"HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY." Everyone screamed when I walked in through Tim's diner's doors.

Everyone was there. The friends that I've grown to love as my own family; it's the relationship of souls that make a family, even if you are related by blood but lack in emotional connection, you can never be a real family.

"Thank you guys for coming." I smiled as big as I could to hide the happy tears that were clouding my vision.

I hugged everyone and thanked them for coming before Tim announced that the karaoke machine was set and everybody who wanted to give it a try should go up on stage.

 Saira was the first one up, which was obvious due to her love for music. She sang Forever Young in her beautiful angelic voice that could make anyone cry in an instant.

 As I was enjoying her music I looked around to see if Caleb was here yet but he wasn't which worried me slightly but I didn't let it show through.

"He's waiting for you at the back." Shane sneakily whispered that in my ear and casually walked past me like he was trying to send me a secret message. Yup, he's been watching too much Jason Bourne movies.

Smiling, I stepped out of the crowded diner into the warm spring sunset and immediately spotted a beautiful raven haired boy waiting for me in his black straight cut jeans and black button down shirt with his longer hair finely jelled back like Leonardo Dicaprio. 

He was standing straight with his hands behind his back trying to hide the shy smile he wore on his face.

"Hey you." He took a couple of steps forward. "Happy Birthday." He brought his hands forward which were holding on to an A3 rectangle box warped in black starry paper. "I know you don't like or want presents so I got you something that means a lot to me so I hope you like it."

"Thank you..." I took the A3 box from his hand and tried to peal the paper off. But before I could do that his hands covered mine stopping my whole nervous system instantly.

"Open it when you get hope." He told me in a small shy tone which I only nodded to because if I tried to speak, I'd probably come out with incoherent sounds. 

"I also got you something else, turn around." He dug his hands in his jeans pockets and pulled a smaller rectangular box. Slowly turning I realised he bought me a necklace.

Like I suspected, a silver shimmering chain with an oval green emerald stone sitting at the bottom of the it, came around my neck which he secured into place.

"Wow..." I breathed out as I turned around while stoking the stone. "Caleb this must have cost you a fortune." I quickly tried to take it off but he stopped me once again.

"NO, please... I'd like you to have it, please." His beady eyes begged me to keep it which I couldn't say no to. "Plus it's your star sign stone." He added and guided towards the entrance of the diner.

"You know you've never told me your birth date, you always avoided that question." I reminded him.

"Well... it's a bit ironic actually." He sheepishly scratched the back of his neck.

"Tell me." I insisted.

"October 27th... Scorpio."

"How is that ironic?" I asked after engraving that date in my brain.

"Because that was the day I properly met you last year." My body froze at his confession. "... And that was my best gift ever."

I tried to calm my nerves down that were heightening due to all the memories that came rushing back. Just as we were about to walk in, he stopped me and gently pulled me aside.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked looking at me with so much intensity; it felt like I was going to burst.

"Sure?"

"Can I get a hug?" He asked like he was a lost boy trying to find his way back home. So instead of verbally replying, I got on my tip toes –the heels helped too- to wrap my free hand around his neck.

"I missed you Royals." He inhaled loudly while burying his face in the crook of my neck.

"I missed you too Jackson."

It felt like we stood there for eternity, entangled in each other's embrace. It felt like I finally found my way back home. Like a lost jigsaw piece of a puzzle. 

Sometimes the shape you have fits into the crack of another but the image doesn't match and sometimes the image matches but the shape doesn't fit. But this time, everything fell into place. All the loneliness in my heart disappeared and it was filled with heightened emotions that I thought I'd never feel.

Soon after we had to re-join everyone as it was a party dedicated to me, which didn't include the expensive champagnes and high ceilings with oversized chandeliers hanging from them and yet it still was a hundred times better than the party that my biological parents threw for me. 

The food was wholesome and mouth-watering as usual and the entertainment was top notch. For a moment my life became a slow motion movie as I lost myself in the middle of my friends and family.

