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“Thank you Kristin.” Michelle said happily.

“You’re welcome hun. I’m glad you like it.” Kristin answered.

The guys had left minutes before to go pick up the food and Michelle had decided not to wait for them to open the gifts her friends had brought with them. Nick and the guys had planned this little surprise party for her a few weeks ago and he had pulled it off with out spilling the secret like he usually did when he tried to surprise her. And to top it all off, she was having a lot of fun.

“So,” Aj’s fiancée, Ana, asked. “What did Nick give you?”

“This.” She said, showing them the leather-bound book he’d given her after they’d warmed up when they’d gotten back that morning.

Kayla, a friend of Michelle’s from their childhood, took the book and flipped through it quickly. “But it’s empty.”

“Yeah I know. I haven’t written the story yet. He bought it the last time he was in France because he wants to get me to write a story I’ll allow him to read.(she was picky about who read what she wrote,) Although I have to say the present he gave me when he woke me up this morning was better.”

“What?” all the girls asked.

“Well….”she began recounting their morning trip.

By the time she was finished she could tell that her friends would be in seventh heaven if any of their guys had done that for them.

A short time later, the guys were back with dinner and everyone stayed silent as they ate.

After they cleaned up the mess from the food fight Aj had started by throwing a spoonful of mashed potatoes at Michelle and then promptly giving himself away by falling over from laughing so hard, they went into the theater (they were at Nick’s because Michelle’s house was too small for as many people were at the party) to watch a “surprise” movie Nick had picked up while they were out.

When the opening scene came on Michelle groaned. “Where’d you get this?”

“Your brother.”

“Brandon’s dead.” She said as the video progressed to show her in a tutu onstage performing in her ballet class’s production of The Nutcracker when she was four.

Kevin remarked on how cute she was and Michelle threw a pillow at his head. “Please. I hated ballet. I preferred my piano lessons.”

“Ha! No kid loves piano.” Kevin retorted.

“I guess that makes me special then because I did.”

The next scene was of Michelle, Brandon, and the twins, putting on a play for their parents. Her sister was away at a friend’s house. “That was just before their divorce was final.” She said more to herself than those around her.

Nobody said anything; they didn’t know what to say.

Next was a video of her when she was ten. There was a little boy the very same age with her.

She hadn’t seen this particular video in years. “Turn it off. Turn it off now.” She said hurriedly. “Please.” She was near tears. She didn’t want reminders of that little boy ever again.

Nick looked at her and when he saw that she had tears in her eyes he stopped the video. “Elle, (which he only called her when he could tell she was distressed) what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She replied, wiping away the few tears that had escaped. “I just didn’t expect to see that video. I forgot Brandon had it. I forgot to destroy it.”

“Why would you want to destroy it? It’s cute.” Leigh asked.

“Because,” she stated. “That was Mason James.”

“Who’s Mason James?” Leighanne asked.

“”My gosh, I’m sorry Michelle.” Kevin said.

Ana asked, “But who’s Mason James?”

“Let’s not talk about him.” Nick said.

Michelle had only ever told Nick and Aaron (who had stayed until the food fight was over) about Mason and Kevin had told her after realizing that she was the one who put him away, had told her that he and Kristin had followed the case in the news. She hadn’t intended to tell the others, the less people who knew about it the better. “I’ll explain about him later.”

She sat back and Nick started the video once more.

The video progressed through her life before Nick rather slowly. The last thing in the video was a twenty minute video her friend, Breeanya, had shot two years previously while they’d been in New York for Michelle’s father’s wedding to Sarah Alberts and on their Spring Break..

“OH NO!” she groaned ever louder. “They’re both dead.”

“What??” Nick asked with a sly smile. “Don’t like this part?”

Her response was a well aimed pillow thrown at his head.

The video had been shot in two different places. The first location was Central Park.

It showed Michelle in the Maid-Of-Honor dress she’d worn in the wedding ceremony. She was dancing around (basically goofing off and happy because she had her dad’s brownstone to herself and Breeanya for an entire week) singing “If You Want It To Be Good Girl” at the top of her lungs.

“Impressive.” Howie said.

Embarrassed, Michelle said, “Bree’s dead.” as she felt the color rise.

The last few minutes had been shot in her dad’s brownstone that he’d given to her after returning from his honeymoon in Fiji. It was Michelle agonizing over what to wear for the date she had that night.

“What was wrong with you?” Aj asked.

“You’d be that nervous too if you had a date with Jonathan Taylor Thomas.” The guys groaned, a few girls went “Awwwwwww.” Most said nothing.

Michelle sat in though for a minute or two after the video ended remembering how much fun she’d had on that date.

“How’d you meet Jonathan Taylor Thomas?” Brian asked.

“He was at my father’s wedding. My stepmother knows him."

A short while later everyone left, leaving Michelle alone with Nick once more.

“Thank you baby.” She said to Nick as she kissed him. “That was the best birthday I’ve had in a while.”