Hey guys,

Sorry for the wait. I was waiting for my new laptop to arrive since my old one broke.

I would like to say a big thank you to sand1128 and to the guest who commented recently, your reviews were so sweet.

Enjoy!

Riley's POV:

Two days. I have two days until Aubrey's birthday.

I have nothing planned. Absolutely nothing at all. I've never been to type to be disorganised, that was Maya's forte. But sometimes you get lost in life and the most important things slip your mind.

"Guess who?" Lucas's hands cover my eyes, blocking my view of the room.

"Um, let me guess...is it John?" I tease

"Who's John? Are you hiding something from me Riley?"

I remove his hands from my eyes and turn to face him. How dare he accuse me of cheating on him!

"Are you serious right now? How come every time I even mention another guys name, you accuse me of cheating?" I defend.

His eyes flash with anger, and he drags a hand through his hair roughly.

"How am I supposed to trust you, when you're always talking about all these guys?" he argues

"What so now I'm not allowed to have any guys friends? You didn't see me having a go at you, when you went out with Missy the other day!"

"Don't turn this on me, the point is that I can't trust my girlfriend anymore!"

"Girlfriend?" I ask, stunned "When did I become your girlfriend? Is this why you think you can dictate who I spend my time with. The last time I checked you and I were dating, I thought I made it clear that I'm not ready for a serious relationship yet"

The anger in his eyes quickly turns to hurt. Complete and utter hurt.

"So our whole relationship meant nothing to you? And to think I was beginning to think I loved you. I guess it's good that I know where I stand now" his voice is barely a whisper and I notice how his normally vibrant eyes have darkened into a 'marshy' green.

"Luke, I didn't mean it like that. I'm so sorry, I'm just... afraid" My voice seems more desperate with each word I speak, but honestly I don't care. I can't lose him.

He doesn't respond so I continue " I'm afraid of getting too close to you, because if I do... I might lose you. I can't go through that kind of pain again, it was hard enough losing Maya. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too" I take in a shuddery breath, as I attempt to keep myself from crying.

He wraps me in a hug, before softly cupping my cheek with his hand.

"I would never leave you Riley. I love you way too much"

He puts his lips against mine and I melt into the kiss. The passion builds as he leads me to the sofa, and places soft kisses along my neck. I moan as our bodies tangle together, as if they were becoming one. The desire escalates, but I mange to muster enough self- control to stop it from going any further.

"Lucas, we need to stop"

He rolls off me, his face suddenly a bright red.

"I'm sorry, you can blame my parents for teaching me to wait until marriage" I tease, although I can feel a blush invading my cheeks.

"I can wait... I love you Riley"

" I love you too Lucas" I admit. And for the first time I realise I mean it. " I know we're not in a special place or anything, but... would you be my boyfriend?"

"Wow your asking me? I always thought I'd be the one asking you" he chuckles for a moment, and looks into my eyes lovingly before a slight smile appears on his lips. "But, of course I'll be your boyfriend"

My eyes flutter open as soon as I feel my body being violently shook. I roll onto my side and groan as the shaking continues.

"Riles wake up! Do you know what today is?" I look down to see Aubrey already has a cone shaped party hat on her head. The clues continued, they ranged from her 'it's my birthday t-shirt' to her giant birthday badge.

"Huh gee Lucas, I thought it was just an ordinary day" I tease him.

"No, it's my little girls birthday! I can't believe she's already one"

I laugh as he pretends to start tearing up, wiping imaginary tears from his cheeks.

"Of course it is. Give her here" I say, outstretching my arms as Lucas passes Aubrey to me. She giggles as soon as she is in my arms, and I brush her bangs away from her eyes and kiss her forehead. "Luke, I'm gonna change her out of these clothes, okay?"

"I think she looks great!" he argues

"Right. Go and get things ready for the party"

He sighs but leaves anyway. I look through Aubrey's wardrobe, my aim to find the perfect dress. Nothing seems special enough, and I begin to panic a little, until I notice a dress at the far back.

