A/N: So, in honor of me submitting two of the four MFA applications (the next one isn't due until January 15th) I'm going to start posting these, and get back to writing. That's why I haven't posted anything, I was so stressed, I almost messed up on the application for my first choice school, but now it's done, so I can write freely. I am in the middle of writing the next chapter of To the Moon and Back, and the next one for Season 6 (which I'm planning on finishing before the end of the year), plus these holiday shorts... and one possibly long holiday story. So please enjoy as I write like a madwoman, because I have all of these things I want to do and need to finish.
Holidays are Fun, Except when they aren't…. Until they are again.
Synopsis: The group finds themselves at the Minkus' Family holiday weekend, where some plotting friends decide that they've had enough of the pining from two of their friends and create a way for them to finally tell one another how they feel.
This is for the Sharing a Bed and Pining squares on the Holiday Bingo Card
Riley found herself in a situation that she hadn't thought would be possible, she had let Lucas go when Maya had said that she had liked him, except Maya ended up with Josh and Lucas decided that it would be better for all of them if they stayed friends. So, Riley kept her secret crush on Lucas to herself, it's not like anyone noticed especially since all of her friends were in relationships. Well except for her and Lucas, but that didn't matter, they were going to hold onto their friendship and that was all that matters. Yeah, that's all that mattered. So, they remained friends, and now the group found themselves at Farkle's family cabin in the mountains for the holidays, their parents were stuck in the city but would get there just before Christmas. Plus, they were all twenty-one, and twenty-two, well with the exception of Josh who was twenty-four.
What she hadn't taken into account about the holiday vacation was the situation with the rooms, she had forgotten that her parents, along with the parents of her friends, they were limited to the rooms that they could pick. And of course, all of the couples wanted the chance to share a room for the night before their parents arrived. Which meant that the four rooms, even though some of them had two beds, others with three, were now spoken for by the three other couples, and they had all managed to give Riley and Lucas the one room with a single bed. How had that happened exactly, well….
-One Hour Ago-
"Okay," Zay said looking at the group. "The parents won't be here until tomorrow afternoon, and I want some time with my boyfriend, so I think that we should all take a room to ourselves for the night and then move into our regular rooms in the morning."
"I second this," Maya said looking at Josh with hearts in her eyes, the two had grown closer over the years, it was cute but the fact that they were deciding this at the moment made Riley wish they hadn't developed relationship brain.
"We should draw ballots or something," Farkle said to the group, who was in his own loving relationship, and made Riley wonder why she had been the only one who had missed out in all of this. Except the person she loved the most was happy just being friends and she was trapped as the seventh wheel most times because everyone else was in a relationship.
"I believe that that is a reasonable way of doing this my beloved," Smackle said smiling at Farkle, in that cutesy heart eyes way she had been doing so since middle school. "That way no one would fight over the master bedroom."
Riley couldn't believe what she was hearing, she wasn't sure of anything except for the fact that when it was her turn to draw, for some reason the universe wanted to torture her and stick her in the one bedroom in the whole place that had only one bed. When she looked around for help from her friends they just shrugged and moved on like it didn't matter that the only two people in the group that weren't in a relationship would be sharing a bed.
"Maya," she turned to her best friend, who had ended up with the room that had two beds which means that if they traded, Riley would be spared the agony of being next to the guy's she's been pining over since middle school. "Switch with me, you and Josh could have the master bedroom."
"Nope," Zay said standing in between the two of them. "The reason for the ballots was for us to not fight over that room, so the two of you will have to deal with this."
That's how she found herself standing in the bathroom, waiting until Lucas falls asleep so that she could sneak out of the room and make her way to the living room and sleeping there. When she took the chance to peek out she saw the glow of the lamp from her side of the room. Lucas was facing the other side of the room, away from her, which made this easier to do, and harder at the same time. Instead of sneaking off she went to the bed and listened to his breathing, wishing that she would have the same opportunity as everyone else.
Sighing, she leaned back onto her pillows and just stared out into the room as it glowed from the low lamp light. She wanted to reach out and touch him, to be closer to him than she could ever be, but instead she just sat there relishing the closeness of him. She wasn't sure if she would ever have what her friends have found, but in that moment, she could have this and she was alright with it.
Lucas had rolled over into her space and grabbed onto her legs, making her jump a little, but he settled there after a moment and hugged her close. The smell of his soap and aftershave attacking her senses, she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold herself back. She would be going back to school after the break, so it shouldn't matter if she allowed herself this little bit of hope. She could imagine that they were together, going out on dates, being a couple, even for a moment. Reaching out, she slowly started running her fingers through his hair, taking in the feeling of the softness of the strands.
She hadn't realized that she had lulled herself to sleep in that position, dreaming of simpler times, when they were just middle school students trying to get to know one another. And not the complicated mess that everything had become over the years. She had watched as he dated other girls, as he slowly got farther and farther away from her and left her wondering what could have been.
