Girl Meets Change

Riley sighed as she pulled her hair into a high ponytail. The day's events, not to mention the past days, have been emotionally exhausting. Learning about Lucas's past had made Riley question what else she didn't know about him. She turned off the lights and slid into her comfy bed, relaxing against her enormous pile of pillows. Her phone and laptop lay abandon next to her. She closed her eyes, lost in her own thoughts about the day.

So. Lucas has an anger problem. That's not really THAT big of a deal…..I mean he only got kicked out of his school for fighting and almost beat the living daylight out of Bully Brett today. Just the look in his eyes was enough to terrify me…but he's working on it right? He's changing for the good right? Maya would call me a wimp for worrying so much. I need to just stop. I KNOW the real Lucas. I have nothing to worry about…except for the reason that he didn't tell me the truth. Friends don't keep things from each other. I thought there was something between us that...

Riley was interrupted from her thoughts by the chirping of her text tone. It was Maya.

Any word from Ranger Rick yet?

Riley quickly typed a reply. No. I haven't seen him since school.

Maya's response was almost instant

I'm sure he will come to you when he's ready. DON'T START WORRYING!

"Too late." Riley whispered to herself.

Deciding she needed an escape from the world, Riley turned off her phone and pulled her laptop closer. Her favorite movie was exactly what she needed to get her mind off of things.

A quick, yet soft tapping on the window jolted Riley from her movie. Her eyes snapped to the window expecting to see Maya…she did turn her phone off after all. However, She did a double take when she saw a figure much larger than Maya's crouched outside on the balcony. Whipping her blankets off, Riley dashed to the window and opened it as quietly as she could.

"Lucas? What are you doing here? It's late and my parents are asleep!"

"I'm sorry Riley, I know it's late but I just need to talk to you face to face."

"So you decide to just show up on my balcony?" Riley sat down on the window seat crossing her arms over her chest, she suddenly felt very exposed in her tank top and leggings.

Lucas ducked his head and crawled through the window, shutting it behind him, then sat down next to Riley.

"In my defense, I did try calling you…"

Riley huffed. "Yeah well my phone was off. I didn't particularly feel like talking to anyone."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "You can't seriously be mad at me?"

Riley laughed sarcastically. "I'm not mad Lucas I'm upset."

"Because I didn't tell you that I got kicked out of school for fighting? And that I have anger issues that I'm trying to work on? I told you Riley, that stuff is in the past and I am doing my best to change. You saw what happened today! It took every ounce of my being to not beat that stupid idiot to a pulp. But I didn't and YOU know the reason why. You're not the only person who is guilty of not being honest with their friends."

Lucas scooted closer to her on the window seat. Riley shifted her gaze away from Lucas looking anywhere else in the room but him. She glanced at him through the corner of her eye. He was wearing a dark pair of jeans and a grey Texas Longhorns sweatshirt, which nicely accentuated his broad muscular shoulders.

Stop it Riley! Now is not the time to get distracted by those strong shoulders and strong arms that would feel so amazing to be wrapped…NO!

Riley readjusted her arms and looked at the opposite wall.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She snapped.

Now it was Lucas's turn to laugh. "You know what I think. I think that you aren't really upset with me for not telling you about my past right away, because you know I would have when the time came…which it did by the way." Lucas moved even closer to her on the bench. So close their legs were almost touching. "No. I think that you're upset because things are changing and we all know how much you hate change."

Riley shot up from the window seat and stood a good distance away from Lucas. Her reaction was enough for Lucas to know he had hit the nail on the head. Lucas stood and stepped closer to Riley. "Which leads me to the reason why I came here." Riley still refused to look at him. Lucas stepped forward and gently reached out to unwrap Riley's arms from her chest, placing them at her sides and lacing their fingers together. Riley continued to avoid his eyes, starring at the ground instead.

"Riley, you know me better than anyone else has in my entire life. You have helped me change into the person I am today, which is a million times better than the angry guy I was back in Texas. You have such a hard time accepting change, but I want to show you that change can be a good thing, I'm a prime example."

Riley finally broke her silence, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don't want what happened in the past few days to change us."

"But what if it changes us in a good way? Riley the only way things could change for the worse is if you let it."

Riley nodded, "Seeing you that way today…it scared me."

"I'm sorry Riley, I really am. It kills me that you even had to see that side of me and I hope you never have to see it again. You've made me into such a better person, I don't know where I would be without you." Lucas tilted Riley's head up so he could finally look in to her eyes. "Riles, can you please forgive me for everything? I don't want to loose you"

Riley nodded softly. "I do, as long as you promise to not let Zae or any other of the idiots at school get you back into your old ways."

Lucas smiled, Riley felt her entire brain go to mush. "I swear. But you also have to promise to try to see the good side of change."

"I promise"

Lucas raised his hand up to gently cup her face, still keeping their fingers laced together with the other. "Good. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to do this."

