Lilac was supposed to have a chill morning. She and Andi had gone to get breakfast together. The sun was shining when they went out. They had both gotten a full night's sleep and woken up in good moods. Breakfast tasted fantastic, Lilac's tea and Andi's coffee were both in stock, and altogether, things seemed to be the best they'd ever been.
And then she happened to look a few days ahead in her calendar.
"What?!" Lilac exclaimed, nearly falling back in her office chair. She flailed for a bit as she tried to regain her balance, feet and chair landing with a thud on the floor.
"What?" Andi echoed, turning to her from her desk where she was packing her backpack, asking in a questioning tone rather than a panicked one.
"George's birthday is in six days," Lilac realized, seeing the dark blue notification slotted in the November 1st square of her calendar. "I haven't even figured out what I'm going to get him."
"I have a few ideas," Andi began, but Lilac didn't even have to be looking at her to know exactly what she was going to say.
"Don't even," Lilac said, making Andi chuckle.
"Alright, fine," Andi conceded. "What are you going to do? I can try to help before I leave." She was supposed to go study with a friend from one of her classes for an upcoming midterm.
"I don't know, I haven't even thought about it," Lilac fretted. "November always sneaks up on me, and there are so many November birthdays that I need to worry about, too."
"Your own included," Andi reminded her. "But George first. Do you have any idea what you want to get him?" Lilac stayed silent for a moment, and Andi took that as her answer.
"Okay," Andi said, zipping her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder, perching on the edge of the desk. "Then why don't you start with what you like about him and what he likes to do? Maybe you can get him a gift based on his hobbies."
"I feel like I don't even know him that well," Lilac said, brain feeling empty in that moment.
"Sure you do," Andi prodded. "You know some of George's hobbies, right?"
"He likes to play video games, obviously," Lilac said, getting that one out of the way easily. "He likes to cook. Sometimes he reads, but that's a little more rare."
"That's a good start," Andi said, nodding encouragingly. "What else?"
"He was telling me about how he used to draw the other day..." Andi let Lilac talk for a full five minutes about George, smiling as she watched her friend say she didn't know enough about him and then list obscure things she recalled him mentioning once in a conversation weeks ago.
"It sounds like you know him pretty well, if you ask me," Andi said once she was done, and Lilac started chuckling as she saw the look on Andi's face. "You must pay a lot of attention to him when he talks if you remember all of that."
"I guess I do," Lilac said, "But I still don't have any ideas. Guys are so hard to shop for." Andi rolled her eyes.
"You're telling me," Andi agreed. "In that case, why don't you talk to a guy and get his opinion? Text one of the boys. Text tommyinnit or something."
"What?" Lilac laughed, almost choking on air. "What on earth would make you suggest that?"
"Children are honest," Andi shrugged, and as much as Lilac hated to admit it, she was right. Tommy wasn't actually that much younger than she, but if there was one thing that boy was, it was honest. So, just because Andi ended up triple-dog-daring her, she sent Tommy a message over Discord, asking him what she should get for George, just to see what he would say.
"But for real," Andi said once Lilac put her phone down, "I wasn't kidding about talking to a guy for advice. Call your dad or something."
"That's not a bad idea, actually," Lilac said, considering her proposition. "I'll see what he says."
"Good luck," Andi said, standing up and heading out. "Let me know how it goes!"
"Roger that," Lilac called. She wasted no time, and since she had her parents on speed-dial, she had a call going through moments later.
"Hello?"
"Hi Dad," Lilac said, "I have a question."
"No," He immediately responded, and Lilac made a face.
"Dad." Her father chuckled.
"I'm just kidding, dear. What's up?"
"I need to buy a birthday gift for a guy, but guys are impossible to shop for. What should I do?" Mr. Lindsay sat up a little straighter, not expecting that to be her question.
"That's both a very specific and very broad question. Who's the guy, what does he like?"
"It's George," Lilac informed him reluctantly, and she could practically hear the smile crack her father's face in half.
"Oh, George? The George you don't have any feelings for? The one you cooked with- your mother showed me that video, by the way-?"
"Yes, Dad," Lilac said, a wry smile already on her face.