Lucas had waited, until he was sure that she was asleep before opening his eyes, the whole picking rooms thing had been Zay's idea, after his best friend had yelled at him to stop pining and actually do something. Instead he had chickened out and acted like had had been asleep the whole time she had been in the bathroom and waited. He knew that she would leave the room, because they weren't together so why would she stay. It had surprised him when she had sat down next to him and even more when he had rolled over and latched himself onto her legs, because he didn't want to lose this chance. He had told Zay that if nothing happened that night, that he would give her up for good, that he was actually going to date at his school, that he was going to stop being an idiot wondering what could have been all of those years ago.
He had dated in high school, if anyone would call that dating, mostly he had just acted like he was dating but was actually helping out some girls who were into one another but had strict parents. He would go to their houses on dance nights and take pictures, and then go home after dropping them off at the dance, or on date nights, because he figured it was better than sitting at home and thinking about what a bull-headed mistake he had made. He was happy when he had heard that the two girls had gotten into the same school, and every once and a while he would get a message from them about what they were doing.
They also told him to be a man and go after his girl, but he never did, he wasn't sure why, or what had stopped him. He was afraid of losing what he had with Riley, those late-night conversations, or just going to the library to study, those normal things that he had held onto for so long. Except now he was torturing himself, taking in the smell of strawberries and flowers of her soap and shampoo, the soft feeling of her skin against his. It should feel wrong, to do this without her knowing, but then again, she was running her fingers through his hair, so he wasn't one to judge. Maybe she was comforting him, maybe she pitied him and was trying to comfort him. It didn't matter, after that night, he would let go and move on with his life.
Once he was sure that she had fallen asleep he had taken the chance to let go and say something, "I probably should just tell you when you're awake, and not when I'm acting like I'm sleeping," he started, "I should let you know that I was an idiot all of those years ago, and that I knew who I wanted to be with, but because you and Maya are such close friends I didn't want to get in the middle of that so I made this stupid decision so that I could save your friendships."
He wasn't sure what he was saying, or why he had decided to say anything after so long, but he kept going. "I've always loved you Riley Matthews, the way you laugh at my stupid jokes, or when you get passionate about basketball, while acting like you know nothing about it, I like the way we talk to one another until it's so late that we both fall asleep while we're on the phone. You're my everything, you have my heart."
He sighed before sitting up, he was going to look at her finish what he had to say and then take a really cold shower before going to the living room himself and letting her have the bed. Except when he turned to face her, he saw that her eyes were wide open, and her mouth was open.
"You love me?" she asked him, and he knew that something had changed, and he may have ruined everything by not making sure that she was asleep.
"Riley, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said..." he started only to be interrupted when she grabbed his face and kissed him for the second time in his life. It wasn't the same soft kiss from the train when they were in seventh grade, there was something to this kiss and he didn't want it to end.
Riley had been awake the whole time, she had just let her hand rest on Lucas's head, and the moment he had started talking she wasn't sure if she should have said something, but instead she had stayed quiet because she had wanted the moment to last just a little while longer. She hadn't expected him to be awake, let alone to tell her that he loved her. The minute the shock wore off she did the one thing that she had wanted to do for years, she grabbed his face and kissed him. When they pulled apart the two of them were breathing heavily, but they were sitting closer than they had been in a long time.
"I'm guessing you wanted this," he said to her making her blush for being so bold.
"I've always wanted this," she told him, and it was the truth, she couldn't understand anymore the reasons why she had let herself give him up if in the end they could have been together all along. "I should have told you, especially after Maya and Josh started dating, but I didn't want to ruin anything."
"In the end we wasted all of that time," he said sighing. "But I can take the rest of my life to make it up to you if you would let me."
"That sounds more like a proposal than anything else," she stopped for a moment and thought about it. "Lucas, this sounds crazy, especially since tomorrow is Christmas, and we're both in college, but let's elope."
He looked at her, his mouth wide open, and instead of letting him say anything, she kissed him again, letting her tongue slip into his mouth. She felt his groan rise up from his chest and it lit something inside of her. Everything in that moment felt right, and nothing felt out of place at all, the world around her had righted itself.
When Lucas pulled away for a moment he thought he was dreaming, it couldn't be possible that he was getting everything that he had ever wanted. He was certain that he was still sleeping through it all and that was the end of it, instead he decided to embrace the dream and hold onto everything he had wanted since that first kiss on the subway.
"Let's go," he said, to her smiling like he was high on nothing but Riley Matthews, and it was as perfect as it could be. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards where their bags were grabbing at his jeans and any shirt he could find. Riley had noticed and did the same, because his dream girl would get ready as fast as he was.
Sneaking out of the room and towards his car, they drove off, their bags left behind, only their wallets and coats on them as they drove to Atlantic City, which was the closest place that they could think would have a chapel for them.
"This is crazy," she said as they signed papers, and brought rings that were cheap, but they were perfect for that moment.
That's how Riley and Lucas found themselves married at midnight on December 25th, a perfect Christmas for the both of them, as Lucas kissed her when the minister pronounced them husband and wife thinking that this was the best dream ever. Except when they got back into the car, they had both realized that it wasn't a dream at all. It was real, and weirdly enough neither of them cared.
