Don't Give up on Me

*Stay tuned for an AN at the end!*

The events leading up to my birthday were nothing compared to how my life had been the past few months. I put in application after application for a job, I helped Ryan look for an apartment whenever he wasn't working, and I tried to spend time with my friends whenever I had downtime. Or, whenever they had downtime. They've all been so busy lately, especially Zacky. Violet had gotten a job at the studio she danced at, Cara was moving into her new L.A. apartment, and Charlotte was helping her sister pack to go back to England. I almost felt like they were ignoring me, but I shrugged that thought off; I was just being pessimistic.

Right?

That's what I told myself, anyways. So it was no surprise to me that when I suggested we all hang out for my birthday, they all responded with 'maybe' and 'I'll try.'

This birthday had a lot of significance for me. My 16th was miserable in the hospital I was stuck in. Hell, I didn't even think I'd make it to see my 16th, let alone this one, too. I want to celebrate the fact that I did live to see another year. I want to celebrate that I've found happiness in my life, even when it gets tough. But, I guess I'd just have to wait and see what happens.

When I did awake on my birthday, things felt different. Was it the first birthday that I actually felt my age? No, I reasoned quickly. I still very much like me. But things still felt, for lack of a better word, different.

I rolled over and face the door to my bedroom wide open. Ryan had to of been in here; I make it a point to keep my door closed, especially when I'm sleeping. I yawn, stretch, and finally get out of bed, lethargically making my descent downstairs. I smelled coffee brewing, meaning Ryan was most likely in the kitchen.

But, when I arrived, he wasn't there. What was there, however, was two bouquets of flowers-- one bouquet had red and white roses arranged beautifully in a tall vase, the other a batch of orange tulips, the same shade as my hair.

I read the card from the roses first. "Sorry I cannot be there to celebrate your birthday, mi hija, but we'll celebrate in due time. I love you, have a wonderful day. -Mom" I smiled, another overwhelming wave of longing to see my mother hitting me. I'd had plenty of those these past few weeks.

I moved on to the tulips, and nearly Aww'd out loud at the familiar sloppy handwriting. "Sorry I can't be there today, but tonight will hopefully make up for it. -Zack" it said. My eyes stung, but in a good way. This boy, I thought with a smile. If I ever had a doubt about him before, it was definitely erased now.

I realized then that the kitchen was still empty, and it was only me in the house. Oh. I went to coffee maker and poured a cup and fixed it to my liking before I saw the note stuck to the appliance, saying that he had to run some errands today and had to meet with his academic advisor, making him busy all day.

I sipped my coffee, wanting to sigh. I really only had tonight to look forward to. Might as well go back to bed. I put my coffee in the microwave to heat up for later and trudged back upstairs.

I hadn't been asleep for very long when the sound of my phone ringing brought me back. I groaned.

"Hello?" I answer, trying to conceal my irritation as I spoke.

"Happy birthday!" I heard Charles, Violet, and another person scream. "Wake up! We're coming to get you in 15 minutes so make yourself decent."

"Where are we going?" I asked, sitting up.

"That's for us to know and you to find out," she replies bluntly before hanging up.

Oh. I decided that I didn't have nearly enough time for a shower, so I used dry-shampoo in my hair quickly as I let my flat-iron heat up. Before I knew it, Charlotte and Violet were yelling loudly as they ran upstairs and into my room.

"You're not even dressed? Jesus, Andi, hurry up! We have a schedule to stick to!" Violet yells, sounding frustrated.

"Actually, this is good, because now we can make sure she dresses appropriately," I heard another familiar voice say. I recognized it as Serena's automatically.

Wait, what? "Am I dead?" I ask, temporarily putting the flat iron down and turning to make sure I'd heard correctly.

"No?" Charlotte says, looking at me as if I had a second head.

"I thought you all-"

"We really don't have time for this," Serena says, handing me clothes to wear. "You have five minutes. Move."

"What are we even do-" I attempt to ask, but was shushed once again.

"You'll find out soon enough!" Violet snaps, pushing clothes into my arms and turning me towards the closet to change.

I looked at the clothes she'd given me. I had a white thin strapped tank, a black vest I'd forgotten that I owned, and a pair of black shorts. Where in the hell were we going?

************************

"I still don't know why you guys couldn't tell me we were coming here," I tell the girls as we walk around the large mall. "You all acted as if you were trying to smuggle me into Mexico or something."

