𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙈𝙚 𝙄𝙣.

Happy Birthday.

West lay on his bed, staring at the white ceiling. He'd been awake for 20 minutes. He grabbed his phone off the nightstand for the 5th time in the space in which he'd been awake and checked the date and time again, unwilling to believe it was actually real.

06:21 A.M, 30 July 2018.

30 July, July 30th. It was his 18th birthday, and he was not looking forward to it. He had been so distracted by the issue with Killian, his dad, and exams, that he'd totally forgotten about his birthday. He didn't have plans, though. He never had plans, he hated birthdays. The only difference between today, and the day before, was that today, he was a year older. No big deal.

He heaved himself from the bed with a groan then ducked into the bathroom to take a shower. He had another exam, an English exam, which he'd be writing at 08:00 A.M. He was prepared for this one, though. His Physics exam didn't go well last week. He knew he passed, but perhaps not with the marks that he wanted, so he vowed to study harder for his remaining exams just to make up for his Physics one.

Unfortunately, his marks weren't good enough to be offered an all expenses paid scholarship. He didn't mind it, because he had money saved up to pay for his first year and for residency. But he was still waiting to hear back from multiple colleges out of state. He had applied to The University of California(Santa Barbara), The University of Michigan, and, The University of Maryland, but that was only a last resort. He meant it when he said he wanted to leave this Godforsaken town. He just hoped one of the two would accept his application, that was all he needed.

He headed downstairs at seven, and was surprised to see a card waiting for him on the coffee table. Paul left for work at 05:30 A.M everyday, so he couldn't give the card to West in person. He opened the card, and a silly birthday song immediately started playing. West smiled to himself.

That was the cheesiest thing ever.

He examined the card further, and much to his surprise, five, one hundred dollar bills, were taped to the card. He read his dad's birthday message out loud.

"To Weston K. Rickert, Happy Birthday. I love you. Buy yourself something nice." West let out a laugh after reading the card, "Well, dad, you always did have a way with words." He sarcastically said to no one in particular.

He dropped the card on the coffee table again, making a mental note to deposit the money into his college fund later on, and then left the house. He had an exam to pass.
----------

After his exam, he hopped into his car and drove to work. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Weston Rickert could skip work to avoid a certain blonde boy, but God forbid he skip work to enjoy his 18th birthday. That was most definitely a serious crime and should never be attempted.

He worked silently alongside Killian for a few hours, and then, at 2 P.M, Brittany waltzed into the store with a thousand birthday balloons and a medium sized gift box. "Haaaaaaapy Birthday, Bestie!" She exclaimed at the top of her lungs.

West's eyes widened and he found himself shushing his best friend.

"What? IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!"

Killian watched the whole exchange with an amused smirk, his stoic and hard-as-stone expression, long forgotten.

West went around the counter and pulled Brittany to the corner. "You couldn't have done this at school?" He whispered, while uncomfortably glancing over at Killian, whose smirk widened.

"I would've if you'd have stayed long enough."

"I had to get to work."

She rolled her eyes, "Dude, could you stop being soooo responsible for once?"