This chapter is dedicated to @wonder_s for voting and commenting! Thank you so much!

••••

The stress was immediate, but the

idea of his reaction and appreciation dragged me through the more than stressful morning.

Axel's birthday.

After waking up, Rob and I immediately went into planning mode. Axel had training this morning and so, after careful planning, we rushed over. Using the key he gave me just in case (my hearts melts every time I think of this) we got in easily and started setting up.

Axel's Mom confirmed she was coming, as well as his Aunt and Uncle. I also invited Axel's main friends and I was now feeling the pressure on delivering this party.

It's not like anyone is putting any pressure on me to deliver, but I want this to go well. He deserves a nice birthday and I plan on succeeding in giving it to him tonight.

Later on, I left Rob and Emma doing the last decorations on his apartment to go and meet Axel outside of the football stadium.

"Hey, I didn't know you were coming." He greets, wrapping an arm round my waist and planting a soft kiss on my lips.

Keeping my hands on his broad shoulders, I grin and murmur, "Happy birthday."

Axel smiles in return and murmurs a quiet thank you before kissing me once more. Grabbing his hand, I start walking and he follows along beside me without any question.

"You up for some birthday waffles?" I ask, turning my head to see him already looking at me.

"One-hundred percent." He smiles and we set off, our conversation quickly passing the time until we arrive at the cafe.

Despite the aura of calm around me, my mind still continually turns with the possibilities of what's going to happen tonight and I know all I can do is hope for the best.

••••

"You are so making that up!" I laugh, my stomach starting to hurt.

"I'm not! I swear if you go into Rob's wardrobe, you will find a golf outfit." Axel protests back.

"He said he got rid of it once he discovered glitter!" I laugh.

"No, saw it the other day," Axel smiles, shaking his head at his best friend. "Honestly his closet should be classed as a hazard - the amount of bright colours in there is insane."

"You're just saying that because all you wear is black and white." I remind him.

"I'm classic." Axel states smugly, shrugging his shoulders in defeat at my words - knowing that I'm right.

Sat in the waffle place, our plates are wiped clean. They were drool-worthy and I've made a mental note to bring Emma with me next time, knowing her sweet-tooth would love them.

"You ready to go?" Axel asks. "I need to drop this bag at my place and then we could go to yours if you want."

Show time. Plastering on a fake smile I pray that Axel can't see through my smile and spot my nerves.

"I've got a better idea." I say, my words stumbling out quickly.

Knowing that my plan is about to be put into action, I stand up and offer Axel my hand. He takes it easily and stands up beside me, but sends me a questioning look.

"I may have planned a birthday surprise." I say simply, walking out of the cafe after leaving money on the table.

Axel squeezes my hand and then turns to me with a boyish smile, "Oh yeah?" He asks. "What is it?"

I let out a quiet laugh before saying, "You'll find out when we get there."

Axel and I walk along the busy streets, our hands intertwined the whole way. His excitement gets the better of him as he suggests ridiculous things of what we're going to be doing.

But as soon as we stop in front of a certain building, his face lights up in a smile of recognition.

"Cooking classes?" He asks and I internally jump for joy at the look of happiness on his face - glad he's not protesting against the idea.

"Uh-hu." I nod.

He smiles and leans in for a kiss. Breaking away, he murmurs, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. C'mon, I want to prove how that I'm better." I say eagerly, tugging his hand to drag him inside.

Axel lets out a laugh at my competitive spirit before following me obligingly.

After being greeted by some lovely staff, we're taken into a room where stainless steel seems to coat every surface. The ovens are huge and a massive oak counter top in the middle immediately intimidates me.

Axel and I put on our extremely fashionable outfits, aka. some old aprons and ridiculous chef hats. Once finished putting them on a smiling, old man comes in who instantaneously calms me down with his look of friendliness.

"Hello, I'm Greg, your instructor. Today, we're going to be making chocolate cupcakes." He greets and instructs us to get out mixing bowls out, which are under the counter.

"Chocolate cupcakes? This is practically child's play." Axel teases, sending me a wink.

"Just you wait." I promise and Axel laughs at my determined tone.

The cupcakes turned out harder to make than initially expected and Axel quickly agreed that maybe this wasn't child's play after all.

Regardless, my idea went brilliantly and we both had fun. Laughing the whole time, my cheeks hurt from smiling when we were told to take our cupcakes out of the oven.

"Look at mine, you can practically see their airy texture," Axel says, doing a quiet impression of Greg. "Yours look like they've hardly been in the oven!"

I playfully slap Axel's shoulder with my spatula and I'm quickly told off by Greg. Feeling like a school girl being caught, I busy myself with making icing as Axel smirks beside me.

Once it's made and the cupcakes are cooled, we begin icing. The concentration needed is overwhelming and my constant need to do well is quickly put on full display. Due to this, I barely realise that Greg has left the room until Axel smears a bit of chocolate icing, just below my bottom lip.

"You've got something there." He murmurs, turning round to face me.

I laugh, amused by his blatantly obvious tactics. "You know, Black, I expected smoother tricks. Clearly age is getting the better of you, already."

"I'm always smooth." Axel laughs.

