A combination of the two prompts for the last day of Rucas Fanfiction Week 2016 over on tumblr, so we're going from angst to fluff in 60 seconds.
The rain is cold after the first hour. The sun had already set and the air in the open park has cooled around her. As the second hour mark is approaching her body starts to shake uncontrollably and her clothes feel so heavy against her skin that she isn't sure how she will ever stand up from this bench.
The Alice in Wonderland statue is only fifty feet away and the shelter the mushrooms provide is incredibly tempting. But she had told him to meet her here; at the bench where they had shared their second first kiss.
They had been dating for three weeks and had gone out exploring in Central Park to enjoy the last few days of fall. She had been going on one of her rants about the Knicks and their first game of the season when he had taken her face in his hands and kissed her. She has walked past this bench so many times since that day and just the sight of it never fails to make her smile and remember the feel of his lips against hers and the grin he'd worn for the rest of that afternoon.
Now, three years later she has gone and messed everything up. She'd reacted with her head instead of her heart once again, and it had taken her three days to realize what a horrible mistake she was making.
Long distance relationships are hard but that doesn't mean they are impossible. She and Lucas have a bond different from any other couple at their school. Even Yogi and Darby, and Farkle and Isadora, the only two couples that have been together longer than them, don't have a connection as strong as theirs. They have talked for hours at a time, getting to know each other so well that it feels like they can read each others minds sometimes. The only other person she's ever been as close to is Maya, but with Lucas it's different because they think so much alike. No one has ever understood her as well as Lucas, and she doesn't think anyone ever will.
She'd broken up with him because she didn't want either of them to have to face a decision like her mom had when choosing a college.
Lucas has gotten into schools in New York, Texas, and California and she had only applied to schools here in the city. The closer they get to graduation and the deadline for choosing where they would spend the next four years the more she has started to panic. She doesn't want Lucas to choose New York for her and end up regretting it. Her mom never has, as far as she knows, but there is only one Cory and Topanga so who's to say that Lucas won't. And if they do end up on separate sides of the country the chances of their relationship making it aren't good according to what she's read on the internet.
It all seems so stupid now. Three days later and she is the one with regrets. She still has no idea what will happen in the future and it terrifies her, but she knows now that she'd rather take the chance that they can be the lucky ones than to be a coward and give up on them forever without even trying.
She had left a message on his voicemail asking him to meet her at their bench tonight and she'd been hopeful that he would hear her out and that everything would be fine. That hope has been waning slowly with every moment that passes without a sign of him.
She takes her phone out of pocket and shields it from the rain as she checks it for the millionth time. Two hours and six minutes late, and zero messages. She never thought that he wouldn't show. At the very least she thinks he would have called her to say he wasn't coming. She starts to cry realizing that he must be so angry with her. She's ruined things even worse than she'd thought.
She heaves herself up from the bench and swipes her hand across her cheek in a fruitless attempt to remove the mixture of rain and tears marking her skin.
As she starts her long walk home wonders if they will ever be friends again after what she's done.
-:-
"Hi Mr. Matthews," Lucas pants as the history teacher opens his front door. He tries to keep the desperation out of his voice but the older man seems alarmed at how hard he is breathing. "Is Riley home? Her window is locked."
"She's in her room, but she's sick." He opens the door further and allows his daughter's boyfriend to enter the apartment. "She got caught in the rain yesterday and she's pretty miserable." Lucas feels a wave of guilt crash over him. "She was sleeping last time I checked on her but you can go see if she's awake now. Just remember to keep the door open," he warns, but his tone is much less threatening than it might have been a few years ago.
"Thank you sir." He turns to walk up the stairs but stops when Mr. Matthews calls his name.
"What's going on with you and my daughter? I don't usually like to pry into your relationship but she's been upset for the last few days. I don't like to see my daughter upset Mr. Friar." He does a better job of sounding threatening this time.
"Neither do I sir." Lucas bows his head, unable to make eye contact. "I'm not sure what's going on but I intend to find out."
"Good. Go ahead then." Lucas turns and leaves the room before his ex-girlfriend's father can ask any more questions.
He takes a moment to focus his thoughts before knocking on her door. This is the first time they will be alone since she broke up with him and he's not sure what he should expect. He doesn't know why she called him yesterday asking to meet at one of their spots, or how long she stood in the rain waiting only for him to never show.
He knocks on her door gently in case she is still asleep.
He hears her whisper something he can't make out followed by a long series of coughs. He takes it a his cue to enter.
She's sitting up slightly in bed and she looks horrible, exactly like you'd expect someone to look after standing outside in the rain. It takes a minute for her eyes to meet his but when they do they grow wide in surprise.
"Lucas!" The end of his name comes out as a sneeze and then she's coughing again. He crosses the room quickly to help her sit up more, adjusting her pillows and fussing over her until she's able to speak again. "What are you doing here?"
"I just got your message." He winces, the guilt over seeing her like this still eating at him. "I broke my phone the other day and the new one didn't arrive until this morning. I am so sorry that I left you waiting like that."
She looks so relieved and her eyes look a little glassy, but that might be from her cold.
"You didn't get my message?" she whispers with her barely existent voice.
"No," he shakes his head quickly.
"Would you," she pauses, "would you have come if you had?" She looks so worried and for the first time in over three years he has no idea what she is thinking.
"Of course I would. Even if we're not together anymore I'm still here to talk to whenever you need me." He grabs her hand instinctively and she laces their fingers together before he can remove it. "Why did you call me Riley? And why did you want to meet at our- at that bench." It was the location that had thrown him the most. He didn't want to get his hopes up about what it could mean.
"I'm so sorry Lucas." She squeezes his hand and tears her eyes from his to look at their tangled fingers. "I made a mistake breaking up with you. I just got so wrapped up in my own head thinking about what we are going to do about college, and I got scared. I can't imagine being apart from you for four years but I don't want you to stay here and then resent me for it someday. And I understand if this doesn't make up for what I did, and if you never want to speak to me again I wouldn't bla-"
He cuts her off by leaning in to kiss her. Their lips have barely touched when she's pulling back. "I'll get you sick."
"I don't care." Even clearly shocked by his actions she's still thinking of his well-being. He smiles before reconnecting their lips.
He never wants to stop kissing her again but he knows that she doesn't have the lung capacity to keep up with him right now so he lets her go with a final peck.
"Riley Matthews," he stops to make sure he has her full attention, catching her eyes with another smile. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I could never resent you or want to stop speaking to you. Wherever we end up I'll always want to talk to you and I'll always want you to talk to me, especially when you're feeling this way," he promises, emphasizing the last part with a little shake of their joined hands.
"I will." She closes her eyes and leans her forehead against his. "From now on I will." He knows it isn't something she can really promise, but as long as she's willing to try it's enough for him.
They stay like that for a while, just resting against each other until she seems to remember something he'd hoped she hadn't heard earlier.
"How did you break your phone?" He winces, looking down at her comforter and avoiding her inquisitive gaze.
"I threw it at a wall," he finally admits.
"Lucas," she sighs with disapproval.
"I know, I know," he concedes. "I'll keep working on it."
Neither one of them is perfect but more than ever he's sure that they are perfect for each other.