I CAN FIX HIM ! by KissLeclerc
December 17, 2022 # "I Actually Love It."

PROCEEDING WITH THE HOUR, Adeline, along with the guys went ahead and washed their faces, wiping away the remnants of the cake fight with damp towels and teasing banter. Adeline and Paul, in particular, couldn't stop giggling as they tried to clean up without smearing more frosting on each other's faces.

Once they were reasonably cleaned up, Adeline-now bare faced, they all gathered around the kitchen island once more, where Joslyn and Genevieve had prepared the second cake-another strawberry one of course.

Continuing to chat and laugh with one another, the group was just whole again. It was a warm and comfortable atmosphere as they all ate cake... and Adeline wished it could last forever.

They reminisced about old times and made plans for the rest of their winter holiday-hoping to spend New Years together like they usually would!

But for the first time in nearly two years, they got to spend it with Jak again.

As the evening wore on, they migrated back to the living room, where they sprawled out on couches and cushions, feeling content and relaxed. Adeline found herself sitting close to Paul, their arms interlocked as they listened to Kimi and Jak argue about sports.

"Please just kiss and make up already, I'm getting tired." Joslyn huffed a breath, her fingers massaging the center of her forehead as she couldn't bear listening to them mindlessly argue any longer.

"But, you don't-"

"AH!" She cut Jak off. "Shush."

"Joslyn, come on you have to-"

"Kimi." Gen held a hand up to stop her boyfriend from continuing. "She's right." She sighed. "Shut up."

Her boyfriend grinned mischievously. "Fine, fine. I'll spare you all the agony of hearing the truth."

Jak scoffed, shaking his head. "Oh come on! Like you actually know anything about-"

"SHUT!" Joslyn had enough of it. "Jak, maybe it's time you go back to America-"

"HA!"

"And take Kimi with you." She glanced at the boy beside Gen, his victorious snicker immediately disappearing with her words.

"Oh."

"Sounds like a beautiful plan." Gen said in satisfaction, causing her boyfriend to throw his arms up in offense with a confused face.

"Anyways!..." Adeline interrupted, attempting to move on to a different topic. "Are you guys up for a movie?"

"What if you opened your gifts instead?" Ollie suggested, Joslyn immediately clapping in agreement. "FINALLY! Something you said wasn't a bad idea." She teased her boyfriend.

"Ha, Ha." The boys's tone was incredibly sarcastic, his arm still draped around the girl anyways.

"Should I?" Adeline asked, staring at the coffee table with envelopes and gift bags.

"After I retrieve my gift upstairs, yes!" Gen for up from her spot beside Kimi.

"Oh! Do get mine too!" Joslyn called out as she already booked it for the staircase.

"No!" She called out.

"GEN-"

"Kidding, I got it!" The girl's yells were heard from upstairs.

Within moments, the Cortes girl eventually came back, her arms laden with gift bags and envelopes. Quickly placing them on the coffee table, she went ahead and took her spot beside Kimi again, eager to watch and see Adeline's reactions.

"K, who first?" She asked.

"Go smallest to biggest." Joslyn suggested to Adeline, "Since this idiot wants to show off so badly." She crossed her arms and eyed Paul-his large gift clearly standing out against the rest.

"Well..." He trailed off.

"Just start!" Gem cut him off. "Kimi first." She pointed at the small white envelope.

Nodding before she did what she was instructed, she looked at the messy handwriting before glancing at Kimi who hid his face in his hands.

"Don't say anything about my handwriting, mate!" He groaned in embarrassment.

Laughing at his immediate reaction, Adeline grinned before carefully opening it. Inside, she found two gift cards. One to Amazon, and the other for Sephora.

"This is so beautiful." The girl laughed, before reading the note to herself.

She beamed at the thoughtful words, appreciating the practicality and sentiment behind the gift cards. "Thank you, Kimi! These are perfect."

Kimi peeked through his fingers and smiled sheepishly. "Glad you like them, mate."

Next, Adeline continued to open the next couple gifts from Jak and Ollie.

The American's envelope contained a handwritten letter, and two tickets to a comedy show for someone they have talked about several times through sending the comedian's TikTok's to each other.

She squealed in excitement, of course, thanking Jak graciously before adding how excited she was to go, especially since it would be when he was still in town, meaning they could go together.

Soon moving on to Ollie's small gift bag, she pulled out a tiny compact box, promptly opening it up to be met with an Italian charm bracelet she's been dying to get but just hadn't gotten around to.

"And there's already charms on it!" She exclaimed, noticing a strawberry, a star, and much more others.

