Chapter 3: Birthday Surprise

*Jo's POV*

I looked down at my still blank cell phone screen for what felt like the hundredth time already. Sighing, I looked back up at myself in the mirror and continued to apply my makeup. Most of the time, I didn't wear this much, but today was my 18th birthday, so I figured I should go big. There would be a lot of people at my house. I had finished my makeup and moved onto curling my hair when my phone vibrated loudly on the bathroom counter.

Suddenly, a hot searing pain erupted on my finger. Cr*p! A welt from the burn instantly appeared as I grabbed the phone. I instantly felt deflated as soon as I saw it was just another text from Aaron. I opened up the message anyway.

'I forgive you for the other day, we can make up tonight.'

There was a winky face at the end of it and I could only roll my eyes.

The girls and I had gone to the mall and then went and had a nice dinner before they dropped me back off at home the other day.

When I got there, I saw that Aaron was already waiting for me. I wasn't very nice and flew off the handle at him and told him to get a hint and please leave me alone. It's not like we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I felt bad after seeing him drive off embarrassed, but I was just so exhausted from socializing all day and from my encounter with Nikko.

Nikko. I backed out of Aaron's message and went into the conversation thread for 'hot mall guy', but was disappointed to see that it was still just a one bubble box sent from my phone.

As soon as I had gotten away from the girls, I had found him in my contacts, which was a little hard since I had looked for Nikko first, but I liked his given contact name much better. Once I found him, I had overthought forever until finally sending him a simple invitation text with my address and a time. Now it was Friday, the day of my party, and I still hadn't received a text back—not a hello or okay. Nothing. Maybe he wouldn't show.

Nikko. I still couldn't get him out of my head. It made no sense but I instantly felt drawn to him, like he was the air and I needed to breathe. It was natural. When I pictured him in my head, it didn't do him justice; he was too attractive for that. His eyes in particular; I wish I had stared at them more, but Chloe had nudged me when she walked up and it had broken the trance his eyes had put me under. Then, I was just too nervous to look up at him again, especially with the girls around.

Dumb.

I looked back in the mirror and was satisfied with the golden curls that flowed onto my chest. After unplugging the curling iron, I grabbed my phone and returned to my room to finish getting ready. The dress I had picked out at the mall was laid out on the bed and I stared at it. The flowy, strapless yellow dress was very pretty, but not as pretty as the blue one I had tried on. However, the blue one was about three times more expensive than this yellow one, so there was no choice.

While most of the kids that lived around me and went to my school were extremely well-off and rich, I was not. Don't get me wrong, we lived comfortably, but my mom was a single parent and I could not imagine putting the burden of that dress onto her income. Our house was huge and absolutely gorgeous, but it had been given to us by a dead relative or something, so even though it was paid off, a big house comes with big bills.

My phone vibrated in my hand again and I quickly glanced down, but it was just Aaron again.

'I take your silence as a yes. See you soon,' he had written.

I rolled my eyes and replied.

'I'm sorry, Aaron, but I don't want us to date anymore. It's just not working. I understand if you don't want to come to my party, and won't blame you if you don't. Thanks for understanding.'

I sent the message and stared at the screen again, debating if I should send another message to Nikko… or would that be too aggressive? I mean two texts in five days wouldn't be weird to me, but maybe to a guy? The lack of reply from him was seriously starting to drive me crazy.

A loud knock could be heard from downstairs, so I glanced at the clock and realized it was close to 1, so people were probably arriving already. My mom would most likely be greeting them and then sending them to the backyard around the pool. I threw my phone on the mattress to hurry and put on my dress, so I could go downstairs. Just as I was about to throw my towel off, there was a soft knock on my bedroom door.

"Come in," I said without hesitation.

"Are you decent?" my mom asked, peeking her head around the door in a curtain of blonde hair the same color as mine.

"Would it matter if I wasn't?" I laughed, "Your head is already sticking in the door."

"Just trying to be respectful, honey," she smiled, opening the door the rest of the way and coming inside.

I noticed a neatly wrapped box in her hands and frowned at her.

"Mom, what's that? You already gave me my presents this morning, and I loved them. See? I'm wearing them right now." I gestured to the jewelry set I had on. "I don't need anything else."

"I am glad you like your presents, but this one isn't from me," she had a questioning look on her face as she handed me the box. "Some young man just dropped it off for you."

She was still watching my face for a reaction, but I was just as perplexed as she was.

"Young man?" I asked, slowly reaching out and taking the box. "Did you know who it was? Was it Aaron?"

"No, I had never seen him before, but he said you invited him, so I showed him to the backyard," she explained as I rushed to the window. "He was very attractive though."

I was so glad at that moment that my room's windows faced the backyard. There weren't very many people at the party so far, so I was able to scan the 'crowd' in a matter of seconds…but I didn't see who I was looking for. Actually I didn't really see any guys.

"Are you sure he is outside, Mom?" I asked.

"Well, he was. Maybe he had to go to the bathroom?"

I looked down at the box in my hands and saw there was a slight fold in the middle of the paper, under the bow, that had a small card sticking out. Rushing over to the bed, I set the box down and grabbed the card. A smile spread across my face as soon as I read the simple card.

'Happy Birthday - From, Hot Mall Guy'

"Who's 'hot mall guy'?" my mother asked, leaning over my shoulder.

"Mom!" I blushed and pushed her towards the door. "Please, get out so I can get ready now."

"Okay, okay, I'm going." She put her hands up in defeat as she was walking out the door. "But I wanna hear all about this later, missy!"

Once my mom was gone, and the door closed behind her, I looked down at the box. I couldn't believe that he had actually gotten me a present and was at my party! My mood just skyrocketed up, and all of my anxiety about him not showing up was now focused into finding him. I slid my hands along the edge of the box and carefully lifted the top off, and was shocked by what I saw.

It was the blue dress. The one I had tried on at the mall. How did he know? Was he there? I slowly pulled it out of the box and held it up, admiring its beauty again. Without a second thought, I stripped my towel and slid into the high quality dress.

I walked over to look at myself in the mirror and was pleased with how it looked. I put on some heels that would match, and then walked over to the side of my bed to plug my phone in; I wouldn't need it during the party, and there was nowhere to stash it in the tight dress. Right as I was plugging it into the charger, it vibrated again. My heart skipped as I saw 'hot mall guy' flash on the screen and I immediately swiped it open.

'I hope you like the present' it read, followed shortly by another message that said, 'I can't wait to see you again'.

Two texts at once? I was going to have a heart attack.

'I love the present, thank you so much', I replied. Then, I added, 'I am so glad you came'.

I set it down, but in less than 10 seconds I received another.

'So am I.'

Grinning from ear to ear, I set my phone down, hurried out of my room and down the stairs. My mom was doing a great job of herding everyone to the backyard, so I didn't run into anybody to distract me. I got to the back patio door and was scanning the crowd that had at least doubled in size. As if my eyes were drawn straight to him, I found him.

When my eyes hit him, I feel my heart beat hard against the inside of my chest and the air leave my lungs. If I thought he affected me the other day, it was nothing compared to this. Staring at him standing a head above everyone else in a stunning white button down and dark blue dress pants (that would match my dress, beautifully), I felt like the entire world shifted beneath my feet.

A spark erupted from somewhere deep inside me, filling me with warmth.

"Mine," my mind said.