Lucas stares at her shocked for a moment before he can do anything other than breathe but once it settles in that Riley is asking him on a date all he can do is frantically nod as he figures out how to use his voice. She's smiling softly at him as he nods and when he does get his voice to work it cracks as he manages a "Yes", before he clears his throat and tries again
"I would love to go on a date with you Riley." Riley beams up at him they decide on 11 am at Blue Max's they're walking out of school before it dawns on Lucas that they never decided on transportation or if they were going to meet there. This entire time Riley's been back he's never seen her drive, Josh always does. But he thinks he remembers her having a white Toyota, but all he's seen was Josh driving and it wasn't the Toyota.
"Do you want me to pick you up for our date?" Lucas can't help but smile as he says date but his nervousness shows through as he rubs his neck
Riley looks at him for a moment and he sees panic flash through her before she shoves it down.
"I would love it if you would pick me up" Josh is giving her a look from the car and Maya is giving Lucas his own look as well, so before Lucas has time to fully react she hugs him tight and jogs away to Josh
When Lucas gets over to the car Maya's giving him a weird look, "What's wrong with your face?"
"What?"
"Your face, you look like someone injected you with happy serum or something I don't know. But you're smiling way to much"
"Oh well Riley just asked me out" He states with glee as he starts up the car
"WHAT!" Maya shrieks as he pulls out of the parking lot
It's the next day and Topanga is helping Riley get ready for her date by offering her support
"You've liked Lucas forever, and he was always such a nice boy, I'm sure it will go well" Topanga smiles warmly at her daughter while he daughter gives her a look
"Mom I'm sure it will, Lucas has always been the nicest and from what Josh, Maya and Zay say he likes me a lot. I'm not worried about it being a nice time. I just, it's our first date. And I want it to be perfect."
Topanga nods, "You know what Joanne says about building things up to be perfect in your head sweetie."
Riley nods, "And that's the other thing! I have told him about any of that! Or The Thing. And I don't think I'm ready to fully but I want him to know some and god Mom now I'm stressed out! Maybe I should just cancel!" Riley makes a move to grab her phone, but Topanga grabs her instead
With a fierce look in her eye Topanga talks to her daughter, "Riley this could really be the start of something beautiful but that means you have to give it a chance. You don't have to tell him about The Thing, but you could tell him about some things that are a result of The Thing or some things that caused it. But whatever you decide is up to." Before Riley can respond the doorbell rings, Riley jumps up smooths out her dress and runs down the stairs, but when she opens her door it's only her Uncles.
"Uncle Eric! Uncle Jack! What are you doing here?" Riley deflates
Both of her Uncles smile, "We're here to meet Lover-Boy" Eric states proudly
"We're also here to offer our favorite niece support as she goes on her first date." Jack stated as he nudged his husband while Eric nodded,
"Yeah that too"
Before Riley could say anymore the doorbell rang again, "That had better not be Aunt Morgan and Aunt Morgan." She stated as he gave them a look. But standing on the other side of the door was Lucas holding a bouquet of flowers wearing blue jeans, his boots, and the flannel she had complimented him on before. He completely lost his breath as she opened the door. She had a bun on top of her head but most of her hair was down, and she was wearing a purple dress that flared above her knees out with a pair of converse.
He handed her the flowers while he tried to close his jaw, "You look wow"
Riley giggled prettily at him, "Thank you, and come in for a second so I can put these in water"
Lucas nodded as he stepped in not expecting the three Matthews men to be staring him down.
Jack started, "If you hurt that little bean so help us god-"
"We will end you and hide your body so no one can find it-" Eric continued
"And make your disappearance look like an accident, but that won't be a problem will it Lucas." Cory finished
"No sirs" Lucas answered confidently
Riley shot daggers at her family as she walked back in, "You guys stop."
Lucas chuckled as he grabbed her hand, "Don't worry they're only looking out for you. You ready to go?"
Riley nodded, "Yeah all my stuffs in my pockets! Look this dress has pockets!" As if to prove her point she put her hand that wasn't holding his in her pocket and smiled at him as he beamed down at her.