"The one who values your opinion more than Gordon Ramsey?" He continued, chuckling, and Lilac sighed to cover up a laugh.
"That's the one."
"I mean, that's a question only you can really answer, dear," Her dad said, pausing the joke to answer honestly. "I don't know the kid, I can't tell you what he likes besides video games and cooking; those are the only two things I've seen." Lilac hummed. Her father was right.
"What about a cookbook? How much does he enjoy cooking?" Her father asked, and Lilac replied,
"I think he really does enjoy it, but I don't know how often he does it," She said, really thinking. There was something to this, she felt like her father was onto something.
"Well, perhaps getting a cookbook would give him the opportunity to cook more," Her dad suggested. "Is there anything you remember him saying he likes?" Lilac's eyes flew open after a moment.
"Dad, you're a genius!"
"I am?" He said, "I mean, I am," He joked, immediately switching gears and making them both laugh.
"You are! Calling you was the best decision, I'm going to have to thank Andi later," Lilac gushed. "Dad, when I was down there visiting him and the boys, I made them all pumpkin pancakes."
"My recipe? That's my girl," Mr. Lindsay said proudly, and Lilac grinned.
"Of course. And they all loved it, but George said he wanted to learn how to make them. What if-" She had to take in a breath because she had said all of that in one breath. "What if I put together a cookbook of some of our recipes for him to try?"
"That's a great idea, honey!" Her dad confirmed. "It's more personal than just getting a standard cookbook, too."
"Yeah," Lilac agreed, mind whirling at the possibilities. "I can even add little notes of how we sometimes change up the recipes, I can mark which recipes are who's special ones..." Mr. Lindsay smiled as he listened to his daughter detail her plan, coming up with more and more intricate ideas on the spot.
"Will you help me, Dad?" She asked once she'd taken a break to breathe and process all of her ideas. "I don't want to leave any of our recipes out."
"Sure, hon," He said. He had already gone to the kitchen as soon as she started coming up with more ideas, sifting through the dozens of recipes that their family had created, or found and altered, in their recipe cabinet. "I can send you pictures of all of the recipes and you can type them up and print them out," He suggested.
"Please do, but I'm not going to type them," Lilac said, building on that. "You said that this cookbook was more personal, so I'm going all the way, I'm going to handwrite them." Mr. Lindsay raised his eyebrow, pausing in his browsing of the recipes.
"Really? You're going to handwrite this many recipes?" Lilac nodded, already having made up her mind.
"I said I wanted the gift to mean something. I don't want it to be impersonal. I want him to like it," She declared.
"Well, you certainly are making it personal," Mr. Lindsay noted. "I think he'll love it."
"I hope so," Lilac hummed, brain already going into overdrive about all of the little details. She and her dad worked on the phone for another 30 minutes, deciding which recipes to add and what order they might appear in. Lilac was so, so glad to have his help, and he provided really valuable input and pointed out things she would have overlooked. By the time they got off the phone, Lilac was confident in what she wanted from the gift. Her father had convinced her that he'd like it, and that was all the confirmation she needed.
Even so, she was still going to check with Sap and Clay, because what kind of a friend would she be if she didn't?
Lilac quickly set up a new Discord group chat.
THE DREAM TEAM BUT LILAC REPLACES GEORGE
QueenofSpades
Boys i need your help
Is anyone possibly available to call
Dream
Yeah i am
New group chat?? What for
QueenofSpades
Get on call and I'll tell you
Sapnap
Ok im here don't worry
Let's call
"Gentlemen, I need your collective okay on something very important," Lilac said as soon as they got in the Discord call.
"You want our opinion on something?" Clay repeated, sounding genuinely surprised, and Lilac laughed.
"Yeah- don't sound so surprised, your opinions matter to me. It's about George's birthday." Understanding dawned on both boys at the same time.
"Hence the new chat," Sap said, "Got it. What's up?"
"I was just talking with my dad about what to get George for his birthday," Lilac began, and immediately, Clay snorted.
"You called your dad to get an opinion on George's birthday present?" He chuckled.
