════════════════

Note: Okay, a lot of the comments on this chapter say something along the lines of  "I don't even like pink streamers" so I just need to clear something up...

The "reader" is this story is not you - it's me. The author.

Just keep that in mind while reading this chapter, my loves. 😂🖤 x

════════════════

"Who the fuck bought pink streamers?" Frank asked, pinching the tissue paper between his thumb and index finger as if it were harboring an infectious disease and tossing a disgusted look around the room as he held it up for everyone else to see. "I specifically remember settling on the black ones."

"I did," Ryan frowned, moving to grab the piece of decor from the shorter guy's hand, "and we didn't settle on anything."

Frank narrowed his eyes and tapped a finger against his chin, pretending to think back. "Nope. I'm pretty sure we did."

A scoff sounded from the opposite side of the room, where Ray and Dallon were securing balloons to the wall.

Ray rolled his eyes as he turned to look at his band mate. "You mean you did. None of us even got a word in."

"Black streamers, dudes. We're doing black streamers. We have to do black streamers," Tyler mocked Frank's words from the when the bands had met yesterday, earning a collective chuckle from the rest of the guys. Except Frank, who glared hatefully at everyone who had decided to partake in this sudden unlawful uprising against him.

"Yeah, yeah, screw all of you too," he barked, folding his arms before he turned up his nose, "But she would want black streamers. If any of you dipshits knew her as well as I do, you would know that," he sassed, a confident smirk etched upon his face.

"Actually," Ryan interjected, slightly annoyed at Frank's comment, "if you knew her as well as I do, you would know that she'd love baby pink streamers all the same."

Frank was about to let rip on the younger guy, but was stopped when Andy jumped in.

"She would be fine with either; it doesn't really matter." He took the streamers from Ryan's grip and moved to the nearby wall, where he and Spencer proceeded to drape them.

"Andy's right," Spencer voiced as he tried to work the draping so that it was all symmetrical, "she'll love it regardless. 'Sides," he shrugged and gestured all around the decorated apartment, "almost everything else is black. A little color never hurt anyone."

"Unless you're in My Chemical Romance," Joe joked under his breath, just loud enough for himself, Josh and Brendon to hear what he had said. A snicker was shared between the three, halted only by Gerard's cold stare that was now raining down upon them.

"I hope you didn't make the cake, Joe," Gerard said with slight amusement on his face as Joe's expression fell, "We all remember how well (Y/N)'s one turned out, right, boys?"

A loud laugh erupted amongst the musicians, some of whom tried their hardest to hide it, for poor Joe's sake. Joe, who was blushing furiously and running his tongue over his teeth as he fixed his gaze on the ground.

"Yeah, alright. I can't bake cakes. So what?" he scoffed a little while later, when the laughter had yet to subside, "At least I didn't use up an entire familial burial plot for fucking sweaters."

"OOOOO," everyone yelled in unison, and now it was Gerard's turn to be embarrassed.

"Yeah? Well, I didn't get buried alive in the snow in my backyard and dangle from the roof of my house!"

Another ooooo.

"Hey!" Joe pointed an accusatory finger at the guitarist not too far away, "Ryan dangled from the roof too!"

"It was a balcony, actually," Ryan corrected, "and why am I being brought into this?"

"Everyone knock it off," Patrick scolded, entering the room with a massive cake and a drooling Pete trailing closely behind. The singer elbowed his friend in the stomach in an attempt to try and prevent him from swiping icing off of the baking. "She'll be home soon and we're not finished yet."

"I am," Brendon announced, beaming proudly as he stood back and allowed everyone to get a good look at his handiwork: the liquor and snack table.

"What do you want? A medal?" Josh snapped, earning an offended glance from the singer.

"Nah. He gets enough attention as is," Dallon snorted with a shake of his head, "Mr Bodyguard."

"Woah," Brendon held up his hands in defense, but did nothing to hide the smug look he wore on his face, "I can't help that I'm her favorite."

