"open my present first!" alana demands, glaring at connor.
"ok, ok," connor laughs and takes the large, rectangular shape wrapped in black tissue paper, rolling his eyes at his friend.
connor carefully rips off the sellotape, trying to avoid ruining the paper, and snorts as he reveals at least ten boxes of pukka peppermint tea.
"holy fuck," he whispers, "this has got to be a lifetime supply."
"not with your tea drinking habit," zoe mutters.
the whole squad knows about connnor's unhealthy obsession for peppermint tea, but what they don't know -apart from alana- that he drinks it whenever he wants to hurt himself (which is often).
"thank you, lana!" he beams at his friend of eighteen years and looks around the circle gathered on the living room floor. "whose next?"
"mine." zoe says immediately, eyes glinting with the evil knowledge only a sibling could know.
connor takes the small, neatly wrapped square and eyes zoe strangely, who is giggling with alana. the present is tiny -it fits in his palm.
of course it's a condom.
"zoe, hon, what the fuck?"
"protection," she shrugs and bursts into another round of laughter.
"mine next!" evan shoves the baby blue package into his friend's hands.
it's big and squishy and connor carefully unwraps it.
"wait, this is the-"
"i saw you looking at it when we were in debenhams the other day, so i bought it!" evan smiles.
connor gushes back. it wasn't much, the jumper, just a fluffy, pastel pink material, but it was beautiful, and jared always said he looks good in pink.
he looks over to jared, who has been quiet, considering it's jared, and the shorter boy looks away as soon he does.
"thank you, evan,"
zoe frowns, looking pointedly into the middle of the circle. "ja, there's no-"
"connor," jared clears his throat.
something about him isn't right.
he looks nervous.
jared kleinman, nervous. what a juxtaposition.
he pulls out a pastel purple ukulele from behind him.
wait, is that alana's-
"connor," he repeats, "um, happy birthday, i guess. um, there's this, so, uh..." he starts to strum on the ukulele.
"he knows this feeling all too well
he feels his heart begin to swell
handsome stranger, you have made his insides turn to jelly.
he wants to dance around the room
kiss you until your lips turn blue
but handsome stranger you have made him wonder-"
"will you kiss me?" connor sings softly, in tune.
jared grins.
and their lips meet.
and connor has to stop himself from grinning.
in all his eighteen years of living, this has to be the best birthday present ever.
•
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE LOVE OF MY LIFE diedinurarms OMG
i tried to include things you like?? sorry if you don't like them anymore????
izzy, i have loved you since the day i found your account. you've inspired me to carry on writing and improve my skills (even if you made me ship kleinphy), and you've been so wonderful and supportive!!
you never fail to make me laugh, cry, or spit out my drink-
honestly being friends with you brings so much light and laugher into my love and i adore you for it
your writing never fails to amaze me and leave me awestruck and oddly inspired so thanks for that
basically you're a blessing and i don't deserve you
all my infinite love and support,
-jem 💞💞
YOU ARE READING
where's my mind / poetry, oneshots etc.
Poetrywriting like i'm running out of time; like i need it to survive.
