Sunday, May 16th, 2010. Luke woke up on the morning of his 24th birthday at about nine a.m. and instinctively reached for his phone, as he did every morning. One new voicemail. Still groggy and closing his eyes as he held the phone to his ear, he yawned through the automated voice as it prepared him for the message. His body, still tense from an uneasy night of sleep, began to ease as Reid's voice drifted into his ears.
'Hey, Luke. It's about six o'clock, so I'm not surprised you didn't answer. I just wanted to call and say Happy Birthday. So… yeah, Happy Birthday. I'll call again later.'
Luke smiled, though there was a hint of sadness in it's pull. With Reid's voice still ringing in his ears he slowly pulled himself out of bed.
Thirty minutes later he was clean and dressed, brushing his damp hair with his fingers as he stumbled into the Snyder kitchen, preparing himself for the slew of Snyders bound to be waiting to pounce. Luke hadn't spent a lot of time with his family lately, but he'd been seeing them more and more with each passing week, and knew that today at least he owed it to them to share his presence. He opened the door and stepped in, already smiling, but stopped abruptly at the unexpected sight.
The kitchen was empty.
There was a card on the table, though, and Luke apprehensively approached it. It was a simple card with balloons on the front and his grandmother Lucinda's elegant handwriting on the inside. Before he even read it, he was smiling.
"Happy Birthday, Luke. Many apologies for stealing away your family for the morning, though I'm sure you will enjoy the peace and quiet.
Your party is at 2pm sharp at Metro. Don't be late, dear.
Love, Lucinda."
Luke laughed and sat the card back down. He ended up making himself breakfast and eating out on the back porch, watching as some of the stable hands tended to the horses. Lucinda had been right, he was enjoying the quiet. He missed being able to just spend time at the farm without worrying what people were thinking or saying about him. He knew he had worried his parents in the past few weeks since Reid's visit, but he also knew that he wasn't going to be able to fix anything with them hovering all the time.
He spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon helping with the horses, taking Pepper for a half an hour ride through the trails, and then finally made his way inside to shower again and get ready for his party, which until opening that card he hadn't known a thing about. He wasn't sure what to wear exactly, though knowing Lucinda and the fact that they were at Metro, something slightly above casual would be the safest bet. So, he put on some dressier dark jeans and a dark colored polo shirt, adding a little product to his hair so it didn't look quite as much like it had a mind of his own. He grabbed his phone, wallet and keys, and by 1:50 he was headed into town.
Five minutes past two, Luke came walking up to the club. When he came in things seemed very quiet and he grinned as he approached the doors into the main lounge. As he had expected, he opened the doors to be greeted with darkness, though that darkness lasted only long enough for the doors to fall shut behind him, leaving him standing there with an embarrassed smile and his hands in his pockets, waiting for what he knew was coming. And sure enough, it did. The lights came on and a room full of people raised their arms and shouted, "Surprise!", followed by a slew of 'Happy Birthdays'.
Lucinda, Lily and Holden approached Luke first, each hugging him appropriately. Lucinda was third, kissing Luke on the cheek.
"Thanks for this grandmother," he smiled.
"What are you thanking me for? It's your birthday, you should expect nothing less," she insisted.
"Yeah, but a surprise party wasn't necessary. You know I would have been fine with cake and ice cream at the house."
Luke was smiling, and Lucinda was just glad to see he wasn't turned off by the extravagance of it all, for it truly was quite the party. This was to be expected of course; Lucinda Walsh didn't do simple.
"Oh, just enjoy it! See, you're friends are here as well," Lucinda smiled, nodding towards a small group by the bar that consisted of Casey, Allison, Katie, Chris and Aaron and his girlfriend, Marnie, who had flown in for the weekend.
"Thanks, grandmother," he smiled, hugging her again. "But you know, it isn't much of a surprise party if you tell me about it before hand," he said with a wink that reminded Lucinda far too much of herself. She laughed happily.
"What can I say, have you ever know me to keep a secret?" she said with a wink that mirrored Luke's. He smirked suspiciously as she strolled away, thinking to himself that the answer to her question, however rhetorical it may have been, was most certainly a loud and resounding 'yes'.
Luke spent the better part of an hour talking and laughing with his friends, catching up. He noticed that they seemed to be deliberately careful, avoiding any mention of Reid, Texas, romance in general or the fact that Luke was home on the weekends, as well as the fact that they hadn't seen much of each other lately. It made him feel even guiltier for his behavior the past month or so, but at the same time he thoroughly appreciated it.
"Excuse me, everyone," came Lucinda's voice through the speakers.
In the middle of laughing at one of Casey's hospital stories, the group looked up to see Lucinda standing up at the DJ's booth, holding a glass of sparkling cider (for she'd been sure not to allow alcohol on Luke's behalf). The room quieted down and all eyes were on Lucinda.