"We're under strict orders, Andi," Violet says, sipping on her juice.

"From who?" I ask in confusion.

"It's classified," Cara says, stopping in front of the Express clothing store and looking torn about whether or not she wanted to go inside. "Maybe I'll just look..." she mutters, walking inside.

"This won't end well," Charlotte sighs, following after the blonde. Violet had gone to look, too, leaving Serena and I alone together as we, too, entered the expensive store.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Andi, if it's about today-"

"It is, but not in the way that you're thinking," I assure her. She turns and gives me her full attention. "Since when do you hang out with Charlotte and the girls again?"

"I told you, no more enemies," she says simply, picking up a T-shirt and examining it. "Plus, for today to go smoothly, I kind of needed to be able to communicate with them without hostility."

She then stops herself, muttering under her breath. "Will you help me find my size?" she changes the subject quickly, moving to a display of jeans.

I hadn't been this thrown off in my life. I had zero clue why they were all acting so strange, and in all honesty, it freaked me out a little. I tried to relax a bit more as the time went by, trying to enjoy myself; it was my birthday, after all.

I'd become distant when we sat in the food court, however, as they all reminisced about their middle school and freshman year, before Serena flipped. I couldn't be apart of the conversation, anyways, so I just stared at my light pink nails and zoned out.

"Andi?" I hear Cara's voice call to me expectantly, snapping out of my daze. "Did you hear me, dreamer?"

"No," I admitted.

"She must be thinking of Zack," Serena said with a grin. They all shared a look before looking back to me.

"God, you guys are acting weird," I said finally. "Can you please tell me what's going on?"

They all shook their heads. "Nope," the replied in unison.

I groaned. "Why?"

"Because we can't, that's why! You'll thank us later, trust me," Charlotte says, then looks at her watch. "Oh. We've gotta leave, it's almost five o'clock."

"We've been here five fucking hours?! Do you guys want to kill me? You've made me broke, and that's not helping me any since I'm in desperate need of a job," I exclaimed in astonishment.

"Chill out, you should be getting some birthday money from family, right?" Serena asks, leading the way to the parking garage.

"Yeah, my dad isn't exactly speaking to me much, so that's a no," I replied with a roll of my eyes. "He's also not happy that I've been using the money his parents deposited for Ryan and I these past few months for gas and my art supplies."

"Your Dad is ridiculous."

"Tell me about it."

We reach her shiny silver Jeep, a gift from her mother's parents for her birthday a couple of months ago. I sat in the back and leaned my head against the window, a little tired from walking around the mall a hundred times.

My phone buzzes twice in my pocket. I got it out and almost sighed out loud in relief.

"Just got off work. Meet at Markie's?" Zacky's text said. I didn't hesitate to reply to him and then tell Serena to drop me off at the record warehouse. She gladly complied, though she still acted weird; they all did. I was suspicious, but didn't have enough time to question it, since she'd parked in the lot of the warehouse next to Zack's car.

"Don't stay out too long," Violet said in a motherly way, making me smile.

"No promises."

"No, serio-"

Violet was cut off by Cara slapping a hand over her mouth. The blonde smiled sweetly. "Bye, Andi."

Fed up with their odd behavior, I was glad to be out of the car and in my boyfriend's arms instead.

"Happy birthday," he says with an easy smile. I felt my heartbeat quicken, still amazed that he could still have that effect he had on me the first time we met. "Tongue tied?"

I rolled my eyes. There it is. "No, I'm fine. Just... adjusting, really."

"From?"

"Serena and the girls have been acting so weird today. Not to mention that they're all best friends again..." I trailed off. "Come on, we've got-" I checked his watch before continuing. "- three and a half hours until my Dad will make me come back home. Let's do something."

"Fine, fine. Get in, we're going somewhere."

"Where to?"

"It's a secret."

I groaned. Everything seemed to be a secret today. Luckily, it was a short drive, and the place he took me to surprised me.

"I can't believe you took me back here. Do you really want to get arrested with me again?" I asked, lingering at the beginning of the dock.

"It's public property now. We've got nothing to worry about," he replies, pointing to the new sign. "But, it is your birthday, and if you're down-"

"I'm good, trust me," I cut in, grinning. "What's in the bookbag?"

"You'll know soon enough," he says, earning a bit of suspicion from me.  They're all up to something.

