Two weeks later, after Nathaniel and I had two more weekly sessions with Walton, he greenlit us being able to see each other outside of those scheduled sessions, which I'm sure Nathaniel was grateful for, considering he tried to use every excuse in the book before that to see me. He'd also been texting me more often than usual, like now.

Nathaniel: When can I see you?

"And with your...coming up in...and..."

I tried to focus on what Dylan was rambling on about as he paced in front of me while Ethan and I sat on the couch in my living room, trying to keep up, but the moment I saw Nathaniel's text, I stopped paying attention.

Me: Miss me already?

He responded immediately.

Nathaniel: No, why would you ask that?

I didn't get a chance to reply before he sent another message.

Nathaniel: Yes.

I laughed out loud, which unfortunately meant Dylan heard me, which meant he knew I wasn't paying attention to what he was saying.

"Stazi, are you even listening to me?" He snapped, crossing his arms against his chest.

"Yes," I lied, hoping he wouldn't test me.

"Then what was I saying?"

Shit.

"You were talking about..." I paused, wracking my brain for any piece of information I might have heard, but I came up with a steaming pile of nothing. "Okay, fine, you caught me."

Me: Brb, you got me in trouble; now I'm losing phone privileges, and I miss you too

Nathaniel: Dylan?

Me: Yup

"Like I was saying," Dylan continued, side-eyeing me until I put my phone away and gave him my undivided attention. "Your birthday is a week from today, and you haven't even told me what you wanted to do."

"I told you I didn't care what we did."

"And that answer is unacceptable. Do you want a big birthday party or a small one? Who do you want me to invite? Where would you want to go?"

"I'm fine with staying home and having a movie night with you, Ethan, and Nathaniel," I shrugged.

"Ugh, you're hopeless; never mind, I'll figure it out," he waved me off, then dropped in Ethan's lap dramatically. Ethan, without hesitation, started massaging his scalp to calm him down.

When the coast was clear, I pulled my phone back out.

Me: Come over.

Nathaniel: On my way.

Thirty minutes later, he was walking inside my apartment.

"Hi," I whispered.

"Hi," he lowered his head and kissed my cheek.

"Well, if it isn't Sir Nathaniel Asshat the third, welcome in." Dylan greeted him.

"Dylan," I warned. He promised he'd try to be nicer.

"Shit, sorry, it just came out."

"Good to see you too, Dylan," Nathaniel nodded his head politely in his direction as I grabbed his hand and guided him to the couch. It was weird seeing him being nice.

"Well, since you're here, maybe you can be useful," Dylan sat up.

I grabbed a blanket and curled into Nathaniel's side, resting my head on his shoulder while he wrapped his arm around me.

"So," Dylan continued. "Stazi's birthday is around the corner."

"Mhm."

"And I need help figuring out what to do, so do you have any ideas, Mr. Celebrity?"

"She'd probably want to have a movie night."

"That's exactly what I said," I whispered, flicking Dylan off.

He groaned and flopped his head back down on Ethan's lap. "You guys are fucking useless. This is her first birthday back with us, and you guys want to have a movie night? Something we do damn near every day? We need to celebrate this occasion, people!"

"I'm just grateful she's here at all," Nathaniel said, squeezing me tighter as if I was going to disappear at any given moment.

"Oh, I'm sure you are, Mr.—."

"Dylan, "I warned him again.

"Sorry."

Between Nathaniel and Dylan, I had no idea who was more protective.

"Well, we're gonna get going; enjoy yourselves, lovebirds; love you." Dylan got up and plopped a wet kiss on my cheek, most likely to annoy Nathaniel.

"Love you, Dyl. Bye, Ethan."

"Bye!"

As soon as they were gone, Nathaniel dragged me on his lap with my legs on either side of his thighs, pressing his forehead against mine. "I missed you," he murmured.

"I missed you too," I ran my fingers through his hair.

"I didn't think I'd get to celebrate another one of your birthdays with you."

"Me either," I sighed.

He pulled me closer as if I wasn't close enough. "The first year, I was too...gone to celebrate it, but the next three years, Nonna and I would bake a cake together and make wishes. Wish for your health and safety, wish for you to come back; mainly for you to come back."

God, this man had suffered almost as much as I did. "Looks like it worked," I tried to lighten the mood.

He chuckled. "It did."

"Do you want to stay over?"

"You'd let me?"

"Yes," I smiled.

"Then, of course."

"Just stay on your side of the bed."

"Amore, need I remind you the last time you said that you ended up--"

I covered his lips with my fingers. "Shut up."

~~~

Dylan and Nathaniel were up to something which I never thought would happen in a million years. Ever since Nathaniel had come over two days ago when Dylan was spiraling trying to figure out what to do for my birthday, Dylan had been acting very weird and secretive. On Tuesday, I caught him texting someone named 'Sir Asshat,' which was what he'd been calling Nathaniel lately, so that was my first clue. My second clue was when I overheard him talking on the phone on Wednesday, saying, "God, that's fucking genius. I'm starting to understand what she sees in you." On Thursday, I decided to confront Nathaniel about it while bringing him lunch to his office since I knew it was more than likely he skipped out on eating to get whatever work done. The man was the definition of a workaholic.

When I got to his floor, I barged into his office without bothering to knock, finding him staring at his computer screen while on the phone. "Didn't I tell you to knock before entering?" He snapped impatiently, not looking up to see who walked through the doors.

"No."

He almost broke his neck in the process of looking up at me, shock written all over his handsome face. "I'll call you back," he spoke into the phone, then hung up, not even giving the other person on the line time to respond.

"This is a surprise," he walked around his desk, over to me and pulled me into a hug then kissed my forehead. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I brought you lunch," I held up the brown paper bag that had his favorite sandwich and smoothie from a deli down the street.

"Thank you, amore," he kissed my forehead again, then walked back to his desk to eat. I followed, sitting down in the chair across from him. "How'd you know I hadn't eaten?"

I shrugged, smiling mischievously as he took a bite of the sandwich. "The same way I know you and Dylan are working together and planning something."

His chewing stopped for a fraction of a second, then resumed, but I didn't miss the way his lips tilted up into a smirk briefly. "What are you talking about?" He grabbed a napkin, dabbing it around his mouth to further hide his smile.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

He tilted his head, feigning confusion while taking another massive bite, chewing slowly so he didn't have to answer right away. "Do I?"

"Yes, you do, and I know it probably has something to do with my birthday." I snatched a napkin off his desk and reached over, wiping mayonnaise off his chin.

"What made you think I was his partner in crime out of all people?" He asked, taking a sip of the smoothie.

"Because, for one, he has someone in his phone named Sir Asshat, and you're the only person he's ever called that."

That one made him chuckle. "And your second reason?"

"I overheard him on the phone saying, 'God, that's fucking genius. I'm starting to understand what she sees in you.' Who else would he be talking to saying that?"

"I'm sure Dylan is a very well-known man, and there's a multitude of people he could've been talking to."

I narrowed my eyes but couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face. "You really want to play this game?"

"What game?"

"Nathaniel."

He grinned and leaned forward. "Anastazi."

We had a little stare-down until I finally gave up. "Fine, you win." I grabbed his smoothie and leaned back in the chair. "But it does have something to do with my birthday, right?" I asked, trying to catch him off guard to see if he'd slip up.

"Nice try," he winked.

--