Children laughing, adults feeling like little kids all over, and Ashley's laughter filled my ears as we were at the happiest place in the world, Disneyland. Ashley and I were riding the teacups spinning round and round as fast as we could go.

Ashley screamed in enjoyment as I laughed at her. She looked so happy and so carefree.. She looked so adorable with her Minnie Mouse ears on. Her hair was blowing all over in the wind, her smile was so bright, and her eyes were even brighter. I could just watch her all day in this happy state. "Michael!!!" she screamed as I twisted the turntable even more so we could spin even faster. "I'm gonna be sick!!!" she said through laughter. I laughed with her and stopped turning.

The ride started to slow and Ashley scooted closer to me and laid her head on my shoulder as we waited for the ride to still. I was so happy. She made me so happy. I could relive this moment every single day.

Three heavy knocks woke me out of my blissful sleep. I rubbed my eyes as I sat up and looked towards the door. I yawned before yelling out calmly, "Come in." I saw the door knob twist and in walked Bill and Wayne with 'Happy Birthday' balloons. I smiled at them, chuckling lightly. "You guys!" I said to them, totally stunned. "Thank you," I said back kindly. "Don't thank us," they both said and I frowned up in confusion.

I turned towards the door again as it was pushed open even more and in walked Ashley with a huge vanilla cupcake with numbered candles that read '1' and '2' that were lit. She walked in with a smile singing happy birthday as Bill and Wayne joined in. I smiled and laughed at them as Ashley did a little dance as she walked up to me. "Make a wish," she said like a little kid. I looked at her with a smile and closed my eyes blowing out the candles. "And many moreeeeee!" Ashley sang as I blew out the candles. "This is amazing! Thank you guys! All of you," I said as I looked at all three of them.

"You're welcome boss," Wayne said as he and Bill walked out, closing the door leaving me and Ashley. She looked at me, "What'd you wish for?" she asked charmingly. "Can't tell ya, but one day I hope it comes true." She scrunched up her face playfully at me and wiped some icing on my nose, licking her finger laughing. "Hey!" I said getting some icing and trying to wipe it on her nose. "No!!" she squealed trying to grab my wrist. Instead, I grabbed her waist and pulled her back into me, finally wiping it on her nose. She pouted at me. "Aw, my poor baby, come here," I said, mimicking what she told me on the plane. I pulled her into me and swayed her back and forth.

I pulled away and she told me she'd be right back as she sat the cupcake on the bedside nightstand. I took this as my chance to wash up and brush my teeth. I finished quickly and when I opened the door, Ashley was sitting in the bed against the headboard waiting for me. She looked so cute in her Minnie Mouse pajamas. Go figure right?

I crawled in the bed with her and she turned towards me as I sat against the headboard facing the door. She was smiling at me a little weird. "Why are you smiling like that?" I asked. She lifted the covers and there was a neatly wrapped gift. "For you," she said nicely. "What is this?" I asked, grinning down at the gift. "Just open it," she said, rolling her eyes.

I unwrapped the gift as Ashley smiled anxiously. "Oh wow..." I said amazed, "This is great! I love it! Thank you!" I yelled, pulling her into another hug. She had gotten me a commemorative brick paver at Disneyland on the "Walk of Magical Memories." It's like she had the same dream as me. "I remember me and you talking about how we both love Disney in Paris, and so I thought it was a good gift," she said, shrugging. "I love it. Thank you," I said, pulling her into another hug. We smiled at each other as we pulled back. She leaned over me and grabbed my cupcake. "Want your cupcake, birthday boy?" she asked. I nodded like a kid in a candy store.

Without warning she wiped more icing on my nose. I scoffed playfully and put some on her nose. She pouted again trying to hide her smile. "That's what you get," I said sticking my tongue out, "Now you have to get it off." She smirked and looked like she was up to something. She sat the cupcake down on the bed and crawled on top of me. She straddled me and leaned in, licking the icing off. "Mmm, delicious. Your turn," she said.

I laughed and licked the icing off her nose and copied her, "Mmm, delicious!" We both laughed. She continued to sit on me and leaned in to whisper in my ear. "Get dressed. Be ready in an hour. There's places we gotta be, people we gotta see!" she said as she climbed off of me. "Where are we going!?" I asked her as she gained her footing. She walked towards the door and turned around, "Wouldn't be a surprise if I told youuuu." I shook my head. What does this girl have planned?

