Paint You Wings.

⊱⊱ Riley Van Acker ⊰⊰

I awoke to the sound of poppers and pillows being thrown onto me. Once I'd sat up whilst rubbing my eyes, trying to get my brain to comprehend what was happening - I realised that the two most important people in my life were grinning at me like crazy fools.

I managed an identical grin, shaking my head as the younger one practically shoved a red velvet cake in my hands. There were two candles inserted in the cake, both of the same number. Blowing out the fire that lighted the candles, I let Linc steal the cake away from me as he scurried out of the room, Charlie yelling insults after him.

So I've lived another year. Big whoop.

Without bothering to get changed into proper clothes, I went about doing my business in the bathroom and then left my bedroom while pulling my hair into a high ponytail. Entering the kitchen, I was met with the sight of the two sat across each other while eating the cake that was supposedly meant for me. Then again, I knew that Linc probably begged Charlie to make a red velvet cake till the younger boy relented and did so.

"We couldn't help ourselves." Linc shrugged with a mouthful of cake in his mouth.

I scrunched my nose up in disgust, using my hand to shut his mouth as I walked further into the kitchen, pouring myself a cup of coffee. Coffee was vital to start a day. Joining them at the table, I was served with a slice of cake immediately, followed by their anticipating stares in my direction. Taking a bite and flashing them two thumbs up at the wonderful creation that Charlie had baked, they smiled widely and returned back to their own pieces of goodness.

"So," Charlie turned to look at me, swallowing the bit of cake he still had in his mouth."How's being twenty-two make you feel?"

I fake gagged with a displeased expression on my face, hoping that they'd get the message that I hated I was turning older as each year passed. They got the message - laughing heartily in response.

Sure, being twenty-two wasn't that old, but whenever I thought about it, I hadn't been a teenager for three years. That made me feel old.

Placing the dish I'd used for the cake into the sink, I pecked the two boys on their cheeks with another grateful smile before heading back to my bedroom. The café opened at about nine in the morning and so we usually awoke at half past seven; to get everything set up. Charlie and I would usually be baking the cakes and pies that would be put in the display case to be purchased while Linc would go to the nearby market to pick up whatever ingredients for sandwiches or pastas that we were short of. However, since I was the only one in college, the routine switched up once in a while.

Getting a proper shower and then pulling on the first outfit I could pull together - a pair of worn skinny jeans and a Green Day t-shirt that I'd cut up so that it was sleeveless and rather cropped - I made my way back out, grabbing my laptop case as I went along.

School wasn't something that I loved. I just happened to be one of those kids who was always naturally good at school, and so I got offered a scholarship to a local University for an Engineering programme. I only accepted it because Linc and Ina convinced me that it'd be a good thing to fall back on in the future. Rick, when he was still alive, just looked at me and smiled, saying that I should do whatever I wanted. I wanted to just work in the café and draw to my heart's content but I figured that Linc and Ina had a good point - so I accepted the scholarship.

I didn't even know why I still bothered heading to school, anyway. Exams were in a week or so, and the school had already declared it a 'study week', meaning that the students were allowed to stay home to do their own self revision. It's not like I had that many friends in school that wanted to hang out with me. I knew a lot of people, though. Like, we'd help each other with our homework and lab work, and make idle 'conversation', but we never really hung out with each other apart from while doing school work. They were friends, I guess, merely because we got on well enough.

Heaving a heavy internal sigh, I walked into campus, immediately noticing the massive stage that was set up in the middle of the field. Furrowing my eyebrows, my eyes zoomed in on the three words printed clearly and in a very large font on the backdrop of the stage. All Time Low.

Arms snaking around my waist made me jump as I squirmed away from their touch, spinning around to send a hard glare in their direction, only for it to soften drastically as a fond smile came to my lips. The lead singer of the band himself stood in front of me with a cheeky grin plastered on his handsome face, a few other guys and a girl laughing loudly from a couple feet behind him.

"Come meet my friends," Alex beckoned, tugging on my upper arm as his own hand gradually slid down to meet mine, interlocking our fingers together.

"Hey guys, this is Riley." He nudged me with his elbow, though our hands were still interlocked. "Ri, this is Rian, Cassadee, Vinny and you already know Jack."

Jack pranced forward suddenly - he literally pranced forward, much reminding me of a deer - and took my other hand in his hand, planting a kiss on the back of it, even though that hand was currently clutching a laptop case. Though his actions were extremely dramatised and probably done to annoy and/or embarrass Alex, I couldn't help the light hue to pink coming to my cheeks.

"D'aww, look 'Lex. She's blushing!" Jack cheered, pointing at me as he smirked triumphantly.

Alex scowled, socking his friend in the shoulder rather playfully. "Keep it in your pants, Baratwat."

Jack merely rolled his eyes, waving him off as he continued to rub the area that had just been abused. "Oh, sod off, Gaskank."

"Why you little," Alex never finished his sentence for he let go of my hand in favour of pouncing onto his lanky best friend, tackling him to the ground as they wrestled about childishly.

I couldn't help but smile. That was one thing I really liked about him. He had two sides of himself - maybe even more. He was like Shrek, if you will, with many layers. He could be serious, he could be wise, but he could also be childish and playful.

"Hey, it's nice to finally meet you!" The only rose among the rather good-looking set of thorns smiled prettily, outstretching an arm a bit, offering me a hug. I accepted her small embrace, pulling back to smile at the beautiful lady. "I'm Cass."

The man with the buzz cut gave me a one-armed hug as well, pulling back to smile a toothy grin in my direction. And my God, his teeth were perfect. How are those even real?

