{Don't play the song until I say so}

It's January 24th today. Shawn's birthday. I was so excited to give him his gifts. I got him two gifts, both of which I hope he likes. I've been working on one of the gifts for the past three months. He's my best friend so I didn't mind the effort.

His birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so it was great for Cory and I to be able to organize a little surprise party at the Matthews household for him. Topanga and Mrs. Matthews were in charge of decorations, Eric and Mr. Matthews were responsible for snacks, and Cory and I were on guest list duty. We invited; Shawn's dad, Cory's family, Mr. Turner, Mr. Feeny, Topanga, Cory, and I. We tried to reach out to Shawn's mom, but she was still out on the road somewhere with their trailer. We did manage to get his dad to come though which was great.

Cory and I said we were gonna meet Shawn at his house so we could give him a few gifts at 11, but we left him clueless about the party. Everything was set up, the guests, the snacks, the decorations. Now we just waited for Shawn. Cory and I kept watch through the window to make sure we knew when he was about to come in.

"I see him!" Cory reached over and turned off the lights. "Everybody hide!" He whisper yelled.

We all crouched down and left the door unlocked for Shawn to come in. He opens the door and we all jump out as he turns on the lights.

"SURPRISE!"

I see a huge smile slowly creep onto his face and he looks around to see everybody. "You guys! You didn't have to do this." He looks over at the snack table. "Ooh snacks!" He walks over and starts eating a little bit of everything at the table. Cory and I laugh and walk over to him.

"Happy Birthday Hunter." I said smiling at him.

"Thanks Cris."

Cory rubbed his hands together. "So, Shawn, how does it feel to be 14?"

"Same old, same old. But it's definitely gotten me better parties." He looked over to his right to see his dad standing with his arms open. "DAD! YOU'RE HERE!"

"Of course i'm here Shawnie, it's your birthday! I wouldn't miss this for anything."

Shawn's smile fades. "Well clearly you're the only parent that feels that way."

His dad pat him on the back. "Listen Shawnie, if your mother doesn't show up, it's my fault okay. But don't let her ruin your party. You're 14 my boy!"

"Thanks dad." His smile returned.

"Ooh! Shawn come sit on the couch. It's time for gifts." I dragged him to the middle of the room and sat him down on the couch.

"You guys seriously didn't have to get me anything." I said with my hands up. Cory handed me a big box with blue wrapping paper. "Oo! This one's big!" I unwrapped it and saw it was a video camera and some tape. "Cory this is sick! How'd you know?"

"Shawn you're my best friend. Why wouldn't I know?"

"How much did this cost?" I asked him. God I hope he didn't spend too much on me.

"Don't worry about it. My dad knows a guy who has a bunch of these and your dad and I spilt it down the middle."

My dad smiled at me. "Thanks dad." I got up and hugged him.

"Love you son." I let go of my dad and sat back down.

Everyone else finished giving me their gifts. Feeny got me a book, I have no clue why. Turner got me a custom helmet for the back of his bike. Topanga got me "In the Mouth of Madness" on tape. And Mr. and Mrs. Matthews got me a new wallet and a cool shirt.

Cristina was the only one who hadn't given me a gift yet. But I know her better than that. After everybody was done giving me their gifts, she handed me a dark red gift bag with black tissue paper in it. I put the bag on my lap and pulled out all the tissue paper to finally see my gift. It was a leather jacket.

"Woah." I said as I pulled it out. "Cris this jacket is the coolest thing i've ever seen."

She smiled. "Hunter try it on. I wanna see if it fits."

I put the jacket on and it was a bit big, but I like my clothes that way. "It fits great. Thanks." I walked over to her and gave her a nice long hug.

"Happy birthday Hunter." She said and then went to whisper in my ear. "By the way that was only part one of your gift. You're going to have to come to my house for part two after this is all over."

I pulled back with my hands still on her arms. "Carrillo what did you get me?" I asked hoping she would spoil it. But she shook her head.

"Nope, not telling you, you'll have to see for yourself."

I backed up and stuck out my bottom lip at her. "Can you give me a hint?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, it took me months to make."

"Make?" What does she mean?

"That's all the hints you get now let's go eat. I had Mrs. Matthews order us pizza."

"Ooo pizza." She grabbed my hand and dragged me into the kitchen. We got in there and everybody was waiting to start eating their pizza. Cris and I each grabbed two slices and put them on our plates.

"To the birthday boy!" She shouted.

"To the birthday boy!" Everybody said back in unison. We all are and talked for a while. I tried to get what my gift was out of Cris but she wouldn't budge.

Eventually we all finished the pizza, they all sang happy birthday to me, and I got to eat my cake. Best chocolate cake I ever had.

It was around 3 pm now and people started to leave. Once everybody was gone I went to the living room to find Cris. I saw her sitting on the couch with Cory. "Can I go see my other gift now?" I pleaded.

She chuckled. "Okay okay we'll go." She gave Cory a quick side hug and waved goodbye to the Matthews'. "Bye guys."