I take it of the rail, and I smile at the memory as I notice which one I've chosen. Maya and I bought this a while back, even though we knew Aubrey wouldn't wear it for a while. We were saving it for a special occasion.

"Do you like this one sweetie?" I ask Aubrey.

She giggles and claps her hands- I'll take that as a yes.

I give her a quick bath and leave her long dark curls loose. I slip on her dress and tights, before putting on her shoes. After I've finished getting Aubrey dressed, I get ready myself and put on a flowing blue dress. I smile at us both in the mirror, excited for the day ahead. Before we leave, I know that there is one last things we have to do.

I place Aubrey on her bay window next seat, and I sit beside her. It's time.

"I know you don't understand me, but I figured that this is the sort of thing your mom would do. I miss her a lot, and I know that she dreamt of spending your first birthday with you. But she can't, and hopefully one day I'll learn to be okay with that. I just wanted to acknowledge her, because without out Maya you wouldn't even be here. I probably sound as if I'm talking to myself, but maybe this could be our new tradition. Maya would've loved that"

I'm interrupted as the door swings open and Lucas enters the room.

"I've finished decorating. Are you guys ready?" he asks me.

"Yes we are. Come on Aubs let's go have the best first birthday ever!"

Isn't it awful how sometimes you realise your mistakes after you've made them, but only then they can't be changed?

I'm staring at our living room which is littered with pink streamers and balloons. It's not pretty like how you'd imagine, actually it's far from that. To put it into simpler words- it's hideous.

The decorations are placed in the most random of places, and the small party table is wonky, making the food on it lean to one side. I can feel my eyes widen when I notice that a part of the icing on the cake has been tasted, and the very obvious evidence of this has tried to be concealed, smudging the icing even more.

The lesson learnt: NEVER trust Lucas Friar to set up a party. And most importantly, NEVER leave him in charge of the food EVER!

Because honestly even a person with seriously bad eye sight would notice the handful of chocolates missing from the packet, and not to mention how he ruined the cake.

"What do you think Riles, do you like it?" I'm snapped out of my trace at the sound of his voice and swivel around to face him. His vibrant green eyes shine, and on his lips is a huge goofy grin. He is obviously really proud of himself, I don't want ruin that for him. So I smile and nod, giving him a hug briefly after to fully convince him, silently praying that he will buy my act.

But Lucas being the oblivious loving person he is, totally buys it.

The doorbell rings and Lucas answers it, giving me a chance to secretly straighten a few wonky decorations. I recognise the voices immediately as my parents, I pick up Aubrey and hug them both.

"The decorations are...nice. Did you put them up Riley?" my mom questions

"Uh no, actually Lucas did"

He grins wildly and my mom gives him a small smile, probably trying to prevent her eye twitching. She has a major a OCD when it comes to order and precision.

Fifteen minutes later, all the guests have come flooding through the door, well, all except one. My heart sinks as I analyse the room, noting how he still hasn't showed up yet. He of all people should be here, he is her biological father after all.

"Hey sweetie, are you okay" my dad asks me, was I that obvious?

"Yeah, I guess. I was just looking for Josh"

"Josh? He probably doesn't it's Aubrey's birthday, I don't think he's ever met her. Don't get yourself stressed about it okay? Just enjoy the party"

I sigh and tell him he's probably right, how would Josh know it's Aubrey's first birthday anyway? He's only met her once. So I take my dad's advice and try to enjoy myself. I talk to my friends and family and watch as Aubrey plays with children close to her age. I can't help but notice how she doesn't follow what the other kids are doing, but seems to do her own thing. She one, and yet already she's starting to be like Maya.

The party is in full swing and the place is filled with a beautiful warmth. Who knew that one person could turn it ice cold?

Time seems to stop as the last guest arrives. No one was expecting it, but his return was worse than his last one.

There stumbling through the door was Joshua Matthews.

A severely drunk Joshua Matthews.

Even I'm a little disappointed in Josh, lol. What do you think will happen next?

Until next time,

hintofmint xxx