BLOOM • awsten knight

32

APRIL 2018

Awsten thinks that he's more excited for Elle's birthday than she is.

He knows that he hasn't gone overboard, because he's managed to refrain from hiring out a whole venue, or a garden of some sort, and filling it with flowers of every colour that reminds him of her - but he's still excited.

Part of him wishes he'd asked to stay over the night before, just so that he could stay up with her until it was finally midnight, and be the first to wish her a happy birthday.

The morning of her birthday, Taylor is awake first, and has laid Elle's presents out on the table; she's had to hide some in her bedroom for weeks, since Elle's family had all of the packages addressed to her, so that Elle wouldn't accidentally open any of them.

Awsten comes to the apartment early, and when Taylor opens the door, he's holding a large bouquet of flowers, in a fancy vase.

"Wow, all of those for me?" Taylor places her hand over her heart, gushing sarcastically.

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Awsten rolls his eyes, lightheartedly, as she lets him in.

"Seriously, though," she raises her eyebrows, "that could be the biggest bouquet I've ever seen."

Awsten smiles, feeling proud of himself, as he sets the vase down on the counter.

"D'you still have my other presents here?" He asks, looking over to the table.

"Yeah, right there," Taylor points them out to him. "She's gonna kill you, you know."

"Why?" Awsten laughs quietly.

"Because you spent a lot of money on her," she explains, and he shrugs. "I think you did pretty good, though."

"Thanks," he smiles, before looking over to Elle's bedroom. "Can I wake her?"

"You don't have to ask my permission," Taylor holds her hands up. "As long as she's not grumpy."

With that, Awsten heads to her bedroom door, knocking softly on it, as he pushes it open; Elle begins to stir, but she smiles as she notices his figure stood in the doorway.

Awsten closes the door behind him and flops onto the bed next to Elle, with a fair amount of force, causing her to groan.

"You're seriously not letting me sleep in on my birthday?" She rubs a hand over her face, causing Awsten to laugh.

"Nope," he moves himself closer to her, wrapping his arm around her waist, and plants a kiss on her cheek. "Happy birthday, beautiful."

"Thank you," Elle turns to face him, her hand resting on his cheek, and Awsten leans into her touch.

He wants to kiss her, but he really doesn't think now is the right time; it's frustrating, because recently, it never seems to be the right time - but Awsten thinks that trying to kiss her for the first time, on her birthday may not be the right route to go down, especially if it were to start a difficult conversation.

Instead, Awsten settles for planting another kiss on her cheek, then on the other, then on her nose, her forehead, and repeats the cycle; Elle giggles, her arms wrapping around his shoulders as she pulls him closer.