When Two Worlds Collide

The two weeks up until my birthday flew by quickly and it was now the day of my 18th.

I was woken up by Anthony and Lauren jumping on me yelling, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

“Okay. OKAY! I’m awake.” They laughed and sat on each side of my bed.

“We both decided to get you a joined present. I hope that’s okay.” Lauren looked at me as she handed it to me.

“You guys. You didn’t even have to get me anything.”

“Well, we did. So open it!” I think they were both eager to see my reaction to it because they were both looking at my face carefully.

As I opened the box my face lit up. “Oh my gosh! You guys shouldn’t have. These were so expensive. I... I love them! Thank you guys!” I hugged them both before admiring the new kicks they had got me.

“We also got your name put on them to personalize them for you.”

“Guys. These are seriously so amazing. I don’t know what to say... except now i’m under some extreme pressure to get you guys kick ass gifts.”

“Hey. That shirt you bought me and sent up to LA for my birthday was awesome. I have worn it so much.”

I laughed. “I know. You’re wearing it right now.” He looked down and laughed.

“I totally forgot I put it on.”

Lauren shook her head at him and planted a kiss on her lips.

“Aww, you guys. Gonna make me puke before i’m even out of bed.” They both laughed and put in a team effort to get me out of bed.

Lauren pulled my blankets off of me while Anthony grabbed me by my waist and chucked me over his shoulder.

I was so used to having this done to me that I didn’t bother to even try and stop it anymore.

As reached downstairs Anthony sat me down at the dining room table, sitting across from me with Lauren.

My parents brought out pancakes with different sweets for toppings and I nearly drooled.

“Guys, this could be all I get today but it will be the best birthday ever.” I laughed as my Mum filled up my plate and everyone else grabbed some for themselves.

The front door burst open and Eric stood there, present in hand.

“ERIC!” I ran over to him and jumped into his open arms.

“Hey birthday girl. I thought i’d fly down just for you.” He kissed my cheek before guiding me back over to the table so I could finish my breakfast.

“Thank you for coming.”

“What’s in the box?” I eyed the square present in his hands.

“Well, the guys all wanted to get you something so we all put in money to buy you a gift. Including Anthony.”

“Anthony. Contributing to one present was enough!”

Eric laughed. “Just open it. These are something you’ve wanted for ages and needed.”

I opened the plain looking box to see a pair of multicoloured beats!

“You guys!” I hugged Eric and kissed him on the cheek.

“When I move back up next week i’ll definitely have to thank them all for these. How did you get them multicoloured?”

“We asked in a special favour and we got them personalized for you.”

“They’re incredible. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He dug into the pancakes that were sitting on the table as my Mum made more.

“Mum. How many people are we expecting for breakfast?!”

Then, as if it was planned, Joey, Colton and Thomas walked through the door.

“Hey guys!” I hugged Joey and Colton just fine but when I hugged Thomas it was extremely awkward.

As they all sat around the table they grabbed some of the pancakes.

“Thank you guys so much for the present. They’re amazing.”

“Aww, you’re welcome.” Said Colton with that always contagious smile on his face.

Anthony turned to Thomas who had a mouthful of food.

“Where’s the girlfriend?”

He rolled his eyes. “On holiday with her friends. Thank goodness. I needed a break from her.”

My Mum finally sat down with us and spoke. “Look, I know I don’t really know you but why are you with her if you’re relieved to be away from her?” I looked down and laughed to myself as she had asked the question on my mind.

“Look, she was cool when we first started dating but then she became so clingy. Every time I tried to hang out with anyone she would pull me away to do something with her. Yet, underneath the clinginess she’s great. She makes me laugh, she um.. she’s kind and nice.”

I could hear the guys snickering. “Okay, well she’s nice to me.”

Eric spoke. “Of course she’s nice to you. You’re starting to get what she wants. Fame and money.”

Ouch.

