One of the Boys.

Ryan and I had been dating for three weeks now. It was, well, it was great. It’s just like being friends with him, except we were a bit more intimate. No duh.
And today I was 17. I’m not sure whether to be excited or not, because 17 is a weird age. When you’re 16, it’s like, yay, I can drive! When you’re 18, it’s yay, I can have sex legally!
Even though you’re not going to drive on your sixteenth birthday, and you’ll most probably not have sex on your birthday. But it’s still a coming of age date, right now, I was in the middle of both, which is both boring and agonizing because I have to wait another damn year.
I woke up because my lips were pressed to someone else's. I smiled and kissed back, then broke away after a few seconds, opening my eyes.
“Morning, beautiful.” smiled Ryan, sitting on the side of the bed.
“Morning.” I yawned, covering my mouth. “But as for the beautiful bit, I’m make-up less, so you’re wrong.”
“To be honest, I didn’t even know you wore make-up, and I’m right. So hah.”
I sat up, rubbing my eyes. “Aww, you’re sweet.”
He blushed and smiled. “I’m freaking adorable.” He kissed me once. “Anyway, you gotta get up, your parents want you awake and dressed for ten o’clock. It’s half nine now so you’ve got plenty of time. Oh, and happy birthday.”
“Thanks Ryan.”
He kissed my cheek, then pulled out something from the bed and passed it to me.
“You didn’t have to get me anything.”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t.”
“Oh.”
He laughed. “The look on your face, priceless! No, what I meant was the guys clubbed together to get you something big, and put me in charge of it. So, happy birthday from all of us.”
I unwrapped the box carefully and inside was a pair of tickets to go to the skating championships live, where all the best skaters in the world combine to have a massive skate off show style thing. I’ve always wanted to go, but the tickets sell out super quickly.
I pulled Ryan into a tight hug. “Thank you so much! Man, wow. You guys know me well.”
He let go of me, laughing. “Do I get a kiss for being awesome?”
I smirked and pressed my lips to his softly, wrapping my arms around him, kissing him passionately. After a few minutes I broke away. “Will that satisfy your needs?”
He nodded very quickly and I laughed quietly.
“Now get out, Imma change.”
“Can’t I watch?” he pouted.
“No.” I smiled and pushed him out of my room, locking the door. I knew he wouldn’t come in, but I did it out of habit.
I went to my wardrobe and pulled out my favorite dress, hoping it would fit now. My mom was right, it was like I’d suddenly ballooned over night, thankfully not my stomach. I was developing curves, and it was kinda weird.
I slipped on the dress and sighed when it didn’t quite fit, so swapped it for a different outfit. I teased my hair slightly, but not a lot, did my make-up and all the other necessities. I opened the shutters and smiled when I saw the bunch of fresh flowers in a vase. I walked closer and saw a note.
Happy Birthday! I wanted to get you something just from me, so here you go. Hope they make you very happy, I like it when you smile.
-Ryan.
I smiled widely, he was so adorable. A little gushy, but adorable all the same.
I unlocked my door and walked outside to find Ryan sitting on the bench, tapping his foot.
I pulled him into another hug and kissed his cheek. “Thank you very much for the flowers, they did indeed make me happy.”
He laughed in his Ryan way. “I’m glad.”
We held hands and walked to the kitchen, where everyone else was. “Happy birthday!” they chimed.
“Thank you, mom, dad, gran, papi.”
“Thanks Ryan for getting her up. No idea how you did it, normally it’s a nightmare getting her out of bed.” laughed my mom.
“Oh, I have an idea.” smirked Kat. I shot her an evil glare and she shot me one back.
We sat down on the stools and every family member hugged me. Ryan sat to my left and Jemima sat to my right. We all had french toast with syrup, which tasted delicious, so I thanked the chef. She smiled and nodded at me.
I wasn’t expecting any presents, as they’d already spent too much money on ‘transforming’ my look already, but there were a few presents placed in front of me.
“But I thought-”
“You’ve got to have something on your birthday.” smiled my mom.
