Author Note: So this randomly came to me the other day and I had to write it. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Riley balanced the groceries she was carrying on her hip as she opened the door of her and Lucas' apartment. As soon as she stepped in she knew something was off, the balance of energy just didn't seem right. "Lucas, are you home?"
She brought the groceries into the kitchen and started unpacking everything onto the counter to double check that she had everything she needed before taking the turkey out of the last bag and moving to put it in the fridge only to discover another turkey already waiting. "Lucas Friar where are you?"
He came running into the room like a lost little puppy dog, "Hi honey, something wrong?"
"Why is there a turkey in the fridge where I made space to put a turkey?" She was still balancing the bird she'd bought maybe thirty minutes before as she stared at her fiancé.
"Well um I got this turkey to fry."
Riley stared at him, was he serious? She felt the turkey leave her arms as Lucas grabbed it placing it on the counter. "Fry a turkey, where Lucas? We live in the middle of New York City!"
"Your Dad, Zay, and I found a spot." He smiled as if this was the greatest idea in the world.
Riley knew this was not a good trio; trouble would come from this, "Don't say the roof."
"Then I won't say it." He gave her a kiss, "It'll be fine babe I promise."
"I know your last name is Friar Sweetheart," Riley followed him as he walked out of the kitchen, "That doesn't mean you should fry a turkey in New York City!"
Lucas turned to her flashing his trademark smile as his hands gently rested on her upper arms, "We know what we're doing. Zay and I have done this before."
"In Texas, you did it in Texas where you have wide open fields, not on a rooftop in New York City!"
Lucas kissed the tip of her nose, "Just trust me; it's going to be fine."
Riley knew she couldn't talk him out of this, not with his two partners in crime, not when one of them was her own father.
"Come on it's our first Thanksgiving where both our families and all our friends will be together." He put his arm around her as he started walking around the apartment. "It will be the first time we get to fuse the Friar traditions with the Matthews traditions, we'll fry a turkey, we'll have some wonderful side dishes, wait until you try Mama's Mac-and-Cheese, oh Riley her Thanksgiving Mac-and-Cheese is unlike anything you've ever had before."
"Mac-and-Cheese for Thanksgiving?" She suddenly had a feeling this was going to be even more stressful than she realized.
"Yeah, we have it every year."
"Along with the deep fried Turkey." He smirked.
Riley bit her lip, "I'm still roasting mine!" she declared before storming back to the kitchen, "and I'm making my Grandmother's Jell-O salad, with raisins and marshmallows!"
Lucas tried not to laugh at how worked up she was, "Fine, that sounds perfect."
Riley turned back to her fiancé, "Just don't set the building on fire or get hurt frying that damn turkey."
"I won't, I promise." Lucas watched as she stormed into the kitchen muttering under her breath about having to find a Jell-O mold now.
The alarm cut through the silence of the early morning as Riley reached for her phone to turn it off as Lucas sat up in bed, his eyes wide as he looked around, "What's happening, what's going on, are we under attack?"
Riley looked over to her fiancé, "What, no that was the alarm I have to put the turkey in the oven."
"You don't have to do that babe; I'm going to fry us up a nice bird later." He leaned back against his pillows.
"Yes I do, we have to have a turkey after you try and set everyone on fire on the roof." She sighed as she put her feet on the cold floor and then turned back to Lucas, "Wait you heard my alarm and thought we were under attack?"
Lucas glanced at his phone, "It's five-thirty in the morning of course I thought that."
Riley rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen setting the temperature on the oven and pulling out the turkey she prepared the night before and placing it on the counter when she felt a pair of hands slip around her waist before feeling a familiar pair of lips on her neck. "Lucas Beauregard Friar what do you think you're doing?"
"Trying to get you to come back to bed" his fingers slipped under the lower hem of her shirt, creating soft yet electrifying circles as he kissed the back of her neck.
"I have so much to do before people start arriving." She gasped when she felt his hand move higher, "But I think we could go back to bed for a little bit once the turkey is in the oven."
"You know" Lucas moved to nibble on her earlobe, "We could just fool around in here."
"We can't, it's the" she gasped when she felt his fingers massaging her breast.
Lucas pulled his hand away before he backed away from her, "You're right, we shouldn't do it here in the kitchen, but I'll meet you in the shower in a few minutes after you get that bird in the oven." He bit his lip as he backed away watching her glare at him, knowing she would join him.
Riley shook her head as she heard the pre-heat timer go off putting the turkey in the oven she set the timer on her phone. She started the coffee maker and waited another moment before going to join her fiancé.
Lucas followed Riley out to the bathroom their bodies wrapped in towels, their hair still damp as they moved into kitchen. He watched as she poured two cups of coffee and went to reach for the sugar as he grabbed the creamer.
"Perk of waking up early was that shower for sure." Riley smiled as she fixed her coffee and turned to look to him, "What?"
He was holding his hand over his heart, "You just take my breath away even dripping wet, mixing sugar into your coffee."
"We don't have time for another round, we have to get dressed, and get this place cleaned up."
Lucas groaned, "Fine, I just hope this means we can sleep in on Christmas morning."
