Chapter 29

Arya Stark POV

Today is the day of Sansa's birthday party, and I'm helping my mom set up the living room. She wanted to do something really special since it's Sansa first birthday in recovery. It's nice of her, but I know Sansa will feel weird about all the attention on her.

Sansa walks downstairs and is clearly surprised by all the decorations. My mom set up pink streamers and we made a happy birthday sign with real flowers on it.

"What's all this?" Sansa asks when she gets to the living room.

"We just wanted to set up something nice for you," my mom says. "What do you think?"

"It's really nice," Sansa says, but she still has a sad look in her eyes. "Thank you."

There's a knock at the door, and I go to answer it since it's probably Gendry. It is him, he hugs me before walking inside. He's holding a gift bag.

"How are you, Gendry?" My mom asks.

"I'm good, thank you," he says. He turns to Sansa, handing her the gift bag. "This is for you, happy birthday."

"Thank you, Gendry," Sansa says. "You didn't have to do that."

Gendry shrugs and smiles at Sansa, he's really sweet. I love that he's making a genuine effort to get to know my family. Sansa puts her gift on the coffee table where the gifts are supposed to be sitting.

"Do you mind if I step outside for a minute?" Gendry asks my mom.

"Not at all," my mom says. "It's nice out."

"Can I go?" I ask her. She pauses before nodding, and we head out to the backyard.

"Don't let my mom see you smoke," I say as we lean against the tree by the fence and he lights up a cigarette. "Or smell it on you, for that matter."

"Don't I always smell like cigarettes?"

"A little," I say. "But she's definitely not as close to you as I am." He winks at me.

"Have you heard from Jon lately?" He asks me after a pause.

"No," I say, shaking my head. "Have you talked to him at all."

He shakes his head. "No," he says. "And I was just wondering if you did because I wanted to know if he still hates me."

"He probably will for as long as we're together," I say. "Maybe even after that."

"That's a shame," he says. "I really loved being his friend."

"I'm sorry all this happened," I say after a long pause. "You know there would be no hard feelings if your friendship with Jon was more important than our relationship."

"It's not," he says. "I feel like a real friend would understand that I really care about you."

I smile at him and we kiss a little bit. We start to make out before I stop. "We should probably go back inside," I say. "My mom will probably come check on us soon if we don't."

He just nods and we head back inside. I really hope Jon comes around soon, I was excited to be dating one of his best friends. I didn't expect his reaction to be so severe, I just hope he changes his mind soon.

Sansa Stark POV

I'm setting up the photo booth stuff with my mom, Arya and Gendry when there's a knock at the door. It's Podrick, Myrcella and Joffrey. I guess they all rode together, which makes sense.

"Happy Birthday Sansa," Myrcella says, giving me a hug as Podrick and Joffrey walk in. She looks around the room. "It looks great in here."

Joffrey snickers and I just look at him. "It looks like a party for an 11-year-old," he says. My face falls. "But if you like that, cool I guess."

"Let's get some pictures," my mom says to change the subject. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah," I say. "Let's do it."

We get some photos with the photo booth decorations my mom and Arya set up. Gendry, Myrcella and Podrick are actually having a lot of fun with it. They're laughing, joking and having fun putting feather boas and hats on Myrcella and Arya.

Of course Joffrey is just yawning and rolling his eyes through the whole thing. I thought maybe the guys wouldn't care much, but it sucks that they're having a good time and my own boyfriend can't even pretend to be happy right now.

"Should we do presents or cake first?" Arya eventually asks.

"I think we should do presents while the cake is baking," I say. "I want to see what everyone got me, and it'll help kill time."

"Self centered, much?" Joffrey says. He's laughing, but I don't think it's very funny.

"It's her birthday," Myrcella says. "Give her some credit."

We walk into the kitchen in silence. My mom laid out all the cake ingredients so we could start making it. I'm not completely present at this point, I'm not having as much fun as I was hoping I would.

Once we get the cake into the oven, we sit around the living room. I'm in the center of the couch with Joffrey and Myrcella on either side of me, and Podrick is next to Myrcella. Arya and Gendry are sitting on the floor on the other side of the coffee table where all the presents are sitting.

"Open mine first," Arya says, handing me the box. "It took me a while to find."

I open it, and it's a tote bag with all of the Taylor Swift albums designed as book spines. It's gorgeous. "Thank you," I say to her. "I really love it."

"Oh right, you love Taylor Swift," Joffrey says, rolling his eyes. "I forgot about that."

I ignore him and open Gendry's bag. It's a gift card to Forever 21, I guess Arya told him I like to shop there. "Thank you, Gendry," I say, and he smiles at me.

"Open ours next," Myrcella says, and I grab the last gift bag on the table.

I open the gift bag, and it's a set of rose gold and pink earrings with a matching necklace. "Myrcella," I say. "These are so nice! You didn't have to get me something so fancy."

