Chapter 48 – Happy 20th Birthday Lucas Friar
It was close to seven in the morning on September 29th when Riley woke up, Lucas's birthday was the next day and she wanted to surprise him at midnight with a birthday celebration. She had been planning it for weeks and even though so much was happening all around them she wanted to celebrate his birthday as a way to show him how important he is, well at least to her. She needed to get somethings very early in the morning and since Lucas normally woke up to get ready for work at seven, since school had started, she needed to be out of the house before that. She quickly ran into the bathroom and changed her clothes, brushing her teeth as quickly as she could, before sneaking pass a sleeping Lucas. She knew when he was deeply asleep and since the day before he had come home from working a double shift she knew that he was extremely tired.
When she reached the front door she ran towards a waiting Josh so that he could drive her to where she needed to go. When she asked him to take her the only stipulation was that they had to leave Maya asleep as well. Josh asked why constantly before Riley admitted that her best friend couldn't keep a secret very well, actually she told everyone any secret she could by using code words so even if the person didn't know what they were being told was a secret it would still be out there.
"So where are we off to first?" Josh asked as he drove off.
"The Farmer's Market, it's about five miles from the school," she said as she inputted the information into his GPS. "After that we need to go to the Post Office, his momma sent something for his surprise and I want him to get it. Then we have to stop by the party supply store and after that we need to pick up the cake and that's it."
Riley had planned Lucas's birthday based off a picture his mother had sent from when he was a five-year-old cowboy, the whole party was themed from that picture and Riley loved it. She had gotten a ton of string lights and little glow in the dark stars to put up in their living room, as well as hay bales and corn stock to decorate the living room. The only other person that was in on the planning was Zay who was tasked with keeping Lucas out of the house until Midnight. It was Friday so there wouldn't be any real problems with Lucas staying out and she had told him that she wanted to have a birthday dinner with him the next day so he made sure to take the day off.
"Geez, you two make me feel like I'm slacking with Maya some days, you're always doing something for each other," Josh said as he watched Riley go through her list for the millionth time.
"You're not slacking Josh," she said trying to cheer him up. "I've never seen Maya so happy before."
"What if I made her even happier?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well our second anniversary is coming up, and I was thinking of doing something extremely special. I might need your special event planning skills for that too."
"And what are you planning?" Riley said looking up at him excited at what might be in store for his future plans and for her best friend.
"Um… well… I want to propose," he said. Riley saw his face turn beet red as she squealed in his ear. "Geez woman keep it down I'm trying to drive."
"But… I'm so excited," she jumped up and down on the seat. "Oh a dinner, in the yard, you can use the lights I brought for Lucas's party. Oh and the colors would be a midnight blue with a hit of baby blue, and you can get mom to send you stuff from the Topanga's, and you have to make sure that you ask for her hand in marriage, and her mom should be there when you do propose because she would be so happy to see her daughter become so happy."
"Wow Riley you planned it out in one minute," he said smiling. "Are you sure you want to be a doctor?"
"Actually yes I'm sure, there's a difference between the happiness you get from helping friends and family and the happiness from saving someone's life. I know that some days it will be the hardest job on the planet but I want to help others more than anything."
"My niece is going to be superwoman."
"Someone has to be."
The two of them spent the rest of the morning gathering up everything that she had written down along with a couple of extras that she had found in a flea market nearby. They only stopped for breakfast before driving back onto campus and stopping at the Arts building to pick up something she had asked Maya to paint. Maya thought it was only going to be a birthday present but it was actually the centerpiece of the night. It was a landscape of Pappy Joe's farm for Lucas. Once they got back to the house Zay had called and said that he had taken Lucas out to some remote location along with Farkle and they were going to be men and shot things with paint ball guns.