Riley rolled her eyes knowing full well that he would be the one waking her up early that morning. "Whatever you say sweetheart, now I'm going to get dressed because I have a Jell-o Salad to make and you have a living room to straighten up mister."
"Fine, fine" Lucas poured a third spoonful of sugar into his coffee and followed her into the bedroom.
Riley clipped her hair up as she dug through her t-shirt drawer before pulling out a brown fitted-t that had a handprint Turkey on it and grabbing a pair of jeans.
Lucas grabbed his own pair of jeans and started digging through for a t-shirt when Riley tossed him his own to match hers. "Really, we're going to be matching today?"
"Yeah why not, afraid Zay will tease you while you're frying your bird?" She shimmied into jeans.
"No, I'm worried Josh is going to." He shrugged before pulling the shirt on, "I'm a secure western hero."
"If we're doing this, why is Riley roasting a turkey?" Zay questioned as he and Lucas set up the deep fryer on the roof with Cory and Josh.
Lucas rubbed his hands together as he looked around, "She thinks we're going to start a fire or burn ourselves. I reminded her you and I have done this before."
"It has been a while." Zay reminded him.
"Yeah and we've watched every how-to video on YouTube that we could find. The bird is dry, we measured where the oil needs to go to prevent overflow we've got this rigged securely. We've got this man." Lucas assured him.
Zay nodded, "Okay then let's get this bird fried up."
"You sure you want to do this?" Josh question as his eyes fell to Lucas' shirt, "Riley pick that out for you?"
"Yes she did" He paused as he and Zay set the Turkey up, "I'm secure enough to let he pick out my t-shirt, I'm sorry you're not secure enough with Maya to allow her to do that."
Zay snickered, "Let's not fight now boys we've got hot oil and a bird that is ready to take a dip."
Lucas held his breath as he and Zay raised the turkey in the air before they began lowering it into the pot.
Maya looked at the Jell-O salad that Riley had made in the shape of a turkey, "Why did you make this, Lucas hates it."
Riley looked up as she opened the oven to remove the bird, "That was my reaction when he told me his mother was bringing mac-and-cheese, he knows how I feel about hers, so I made that. I was also steamed about the other turkey."
Maya shook her head and chuckled, "You two are ridiculous."
"What if they hurt themselves Maya, or worse?" Riley wrapped her hands in a dishtowel, "We're getting married soon, and the closer we get to that date, the more I worry. I want him with me for a very long time."
"He will be he has been. The two of you may be ridiculous, but you're the most in love couple I've ever seen, even when you're competing with each other about a turkey."
"We're not competing." Riley looked to Maya who was chopping some carrots.
Maya put the knife down, "You're competing and you don't even know it."
Riley turned to her best friend, "You think that's what we're doing?"
"Yeah, I do." Maya dropped her chopped carrots into a pot of boiling water, "I can't wait to see how this ends…or maybe I don't, do you two get like aggressive in bed."
"Maya" Riley snapped the towel at her, "His mother is across the room, and so is mine. Stop that I don't ask you about Uncle Josh."
"Fine, you not telling me is all the answer I need."
Riley rolled her eyes, "I'll be back in a few minutes to set everything up."
"Okay, go check on the boys."
Lucas looked at the timer on his phone as he stood back near the door of the roof.
"So how's your bird?" Riley was standing beside him with her arms over her chest.
"Almost done, yours?" He looked down to her, trying to hold back a smile as he watched her shift nervously on her feet.
"Out of the oven, resting" She looked around, "Maya thinks we're competing with our birds."
Lucas nodded, "Maybe, we're both trying to find a place for our traditions as we start building our lives together. And maybe I felt a little left out of the whole cooking thing since you had everything planned."
Riley nodded, "I just wanted it to be as close to perfect as it could be." She confessed as she felt his arm wrap around her, pulling her close.
"As long as we're together it'll be perfect." He told her as the alarm on his phone went off, "Okay Zay let's do this nice and easy."
Zay nodded as he moved to slowly remove the turkey from the oil before laying it down on the cutting board that Josh was holding.
"I'll see you downstairs in a few minutes." Riley squeezed Lucas' hand before slipping back into the building.
Riley was setting up the food while Lucas was carving the turkey's when he came out with two platters, "Well I think we both did well with the turkey's." he told her as he set them down on the buffet.
"I think you're right." She gave him a kiss, "But we're going to have so many leftovers."
"We'll send some home with people I promise we won't be eating this forever."
Riley nodded, "You know what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving?"
"What's that?" he slipped his arms around her, enjoying the private moment while everyone was in the other room.
"That soon we're going to be married, and next year we'll have a better idea of what traditions stay, which ones go."
"I know one that can stay," he kissed her right behind her ear, "That shower this morning."
"Oh that for sure stays." She giggled. "I'm also thankful for you, our friends our family."
"I'm thankful for all of that as well." He turned her around to look him in the eyes, "I'm also thankful that if we're lucky we'll have a little baby at the table next year."
Riley rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, can't we be married a year before we start trying?"
"Only if we get to practice a lot first" he teased.
"Deal, let's get everyone in here for dinner."