"Thank you everyone for coming today to wish my grandson, Luke Snyder, a very happy twenty-third birthday," she began, and everyone clapped. "As you know, Luke has become a bit of a workaholic lately," she said with a sly smile that made even Luke laugh at himself, "so I truly thank you all for helping him to unwind and enjoy today. Now, I don't want to interrupt all this fun for too much longer, so let us get back to the festivities with a toast to Luke. Happy Birthday, darling."
Everyone raised their glasses, if they had one, and the room rang with Happy Birthday wishes. Luke waved, a spotlight having found him as soon as Lucinda began to speak, blushing and laughing with his friends as they toasted to him as well.
The party continued for a few more hours. Luke cut the massive cake and pieces were distributed. He was shown the table covered in presents and cards, and shook his head in embarrassment at all the attention. Lucinda really had outdone herself.
By five o'clock the majority of the people were taking their leave. Henry came over just before departing with Vienna, looking as though something were tightly synched around his waist and making it hard to breathe.
"Happy birthday, Luke," he said tensely. Luke just smiled and shook Henry's hand, thanking him, but also noticing as Henry's eyes drifted away for a moment. Luke turned and saw Katie staring at Henry threateningly. When he looked back, Henry was forcing a smile.
"This was a wonderful party, Luke. Happy Birthday," said Vienna in that accent of hers that always made Luke smile. She kissed him on the cheek and they awkwardly hugged before he thanked them again and watched them go. He didn't say anything to Katie, but he did smile at her knowingly.
It didn't take long for people to clear out, leaving a small group of family and close friends.
"I was thinking that we could do presents at the house," said Lily. "Emma is making dinner and bringing it over, so we could make a family evening out of it."
She was smiling brilliantly and Luke couldn't refuse. Everyone helped to load the gifts into Luke's car and the caravan began the drive back to Lily's place.
For the first time in hours Luke was alone. It was nice in a way, giving him time to think, but at the same time it left him by himself with nothing but his thoughts, and that was a dangerous place to be. It wasn't a long way drive but it was enough time for Luke to get pulled into desperation, wishing that while he had been surrounded by his friends and family, that Reid had been there, too. He could imagine him, standing at his side and complaining about the lack of alcohol and rolling his eyes at every sappy birthday wish sent Luke's way. He imagined Reid luring him off through one of the many doors and into a deserted hallway for a private celebration of their own. He found himself shifting uncomfortably in his seat, a mix of reactions pouring through him. When he pulled up to the house his eyes were wet and tears were dripping down his cheeks. He wiped them away and checked his face in the rearview mirror, willing himself to pull it together before he went inside.
And he did. By the time he walked in he had a smile on his face and his eyes were wide with apparent surprise as he walked in find everyone standing around a second table of presents.
This pile was remarkably smaller than at Metro, which Luke was thankful for. While the gifts at the party had been mostly from acquaintances and even strangers, this pile was from his family and friends, who were all laughing before him.
"Why do I feel like this is the actual 'surprise' party?" he asked as they all made themselves comfortable. They spent a good thirty minutes opening gifts while the Snyders, Walshes, almost-Snyders, a Stewart, and the two Hughes men watched. He ended up with a new iPod, already loaded with some of his favorite music, a writing journal and fountain pens, a handful of books by his favorite authors, a comic book drawn by Ethan, some new polo shirts, a blue "Birthday Boy" pin from Faith that she insisted he wear for the rest of the night, as well as other thoughtful and simple gifts. Luke loved each and every one of them.
As promised there was delicious food supplied by Emma. They sat around at Lily's large table, eating and talking merrily. Luke was so happy to be surrounded by friends and family again and suddenly realized just how stupid he'd been the past few weeks, allowing himself to push them all away. As before, no one pointed out Luke's faults and by the end of night as they were all saying their goodbyes, Luke found himself watching everyone with admiration and joy. It was good to feel happy again.
Holden, Emma and Meg left before Luke to head back to the farm. He stayed a while longer, helping to put the little kids to bed and sharing a cup of coffee with Lily and Lucinda. It was getting late by the time he finally left for the farm, hugging and kissing them both goodbye and thanking them for a wonderful day.
"Don't thank me just yet," said Lucinda once Luke was out of earshot. Lily crossed her arms and smirked.
"You are terrible, mother," she said. Lucinda just smiled and took her daughter's arm, leading them both back inside.
At his car, Luke checked his phone, frowning to see he had no missed calls, no new messages. He was tempted to give Reid a call but as he started to drive away he dropped his phone into the passenger seat, deciding to ignore it for the rest of the night.