 I lost myself to happiness and joy, and the sound of the laughter that no one knew the cause of. We just laughed with all our hearts at the sake of laughing. 

I lost myself to the dance steps that me, Maya and Saira started to create on the mini dancing stage to the beats of the music that were bouncing off each walls, echoing through the room. I lost myself to the lights that seemed brighter than before and the food that taste sweeter than before.

And that's when it happened.

Bang

A loud gunshot echoed through the air causing one of the side glass windows to crack simultaneously in a spider web formation. 

I didn't know the glass was bullet proof but thank the lord for whoever designed this place for doing that. Usually most glasses around here were insulated so that no air got out in the winter.

Bang

Instincts kicked in and I frantically looked around for my raven haired boy but he was nowhere to be seen, including the other boys.

"No..." I whispered as I barged past everyone and ran out to see if he was okay. 

My hearing and voice disappeared at the sight of reality. People were trying to pull me back while screaming certain things which my mind was unable comprehend due to my heart hammering in my ear.

A tall, well-built boy in black jeans and black shirt remained defeated on the ground as he tried to squirm his way back to life. There was a rapidly increasing red pooling of liquid, right next to his lower abdomen. 

 I walked towards him like the ground before me would crumble any minute and disappeared in an instant and that's when his hypnotic eyes found me. 

It was a full moon tonight, a lonely soul hanging from the infinite dark canvas with full of white shimmering diamonds. It took me back to the night I met him, how the silhouette of his body emerged from nowhere to save me. 

How his eyes never judged me about trying to attempt something which to normal human being would have come across as an act of selfishness and attention seeking but to him it was normal.

That's when I realised that I wasn't the only one who was fighting their inner demons. He was too. But he was better at hiding it than me.

"CALEB..." I shrieked as I ran towards him and kneeled down instantly taking his drowsy head on my lap.

"Caleb, oh my god, what happened." I choked out trying to keep the tears at bay. I looked up for a split second to see Devon and Nathan had 3 people pinned to the ground while Shane stood over so 2 senseless bodies.

"SOME ONE CALL 911." Brody shouted at everyone who was standing there watching the show in horror.

"CALEB." His mother and father quickly ran towards him and settled on their knees opposite me.

"You're gonna be just fine, you hear me?" I kissed every inch of his face while stroking his hair.

"I need you... to know... something." He choked out making it impossible for me to not break out into sobs. "Kira... I..."

"PUT PRESSURE ON THE WOUND." Caleb's dad moved over towards his abdomen and tried to reduce the blood flow by pressing a folded blazer on the wound.

"Careful..." His mother retorted when she heard Caleb groan in pain. She tried to put on a strong and hopeful face but the tears didn't lie.

"Kira... listen to me..." Caleb tried to reach out and touch my face but I quickly ducked forward so he didn't have to be in so much pain while doing so.

"I love you Kira..." Tears kept pooling from my tired orbs. "I've loved you for a long..." He groaned making my heart constrict. "...long time angel. I wanted ... I just wanted you... for a long. Fuck I'm gonna die a virgin." We both let out a sad little laugh before I started crying again.

"No, you're not dying, if you die, I die and I'm not ready to die a virgin so you're staying with me okay?" I bit my lip to prevent myself from bursting into tears.

"Kiss me Kira..." He begged with his sad dark eyes looking up at me with so much emotion like his life depended on it. "I wish things didn't have to end like this." It started to become harder for him to talk so I put my thumb on his lips which he kissed before saying. "I love you."

"I'm not going to kiss you now because you're gonna make it through okay? You want a kiss? then you have to fight for me, for all of us Caleb. I can't lose you Caleb, not my best friend." I squeezed my eyes shut before continuing. 

"You have to prove to me that whoever I love doesn't leave me. You have to prove to me that my curse is wrong. Fight Caleb. Don't give up on me like that." I don't know how I managed to say all that without ripping my heart out.

"I love you Caleb." His eyes lit up at my confession.

"I love you too." He whispered out before closing his eyes with a distinctive smile on his face.

"CALEB" I shook him violently. "CALEB, NOO..."