“It’s true! Would I lie? You have known me long enough to know I would speak up if I think something is up with someone you’re dating. I didn’t like her from the start, I don’t like her now. She’s an out of business model, if we become big and you’re dating her as soon as she gets something out of it she’ll leave you. I know i’m being harsh but I know i’m not the only one who thinks it. Not to mention she treats us all like shit. Did you see her death staring Amy when she was here? Every time she kissed you she looked directly at her with a smug look on her face. She was flaunting you.”

“That’s not true... is it? Amy?” He looked at me as I put my head up.

“It’s true, but can we please not do this now. I just want to enjoy my birthday with no arguments! Okay?!” I had no idea where that outburst came from but it made me get out of my seat and storm up to my bedroom.

I didn’t bother to shut the door behind me as I flopped onto my bed I screamed into my pillow.

I could hear Anthony’s muffled voice, “wrong time to bring it up buddy.”

“I’m sorry. Sorry Thomas, we were on the subject of her and I had it all bottled up for a while it kind of just came out.”

“Why didn’t you guys just tell me you didn’t like her?”

“We wanted to but you seemed so happy with her that we didn’t want to ruin it.”

I heard Thomas sigh. “You know what. No, i’m sorry. I got into it way too quick I didn’t really get to know her before we dated. Don’t worry, and don’t think this is because of what you said, i’m going to break up with her when she gets back. I can’t handle having someone cling to me that much.”

Pause. “Was she really death staring Amy?” I heard no response but I assumed someone had nod.

I heard Colton speak. “Amy felt really uncomfortable. I don’t know how you didn’t notice. When you weren’t talking to Taylor you couldn’t keep your eyes off of her.”

I heard a creak at my door and when I turned around Eric was standing there.

“I’m so sorry I ruined your mood.” I wiped away my tears.

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault. I just have a lot of built up emotions and I think they sort of just decided to come out today.” He wiped away a tear from my cheek and hugged me.

“Just forget it ever happened. We’re going to take you out tonight and you’re going to forget any of this ever happened.”

“You know i’m still not legal drinking age right?” He laughed.

“I know, I didn’t mean get drunk. I meant it’ll just take your mind off of it.” I smiled.

“Right.”

“Now come back downstairs. Everything’s been resolved.”

“But seeing Thomas is still awkward for me.”

“It’s only awkward if you make it that way.”

I pout. “Ugh. You’re right. I hate it when you’re right.” He laughed.

“C’mon.” I grabbed his hand that he had held out and he gave me a piggy back down the stairs.

“Sorry for the delay. We had some technical difficulties. The waterworks are fixed and the frown has been turned upside down. The birthday girl is now back in business.” I laughed at his absolutely horrific attempt to make a joke but it made everyone laugh so he did his job.

I looked around and noticed that Mr Mohawk had disappeared.

“Where’s Thomas?”

Anthony pointed outside the front door and I heard his voice become louder.

“Look! You’re just my girlfriend! You have no right to tell me who I can and can’t hang out with. It’s her bloody birthday!” He either had his phone extremely loud or Taylor was yelling, or it was a combination of the two, because I could almost hear her clearly.

“Excuse me?! Well, how about this.. i’m now ‘just’ your EX girlfriend.”

“Fine!” He hung up the phone and everyone tried to make quick conversation as he walked in looking upset.

“Yes. Taylor and I are now over. Happy?” He looked around at the guys.

“No.” Anthony said. “We’re not because now you aren’t.. but you weren’t genuinely happy with her either. So until you date a girl who is genuine and likes you for you then we’ll be happy. This is what we we’re trying to avoid.”

He knew Anthony was right so he just nod his head as he let out a sigh. “I’m sorry. I know you guys were just looking out for me. Thanks.” He was a lot calmer now.

My Mum had disappeared into the kitchen and when she came back out she was smiling at me.

“Why are you smiling and acting weird?” She laughed.

“Well, your father, brother and I thought that since you won’t have your own one to use we’d get you one.” She placed a set of keys down in front of me and I noticed the Audi symbol.

“A car?! Shit, Mum and it’s an Audi. You really shouldn’t have. How did you pay for it?! These cars are so expensive Mum. Thank you but wow...” She smiled.