"I beg to differ," Ryan scoffed.

"Have you forgotten about me?" Frank piped up. "She's said countless times that I'm her favorite."

The rare sound of Mikey's laugh pierced throughout the room.

"Please," he rolled his eyes before blowing some air into a balloon and tying a knot at the top, "Are we really doing this again? Don't we remember what happened last time we had this argument?" He smirked confidently.

Brendon ignored him. "She writes about me the most annnnddd I have my own book. Ergo, I am her fave."

"I'm getting my own book too," Ryan challenged, "Don't feel special."

"You're getting one book. I'm getting five," Brendon countered with a click of his tongue.

"She chooses me over you, though," Josh pointed out with a smile and a tilt of his head. "Leader of #TeamJish and all."

"Seriously? Her name is literally 'ohfrxnkie'." Frank threw his hands up in defeat.

"It doesn't fucking matter!" Pete yelled, putting an end to the back and forth bickering. "She loves all of us! And I can hear her car pulling up so can we please get our shit together for once?! Thanks!"

"Pete!" Everyone shouted, practically falling over from laughter as Pete and Patrick looked on in annoyance.

"I'm fucking done," Patrick shook his head.

"Shh! She's right outside the door!" Ray whisper-shouted, shooing everyone into place.

~

After a grueling day, a soft sound of appreciation slipped past my lips as I closed my hand around the doorknob, wanting nothing more than to just plop down in front of the TV with a mountain of food.

Little did I know, my pig-out session would have to wait, since as soon as I walked through the front door I was bombarded with explosions of confetti and cheering, courtesy of the fourteen males I chose to center my life around.

"Woah!" I exclaimed as I ducked down to dodge the cork that had flown across the room when Spencer popped the champagne. "What is happening?" I questioned in perplexity, looking around at my party-prepared apartment.

"It's a party for you!" Joe explained and I nodded, wide-eyed.

"Yep. I see that. But might I ask why?"

Fourteen smiles faltered in front of me.

"You mean..." Andy started.

"You don't know?" Tyler finished.

I shook my head and shrugged, holding my hands up as a show of hopelessness.

"Babe," Brendon took the liberty of breaking the news to me, "you hit 100 fucking k."

I froze for a second, letting his words properly penetrate my overworked brain. When it did, the biggest smile formed on my face, and caused fourteen others to reform along with it.

"100 fucking k?" I checked.

"100 fucking k." Dallon confirmed.

"My book," I gestured to myself in disbelief, "hit 100 fucking k reads?"

"YOUR BOOK HIT 100 FUCKING K READS!" Frank exclaimed happily, jumping up in excitement.

A few more seconds to let everything sink in once again, and then I screamed in celebration, the boys following suit and rushing to engulf me in a massive group hug.

"Oh gosh. Oh wow," I gushed after everyone pulled away, "I guess this is the part where I do the thanks, right? Okay. First of all, I wanna thank you idiots, for... well, for a lot of things. For being so damn beautiful - inside and out -, for being inspirations, and most importantly, for being the wonderful colors with which I can paint my stories with. Oh, and I have to say thank you to the readers! Although..." I trailed off, turning around and looking at my phone set down on the table with a small smile.

"I should probably do it the right way," I reached out to grab my phone. Opening up Wattpad, I started typing.

Note: To my wonderful, beautiful readers. I honestly cannot believe that we've hit 100 thousand reads in less than twelve months. That is insane. I know that there's not much I can say to you that hasn't already been said, but just know that I am, and will be for as long as I'm writing, insurmountably thankful for your continued support. Knowing that there are people out there that are actually reading, enjoying, and continually supporting my work is quite possibly one of the best feelings ever. Your comments make my day and your compliments warm my heart in a very special way, and I am eternally grateful - for them, but especially for you. I have loads of love for you. So, to end this sap fest off, here's to the rest of this book and everything else that follows it, and here's to the next one hundred 100 Ks!

All the love xxx

"Andddd send."

I hit the Publish button.