"A toast... to my lady on her 25th birthday! I hope this year brings you all of your wildest dreams. I love you." Steven's lips kissed my hand as his champagne glass was held up, brought together by three other ones; the owner's being Cam, Nicole, and myself.

Nicole and Cam cheered, bright smiles on their faces. I grinned as well, clinking my glass with theirs and taking a sip. I leaned over and placed a smooch on Steven's lips, earning a smile to come from him.

"Presents, presents!" Nic said enthusiastically, running off inside the beach house we were currently at in Cancun, Mexico, where Steven convinced all four of us to go; a little outing before he went off to New York. A Happy Birthday-Going Away mini-vacation, if you will.

Steven's hand rubbed my bare thigh, and he looked as if he had something up his sleeve. I just smirked his way and leaned my head on his shoulder, taking in the beautiful nighttime beach sights ahead of me.

Soon enough, Nicole comes out with some wrapped gifts. "They aren't all of me. Vic and Danielle's gift is in here, too."

"Aw, how sweet of them." I was a little shocked, I mean, Vic and I weren't really close but I guess liking each other's photos on Instagram seemed like enough for a gift. I felt bad because I didn't get him anything for his birthday two months ago.

"This is from Cam and I." She handed me her gift; a beautifully crafted Chloé black dress, and the Michael Kors leopard print sunglasses I'd been eyeing the last month or so.

My mouth dropped at the beauty, "Oh my goodness. Nic!" I hopped up and gave my best friend a big hug and Cam also, before looking at the dress again- immediately thinking of occasions to wear it at.

Next, I opened up Danielle and Vic's gift- a cute and funny card with gorgeous burgundy velvet boots in the box. As I was digging for the show box lid, an envelope fell out. I found it weird seeing as how they already gave a card, but I chose to open it anyway. After all, it had my name written in black ink on it.

"Oh my god." I gasped once I opened the card.

"What is it, baby?" Steven asked curiously.

I was speechless. "It's... it's two tickets to Paris Fashion Week in the fall."

Nicole gasped and looked at the tickets to make sure they won't fakes. Steven looked at the card and saw it only said, "Because it's always been a dream of yours. Happy birthday."

"Who gave you this?" He asked curiously, knowing this alone might top his own gift. I looked at him and shrugged, nodding toward the nameless card.

I knew who it was. Only one person out of that circle of people knew that it was my dream to attend Paris Fashion Week.

One person only.

And that was Mike.

I stared at the tickets and Nicole looked at me, "You're taking me, right?"

"Well, duh." I smiled softly, squeezing her hand. I felt weird inside, though. Mike did this for me. Me of all people.

It'd been two weeks since the blowout that Nicole and I had because she found out about me possibly going to New York. Things were okay, but I hadn't expressed my emotions to Steven, because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Mainly because I was just scared of moving forward- typical Bonnie. I was just scared of losing Steven to be honest and of everything else. I wasn't sure why I felt that way, though.

"And now for my present." Steven announced, digging into his pocket and bringing out a black velvet box. He looked at me lovingly before kissing me gently. "Happy birthday, Bonnie."

He handed the box to me and I opened it, revealing a gorgeous Lorraine Schwartz four-carat pink diamond ring. I looked at him with my mouth dropped. He winked at me with a smile, "Don't worry, that's not an engagement ring, baby. Just a gift to show you my appreciation for you." He squatted down in front of me, placing his hands on my knees. "Just a little parting gift, really. Because I'm going to miss you so much when I'm in New York, wishing you were there."

"Steven," I gasped. I felt like I did that a lot tonight. "It's so beautiful." I ran my hands through his hair. "I love you. Thank you, baby. I'm gonna miss you, too."

He smiled sweetly and grabbed the box, taking the ring out and placing it on my right ring finger- not my left. "Perfect."

I admired the ring and smiled bigger than I think I ever had, then looked at Steven. "She'll be out there with you, but I get her for a little while, though." Nicole said with a wild smirk, making Steven chuckle.

Later on that night, after I got sexed up by Steven and put him to sleep, I wandered off into the balcony to enjoy a moment alone. I was still wearing the pink diamond ring because frankly, it was fucking flawless.

The light of the moon was reflecting on the ocean water, and the breeze was giving me chills, relaxing me even further. I brought out my phone and sent a text to Mike saying nothing more except, "Thank you."