“Well, we got a little help from RedOne. We called Anthony a few weeks back and when RedOne heard it was your birthday and what we wanted to get you he insisted on helping us pay for it.”

“Shit guys. I don’t deserve any of this.” I was crying now from happiness and a little sadness.

My Mum hugged me and I could see Anthony tearing up.

“After all of the stuff that you’ve been through you definitely deserve it. Especially when I was going through a rough time and you looked after me. This is first birthday you’ve let us celebrate in 3 years so we wanted to make it special.”

I hugged my Mum again and I was now crying on her shoulder.

“Thank you. All of you. For everything.” I was speaking in between sobbing. “It means the world to me that you could all be here to celebrate with me. Every single one of you.” I stopped and looked at Thomas who smiled at me.

I wiped my tear stained cheeks & eyes and smiled. “Okay. I think that we have the emotional part of the day out of the way.”

They all laughed and Anthony smiled.

“Now, it’s time for the fun part of the day.” I looked at him confused.

“We knew were coming back for your birthday as well as your graduation ages ago so we planned a few things for you.” I smiled

“You guys are so sneaky! So where are we going?”

“Let’s just say, you only need to wear comfortable clothes and I hope your tolerance for pain is good.”

My eyebrows came together worried. “Oh no. I have a feeling I know where we’re going.”

Anthony laughed. “Just go get dressed and we’ll be waiting for you.”

I changed out my pj's and head downstairs in leggings, a warm hoodie and my converse.

“Let’s do this ish!” I laughed as we all head out to the cars and made our way to, well, wherever we were going.

I had been blindfolded the whole way there so I had no clue where we were when the car stopped.

I was so uncoordinated with walking without my sight that Thomas had to put me on his back as he walked to where we were headed.

I could see through a tiny crack at the bottom of the blindfold and I noticed a dirt path underneath us.

“Oh my gosh. We’re exactly where I thought we were going.”

Thomas laughed. “And where is that exactly?”

He stopped and once he had put me down he took my blindfold off to reveal a paintball course in front of me.

“YES!” I hugged Thomas and jumped up and down! “I LOVE YOU GUYS!”

Thomas was laughing and I apologised as I pulled away.

“Sorry. I’ve been wanting to go paint balling for so long now!”

We walked over the guy who was waiting for us and we put our outfits on.

He split us up into two groups. I was with Eric and Joey. Then there was Anthony, Lauren, Thomas and Colton.

I looked around “Hey. We’re at an unfair advantage. The teams are uneven!”

“No they’re not!” My heart stopped as I heard his voice and I spun around.

I ran towards the figure and jumped into his open arms as he picked me up and spun me around. “JOSH!? JOSH!”

I was crying again, happy tears of course.

“I’ve missed you so much!” He kissed my head as we walked towards the rest of the group who looked confused, well except for Lauren and Anthony who knew exactly what was going on.

He walked over to Lauren and hugged her. “Hey cuz!” He turned to Anthony.

“Hey man. Better be treating my cousin and sister well.”

“Oh don’t worry. He has been.” They both turned to smile at me.

“Ah, my little sister isn’t so little anymore. Look at you, you’ve surprisingly grown taller.”

I laughed. “Of course. Not as tall as you. You got Dad’s genes, I unfortunately got Mum’s.”

I saw him cough at mention of our Dad. “Sorry.”

He smiled. “It’s okay?”

Joey looked confused. “But your Dad’s short.”

I looked at Anthony who was shaking his head at him but I waved him off.

“It’s okay Anthony. Joey, our real Dad was tall.”

He looked down. “Shit. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. We’re over it. Happened just over 3 years ago everything’s all good now.” I put two thumbs up and scrunched up my face in a smile.

I turned to my brother. “Well, you better get a suit on so we can start.”

He put his suit on and we began the paintball fight.

We had each planned on the one person we’d go for.

My brother was assigned to Lauren, Joey was going for Anthony, Eric was going for Colton and I had my eye on Thomas.

I had him in my sight when I was attacked by Anthony and I ran away whilst trying to defend myself.

I hid behind one of the barrels as I look for Thomas but I couldn’t see him.

