Synopsis: After disappearing for a decade Lucas Friar returns to New York City with a surprise. He returns with the idea of proposing to his high school sweetheart, Riley Matthews. But things don't go exactly as he thought they would. "There will be many twists and turns that no one will see coming." ((Lucaya story with bits of Riarkle)

Maya's hand guided the paintbrush gently across the canvas. Quickly but carefully she delivered a few more strokes of paint turning the once white spaces into spaces filled with color.

She placed the paintbrush down and picked up another which she dipped in a container filled with dark blue. The blue streaked across the top of the canvas.

She bit the side of her lip in concentration as she continued to paint. Streaks of yellow, red, green and blue filled up her painting. After a few more touches it was done. Maya stood back to admire her work.

Satisfied with the way it had turned out, Maya took her black Sharpie and sharply signed her initials on the corner of her painting. As gently as she could she took the canvas off the tripod stand and placed it near the window so it could dry.

Off in another corner, in a row, some of her finished paintings stood against the wall. Others were hung up on the walls. She smiled at her work. In a few days she'd be going to yet another gallery to exhibit her work.

As a kid, Maya used to believe that her life was going to be filled with disappointment, but she was wrong. As an adult, Maya could say happily that everything was going great. The future had brought good things after all. She had fulfilled her biggest dream: she was an artist, exhibiting her work in many different places where people offered to buy her works and people also requested drawings and paintings. However, she only did this on occasion. Her dream had gone even further when she received a job at a huge magazine company where she did graphic designs for the issues. To make things even better? She worked at the same magazine company as her best friend, Riley Matthews.

Maya slipped off her art apron and placed it on a hook on the room's left wall. Right beside the row of unfinished paintings which she'd finish eventually. As she walked towards the door, she stepped over a few blank canvases. She'd fill them all one day. After all, she had many ideas.

Her hands were splattered with different colors so she headed towards the bathroom to clean up. As she did this, she noticed a familiar brunette sitting on the living room couch, flipping through a pile of papers.

"Hey, Riles. I didn't hear you come in."

Riley chuckled. "You never do when you're painting."

This was their normal routine on Wednesdays. On Maya's day off, Riley always found her cooped up in her room painting away.

After college, Riley and Maya had found an apartment of their own. They split the rent along with other expenses. The apartment was small, just two rooms. Only one was used as an actual bedroom: Riley's. The other room used to be Maya's bedroom but soon she had transformed it into her art studio. Luckily, the two of them owned a sofa bed where Maya slept at night.

"Are you ready to go? Farkle asked us to meet at his lab before dinner."

Maya quickly washed away the paint from her hands and fingernails. "I just finished up. We can leave now."

Riley stacked up her papers and placed them in a folder and laid it on the coffee table. She grabbed her keys and picked up a light sweater before heading out the door. Maya did the same.

Although fall days were coming to an end and spring was right around the corner New York was somehow always chilly. As they walked out of the building, just as expected a gust of cool air blew in their faces and they rushed to the car.

The car had been given to them by both Cory and Shawn who knew perfectly well they would share it just as they did everything else.

Maya climbed into the passenger seat. Riley drove most of the time. She always said she was the more responsible driver and honestly Maya couldn't argue with that. At the wheel, Riley was calm and followed every single traffic regulation. On the other hand, Maya was your typical angry New Yorker who honked at you for just about anything.

"Farkle wants us to meet at his lab? I wonder what new discovery he's going to show us today." Maya said.

Riley kept her eyes on the road but shook her head. "As long as it's not like last time."

"That was a fun day." Maya chuckled as she remembered how Riley had run around Farkle's lab when he had accidentally let his newly discovered insect out of its container.

Riley rolled her eyes. "Not fun. I could have been bitten and infected or something"

Maya continued to laugh as they drove into the garage of the building where Farkle's lab was located. They stopped at the toll gate barrier and waved at the man keeping guard. "Hey Peter."

The man smiled recognizing the two immediately. "Riley. Maya. Good evening." He pressed a button and let them through.

They parked close to the stairs where they climbed up to the lobby. "Hey Dave." The girls greeted the man at the front desk.

"Dr. Minkus told me you'd be coming by. He just got out of his meeting." The man smiled and pointed to the elevator. "You know where to find him."

Riley and Maya nodded as they took the elevator up to floor 8. The elevator doors opened to an empty long hallway. They walked through it, passed a couple of doors including his office door with the golden nameplate: Dr. Farkle Minkus.

They turned the corner, to the lab room area. It was fairly large and parts of it were behind closed doors and other parts were just clear windows. Farkle's research varied, but mostly he and his coworkers worked closely with the CDC, finding cures and ways to prevent diseases. They saw a couple of Farkle's colleagues finishing up their work and putting away their equipment and then spotted Farkle in the computer lab section.

