Where Do We Go From Here? (BOOK TWO)

Chapter 37

Bruno shifted uncomfortably in the passenger seat of Gabriel's SUV. He never imagined he'd be spending his eighteenth birthday hanging out with Mia's dad. He was hoping to spend time with Mia but she told him she wasn't going to be able to make it and he was really bummed. Some of the friends he'd made over the past few months told him to come hang out with them but he had already agreed to hang out with Gabriel. He said he wanted to get to know him better and Bruno had agreed to a guys night with him, his brother Gonzalo and his son, whom they called Lalo. Lalo was a few months older than Bruno and Mia and they'd gotten along pretty well the first night they all met. One night with them wouldn't hurt but he was nervous that they were going to grill him with questions about Mia. Not exactly an ideal birthday.

Gabriel glanced over at him and grinned. "Try not to look so nervous son."

Bruno was taken out of his thoughts at the sound of his voice. "I'm not nervous." He was obviously lying but he wasn't about to admit to it. He silently prayed that the topic of the physical part of his relationship with Mia didn't come up because he was not ready to die.

Gabriel chuckled and shook his head. He couldn't blame him. If he was in Bruno's position he would be nervous too. He felt bad for him but if he ruined the surprise Mia would never forgive him. They pulled up to the house. "Looks like the guys are already here" he said pointing at his younger brothers car in the driveway. Gabriel made sure all other cars would be nowhere in sight so that Bruno wouldn't get suspicious. "Talk to Mia today?" he asked Bruno trying to calm his nerves.

"Yes sir. Once in the morning and once before you picked me up." Bruno opened the door and got out of the car.

"She feels really bad about missing your birthday." Gabriel said walking around the car to catch up with Bruno.

"Yeah I know. I'm not going to lie and say I'm not a little bummed that she's not here but I knew it was a possibility when we discussed me moving to Los Angeles without her." He shrugged his shoulders. "She promised we'd celebrate when she comes down next week."

Gabriel gave him a warm smile. He felt bad about continuing this charade and was thankful when they reached he door. He opened the door and let Bruno step inside first.

"Surprise!!!" Everyone yelled when he stepped inside. Mia was standing in front of the crowd with Bernie at her side.

Bruno grinned like an idiot at the site of his fiancé and his family. "How did you?...."

Mia ran up to him and hugged him. "Happy Birthday baby! You know I could never miss your birthday. Sorry for lying to you."

He hugged her tight and kissed the top of her head. "It's okay. Thank you baby. I've missed you."

Mia beamed at him. "I missed you too." She released him so he could greet everyone else.

Bernie stepped up to her son and hugged him. "Happy Birthday sweetheart."

Bruno hugged her. "Thanks mom. I can't believe you're all here!"

Bernie had been so excited when Mia asked them to come. She didn't hesitate for a second. "Mia has been planning this for months. I almost let it slip a couple times."

Bruno looked over at his fiancé and grinned. He should have known she was up to something. He went around the room and hugged the rest of his family and greeted Mia's family as well. He had to admit he was relived he would not be spending the evening alone with Mia's father and uncle.

"I bet your happy you didn't have to hang with just me, my dad and uncle Gabe tonight huh?" Lalo said tapping his shoulder.

Bruno laughed and shook his head. "Man, you have no idea. I mean, you're cool and all but they make me nervous."

Lalo laughed. "I hear you man. I wanted to tell you but Mia would have had my head." He and Mia had gotten close in the short amount of time they'd known each other. Probably because they were the closest in age.

Bruno chuckled. "You're probably right."

Mia appeared in front of them with her hands on her hips and one eyebrow raised. "Geeze I'm not that bad!"

They both looked at her and laughed. Bruno pulled her close and hugged her. "I know baby. We're just messing around." He kissed her forehead. "Thank you for doing this. It means a lot to have you and my family here."

Mia beamed at him and gave him a kiss. "You two make me sick." Lalo joked. Mia stuck her tongue out at him and they laughed. "I'm going to let you two have some alone time" he said and walked away.

Bruno smiled down at his fiancé and she smiled back up at him. "I'm so happy you're here. I was really bummed when you said you weren't going to make it."

Mia kissed him again. "I know baby. I'm happy I'm here too. Sorry I told you I wasn't. I just wanted to surprise you. It's not so hard to get a bunch of people on a plane to surprise your fiancé for his birthday when your dad has a private jet."

Bruno looked over in the direction he'd last seen Gabriel then back to Mia. "True. But you still planned it all out. Remind me to thank him later too though."

Mia nodded her head. "I will baby. Happy Birthday again" she said and hugged him tight. "Oh. There's something I wanna tell you."

Bruno looked down at her with a serious expression on his face. He wasn't sure if it was good or bad because neither her tone or face gave it away. "What is it? Is everything okay!" He lifted his hand up to touch the side of her face.

"Yeah. Everything is okay." She smiled. "Everything is perfect. Uncle Eli and aunt Mya have really hit it off and they don't want to waste time being far apart so we're moving to LA as soon as he finds an apartment. So you'll be stuck with me all the time soon."

The smile that appeared on Bruno's face just seemed to light up the room. "Really?! Baby that's amazing! That's the best news ever! Both for me and Eli." He kissed her lips and then picked her up and spun her around. Mia giggled and demanded to be put back down. When he finally did he kissed her again. "This has to be the best birthday ever! How did I get so lucky with you?"

Mia smiled and blushed. "I'm the lucky one baby."

The night continued on with lots of laughs, food, present opening, and of course, cake and ice cream. Mia gave him a brand new acoustic guitar and he couldn't wait to start using it. But what he really wanted was some alone time with Mia. She'd been in Los Ángeles plenty of times since she met her whole family but they hadn't really been able to get any alone time. He hadn't gotten to touch his fiancé in months and it was killing him. The dress she had on at the moment was only making it worse. Almost as if Mia was reading his mind she walked up to him with a smile on her face and whispered in his ear. "You wanna get outta here?"

Bruno looked at her with eyes wide but he smiled and nodded. "Yes ma'am!"

Mia smiled. "Lucky for you I told everyone we were going to head out early to go hang out with some of your friends. Let's go say bye to everyone so we can go."

Bruno followed her with a big smile on his face. Mia really did think of everything. He would make sure to show her how thankful he was for when he finally got her alone.