I stood up to get a better view of the course. The area we were playing in was in the middle of the bushes and there were variations of barrels, fences and hay so there was a lot of places he could be.

I was walking sideways slowly when all of a sudden a set of arms pulled on my waist so I fell back into a pile of hay.

“Ouch!” I was lying there looking around for who had pulled me and as I looked up Thomas was standing in front of me with his paintball gun pointed at my stomach.

“Pull that trigger and you’ll regret it.” He had a smirk on his face and as he pulled the trigger hitting me in the stomach with a paintball I hissed.

“Oh. So that’s how you wanna play. Okay.” I laughed and grabbed his gun pulling him down next to. Once he was done I rolled over and sat on his stomach and pulled out my mini paintball gun and held it on his arm.

I pulled it away so it wasn’t so close and I pulled the trigger.

He let out a hiss and I laughed.

“Told you you’d regret it.” He rolled me off his stomach and took his turn sitting on my stomach.

“We can do this all day, but I don’t think you’re going to win.” He chuckled.

“You’re one cocky dude, you know that?” He laughed and I pushed him off of me before running off.

I could hear him behind me and I felt him as well as she shot a number of paintballs at my back.

I turned around and stopped behind a wall and held my gun out shooting at him but he kept running.

I turned to run before he grabbed my waist again pulling me down with him as he fell.

I landed on top of him laughing and I could feel him laughing as well.

He looked up at me smiling. He slowly put his hand on the side of my face and slid it around to the back oh my head pulling my face closer to his.

I smiled as his face got closer to mine and his whole body twitched as I shot him in the side.

“OW! That was low!” He was laughing while holding his hip.

I got up when my team ran past.

“AMBUSH! RUN AMY!” I looked to my left and I saw them running towards me.

Eric was laughing as he ran back to grab my hand and he pulled me behind a giant wall.

I peaked past the wall to see Anthony picking Thomas up. I held out my gun and shot Anthony right in the leg.

Eric pulled me back quickly before they saw me.

By the end of paint balling each team had ambushed each other leaving us all covered in paint.

When we all got home the guys pulled their shirts off to reveal red patches and there was already some bruising.

When I pulled my hoodie off & my singlet up I had a massive bruise already on my stomach from where Thomas shot me.

“Thomas! Look at where you shot me!” He walked over leaning down to get a good look at it before poking it.

I managed to slap him where I shot him on the arm before he got away.

“Ow!” I laughed at him as he cringed.

“I think this a great photo op! Hey Mum! Can you please take a photo of this?!”

She walked in and grabbed my phone as all of us posed for the photo.

I decided I would put it on instagram and I tagged everyone in it.

“So, now that we’re all looking like we’ve been beat up, where are we going tonight?”

“We’ve planned something at my house.” Lauren said.

“Going to have a club atmosphere that you’ll actually be able to go into. I invited a bunch of your old friends from school and your dance class and I invited some of my friends just to make the crowd a little bigger.”

“Sweet! Sounds like it’s going to be pretty rad! I’m excited!”

“You should be! It’s going to be INSANE!” She sung insane and I laughed.

“Well, we’re all going to go home and get ready. Oh, Thomas is going to have to get ready here. Is that okay?” Anthony looked at me.

“Yeah. I’ll use my bathroom and he can use my parents. They’ve gone away for the week so the house is all mine.”

“Sweet. Goodbye my love. We shall see you later on tonight.”

“Bye guys!” I shut the door behind me and Thomas was leaning up against the back of the couch looking at me with his shirt still off.

“Wait... how are you going to get ready if you don’t have any clothes with you?” He smiled.

“Well. They were at Anthony’s house next door until your Mum went and got them and brought them here before she left.”

“Oh. Sneaky.” I laughed.

“Well, i’m going to have a shower. I’ll show you where my parents room is.”

I took him upstairs and left him in my parents bathroom while I went into mine.

I had blow dried & curled my hair and I was now doing my make up in nothing but a strapless bra and underwear.

I heard a creak behind me and I jumped back as I saw Thomas going through his bag and he looked guilty.