Farkle excitedly stood up as soon as they walked in. "Guys. You gotta see this." He stepped away from the computer so they could see.

Maya raised her eyebrow. "A bunch of stars?"

Oh yeah, and during his free time, Farkle studied space.

"What did you discover about this?" Riley asked just as clueless as Maya.

Farkle continued to smile. "It's a constellation. It's never been discovered before."

"Wow. Farkle, that's amazing. Congrats." Riley said and put an arm around him.

"Thanks. If I'm right and it's never been discovered I get to name it."

"Cool. What are you naming it?"

"M3"

Maya blinked, confused. "M3?"

Farkle nodded and sat back down scrolling through some more pictures of the constellation. "Yeah. M3. Minkus. Matthews. Maya." He continued clicking pictures so he didn't notice when Riley and Maya exchanged looks. Soon he was being hugged by his favorite two people in the world.

"You named it after us?"

Farkle hugged them back. "This is special...Just like us."

"Awww." Riley and Maya hugged him tighter.

Twenty one years. The trio had been friends since they were six and despite everything that happened throughout the years, all the craziness of life, they had remained best friends. Other friends came and went but the bond of the three always remained strong and perhaps even stronger after every year.

"As much as I like looking at the stars...I also like eating. Should we get dinner now?" Maya asked impatiently.

Every Wednesday night the three would go to a restaurant to eat dinner together and just talk. It's a tradition they started since getting out of college and so far they never missed a night.

Farkle nodded as he started to turn off the computer. "Good Ol' Burgers?"

Maya scoffed. "Do you even have to ask?"

The three always did their best to try different restaurants but usually their favorite was Good Ol' Burgers. It was a place that not only served the best burgers but the best everything...according to Maya.

Luckily for them, the restaurant wasn't far from Farkle's lab. Just a small walk away. When they arrived they were happy to see that the place wasn't too filled up and picked an isolated booth near the back. The smell of food brought smiles to their faces and they ordered quickly. As they waited for their food they sipped on their drinks.

Farkle turned to Riley. "How was work?"

Riley put down her strawberry lemonade, eyes widened with excitement. "Remember that interview I told you guys about? The big important one- "

"That you can't mess up because your whole career depends on it." Farkle and Maya finished her sentence. They've heard it so many times. Riley had been going on about the upcoming interview for weeks. She had been so happy the day she received the news that the person had agreed to sit down for an interview.

"Yes! Turns out Mr. Jacobs is even more amazing than I thought. He was so easy to talk to. It didn't feel like an interview. This article." She grinned. "I'm feeling really good about it."

Farkle smiled. "Can't wait to read it."

"And I can't wait to not read it." Maya joked. Of course she would read it. She'd read all the drafts too. In fact, she'd stay awake with Riley and watch her type just as she had done with all of Riley's important articles. Riley was the best writer she knew.

Farkle turned to Maya. "How'd the day off go?"

Maya's eyes lit up as they always did when she talked about art. "Productive. Two new paintings. I'll probably take them to that gallery event I have next month."

"Remember to send me pictures of the paintings as soon as you get home."

"Always."

Farkle grinned. "Looks like it was a good day for all of us. I say this deserves a toast." He raised his iced tea. "Here's to us and our great day and may we have more great days...together." His glass was joined by Maya's root beer and Riley's strawberry lemonade.

"Here's to us." The three of them said.

Soon their food arrived and they wasted no time and began eating. In the middle of the meal Riley changed the subject, which had been about the new superhero movie, to the subject about a certain text.

"So...you both know how I've been texting with Lucas?"

Maya and Farkle looked up from their food and met eyes. Of course they knew. The texting had been going on for about five months already not to mention the 1-2 video chats.

"Yeah?"

Riley poked her pasta with a fork. "Well he kind of texted me something that I thought was kind of funny." She paused before continuing. "He said he missed New York and he'd do anything to spend time in the city for more than just a visit. What do you think he means by that? Do you think that means he wants to move back here? Is he planning to at least visit?"

Maya looked down at her plate. Here bacon cheeseburger didn't seem so appetizing anymore. "Riley, we've talked about this. Lucas has a whole different life in Texas. That's where he's been for the last 10 years and I don't think he's going to be back anytime soon."

Farkle nodded in agreement. "Hasn't he said that before? That he'd like to come back but he's all settled in Texas. If he really wanted to visit why hasn't he done it sooner?"

Riley went back to poking her food. "Yeah you guys are probably right. I just thought it would be nice if he could visit. You know. Hang out in person like we all used to."

