Valerie P.O.V

"Thankyou again Carter, for everything you've done for me." I whispered against his chest as we hugged by the door.

He pressed a kiss on top of my head before tilting my chin up to look into my eyes. "Always, Valerie," he said, almost as if it were a promise. "Have fun at dinner tonight, I'll see you soon okay?" he smiled, before letting me go.

"Okay, see you soon." I waved.

My heart was so full.

I collapsed onto the couch as I reflected upon the earlier events of the day. I can't believe how it all turned out. I woke up to a wonderful surprise and had spent it with the most perfect boy. We didn't do anything crazy, well besides the er earlier session, but it didn't matter. Spending quality time alone with him was the best. I took out my phone to properly review the video he had posted once again. I was curious to see what people's reactions were like, I hope it was okay.

"awww 💝" "CUTEEE" "whats her @" "so happy for you!"

How sweet! They were all generally so nice. That made me feel so good inside.

"you're cheating on me" "i thought we were together" "my feels 💔" " 😭😭😭"

Oh wow okay, some of those were a bit funny.

"omg wtf" "UM NOOOO" "i don't like this" "she ain't it" "how can this be happening"

I winced reading through a few variations of those comments. I didn't expect everyone to like it, but it did disappoint me that there was some negativity. With a deep sigh, I shook off the thoughts and feelings and made my over to the bathroom so I could take a long and relaxing shower this afternoon.

"Birthday girllllll! You there?" Ell called as she came home.

"Yes! Just finished up in the shower," I raised my voice as I wrapped a towel around my hair, slipping on some underwear and a shirt before walking out of my bedroom.

"Hey! How was castings?" I asked, as I came out to sit next to her on the couch.

"Good! One step closer to another role. I'll have to wait for callbacks again, but fingers-crossed," she said positively. "Enough about me though," she waved her hand, "tell me all about Carter's surprise!"

"I cried." I laughed.

"Honey I would too if I was going to Bora freaking Bora!!!!" She squealed, shaking me roughly.

"Yeah it's crazy," I chuckled. "It was so overwhelming but in all the right ways..." I paused for a moment. "I think... I think I'm in love with him Ell." I said the last part out loud, making my earlier thoughts real.

She audibly gasped with a hand over her mouth, before recollecting herself. "You know what, I totes already knew that Val," she chuckled. Ell grabbed one of my hands in hers before speaking seriously. "I've never seen you this way before, you're lighter and brighter. I've seen the way you look at him, and the way he looks at you. You're both amazing together, there's no doubt about it."

"It's so scary." I said with a deep sigh.

"Embrace it babe. Love and life's meant to be wild." She said reassuringly with a small smile.

"What would I do without you?" I shook my head and gestured.

"Be a sad one-woman cooking show," she said as we both burst into giggles. "Alright, no more sappy time, we gotta have happy time!!!!" Ell shouted cheerily, reaching behind her to pull out a gift bag to hand to me.

I peered down into the bag, pulling out the beautiful, black lingerie pieces.

"Ell!" I exclaimed with wide eyes. She simply smirked and wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"Thankyou," I chuckled and gave her a hug. I looked down between the tissue paper to pull out the remaining item. "Ooooh!!!! These are so cute! Love them!" I held up the white strapless tie centre bikini and rotated it in my hands to admire the piece.

"Yay! Thought they would be perfect for all your island adventures!"

"Thanks Ell! It's perfect." I said happily and gave my best friend another hug.

"You're so welcome!" She beamed, giving me a squeeze in return before letting go.

I flopped back on the couch with a big sigh. "Today has been kinda crazy... did you see the video Carter posted on instagram?" I wanted nothing more than to just ignore the hate, appreciate him and have a good time on my birthday.

"What no?!" she gasped, whipping out her phone and collapsed beside me.

We watched together as the familiar song filled the silence and clips of me popped up after one another. My face radiated happiness, reading the caption over and over, never growing tired of the feelings that bloomed in my chest at the words. I'm in deep.

"Holy crappp! That was amazing! You looked amazing. Wow. There's definitely no doubt about the way he feels for you Val," She looked to me, eyes wide with wonder. "No flippin way."

"Argh I hope so, I'm just like this big emotional mess, my head's all over the place. Maybe I'll just lay here for the rest of my birthday," I said, staring up at the balloon-filled ceiling.

