NiyahLee

“We walk inside, and I stop short. Our booth, the one we always sit in, has pale pink balloons tied around it. There’s a round cake in the center of the table, tons of candles, pink frosting with sprinkles and Happy Birthday, Lara Jean scrawled in white frosting. Suddenly I see people’s heads pop up from under the booths and from behind menus--all of our friends, still in their prom finery: Lucas, Gabe, Gabe’s date Keisha, Darrell, Pammy, Chris. “Surprise!” everyone screams.
I spin around. “Oh my God, Peter!”
He’s still grinning. He looks at his watch. “It’s midnight. Happy birthday, Lara Jean.”
I leap up and hug him. “This is just exactly what I wanted to do on my prom night birthday and I didn’t even know it.” Then I let go of him and run over to the booth.
Everyone gets out and hugs me. “I didn’t even know people knew it was my birthday tomorrow! I mean today!” I say.
“Of course we knew it was your birthday,” Lucas says.
Darrell says, “My boy’s been planning this for weeks.”
“It was so endearing,” Pammy says. “We called me to ask what kind of pan he should use for the cake.”
Chris says, “He called me, too. I was like, how the hell should I know?”
“And you!” I hit Chris on the arm. “I thought you were leaving to go clubbing!”
“I still might after I steal some fries. My night’s just getting started, babe.” She pulls me in for a hug and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “Happy birthday, girl.”
I turn to Peter and say, “I can’t believe you did this.”
“I baked that cake myself,” he brags. “Box, but still.” He takes off his jacket and pulls a lighter out of his jacket pocket and starts lighting the candles. Gabe pulls out a lit candle and helps him. Then Peter hops his butt on the table and sits down, his legs hanging off the edge. “Come on.”
I look around. “Um…”
That’s when I hear the opening notes of “If You Were Here” by the Thompson Twins. My hands fly to my cheeks. I can’t believe it. Peter’s recreating the end scene from Sixteen Candles, when Molly Ringwald and Jake Ryan sit on a table with a birthday cake in between them. When we watched the movie a few months ago, I said it was the most romantic thing I’d ever seen. And now he’s doing it for me.”
― Jenny Han, Always and Forever, Lara Jean

“No one has more resilience or matches my practical, tactical brilliance!”
― Marquis De Lafayette from Hamilton: The Musical

“You'd rather make up a fantasy version of somebody in your head than be with a real person.”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before

“My letters are for when I don't want to be in love anymore. They're for good-bye. Because after I write in my letter, I'm not longer consumed by my all-consuming love...My letters set me free. Or at least they're supposed to.”
― Jenny Han, To All the Boys I've Loved Before