"I'm Rian." He smiled again. "Alex has told us a lot about you, you know." He said with a knowing smirk and a nod over in Alex's direction, where he was still on the ground with Jack, only now with the other guy - Vinny, I presumed - trying to attack them both.

"Rian stop telling her shit that isn't true!" Alex yelled, getting out of Jack's headlock and scrambling to his feet with dishevelled hair.

Rian raised an eyebrow, turning to face him. "So, you mean, you don't find her to be absolutely beautiful and kind and one of the nicest people that you've ever met?"

Alex blushed, bringing a hand to the back of his neck. "I, uh - I, UGH, shut up." He groaned, walking over to me to randomly hug me from behind as he buried his face in my neck. He was only about three or four inches taller than myself so he didn't have to hunch his back till he looked like the Hunchback of Notre-Dame to do that.

I was surprised at his sudden gesture of affection but, then again, after hanging out with him, I quickly realised that he was a rather touchy person. Skin-to-skin contact with him while having a conversation, or whatever, made him instantly relax, should he be tense for any reason. That didn't mean I didn't blush as he hugged me, though.

Jack snickered and opened his mouth, probably about to point out my blush once again, but was interrupted when someone walking by from a couple feet behind him. "Happy birthday, Riley!" Someone who shared most of my lectures with me exclaimed, blowing me a kiss.

To humour him, I caught it in my hand, bringing it to my heart as I fluttered my eyelids - making the bloke laugh. I grinned back, giving him a two-fingered salute and a nod, him doing the same in response.

"How's it feel like being twenty-two?" Someone else spoke, and I turned to see a very pretty, smiling female that was holding hands with an as attractive male. Told you I knew a lot of people.

I shrugged my shoulders, moving my free hand about in a 'so-so' motion, as she laughed, wishing me a happy birthday while the male grinned at me with a wave. Hands spun me around and I was turned to face a frowning Alex.

"It's your birthday?" He asked. I nodded. "How come you didn't tell me? I would've gotten you something." Alex pouted his bottom lip adorably, making me roll my eyes.

I shook my head while waving him off, hoping that he'd get my message of 'it really doesn't matter.'

I guess he got what I was trying to say since he frowned deeper, his bottom lip still pouted out adorably. I rolled my eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time in the span of a few minutes as I stepped out of his embrace. I lifted up my laptop case and then nodded over in the direction of where the school's library was, to which he nodded and hugged me goodbye before he let me off. With a wave to the group, I walked towards the library, biting back a smile as I heard his friends teasing him about how he looked like a kid who didn't get what he wanted for Christmas.

A few hours later, when I'd had enough of sitting on my bum and highlighting important texts, I left the library, only to slam right into someone's toned body. I stumbled back a couple steps but before I could fall, the person caught me, pulling me back into an upright position. Letting out a small breath, I glanced up to be met with familiar warm brown eyes.

Alex grinned sheepishly at me, letting go of my arm as he brought his hands behind his back. My eyes followed his movement, eventually noticing something hovering over his head. I raised an eyebrow, pointing to the balloon that was currently above his head as he shut his eyes and groaned.

"It was supposed to be a surprise!" He groaned in exasperation.

I only blinked, for the balloon he was trying to hide from me, to 'surprise' me with, had the words: 'congratulations, it's a girl!' printed clearly.

Alex glanced up, lowering the balloon as he let out a hearty laugh. "It was the only one I could find." He admitted, still giggling lightly. "But here, happy birthday. And congratulations on your apparent child." He smirked, making me smirk right back with a roll of my eyes as I tied the balloon to my wrist.

He bit on his bottom lip, digging through his pockets before he pulled out something else. "I got you this, too. I mean, I know it's not amazing but I didn't know what to get you." Alex spoke softly, handing me what looked to be a cheap metal ring with a skull that was identical to the one on his neck, behind his ear, atop of the ring.

"I figured, you know, since you've helped me loads with the songs and stuff and, uh, it's a little representation of, like, our band, and, like, yeah. I mean, you've been someone, uh, significant in my life and with how you've been helping me with the song writing, I thought the best thing I could get you was, uh, that, uh yeah. I know it's not much but, uh, I made it in like an hour, so uh," he babbled on rather nervously, only stopping once I used my hand to cover his mouth.

Alex pulled my hand away with a chuckle, his cheeks tinging red. "So... Uh... D'you like it?" He questioned rather shyly. "And I'm sorry if it doesn't fit. I kinda got the ring from those trinket machine things. I would've gone for a necklace but... I didn't have enough time. I had like, an hour and a half and I spent a majority of that looking for a balloon." Alex grinned sheepishly.

I smiled, sliding it on each of my fingers of my right hand before figuring out it fit only on my fourth finger. I wiggled my fingers in his direction and he cracked a grin, slinging his arm around my shoulder as we started walking. I pointed to the skull, giving him a questioning grin and he smiled shyly in response.

"Apparently my dad has some metal cutting tools and shit in the garage so yeah. It's a soft type of metal so it's really easy to cut, but the skull... It was so fucking hard."

I couldn't help myself. I pulled my phone out, opening up a blank note and typed, 'that's what she said.' I let him read it and as his eyes quickly scanned the words, he burst out into laughter, almost to the extent of having to bend over while clutching his stomach.

"You have a perverted mind, woman." He laughed, drawing me in closer as he, mindlessly, sponged a kiss to my temple.

I froze for a moment. I wanted to pull away from him, to start distancing myself before I got too close. But even I knew it was already too late. So I stayed in his embrace, wrapping my free hand around him to grip his waist as we walked out of campus, with him telling me stories about how excited he was to play the show later that night, how Jack wouldn't shut up about wanting to hang out with me and basically anything that came to his mind.

And honestly?

This moment right here. This was perfect. I liked this.