Lucas

October 31st arrived pretty quickly and Nicole and I sure had plans for the spookiest night of the year.

Her best friend Diane was hosting a little Halloween party at her apartment and we were obviously attending. Nicole and I really love Halloween, that was something the two of us knew we had in common shortly after we first met. Of course it was no surprise since the two of us are both young souls individually, and obviously as a couple, we bring out that childish side of each other a lot more.

We had thought about a matching costume for the two of us and had actually planned for something slightly different, but due to the unexpected surprise, we were forced to change it and since Nicole loved Friends, we had agreed on going as Rachel and Ross.

We were going as Ross and pregnant Rachel. Which was also going to be a fun way to break the news to Diane.

It took us quite a long time to find the same exact dress that Rachel wore on Monica's wedding - also known as the episode when we learn that Rachel is pregnant - but after a lot of research on Amazon and Pinterest, eventually we did, and Nicole was one hundred percent sure that Diane would get the hint on the first try, since she was just as obsessed with the 90s TV show as she was.

My costume on the other hand was pretty easy - Ross was wearing a tux on Monica's wedding, so all I needed to do was rent a black tuxedo and use a massive amount of gel on my hair that Nicole had help spray paint so it would look black.

When we pulled up to Diane's place, we could see that the party was already at full swing by the amount of cars parked outside her house.

"Ready, Rachel?" I said with a glint in my eyes as I smirked at her after securely parking the car.

"Ready, Ross." She winked at me, letting her giggles fill the silence that lived inside the car after I turned off the engine and consequently, the radio.

When we got to the party, Trevor and Diane were the first ones to come at the door, like the gracious hosts they were.

The couple went for a couple's costume just like most couples chose to go for on Halloween. And from what I could gather after taking a quick look around, we weren't the only matching couples.

Diane and Trevor chose to go as Harley Quinn and The Joker and their costumes and characterization were top notch, literally. They looked as flawless as if they were in a big Hollywood production movie.

Thinking about it for a second, and knowing Diane as well as I know her now, knowing how extra she was about everything and anything in life, I would bet my life that she had probably hired a professional makeup artist to work on their faces just for this special, fantasy themed night of the year.

"Hi!" She had a glass filled with rosé wine on her hand while she looked at us up and down before flashing us a huge smile. "Ross and Rachel? Really? Oh my God, that is the perfect costume! You should have let me know, we would have gone as Monica and Chandler." She moved her index finger between her and her boyfriend.

She hugged us both and closed the door behind us before Trevor pulled his hand out and shook mine and hugged the Rachel Green look-a-like next to me.

"Yeah well, this was kind of a last minute costume. We got some unexpected news and we had to ditch our first idea. We were actually thinking about coming as Morticia and Gomez Addams." Nicole explained. I could see the wheels in Diane's head slowly turning, slowly putting the pieces of this teeny tiny puzzle together.

"Wait a second..."

Of course this pregnancy was more than a surprise and a shock to both me and Nicole. We always used protection whenever we had sex and therefore we never expected it to happen, nor did we talk about wanting or making a baby, at least not this early into our relationship.

That day after we came home from the doctor's office we obviously had to talk about it, properly talk about it. We had to discuss what we both wanted to do, how we wanted to do it. Two hours into our talk, we both came to the same conclusion - we wanted this baby. We wanted to have kids, period. This one sure came too early and totally unexpected, but we wanted it, there was no denying that fact. Plus, we were both at great places, professionally speaking, and we figured, if we weren't going ahead with this pregnancy at a time like this, then when would we?

Someone very wise once told me that the best things in life are unexpected.

That someone is my sister who I was dying to tell the news to, but Nicole agreed with me when I said that I wanted to tell her something this big in person, and not over a Skype call. And I was even more excited to tell Lexi, my adorable niece of six years old. My sister's unexpected bundle of joy had always wanted a sibling, but obviously due to the nature of her parent's relationship - that ended badly -, and the fact that Melanie keeps saying she can't manage to have another kid, Lexi's destiny is to be an only child. I bet she would be so ecstatic to have a baby cousin now.

Nicole and I were going to London for her book tour in a couple of weeks and we chose to tell Melanie and Lexi only then. We could manage to keep the secret for just two more weeks.

"Nic..." Despite the sound of all the people mingling around us and the music playing in the background, all I could hear was the whispers between the two best friends.

Nicole simply nodded her head slowly and let her golden skin contrast with the brightness of her white pears as she let her lips curl upwards into a smile. The silence that reigned between them spoke volumes.

"Oh my God! No way!" Diane whispered her low screams again as she looked between Nicole and I. I smiled too and nodded in agreement, confirming her suspicions.

"Congratulations, you two!" She wrapped her arms around us both, careful not to let her wine glass tilt too much and spill the floor.

"I'm a little lost here." Trevor intervened, his eyebrows met in a thick line on his forehead, confusion written all over his face.

