[3rd POV]
The sight of Jay being forced to run around prepping the rest of the party had been an amusing one, as the man looked like he wanted to be literally anywhere but there. He was the tallest one in the room, and thus was the only one who could reach certain heights.
On top of that he was the only one that could lift certain objects, and just made it a bit easier on the three decorators that insisted on making everything look perfect, even if Billie knew that Haley would not really care.
But finally, after around 35 minutes had passed, and it had nearly hit the next hour, the sound of a car pulling up echoed through the area, as everyone that was preparing began to move and panic.
"Oh god oh god! They're here! They're early!" Cam loudly yelled, looking around in alarm as if the perfectly fine looking room was a disaster. In actuality Billie thought it had looked great.
"Jay put that up there, hang it just like that! Quickly quickly!" Gloria yelled at her husband, as the man grumbled at the fact that he was being ordered around like he was her butler or something.
"I'm her husband, not her butler" Jay grumbled underneath his breath, Gloria didn't hear him much to his own luck, as if she did...well, that wouldn't have ended well for him.
Happy wife, happy life.
"Wha-Phil was actually serious about it being within the hour?! Who says within the hour and actually gets there in that same hour?!" Claire yelled, as she moved around in a hurry just like Gloria and Cam were. The woman was freaking herself out.
Billie just watched them all silently, Alex standing next to her, looking at them all with a deadpan on her face.
"How do you think they're going to react once they realize that Haley doesn't care about their decorations?" Alex asked, standing next to Billie as they both heard the door of the car outside open and then shut.
"They're either going to get silently mad, but hide it because it's Haley's birthday. Or they are going to openly get mad about it, and end up feeling even worse after Haley makes fun of them" Billie bluntly responded, knowing exactly how her girlfriend will respond to something like that.
"Did you try telling them that she won't care?" Alex asked.
Billie snorted in response "Yeah, good luck with that. I've tried telling them but they just brush me off. I think they're just absorbed with the idea of making the party look good, and haven't wondered if they should make it look good"
"...They're idiots. I'm just glad that I've got someone else that is on the same intellectual level as me" Alex said, making Billie chuckle.
"Glad to be here, Alex" Billie replied, before the two of them were pulled over by Claire, who wanted everyone to be there when Haley walked in. She also dragged over Luke who had been doing...who knows what in another room. Manny joined a moment later.
The door opened a few seconds later, as they all watched Haley walk in, her eyes widening as they all yelled out "Surprise!".
Haley jumped at the loud noise, before seeing her family standing there, Jay's house decorated with birthday banners and other stuff. She couldn't help but smile, said smile widened even more when she had seen that Billie was there.
"Do you like it?" Claire asked. Haley glanced at Billie at the question before smiling widely.
"I love it. Thank you!" Haley said as she walked forward and wrapped her mother in a hug, before moving to give the others a hug a moment later. Her hug with Billie had lasted the longest, as Billie softly whispered in her ear.
"Happy birthday baby"
Haley blushed slightly at the words, before pulling back shyly.
The rest of the family had noticed the quiet interaction, but had not said a word, not wanting to ruin the mood.
"So, how long did it take you guys to do all of this?" Haley asked, turning back to the rest of her family while doing her best to shake off the blush that had been dusting her cheeks a moment before.
"Not that long, just a few minutes" Claire said with a straight look on her face.
"Oh it was easy! We did things like this all the time back home" Gloria responded with a smile on her face.
"Easy peasy" Cam finished.
Haley raised an eyebrow and glanced at her sister who deadpanned.
"It took them over an hour just to do the table. Took them two hours in total, at least" Alex blandly said, not even hiding the truth.
The trio looked at Alex like she had stabbed them, but the girl opted to ignore them in favor for...literally anywhere else. She wasn't really interested in seeing their glares and anger that they were feeling.
"Annnyways, we got you your favorite for dinner" Jay said, deciding to move on from...whatever that was. Ignoring the glares the trio was giving Alex and instead showed her what was on the table.
There was a platter of very delicious looking sushi, bought from her favorite sushi place in the city. There was also a large platter of a mix of fruits that she loved. And she could distinctly smell her favorite dish cooking off in the distance.
Chicken Alfredo.
It smelled amazing, and she couldn't help but smile the second she noticed it. It was one of the few dishes that Claire made shockingly well, and it was supposedly a recipe that had been passed down on her mothers side of the family for a long time. Haley didn't personally believe it, and was more willing to believe that it was found in some recipe book somewhere or something, like a lot of "Family Recipes" tended to be.
"You guys are the best" Haley said passionately, a grin on her face as she moved to take a few pieces of sushi. She wondered what her gifts would be, and why the party was really pushed back, but decided to focus on eating first.
The others in the room were also pretty curious about that fact, but decided against questioning Claire's decision, since she was very scary when you pushed her on secrets and stuff like that.
She liked to keep secrets when she had them, and this was a rather big secret. Well, it wasn't exactly a secret, but more of a surprise. Still something she was not going to ruin though, hence why she had been keeping so quiet about it.
Claire hoped (like Billie) that the others didn't get butthurt that Haley was going and not them. Especially with the personality of Alex and Manny.
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As it turns out, the sushi was just as good as it looked. And it was so good that Billie was forced to ask where they had gotten it from, as it was genuinely the best that she had ever had, and that was saying a lot.
They got it from Nobu.
Not too surprising, but it was a very expensive place, and not one that Billie had ever personally had before.
But after eating the sushi, they had settled around, as it was decided that Haley would open her gifts before dinner, and then have dessert afterwards. And that was when Billie would unveil her true last gift.
But that would be for later on, as for now, she decided to just watch her girlfriend open her other gifts. All the while, she had only one thought on her mind.
'Let's hope she likes her gifts'
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That's the end of the chapter!
Nothing to say for AN.
Anyways, have a good day!