A/N: Another GMW one-shot; I hope you like it. Please let me know what you think, and thanks for reading.

What She Needs

Riley is an innocent child. She always has been and I honestly hope she always will be. She loves to learn, and grow, and wants to be an adult. But she's a kid at heart.

Riley sees the best in everyone; she can't see the evil in the world like I do, and I don't want her to. Riley had saved me, she continues to save me every day, so I try to protect her the best I can. I try to do everything I can to keep that smile on her face- even if it is as stupid as letting her believe that Pluto is still a planet.

She is everything to me.

But sometimes I forget that she's not a child, not all unicorns and rainbows, and she can see when something is not quite right. She can see my darkness, she can see when I start to drown- and she always saves me.

Even if I tell her she can't, she defies the world to make me okay again. And I love her.

I love her so much my chest hurts and sometimes I cry, but there is no chance of me going to the darkness because it's her and she is light. No shadow can survive when it comes to her.

She does so much for me by just being my best friend. She is unique, and kind, and good, and weird, and just everything Riley. No other person could ever compare to her; she is the very definition of perfect to me.

I do everything I can for her; I support her, encourage her, push her to do things that can turn out amazing or crash and burn.

I would be anything she needs. But she starts looking a Lucas Friar- a country boy with perfect hair, perfect face, perfect personality that would make any girl swoon, that even I would say comes pretty damn near perfect.

But he's not, because he's not her, and he is stealing her from me.

And I can't even hate him like I so want to, because he makes her smile and that's all I ever want from her. And I try, and I try to despise him because it's not me that she's looking at like that- but I cant because he really is a great guy and friend.

Everyone that I have talked to says that he's perfect, but he's not. No boy could be perfect enough for Riley- but he's pretty damn close.

She doesn't see me the way I do her, but that's okay. She saves, and she saves, and she saves me over again. I owe her everything I am, so I'll be anything that she needs.

From me though, all she needs is a best friend. So until something, if ever, changes, that's what I'll be. But why would it when she already has her fairytale prince?