Before I knew it, she ran back over to me and kissed me on the cheek and pulled away whispering, "Happy Birthday!" before she left. That girl. She was gonna be the death of me.

An hour later.....

I walked over to Ashley's hotel room ready for whatever she had planned today. She opened the door to reveal her beauty. "Hi birthday boy! Ready?" she asked. "Yeah," I said cheerfully. She smiled at me, pushing me towards the elevator. We headed down and got in the car causing a small scene inside the hotel. We got in the car and Ashley looked at me excitedly. "Okay, here. Put this on," she said, handing me a blindfold. I gave her a look. She rolled her eyes saying, "Just put it on." I gave in and blindfolded myself.

We talked as we rode to some destination in Vegas. Ashley squealed out loud. "Okay, take the blindfold off in 3..2..1.." I took off the blindfold and we were in front of Toy Shack in Vegas. A huge toy store with a lot of collective item toys and the newest toys. I lit up like a little kid. "Ashley!!!" I exclaimed happily. She chuckled, leaning over me to open the door. "Come on! All the fun is inside birthday boy!" I looked at her, "We could've had some fun in this car if you didn't blindfold me," I said sensually. She blushed and pushed me out of the car.

We spent hours in the toy store together. I had two whole carts full and Ashley had a couple of items as well. She paid for all of it even though I protested. Her excuse was that it was my birthday and I shouldn't pay for anything on my birthday, especially if I was with her.

We grabbed a quick snack on the way to the Venetian to do a little shopping. We visited all my favorite antique stores. She even bought me this painting I had been wanting for awhile. That was very sweet of her.

We headed back to the rooms to get ready for a dinner she was taking me to. "Okay, be ready in...let's say an hour and a half?" she said, questionly. I nodded at her. "Okay, dress sharp because I'm gonna be dressed sharp," she said with a wink. I laughed and nodded again as she went into her room.

After we got dressed, Ashley met me in my room and she looked amazing as always. "Look at you, Mr. Jackson. Very sharp! I'm impressed!" she said teasingly. I grinned knowingly, "I know I look sexy right?" I asked back to her. She chuckled at me. "What? You don't think so?" she sighed playfully. "Well, I think you look sexy," I said, licking my lip and biting it. "Come on, you before you try to keep me in your bedroom," she said as she hooked her arm into mine. I stopped walking and looked at her. I slowly walked towards her rubbing my bottom lip. She looked nervous and swallowed hard at the sight of me.

I leaned down and looked like I was gonna kiss her but I kissed her cheek and whispered in her ear, "Let's go." Her pants settled and she let out a breath. Crazy the effect I have on women.

"Where are we going?" I asked, looking out the window as we drove down the strip. Ashley turned to me and said, "We're going to eat at Sinatra." I smiled because that's my favorite restaurant in Vegas. It's elegant, yet nostalgic. It's a memoriam restaurant to the great Sinatra and his music is lowly played while eating.

Dinner was going great. I hoped Michael was having a good day for his birthday. He mentioned to me before that his birthday isn't this extravagant day that he usually celebrates. Sometimes he even forgets it's his birthday. He also told me how he doesn't usually celebrate either because of his religion, so I tried taking all of that in account.

As Michael and I ate, he kept staring at me. "What?" I asked as I covered my mouth with my napkin. "Nothing. It's just I never asked you about your family and everything." I chuckled, "Well, what do you wanna know?"

"Tell me about your family. Where are you from, what ethnicity, that kinda thing." I took a deep breath. "Well, on my dad's side, I'm black and West Indian mixed with Brazilian. My family is mostly from Louisiana but moved to California before my dad was born and on my mom's side, I'm german. My mom was born in New York and moved to California when she was 3." Michael looked at me stunned, "Wow. Tell me more," he said intrigued. "Um. My dad's side is huge. There are 13 of my grandpa and his siblings and of my grandma there are 6. My grandparents had 6 kids. And I don't know much about my mom's side but there are 3 of them. Her and her brother and sister." He nodded for me to continue.