"I don't know if I trust you or not," I said quietly, joining him at the end of the dock. I slipped my shoes off and enjoyed the cool water on my feet.

"Why not? It's for you," he says, pulling out a box covered in stickers from Markie's; it was how they wrapped gifts. He uses his keys to cut along the tape before handing it to me.

"Zack, I... Wow," was all I could say as I admired the CD's within the small box.

"You said something about how you were getting the vinyl's of some of these, so I did some searching," he explains as I admired each one individually. "Except that one. You don't have that one at all."

"You remembered..." I murmured as I smiled down at the Green Day CD, the same one from last fall I'd found on our first trip together to Markie's. "How did-"

"I told you if you hid it under the Styx stuff, they'd never find it," he says, making me laugh. "Of course I remembered. You hardly ever shut the hell up about how this is only one not in your collection."

"This is so great, Z, thank you so much," I told him genuinely. "You're the best."

The smile on his face told me I had just unintentionally boosted his ego. I mentally shrugged it off; it wasn't a bad thing to do. I put the box down carefully and kissed him briefly before leaning against his shoulder and looking out at the deep blue water.

He and I talked for a while, since we hadn't properly done so since my Dad's public engagement to Laura. It was nice, because I'd honestly missed it. I'd missed him, which was strange, because we lived next door to each other after all. If I didn't need money for art supplies and to help my brother out whenever we move in together, I wouldn't get a job so I could be availible for things like this. But, I saw the importance of getting one; Zacky was working to move out by the end of our senior, and for his music. So I didn't mind that we hadn't seen more of each other. This made up for lost time.

"I can't wait to move out so I don't have to go along with my Dad's plans all the time. I miss hanging out with you like this," I said to him quietly, frowning.

"Yeah, he's pretty much crazy, babe," he agrees. "You'll come visit me at my new place right?"

"You found one?!" I asked. He nods, grinning. "That's amazing. Where's it at?"

"Its a couple of blocks away from here. Jason and MB found it. Them, Jimmy, and Matt Wendt are splitting the rent."

"That went downhill fast," I muttered. He laughed, picking up my distaste for the pothead.

"What do you have against him?" he asks. "He's not a bad guy!"

"He's such a creep! We can't even go to a show without him trying to pick up a lot lizard when we're leaving!"

"And how does that even matter?"

"It matters because they're practically fucking in the back of my car, Zack, he's disgusting."

"Oh, but when we do it you're totally fine?"

I blushed; he had me there. "That's different. We're not crawling with STD's like he is."

"You talk a lot of shit, you know that, right?" he laughs. "I promise you'll hardly even see him there, okay? Its going to be fine."

"Zack, it's only natural that I'm worried about how you and Jimbo are going to live with a fucking idiot in a few weeks," I told him calmly. "What happens if he gets you arrested for something serious? I can't come bail you out; I just turned 17 for Christ's sake! And your parents surely won't, since they said that when we got arrested that it'd be the last time they saved you from that. So, what will you do?"

He looked at me as if I were crazy. "You're reading way too far into this, Andi. I was just trying to help you lighten up, since its your birthday, babe."

"I was just saying. You're probably right, though," I replied quietly. "I'll keep my hatred for him repressed for now. Just tell him to leave me alone when I'm there and all will be good."

He laughs again. " 'Talking shit and demanding' should be under your special skills on your job applications. Maybe you'll get hired if you put them."

"Oh ha ha," I said sarcastically, making a face. "Just because you lied on yours doesn't mean I'll lie on mine."

"Let's be real here though: who has a job and who doesn't?"

"Let's be real here: who isn't getting laid tonight?"

"That's cold," he says as I laugh at the expression on his face.

"That was a trick question, because you've got to take me back to the Devil soon, so really, we're both suffering here," I said with a grim smile.

He looks at the time. "Shit, that's right. We should go."

I pouted slightly as he helped me up and handed me my gift once again. "Time to go back to Hell."

"Temporarily," he reminds me.

"Temporarily," I repeat in agreement, trying to keep my spirits up. Still, I climbed into his car with heavy reluctance and tried to keep my sighs at bay as we drove home.

When we arrived, it seemed as if no one was home-- until I realized that my Dad and brother both parked in the garage. "Want me to walk in with you?" he offers after I had yet to get out of the car.

"Yeah," I replied quietly, making him chuckle.

I unlocked the front door and found most of the lights downstairs completely off. "What the hell-"

"Surprise!"