Zander teleported outside, then walked into his home and to his surprise, Cyrus and Claire were busy cooking dinner in his kitchen and they welcomed him and said, "sorry we're throwing Sophie a surprise party tonight, just the four of us, Cyrus said.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Zander thought to himself and Claire, like she was reading his mind, answered that question.
"We figured with all you've been through this week, you'd have too much on your mind so we decorated the guest room and my mom knows about Cyrus. She's covering for Sophie and I tonight to sleep here. She trusts me and let's be honest, you are Zander Elrod, so do you think dating his best friend would give my mom ANY reason to worry about us?" Claire said politely, with a big smile.
Zander realized he hadn't texted Sophie all day, and when he looked at his phone, he saw he had one text.
"Hey Zander, I had a great day with my parents and I know you're busy with your lawyer stuff today. I heard my dad got a promotion and the other doctor was arrested for stealing money. I have a funny feeling that's why you were late last night, winky face. My parents are allowing me to stay the night at Claire's and they are excited to meet my mystery boyfriend tomorrow. I need to see you before dinner, and I hate that I'm always asking to stay the night, but I'm ready whenever you are, if you want me to come, that is. I love you," Sophie's message read.
"Hey Cyrus, how much longer do you and Claire need?" Zander asked.
"About 20 minutes, why what's up?" Cyrus asked.
"You don't have to ask to stay the night, you can just show up whenever or tell me to pick you up. I'll see you in twenty minutes, I love you too," Zander texted.
"Ok I'm gonna go hop in the shower quickly and then go and pick her up," Zander said.
"Don't you want to show off that suit for her, you look nice?" Claire asked.
"That's for tomorrow," Zander said with a smile as he thanked her.
Zander took a very quick shower and realized he didn't get Sophie anything for her birthday, so he quickly teleported to the jewelry store. He had 10 minutes to pick something out.
He scanned the cases and saw a beautiful golden necklace, with a Scarlet colored rose hanging from it.
"Mam, may I please buy this necklace?" Zander asked.
Zander noticed her light yellow aura, so he figured he'd get the type of answer he received.
"Dream on kid, that necklace is worth more than any teenager can afford, even one as big and muscular as you." the woman stated.
"Please, I'm in quite the rush, $4,000 isn't a big deal, I can pay with debit." Zander said.
The woman rolled her eyes and slowly walked over, grabbed the necklace, started ringing it up.
Zander asked if she could please put it in a nice case and wrap it for him, to which she agreed, but took her sweet time doing so.
"I'm so sorry, I'm running five minutes late please forgive me!" Zander sent Sophie a text.
"It's ok babe!" Sophie responded.
"That'll be $4,119.64," the woman had finally finished and to Zander's surprise, it was wrapped quite nicely.
Zander inserted his debit card and went to enter his pin, and the lady asked for his ID, which he gladly showed, entered his pin and to the woman's surprise, the transaction was approved.
"Thank you very much for shopping with us today young man. My apologies, my boyfriend broke up with me yesterday so when I saw a teenager buying such a nice gift, it just made me more sad," the woman said.
Zander could tell she was lying, but didn't care and thanked her for wrapping it so beautifully. She gave him her card, to which he tossed in his back pocket, and quickly teleported to Sophie's.
She was sitting on her bed, her hair now completely silver, and it was breathtakingly unique, much like Zander's golden hair, which he had kept neat from the tailor and her eyes were shining pink around her pupils, which contrasted beautifully with the white portion of her eyes.
"I love your new look, you look so beautiful, happy early Birthday!" Zander said.
Zander leaned in for a kiss and felt Sophie's lips kiss him back, but they were warmer than usual, but he didn't mind and Sophie was glad he didn't say anything.
"Shall we?" Zander asked. Sophie smiled largely and said, "Yes please." Just a few seconds later, they were right outside his door.
"Ok, close your eyes," Zander said, as he led her to the guest room they always hung out in, except this time there was a dinner table for four, candles, and a beautifully home cooked meal with vanilla cake wrapped in red frosting.
Claire and Cyrus yelled, "Surprise!"
Sophie opened her eyes and started tearing up at the scene.
"All of you went through so much trouble for this!" Sophie couldn't be happier.