“Sorry! I though the door was closed.” He covered his eyes.

After my shock had worn off I laughed. “It’s okay. I mean look at you. You’re only in a towel so I guess we’re even.”

He laughed. “I guess so.”

I noticed he had stopped laughing as he was looking at the back of my legs. I looked and I knew he was staring at the two long shiny scars that went across both legs just under my bum.

He noticed I was looking at him when he looked away. “Sorry.”

I smiled. “Don’t be.”

I saw his eyes flickering to them every so often and I finally sighed and smiled once my make up was done.

“Do you want to know how it happened? I said sitting on the bed in front of where he was crouched down as he got dressed.

“If you want me to know.”

“Well, about two years ago, two weeks before my birthday and just after my friends had got their drivers licenses we had gone to a friend of ours party. We all had a curfew of 12am and we were pushing it way too close so we ended up leaving the party. My friend who was driving was a bit of a worry wart so she was going a little over the limit to get home as quickly as possible. We were driving and we had arrived at the traffic lights which where green to go but as we went through and idiot drunk driver came speeding around the bend and crashed into the back of the car on the side I was on. Our car spun and ended up flipping a few times which has left me with scars on my head which you can see. But my legs were crushed between the front and back seats and something sharp must have come out because it cut the back of my legs open. My friends both had numerous broken bones and I lost a lot of blood. The doctors said I would probably not be able to dance ever again but thankfully I did. It was a miracle.”

He hadn’t taken his eyes off me the whole time I was speaking and stood up sitting next to me.

“Crap. Where are your friends now?”

“They both moved to Australia. They’re twins.” I laughed.

“Oh. Well, i’m glad you survived.” I smiled.

“Me too.” He stood up and he started to put his clothes on as I flopped back onto the bed.

“So, is it too personal for me to ask why you haven’t celebrated your birthday in 3 years?”

I sighed and thought about it. “Well. On my 15th birthday I didn’t because my Mum found out Dad was cheating on her and he left us 1 week before my birthday. My 16th was because of the car crash. I was in hospital for a while going through rehab. And last year was because I didn’t feel like it.”

He looked back at me like he was confused by something. “How have you had all of this bad shit happen to you & you’re still smiling?”

I laughed. “I learnt that, as cheesy as it sounds, every 60 seconds you’re sad is a minute waisted that you could be happy. And I wasn’t moving forward or getting anywhere while I was unhappy so I decided to spend my time smiling and laughing and making the most of my life rather than losing precious time.”

“Wow. Deep.” I laughed at him as I slipped into my dress.

My dress was skin tight at the top which was detailed with gold studs and beads and no straps. The bottom of it was a plain black skirt that flared out at my waist.

I had decided to pair my dress with my tie up ankle boots and as I turned around to look in the mirror Thomas was staring at me.

“What?” I smiled.

“You look um.. really good. Wow.” I giggled.

“Thanks. You look great as well.” I looked him from top to bottom. He had a leopard print button up shirt paired with a black tie and leather jacket. On the bottom he just wore plain black jeans and Doc Martins.

“Thank you. Should we head downstairs?”

“Sure. Just let me grab my bag.” I grabbed my small bag from the end of my bed as he followed me down the stairs.

Just as we reached the bottom of the stairs Anthony and Lauren walked in.

“Perfect timing!” I smiled. “We literally just finished getting ready.”

Lauren linked her arm with mine as the boys walked in front of us to the car.

“Are you ready to party?!” She yelled!

I laughed. “SO ready.”

“Let’s do this!” I laughed at her as we got in the car. This was going to be a great night!

We arrived at Lauren’s absolutely massive house that had a patio that overlooked the whole of Seattle. It was incredible. She had acted in a movie on Disney and she was still doing some acting stuff so she had a lot of money.

As we stepped in Thomas had his arm around my shoulder and began shouting “WADDUP?!” at people that i’d never met before.

He then stopped and shouted. “Make way, the birthday girl has arrived!”

Everyone was cheering and it felt like one of those college parties you see in movies.

