The day was December 1, 2023. It would go down in history as the absolute best day in Lucas Friar's life. He bounded back to his dorm room, intent on calling his potential girlfriend, Riley Matthews, hopefully via Skype. That is if she wasn't too busy preparing for internships and graduation herself. He was going to get a hold of her one way or the other, regardless of what his heartless roommate, Tony, thought. Today was one of the best days for him and would hopefully be a great day for her as well.

September 15th, 2023

Lucas Friar was awake bright and early this morning. That's not to say he wanted to be because he was going to dread this appointment with his advisor. That is, if his advisor bothered to show up today. Lucas had planned to meet with his advisor about five times this year but his advisor, Dr. Richards, had cancelled all five times. Dr. Richards still worked as a top veterinarian in the area and had to leave to work on emergencies every time Lucas had made an appointment with him to discuss his internship, assuming that the classes he would be taking this semester went well. All of Dr. Richards' excuses were valid but Lucas was sick and tired of it.

Lucas had wanted an internship with Dr. Richards since he first arrived on campus three years ago. However, that was one of the top internships and required you to have straight As and some extra credentials. Lucas had received his first and only B in organic chemistry his sophomore year and had since backed down. He applied just for the hell of it but was turned down. Other internships were out of town, possibly out of state and Lucas had no idea what his options were. That was why he had to talk to Dr. Richards.

Lucas trudged from his dorm to Dr. Richard's office very early. It was still dark out and he guessed a lot of the sorority and fraternity parties were just now starting to wind down. He was also pretty positive that he was the only student on campus awake, sober and not staring at a computer screen. If Dr. Richards wasn't in today, Lucas was sure as hell going to be pissed off.

Luckily for him, Lucas saw a man sitting at a large desk through glass windows. He knocked lightly on the window so not to startle the man and came into his office when he waved him in.

"Good morning, Mr. Friar." Dr. Richards said as he shook Lucas' hand. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm doing great, sir." Lucas said. He honestly felt like hell but wasn't about to tell his advisor this.

The two gentlemen sat down opposite of each other while Dr. Richards flipped through some papers.

"So, I understand you will be graduating in the spring?" Dr. Richards asked.

"Yes, sir," Lucas responded.

"So you will be needing an internship location, yes? Have you applied to any?" Dr. Richards asked.

"None besides yours, which I didn't get into." Lucas stated.

"Ah, well I'm sorry about that Mr. Friar." Dr. Richards replied.

"That's all right, sir." Lucas responded. "I just came to see what other internships were available to me."

"Oh, well there are plenty of options besides my internship." Dr. Richards reassured him. "Some are in far more exotic and interesting places, too."

The two spent the next couple of hours talking about veterinarian internships that ranged from a bird zoo in Seattle to a horse farm in Tennessee. They all sounded very fascinating. If Lucas had been more awake and alert he might have asked about the internship Dr. Richards mentioned next but he was glad somebody had the wherewithal to bring it up.

"…and there's also a 24 hour emergency vet office in New York if you are willing to head up that way again."

Lucas couldn't help but smile at the flyer Dr. Richards presented with to him and he soon had a small sack in his lap of possible internships. Although it probably wasn't the most prestigious option, Lucas knew if he got accepted into New York, he would take that internship.

Present Day

Lucas had applied to the New York internship along with a handful of others and got some results in the mail today. One of those results being the New York internship, to which he was accepted! After clearing his internship with Dr. Richards, he was officially set to intern in New York. That was why today was the best day of Lucas Friar's young life. He would finally get to move back to New York and possibly start a relationship with the woman of his dreams.

Lucas and Riley had decided to have a potential relationship at the end of his Christmas break visit to her home. He had helped her through a tough situation and the sparks were flying long before any of this had even happened, Lucas was just too blind to see it. They probably would have dated if Lucas hadn't been attending veterinarian school in Texas and Riley attending NYU, majoring in law. They were both very happy with the way things were going for them and didn't want to have to sacrifice everything for a relationship that wasn't guaranteed to work.

At the same time, they didn't want to have a relationship that was going to be long distance. They were far too important to the other, not just as a significant other, but as friends. They were worried putting a label on whatever they were would add pressure to be in touch all the time. Both of their degrees were very difficult and time consuming. Sometimes, Lucas would be available and Riley wouldn't and vice versa. Putting a label on it might interrupt their study time and they didn't want to be the reason the other failed a class.

However, they were surprisingly able to stay in contact quite often. They didn't talk every day but the longest they would ever go without talking to one another would be two weeks for finals. Lucas would often fly out to New York in the summer, spring break, fall break, Christmas break or whenever they could both get a significant amount of time off. Riley had yet to fly out to Texas but that was because she had only flown once before and Lucas had racked up plenty of frequent flyer miles so he could fly cheaper. He honestly didn't mind in the least bit that Riley had never been to Texas. He hoped that he could show her his hometown one day but it didn't have to be today.

