Silence (Silence #1)(45)

“Jasper, shut up! Technically it’s her birthday now,” I said, pointing to the clock.

Jasper ran over to her, grabbing her in a big bear hug. Oakley made a ‘help me!’ face and pushed him away.

“Happy Birthday, baby sis! Oww, you’re so grown up now. I can still remember when you were all little and carried that little blanket around everywhere with you,” he cooed, probably trying to embarrass her, but she just pointed to the door.

“Fine, fine. I’ll go. I’ll let you two get back to unwrapping presents,” he said, doing those air quotes and winking.

Oakley shook her head and pulled the card out of the envelope. She smiled and kissed me before putting the card on her bedside table and reaching into the bag again. I watched a little frown appear on her face as she pulled out another birthday card.

“Just open it,” I said, gesturing towards the card. She practically pounced on me when she opened it. I laughed and hugged her back. Well at least I knew she liked it! I had bought her two cards, a normal one that I would usually buy her, and another one with ‘girlfriend’ on it.

“I really wanted to get you a proper card, but I knew you couldn’t just put it up with the rest, so I got two,” I said.

After a few more minutes, I pulled away while I still had some self-control left. We couldn’t risk Jasper walking in again, which was likely.

“You need to open the presents,” I whispered. I’d bought her all of her favourite things. A ‘Me to You’ teddy bear, the kind she collects, Haribo sweets, chocolate buttons, some biography of a gymnast she was looking at when we were shopping. A crazy bright purple nail polish that she liked, and that made me look like an idiot when I bought it. And finally, a white gold necklace with a little heart pendant and a diamond set into it.

I got a little nervous as she opened the necklace. What if she didn’t like it? I could always take it back, and we could change it for something else if she didn’t. She gasped as she opened the box, her eyes filling with tears. At first, I was scared that she hated it until that beautiful little smile crept over her face. Thank God she likes it, I though, sighing in relief.

She pulled it out of the box and ran her hand over the heart, smiling at it lovingly. Finally, she looked up at me and moved the bag of presents to the side as she shuffled forward. We sat an inch away from each other, neither of us moved, and I didn’t say a word. It was strange how total silence could mean so much.

After a minute, she intertwined our fingers and kissed me. I had a hard time breathing when we kissed.

“You like it then?” I whispered, smiling at her rosy pink cheeks. She nodded, kissing me again as thanks for her presents.

Once she had finished looking at her gifts for the tenth time, we decided to put a movie on. About halfway through, I felt her head getting heavier on my chest. She was falling asleep. I wasn’t going to move her until I had to, so I stayed still and watched the rest of the movie, even though I was totally lost.

“She’s a lightweight.” I jumped a little at Max’s voice. Looking up, I saw him leaning against the doorframe, smiling at Oakley.

“Yeah, I know!”

“So, about tonight.” He started, walking over to her desk and sitting on her computer chair. “You would tell me if anything has happened between you two, wouldn’t you?”

Oakley would freak if I said anything, and there was no way I wanted to tell my girlfriend’s dad that we’d had sex…

I nodded, feeling crappy for lying to him.

“Nothing has.”

I didn’t like lying, especially to her parents. I didn’t want to lose the trust they had in me when it came to her. Oakley came first though, and she didn’t want to say anything just yet.

“Okay. Wake her up before you leave, she won’t want to sleep in her dress,” he instructed and walked out. The fact that he believed me so easily made me feel worse, but we needed to do this right.

“Oakley,” I whispered, stroking her hair once the film finished. She shook her head and threw her arm over my lap, not wanting to move. The odds of her parents letting me sleep here were not great, especially after tonight, so, as much as I didn’t want to, I had to go home.

I gently rolled her onto her back and tried not to laugh as she frowned.

“Do you want your pyjamas?”

She shook her head and then nodded. What was that supposed to mean?

“Oakley, which one?” She shook her head again and buried her head in the pillow, ignoring me. Okay, that was a no. I kissed the side of her head.

“Night, baby,” I whispered against her hair. She smiled sleepily.

Mum and Dad had already left by the time I got downstairs, so I said goodbye to Oakley’s parents and Jasper – who was currently eating the chocolate out of the fountain with a ladle – and went home. As soon as I got to my room, I stripped and climbed into bed and texted Oakley. I knew I wouldn’t get a reply, but I always sent the message, and I always would.



I woke up in the morning to Mia shaking my arm.

“What?” I mumbled in a grumpy tone.

She sighed and sat down on my bed. The dip made me roll a little.

“We need to talk about Chris, and how you treat him when he comes over, but I don’t like arguing.”

“I don’t like that dick cheating on you,” I shot back, raising my eyebrows. The light stung my tired eyes. Can’t we do this later?