"My mum insisted I get it since you talk about it so much. And I chose the charms of course." The brunette said proudly. "Now, us three can match!" He smiled, holding his wrist up to reveal his while Joslyn did the same.

"I shall cherish this forever." Adeline smiled, quickly having Paul help her clasp it on. "Ugh! It's perfect."

"Wait, do share." Gen leaned closer for a better look, admiring all the personalized charms that Ollie had chosen, which fit the debate captain and her persona super well.

Continuing on, Adeline had three gifts left to open.

Joslyn, Genevieve, and Paul.

Wanting to keep Paul for last as everyone insisted she do too, Adeline started with Genevieve's gift basket which consisted of a lot of strawberry paraphernalia. Like scented candles, self care items, flavored snacks, and more.

"Oh, Genevieve I'm gonna lick your bicep." She sighed contently, reaching to the side to give Genevieve a hug.

"Mate?!" Kimi laughed into the palms of his hands. "What?!" He said in a playful confusion, always thrown off by the words his girlfriend and her friends say to each other.

"Nobody's stopping you." Gen mumbled into their embrace.

"I'm stopping her." Paul on the other side of Adeline, secured an arm around his girlfriend, pulling her away.

"First Kimi was a cockblock, now I gotta deal with YOU?" Gen groaned. "What's up with you guys and hating women?" She sighed.

"I just like having my girlfr-I mean." Paul stopped himself. Clapping his hand over his mouth as Adeline froze in place, her hands pausing as she was in the middle of opening Joslyn's gift bag.

"Your, what!" Ollie nearly laughed, jaw agape. The entire group gagged at his slip up, causing the girl beside him to slowly turn her head with twitched eyes.

"Do continue..." Joslyn narrowed her eyes. "Paul... Finish your sentence." She leaned forward in her seat.

"I didn't say anything." Paul shrugged, trying to move on from what just happened. "It's nothing."

"Adeline?" Gen quirked a brow.

"It's nothing." She laughed nervously.

"No-could've sworn he almost called you his girlfriend." Jak leaned back contently, a knowing smile gracing his face as the group began to holler with "OOOOO's" and whistles.

"DANIEL CAESAR VINYL! OH, JOSLYN!" Adeline exclaimed in shock, trying to change the subject when she was also completely shocked by the gift.

"Right! Wait-open the rest of the gift and then we can discuss you and your boyfriend." The Alaoui girl leaned forward in anticipation, earning a glare from Adeline.

"No deny?" Gen quirked a brow.

"I hate all of you." Adeline sighed. "It's nothing." She shrugged.

"Riiiiight." Joslyn nodded. "Just open the gift."

Going ahead and doing as she was told, Adeline rummaged through the rest of the bag, pulling out a framed photo of her and Ollie as babies, with the frame decorated with stickers and gems-Joslyn style!

"WAIT-This is so cute?!" She gasped.

"Was gonna do a picture of you and me, but then Ollie posted that one this morning and I had to print it out and change it." Joslyn explained as she got up before Adeline set the frame down to give her a hug.

"Thank you, sweet girl." She laughed.

Joslyn hugged her back tightly. "Of course. Happy birthday, my lover." She mumbled before pulling away.

Finally, all eyes turned to Paul, whose large gift stood out among the others. Adeline took a deep breath, feeling both excitement and nerves.

"Boyfie's turn!" Gen clapped, making Adeline grab a pillow and smack her with it.

"But yeah. True, I guess."

"WHAT?!?" Joslyn was completely caught off guard as she picked up on what Adeline just said, but Ollie barely heard the words that came from her mouth.

"Huh?" The brunette said in confusion. "What did she say? Wait-JOS, What did she say!?" He was feeling left out.

"This isn't funny!" Gen finally spoke from brief moment of silence. "Guys! We can't be joking like this!"

"I'm so confused." Kimi sighed. "I can't ever tell if you guys are kidding or not."

"We're dating." Paul repeated, this time louder and clearer, his eyes meeting Adeline's with a content and playful smirk.

"And you all thought I was crazy." Jak laughed. "I was the first one to hop on this train!" He said with a content sigh.

"OH?" Ollie froze in shock, not completely expecting that confession so soon. "Wait, for real?" He laughed, sharing the same happy yet, surprised expressions with Kimi.

"I am not shocked whatsoever but, I still need to act shocked." Joslyn mumbled.

"Yeah, that birthday post really did it for me." Gen sighed contently.

"Wait-Since when?!" Ollie furrowed his eyebrows.

"The 2nd." Adeline pursed her lips, nodding slowly as she scratched the back of her head and looked around.

"Oh! So, you've just waited like two weeks to tell us..." Gen laughed awkwardly. "Riiiight."