He quickly dipped his head and brought his lips to hers. The kiss was slow and gentle, much more passionate than the simple peck they exchanged on the train. Riley felt like she was flying. Everything in the world had stopped and the only thing that mattered was the feeling of his lips on hers and his arm snaking its way around her waist. Without thinking Riley brought her arms up to rest on his chest. Lucas pulled away slightly, only to quickly kiss her once again. The moment was over just a quickly as it had started. Caressing her cheek with his thumb Lucas, rested his head against hers.

Riley grinned. "Well, that was definitely a lot better than my attempt on the train."

Lucas laughed and moved to wrap both of his arms around her in a warm hug. Riley melted into his arms, resting her cheek against his solid chest. "What does this make us now? I mean we tried the whole boyfriend girlfriend thing but that didn't really work out." Riley whispered into his chest.

Lucas rested his head on top of hers. "The reason we didn't work last time was because we let our peers push us into something we weren't ready for. We don't have to be boyfriend and girlfriend yet, but I would like us to be closer in that direction."

"I think that sounds perfect." Riley lifted her head from his chest and smiled. Okay so maybe I can get used to this whole change can be good thing…

Lucas glanced to her open laptop, "I'm sorry I interrupted your movie…"

"It's okay, I mean it was for a worthy cause. I would ask you to watch it with me, but I'm not really supposed to have boys in my room…especially when my parents aren't aware of it."

Lucas nodded. "Well how do you feel about loop holes?"

Riley narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean?"

Lucas walked to her bed and picked up her laptop then placed it on the window seat. Riley stared at him as he moved to open her window. "What are you doing?"

Lucas opened the window and motioned for her to come over. "Come here, grab your pillow." Riley grabbed a couple of pillows from her bed and sat on the window seat. Lucas climbed out of the window and sat himself on the outside of the balcony next to Riley. "Technically I'm not in your room, so what are we watching?"

Riley laughed and handed Lucas a pillow. "Only my most favorite movie in the entire world, High School Musical."

"Really? High School Musical?"

"Hey now, don't judge! If you have a problem with that I can just go wake up my dad…" Riley trailed off, making herself for comfortable by laying down across the window seat.

"Nope. No! High School Musical sounds great!" Lucas quickly mimicked Riley's position, only outside.

About halfway through the movie, Lucas noticed Riley had fallen asleep. Contemplating his options, Lucas knew it would probably be better if Mr. Matthews decide to check on Riley during the night and didn't end up finding a boy on her balcony. As quietly as he could, Lucas maneuvered himself through Riley's window and into her room without waking her up. Standing in her room, Lucas looked down at Riley's sleeping form. She had fallen asleep on her stomach watching the movie. The moonlight shined in from the windows, illuminating her face. She looks beautiful, even in her sleep. Lucas trailed his eyes away from her face, taking the slightest moment to appreciate the curve of her backside, accentuated by her leggings….He was a teenage boy after all. God bless the person who invented leggings… Lucas shook his head to focus his thoughts back on the task at hand. He gently slid Riley onto her side then easily scooped his arm under her knees and lifted her up. He set her back down in her bed and brought her blankets around her. Her eyes fluttered open at the newfound warmth of the blankets. Lucas leaned down and softly kissed her forehead. "Go back to sleep Riley, I'll call you first thing in the morning okay?"

"mmm…okay" Riley mumbled in her sleep and rolled over, snuggling up to her pillows.

Lucas smiled to himself and walked back across the room to her balcony. He climbed back out the window and turned to shut it behind him. Breathing in the cool night air he climbed down the escape ladder and set off back to Zae's house, where he was originally supposed to be, hoping he could stop grinning by the time he got there or else Zae would really have a blast teasing him.

As he reached the street his phone chimed

Maybe change can be a good thing after all, xoxo Riley

So…wow. It's been a hot second since I've posted anything on FF. I started reading fanfiction waaay back when Hannah Montana was first starting and quickly fell in love with the amazing authors in the High School Musical section (seriously go check them out right now. I'll wait). Anyway I've written a few HSM stories (and I think a Hannah Montana story) but that was so long ago please don't judge me by those! Because I'm actually an adult with a real adult job, I've changed my penname since then, I'd rather keep my identity anonymous. I took a break from writing while I was in college but now that I'm graduated I couldn't resist delving back into the world of fanfiction. I've been back for a couple of months re-reading the gems of the HSM stories, but my new obsession with Girl Meets World has sparked inspiration to write again. I am a HUGE Boy Meets World fan….sadly I remember waiting forever to actually watch new episodes as they came out on TV! I truly grew up on Boy Meets World so of course I HAVE to watch Girl Meets World! I absolutely love the Riley/Lucas ship and was immediately drawn to the innocence and purity of their relationship. I had originally intended for this story to be a oneshot, but I could see the potential for it to bloom into a whole series, let me know what you guys think? More? Less? Never post again?

Xoxo, Lilly