Riley walked leisurely down the Degrassi hallway with Anya by his side, smiling as he passed by all of his old friends. It was the first day back from winter break and he had to admit, he was relieved to see all of the familiar, unthreatening faces.

"So, how was your break?" Anya asked cheerily as she flashed her beautiful brace-less smile. Ever since Anya had gotten her braces off over the summer, she never stopped grinning.

"Awesome." Riley sighed as he thought retrospectively about the trip. He and Zane immediately put the entire "engagement talk" behind them and spent the last five days skiing, snowboarding and club hopping occasionally as long as they were keeping tabs on how much Riley had to drink. "Yours?"

"It was alright, I guess. My mom's radiation therapy is coming along really well." Riley nodded and immediately felt bad for her. Not only was Anya's mother sick but, by him and Zane going away, they left her with no one to hang out with. "Heather Poulette's my lab partner this month so we became fast friends," she said, practically reading Riley's mind "I wasn't completely lonely over the holidays." Riley nodded and his mouth spread into a huge grin.

"Well…I'm really happy for you. That's awesome."

"Yeah, I guess it is. So, you didn't think that you were gonna get away without giving me an update did you?" Riley smiled awkwardly and shook his head out of confusion.

"No?"

"About you and Zane silly!" She exclaimed as she lightly slapped riley's arm with the back of her hand "Last time we talked about that stuff you guys were just proclaiming your love." She said dramatically with a girlish giggle. Riley could feel himself blushing and he let out a loud sigh.

"Yeah, well. Things have definitely changed since then."

"Come on panther, no secrets here." Riley stopped walking and looked from side to side before lowering his voice.

"I'm moving in." Anya's smile faded to a look of utter shock and she pinched Riley's bicep harshly. "Ow! What the-"

"I can't believe you were considering keeping this from me!"

"Sorry I-"

"When?" Riley winced and prepared for a punch in the arm this time as he relayed the news.

"Tonight." Anya's mouth dropped completely this time and she seemed to be looking for something to say. She ended up blinking madly and shrugging her shoulders.

"It's official." She said as she let her arms drop to her sides "I am the best matchmaker ever." Riley scoffed and smiled out of relief when Anya started joking.

"Hey, you didn't do all the work."

"I was the one who found out that he was gay. Plus I was practically your relationship counselor all summer."

"Fine. So you did the research and you were moral support but I got the guy."

"Keep thinking it QB but if your relationship were a movie I would be the director."

"Associate producer…maybe." Anya laughed and let her hand brush Riley's shoulder as she walked away to join the power squad by the lockers. Riley smiled brightly and turned around to see Adam attempting to creep up on him.

"Seriously?" Adam said, his blue eyes dancing from excitement "I thought I would at least get you this time."

"And beat me at my own game? Get real." Riley threw out his hand and Adam grabbed it and pulled him into a one armed hug.

"I missed you, asshole. Way to leave me stranded all break."

"Well I didn't exactly leave you stranded." Riley said looking toward the glass atrium where Fiona was seated. Riley caught her eye and she looked over at both of them and waved sweetly, smiling with a glint in her eyes when she looked at Adam. Adam smiled gallantly at Riley and sighed.

"Yeah, I was in pretty good company." Adam began to get lost in his thoughts before he shook his head and returned to the conversation "As were you. How's Zane?" Riley sighed and looked off into the distance.

"Fine…" Riley smiled to himself dreamily and Adam raised an eyebrow.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Looks like the high altitudes made you light headed Adam shook his head before patting Riley on the shoulder. "Okay well, I'm gonna…" he nodded toward Fiona and didn't bother to finish his sentence."

"Right yeah, catch you later." Riley leaned his back against the lockers and shuffled his feet out of boredom, waiting for someone else he knew to walk by. Riley looked through the windows on the side of the building and could see Zane locking his car and walking to the front door. He stayed where he was and waited for Zane to see him as not to seem too anxious. Zane smiled and made a b-line to Riley, occasionally getting stopped by numerous people that he barely knew on the way. Saying hi, asking him how his break was, telling him that they liked his jacket; the usual. Riley tapped his foot impatiently and took a few steps forward, trying to minimize the distance that separated him from his boyfriend.

"Hey," Zane said softly when he was a couple of feet away "back to the daily grind, eh?" Riley sighed and smiled warmly.

"Yep, hard to believe we were still in the mountains a couple of days ago."

