It was on their second coffee date that Zane confessed his love for being airborne. He said it made him "felt like he was above everything and that all the drama and problems just melted away the higher and higher they went." Knowing this Riley wanting to surprise his boyfriend on his 18th birthday and decided to rent a hot air balloon and they'd have a picnic in the sky. So he rented the balloon, a purple one because it was Zane's favorite color, and arranged a sunset picnic date with Zane only leaving out the fact that said picnic would be in the sky. So everything was set. The food was a check. The hot air balloon was a check. The secret picnic was still a secret. There was only one thing wrong with this plan. Riley was deathly afraid of heights and preferred to stay on the ground.
"There's no need to be scared. Come one Riley. You are the big football jock and you've handled bigger obstacles' than this. You can do this" He thought to himself trying to reassure himself of what he was about to do.
"It's only a balloon. There is no need to be scared. There is no need to be scared" Riley chanted quietly to himself.
He and Zane were driving to Eureka Park where a hot air balloon awaited to hoist them into the air. "It's only a damn balloon. A big gigantic Balloon. A big gigantic purple balloon of death" He thought to himself as he continued to try and convince himself that he could do it.
They pulled up into the park's parking lot and started heading towards the picnic location. Riley made Zane close his eyes as they walked towards the picnic spot. As they arrived and Riley gave Zane the permission to open his eyes, the first thing Zane saw as his eyes tried to adjust from dark to the sunset light was the giant purple balloon. Zane was confused at first but once he put two and two together he and was filled with excitement. "Wow" was all that he could say as he was mesmerized by everything. Riley, on the other hand, was closing his eyes trying not to think about the gigantic purple balloon of death. Zane knew of Riley's aversion for heights ever since he freaked out on the carnival Ferris wheel, so he though it sweet for Riley to even think about doing something like this. So Zane leaned in and kissed his loving boyfriend and said "Thank you Riles. It's perfect."When Riley opened his eyes the first thing he saw was Zane with one of his famous smiles.
All it took was one kiss and that smile and all his doubts, fears, and hesitations faded. Zane was his rock that kept him grounded and he was ready to take on that purple balloon. "Happy Birthday Zane" said Riley as the couple walked hand in hand toward their awaiting balloon and into the sunset.