Old Me

12 - Sharing Secrets

"Ehi," Cat whispered very closely to my ear.

I whipped my eyes open and turned my head to face her.

"Hi, I wanted to give you your gift," she said holding up a poorly wrapped rectangle and a giant card.

"Aw, thanks Cat!" I smiled and pulled her into a hug so she was sitting on top of me.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" She asked impatiently.

"Okay, okay, what's the hurry? Is it going to explode?"

"No!" She giggled, shaking her head.

I grabbed the card and read the front.

"Boone Comleano"

I tried not to laugh at her attempt to spell "Buon Compleanno" (Happy Birthday in Italian) and opened it up. It featured a drawing of what I assumed was her and I surrounded by presents and balloons.

"Cat. This is really awesome. Did you draw this yourself?"

"Yep!" She said proudly.

I picked up the rectangle and tore open the pink wrapping paper. I threw the paper to the floor and opened up the long black box. Inside was a necklace with a single gold pendant attached. I picked it up to read what was engraved.

"Big Sis"

It had a small heart engraved on the other side and I looked up to Cat to find her holding a similar necklace around her neck that read "Lil Sis".

"Cat, this is beautiful! I love it!" I squeezed her tight and sat up so that I could put it on.

"I'm gonna wear it today just for you!"

She smiled big and looked over at my mom in the kitchen who gave her two thumbs up.

"I'll wear mine too so we're matching," she said excitedly.

"Okay. Hop off so I can go grab the decorations from the office. You wanna help me?"

"Um, sure."

She climbed and grabbed my arm to pull me up from the sofa.

"Why are you so heavy?" She asked straining to lift me.

I laughed and let her "pull" me up and we headed to the office.

Shortly after Cat and I had started to dig through the decorations all my cousins arrived and the girls helped me carry things out to the back yard. I stopped mid-step when I saw a shirtless Michael carrying a stack of foldable chairs.

Damn. He looks so hot. I didn't realize he had so many tattoos. Along with his two whole sleeves, he had some back tats and even one leading from his shoulder to his chest.  It looked like a lion roaring.

He's so out of my league.

"Move it, Bea," Lucia said from behind me.

"Oh, sorry," I said walking outside onto the back patio.

I laid what I was carrying onto the closest table and caught myself staring at Mikey again. He's so sculpted, and every time he set up a chair I could see his muscles flexing.

Lucia waved her hand in front of my face and I slapped it away.

"Stop drooling at your sexy man and help set up," she said rolling her eyes.

We put tablecloths on every table and placed the little succulent pots and fairy lights in mason jars in the centers. I grabbed the step stool from inside the house and Siena helped me string the paper lanterns from the outdoor lights we have hung across the yard. I watched as Mikey helped Matteo set up his speakers and lights to DJ. I noticed they were chatting but wasn't close enough to hear them.