Chapter 35 – Anniversary Re-Do

Riley and Lucas's one-year anniversary came and went with major problems and Riley couldn't figure out what to do. Ever since Josh had found them making out on the floor of her room he made sure that he was around them every second of every day and it was irritating Riley. They had gone on an anniversary date only to have Maya and Josh tag along. When they went home for the thanksgiving break, Riley snuck out to see Lucas only to be found by Josh the minute she made it to his street. Her father had figured out what was happening and was proud of his brother for sticking so close to her but Riley had become fed up with the whole ordeal. As the semester came closer to an end Riley had given up on having any alone time with her boyfriend.

As she sat sulking in the living area of their suite Maya was in her own room with Josh laughing. Riley couldn't believe that Josh was allowed alone time with his girlfriend by Riley had been subjected to constant surveillance. Instead of allowing them to be happy she turned up the television as loud as possible, Red Planet Diaries was on and she wanted to make sure that the loudness of the television would annoy them enough for them to give up. Smackle had gone out for the night with Farkle so Riley didn't have anyone else to talk to anyway.

After five minutes passed and neither one left Maya's room Riley had had enough and went to the door slamming it open only to find Maya shirtless and Josh pant less.

"Oh god," Riley yelled running out of the room, grabbing her wallet and keys from the small table by the door, and into the hallway. She needed to get out as fast as possible so she kept going until she realized that she had left without shoes or a coat and it was freezing outside. She ran back inside as fast as possible and started pacing in the lobby of the building.

Then it hit her, they had stopped her and Lucas from going ahead with anything but the whole time they had been doing the one thing that they thought she was going to do. The most she ever did was feel up her boyfriend, she wanted to wait because she had the more romantic notions of how her first time would happen. Lucas knew this and understood but to her own family the possibility of her having sex at all was something they wanted to stop from happening no matter what. Almost like her innocence was all they wanted to keep, she knew that sex wouldn't change who she was but they didn't give her that decision.

"Riley what are you doing down here? You're going to catch a cold the day before we go home for the holidays," Lucas said walking up to her. He pulled off his coat and wrapped it around her.

"You wouldn't happen to have a spare pair of shoes would you," she said trying to smile but still feeling angry with her best friend and her uncle.

"Where did you want to go that you left without a jacket or shoes?" he said before he took another look at her, "Riles you're in your pajamas, why are you in your pajamas in the lobby."

"This is a story I would like to tell you once I'm far far away from here please."

"Okay," he said kneeling on the floor. "Come on we'll pick up some shoes on the way to where ever we're going."

Riley wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled her up and held onto her as he ran to his car. Once inside he turned on the heat and drove off stopping at a nearby payless to grab her a pair of socks and some warm shoes, before bringing her to a café near the school.

"So what's happening?" he said once they were settled into a couch in the far corner.

"A lot of things, we didn't get to have our anniversary dinner, or any dates at all for the last six weeks because of Josh and Maya, I'm pretty sure my dad made sure that Josh was always around when we were together. Then today I found them… oh god eww, I saw Josh and Maya having sex, that's like walking in on my parents. I never wanted to see that, why didn't they lock the door," she put her face into her hands trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Wait Josh and Maya were doing that and whenever we try to even kiss he's there pulling us apart. Why do they get to have all the fun while we're stuck with chaperones?"

"I know and the worst part is that in the end its going to be like this for the next four years, I don't think I can take it."

"We need to think about how we're going to deal with this, because I want to be able to take you out on a date even if it's just going to the movies alone."

The two of them sat there thinking until their waitress had shown up with their drinks and a small cake with a candle on top. Lucas looked at her smiling, and it had taken Riley a full minute to realize what had happened.

"Oh," she said.

"I ordered it before you told me what was happening, which now just makes this awkward but Happy Birthday Riley. You're eighteen now so make a wish and blow out your candle."

Riley started crying the minute he said that, she hadn't realized that with the stress of her Uncle being around all the time, finals and the fact that the one person who made her feel relaxed lately had been all but banned from being near her, now she had forgotten her own birthday. While she blew out the candle she made her wish that she would at least get a do-over of her anniversary date with Lucas.

