Angel laughed, and shooed everyone else away before pulling me out of bed. "Damn you, now I'm cold! It's still fucking February." Angel just laughed. 

"C'mon, get ready. I have a surprise for you."

He closed the door on his way out, and I almost wished he'd have stayed. I pulled on jeans and a sweater as fast as I could, and remembered to send Ida a birthday text before rushing out of my room to see what Angel had planned. The table was set for everyone, filled with chatter and the smell of warm pancakes. I wanted to cry. No one had ever done something like this for me before.

    I sat down to a chorus of enthusiastic "happy birthday"'s. We ate breakfast, but I soon realized that I should be in school. "Angel, we are so late, we need to go!"

"Calm down! We're skipping today."

That sounded like an epically bad idea to me, but Lana and Claire nodded, so I decided to let it go. Not like I was learning anything new, anyway. 

    After breakfast, the house emptied so fast it was like magic. "Someone is coming this afternoon, but until then, it's just you and me. What do you want to do?"

"Who's coming? When?"

Angel smiled nefariously. "It's a surprise, dummy."

"Oh, come on! Pleasssee? It's my birthday!" 

"Nope."

I crossed my arms and pouted. I'm generally not a fan of surprises, but I trusted Angel not to do something that would freak me out. I decided if he wasn't going to tell me anything, we were going to play monopoly. I'm very good at monopoly. He would be begging for freedom by the time I was done with him. 

    After ten minutes, I had Boardwalk, Park Place, and every railroad. I told you I was good at monopoly. Angel was looking at his own sad stack of funds pitifully. "Can't you pleaaseee lower the rent? This isn't fair!" I moved my glasses up my nose, and adopted a 'rich landlord' tone of voice. "No."

    Angel curled into a ball on the floor, and I crawled over to him. "You're so meeaaannn," he whined. 

"What can I say? I'm a shrewd buisinessman." Angel's hands found my knee, and he pushed himself up to face me. His joking sadness had dissapeared, and it was replaced with an expression that I only knew meant shenanigans. 

He leaned in quickly, and the world around us was quickly forgotten; the only thing I knew was Angel's touch. 

    His mouth roamed mine, hands pressed to my thighs. God, he was perfect. Angel pulled away only slightly, and I whispered, "Is making out your solution to everything?" 

"Yes."

I melted back into him, and the ball of fire in my stomach felt like it had been doused with a heavy dose of gasoline. I held tightly to the hair at the base of his neck, curls wrapped around my fingers. My back had arched off of the edge of the couch, and my entire body felt like it was made of wanting.

    The doorbell rang. I tried to tell Angel to just leave it, to just keep kissing me, but he got up too quickly for me to hold onto him. He smiled as brightly as the sun, and said, "This is your surprise."

    When the door swung open, I stood in shock.