"My parents had me young, so I was raised by both sets of my grandparents along with my parents. I have one younger brother. He's 2." Michael's eyes widened. "I know, there's a huge age gap. He's crazy." Michael laughed. "I know it's like total opposites. He's light skinned with ash brown from my mom's side, while I have the silky black hair and brown skin from my dad's side," I said laughing. We talked more, with me gushing over my family.

"I'd love to meet them," Michael said softly, gazing at me. I smiled back, "I'd love for you to meet them too."

We talked about his family and where they came from. Then we got into stories about our childhoods. I can tell the subject was touchy for him, so I didn't push him too much and I only asked about the happy memories he had.

We left and headed back to the hotel where we were gonna finish off his birthday with a movie night in his suite. I knocked on his door, hands full of snacks. Michael opened the door, "Ashley! What? What is all of this?" I looked at him blankly, "Snacks! Duh! What's a movie night without snacks?" I had Wayne go to the convenience store in the lobby and stock up.

We watched Peter Pan, both of our favorite movies. It was funny seeing Michael mimic the characters and sing along to all the songs. As we browsed through more movies, Lady and The Tramp came up and instantly I was reminded of Aiden. We watched that movie the first time he came over to my house in elementary.

Michael must've noticed my mood change, because he put his hand over mine.

"Aiden and I loved Lady and The Tramp. The first time he ever came over in the 5th grade we watched that movie," I said, sighing. "These past two days have been such a distraction. A great distraction, but..." I trailed off, "But, I still cried myself to sleep last night thinking about him.

I looked at Michael sadly, "Sorry you probably don't wanna hear about this. Especially on your birthday," I said, wiping my nose. He grabbed my hands and squeezed them, "No, I don't mind. I told you, I'd be there for you and I meant it. I always want to be there for you, if you let me," he said sincerely, looking me in my eyes. I nodded at him appreciatively.

"I just can't believe what he did to me. I always had my suspicions, you know? But, I always tried pushing that gut feeling away and I did it because I thought I was protecting myself only to hurt myself in the end," I shook my head. "And I loved him. I really did. He was all I knew. I've known him since the 5th grade and then I started developing a crush in middle school. He finally asked me out in freshman year of high school," I chuckled sniffling. "He hurt me in the worst way possible and right now I don't feel like I can ever forgive him. And my family. Ugh, god they love him and I know they're gonna be devastated, and mad," i laughed, "especially my dad and grandpa."

Michael laughed. "He called me last night. He wants to talk; tell me the truth and I think I will meet him in order to get the closure I need. And you probably think I'm stupid but he was all I had. My first everything, so it's hard to let go even though he hurt me." Michael grabbed me and I cuddled into him as we laid against the headboard of the bed. Tears fell and Michael grabbed me tighter.

"I know how you feel I do and I can promise you that he's feeling everything he did to you. You're an amazing girl. The perfect girl. I can't wrap my head around why he made stupid decisions that led him to lose you. I know what it feels like to lose someone you love and I know how stuck you might seem but in time, you'll move on and find happiness again and someone who won't even think about hurting you. Hurting you would be like hurting themselves," Michael said to me.

I looked up at him, "What happened to you?" He drew circles on my arm and sighed. "I was dating this girl named Noelle for the longest time. She was everything to me. The woman I wanted to marry and have kids with. I thought she was the one. I proposed to her one night and she told me no. No, because she couldn't keep up with my lifestyle. She said everything revolved around me and she felt helpless. Invisible in my world because I couldn't give her all the attention in the world. And turns out, I could've but I was just too young and too dumb to give her that. Music is my first love and people have a hard time understanding that. She wanted me to choose between her and music and I had to go with music, but I still wanted her." I hugged him tighter.

"I'm sorry Michael. I can't even begin to imagine how you must've felt, but you have a heart of gold. I've never met anyone with a heart like yours. You're so selfless and would give anyone the shirt on your back. I'm grateful enough to see first hand how sweet of a person you are and I wish I could go back in time to be there for you. I hope you're finding happiness now, because you are so kind. You deserve the most perfect girl in the world and I'm hoping you find her one day."

He looked at me with a tear rolling down his cheek, "Thank you," he whispered. I wiped his tear and he spoke again, "I think I've already found her." I stared at him for a while while he stared back at me.

I kissed his cheek and we held each other until we both drifted off to sleep. Guess he got me to share a room after all.