Leo

"Now blow."

Izzy claps in excitement, slightly jumping in place. Luca has his hands around her waist from behind and he smiles at me.

My entire family is standing in a circle around me for my 25th birthday. It's already July eighteenth. The time flew by.

"The candles." Nicole explains. "Not whoever you're thinking of blowing." She pushes her tongue against her cheek in a crude gesture. Her mother shakes her head and mumbles something to herself while Mateo, her brother, tries hard not to laugh.

"You have to make a wish before you blow." Sara tells me, her arm around her husband while he, Antonio, has his arm around her shoulders, tucking her to him.

"The candles." Antonio finishes her sentence. "Not...someone."

"Got it the first time you said it." I say.

I look around at my family. Everyone is smiling and their eyes hold so much love. For me, and for everyone here.

I'm really lucky to have such a big, happy, loving and supportive family.

I bend and close my eyes as I make a wish before blowing...the candles.

Though with all this talk of blowing, I do have someone in mind.

"Yay." Carina cheers.

They tell me I have to cut a piece and eat it, so I do. Then I feed my mama a bite, then my papa and my big brother.

I then go to my Nonno. He pats my back, tells me how much he loves me and how he's proud of me. For what exactly, I'm not sure.

I have done nothing big or amazing like the rest of my family.

Not like my brother, Luca. He's taken over managing one of my Nonno's hotels when he graduated college and since then he's opened his own architecture firm and it's growing by the minute. His girlfriend has her own clothing shop where she designs and models them herself. She even booked a fashion runway show recently for a well-known brand. She explained how that's such a big deal and I couldn't be happier for her.

Antonio manages his nightclub, and his wife is a lawyer.

Mateo works for his father in his real estate company.

And Nicole, she earns money by living her life and posting pretty pictures on Instagram.

But me, I took the easy way out.

I chose the army because there wasn't any other option.

"Birthday boy." Nicole slaps her hand on the back of my neck and a loud snapping noise releases. "Wanna open your presents?"

I pinch her arm but go to where the presents are and open them. They got me gifts even when I told them not to buy me any.

But then I laugh when I see it's mostly socks and underwear. Yup, my family gifted me socks and underwear because I once said I run out of them all the time.

After opening the very thoughtful gifts, and throwing a pair of briefs at Nicole's head when she couldn't keep her laughter in as I opened the jockstrap she got me. Later, we all sit around while we drink some wine and chat.

My phone rings and I pull it out. I see Josephine's picture light up my screen. It's a picture of her when we went roller skating. She's skating in front of me, but she glances at me with a grin.

The lighting isn't very bright, but it's a candid picture so I used it for her contact.

"Who's calling you?" Nicole questions, clearly confused. "Everyone you know is here." She looks around to see if anyone has a phone in their hands.

I stand up and give her the middle finger. She gives me two back.

"It's Josephine." I tell them.

"Aww, is that your girlfriend?" Izzy coos.

"Just a friend." I reiterate and walk further away from them for some privacy and click the green button. "Josephine."

"Leonardo." She laughs. "Whatcha doing?"

"Having brunch with my family."

"Cool." She hums. "I was wondering if you're free later tonight? We're having a game night and wanted you to be there."

"I'm free." I say way too eagerly. "What time?"

She sighs. "I told them at eight, but you know how they never come on time."

I laugh. "I'll see you at eight then." After saying our goodbyes, I disconnected the call.

The minute I come back to the circle of my cousins, they pounce—more specifically, the ladies pounce.

"What did she want?" That was Izzy.

"Why are you smiling so much?" Sara.

"Was she wishing you a happy birthday?" Carina.

"Was it a booty call?" Last but not least, Nicole.

"First of all," I say and look at Nicole pointedly. "No. She invited me to a game night at her place."

"That's definitely code for something else, if you catch my drift." Nic waggles her eyebrows.

"Shut up." I chuckle and softly hit her shoulder.

•••

It's five before eight and I knock on Josephine's front door.

After a few seconds, the door whips wide open and a chorus of 'Surprise!' sound.

The sudden loud voices make me clench my hand as muscle memory kicks in, ready to defend myself against whoever comes to me.

My eyes latch on Josephine and I tightly grip the door frame to prevent it from throwing a punch.

They sing me the happy birthday song while clapping and I'm rooted in my place as a memory plays back in my mind.

"Mayday, mayday." I say into my radio. "They ambushed us. Multiple soldiers down. Need medical assistance ASAP. Over."

