Author Note: This is a one-short, this little plot bunny came to me the other night and I just had to write it.

Kitchen Moment

Riley was in the kitchen preparing popcorn, it's an odd Saturday afternoon where it will be just her and Lucas. Maya is out of town with Shawn and Katy, while Farkle and Zay went off for a dance competition. So when Lucas asked if they could watch a movie she said yes, but only if it was at her house, afraid to be alone with him in the dark.

Here at her house, they'll have the watchful eyes of her mother, father, and little brother. They won't have a chance for things to be said. They'll have to sit in the living room; no way would her father allow her to be alone in her room with Lucas.

So this is really for the best. He's bringing over a movie; she's got the snacks and drinks.

Perfectly innocent.

"Well, we're off!" Her father announces as he comes through the kitchen.

Riley almost spills the popcorn, "Wait, what? Where are you going?"

"Oh honey, we're taking Auggie to the Children's museum today." Her mother grabs a few juice boxes from the fridge.

"This has been planned for weeks, see." Her father points to the calendar on the fridge and she sees it now. She never really pays that much attention to her brother's schedule; she can barely focus on hers most days.

"Oh, I didn't realize." She clutching the bowl now, wondering if they'll even notice the pure terror flowing through her.

"You kids have fun watching a movie, wish we could stay and say hello, but we've got to run." Topanga was near the door, "Auggie come on!"

The front door swung open, "I've been ready for twenty minutes, let's go!"

"Bye sweetie." Her parents called out in unison before the door closed behind them.

Riley sat at the kitchen table, trying to process everything.

She was going to be alone with Lucas. So alone that her father couldn't come in and take his boot.

She could feel her body shaking as she tried to remind herself to breathe.

They could do this. They could watch a movie, just the two of them.

Even without her parents' home.

Or Auggie.

Yeah totally do-able.

Did her parents not realize they were leaving her alone with Lucas Friar?

Or was that just it, her parents knew nothing could happen because of his feelings for Maya, that it was perfectly safe for the two of them to be alone together.

She started stuffing the popcorn in her face, as she thought about how wrong this could all go. She didn't hear the buzzer, or the door open a minute or so later.

She was nervous.

When was the last time it was just her and Lucas?

Before Texas, unless you counted that moment where he asked her to watch, but that was barely a moment.

"Riley?" His voice created a jolt of energy through her body, startling her as the popcorn that was left in the bowl went flying all over the kitchen floor.

"Lucas?" Her heart was beating so quickly, so loudly she almost couldn't hear anything besides it. "How did you get in here?"

He gave her a soft smile, "I rang the buzzer and you didn't answer, but someone was coming out so I just came in when the front door opened, and well the apartment door was unlocked. I knocked but you didn't answer. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, um, my Dad's not home neither is my Mom."

"Oh are you babysitting Auggie? Think he could handle The Avengers?" He held the movie box up nervously, he'd picked it knowing that Chris Evans was her favorite, but didn't want to be obvious with bringing over Captain America, besides a guy could only watch the girl he's crazy about drool over a movie star for so long without feeling a little jealous.

Riley's hand combed through her hair, "Actually they took him to the Children's Museum; apparently it's been planned for a while."

"Oh." Lucas was excited for a moment, but then he realized it meant Mr. Matthews trusted him alone with Riley, "So your Dad isn't going to yell at me for being alone with you."

"Nope, your shoes are safe." She bit her lip wishing it weren't true.

"So, it's just, you and me, alone together." He sat down at the table, "It's been a while since it's just been us, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so." She looked around at the popcorn mess she'd made, "Yikes, I really made a mess."

"I startled you. Let me help you clean it up, then we'll make a fresh batch." He pulled out the bag he'd brought with him, "I also got you something."

"What?" Riley watched as he pulled out a bag of just red gummi bears.

He watched her eyes light up as he handed them to her, his fingers making contact with her hand, it was like sparks flying. Couldn't she feel it, it wasn't just him, was it?

"This is really sweet of you." She looked down, then up into his eyes. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." His heart sped up; he wished he had the guts to be more forward with her, to tell her how he really felt. Why couldn't he? Why would the words not come?

Riley rose and went to get the broom and dustpan. She stood in front of the broom closet, forced herself to take a deep breath, and count to five. He's your friend; you are not allowed to see him that way. But how can you not when he brings you, your favorite movie snack and a movie starring your favorite movie star?

"So, it's weird that Maya, Farkle, and Zay all are out of town this weekend, right?" Lucas was brushing the popcorn off the table and benches into a trash can when she showed up with the broom.

"Yeah it is."

"But it's good to." He put the trashcan down, "I mean it gives us a chance to hangout, just us."

"Yeah, that it does." She got nervous and went to punch his arm when his hand grabbed her first.

"Riley . . ."

"Lucas . . ."

Their eyes were locked as his hand dropped her fist before he moved to take her face in his hands, this felt right, this felt real.

His lips finally brushed against hers, and every bit of anxiety that Lucas had been carrying around for months started to melt away.

Riley was lost in the moment, this was more perfect then a summer rain. This was the first snowfall of the year, a winning homecoming game, and fireworks on the fourth of July.

She'd been trying to deny how much she wanted this moment, his moment, was that what this was? But what about Maya?

Lucas felt her start to pull away and he let his hands fall to her waist so she couldn't get too far.

