Hanna woke up in her brand new oversized bedroom and smiled knowing that Caleb's arm was draped protectively around her waist. She loved this feeling. This was their first night waking together. They'd slept together plenty, but they never had a chance to wake up together. Even the first time in the tent, he'd woken up before her and gone to find coffee and she had to sneak back home to get ready before he got back. After that they always had to sneak around to avoid Hanna's mom. Obviously Ashley knew what they were doing, but Hanna didn't want her mom to hold a first person testimony to the fact.
This was different. She had her own place. Granted she shared it with three other roommates, but there were no parents or resident hall monitors getting in her way. It was a shame that it had to end. Caleb was moving into his dorm today. Yeah, he wasn't excited about it either but MIT requires all first year students to live in the dorms. Thankfully he's only living like a mile away. He can literally walk to the apartment in five minutes. Hanna had already made him a key. She was deep in thought planning the rest of her life with Caleb when she felt a hand move slightly so it was resting right on her breast. She turned to face him.
"You're awake," she smiled. Caleb didn't answer. He just kissed her. Hanna placed an arm on his chest slowly stroking her fingers against his skin causing him to smile. He loved it when she did that. Caleb showed his appreciation by grabbing tightly at her waist and pulling her toward him. She kissed his lips, then his neck, his chest. Her lips touched every part of his body. She knew he enjoyed it based on the rate at which his heart was beating.
"I love waking up to you," he whispered finally.
"Me too," Hanna said coming up for air. She rested her head on his chest. "Can we just cuddle all day? How much stuff do you even have to move in today?"
"You have no idea how much I would love that," he kissed her forehead. She loved it when he did that.
"Come on!" Hanna said grabbing his hand. "Let's get breakfast."
"I will make you the best breakfast of your life," he said, "as long as we do something else first."
"What's that?" she asked. Caleb pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers. He left a trail of kisses from her lips all the way down to her navel.
"Ahhh!" Hanna giggled. "That tickles."
Caleb winked at her and got back to work. Hanna just smiled as she silently counted her blessings.
Spencer walked onto the Harvard campus for her first day of school. She had two #2 pencils, a binder full of college rules paper, two black pens, and her laptop. If she wanted to be the first female president, she needed to be on top of her game. Spencer found the right building, considering she had already memorized the map of Harvard's main campus, and took a seat in the front row.
The professor walked in a few minutes late and proceeded to give a forty minute lecture on the importance of justice in the American government. By the end of the period, she knew every word of it. However, what he said next turned Spencer on more than seeing Toby in his construction clothes after a long day at work.
"For those of you interested in the debate team," Dr. Farber told the class, "we will be meeting at 4:00 this Wednesday in this class room. All applicants are expected to present a four minute speech defending Proposition K."
Spencer quickly jotted down everything about prop K that she knew and made a mental note, as well as a literal one, to research prop K tonight after her night class. Then she grabbed her things and exited the classroom. She checked her phone and saw that she had a message from Emily.
Hanna's birthday tomorrow. Do we have anything planned?
Spencer sent Emily and Aria a quick message to meet at the quaint cafe a block from their apartment to plan Hanna's birthday. Spencer always planned the birthdays. She was good at planning. Spencer took the train back to their apartment to drop off her stuff and met her friends within twenty minutes.
"Hi," Aria smiled when she saw Spencer.
"Hey," Spencer gave her a hug and took a seat across from her while they waited for Emily. In the meantime the waitress came by and they ordered three lattes.
"Sorry I'm late," Emily said showing up a minute later. She threw her bag to the ground and took a seat. "I met this girl in my psych class and we totally bonded. I lost track of time."
"Don't worry about it," Spencer told her. "We just got here."
"Wait, wait, wait," Aria said. "You are not getting away with it that easily. Tell us more about this girl."
"I don't know," Emily sighed. "Her name's Cory and she 's from Boston. That's pretty much everything."
"Are you going to see her again?" Aria asked.
"Maybe," Emily smiled. "I've got class with her but I might invite her for Hanna's birthday, whatever it is we end up doing."
