Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ The Final Chance ❯ Chapter Nine: Birthdays and Holidays ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: Man I took long enough to write this chapter. O.o Oops! My bad! *sweatdrop* Enjoy the chapter!

 

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Chapter Nine: Birthdays and Holidays

 

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birth-day dear Kae-lyn, happy birthday to you!” Kaelyn laughed at her friends before blowing out the candles on her cake, Ryleigh, Nathaniel and Zade cheering loudly once they were all out.

 

“Happy twenty-third birthday, Kaelyn!” Ryleigh sang, throwing her friend a lopsided grin, “Man, you're old!”

 

“Hey, I resent that!” the blunette laughed, playfully punching the younger woman in the shoulder.

 

“Present time!” Zade grinned, coming back into the room with one big box and two little ones in his arms, placing them in front of her on the table once Ryleigh had moved the cake to the counter. The blonde rolled her eyes, raising an eyebrow at him.

 

“Zade, it's time for cake, not presents. Presents come after cake,” she teased, the red head crossing his arms and pouting.

 

“I say presents first!”

 

“Well that's not your decision, now is it?”

 

“It's not yours either!”

 

“I know that!” Ryleigh huffed, sticking her hands on her hips, “Kaelyn, which do you want to do first?”

 

“I'd kinda rather have cake first…” Kaelyn admitted, Ryleigh punching the air in victory.

 

“HAH! I told you Zade!” Zade simply stuck his tongue out at her, causing all four to burst out laughing. Ever since Zade had taken care of Ryleigh when she was sick, the two had become more comfortable around each other, now joking and hanging around more often along with Kaelyn and Nathaniel.

 

After cutting the cake, Kaelyn gave each of her three friends a slice before digging in herself.

 

“So, what're you guys doing for the Christmas holiday?” Ryleigh asked through a mouthful of cake, swallowing it and looking around at her friends.

 

“I'm heading home for the holidays to see my parents,” Kaelyn replied, Nathaniel nodding.

 

“Same.”

 

“I'm heading over to my Dad's for the holiday to spend some time with him and my sister,” Zade paused, turning to Ryleigh, “what about you?”

 

The blonde shrugged, swallowing another piece of cake before answering, “Nothing really; there's no way in hell I'm going to stay with my parents, so I guess I'll just stay on campus again this year.”

 

Zade frowned slightly at her revelation, but said nothing as he and the others finished off their cake, waiting till everything had been cleaned up before scurrying back to where the gifts had been placed.

 

“Presents?” he tried again, Ryleigh giggling and walking over, tugging on a piece of his hair lightly.

 

“You're immature at times, y'know that?” she teased, Zade simply grinning in reply.

 

“I know.” Grabbing the blonde by her hand and taking the gifts in the other, Zade proceeded to drag her into the living room of Kaelyn's apartment, Nathaniel and Kaelyn following after with a laugh. Ryleigh, her cheeks a nice pink colour by the time they reached the living room, yanked her hand away from Zade and plopped down onto the couch, Zade simply rolling his eyes and waiting for Kaelyn to sit down before handing her the big box then, taking one of the smaller ones and sitting on the ground next to Ryleigh's feet, waited for her to begin.

 

Kaelyn grinned and, after determining that the gift was from Ryleigh by the tag on the top, tore off the wrapping paper and opened the box, gasping at what was inside.

 

Reaching in, she lifted a black, fur lined wool stole from the box, smiling brightly at Ryleigh.

 

“Thank you Ryleigh.” The blonde grinned, happy her friend had liked the gift. Next, Zade tossed away the box he had been holding and took out his real gift, setting it in Kaelyn's lap as the woman's eyes went wide and sparkly. It was a gift basket filled with many different varieties of Godiva chocolate bars, and Kaelyn thanked Zade for his gift as well.

 

Moving back to his place beside Ryleigh, both watched Nathaniel stand, grab the small box that was left, and hand it quietly to Kaelyn.

 

“I hope you like it,” he said simply before she unwrapped it and opened the small box, staring in surprise at the gift inside.

 

“Nathan… this… this is…” she stuttered, Nathaniel growing worried.

 

“Do you like it?”

 

“It's beautiful…” she breathed, taking it out of the box. Hanging from a silver chain was an arrow shaped pendant, decorated with several diamonds.

 

“Here,” smiling, Nathaniel took the pendent and undid the chain, hooking it around her neck and re-clasping it, leaving the arrow to rest against her collarbone.

 

“I love it; thank you, Nathan,” she replied, causing the male's grin to grow even more.

 

The four spent the next hour talking and laughing, eventually having to leave so that Nathaniel, Kaelyn and Zade could pack for their trips. Zade and Ryleigh left first, Nathaniel needing to stay behind to talk to Kaelyn for a bit regarding their class.

 

Pausing on the front porch, Zade glanced over at Ryleigh. Catching his eyes on her, the blonde turned and arched an eyebrow at him in question.

 

“What?”

 

“Want to come with me?” Starting at the question, Ryleigh blinked.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Do you want to come with me?” he repeated, flushing slightly and looking away, “You said you weren't doing anything, and my Dad's got a big house, so I figured you might want to come and hang out. You don't have to, but…”

 

“Sure.” It was Zade's turn to blink, the red head looking at the woman once more. She grinned, “Why not? I'm just going to be bored staying here by myself for the holidays.”

 

Zade smiled then, “Good.”

 

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The next day, an hour after leaving from the university, Zade and Ryleigh arrived at his father's mansion. Ryleigh had thought that her child hood home was big, but this mansion made it look like a bungalow!

 

Picking up her single suitcase and following after Zade, they entered the front doors and removed their shoes, Zade telling Ryleigh to leave her bag and leading her into a nearby study.

 

After meeting his father, Andrew, and his younger (and kinda creepy) sister, Lorie, Ryleigh was shown to a guestroom and left to herself for a while. Looking out her window at the vast backyard behind the mansion, Ryleigh grinned.

 

`This is going to be interesting.'

 

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Short chapter I know, but there really wasn't much to put in it anyways. Hope you enjoyed! XD

 

Amariahellcat

 

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I am so sorry, but every time I reread `Andrew' and `Lorie', my mind just makes it up with `Andreas' and `Lilith'… *sweat*

 

Snowy