I opened the first box, which had a pair of white wayfarers with black writing all over them. I loved them, and I did have a sunglasses fetish.
I opened one tiny box which had a simple gold ring with a tiny diamond.
“You… you really didn’t need to do this.” I said. “But thank you very much.”
“It is tradition for us Graziellas to get a ring on our sixteenth, but we did not think you would want it when you were sixteen, so you can have it now.” said my Gran.
I hugged my Gran and Papi, then slid on my ring.
The last present was a drawing from Jemima, which they’d obviously forced out of her. It was dreadful, but good for her.
“Thank you Jem.” I smiled and gave her a hug.
“You’re being awfully quiet, Ryan.” said my mom.
“Yeah, he’s probably planning what he can do to her tonight.” smirked Kat, again.
“Kat, I’ve had enough of this, just drop it and accept the fact that Ryan doesn’t like you like that!” shouted my Gran.
I smirked and covered my mouth to stop myself from laughing.
“What? No, I, no!” she squealed. “Ryan you like me, right? Everyone at school likes me!”
Everyone turned to look at Ryan.
“Honestly?”
She nodded, a big smile across her face, expecting an answer that would hurt me.
“Not particularly…”
Her mouth dropped and the rest of my family secretly smirked.
“Why the hell not?”
“You’re kind of… high maintenance and generally pretty mean. You’re always horrible to Emma, and I don’t know why. You- yeah I’ll stop now.” he said, blushing and looking down.
“So what kind of girls do you like, then?” she spat.
“Wow this is awkward.” he laughed quietly, trying to break the tension. “But if you really have to know… someone who I’m really good friends with first, so I can trust them. Someone who’s really nice and sweet but not a push over. C-can I stop talking about my ideal woman now?”
“Sure Ryan, just ignore my pain in the ass daughter.” said my mom. “You two kids go have fun somewhere else.”
“Thank you Mrs. Graziella.” he sighed with relief and we quickly left, going into my room. He jumped onto my bed, laying down.
“Fuck that was awkward.” he sighed again.
“I’m so sorry about my family.”
“No, don’t worry, I shouldn’t be complaining, I’m in Italy for Christ’s sake.”
I crawled onto the bed, straddling him at the hips.
“I’m still sorry for them.”
He smiled. “Don’t be. But if you can’t deal with your guilt, kissing me will help.”
I smiled and rested my hands on his chest, bending down and kissing him softly. He kissed back and put one hand on the back of my neck. He smiled into the kiss and after a few minutes it became more passionate, his tongue entering my mouth. I smiled too and kissed back fiercely, swirling my tongue around his mouth. His hands trailed up my body, unbuttoning my waist coat buttons and pulling it off. He slid the dress and bra strap off my left shoulder, then moved his lips down my neck, caressing it with kisses until he found my sweet spot, making me gasp. Ryan smirked against my neck and sucked at it, biting down lightly. I moaned and my fingers curled in his soft hair. He trailed kisses further down, cupping my breasts delicately. He kissed the top of them, slowly moving down, pulling down my bra with his hands gently.
I brought his face back up to mine and kissed his nose. “I’m… I’m not really ready to go any further.”
He nodded. “Okay, that’s fine. I’m glad you have the confidence to tell me.” he smiled and pulled my straps back up, then put my waistcoat back on. “It’s a good thing you have long hair.”
“Why?”
“Take a look in the mirror.”
I climbed off of him and stood in front of the mirror, sweeping my hair off my shoulder. A hickey, oh great. I smiled and swept my hair back, then sat back down.
Ryan slipped his arms around my waist from behind and put his head on my shoulder. He kissed my cheek once then sighed happily.
“You know when you talked to Spencer?”
“Yes?”
“Did you tell him that I’d changed or that we were dating?” I asked.
“No, was I meant to?”
“No that’s good, I wanted to keep it a secret.” I smiled. “Until we get back, of course.”
“Of course.” he smiled. “You know.” he paused. “I don’t care how gushy this sounds, but you make me really happy, Em.”
I looked down, blushing madly. “You make me really happy too, Ry.”