Riley sat on her bay window, leaning her head on the cool glass with her eyes shut tight. She could hear the sounds of someone approaching, but she ignored it. All she wanted was to be alone. Maya had had a sudden epiphany amidst a very serious conversation they both had earlier and ran off saying she had to look for Lucas.
The person knocked softly on the window and she rolled her head to the side with a sigh.
"Whoever you are, I wish to be alone," Riley told the person, her eyes still closed.
"That won't do, Riley," Riley's eyes snapped open and they found Lucas's emerald ones staring at her from the fire escape. "We need to talk."
Riley bit her lip nervously. "There's nothing to talk about, Lucas. Maya stepped back a long time ago. I stepped back before," She paused, her eyes misting over, but she continued with a melancholy tone. "Now, I'm doing it permanently. You two deserve to be happy."
Lucas climbed in through the window and took the seat next to her. Riley shifted away from him uncomfortably. Lucas noticed with a slight frown, but he didn't dwell on it too much as he casually leaned closer to her.
"Maya came to talk to me," He told her trying to gauge her reaction, but her expression remained unreadable.
"I knew she would," Riley murmured indifferently. "She ran out of here in a frenzy. I'm assuming you guys are official now?"
"Why are you assuming that?" Lucas implored with a raise of his eyebrows.
"Well," She started, her voice had an edge to it that Lucas didn't like. "I was telling her I'd be okay with it. She kept trying to say no, but I think she went with it because she went after you. I'm giving you two my blessing."
"We don't need it-"Riley interrupted him with a wave of her hand and a stern look.
"Of course. I mean it's not like you two didn't rush into a relationship after we ended our unofficial thing, you didn't need my blessing then." Riley's tone was harsh and it stung Lucas, but he stomached the pain.
He swallowed, before giving her a deliberate reply, "You pushed us together."
Riley bowed her head in defeat and pain at the memory. The events in Texas, New Years and after graduation burned in her head, igniting a fiery ache in her heart. She had certainly pushed the, she couldn't deny that, just like she couldn't deny she had tucked her feelings away to let two people she deeply cared about be happy together.
"Right," She muttered. "I did push you two together. That's because I finally caught on."
"Caught on to what?" He questioned inching closer to her; his face softening with curiosity.
"Everyone thought you and Maya were like fire," Riley's eyes glistened with unshed tears as she recalled the memories."Fire has nothing on summer rain. Summer rain is so bland, right?" She paused, struggling to regain her composure. A nonchalant expression waved over her face, but it broke as soon as she began to speak again, "You guys were voted favorite couple, Lucas. I saw the way you looked at her. I saw the way you cared. You called her beautiful, Lucas. She also wasn't exactly subtle on the way she felt either." She kept her eyes fixed on the ground and he noticed a few tears drip down.
Lucas stared at her instensly, wanting to scream in exasperation. She had it all wrong. Everything so wrong, completely fazed by others warped perception of things.
"Riley, look at me," He waited, but she didn't look at up. "Please."
He tucked his fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him. She melted under his unwavering gaze full of an emotion she was positive she was imagining. He wanted nothing more than to close the space between them.
"You have it all wrong, Riley." She tilted her head in confusion and he continued, "First of all, summer rain is so much more beautiful than fire. Fire destroys things, rain helps things grow. Riley, you remembered what I said about perception, right?"
"The perception of a thing doesn't make it so," She answered, swallowing hard. She was unable to think with his face so close to hers.
"The class thought because we banter all the time that we're meant for each other," He chuckled humorlessly and dropped his hand from her chin to grasp her warm hands firmly in his. "They thought that we had chemistry, maybe we do, but that doesn't change what we have. We have so much more, Riley. We have history, Maya and I can barely talk without her making fun of me. Is that love to you? Someone making fun of someone else constantly and wanting more than nothing to bring them down?"
"She says your ego will inflate if she doesn't." Riley added softly.
"I have someone to keep me both grounded and letting me know my dreams are possible," His eyes flickered to her and her heart thumped wildly in her chest. "Just because the class saw us one way, doesn't make it so. They have a weird definition of love and they're always changing their minds on things. I always thought we wouldn't let words define what we have, Riley."
"It was hard not to when everyone was shoving their opinions in my ear," She said. "Even Zay had his comments about you two."
"Yeah he did," He agreed bitterly. "Riley, he knew the Texas me, the trouble making side of me. I told him Maya was that type and he immediately thought we'd be perfect for each other. Two trouble makers. He didn't know I changed for the better. Yeah, I did mention both of you were pretty, but since he had thought that Maya and I should be a thing he insisted Maya was beautiful. I didn't deny it, because she is." She looked away and he gently took her chin again.
"But I say that as a friend complimenting a friend," Lucas stated. "Riley I described you as a whole. For who you are. I think you're so beautiful inside and out. You're this bright light; you bring joy and hope everywhere you go. No sacrifice is too big for you friends, you have a heart of pure gold."
He sucked in a deep breath. "I do care for Maya and she cares for me," There it was. She felt her heart shatter into smithereens. "But as friends. Maya came to me this afternoon. She said she understood everything. After the Yearbook, she had an identity crisis and she had slowly began to adopt your characteristics. She was talking too fast so I didn't understand what she was trying to say, but she realized her feelings for Josh haven't changed, and her feelings for me are nothing but platonic."
"What I feel for you is anything but platonic, Riley. We could never be just friends," He raised her hands to his lips and kissed them softly. "What Farkle said you felt for me on New Years is what I feel for you."
"You love me?" She croaked before clearing her throat and trying again louder and steadier. "You love me," It wasn't a question but a statement. "Real or not real?"
"Real." He crashed his lips onto hers with passion and grace.
There was a tenderness that gradually grew to something more. They didn't hold back, letting their feelings pour through a toe-curling, firework inducing kiss. These feelings they both felt had never felt more real.