People who I assumed where already a bit tipsy came up to me and where hugging me wishing me a Happy Birthday.

Thomas had left me to hang out with a group of people and I was pulled into another.

They were all talking about... well, I couldn’t really understand them over the music but whatever it was it must have been fun.

As it grew darker we moved out onto the patio and we were all dancing and there was a lot of dirty dancing going on.

I was dancing with Lauren and a girl whose name I hadn’t quite caught but she was very friendly.

Somehow during the dancing I had managed to be pushed right into the centre of everyone.

By this point in the night I was on the verge of being drunk so I was happy dancing with whoever grabbed me.

At one point in the night a guy named Lachy had pulled out of the crowd and back inside the house into the lounge room where some of the people where dancing and drinking.

He began smooth talking me as I felt his hand rubbing my knee.

His face began inching closer to mine and as his lips made contact with mine his hand slide further up my leg, which even though I was off my face, still made me feel uncomfortable.

“Hey! Uh-uh. Nope. I’m not that kind of girl!” I grabbed his hand but as I did he pulled it away and pulled me into him by my waist as he kissed me again.

“Dude.. no, means no!” I shouted but he started kissing down my neck.

I tried pushing myself away from his sweaty body but his arm was around my waist pretty tight.

I was about to hit him when I heard Anthony and Lauren.

“Hey, buddy. Leave my sister alone. She said no!”

He grabbed the guy by his shirt and pulled him up off of the couch and I didn’t quite catch what he said to him but the guy disappeared just as Thomas appeared.

He sat down on the couch next to me and put his arm around me as Anthony sat on the one seater with Lauren on his lap. I looked away and as I looked back they were in an intense make out session.

I turned to Thomas and as I did I for some reason decided to put my legs across Thomas’.

He eyed them for a brief moment and he rest his arm over them. I noticed he had lightly started stroking the side of my knee but it was nice.

I flopped my head down on his shoulder and sighed.

He lifted my head up so he could tell me something but our almost conversation was interrupted by the sound of something shattering.

Lauren looked pissed as she stood up and saw that someone had knocked the punch bowl off of the table.

Thomas never made an attempt to say what was on his mind and our conversation was very hard to remember.

Once everyone had left it was just myself, Lauren and the boys.

Anthony and Lauren collected up the presents that had been left for me and they packed them into the car as they drove myself and Thomas back to my place.

Anthony helped me walk into my house as Thomas walked ahead and Lauren followed behind with the presents.

They both gave Thomas and I some panadol and water as a hangover cure before leaving.

“Happy Birthday lil sis. I love you so much and i’m so glad to see you finally enjoying another birthday.” He kissed my forehead and hugged as did Lauren before leaving.

Thomas had already gone up stairs and he was in my room changing into his pj’s.

I took my shoes, dress and make up off before slipping into some pajama shorts and a singlet.

I lay down in my bed and I watched Thomas as he changed which normally would have made us both feel awkward but we were too drunk to care.

When he was ready for bed he kissed me on the cheek goodnight before heading in the direction of the guest bedroom but I stopped him by grabbing his wrist.

“No. Sleep with me tonight.” I tugged on his arm and he willingly slid into my okay, queen sized bed.

I looked at him as the street light shone through the window, lighting up both of our faces.

He smiled at me. “Amy...” he took in a deep breath. “I want you to know that I really like you. Like, really really like you. You’re the coolest girl i’ve ever know. You don’t take shit from anyone and you’re just generally fun to hand out with.” I was surprised I understood that through the drunken slur.

“I really like you too Thomas. Apart from Eric & Anthony, you’re one of the most decent guys i’ve met in a long time.”

I saw him smile and his face came closer and closer to mine but I stopped him.

“No.”

He looked sad. “What is it?”

“I don’t want our first kiss to be one we will hardly be able to remember.”

“Oh. Fair enough.” He sighed and wrapped his arms around my waist as I faced my back to him.

I felt him lightly kiss my shoulder. “Goodnight birthday girl.”

“Goodnight Thomas.” And with that we both fell asleep, our drunken confession ringing in my ears.