Let Love Win

Chapter 19 - Hadley

I stood in front of the body mirror in my room debating whether I was satisfied or not with my choice of clothing. To be honest, I don't know why it mattered so much tonight. I'd called Mel over Skype late last night after Zeek left, asking her about different outfits to wear for dinner tonight. She picked out the black tights and sparkly silver top that I had on now because she said it would be appropriate for the club tonight as well. Even though I trust her opinion 100%, I was truthfully having doubts about it.

I'd been sentenced to arrest in my room all day so that the boys and Monty had the entire main lever to themselves to get everything ready for tonight. This morning, I'd gotten breakfast in bed and lots of happy birthday wishes. Although I got this kind of stuff every year, today felt different. I kept trying to tell myself that it was because this was the first year that I was having my boyfriend over for dinner on my birthday, or the first year that I've had a boyfriend period. But I knew deep down that it was more than that.

This was going to be the last birthday that I spent as a member of the orphanage. I was 18 today at 7:32pm and would then officially be too old to be in the system as of tomorrow, so I would have to move out. Monty said she had all the residence stuff set up at the university for me so I could still come and visit the boys whenever I wanted to, but I would just have to stay at the school. However, I wasn't sure how much time I would actually get to spend with them since I would now have to take more shifts at the café to pay for all the residence and meal costs. It would be a hard adjustment, but it would have to work.

It was going to feel weird, terrible even, to wake up in the morning to silence instead of 9 boys running around and screaming at the top of their lungs. It was going to feel different to not have to wake up and make smiley face pancakes for everyone in the house. I would still come around every Friday night to play song for the boys as tradition says, but I wasn't going to have Collin coming up to me every other day of the week reminding me about it. To say I wasn't looking forward to the change was the understatement of the year.

My phone rang and I ran across the room to pick it up. "Hey," I said when I answered.

"Are you still locked up in your tower, princess?" Mel asked from the other end.

I groaned and flopped back down backwards on my bed. "Yes! I'm so bored, and it's been like 12 hours since I woke up. What the hell takes so long to make?"

Mel giggled. "It's only been maybe 6 hours since you woke up, actually."

"It feels like it's been forever." Of course I would have expected her to know since I'd been texting her all day complaining about how bored and lonely I was.

"I know babe, but Brad, Zeek and I are on our way, so you wont have to be alone for much longer. Call the main line and ask Monty if you can come downstairs yet."

"I guess so. ETA?"

"20 minutes. We have to stop by the florist and get your roses first." I groaned again, hoping that she wasn't being serious. "I'm kidding girl. I'm just waiting for the boys to finish wrapping your presents."

"Presents? I told you guys not to get me anything! What the hell, Melissa?"

"Ok, first of all, don't use my full name with me, butch. Second of all, you should know that none of us would listen to you."

"Touché. Anyways, hurry up! If I have to stay in here any longer without company, I'm going to go crazy."

"Hang tight, we're leaving in a bit. Seriously though, call and see if you can at least leave your room."

"I will. Later."

I ended the call and threw my head back on my pillow. As if today wasn't emotional enough, Brad, Zeek and Mel were all getting my gifts. I hated receiving gifts from people. The only time that I actually accepted them without a problem was on Christmas and that was only to convince the boys that Santa was real and that we were all good kids and he gave us presents. Even then, it was usually a book that I'd only recently wanted or an envelope full of money to take shopping on Boxing Day. Every other time, my present was that I didn't have to cook any meals all day long.