Life is the Long Game

Chapter 36

Third Person:

Riley and Lucas were sat in the living room watching Amelie play, waiting for their guests to arrive, when the doorbell rang.

"Yay! People are finally here!" Riley said excitedly.

"It's good to see you happy again Riles." Lucas said to the love of his life, she smiled I reply and hurried to answer the door.

"Grandma! Grandpa!" She welcomed them in with big hugs.

"Are we the first ones here?" Alan asked his eldest grandchild.

"Yes you are."

"There's my beautiful great-granddaughter" Amy cried as she gave Amelie a sloppy kiss and a suffocating hug.

"Mr Matthews, good to see you, Sir." Lucas said, shaking his grandfather-in-law to be's hand.

"You too Lucas, and please call me Alan."

"Hey, Grandma, do you think you could check everything in the kitchen with me?" Riley asked, concerned that her food would not be very good.

"Of course, Alan honey, give the baby a hug." Amy ordered her husband, who gladly accepted the small girl.

A few moments later, there is another knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" Lucas announces, opening the door to Maya, Josh, Farkle and Enid.

"Hey guys!" He greets, "Come in."

"Hey, Huckleberry, where's Riles?" Maya asks him.

"In the kitchen with Amy."

"Thanks. Hey Grandpa!" Maya calls to her father-in-law to be.

"I'll come with you Maya." Enid announces following the blonde into the kitchen.

"Hey Pa!" Josh greets his dad who is to busy with Amelie to even notice his presence. "Dad! Hello? Remember me? Your son?" He continues, but is still ignored, so he takes Amelie from him, and gives his great-niece a big hug.

"Hey! Oh sorry Josh, I didn't see you there, how are you, son?"

"I'm good, a little stressed about exams at uni, but it's all under control."

"Good afternoon, Mr Matthews." Farkle says finally to Alan.

"Hey Farkle! Good to see you again! And please call me Alan."

"How are things going at school?" He asks the genius.

"Great, Mr Matthews says I'm the smartest in the school, but Harper is always finding new things to teach me though, she's great."

"I'm glad to hear it! Now Lucas, Farkle tell me, what is my son like as a teacher?"

"He is the be-" They are interrupted by the sound of the door opening to reveal Cory, Shawn, Auggie, Topanga, Stuart, Jennifer and Ava.

"Hey guys!" Lucas greets the newly arrived guests, as they come and greet each other. "All the rest of the ladies are in the kitchen." He adds. Topanga nods as she takes Amelie.

"Topy! You said I could hold the baby!" Ava reminds, making Topanga pass her grandchild to her son's girlfriend, and continues to lead the three girls into the kitchen. Almost immediately after, the doorbell rings again. Cory opens it to find Morgan, Eric, Ryan, Jack and baby Thomas on the other side.

"Hey everyone, I'm gonna take a wild guess that the rest of the females are in the kitchen?" Morgan guesses, and a number of the guys nod.

Riley's POV:

Shortly after everyone arrives, the food is ready and we all settle around the table, Lucas and I sit on either end, I have mom and Maya either side of me and everyone else is everywhere in between.

"Okay, so before we eat, I am aware that some people have announcements to make?" I say.

"I'll- We'll go first." Eric says, nervously.

"Eric and I are moving in together." Jack continues.

"It wouldn't be the first time." Morgan says.

"Yeah, we know, only this time it's different." He replies.

"We are dating." Eric blurts out, looking only at Jack. The room fills with gasps.

"How long has this been going on?" Grandma asks curiously.

"3 months exactly, today." Jack explains.

"It just feels so right, I'm sorry we kept it from you." Eric adds.

"Eric don't apologise, we are happy for you, personally, I saw it coming." My dad tells him.

"I'm happy for you both." Grandpa reassures him as the rest of us murmur in agreement.

"And when we feel the time is right, Rachel has agreed to be a surrogate, so we are going to have a child at some point too." Jack informs us. It stings, first Enid, now Uncle Eric and Jack?

"That's great! Do it now so we can have babies the same age!" Aunt Morgan slips out.

"Wait-Morgan, are you pregnant again?" Uncle Josh questions.

"Yeah, it wasn't planned, we found out last week! I'm only 3 weeks though." She exclaims, this hurts more than the other two, it's not fair! I feel tears begin to form in my eyes, both Maya and Mom hold my hands under the table and squeeze them. I blink the tears away.

"That's fantastic, Alan, Mr Feeny and I will be able to help you all with babysitting too!" Grandma says.

"What she means is, we are buying a house in New York between the three of us, but we are keeping the house in Philly as a holiday home for all of us." Grandpa confirms. At least that's something good.

"Mom, Dad, that's great, we'll be all together again." Dad cheers.

"Okay, now lets eat before the food goes cold." Mom suggests and we tuck in and eat, drink and talk for a good few hours, managing to stay away from the topic of babies and pregnancies. Thank goodness!

Hey Everyone! Sorry it has taken so long to update,but I've had really bad headaches from concussion so I've been staying away from to many screens or work outside of my school work! Plots should start to pick up now, it'll start getting better!

Love ya!😉

Yours truly,
Brokenheartedjlster
😘