"Don't make fun of me, Clay," Lilac said, laughing. "I needed the opinion of a man because men are impossible to buy gifts for."
"That's... not unfair," Sap conceded.
"Thank you," Lilac said, continuing. "Anyway, I remembered that Geroge wanted to make some of my family recipes from when we were all together, so I'm going to make him a cookbook of all of our recipes. How do we feel about this?"
"We feel like that's a fantastic idea," Clay immediately responded. "He's going to love that."
"It is a great idea. Only problem, though," Sap added, "Is that if you mail it now, it probably won't reach England in time." Lilac's shoulders slumped.
"I didn't even consider the shipping time," She realized, "And I can't mail it now, anyway. I'm going to go out and get a blank cookbook after this call- I already decided which one, but I wanted to wait to get your okays." The three of them sat quietly on the phone for a moment before Clay spoke up.
"Okay, so easy solution," He said, no traces of sarcasm in his voice, "Just fly to England and give it to him." Lilac snorted, thinking that he was joking, but she was met with serious silence.
"Are you kidding me?" Lilac asked, and Clay shook his head even though she couldn't see.
"No. I mean, why not?" He said, not sure what the problem was. "He'd love to see you anyway, that's practically a gift on its own, he'd lose his mind."
"True," Sap said, completely on Clay's side, "And then you hand-deliver a personal cookbook that's a reminder that you listened to what he said? Golden." Lilac held up her hands, leaning back in her desk chair.
"Woah, woah," Lilac said, feeling her heart leap into her throat a bit at even the idea. "I can't just fly across the ocean on a whim."
"Why not?" Sap countered. "Aren't you going to be on fall break that weekend, anyway? It's not like you have classes to worry about." That was true.
"Yes," Lilac conceded, "But that would require getting on a plane."
"So?" Clay said, once again not seeing the problem.
"I would have to get on a plane. Alone," Lilac elaborated, and a lightbulb flickered in Sap's mind as soon as the words left her mouth.
"Oh, I forgot about that," He remembered, nodding. "You're still afraid of flying alone."
"You are?" Clay asked, and his voice softened. "I had no idea."
"Not to mention, the logistics of getting a plane ticket, packing, planning everything," Lilac began, feeling the gears in her brain start to kick in. Sap stopped her right there.
"You can get a plane ticket and fly literally day-of, that's not a problem. You're a neat freak, so knowing you, you'll probably start packing as soon as you get off the phone," He jumped in, helping her shut those gears off before they got too far ahead of themselves. "You haven't mentioned where you're staying; with how stressed you already are from the idea of flying alone, don't even get started on a place to stay. Think about that later."
"Or," Clay suggested simply, "You could ask Wilbur to stay with him. They don't live too far away from one another, if I remember correctly, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Lilac choked.
"I can't ask that of him," She said immediately.
"Why not?" Clay asked, and Lilac huffed frustratedly. She hated how simple Clay's questions were, and she hated even more that he was still being logical.
"I can't just ask Wilbur to house me out of nowhere, that's rude," She said, and Sap chuckled.
"It won't be out of nowhere if you ask him today," He disagreed. "Let's say you fly down there in a couple days-- plenty of time to prepare."
"Also," Clay added, "You're acting as if you're asking him to house you and 47 other people. You are one person, and he's both your friend and George's, too. I'm sure he'd be willing to help." Lilac took a deep breath, trying to keep the logic gears from spinning out of control.
"Okay, let's say I call him right now," Lilac began, but stopped. She couldn't even bring herself to finish that thought.
"Don't 'let's say', let's actually," Sap said, and she heard him typing away. "We can even help."
"Yeah, ask him if he can get on call," Clay said to Sapnap, and Lilac found her voice as they started making plans without her.
"What? No, I am not ready for that conversation," She sputtered, and she could practically hear Clay waving it off.
"Just this once, we can do the talking for you," He said.
"No, that's not right," Lilac argued. "If I'm going to be springing that on him, then the least I could do is have the guts to ask him myself."
"Lilac, your voice is shaking," Sap pointed out, "You sound like you're about to pass out from nervousness."
"That might be because I'm nervous, Sapnap. This is a lot of new information at once. I never do this."