"That's debatable." I retaliate and Axel wraps an arm around my waist to pull me closer.

Instead of laughing, Axel kisses me. His lips fuse to my own and the sparks that light up across my body solidify the thoughts that I've been pondering over for the whole of today.

I love this man.

Because as his lips move against mine, all of my thoughts are burned away. My brain is drugged by his presence and immediately throws away any comprehend-able thoughts whenever he is near. But even when he's not in the room, he's still all I think about. The feelings that he brings me are ones I've never felt before.

He's the one for me, I've never been so certain of something in my life.

Our lips break apart, but our foreheads stay together. Conscious of our lack of time, due to the threat of Greg coming in at any possible moment, I put my thoughts into words before time runs out.

"I love you." I say softly and confidence fills my body with no shadowing doubts filling my head - only the light of exhilaration.

The effect of my words is immediate. Axel's body tenses in shock and his eyes, previously shut, fly open. Lifting his face away from my own but keeping his arms round my waist, he murmurs in a soft tone, "What?"

"I love you, Axel and I know it's taken me a while to get there, but I truly do." I repeat, looking into his eyes hopefully.

"You love me." He says, disbelief written across his features.

"Yeah, I do." I laugh, placing a hand on his face.

Staring into my own eyes, Axel's dimples appears as he grins at me.

"I love you, too, Skylar. So much." Axel murmurs before kissing me softly.

Our moment is quickly broken when Greg walks back in. We pull apart quickly and go back to decorating, Greg sending us some questioning looks but he continues regardless.

We continue the class, but every time I look over at Axel, a smile is on his face.

••••

"That's how Stephanie got mad at Brooke - just because she wouldn't put her in the front line of the new routine!" I explain, walking out of the elevator with Axel holding my hand and walking beside me.

My nervousness is showing through my fluent stream of dance group nonsense. But Axel listens calmly, not uttering one complaint.

But I have to fill any stops in the conversation because I know I'll blurt out the secret that we're about to walk into a surprise party for him if there's any silence.

Why did I decide on a surprise party? This is more stupid than the time I ate five cookies in a row.

Despite my frantic thoughts, I'm calmed down by a earlier text message from Rob.

Everyone's here and the decorations look great (you can thank me later). See you soon Cupcake ;)

Turning up outside of his door, I take a deep breath.

Axel places the key in the lock and slowly opens the door before turning to me to ask, "Do you want Chinese again toni-"

But his words die off as soon as he takes in the scene in front of him.

Streamers hang from every wall and balloons surround the place in the football team's colors of blue and gold. His family and friends stand in the center of it all, with Rob and his mum and dad in the middle.

I stand beside Axel and turn to see his reaction.

Wide eyed, he looks completely throw off. But as the party shouts surprise! he quickly recovers. A smile takes over his face as he goes and hugs his parents - almost running towards them.

The apartment seems to explode into celebration and I quickly join in, the happiness infectious.

••••

"I just can't believe he cried." I laugh.

Standing and talking to Axel's Mom and Aunt has been the best decision I've made all year. Stories of when Axel was a baby quickly appeared and I basked in them all - Axel usually hating being embarrassed by telling stories.

However, tonight he's in the kitchen talking to some of his friends so there's no censors and I'm loving every story they remember.

Axel quickly introduced me to his Mom and after getting through some nerve-wracking initial talk, I relaxed into the conversation and I now realise where Axel gets his sense of humor from.

"I swear, he did! Just never play monopoly with him, it's worse than when he looses a match." Axel's auntie laughs.

"Noted. Although, he seemed fine when we played Uno the other day." I shrug.

"Did he win?" Axel's mom asks and I nod shamefully in response. "Exactly! The boy cannot handle loosing board games."

"He really can't, Cupcake." Rob drawls, wrapping an arm round my shoulder.

"So I'm learning. I think we should team up one day and beat him, just so I can see this in full effect." I grin at Rob, my mischievous side making an entrance.

As if hearing my cruel thought, Axel walks towards us before Rob can respond. Approaching us, he comes and stands beside me before saying to the rest of the group, "I hope you're not scaring her."

"Never. If anything it's us being scared of how perfect she is for you." Axel's mom smiles, nodding at me.

The sweet relief of approval from Axel's Mom runs through me immediately and I resist the urge to sigh in relief.

"I know." Axel grins. "But I'm also going to have to steal her away."

Before they can respond, Axel takes my hand - dragging me away from the chance of any more stories. We eventually come to a stop in a secluded corner of the flat.

"Thank you for this." Axel says, a gentle smile on his face.

He plays with my hand gently and I lean up and give him a quick kiss before murmuring, "You're welcome, Happy Birthday."

But our moment of seclusion gets cut short when Axel gets shouted back in by Emma. However, I didn't mind because this was just one night of many that we had in front of us.

Because despite our failures at cooking, our relationship was successful and the love that was produced from it would last for the rest of our lives.

••••

I can't believe we're here, this is surreal to me that this book has made it to the end!

What did we think of this chapter? Skylar saying I love you to Axel? What about the party?

This isn't the complete end, though! There will be a Epilogue and it will be up next Friday as usual!

If you liked this chapter, make sure to give it a vote, it means a lot :)

Much love,

Jade x