"Speaking of which," Spencer smiled, "we need to do something amazing for Hanna. She's always goes all out for us."
"I know!" Aria smiled. "What if we rent out the clubhouse in our building and we invite everyone from Rosewood?"
"I like it," Emily said, "but we need a theme. Hanna loves themes. Did you know, every day she has a different theme for her makeup?"
"I actually did know that," Spencer laughed. "Okay, why don't we throw her party on Friday, though. That way everyone has a chance to come to town without having to work in the morning."
"Okay themes," Emily repeated.
"She's really into Bollywood right now," Aria offered. "Is that a theme?"
"Yeah!" Spencer smiled. "That's perfect."
"Okay, but how about tomorrow?" Emily offered. "She'd be so sad if we didn't do something special on her real birthday."
"I could make those red velvet cupcakes she likes," Aria said, "and maybe we can convince Caleb to cook her breakfast in bed."
"Aria!" Spencer was shocked.
"What?" Aria asked nonchalant.
"You're just trying to take the easy way out," Spencer told her. "Why don't we make breakfast in bed for the both of them?"
"What makes you think he'll be there?" Emily asked. Aria and Spencer both gave her a look that made her feel totally dumb just for asking. "Fine, but I'm not going in there to deliver it."
They all laughed. Aria checked her watch and a nervous look crossed her face. She turned to her friends.
"Sorry guys," she explained. "I need to go. I'm supposed to call Ezra."
"Bye," her friends smiled as she tossed down a few bills and grabbed her bag before running back to their apartment. Aria walked into her room and pulled her laptop from her bag. She opened it and turned on her webcam to talk to Ezra.
"Hey beautiful," he said when he saw her face on the webcam.
"I miss you," Aria replied. They chatted for a bit and Aria even picked up her laptop to give him a virtual tour of the room. Then she placed the laptop back on her desk to finish talking.
"We need to talk about something," Ezra said finally.
"What?" Aria asked. "What's wrong?"
"I don't think we should see each other anymore," he told her.
"No!" she protested. "I don't think that's a good idea. I love you."
"I know," he explained, "but you're too young to be tied down to someone who is five hours away. If we take a break, you'll have the opportunity to live like every other girl your ago without having to videochat with your boyfriend who's swamped in paperwork."
"But I don't want that," Aria told him. "I love you and I'll love you even if we have to be apart for a little while."
"This isn't really up to you to decide," he said. "If you still feel that way, I'll be in Rosewood when you graduate."
"But..." Aria was not letting it end like this.
"Aria, I really need to go," he told her. "We can talk later."
He ended the call leaving Aria speechless. He couldn't do that. He wasn't allowed to be the one to tell her what to do. She was an adult now, but somehow she felt like just a child.
"Happy birthday," Caleb whispered in Hanna's ear. She opened her eyes and saw him looking right at her with those deep dark eyes.
"I love you," she smiled pulling his face close to hers for a kiss.
"Well," he told her as they came apart, "I didn't get you a present this year, so I'm just going to go with the default birthday sex."
"Shut up!" Hanna threw a pillow at him.
"Honestly," he told her, "I do have a present for you, but you'll have to wait until we go to dinner."
"But that's tomorrow!" she sighed.
"You're the one who wanted to go out with your friends tonight," he told her. "You'll get it tomorrow unless you change your mind."
"I can't," she told him. "I already made plans."
"Then tomorrow it is," he smiled. A knock came at the door.
"Hanna?" Emily quietly called from the other side.
"Shit!" Hanna whispered. She threw Caleb his boxers while she threw on his shirt. Then they both quickly got under the covers. "Come in!"
"Happy birthday!" her three friends said walking in with a large red velvet cupcake toting a small candle.
"Thanks guys," Hanna smiled making a wish. She didn't really need one so she figured she'd wish for world peace and maybe that one would come true. Then she opened her nightstand drawer. "I actually have some presents for you guys."
"What? Hanna," Spencer told her, "it's your birthday."
"It's for my birthday," she explained handing them each a plastic card. "Fake IDs."