"What about Maya, aren't you two, you know?" She was terrified of finding out she'd just done something that would destroy her best friend.

Lucas pulled away, his hands running over his hair as frustration boiled in him, "Nothing is going on with me and Maya. I don't want her Riley, I've never wanted her, the only one I want is you."

Stunned.

Silent.

Riley just stared at him. This couldn't be possible.

"Say something Riley?"

"But, what about Texas?"

"What about it?" He came towards her, his fingers just barely playing with her hair, "What did I keep asking you Riley? What if that's not what I think we are? Every time you said we were brother and sister. We could never be brother and sister."

"But you and Maya?"

"Nothing happened, something could've, but it didn't. She's not you." He searched her eyes, "It's always been you, since the day on the subway. Why do you think I was so jealous when you were with Charlie?"

"You were jealous?" She bit her lip, "I thought I was just seeing what I wanted to see."

Lucas smiled, "So you wanted me to be jealous huh?"

"I wanted you to want me." She could feel her body tingling as his thumb danced over her cheek before dropping to her lips where his own soon fell again.

Her toes curled, her knees went weak as she held onto to him. Praying that she never woke up from this dream, because that's what this had to be.

"Wow." Escaped from her lips when they pulled apart.

"Wow." He agreed, "I really like you, Riley."

She broke away from him as the guilt swept over her again, "But Maya likes you, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't step back?"

"You have stepped back; it's been months Riley, months since Texas." He pleaded, didn't she get it, "Nothing has happened between Maya and I in all that time. If I was going to forget you and be with her, I would've. But I can't, I never could. You don't have to hold back, if you want me, you can have me. Put what you want ahead of what Maya wants for once in your life, be selfish."

She was frozen by his plea, his passion as she sank down to the bench at the table. It had been months, she gave Maya a chance. He was right, how long was she supposed to stay in the background being miserable? How long had she been putting Maya's wants and needs before her own?

"Riley?" He'd gone too far, hadn't he? He's pushed too much, he realized that now.

"You're right." She breathed, looking at him as relief washed over him. "But Lucas, what happens next?"

He sat next to her, taking her hand in his easily, "Riley Matthews, will you be my girlfriend?"

She nodded, "Yes, I will."

He kissed her forehead, "Wonderful, we should probably clean this up, watch that movie."

"Yeah we should." She looked down at their hands and smiled.

As the movie was ending, Riley and Lucas sat on the couch, her head on his shoulder while they held hands.

"Cory, it was weird that Farkle and Zay ignored us when we saw them, right?" Topanga opened the door of the apartment and let Auggie in first who froze when he saw his sister on the couch with Lucas.

Topanga almost fell over when she walked into her son, "Auggie what are you doing? Oh." A smile crossed her lips, the pair was obviously lost in the movie and in whatever had them holding hands, did they even realize they were doing that?

"Hey what's going on?" Cory came in behind his wife; saw the scene on the couch, "You told me they were just friends!"

Riley and Lucas were broken from the trance of the movie when they heard her father's voice. "Hi Daddy, how was the museum?"

"Hands! They're holding hands Topanga!" Cory bounced around pointing to his daughter and Lucas. "This is not just friends."

Lucas looked to Riley, Topanga, and then Cory, "How was the museum?"

"Cory calm down." Topanga sent her husband a look, "Auggie, go to your room please."

Auggie nodded, stopped and looked at Lucas, "Don't break her heart."

Lucas nodded to the young boy and gave Riley a smile.

"I thought you were watching a movie with your friends." Cory finally pointed out, "Friends means not just Lucas, where's Maya?"

"Out of town, and I told you Lucas was coming over to watch a movie. I never said the others were. They're all out of town."

"But we saw Farkle and Zay today." Topanga pointed out, "Oh, they're good."

"What? Whose good, what is going on?"

"Well if Maya is out of town, and Farkle and Zay realized if they said they were out of town, maybe, just maybe Riley and Lucas would finally have a little chat they've been putting off since Texas, which I'm guessing they did."

"No, no, no." Cory looked at Lucas, "You."

"Me." Lucas rose from the couch, "Mr. Matthews, I care about Riley, I've waited for Riley, I'm not going to do anything to hurt her. I would never want to hurt her, and I promise that I will do my best not to hurt her."

"Well you are not allowed to be alone together anymore. Someone else has to be here at the house from now on." Cory looked to Topanga for backup.

"Yeah, and you'll have to be in the common areas." She smiled, grateful that her daughter seemed to finally let go of whatever had been holding her back. "And we can discuss the rest of the new rules later; we'll let you finish the movie."

Cory stayed in the room while Topanga left.

"Cory Matthews!"

"Fine." He glared at Lucas for a moment before Auggie showed up to drag him out of the room.

"That went better than expected." Lucas finally spoke once they were alone again.

Riley nodded, "Yeah, wait did Farkle and Zay lie to us?"

"It sounds like they did." Lucas smirked, "They're going to be ridiculous to deal with it they find out their plan worked, if that was their plan."

"Then we don't tell them, not yet," she was nervous, "Besides, I think we have to find a way to tell Maya, before anyone else."

"Yeah, good idea," He looked as the credits rolled, "I guess I should get going, could I call you later?"

"You better." He kissed her forehead, "I'll talk to you later."

Riley walked him to the door, "Night Lucas."

"Night Riles." Before he could give her a proper goodnight kiss he saw her father standing behind her and waved before feeling the door closed in his face.