"Then let us help you, Lilac," Clay said gently. "You don't have to panic. I know you're a planner. You're a logical person, and this is freaking you out beyond belief. The fear of flying alone isn't logical, so that's offsetting all of the parts of your brain that want to plan every detail of the trip. Am I right?" Lilac was stunned into silence for a moment. The only sound was Sap typing in the background.
"You didn't have to read me into the ground like that," She joked, trying to dissipate some of the nerves that were rising. Clay chuckled.
"Bottom line- we're your friends, Lilac, and your friends want to help. In a way, this is also partially a gift from me and Sapnap, because we're going to help you get there."
"Like the best surprise gift ever," Sap added. "You don't have to plan all of that by yourself. By the way, I'm adding Wilbur." Discord pinged to confirm, and they all saw Wilbur pop into the call.
"Hello!" Wilbur called, and the three of them greeted him in turn.
"If there's one thing you guys are going to do, it's go all out for your friends," Wilbur chuckled. "Sap told me about your plan, I'm so down to help."
"See, Lilac?" Sap said, "Nothing to worry about."
"What was the worry?" Wilbur asked, and Lilac spoke up.
"I didn't want to spring all of this on you, asking you to house me out of the blue is a big deal. I'm also deathly afraid of flying on a plane alone and my heart is collapsing just thinking about it," She said, and her tone was joking but only one of those things was (sort of) a joke.
"It's no big deal to have you stay with me, you're one person," Wilbur said, and Clay physically bit his tongue to stop the 'I told you so' from flying out. "Plus, George would slaughter me if I had the option to house you and chose not to offer." All four of them laughed at that- he wasn't wrong.
"And while I can't really help with the plane thing, I will definitely be there to pick you up from the airport. So at least you won't be alone in a new country," Wilbur added.
"So we get you a plane ticket, you don't have to worry about a place to stay, you won't be alone in a new country, and you get to see George and deliver your gift," Clay said, ticking off the boxes on his fingers. "Sounds kind of like everything is taken care of." All three boys startled just a little bit when Lilac started laughing.
"You have a way of making everything sound so simple," She said after a second, not even sure why she was laughing but happy to banish the nerves for a while.
"It doesn't sound simple, it is simple," Clay said, "Guys will always keep things simple. Lilac snorted.
"So not true. Guys are weird and confusing. You make things complicated, but just this once, you actually simplified things," Lilac joked, and they all chuckled, glad to hear that she was feeling a little better.
"So you'll do it?" Sap asked, and they all waited to hear her response. After a moment of thinking, Lilac threw her hands up.
"What the heck, why not," She said, and they cheered. "Brain off, logic can go kick rocks for a spell. I am going to fly across the ocean in no less than 5 days and go see George for his birthday."
"As you should!" Sap cheered, elated to have her on board.
"You mentioned getting him a present, can I know what it is?" Wilbur asked, and Lilac's nerves settled even more as she explained something that was solid- her plans for his gift.
"It sounds like you've got it all sorted, then," Wilbur pointed out when she finished her brief explanation. "I'm glad to be part of this. George is going to have a very happy birthday, indeed."
"I hope so," Lilac said.
"We know so," Sap confirmed. "Between the hope and the know, this is about to be the best birthday he's ever had." After sorting all of that out (and actually finalizing a few things like dates, times, etcetera), they all stayed on call and kept each other company for awhile. Wilbur was writing some music, Sap was editing a main channel video, Dream was posting a short to the shorts channel, and Lilac was planning her trip out to the stores after the call to get what she needed for George's gift. They all had a blast talking to each other, and by the end of the call, Lilac was beyond glad she'd be staying with Wilbur when she went up to England. She thanked her friends a dozen and a half times for helping to calm her nerves and get her to do something spontaneous for once. She needed it.
And finally, just as she got off the phone, she got a Discord message back from Tommy.
TOMMYINNIT
TommyInnit
What does gogy want for his birthday?
what?
How am I meant to know
Wilbur is better at this stuff you should ask him
he's not answering though
LOL just kidding I don't need him I got it
For his birthday george would want
you probably