Maya sighed. She could see the disappointment in Riley's eyes, but she didn't want to give Riley any false hope. She had been talking to Lucas ever since they met in Connecticut during one of Maya's exhibits.

-Flashback to 5 months ago-

"Hey Maya I'll wait for you outside while you finish up with them." Maya nodded as she continued to shake hands who were very interested in talking with her.

Riley wanted to leave Maya alone so that she could have the opportunity to spend more time with more people that had attended the gallery. The more people she talked to then the more things she was invited to. Riley walked out of the building and saw that there was a park nearby. She decided this would be a good place to wait for Maya rather than the car.

She sat down on a bench, sending Maya a quick text about her location. Then she went on to read online journals. She wasn't far into her reading when she heard constant honking...and her name being called.

Riley looked up confused. It had to be another Riley. She didn't know anyone in Connecticut.

She looked up to see the last person she'd ever think of.

"Riley! I knew it was you. How are you? It's been so long." The familiar light haired man with green eyes said as he stepped out of his blue car.

Riley's eyes widened when she saw him. How long ago was it? 10 years ago, the last time she saw him. The last memory she had of his face was waving goodbye as he stepped onto that airplane. They kept in touch for a while and then it was like he had completely disappeared. She never thought she'd see him again.

She stood up to go and meet him. "Lucas? I'm great. How are you? What are you doing here?"

Lucas laughed. "I was just going to as you the same question. I was here with my team." He smiled. "I coach a high school football team and the boys got an opportunity to play a game here in the East. It's a big deal for them. What about you?"

"I'm here with Maya. She's exhibiting her art at the gallery." Riley said pointing to the building.

"She became an artist. That's good. I remember her talent in high school and I can only imagine how much better she's gotten. What do you do?"

"Journalist. I'm a journalist for New York Revolution magazine."

"Woah that's awesome." Lucas stuck his hands in his jeans. "Listen, it's been wow like 10 years right? I'd like to stay and talk to you. There's so much I want to say but I really have to go and meet with my team. I'm leaving tonight back to Texas, but hey let's exchange numbers." Lucas quickly took out his phone and handed it to her. "Here add your number and I'll put mine on your phone."

Riley added her phone number to his and handed her phone so he could put in his number. He smiled. "It was good seeing you." He opened his arms slowly not knowing if she'd hug back, but Riley smiled too and reached over to hug him.

"It was good to see you too."

Lucas headed back to his car and held up his phone. "I'll keep in touch. Bye."

"Bye."

-End FlashBack-

After dinner Farkle walked with them to the garage and waved at them as they went towards their car and he to his own car.

As soon as she got home Maya took out her phone and sent the pictures of her paintings and sent them to Farkle. Afterwards she sat down with Riley to watch their favorite sitcom and after that Riley headed to her room to sleep. Tomorrow was another day of work and she wanted to get some sleep. She had a very busy day planned for tomorrow including more interviews and a couple of small articles to finish up.

Maya said goodnight to Riley. She too went to her room, well, art studio. She wasn't sleepy just yet. She still felt the need to draw. She took a sketchbook from the small desk and pushed a chair near the window that was surrounded by paintings. With a pencil in hand, she began to draw. After 11, the busy streets of her neighborhood became quiet and Maya felt that some of her best sketches and painting were done late at night. Today she focused on the streetlight outside the building. She made soft strokes on the paper. She concentrated deeply to get the detail just right.

When she had finished she tapped her phone. It was 1:38 in the morning. It wasn't a first time thing. When her art gears were turning Maya stayed up late even if she had to go to work the next day. Maya's gaze fell outside her window to the store fronts. Only one store was opened. Maya's favorite coffee shop, opened 24 hours. She smiled. This seemed like a good time as any to get a hot chocolate. She headed out the room and out of the apartment, closing the door as quietly as possible as to not wake up Riley.

At the coffee shop, there were a few people sitting. This wasn't unusual, after all, New York is the city that never sleeps. Maya stood a feet away from the counter with her eyes glued to the menu. Now, with the wonderful smells coming her way she couldn't decide if she should get a hot chocolate, a coffee, a latte. Hmm maybe she should-

Suddenly, the man in front of her turned around unexpectedly, bumped right into Maya and almost spilled his drink on her.

"I'm so sorry."

Maya wanted to push the guy and his apology just as he had pushed her, but stopped herself when she looked up.

Blue eyes met green eyes.

"Lucas?"

A/N: Hey all! So first of all thanks for reading...or scrolling to the end haha. Anyways I've written one-shots as you can see on my page, but this is my first ever book. I'll try my best to update at least once a week. I hope you like it. Please let me know if you do or if you think I should continue. I appreciate all feedback. Thanks :)