"Yeah I know. It's also hard to believe that you were so wasted a couple of days ago but hey, look at you now. You're a regular success story." Riley put his finger up to his lips and shushed Zane jokingly at the mention of their last night at Whistler. Neither of them had ever had a new years so eventful. Riley let their laughter fade before continuing.

"You know what else is kinda crazy?" Zane shrugged as if he were oblivious and bit his lip to hide a smile.

"What?" Riley looked at Zane, and leaned in closer.

"That the Park household's getting a new edition." Zane seemed shocked for a moment and began to walk toward the atrium.

"What, like a puppy?"

"Better." Zane scoffed and pretended to be unconvinced.

"…What could be better than a puppy?"

"Someone that's as cute as one that you don't have to clean up after."

"Oh, and what if I wanted to put you on a leash?"

"As long as you promised to scratch behind my ears." Zane smiled and stepped closer to Riley, grabbing Riley's strong arm with a warm hand.

"Mm… I could think of better places to scratch."

"Woof." Riley looked at Zane as he became increasingly close and smiled.

"Okay seriously," Riley and Zane turned to see Drew, who had been standing there long enough to hear the majority of their odd conversation. "You two have the weirdest relationship ever. Keep the creepy couple banter to yourselves so you don't scare the crap out of the rest of us." Drew looked exasperated and walked away quickly to go to his next class and Zane leaned against the lockers and smirked at Riley.

"He's right you know." Zane said with a mocking smile "You are pretty weird." Riley looked at Zane and shook his head before making direct eye contact "but I think I'll keep you."

"Lucky Me." Riley's tone didn't seem sarcastic, because he wasn't at all. He meant every word he said. Zane heard the sincerity of Riley's words and smiled to himself, biting his lip as he glanced back in forth in the hallway to see if anyone was watching. He pushed off of the row of lockers and stood in front of Riley. He glanced up at Riley's mass of curly hair and smiled to himself as he began to put the stray curls back in place. Riley stared at Zane's smile, completely enchanted by it's brilliance and glanced over the rest of his face as if he were seeing how beautiful his boyfriend was for the first time.

"You have the most beautiful eyes," Zane said, his hand now resting on Riley's arm "you know that?" Riley felt a shiver go down his spine as Zane's eyes stared directly into his.

"No…I-I don't know." Riley blushed severely at how obviously flustered he became when Zane looked at him. Sometimes he was ashamed by the fact that he was still head over heels after seven months. Zane smiled as well and laughed lightly under his breath.

"Yeah you do. I tell you that all the time." Riley grinned even wider and looked down at his feet, unsure how to respond. Zane smirked at his boyfriend's bashfulness and glanced back at the atrium where all of their friends were waiting. "Come on." Zane reached out for Riley's hand and led him into the glass-enclosed room. Riley smiled as Fiona, Adam and Holly J stopped working to greet them. Fiona was sitting Indian style and uncrossed her legs when Riley and Zane entered. She practically hopped to their sides and wrapped one arm around each of their necks, pulling them closer to her.

"I've missed you two." She sighed as she rested her head on Zane's shoulder. Fiona released their necks and stood in front of them, her hand holding one of theirs. "I wasn't sure that you guys would come back in time." Zane shook his head and nodded politely at Holly J who smiled tightly and waved back. He took a seat next to Adam who immediately started telling him about the past couple of weeks.

"We were in BC Fiona," Riley began sarcastically as he lay his bag on the ground and sat down next to her "not Iraq." Fiona rolled her eyes and turned her knees toward Riley.

"Well it sure felt like you were. I mean," Fiona practically lowered her voice to a whisper and looked Riley directly in the eyes "you two didn't even call. I didn't even know you were gone." Riley shrugged and shifted in his seat as he began to search his bag for his calculus homework.

"Sorry." He said with a shrug. Fiona nodded, unsatisfied and her face lit up at a thought.

"So how was it? Any new relationship milestones I need to know about?"

"Wow, I've been asked that question twice today and I've been here for all of thirteen minutes." Fiona cut her eyes to the side, a sign of annoyance and condescendence, and smirked.

"It's cause people care about you silly." Riley smirked to himself and thought about Fiona's words. It was nice to hear that people still cared every once and a while.

"Yeah, yeah I guess." Fiona saw Riley smiling and rested her chin in her hands as she smiled back.

"So then, tell us what's going on." Riley inhaled and began to blush as he prepared to give the news once again.