"This looks so much like me," Aria said staring at it. "Wait! Is this my yearbook photo?"
"Yeah," Hanna told them. "I needed something that looked like it could have been taken at the DMV."
"Hey," Caleb teased. "Where's mine?"
"You're not coming to girls' night," Hanna said giving him a kiss. "You don't need one anyway. You've had a fake ID since I met you. Probably before."
"I can see that I am not wanted here," he said hopping out of bed. Caleb tugged at Hanna's shirt.
"What are you doing?" she asked laughing.
"I think we're gonna head out," Spencer said leading the rest of the girls out of the room.
"You don't expect me to walk out of here in just my jeans," he asked.
"Fine!" Hanna said. She threw it off and gave Caleb one last kiss before he took off.
Hanna grabbed a nightgown and threw it on before walking into the kitchen. All of her roommates were bustling around trying to make breakfast and coffee while simultaneously cleaning their dishes.
"You guys are awesome," she said taking a seat at the bar.
"Its your special day," Emily told her.
"Thanks," Hanna smiled as Emily passed her a mug of coffee.
"Hanna," Spencer interrupted her happiness. "I can't make it tonight."
"What? Why?" Hanna asked.
"I've got this speech I need to research," Spencer explained. "I really don't have time to go club hopping with you."
"That's fine," Hanna told her. "We'll do it again."
"Hanna this place is amazing!" Emily said as the three girls entered the loud bar.
"I'm going to get a drink," Aria said heading toward the bar. She turned to the bartender. "One cosmo."
The bartender put her drink on the bar and Aria handed him a few wadded up bills. She took a small sip. The alcohol stung her throat for a second and then it headed to her head. She felt a tiny little weight lifted off of her. She took another sip.
"Hey," a voice said behind her. She turned to look and found a sexy brunette smiling at her with his piercing blue eyes.
"Hi," Aria smiled. "Can I help you?"
"You could give me your number," he said handing her a napkin and a pen.
"What do I get in return?" she asked.
"How about I buy you a drink?" he offered.
"So my number for one drink?" she gave him a sneaky smirk.
"That's the deal," he told her. "What can I get you."
"A shot of vodka," she smiled, "and you're name."
"Brent," he extended a hand.
"Aria," she shook his hand. Brent called the bartender over and got them two shots. Which they quickly downed.
"So," Brent said pushing the napkin toward her.
"Oh right!" Aria said taking the pen. She wrote her name and the number 4 before pushing it back to him.
"Wait!" he said looking at it. "What about the rest?"
"One drink, one number," she winked.
"So," Caleb said as the waiter took away their empty plates. Hanna sat across from him on for her birthday dinner.
"So," Hanna smiled.
"I want to tell you something," he explained, "but I know you're going to get all girly and freak out. Can you promise me that it won't happen?"
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Just promise," he pleaded. "No jumping up and down, or giggling, or..."
"Oh no, you didn't," she could barely contain her excitement. "Did you get me Justin Beiber tickets?"
"No," he looked at her shocked. "Definitely not."
"Okay then," she pleaded. "What is it?"
"Hanna," he said slowly. He pulled a tiny item out of his pocket and kept it tucked in his hand. "Will you marry me?"
He showed her the ring but he didn't need to worry about her making a scene. For the first time in Hanna's life, she was speechless. A million emotions were running through her body. She was smiling brightly but she also had the urge to cry. Happy tears, of course. The she grabbed the ring from Caleb's hand and placed it on her finger. It looked good there. Kind of like it was meant for her.
"I...uh...yes...yeah," she finally stammered. Then the tears came. Just a couple and Caleb didn't even notice. He was too busy being nervous himself.
"It's not a real diamond," he assured her. "It's CZ but I promise it won't turn your finger green. As soon as I have enough money, I'll buy a real one."
"I love this ring," Hanna said staring at the beautiful princess cut that now adorned her finger.
"We don't even need to get married soon," he told her. "I just want you to know that I'm committed to you and after everything we've been through I thought you could use a reminder sometimes."
"I love it!" Hanna smiled. "I love you and I can't wait to start our lives together."