"They're dressed as Ross and Rachel from Friends? On The One With Monica and Chandler's Wedding?"

"I... still don't follow." Trevor's shy smile danced on his lips.

"That was when we found out that Rachel was pregnant." Diane explained, a hint of a tone of annoyance on her voice that her boyfriend didn't know something that was so obvious to her.

His eyebrows almost met his hairline while his eyes were open widely, just like his mouth that formed an "o" shape.

"Oh, congratulations!" He said in realization.

"Thank you." Nicole and I both told him after he hugged us both.

"I'm so happy for you!" Diane was not one to wear her heart on her sleeve, so it came as quite a surprise to me when I noticed a few tears pooling in her eyes. "Go on, enjoy the party!"

"Well, I'll go get some juice 'cause there won't be any alcohol for me for the next eight months."

"She's pretty shook up about it." I said in agreement letting my hand fall off her back as she walked away to the table with the drinks, leaving me alone with Diane and Trevor.

"Diane, do you have a moment?" I asked, closing the space between us two.

"Right now? Sure." She said with a bright smile decorating her tattooed face. Someone rang the bell again and she turned to the side to face her boyfriend. "Trevor, can you please get the door?"

The white painted face of Joker nodded in agreement and marched towards the front door while Diane grabbed my arm and pulled me towards a room that I assumed was hers.

She closed the door behind me and sat down on the edge of the bed. I sat next to her.

"So, what did you want to talk with me about?"

I took a deep breath before I started to talk. "I... I want to propose to Nicole. I want to ask her to marry me."

"Wow." She breathed out, almost in disbelief. "Okay."

"I have an idea, but I don't exactly know if it's gonna be what she wants. And I wanted your two cents on the idea."

"What were you thinking?"

"Santa Monica Pier." Her eyes almost popped out of its sockets when she heard me. "It was where we had our perfect date. You know how much she likes that place."

"I do love that idea but I have to be honest with you... She doesn't like big spectacles. She will hate it if you propose to her in the middle of the pier, with everyone else around you, looking at you and probably recording or taking pictures of the moment."

I sighed in frustration and with my hands on either side of my head, I dropped my head down.

"Relax Lucas, this was the reason you came to me, right? I'll help you plan something unforgettable."

"Do you have any suggestions?"

"Well, do the proposal at home. Or in a quiet place, a private room, somewhere where it's just you and her."

I nodded in silence as a light lit up inside my brain, an idea striking me, and I let her go on. "You can still take her to Santa Monica Pier again, if you do think that that'll be a good idea."

"Nevermind... I know exactly what to do." A smile took over my lips as the whole scenery was already playing out in my head, almost as if it was a movie.

She eyed me, waiting for me to say something. "Just like that?"

"Yeah, just like that. It's perfect." I said in a whisper, the smile never leaving my lips as I couldn't stop thinking about Nicole's reaction to the engagement I was planning.

"Can I ask you something first?" Diane's question interrupted my thoughts and my lips went back to a flat line.

"Sure."

"Why now?" When I didn't reply, she continued. "I'm sure this doesn't come off as a surprise to you, but Nicole and I talk. About everything. And she told me what you told her about not wanting to get married right away."

"That was almost a year ago." I defended myself.

"Well, what changed?"

I opened my mouth to speak up, but no words came out. When she saw the blank expression all over my face, she shot me a persisting look.

"I don't know.... It just feels right now. It feels like it's the perfect timing. We live together, we both got our dreams come true, she's an author, I'm a sketch artist, we're doing better than ever and we're having a baby."

By the look on her face and the silence that reigned between us, I could tell Nicole's best friend seemed pretty content with my response.

She took another sip of her wine and turned back around towards me, with a grin on her face.

"Guess we have a proposal to plan." She reached her hand out to me.

"Nope, I guess I do." I said with a wide smile dancing on my lips before reaching my own hand out to shake hers.

She shot me a question look but shook my hand anyway. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, thank you so much for your opinion and for helping me figure out exactly how I'm gonna get down on one knee. But I'm not gonna need your help to plan it."

"You wanna let me in on the secret?"

I could tell her, I knew that if I begged her not to tell Nicole anything, she wouldn't spoil the surprise, but my gut told me not to go ahead and spill it so soon.

"Not really. But again, thank you for your help."

She smirked at me and wrapped her arms around me this time. "I'm so happy my best friend found you. She's a lucky girl."

"No, I'm the lucky one."

* * * 

Author's Note: I've been meaning to write a dialogue between Lucas and Diane FOR EVER and I finally got the chance! There is SO much coming, y'all are not ready and to be honest I don't even think I am! 🥺

I had initially planned to post this chapter a month from today so it would be closer to Halloween but I can't plan anything EVER so it came out a month earlier, sorry about that 😂

Please vote on my chapters, it means THE WORLD to me and also leave comments for me to read, I absolutely LOVE hearing your opinions  ❤

Xoxo, Mars