murkowski, though, the hard-ass, had Scottie studying for two weeks straight. Thankfully, she passed, even managed an A, and has zero classes to retake her sophomore year.
And all thanks to a Kelly Financial grant, she also has a scholarship that covers her tuition, housing, and other fees for the next three years.
By the time we reach Zip’s Diner, Scottie is too busy talking about her class schedule to notice all the people who sit inside the restaurant. You can see them all clear as day through the windows, but she’s too busy looking over her shoulder and talking to me.
She’s obsessed. What can I say?
The entire room erupts with “Surprise!” as I push her inside, and a smile lights up her entire face.
Ace and Julia and Kayla and Blake all stand at the front, smiling and laughing when Scottie notices them and starts freaking out.
“What?” she exclaims. “I thought you were all out of town!” She looks over her shoulder and meets my eyes. “This is your doing?”
I grin. “Yep.”
“You’re diabolical.”
“I know.” I wink and lean down to press a kiss to her mouth. “I’m also going to let you know now that this isn’t your actual birthday present from me,” I whisper into her ear, and she tilts her head in confusion. “There’s another surprise for you when we get home tonight. And involves you being gloriously naked.”
The past few weeks have been…a revelation for my girl and me. She’s started to get…feeling…in the best kinds of places, and I’ve pretty much spent the last fourteen days figuring out all the ways that I can make her come. It’s fucking fantastic.
“Finn.” Her cheeks turn red, and I just press a kiss to her lips.
“Happy birthday, Scottie.”
I step back to let everyone come up and hug her and tell her happy birthday. And I’m in awe at everyone who showed up. Scottie’s cheerleading teammates. Her sister and her dad. Her mom, whom she’s been in some contact with lately and is still sober. Both of Ace’s parents and Julia’s parents. My entire family—Winslow and Hayes.
Zip’s Diner is literally packed to the brim.
Julia wheels Scottie over to where her team stands, and music starts to play from the speaker. I look up to find Zip smiling over at me with a thumbs-up. His wife starts to bring out a buffet of burgers and hot dogs and other sides, and a few of his employees have trays of sodas and waters that they set on tables for everyone to grab.
And my girl is smiling like the fucking sun. She looks so damn happy that I have to swallow against the emotion forming moisture in my eyes.
She’s been through so much over these past few months, so to see her now, here, happy and having fun, well, it’s everything to me.
“You pulled it off,” Ace says and claps a hand on my back. “She didn’t have a fucking clue.”
“Nope.” I smile, but my smile turns to confusion when Blake comes over to stand beside us, an angry look on his face.
Ace and I both follow his line of sight to where Lexi stands beside Adam, one of the PTs at Scottie’s long-term rehab clinic, at the other end of the room.
“Who’s that guy?” he asks me, and I shake my head.
“What guy?”
“Seriously?” he questions, frustrated, and Ace laughs. “The one talking to Lexi.”
“You’re fucking intense right now, Boden.”
“I don’t care.” He meets my eyes again. “I need to know who he is.”
“He works at the Hodge Clinic, dude. He just came because he’s been working a lot with Scottie.”
Blake nods.
I laugh. “You know you sound a lot like a jealous boyfriend right now, right? For a girl who won’t give you the time of day.”
Blake smiles, the freak. “We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us, Finnley. There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.”
“The fuck did you just say?” Ace asks, and I laugh.
Blake shakes his head. “Never mind. I’m going in.”
“You’re going in? What does that mean?” Ace tosses back, but it’s too late, Blake is already striding across the room and heading straight for Lexi. “What is he doing?”
“I think he’s asking her out.”
“Oh fuck,” Ace mutters. “Why do I feel like he’s going to crash and burn?”
“Because he is,” I say through a laugh.
We both stand there, watching from a distance as Blake interrupts Lexi and Adam’s conversation. His mouth is moving a mile a minute, like he’s nervous as hell, and his hands are joining the party.
Lexi’s face is neutral, hardly offering anything at all. And we’re too far away to hear what she says, but when Blake turns back around and heads in our direction, he has a big-ass smile on his face.
“Holy shit, did she…?” Ace questions, and I shrug.
“I don’t know, man, but he looks thrilled.”
Once Blake is standing right in front of us, he lets out a big sigh of relief.
“So…?” Ace urges, and Blake just shrugs and slides his hands into his jeans pockets.
“I obviously asked her to share our love with the world, and she very graciously said no.”
“What?” I blurt out on a snort. “Get real. You got rejected.”
Ace is nearly wheezing. “Why do you look so happy about that and please, even more than that, why are you talking like a fucking poet tonight?”
Blake smiles. “Because it’s only a matter of time.”
Ace and I both look at each other in confusion.
“Mark my words,” he says. “That girl will be mine.”
I can’t decide if it’s complete delusion on his part or if he actually is in love with Lexi.
“Finn. Help me out here. Bring this man back down to earth.” Ace looks at me again, hoping that I have something to say in this situation.
“Dude, I can’t judge,” I answer honestly. “I spent four weeks in hospital waiting rooms for Scottie.”
“That’s what I’m saying.” Blake wraps his arm around my shoulder. “When you know, you fucking know. Right, Finn?”
I look across the room to where Scottie is laughing over something Ace’s dad is telling her. And seeing that joy and smile on her face and knowing how fucking much I love her makes it impossible for me to refute Blake’s claims.
“When you know, you know.”
And, oh baby, do I know.
THE END