Chapter One

As 23 year old Riley Matthews walked down the street, in hopes of being on time for her date, she passed by a strangely familiar area in central park. She walked over to the colorful, yet faded artwork of her lifelong friend, Maya Hart. She smiled to herself, as she read the word Hope. She had forgotten all about that time in her life when her very best friend was roughly struggling to find her place in their high school friend group.

She began to remember all of her close relationships she had back then; with Farkle, Smackle, and Zay. Riley then started to remember Lucas and immediately snapped herself out of her thoughts. Don't go there. She thought to herself. That ended a long time ago and the past is in the past. Riley was momentarily interrupted when she saw that she was still standing in the middle of the park looking at the wall of artwork.

Riley realized she had somewhere to be and quickly glanced down at her watch to read the time. She widened her brown eyes,

"Oh crap," she said to herself.

It read 7:28 PM and she had a date at 7:30 with Luke. The thought of her new boyfriend automatically brought a huge grin to her face. They had just started dating about 6 months ago and tonight was their monthly anniversary dinner.

Riley hurried along the street, although it was pretty difficult for her to run considering she was all dressed up. She was wearing a dark burgundy sweetheart-neckline dress that stopped at her knees, along with shimmered gray colored heels. A simple, yet elegant beaded necklace lay softly on her neck, as her curled brunette hair was trailing behind her as she hurried to get to the restaurant on time.

About 8 minutes later, she arrived at the Italian restaurant that she and Luke decided on a couple days prior.

"Hey," Luke said to her and smiled as Riley took her seat at their table.

"Hey" Riley smiled back.

"You look amazing babe", Luke marveled as he got a close look at what Riley wore to their date. "Thanks" Riley smiled back in response.

"You're not too bad yourself" she added, as she and Luke slightly laughed at her witty comment.

The two met just after college at a park. Riley was there for her friend Abby's birthday party, but left early because she wasn't feeling too great after having 3 slices of pizza. To exit the park, there was a flight of long cement stairs like they have at museums and Riley was hurriedly running down them. Along the way, her phone fell out of the pocket of her purse without her noticing, and Luke saw the whole thing happen so he quickly went to retrieve it and then gave it to Riley. It was the classic Cinderella tale and Riley loved it, even though it may have been a tiny bit cliche.

After that incident, Riley took her phone from Luke and thanked him shortly before they exchanged numbers. They were friends for about a year before Luke asked Riley to be his girlfriend and Riley gladly said yes to him. Riley thought of Luke as her absolute prince and dream guy. Remembering all of this, while they were at dinner brought yet another smile to Riley's face.

She looked at him just thinking of how lucky she was. He had light brown hair that was gelled to one side, a perfect smile that always made Riley feel comfortable and safe, and had sparkling ocean blue eyes that reminded her of Maya. Luke was originally from England so he had a cute accent that Riley absolutely adored about him. He was also one of the sweetest, most caring, and also most athletic people she had ever met. He was literally perfect, was all Riley could ever think about him.

Since they had been friends before they started dating, they pretty much knew everything about each other including their jobs and hobbies, so they never ran out of things to talk about.

"How was work?" Riley asked Luke as she drank some of her water from the glass in front of her.

Luke was a personal trainer at a gym he owned, and he loved his job.

"Good. Although it was really busy today, more and more people are starting to join and it gets really hectic at times." he explained.

"How about you? How was work for you today?" Luke asked her. Riley worked at a preschool not far from her parent's old apartment, and still enjoyed working with younger kids. Teaching them and helping to influence their life had always meant so much to her, especially since the preschool ages were still so young. All of the kids she worked with were always so happy, it made her appreciate her job that much more.

After an hour and a half more of talking and eating, Luke and Riley decided to head back to Luke's apartment. Luke had been contemplating on whether or not he was going to ask Riley something today, but since it was their anniversary dinner night, he figured now was as good as a time than any. The couple was curled up on the couch and Riley's head was rested on Luke's chest as his arm was around her in a protective manner. They were both under a blanket and were watching one of Riley's favorite romantic comedies.

"Hey Riley", Luke started with.

"Yeah?"

"We've been together for um a while now, and uh…"

Riley slightly giggled at the sudden nervous tone in his voice.

"What's up babe?" she asked him hardly managing to stifle a giggle.

"Do you want to move in with me?" he barely managed. "I mean you do stay here quite often so, it wouldn't be that much of a change, but if you want, I think we're ready.

Riley placed her hands over her mouth in surprise and nodded her head. She was so happy. After so long of being confused, hurt, and lost, she had finally found herself an amazing boyfriend that she knew cared about her.

Luke grinned and pulled Riley closer to him. He kissed the top of her head as the two continued to watch their movie together. Just being in each other's presence was enough, and neither of them would choose to be anywhere else.