"It's crazy," he said smiling at her, taking her hand, as he rubbed his thumb over the small gold ring on her finger. "But it feels right doesn't it."
"Like we've been dancing around this for so long that we automatically did the first irrational thing we could think of, because we both thought it was a dream and just ran with it," she said before she started laughing, a real laugh that went deep into his bones. "It was perfect, and we should have been together all along," she said once she stopped laughing.
They drove back to the cabin as the sun was rising, Riley sleeping in the seat next to him, as he thought about everything. They had been so dumb about everything, for eight years of their lives, but this was the best way to change it all for the better. They had been friends for so long, even though sometimes it felt like they were drifting apart, mainly because of their own bullheadedness, but now everything felt right.
They stopped by a bakery, before parking in front of the cabin, the lights on inside, "What should we tell them?" he asked looking over at their friends through the windows. They hadn't seen them just yet, the sky still a little too dark even with the sun on the horizon.
"Nothing," she said to him. "I think they'll realize what we did once they see the rings, and I'm not taking mine off for the rest of my life, they're going to have to cut it off my finger first."
Lucas laughed at her words before pulling her in for a quick kiss, "They'll have to pry mine off of my dead body."
The two of them grabbed the bags of baked goods and walked in through the back, hearing their friends talking as they walked in, but not saying a word.
"Cory is freaking out," Josh said pacing the room. "I went along with this plan because like you I thought that they were stupid for pining for so long, but when my brother heard about the plan he freaked."
"Yeah, and then drove up here in a fit only for us to find their room empty," Maya added as she watched her fiancé pace the room.
"He shouldn't freak out anymore, I mean they weren't even there, hell I don't know where they are," Zay said as Charlie rubbed his shoulders. "But I was tired of those stupid moony eyes that Lucas would give Riley, they hadn't talked to one another since summer vacation, and you know how much they love to talk."
"I know Zay," Charlie kissed his boyfriend's head. "We all know, but I don't understand why they hadn't said anything."
"It's because of what happened in middle school, even after all of these years that whole thing shaped their whole relationship," Farkle said sadly looking around the group. "I'm sorry Maya but if you hadn't done… well that, none of this would have happened, you got your happily ever after and Riley got nothing."
"I know… trust me I know, and there are days where I hate myself over it, because it pushed him to make that choice to just be friends, and worse it pushed Riley into hiding herself even more. I couldn't get her to date any one for a really long time, and even then, none of them were Lucas."
"Love is such a complicated matter, but after all of this time, we shouldn't blame anyone for anything, they will find their way to one another when they have the chance," Smackle said yawning right afterwards. "As long as Mr. and Mrs. Matthews are alright with whatever she decides."
"What do you mean by that Smackle?" Josh said looking over at the genius.
"I saw them last night, rushing off towards Lucas's car and driving off, so either they went to talk, or they got married, either one is plausible, they truly love one another, and nothing should stop them from getting what they want."
Riley walked into the room, her left hand covered with Lucas's, his left hand in his pocket. "Yea and we were such bullheaded idiots, but that's over," she said smiling at them.
Their six friends turned over and looked at them holding hands, and Lucas couldn't help but blush, he had finally gotten the chance to be with Riley, and in the end their friends had been plotting for it without him knowing. He was going to have to make sure to make it up to all of them once he and Riley were settled.
"My baby," Riley's father said as he rushed into the room, before pushing Riley away from Lucas, only for it to make him smile.
"Oh Cory," her mother not far behind.
"What did these heathens do to you? Forcing you to sleep in the same bed, how could they, my own flesh and blood too," her father said which only made Maya snort before she schooled her face once Mr. Matthews glared at her.
"Dad," Riley started, pushing her father only for the older man to stop and look at her hand.
"No, no, no, no, no, no," he started screaming, before turning to Lucas whose hand was out showing his own ring. "No, no, no, no, no, no."
"What's happening over there," Josh said before walking over and seeing the shocked look on his brother's face while he pointed back and forth between Riley and Lucas. "Oh my god," that was when he noticed the rings on their fingers.
"Smackle was right, we got married, and we talked," Riley said smiling at her friends who all started handing money to the genius. "What's happening?"
"Smackle said a long time ago, that you two would get married on Christmas, she was certain about it because science is never wrong, and she created this algorithm to make sure of it, but we told her that it wouldn't happen if you two never ended up together," Farkle said before taking out a hundred dollar bill and handing it to his girlfriend. "I'll never doubt her again."
"No, no, no, no, no, no," her father continued to say, but her mother walked over to the both of them and gave them a hug.
"It's about time you both got your heads out of your asses," the older woman said, her face bright with love. "Now Cory, let's go to the room and have a talk about how your daughter is now married and you can't do anything about it."
Riley couldn't help but laugh as she watched her father, shocked from what had happened, walk away with her mother, who knew all along that this would happen. They didn't have a lot, they would have to work twice as hard from now on, but it was the best thing that they could have done.
"It's the best time to be a Riley," she said to Lucas who smiled down at her and kissed her on the lips.
"Yes it is," he said once he pulled away.