Riley was having a wonderful time, he had opened the door to his car for her and helped her in, he bought her coffee even though she argued, and he was holding her hand occasionally running his thumb over her knuckles. They had been talking about everything and nothing for the past couple of hours and Riley couldn't stop smiling. The coffee shop was small but cozy, there weren't too many people around and the noise wasn't overwhelming.
They had talked about some important topics, like how Pluto was still a planet and how they both loved animals but Riley wanted to fill Lucas in on some things. She drew at the same courage she used when she asked him out,
"Lucas there's something I want to tell you, it's kind of serious" Lucas gestured for her to continue, "So I really like you and I really want whatever this is to continue-"
"Me too" Lucas butted in for reassurance
"But there's a few things you should know about me before that. Um for one I hate large crowds and loud noises." Lucas nodded he knew things just from watching her,
"And um. I'm really really really insecure, I don't mean to be and my family tells me there's no reason to be but I often feel out of place and inadequate."
"Oh Riley" Lucas comforted squeezing her hand but letting her continue
"That's why I don't always eat with you guys, it's overwhelming. And why I'm so glad you're my automatic partner because the idea of choosing someone freaks me out. Though I'd choose you anytime, over anyone."
"Me too, thanks for telling me Riley. But I had already kinda figured out the first two."
Riley gave him a curious look, "How?"
Lucas turned bashful, "Well you've been like that since we were kids, and uh I watched you a lot. Not in like a creepy way but in like a-I liked you way. And as for you being insecure, it's okay. If I have to remind you everyday how perfect you are, I will"
The two smiled at each other with their hands on the table as Lucas spoke again,
"Since we're sharing secrets, um I kind of have a temper. When I was younger pre-moving here I had some serious anger stuff and um at the start of high school it came back and I went to therapy for it. Which has helped a lot, and I box on the sides now to work off some of the anger. But I just wanted you to know."
"Thanks for telling me that Lucas, and if you ever need to talk about it. You know I'm your girl right?"
Lucas nodded, "I do" There was a pause where Lucas debated with himself if he was really going to do it but before he could fully process it, it was out of his mouth. "I know it's our first date and everything, but would you be my girl all the time?"
Riley cocked her head to the side, "Like your-your?"
"Girlfriend" Lucas finished smiling
"YES!" Riley shouted as she launched herself across the table to hug him
On Monday none of their friends were surprised that the two were officially dating after only one date. They'd been pinning a lot. But the girls of their high school did not seem to like the idea, and Riley noticed. All sorts of girls had been trying to date Lucas since middle school and nothing, Riley Matthews goes on one date with him and they end up dating?
Riley brought it up with the group as they ate lunch that Monday, "All these girls won't stop giving me the death glare and it's giving me the heebie jeebies."
Maya nodded, "Yeah I heard a bunch of them talking in the bathroom about it, I told them to mind their own damn business. You two make each other happy, it's that simple." Riley gave her a grateful smile
Lucas piped in before Riley could respond, "No one's said anything, mostly because I doubt they would say anything to you and we're always together. But I can feel their daggers" Lunch continued on as normal and as did their school days.
Riley and Lucas would go on dates and outings on Saturdays; sometimes they'd go with the group sometimes Riley would ditch Lucas just to hang out with Maya. But after a few weeks things settled down in their personal lives and things seemed good.
It was early October now and school had really picked up, it seemed to the gang that their teachers had all gotten together and assigned projects and papers. Lucas knew it was stressing Riley out because she had made a few comments on it, and he could tell she was drawing into herself. But mostly she seemed fine, she came to school went to class they held hands and sometimes they kissed at her locker. She seemed mostly fine if not a little more tense than usual that are why it surprised Lucas when she wasn't at school on Friday.
She had texted him, "Hey Blue" which was her pet-name for him considering how much blue he wore, "I won't be at school today, I'm not feeling right. Could you take good notes for me and get my work?" Complete with three purple hearts
Lucas went over on Friday after school with Josh to drop it off. Her door sign said she was taking a nap so he and Josh went to play video games downstairs as he waited for his girlfriend to wake up. They were having a good time until they heard a crash from upstairs.