"You two and secrets." Joslyn groaned. "Is there a baby we don't know about either?" She questioned.

"Dude." Adeline deadpanned. "Yeah, sorry. My bad." She threw her arms up in defense.

"Anyways..." Gen cleared her throat. "Time share what Paul got you!" She smiled wide, earning nods of agreement from the others.

Looking at Paul for assurance, he gave her a nod before she reached into the bag, first pulling out the enormous stuffed animal which was a fluffy white bunny with a pink bow around its neck.

She hugged it tightly, its softness enveloping her when she got a whiff of strawberries.

"OH." Adeline laughed before taking another deep inhale. "Oh, I hate you." She glanced at the blonde, holding back another fit of giggles as he just rolled his eyes.

"Proceed." He motioned with his hand, referring to the other items that sat in the bag.

Continuing forward, she reached into the bag once more, immediately feeling another soft item, pulling it out to be met with a dark blue sweater that spelled the letters "YALE" on the front.

"Heard it's a little cold over there..." Paul mumbled as she felt her heart skip a beat. "And of course you need to represent your school you know?"

"You're kidding." She frowned. "Thank you?! This is so nice." Her eyes slightly watering but she refused to cry.

"Who knew Paul could be such a softie..." Ollie snickered alongside Jak and Kimi, the three soon earning glares from Gen and Joslyn.

"Ha, ha." The blonde rolled his eyes before flipping the three of his friends off.

Moving on, Adeline proceeded to pull out more little gifts, like her favorite snacks and candies before finally retrieving a small, intricately wrapped box.

Carefully unwrapping it with a quirked brow, she opened the box where she was soon met with a delicate gold necklace with a strawberry print engraved into a circular locket.

"Oh-You're so fucking dead. STOP." Adeline looked away from the box.

"No, no, no. Lock in, lock in." She mumbled to herself. "If you make me cry, I'll kill you."

"Wasn't planning on it but now I'm hoping for it." Paul laughed at her reaction as she looked back at the necklace.

"You're sick in the head, you know that?"

"I can't tell if she's flirting or not..." Ollie whispered to his girlfriend who chuckled. "She, so is." Joslyn said contently.

"Do you like it?" Paul questioned.

"I hate it." She sighed with a sarcastic frown.

"Oh."

"Kidding-Yes. I actually love it." Adeline laughed, causing him to release a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Well, go ahead and look on the inside." Paul pointed out since it was a locket.

Nodding at his words, she went ahead and opened the locket but soon found herself struggling as her nails refused to cooperate. Noticing her having a hard time, Paul laughed and helped her.

"Oh my fucking god." Adeline immediately reacted before setting the box down to hide her face into the palms of her hands. "That's actually so sweet." She lifted her head up to glance at him as he just smiled in satisfaction.

"Them first, I know my place." Paul grinned and whispered to her proudly.

"What is it?" Joslyn asked as she was on the other side of the coffee table.

"It's-" Gen reached forward. "Oh my god." She clapped a hand over her mouth.

"It's a picture of us three." Her own eyes teared up at Paul's thoughtful gesture for Adeline, soon reaching over to hand the box to Joslyn. "Oh, this is crazy."

"Paul Aron a year ago would never do something like this." Joslyn gasped at the locket, examining the photo of herself and her two best friends.

"He's a changed man." Adeline sighed. "I worked a miracle." She clapped. Paul's arm still wrapped happily around her.

"The praying worked." Genevieve joined in, gesturing prayer hands of her own, causing the group to laugh in unison.

Moving forward, Joslyn handed the box back over to the couple, causing Paul to go ahead and clasp the neck around his girlfriend.

"Happy birthday." He grinned, rubbing her back softly as she wiped away loose tears.

"I didn't cry. I don't know what you're talking about." She laughed through another wave of tears that got her.

"Right, you definitely did not..." He went along with it before bringing her in for a forehead kiss.

As the night wore on with peals of laughter echoing through the room and new memories being etched into their minds, it eventually drew to a close.

Adeline couldn't have imagined a more perfect way to spend her eighteenth birthday-enveloped by her dearest friends and the one who had come in out of no where and stolen her heart by a landslide.

Everything was just perfect.

VERA'S VOICE!
YYAYAA PT. 2 !!!

wrapped it up hella, HAPPY BIRTH ADELINEEE MY SWEETS EEEKK!!!

hope u enjoyed ^_^ did i cook ? did i eat ? ! feed my ego. thanks. i need it lowk...

also publishing a kimi book soon, smirk....

bowl & egg. love u.
from vienna sausage.