"We still have dinner my dear, the night is young," she chuckled, and pulled me up by the hands to a sitting position. "Come on let's get ready!"

We began our usual routine as always, blasting music and goofing around, selecting an outfit before doing hair and makeup. I know I've already been extra lovey dovey today, but hanging out with Ell never gets old. She's the ultimate best friend a girl could have, I've really hit the friendship jackpot with this one. It's a brilliant example of quality over quantity.

"We are lookin sister snatched!" Ell clicked her thumbs in a Z formation as I giggled.

Ellana wore an emerald bodycon mini dress showing off her long legs, with her hair in a topknot and some hoops. I decided to wear a black lace bodysuit and a pair of tan culottes, leaving my hair straight down and popping on a bold red lip for the night.

"We definitely don't scrub up too bad." I agreed, nodding in appreciation at the photos we just took. Ell flicked through a few more photos before picking a few potentials to upload.

"Oh look at the time! We better get going to make the reservation." She exclaimed, tapping at her phone screen to book a lift to the restaurant.

"Okay! I'm excited." I popped my lipstick into my clutch to head off, following behind her so we could head downstairs.

I stepped out of the car and made my way in to the trendy, upscale restaurant. There was some nice, upbeat music playing in the background and slightly dark mood lighting that gave it a fun ambience. The place was filled with happy diners heavily involved in conversation, as the smell of food wafted delicately in the air, making me salivate. I followed Ell further into the restaurant to get seated at our table round the corner.

"SURPRISE!!!"

The air left my chest as I placed a hand over my mouth in shock at the group of grinning people stood before me. I glanced over to Ellana with widened eyes, watching her chuckle in glee at the successful surprise.

"Happy birthday!" Sommer quickly came over to hug me, followed by Jess and Alexys, prompting a round of hugs to be dished out.

"You look gorgeous!" Alexys squealed, handing me over a small gift bag.

"This is from all of us." Jess grinned and gestured to the trio of girls.

I quickly took a peak inside to see they had given me an instax mini Polaroid camera. It was pretty perfect.

"Wow thankyou so much, you didn't have to get me anything!" I shook my head in disbelief.

"Don't be silly, think of it as a small thankyou gift for your help on my shoot," she winked.

"Hey! Happy birthday Val!" Alec spread out his arms in greeting. I placed the gift on the table and stepped over to give him a hug hello.

"Thanks Alec!" I grinned. "Your song lucky was so amazing. I didn't know you made music!" I complimented him with genuine amazement.

"I'm a man of many talents," he smirked back.

"Welcome to the over 21's club," Kean chuckled, strolling over to hand me a bottle of moscato and a kiss on the cheek.

"Thankyou," I beamed, accepting the pink sparkling wine from him to place it down next to the other gift.

"Happy birthday hot stuff. Make sure you're sitting next to me when you cut the cake." Xavier winked, as I laughed at his antics.

"Get outta here Xav," the most attractive man in the room chuckled. He stood with one leg crossed over against the wall, leaning casually with a hand in his pocket. "Told you I'd see you soon," Carter smirked, pushing off the wall before pulling me into his arms.

"Please tell me there are no more surprises." I said, wrapping my arms around his neck, eyes twinkling with amusement.

"There's just one more." Ell piped up.

"Val!"

I turned my head towards the direction of the sound, as the sight of my suited up brother appeared.

"Will! What are you doing here?!" I asked slightly bewildered, walking over to greet him. I literally just spoke to him on the phone this morning, whilst he was in New York.

"Can't I come visit my sister on her birthday?" he asked raising his eyebrows at me.

"No of course." I shook my head and gave him a hug. "Thank you for flying out!" I grinned.

Carter came towards us and held out his hand in greeting. "Hi, I'm Carter, you must be Val's brother," he introduced himself with a smile.

Will eyed him up and down with a stern gaze before stretching his hand and giving Carter a strong handshake. I narrowed my eyes at the interaction, that was definitely his business mode grip and not a friendly "Howdy-do-da, I'm Will!"

"I am, and you're the boyfriend I see," Will said monotonously. I shot him a wtf glance at his cold behaviour. He paid me no attention as he continued to face off against Carter in a rigid stance.

"Yeah," Carter chuckled. "That would be me."

"Well then. You and I are going to have a chat." he said firmly, holding steady eye contact.

Where the heck has my goofy, outgoing brother gone? Because this stone-cold killer never came out to play outside of the office building.