According to Maya and Farkle, Lucas' other best friends, when he was in New York, he and Riley would act exactly like a couple. He couldn't say they were wrong. The past few times Lucas had visited the city, he had climbed through Riley's window so he could see her first. They would lock lips until somebody came knocking on the door. He was worried how her parents would react but they seemed okay with it. On free nights, he and Riley would go out on the town and grab a bite to eat or see a movie or a concert. On the way to wherever they were going they would hold hands and Lucas would wrap his arm around Riley when strange men on the street would hit on her. He knew that she liked that because she would give him a smile as if to say 'thank you' every time. Not to say he wasn't happy in Texas, but he loved New York and was glad to be able to go back.

He flew into his dorm to see that Tony had already left for his morning class. Lucas had a very important class himself in about an hour but he had time to give Riley a quick call via Skype. He tried, hoping she would be able to answer. He didn't think she had a class yet but he could have been wrong.

However, his prayers were answered when his screen flashed open to a place he didn't recognize and a girl he did.

"Hey," he said to her. "The place looks great."

"Thanks!" Riley responded with her usual cheery attitude. "Maya and I just finished moving in two days ago. It's nice. Much better than our old dorm anyway."

Riley and Maya had decided to move out early so they wouldn't have to be looking for an apartment in the winter when it seemed the entire world was trying to move into New York. They had gotten a nice one bedroom apartment in October but hadn't even begun moving in until Thanksgiving break. The two best friends had already landed their internships in New York. Riley was going to continue the family legacy and intern at Elliot- Brown where her mother worked and Maya received an internship as an art teacher at the gang's middle school alma mater, John Quincy Adams Middle School.

"Yeah, well just about anything's better than a dorm room." Lucas joked.

"You're right there," Riley responded. "So, what's up?"

"I'm not keeping you from anything am I?" Lucas asked.

"No, not right now," Riley said. "I have a class I have to leave for in about ten minutes but I'm good until then."

"Okay, great." Lucas said. "Well, I applied to a lot of internships earlier in the semester and I got some results back today."

"Oh, awesome!" Riley said. "Anything good?"

"Yeah, a few things," Lucas said nonchalantly. "I got accepted to a bird zoo in Seattle and a horse farm in Tennessee."

"Those sound interesting." Riley said. "A lot to think about then."

"Yeah," Lucas responded. "But I think I know where I'm going to go."

"Really?" Riley asked. "Is it head and shoulders above the rest?"

"Well, to me it is." Lucas said. "I think I'm going to work at a twenty four hour animal hospital. I would only be working nine to five Tuesday to Friday, though."

"Is that a good thing?" Riley asked, unsure of how Lucas felt about that.

"It's a very good thing." Lucas said. "Because that way I can spend more time with you."

Spend more time with her? What did he mean by… oh. Was this internship in… New York? No. There was no way. It couldn't possibly be. Despite these thoughts, Riley couldn't help her hands from flying up to cover her mouth. She saw as Lucas chuckled at her then removed a piece of paper from his desk and read it out loud.

"Dear Mr. Friar, we would be more than pleased to have a student with your credentials interning with us at The Animal Hospital of New York." Lucas read.

It took Riley's brain a few minutes to process exactly what Lucas had just said. He was coming back to New York? She didn't think that would have been possible. She had thought maybe they would go to graduate school together but if that hadn't worked out, she would have to question this relationship. She was happy but she was always sad to see him leave and she wished she could hop on an airplane to see him like he did for her. However, she was a typical college student and didn't have the money for a good meal most nights, let alone a plane ticket.

"You're coming to New York?" Riley finally asked as she fought back tears of happiness.

"I'm coming to New York." Lucas confirmed.

Riley laughed wetly as she felt the tears start to build in her eyes. "When? For how long?" She asked.

"Well, I'll probably leave after finals are over, so about two weeks? I was planning on staying for Christmas too." Lucas responded. "And it's a six month internship so for at least that long."

Riley laughed again. She gently pinched her leg from underneath her desk to make sure this wasn't a dream. This was too good to be true. Once she realized it wasn't, she let out a small squeal and laughed again. Lucas laughed back.

"Oh, I wish I could just kiss you right now," Riley said.

"Well, you wouldn't have to wait too long."

AN: Hello again my beautiful readers! That was the beginning of Smile. Admittedly not the best thing I've ever written but it will get better I promise! It's kind of hard to write them when they aren't together but they will be together for most of the story so that will be easier. Also, this story will jump around a bit more than Attractive. Attractive covered four days in 11 chapters and this story will probably cover two to three years and not everyday of Lucas and Riley's lives are going to be so exciting they deserve a chapter. Just thought you ought to know!

I also just wanted to take a quick moment to give a shout out to anybody who reviewed, followed or favorited Attractive! You guys are so sweet and amazing and beautiful and just argh! YOU'RE PERFECT!

Follow, review and favorite!