I didn't think he would respond with the time difference and all, but he was on tour currently and I guess up all night. He responded about five minutes later saying, "You're welcome, Bonnie. Happy birthday. I hope your 25th year is the best one yet."

And that was it. I just smiled softly to myself before shutting my phone off and heading back in for bed.

Yeah, this one was going to be the best yet. It was the year of the come up. I was going to make shit happen this year.

---

The next morning, we were all having breakfast with some coffee and mimosas and chatting about life. Things were seemingly very well and it felt nice to send Steven off with good vibes before his daily life got extremely hectic in NYC and before mine did before the shop opened and I was back and forth from LA to New York. Either way, it was about to get exciting.

"God, let me see that ring." Nicole said, taking hold of my hand and admiring the beauty. "You sure know how to pick out a ring, Bohn. I'll give you that."

He smiled confidently to himself knowing that much was true. If there's anything he was good at, was picking out a fine piece of jewelry; he always said he thanked his mother for that. What a momma's boy.

I smirked his way, earning a wink from him, I stuck out my tongue in return. I turned my attention back to Nicole and my pink diamond, one that Nic and I had named Sasha. "She's a beaut, ain't she?"

Nicole nodded along with Cam before turning the conversation to New York and Steven. She and I had discussed plans for it and it felt very nice to have her support. She knew I was uneasy, but part of me always was. She said that I would ease up once things went into swing because apparently, I get that way about everything.

Funny enough, that made me ease up a little bit.

After a final day at the beach, then dinner afterwards, we all went to bed since we had early flights back to Los Angeles the next morning. I was a little drowsy from the red wine and Steven was tired from the sun. He was fresh out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his bottom half when he walked out of the restroom and saw me flipping through a monthly issue of Vogue with Sasha on my finger, still.

"You ever gonna take that baby off?" He questioned with a small laugh.

I shook my head, "I feel like I would be doing the ring a disservice by taking the ring off." He sat in front of me on the bed and looked at me, smiling wide. "She is so beautiful."

"I had to pick the most gorgeous ring for my most gorgeous lady." He leaned over and kissed me gently, his hand moving some fallen hair behind my ear. "I know it's no tickets to Paris Fashion Week but, I knew you'd love it."

"Can I ask you something?" I questioned, curiously.

"Anything, sweetheart."

"Who do you think got me those?"

"I have someone in mind. At first, I was thinking your dad, but, he would never send a gift with Vic, but also, he always gives you gifts face-to-face. He wants to see your reaction."

"So?..."

"It's Mike, isn't it?" He said quietly.

I nodded. "Yeah. It was something I mentioned like on our first date or something." I was silent as was he. "To be honest, though, I like your gift better."

He smiled sweetly, "Stop lying."

I chuckled, putting the magazine beside me and getting closer to him. "I swear, baby. I mean, look at this." I wrapped an arm around his neck and showed him the ring. He took my hand and looked at it, then looked at me.

"Now, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." I kissed his neck then his cheek.

"Let's say this was an engagement ring- what would you have said?" His blue eyes was burning into mine and making my heart beat.

"Well, I would've hoped you asked Mom and Dad for my hand. But, I would've said yes."

His eyes softened as he smiled big. "Yeah?"

I nodded, "Yeah." I kissed him a couple of times before smiling.

"Good to know." Was all he said before intertwining his fingers with mine. "I love you, Bonnie."

"For now, forever, for on and on and on." I said, getting on top of him and taking advantage of the fact that he only had a towel on.

Notes

I figured a seven or eight month long hiatus was long enough. I can't promise that an update will come all the time like they used too, but I do promise to finish this story!

Every now and then, I may ask for suggestions since writer's block has been my kryptonite the last year or so and I've been having trouble especially with this story. Honestly, I feel like it started really strong and I've just been giving long stories that haven't done anything to progress it further to even more - get to the fucking point. Lmao.

Other than that, lately I've been real busy with work mostly but in the last couple of weeks have found inspiration for this story again and like I said before, to finish it.

Here's to hoping I get this baby finished out before the year ends. And also, shoutout to this glass or two of sangria keeping me sane right now. :)

Thank you for your patience. I hope to not disappoint.

XO,
Ambs