"It's okay," she says. "My dad and Shireen wanted to say happy birthday from all of us."

"That's so sweet," I say, giving her a hug. "They're so pretty, I really love them." I put the necklace on immediately and then look over at Joffrey.

"Oh," he says when he realizes we're all looking at him. "I didn't know it was a gift giving sort of party."

"You didn't notice when I was wrapping mine?" Myrcella asks him.

"I didn't know that's what it was for," he says. "Sorry, Sansa. I'll get you something eventually."

"It's okay," I say as the oven goes off. "Let's just get some cake."

It's not okay, but I don't want to cause drama right now. It's my birthday, and it'll just make things worse if I say anything. I make a mental note to talk to him about it later, but I probably won't even end up doing that.

We go into the kitchen as my mom is cutting the cake. We get a few pieces, and she cuts me a larger piece. I don't want to eat it, so I just pick at it. Suddenly, I don't feel like celebrating anymore today.

Myrcella Baratheon POV

I'm so upset with how Joffrey is acting, I feel like he isn't even trying to hide his true colors now. I can't believe he didn't get her anything for her birthday, even just a little gift card would've been better than nothing. It makes me even more upset that Sansa is just taking it, she really should stand up for herself more. I know I'm one to talk, but she should.

We're sitting around the table eating the cake we made, it actually turned out okay. "Did everything turn out good?" Sansa's mom asks after walking downstairs.

"Actually, yeah," Sansa says. "I'm kinda surprised since I haven't done this in a while."

"It's okay," Joffrey says. "I mean, it's hard to mess up a red velvet cake, so there's that."

After we put our plates in the sink, Gendry suggests we go to the backyard so he can smoke. "Sure," Arya says. "Just don't let my mom see you doing that."

We go to the backyard by the tree that's out of view from inside the house. We sit in the grass and both Arya and Gendry light up a couple of cigarettes.

"Does your mom know you smoke?" I ask Arya. I hope that didn't come off as judgemental.

"Of course not," she says, taking a drag. "She would murder me."

"Are you excited for trade school?" Podrick asks Gendry. "I bet you're really excited to graduate."

"I am," Gendry says. "I'm really glad I'm not going to a traditional college. Trade school is cheaper, and I always knew traditional university wouldn't be my thing."

"I'll miss you in tech," Arya says to Gendry. "Who am I supposed to hang out with?"

"You'll figure it out," Gendry says. "You know I'm still going to pick you up like every day that I can, right?" Arya smiles and Gendry kisses her cheek. I know their age difference is a little weird, but they are really cute.

"Do you know what you're doing after graduation?" Gendry asks Podrick. "I keep meaning to ask you."

"I'm starting at the community college," Podrick says. "That was always going to be the plan, it made the most sense for me financially."

"I still don't know what I want to do," Sansa says. "I know I have one more year after this, but my parents keep pressuring me to figure it out."

"Don't worry about that," Joffrey says. "You have time. Plus, you're going to be a model, remember?"

Sansa chuckles. "Hopefully," she says. "We'll see how the modeling camp goes this summer."

"Well, you may have a harder time with it if you keep eating cake like you did today," Joffrey says. He pokes her stomach a little. "I know it's your birthday, but you have to remember to be careful with that."

Sansa just stares at the ground. God, he's such an ass. Does he not realize how hard those comments hit people like us? Actually, I know he does realize it. He just doesn't care. Or worse, he likes tearing her down. I think that's more likely the case. He knows she's already fragile, and it'll keep her staying with him because her self esteem is alreay low. I'm scared for her.

…

Podrick and I are hanging out in my room after the party. My dad isn't home, but he wouldn't care that we're in here alone even if he was home. We ended up having sex, and we're just laying together and cuddling after.

"Was that okay for you?" Podrick asks me.

"The sex or the party?" I reply.

"Both," he says. "I know being around Joffrey is hard sometimes."

"It was fun, still. I just feel bad for Sansa that it seems like she can't stand up for herself when Joffrey talks to her like that."

"I know," Pod replies. "I wanted to punch him when he poked her in the stomach."

"Yeah," I say. "I wanted to cry, and I can tell she did too." There's a pause, I honestly want to change the subject.

"But the sex just now," I continue. "It was good, I'm really glad you're staying in town and going to community college after you graduate."

"It always made sense financially," he says, holding my face in his hand. "But I'm really glad I can be close to you still, I love you."

"I love you more." He just shakes his head and we kiss.

I really do love him, and I know I'll be okay no matter what happens with Joffrey. I want Sansa to be okay, too. I hope she can move on from Joffrey soon and find love like Podrick and I have, it's truly the best feeling.

A/N: I have to be honest… I've been having some writer's block lately. I hope you guys are still enjoying this story, I definitely want to continue it if you are. Let me know what you've thought of the last few chapters. :)