"Okay," he started while handing her a napkin to wipe her eyes. "First let's just forget about them and go out on a real date, since you ran out without them knowing where you were going we could do almost anything."

"Okay," she hiccupped as she stopped crying.

"So where can we go?"

"Um let's see," she wiped the last of her tears and looked around the café. On top of the trash bins there was a bunch of fliers so she walked up and grabbed one of each before sitting back down and spreading them across the table in front of them. "Which is the best deal?"

Lucas looked down and smiled when he saw the one he liked the most, "Let's go to Great Wolf Lodge, we can play around on the water slides and they have a discount for college students."

"That would be fun and all but we don't have anything, hell the only thing I have with me is my wallet and my bank card because that was the only thing I thought to grab.

"I have my wallet too and we could just buy everything we need on the way there, my car has gas so all we need is money for clothes and a room to stay the night."

"Okay let's go, it's about time we get to have our anniversary date."

"Six weeks overdue," he said kissing her before gabbing their drinks.

Riley grabbed the cake and quickly went to the counter to get a container to put it in before they ran to his car. The first stop they made was to a nearby Target, they were in luck when they found swimsuits in stock, they also grabbed any necessities they needed, travel sized bottles of shampoo and conditioner, toothbrushes and paste as well as soap, and a bag to put it all in. It took them three hours to get there but when they did they wondered if there were any rooms available on such short notice. Riley almost regretted the decision, until they said that they had plenty of rooms. Once they were settled they quickly changed and went down to the waterpark.

The two of them ran around playing and sliding down every slide twenty times before they got tired and decided to go back to the room.

"I'm so hungry," Riley said once they walked into the room.

"There's a room service menu on the table."

Riley grabbed the menu and found that it had burgers and fries making her smile, "I want a cheese burger, I wonder if they would make cheese fries."

"Just ask, I need to take a shower I feel like I have a mountain of chlorine on me."

"I'll order us some burgers you take a shower and when you're done I'll take one and we'll eat and watch a movie."

"Okay," he smiled.

"Lucas I had fun today," she smiled back. He kissed her before he walked into the bathroom.

"I had fun too," he said before closing the door.

Riley called down to room service and ordered their food along with some strawberry shortcake to celebrate their anniversary. Afterwards she gathered her clothes for when Lucas was done when she noticed her phone had fallen on the floor. She almost left it there but picked it up instead. There were twenty missed calls from Maya, another twenty from Josh and about a hundred messages from the both of them. Instead of looking at them she put her phone back down and walked towards the window looking out into the back of the hotel. She looked at the stars smiling, it was the most perfect date she could have asked for. Lucas walked out of the bathroom, his hair wet from his shower.

"Bathroom's free," he said smiling at her. "I'll find a movie for us to watch so hurry and go take a shower."

"Okay," she said before walking away.

When she finished she walked out to the smell of food in the room and Lucas spreading out a towel on the bed.

"I don't want to spill anything," he said when he saw her.

"It's okay," she said smiling.

When she sat down next to him she gave him a quick kiss, she didn't want it to go any deeper because she wanted to eat.

"I called Maya and told her where you and I are, well I only told them that we went on an impromptu trip for your birthday. I hung up before she could say anything so I don't know if they're mad or anything."

"That's fine let them stew for a while, I don't want to ruin our date because of what had happened earlier with them."

He smiled and kissed her deeply wrapping his hands around her wet hair. When he pulled away Riley smiled, she realized that she was smiling so much since he gave her the cake and they thought up the idea of going on this trip. They ate in silence smiling at each other while watching Pitch Perfect, it wasn't a Christmas movie but it was still perfect. When they were done they cuddled together and watched Harry Potter right afterwards. They fell asleep in each other's arms, when she woke up her hair was all over the place but it was still perfect.

"This is the best time to be a Riley," she said burrowing her head into Lucas's arm. She fell back asleep until they had to check out around one in the afternoon. They ate breakfast and went back into the waterpark before they left. It was a perfect date and she didn't care what her friends or family would say or do, as long as she was with Lucas on her birthday everything had been perfect.