Last Place You Look

Chapter 31

"Do you want me to wake her up?" The bed dipped next to me and I felt his body gently touch my back. "Charlie, wake up. Your parents are on the phone."

I groaned and rolled on to my back and held out my hand for the phone. I immediately rolled back over when he placed it in my hand.

"Hello?" I heard them both take a big breath before I could even finish speaking.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Charlie! Happy birthday to you!" They did this every year. They never failed to wake me up singing. When I lived at home, they came in with a cake and balloons too. Birthdays were a big deal for our family. My parents were the kind of parents that cherished life more than anything because they realized that not everyone gets to live as long as they have. So they celebrated every birthday as if it would be the last.

"Good morning to you too." Harry kissed my shoulder gently before getting up and going to the closet. He started rummaging around.

"We couldn't miss the tradition just because you're in a different country. Do you guys have plans today?"

"We're driving to London today and-"

"You better send me every single picture you take!"

"I already promised you I would. I'll call you later though, Harry is looking a bit impatient." He was standing at the end of the bed, waiting for me to get up.

 "Alright, well, be safe please. Stay with Harry and have fun." Her worried mom voice was coming out. Kira and I spent some time in Greece after we graduated to celebrate. My mom was all for it, of course, but worried every second we were there. She watched that movie with Liam Neeson and almost hijacked our trip out of fear. We still went, of course, but not without her constant worrying and request that we call her every night to let her know we were alive.

We forgot to call her one night and all hell broke loose. We'd spent the day wandering through Athens and just forgot. We woke up the next morning to a million calls and the hotel staff knocking on our door to make sure we were alive. And we were, but she didn't know that from across the Atlantic Ocean.

"I will. You don't have anything to worry about, Mom." We said goodbye and they wished me a happy birthday one more time before letting me hang up.

"That was... interesting. They do that every year?" I closed my eyes and nodded my head. My parents, as thoughtful as they were, were not meant to be singers. "Well, just a warning. They may have called me before we left and told me about their birthday traditions and I kind of.." He opened his bedroom door to reveal Anne, Gemma, and Cece in the doorway. Anne had a small round cake in her hands and Gemma and Cece held onto a bouquet of balloons.

"Oh my god, you guys." I pushed myself up the bed so I could sit up. They came in and Gemma set Cece down on the end of the bed. She crawled into my lap and started babbling undecipherable words. "I don't know what to say."

Harry climbed on the bed next to me, Anne sitting on the edge next to me, and Gemma on the end. The lit cake had candles bordering the edge of it and my name in the middle in purple frosting.

"We'll spare you the singing since your parents covered that, but we do expect you to make a wish as you blow out the candles." Anne held out the cake to me so I could lean forward to blow them out. I didn't make a wish though, wanting to save it for when I was certain I knew what I wanted. They clapped when the candles were out. "We'll let you get dressed. We've got breakfast waiting for you in the kitchen when you're ready."

Gemma took Cece from my lap and Anne closed the door on their way out. Harry grabbed my arm and pulled me to lay on top of him. 

"Happy birthday, darling. You're getting old."