My Life In Pieces (Book #1)

Chapter 23

The sun felt a little too bright the next morning. Tyler had stayed over through dinner and then headed out to his show. I had stayed up late being a nervous wreck about how this party would go, what I would wear, and the giant knot that was in my stomach over Tyler. When it was just the two of us, Tyler was not the idiot he pretended to be to the world. He was actually smart and well read. He had a lot of ideas on how we could do this Dante's Inferno project and I couldn't help but love them all. We started to slowly drift from the subject of hell and started talking about life. I found out he and Brenna had managed to work things out for the band's sake. That she was still seeing this Nixon guy and that Tyler hated him. I could tell he felt lonely without the constant distraction of Brenna or James. He apparently had been focusing on writing new music. He was even considering doing a solo performance at Chew Chew's next week. They were having an open mic night and he had made sure the rest of the band thought it was lame so that they wouldn't show up incase he had the nerve to go at it alone. It hurt that I had a part in his being so isolated even though it was his fault. I told him that I wouldn't care if he did come to the party but he said it would just cause drama and I couldn't disagree.

Our conversation played in my head as I tried to get focused on the day ahead. Dad had already agreed that he would stay away from the party tonight if I would have a birthday breakfast with him tomorrow. I spent the day hanging out with Elle and Laura getting our nails done and going shopping for outfits. It was weird hanging out with just the two of them at first but we actually had a nice time.

Laura was helping me curl my hair when I heard a knock on my door. My dad popped his head in and said, "Sweetheart, you have a couple of visitors downstairs in the living room." His smile made me curious. He was up to something. I looked at Elle and Laura who both shrugged.

So they weren't in on it.

I headed downstairs and cautiously walked into the living room. I nearly fainted with excitement. Patrick and Elyse were standing in front of me. I flew across the room into my sister's arms. Patrick joined in for a group hug.

"Surprise!" Dad said from the doorway while I continued screaming.

"What are y'all doing here?"

"We're your birthday gift!" Elyse beamed.

I looked behind Patrick to my dad. "Thank you daddy!"

He held up his hands in a wasn't me motion, "Don't thank me I just paid for the tickets. Thank your friend Tyler. He came up with the idea back in September."

I stopped short.

He did what?

I looked at Patrick and Elyse with questioning eyes. They knew the Tyler situation. Elyse gave me a, "We'll talk later about it" look. I nodded and noticed Elle and Laura coming in the room to see what the fuss was about. Laura started jumping too when she saw Elyse. Elyse quickly walked over to hug her baby cousin. Elle had eyes on Patrick. Only Ari knew anything about Patrick and I so Elle would just know he was my ex-step brother.

Dad left us alone and headed out to run errands. Patrick sat on my bed while Laura finished my hair, Elyse started fixing her own hair. She wasn't above partying with us teenagers.

"So how was the plane ride?"

"Long. Canada is cold." Patrick mumbled from his place on my bed. He looked ready to fall asleep.

"I know, I miss Dallas winters. When your dad moves again make him come here" I joked.

Patrick's dad had lived in Seattle until he came to Texas to live closer to Patrick. He had also lived in New York, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix from stories I heard.