Ryder's POV

I woke up to the pacman sound, as I did everyday. That was day I turned 13. Sam jumped out of bed from the other side of the room. 

"Happy Birthday Rye!" He said. Reluctantly, I stood up thanking him. "I got you something, but I'll give that to you later," he said. "Right now, I have something else," 

"You didn't have to Sam, but thank you," I said. I watched as he kneeled on the floor and pulled something out from under his bed. It was a guitar case. He flipped it open and pulled out the guitar. "Please say you're going to play for me," I said.

He sat down on my bed, beside me, and checked the tuning. "Yes, I am," he said. "I'm not amazing, but I hope you like it," he said, before starting. 

As soon as he played the first few seconds, I knew what song it was. This was the song that we found ourselves listening to everyday. It was our song, like every duo has their theme song. He was playing Tennessee Whiskey - Chris Stapleton. I remembered telling him it was my favourite by the artist. His voice was beautiful, strong and raspy, because he had just woken up, but gentle and calming. He played beautifully as well, different to the original, but close enough that it could be recognised. He looked at me while he sang, a lazy smile playing at his lips. 

(a/n here's the song  )

After he finished the first verse and chorus, he continued playing but spoke. "You can sing along, if you like," he said, before going into the next verse. I joined in, as I knew all the words. Our voices sounded good together, and I was surprised that we could sing so well unprepared. 

Once we finished we clapped for each other. "You're so good Sam, that was beautiful, I love it!"

"Happy Birthday ba- Rye," he cleared his throat in between, I didn't quite catch what he said but I didn't give it much thought. "We can skip training today, and just chill," 

"What do we even do instead?" 

"Go to the bar rooms or something? Mess around?" 

"Yeah I'm up for it," I said before going to the bathroom and getting ready for the day. I put on a new hoodie I had ordered online recently. It was white, with octopus tentacles coming from the top.

With it, I wore some ripped black skinny jeans, and white converses. 
"Wow, that hoodie looks sick," Sam said as I walked out the bathroom. 

"Thanks, it's the one I got last week," I said. Sam himself was wearing a black polo shirt, and blue jeans. 

"Oh yeah, I remember. Breakfast?" he asked. I nodded and grabbed my bat before we left. 

Breakfast was slightly different. For the next couple of days, our desserts would be variations of birthday cake. 

When we walked into the canteen, at our usual table was a large cake, and multiple presents. Me and Sam ourselves had bought a few things for Jared and Taylor, but I wasn't expecting anything.

After receiving many birthday wishes, everyone urged me to cut the cake. We were going to have separate cakes for the guys' birthdays apparently. They sang happy birthday to me as I cut the first few slices, before craig took over to hand them out to everyone. 

"Ryder, open your presents," Blake said. 

"My presents?" I said confused. 

Sierra gestured to the gifts on the table. "These are for you, love,"

I felt like crying. I had never had a birthday like this. I thanked everyone again and began to open them. The first was from Gray. As I opened it he explained what it was. 

"You always have to carry your bat around, so I thought I would make you a sling for it." he said. It was a simple leather band, with adjustable loops on either end. 

"Thank you so much! This will make my life so much easier," I said. I fit the bat onto it, and slung it onto my back. "I can use both hands now!" I said. "Thanks Gray,"

"Glad you liked it," he said. 

Sierra handed me a box. "This is from me and Josy, we chose them especially for you," she said. Inside the box was a row of beautiful bracelets. They were detailed, and some of them had the letter R on them. 

"I love them, thank you, they're so pretty," I said. "I was planning on buying some bracelets, but now I have these. I really like them," I repeated. "Thank you, guys," 

"I wasn't sure if you would be into them or not, but thankfully you are," Josy said. "Happy Birthday kid,"

I thanked them again. 

"Okay can you close your eyes for a second?" Jared asked. I nodded and shut my eyes. I heard people shuffle around and stuff. "Okay you can open your eyes," 

I opened my eyes, and in front of me, on a stand, sat the most beautiful acoustic bass guitar I had ever seen. 

(a/n I actually own this semi-acoustic bass hehe)

"Oh my God," I said, admiring the thing. 

"We figured that we'd get you an acoustic bass, so that you can play along when Samuel plays guitar," Jared said. "It's from me, Paul and Glen, from the band I guess you could say. Do you like it?" he asked. 

"Do I like it? I frickin' love it!" I said. "It's for me to keep?" I asked, still in shock.

"Yeah, you can keep it in your room," Glen said. He picked it up and bought it to me, and I took it. 

"It's beautiful, wow," I said. "Rosewood fingerboard?" Glen nodded. "Rose Gold strings?" he nodded again. "It's semi acoustic as well?" I said, eyeing the amp jack. 

"Yeah, just in case you felt like turning it up a little," Paul said. 

"Thank you so much! This is amazing," I said. I played a little riff on it, before placing it back down. "This is the best birthday I've ever had,"

We settled down to eat and other people gave me presents. Blake gave me a knife with my initials on it, and Roman and Kara got me a dream catcher, to hang by the window. Texas and Mila got me my very own cowboy hat, as I had been admiring Tex's for some time. Some of the gifts sound silly, but they were more than enough for me. I wasn't fussy, as I had never received such gifts in my life before. Nash and Hayes got me flight tag keychains, and an aeroplane pin badge, which was simple, but meaningful. 

Sam leaned towards me as I ate my cake. "I'll give you your presents later on," he said. 

I was curious as to what they could be, but I didn't question him, and decided to enjoy it as a surprise. 

After breakfast we went sat outside and I learnt to play Tennessee Whiskey on my new acoustic bass, as I didn't know it before. 

"I think I've got it, do you want to play through it with me?" I asked Sam. 

"Yes, but can we do it later? Don't ask, just go along with it," Sam grinned. 

"Okay . . ." I said, skeptically. 

I had an amazing day. The party was still in the evening, and technically it was for Jared and Taylor too, so a lot of people would be there. The party would start at around 9, so we had quite a while to chill. 

Sam kept me occupied for the day.