Grace woke up to her phone ringing; it was some slayer song Rich had set to play when he called. She sat up and grabbed the phone. "Rich?" Grace tried to sound as awake and cheerful as possible, but a yawn accidentally escaped from her mouth.
"Good morning, Grace face!" He sounded reasonably happy for this time of hour.
"Is everything alright, Richard?" She was surprised he was awake at 10 in the morning.
"Everything is great, Grace. And you know why? Because today is your birthday!" Grace's eyebrows perked up. How could she have forgotten about her own birthday? "I'll be round yours later this afternoon, I'll let you spend time with your parents this morning" Rich said with a mocking sigh. "Make sure to wear something nice!"
"R-rich? Where are we going?" But it was too late, he had already hung up.
What could Rich have planned for her? Was he taking her out to eat? No, Rich never liked going out to eat, they always ate in. Grace shook her head and hopped out of bed, walking to her closet.
She studied the vibrant garments hanging in front of her before she picked out a pretty pale pink sun dress. After she pulled it on, along with tights and flats, she pulled her wild hair up into a braid.
When Grace got back to her house after eating a birthday lunch out, she was caught by surprise when Rich was already standing there, dressed in a maroon blazer and a nice shirt, a bouquet of flowers in his hand. She grinned from ear to ear and ran forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning up to kiss him. "Happy birthday, Grace" He said, handing her the bouquet as they pulled apart. "Rich, thank you so much! I love you! But where are we going?" Rich smiled and grabbed Grace's hand, leading her down to the end of the driveway where he had Alo's van parked.
"We're going on a little adventure." Rich said as he pulled out of the driveway.
They had been driving for awhile, talking the entire time. Finally, they pulled up to the pool where he and Rich first talked after 'kidnapping Franky' almost a year before.
Getting out of the car, Rich came around and opened the door for Grace and lead her up the hill to the back door to the pool.
Grace marveled at the sight of the twinkling pool, and looked to the corner. A small table with roses set on top of it was placed, waiting for two people to sit down at it to eat.
"Rich, what's going on?" She said with a smile spread across her face.
Rich only smiled as they both walked over to the table. The sun was setting and Grace was happy to be able to eat something, she had been hungry all day.
"You relax, and I will be right back with your food."
Before Grace knew it, Rich appeared through the doorway holding a to-go box in his hand.
He walked over, opening the box and spooning out equal amounts of spaghetti onto both of their plates.
"I love Italian food! Even if it is out of a Styrofoam box." Grace giggled
After they were done eating, it was already dark, the twinkling lights draped around the pool as the only source of light.
"Thank you so much, Richard. This was lovely, but maybe we should get back home..." Grace said, worried.
"Not until, we take a little dip!" Rich smirked.
"But Rich, I'm not dressed to swim or anythin-" Before Grace could finish, Rich had her in his arms and jumped into the pool.
Grace squealed and laughed, still in Rich's arms. She hugged onto him tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thank you for tonight Rich, everything was perfect."
"Anything, for you, love." Rich smiled, leaning forward to kiss Grace.
"Happy birthday Grace, I love you."