Josh helped her unload everything and set it up in the living for her to work with before waving goodbye and leaving for his job. He was working a tutoring shift at the school and would be back in time for the party. Riley grabbed her phone and plugged in her headphones before she began working on the decorations. While listening to her party mix she moved all of the furniture to the side and worked on placing each decoration in the right place. She strung up the lights and checked that they worked before slowly sticking each glow in the dark star on the ceiling. By the time it was eight and her phone was close to dying the room was finished, the walls were covered in red fabrics while the floor had a green tarp with the hay bales on top. Texas bluebells and blackfoot daisies were in small vases all around her with little bits of them scattered all over the floor.
As midnight approached the girls came down from the apartment to give Riley a chance to change into her outfit, she had found a red sundress that matched the decorations. Her hair was down near her waist curled at the ends with a hit of red lipstick to match. She twirled in the mirror as she finished thinking about how happy Lucas will be when he saw the party. As the clocked ticked closer and closer to midnight Riley's heart began to pound, she was afraid that she might have done too much preparing for the party. She wanted to show Lucas how much she loved him even if it was in the form of a giant overnight party. She even got sleeping bags for them to sleep on the floor under the stars, although her friends wouldn't stay that long she wanted her night to end with her and Lucas looking at the sky even if it was in their living room.
Her phone rang at 11:59 with a text from Zay saying they were nearby. On cue she had her friends turn out the lights to make them think that she was sleeping.
"Oh look at the stars," Maya said in the background. Riley laughed because she knew that her friend would've liked it even if she said it was corny.
Riley could hear the guys outside talking, "I had a lot of fun today," Lucas said as they walked up the stairs. "We better be quiet it looks like the girls are sleeping."
Riley couldn't help but giggle when she heard him say that.
The door swung open as Lucas turned to say goodbye to Zay and Farkle, but as he reached to turn on the lights everyone jumped up and yelled surprise. Lucas looked stunned as they all crowded around him and smiled. Riley stood back as everyone said happy birthday to him but she knew that he was looking for her in the crowd. When he finally spotted her she gave him the biggest smile that she could ever show him and twirled around in her dress.
"Excuse everyone, I have to go see my girl," he said as he walked away from their friends and walked up to her.
"Hey," she said smiling.
"Hi," he said pulling her close to him. "Thank you."
"No problem, it's all for you."
The phone rang in his pocket and he picked it up while he still looked at her eyes. "Hello," he said before quickly kissing her.
"Happy birthday my boy," Riley could hear Pappy Joe say from the other end. "Did your girl surprise you?"
"Yeah she did," he said smiling at her.
"Take good care of that girl Lucas, don't let her get away again because you won't find another one like that one."
"I'm holding on tight Pappy Joe, trust me I won't make the same mistakes twice."
"That's my boy, now have a good night and don't party too hard."
"I won't, good night Pappy Joe, I love you."
"I love you too, and don't forget to call your momma and papa," he said before hanging up.
"I love that man," Riley said smiling.
"Geez Riles if you smile anymore your face is going to break," Maya said as they all began to walk up to them.
"Who cares, I'm happy!"
"Alright now let's party," Maya said pulling Josh away.
The eight of them stay up until three in the morning before everyone started to go back to their apartments. Riley said good bye to everyone and closed the door behind her when she noticed that Lucas had found the sleeping bags and laid them on the ground. Patting the floor next to him without saying a word. Riley willingly walked up to him and sat down.
"Riley."
"Yes birthday boy," she giggled.
"Thank you," he said before kissing her.
"But you haven't seen the best surprise yet," she said standing up to turn off the lights. The string lights twinkled around them as the little stars began to glow. "On night under the stars for two," she smiled before walking over to him and sitting down.
"I want to kiss you and hold you so much but I'm so tired. Zay ran me down a couple of times at that paintball field."
"How about we just cuddle, and tomorrow we can just have a quiet day to ourselves under the stars. We can even close the blinds."
"I have a better idea, I wanna see my parents tomorrow so how about we spend the weekend in New York and come back down Sunday night."
"That sounds like fun, I could also bring the twins their birthday presents since their birthday is on Sunday."
"That sounds like a plan," he kissed her as he slowly started dozing off. "I love you Riley Matthews."
"I love you Lucas Friar and Happy Birthday," she said as the two of them fell asleep.