"Okayyyy, that's enough Will," I interrupted and pressed a hand to his back to push him over to the table.

"This is my brother everyone. Will, these are my friends; Jess, Sommer, Xavier, Alexys, Alec and Kean." I quickly introduced him before gesturing him to get seated next to Ellana and Kean. Huh, I considered them all as friends. I liked that.

Carter pulled out the seat for me as I sat down next to Jess, before he settled in beside Kean and I. Will arched his eyebrow and shot me an interesting look at our interaction. I returned the favour with a "see? he's nice" face.

"Sorry about that. That's not how Will usually is." I grabbed onto Carter's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"That's okay," Carter smiled. "I get it. I'd be the same way about you too... although i'm slightly freaked out about our impending chat," his eyebrows pinched together.

"Don't worry about it, he's really a teddy bear inside." I rolled my eyes and chuckled, before picking up the menu to browse over what was on offer.

"Your brother's sooo hot!" Jess whispered over to me and fanned herself exaggeratedly.

Sommer nodded in agreement. "Mmm, he is fineeee."

"Excuse me?" Xavier scoffed at Sommer, before she smirked and turned his head in the direction away from our conversation.

"Women..." he muttered to himself irritatedly and rolled his eyes.

"Please don't tell him that. His head is big enough as it is." I laughed at their typical remarks.

I couldn't see the appeal, but I knew Will was good-looking because when we were in high-school, girls would fawn all over him and try to butter me up to get closer to him. In a way, we did have some sibling resemblance. We had the same dark hair, but his eyes had more of a dark blue tinge and he had a taller and broader stature.

A flurry of dishes came out in a timely manner, filling the table with a highly aesthetic array of foodporn. The best part? It tasted even better than it looked.

"So Will, what do you do?" Sommer asked extra sweetly, much to Xavier's annoyance.

"I work as a chief financial officer at DelCorp, our family company," Will shot her a dazzling grin as he tilted his head over to me.

"Wow, I like men in suits." Jess fluttered her eyelashes at my brother flirtatiously. And another one bites the dust. Delwood dust.

"Huh Val..." Alec raised his eyebrows at me. "I didn't know you came from corporate royalty. My parents have done business with DelCorp before," he leaned back in his seat in thought. "New York right?"

"Yeah haha, what a small world." I nodded in answer.

"Ohhhh so you're like from the snoshy, upper-class, gossip girl type people?" Xavier questioned in surprise, pushing around the food on his plate with a fork.

"Yeah I guess. It's not something I advertise." I chuckled, pulling the napkin from my lap and placed it onto the table.

"We stan a humble kween," Alexys said approvingly. I gave her a smile of appreciation.

"So, Carter what is it that you do?" Will turned to face my boyfriend out of interest. I froze a little in my seat. Please be nice, goofy Will, and not stiff, tough Will.

"I guess I don't have a proper term for my job. I make content on social media and work with brands sometimes. Just odd jobs in the modelling and entertainment business," he replied honestly, putting his utensils down to place his attention on Will.

"Ah I see... that's a very modernised method of entrepreneurship," Will nodded in acknowledgement as waiters came by to clear away our empty dishes. Good. No judgement. Perhaps even a little praise. Respect, if you will.

"Thank you. I've been lucky," Carter smiled at my brother, before reaching for my hand on the table.

I held it tightly in mine as I looked at the lovely faces of all my family and friends, feeling my heart open up and swell with so much gratitude.

"Thank you so much, you guys for coming. This has been really, really great. I had so much fun." I thanked everyone with a beam.

"Aww Val, you deserve it." Ell smiled, whilst Kean wrapped an arm over her shoulders. I went to reply, but stopped as I noticed her perk up at something from behind me.

I shifted in my seat to turn around, spotting a waiter carrying an ice cream cake with a multitude of glowing candles on top.

"Happy birthday to you!" Ell began to sing, causing a blush to form on my cheeks.

"Happy birthday to you!" the rest of the table joined in as the cake was placed before me at the table. The shine lit up in my eyes as I laughed nervously at all the attention on me.

"Happy birthday dear Valerieeee,"

"Happy birthday to you!!" A round of applause erupted.

I grinned cheesily at the cake. It was ice cream. They know me too well.

"Make a wish beautiful." Carter whispered into my ear.

I didn't need to wish for anything. Because I had everything- right here, right now.

So I blew out the candles.