"Your new look is beautiful, I'm surprised your parents let you dye your hair and are those contacts?" Claire complimented her best friend while giving her a hug and handing her a gift.
"Thank you," Sophie said as she opened the gift.
It was a photo journal of Claire and Sophie from when they were kids, growing up, and the last section had "a new chapter," with pictures of her and Zander, the four of them goofing off, a picture of them with Tej and Soraya, a picture of them with Zander's parents, a picture with Zander and Sophie holding hands with Savannah's arm around Zander and Sebastian's arm around Sophie, all with big smiles. Sophie was in tears, again, thankful she didn't wear makeup.
Claire hugged her and begged her not to cry but Sophie said, "these are happy tears this gift is so thoughtful. I never even noticed you were taking all of these pictures!"
After that, it was Cyrus's turn and he handed her a small box, wrapped neatly with a note.
"To my future sister in law," which made Sophie nervously smile, and she opened it. It was a bracelet with a phoenix and an aquamarine gemstone, and again Sophie cried tears of joy.
Sophie saw Zander hug Cyrus and say, "thank you, I didn't expect you to get her anything but that's amazing and thanks for setting this up and cooking."
"He doesn't know yet I feel so guilty." Sophie thought to herself, as she had still not told Zander about the real reason for her change in appearance.
Zander was next and he told everyone he had three gifts.
He handed her a key to his house first and said, "now you don't have to feel so guilty about asking me to stay. You can come in whenever you want."
He then handed her the second gift, to which she unwrapped and nearly fainted. It was the necklace Zander had just bought and he hadn't realized the cashier left the price tag on it when she wrapped it up.
He quickly ripped it off so Claire and Cyrus couldn't see.
Zander whispered," that's why I was late, the woman was rude I didn't think she'd leave the price tag on it when she wrapped it," as he put it around Sophie's neck.
Lastly, he took her to the garage, and there was a giant bow on a white SUV that, thanks to Attorney Frankfurt, was given to Sophie. It was an SUV his mother had purchased for him for his birthday, so it was brand new and one of the four vehicles he had.
Sophie shook her head no and said, "I can't take this, I simply cannot accept this. I love you Zander but no," to which Zander smiled, and took the note he had Attorney Frankfurt write.
"Dear Zander,
Your Father and I decided on helping you out with a birthday gift for Sophie. We see the way you look at her and the way she looks at you and it's much like the way your father used to look at me. After consulting Tej and Soraya, they were certain that you two would remain close, even if not a couple, so the least we can do is purchase this vehicle so you don't have to teleport all the time.
If we aren't here to give it to her, please let her know she can't refuse as everything is already in her name.
Love,
Mom"
Zander was thankful that Attorney Frankfurt added the parts about Sophie, which are all things his Mother had told him anyway, so he wasn't technically lying.
"Well, do you want to take it for a test drive," Zander asked.
"What about dinner?" Sophie asked.
"Oh, yes right let's head back Claire and Cyrus did all the cooking and made the cake."
After a wonderful dinner, and delicious cake, Zander had one last surprise, this time for Cyrus and Claire.
On the first floor, he had converted an old storage room into a guest room for Cyrus and Claire so they wouldn't have to keep sleeping on the couches in the converted guest area.
"This is for you two and the same goes for both of you, you don't have to ask. My house is your house, well, our house is your house, if Sophie is ok with that," Zander said.
Shocked, Sophie muttered, "our house?"
"Well you have a key and, pulling another piece of paper out, courtesy of Attorney Frankfurt, the house belonged to 'Zander Elrod and Sophie Grace," Zander said with a smile.
Sophie ran upstairs to Zander's room as she felt so embarrassed. She hadn't even told him the truth, yet he still was being so kind. She clearly had to have seen her physical changes and was smart enough to know it wasn't hair dye or contacts.
Everything was moving so fast but she was excited and not afraid. She just felt guilty.
"Was it something I said or did?" Zander asked.
"Let me go check on her for you, I'm sure she's just overwhelmed is all. It's a lot and you've been through a lot. Cyrus told me some of it, but give me a few," Claire said.
Zander gave her a nod and a thank you, as he and Cyrus went out back and started a small campfire.