I apply pressure to Austin's wound on his femur. The second we entered this compound, a bomb went off, causing injury to almost all of our baton. I got lucky as I was standing near the back and didn't get hit with shrapnel.

"Our satellite shows you're surrounded." My radio crackles, probably the only one still working. "We can't reach you until you take them out."

"Fuck!" I yell and press my radio. "I repeat, we need backup and medical assistance. Out."

Austin groans as I press harder on his leg. Loud gun shots are flying over our heads.

I tighten his tourniquet and tap his face to get his attention. "Hey, keep talking, okay? I need to check on Zoe." I crawl over to her. The right side of her is severely burned, and she has something sticking out of her stomach. "Leo." She cries when she sees me. "Can't feel my leg."

"Don't move." I tell her when she tries to sit up. "Press here." I take her hand and situate it around the piece of metal in her stomach. "Stay here. I'm gonna check on the rest."

"Where am I going?" She tries to laugh, but she groans when the movement hurts her stomach.

I don't have a lot of medical knowledge, but I make do with what I know. I reach Hunter, who was the first one in line.

"Hunter." I tap his face. "Hey, open your eyes." He's motionless.

I slap his cheek harder, attempting to wake him up. "Wake up!" I know he's already gone, but I don't want to believe it.

I have to make sure, so I check his pulse.

Nothing.

"Hunter!"

My eyes prick but I can't stay by his side any longer. I'm the only one beside Anna who's able to move around. I snap his dog tags and pocket them so they're safe in case I don't have the opportunity to come back to him.

We talk about things we want our families to have once we die. And for Hunter, it was his dog tags.

I wipe my eyes and move on to the next person. It's not the time to let my emotions get the best of me.

"Happy birthday!" Josephine's hand on my arm pulls me out of a sour memory.

My body instantly relaxes, and I smile at her.

"You did this for me?" I glance around at everyone, only now taking in who's here.

Candice and Ananya. Her brothers Julian and Milan. Next to Milan there's a redhead I've never seen before. I'm guessing it's his girlfriend, by the way she's clutching his arm. Lastly, there's another new guy I haven't seen before. Maybe another brother of Josephine.

"Were you surprised?" She says and closes the door when I enter.

I was more than surprised. I don't get many flashbacks when I'm home, so it came out of nowhere and felt like an attack on my brain.

"Yeah." I chuckle and rest my palm on the back of her nape, the feeling of her warm skin on my palm keeping me grounded. "How'd you know today's my birthday?"

She gives me a sheepish look. "Nicole has a picture on her Instagram for your birthday last year."

We walk closer to the group around the coffee table. There's a cake in the middle with fish on it. I face Josephine and she beams up at me.

"I know fishing is your passion."

Beside the cake, there are muffins, cookies and cut up fruits.

"You made this all?" I sound in awe as I gesture at the table.

"Yup." She nods proudly and rests her hand on my waist. "Hope you like it."

"I love it." My thumb sweeps across the side of her neck. "Grazie mille."

"Of course. That's what friends are for."

My smile brightens at the word 'friend'.

"Before you blow out the candles, that's my second oldest brother, Marco. And this is Jessica, Milan's girlfriend."

I shake hands with them but keep my palm on her neck, liking the warmth of her skin.

They make me sit in the middle of the circle and in front of the cake so Josephine can take a few pictures of me.

"Make a wish." She says excitedly.

I look at her, really appreciative of what she's done for me. She made a cake, muffins and more just for me. She planned this surprise party for me just because it's my birthday.

My heart swells and swells with gratitude ... and something more.

Even though I made a wish during brunch with my family earlier, now I blow out the candles without wishing on anything. Because the way my life is going right now, it's pretty darn good.

I only hope it continues this way.

They also make me cut the cake and eat the first bite as per the universal rule.

Josephine sits next to me as everyone puts sweets on their plates. I swipe a finger through the frosting and wipe it across her cheek. She does the same to me while our eyes are locked with a deadbolt. I feel myself moving closer to her, but the sound of chatter around us reminds me we're surrounded by people.

She laughs softly as she wipes her cheek, then mine with a tissue. After she fills a plate for her and me, she rests her back against the couch and I put my arm around her shoulder.

"Thank you. This means a lot to me." I say softly, so only she hears me.

She tilts her head to meet my eyes.

"It's the least I can do."

I give her forehead a kiss and for the rest of the night; we sit next to each other with her plastered to my side and with my arm over her shoulders.

• ••• •

A/N:

So Josie planned a little surprise party for him. What do we think this means? 👀