Ruthie woke up to find a dozen roses spread across her other bed. There was a note on the foot of her bed and when she reached for it she saw a present on the floor. She read the note out loud:

Dear Ruthie,

Happy birthday! I can't believe that you're finally 17, man I feel old. I love you and I have a surprise for you tonight after the party. I hope you like your present.

Love,

Martin

Ruthie smiled as she grabbed the present. She torn the paper and threw the cover of the box across the room. Inside was a Florida State sweatshirt and a necklace. The put the sweatshirt and the necklace and got out of bed. She walked downstairs to the kitchen and the whole family was waiting including Matt, Sarah, Mary, Carlos, Mac, and Martin. She smiled at her whole family; they were all here to celebrate her birthday. But she was most happy to have Martin in her life.

"You look good in the sweatshirt." Mac said grabbing some food.

"Hey Ruthie."

"Hey, thank you."

"Its nothing. So after the party I need to talk to you, alone."

"Okay."

"Hungry?"

"Starved." She grabbed a plate and loaded it with food Martin looked at her and burst out laughing.

"Save some for the rest of us."

"Shut up." The whole Camden family sat down all chatting with each other and laughing at each other's jokes and funny stories and Martin and Mac were arguing about some baseball game. It was nice being with the whole family for such a big occasion.

The rest of the day Ruthie spent with Martin and Mac walking around the mall while the family got ready for the party. She couldn't wait to see her friends and couldn't wait to talk to Martin alone.

She wanted to know what he wanted to talk about because she always knew everything that went on in the house even if it was about her. She had been that way since she was younger.

Ah the times she would sit on the stairs and listen in when she should've been sleeping or playing upstairs and all the private conversations that went on behind closed doors. She remembered spending time with Ron when Lucy hid him in her closet and the times she hung out with Robbie.

Robbie was the first kid at the Camdens took in and was Mary's on again off again boyfriend at the time. She wondered what he was up to, it had been awhile since she saw him. Then they took Martin in, his aunt was moving to New York and he wanted to stay here so the Camdens took him in while his dad was in Iraq.

But when Martin's dad came home, it was end of all the late night chats they had shared and midnight snacks he would bring her when she was working late at the kitchen table on school work. And the past year they had become best friends and then Ruthie started hanging out with Mac and Martin and she couldn't ask for more.

But the summer before Martin left Ruthie started to realize that she had feelings for him and it became weird hanging out with him because he and Mac would always hit on other girls in front of her and it hurt.

Then the day Martin left was horrible. Martin was packing and Ruthie was sitting on his bed watching him throw clothes in boxes and others in the donate box. Ruthie was bored so she stood to leave and Martin just let her go. But when he called her later she just blew up at him and they were screaming at each other and he yelled at her.

It took them 2 weeks to apologize and when they did they were still mad at each other. But then the next night Martin called and they talked for 2 hours. It took them awhile to make up but in the end it brought them closer until Lindsey.

When Ruthie found out about Lindsey she was devastated; it meant that Ruthie had no shot in hell to be with him. She moped around the house for days not wanting to talk to anybody not even Mac and when Martin called she simply told him she didn't want to talk to him.

He called back a couple of days later and she wasn't ready to pretend that everything was peachy so she was never around when he called. Martin didn't get the hint and kept calling. She got fed up and told Mac to tell Martin not to call.

Until the week before Thanksgiving Ruthie and Martin barely spoke because she was so hurt by him being with Lindsey. She wished she was Lindsey but knew that Martin didn't have feelings for her so she just simply put her feelings aside and became his friend again.

And now it was 7 months later and they were together. Thanksgiving last year was the greatest and she wants to spend the rest of her life with Martin. She can't wait to be able to see Martin all the time without parental supervision. She didn't regret sleeping without Martin because they both want to be with each other and the only one who knew was Mac and he wouldn't tell anybody if he knew what was good for him.

"Ruthie are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." She grabbed Martin's hand as they left the mall.

When they got home the house was buzzing with excitement and Ruthie was giddy because everything was for her. They got into the house and everybody rushed up to Ruthie wishing her happy birthday and handing her presents.

She opened all the presents and they had dinner but Ruthie really wanted to talk to Martin. She waited until everybody was dancing and not paying attention to her to talk to Martin. She glanced at him from across the room and nodded with her head. They went out into the backyard and sat down on the picnic table.

"Ruthie I want to give you something."

"Okay." Martin pulled out a card from his pocket and handed it to Ruthie. She opened it and started reading it. Soon after she opened it she started crying because it was so sweet. "Oh Martin that's beautiful. I love you too." She set the card down and kissed him.

"Come on let's go back into the party."

A/N: So that's the last chapter but there's a sequel coming. I hope you guys stay tuned for the next one. I want to thank everybody who read and reviewed this piece and hope you like the next one.