As we were about halfway to her house, I tried diverting the conversation. "So you made my gift?"

"Hunter I told you, you aren't getting anymore hints."

"Come on! I'm dying here woman! It's my birthday cut a guy some slack."

"Okay fine i'll tell you."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Once we get to my house."

I nudged her arm. "Oh you're such a tease."

"Have some patience Hunter we're almost there."

After about 2 more minutes of walking, we finally got to her house. Mr. and Mrs. Carrillo weren't in the driveway so they probably took her little sister to a play date or something. Cris got out her keys and led me to her room. What's her plan here?

I see her piano isn't in the corner like it normally is. It's in front of the edge of the bed with another chair facing the front of the piano.

"Sit." She points to the chair. I listen and sit down.

She sits on the edge of her bed, behind the piano. "Did you do what I think you did?"

She looks up at me and smiles. "Shawn..." She never normally calls me Shawn unless it's something important so I give her my full attention. "You have stuck by me and Cory through thick and thin ever since I gave you my pack of gushers when we were 5. You have been the bestest friend a girl could have over the last 9 years and I wanted to make sure you knew that. So I wrote you something."

She breaks eye contact with me and looks down at her piano. I see her take a deep breath and place her hands on the piano.

{Play the song now, and fyi i'm not claiming to own that song which is why I linked it}

"Good morning,

you're leaving

I'll see you in the evening.

My best friend,

till the end.

My better half no pretend.

Our language is sacred,

Though people try to solve it.

New adventures on the way.

You and me together,

Take on the world forever.

I know all your secrets,

And I promise you I'm gonna keep them.

I'll be there when you are feeling clueless.

You and me,

oh yeah we're seamless.

Woah oh, yeah, woah oh"

She looked up at me and I couldn't help but smile. It was probably the widest I have smiled in a long time.

"We're klutzy,

but so lucky,

That I always have you to catch me.

We're partners

in crime.

You're stuck with me your whole life.

So different,

out of our minds,

From a planet that's

hard to find.

Every second every day."

I forgot how much I loved her voice. It sounds even better than I remember. Her voice always gave me this tingly feeling in my chest when I heard it. The more she sang the stronger I felt it.

"You and me together,

Take on the world forever.

I know all your secrets,

And I promise you I'm gonna keep them.

I'll be there when you are feeling clueless.

You and me,

oh yeah we're seamless.

You're right by my side

whenever I need you

Through the hardest times,

I'll be there for you

At the crack of dawn when the moon is gone

I won't be hard to find.

'Cause you and me,

oh yeah we're seamless.

You and me together,

Take on the world forever.

I know all your secrets,

And I promise you I'm gonna keep them.

I'll be there when you are feeling clueless

You and me,

oh yeah we're seamless.

Woah oh, woah oh."

God she sounded amazing.

She finished playing the last few notes and I went and sat next to her on her bed. I could tell she was nervous. After all she hadn't sang in front of me for years. I reached over and gave her a hug. She didn't see it coming, but she quickly hugged me back.

"Did you like it?"

I pulled back and looked her in the eyes. "What are you kidding? I LOVED it! Your voice gave me chills." I showed her the goosebumps on my arm.

"Oh damn." She chuckled.

I looked at her directly in the eyes and smiled. "That was hands down, the best gift i've ever gotten."

"I'm really glad you liked it Hunter because I have no clue how i'm gonna top this for next year." She joked as she put her arm around my shoulders.

I felt something when she touched me. I suddenly felt overwhelmed. But not the bad kind. Like, I suddenly felt really.....fuzzy. I didn't know what was happening but I was trying to play it off.

"What about me? What am I supposed to get you for your birthday now?" She dropped her arm and plopped backwards, now laying face up on her bed.

"Hmm...get me a pet chinchilla."

I chuckled and laid down next her her. "A chinchilla?" I looked over at her and just stared at her face for a minute. Wow I never noticed how pretty she was. Forget pretty, beautiful!

"Yup, a chinchilla. That would top my gift by about 1000." She giggled and looked at me in my eyes.

Wow she even had gorgeous eyes. I really wanted to kiss her right now. Wait, what was that? Fuck.

She noticed me staring too long and squinted her eyes. "What are you staring at Hunter?"

I snapped out of my gaze and looked back up at the ceiling. "Oh nothing." She's your best friend, you just got caught up in the moment Shawn come on.

I saw her sit up. "Come on what?"

Shit I said that out loud. "Come on let's go get something from the fridge i'm starving." I lied. And it wasn't a very smooth lie. But I needed to shake myself out of whatever I was feeling. No, I felt nothing, that was nothing. I got up and opened her bedroom door. I walked over to her pantry and pulled out a bag of chips.

"Hunter, how are you hungry? You ate 4 slices of pizza and a big slice of cake about 30 minutes ago."

"Fast metabolism I guess." I lied again shoving some chips into my mouth. She laughed and looked at me with those big beautiful hazel eyes again. I felt my heart skip a few beats.

Shawn stop it.

She's your best friend.