Hey guys! I know I haven't updated in some time, but I just want you guys to know that I'm back! Just as a notice, the reason why I said that Riley's parents were low income was because of the amount a middle school teacher does. I'm sorry that I didn't use the right word because they DEFINITELY don't qualify under low income, but writing just comes to me in spurts. I'm sure some of you have had the same thing. Anyways, thanks for correcting me! Suggestions and corrections are welcome anytime, anywhere.

Another thing, though. This part of the story, from now on, is going to be written more towards Lucas. He's going to see what his decisions caused even years after. The story now takes place about 4 years after, so when all of them are coming out of college. Riley and Farkle are twenty one years and the rest of them are twenty two. Josh is three years older than Maya, thus he's 25. And yes….Seth will play a part in the story.

Thanks for reading, guys! It means so much to me.

Xoxo,

Kadecca Sinclair

"Welcome to John F. Kennedy International Airport. We have touched down in New York. The weather here is…" Lucas tuned out slowly, his nerves overcoming him. The sensation of actually being nervous was rare to him, and the fact only served to make him more nervous.

It had been about a few months since he had seen Farkle and Maya. After senior year, Lucas had decided to go to Colorado State University, the third ranked veterinary program in the States, to major in veterinary medicine. Although he had loved the program for his extensive bachelor's degree, he had transferred back over to University of Pennsylvania,which was only a two hour ride from Manhattan, to finish the rest of his schooling for his doctorate. During his stay in Colorado, he had been dumbfounded by how much he missed his family and friends and had been awkwardly convinced by Farkle to move back to New York. When it came down to it, he couldn't choose education over family unlike some notable others.

Like Riley.

He hadn't been in communication with her for all his years in college. For the entirety of senior year, he had seen her leave his side to another's. Lucas had seen her when she jumped into another boy's arms when she found out that her and Seth were going to attend the same university. At one point or another, he was about to tell her everything, that he had made the decision and that he loved her, but of all people Josh had told him to stay away.

Lucas looked at his feet, questioningly. Did he really have the right to say it?

As he stared at the couple in front of him, his feet suddenly loosened it's grip on the ground. All hesitation was lost as he practically marched over to them. She deserved to know before the year came to an end whether she'd take him back or not.

A hand reached out of nowhere and almost tripped him. Lucas tried to keep walking past while muttering a quick apology, but the hand didn't budge.

"Lucas."

Josh looked at him with a sympathetic look that almost bore into him. Lucas's face flashed with recognition as he realized where he had seen Josh look like that, or to be more specific, at who. He had seen the same facial expression when Josh had looked at him and Maya.

"Listen, Lucas. I know what you're going to do, but you can't do it."

Josh's words were gentle, but firm. There was no getting past him on this issue. "Why not? She deserves to know, Josh. She deserves to have-"

"Have what? Someone who'll just confuse her in the end? No, Riley doesn't deserve that." Josh motioned to Seth and Riley. She was cuddled into his side with an undeniable grin on her face. Riley just looked so happy and so beautiful like that, and in those moments he knew he couldn't bring himself to ruin that. After all, he had his chance and he had to allow her to have her chance even if it was...away from him.

"Why does this happen?" Lucas's eyes were still stuck on the pair sitting on a picnic blanket in the green park. It was the same park that he had had his talk with Maya so long ago in. It was the same park that his decision had happened, and now he couldn't even hold true to it.

Josh shrugged next to him. To anyone else, it might've seemed as if Josh really didn't care, but Lucas knew better. The two were in the same situation, frozen in time because they had blown their chances. If anything, Josh just looked sad.

"I guess it's what they say. The moment you realize that you love someone, they're already gone." Josh finally said, his words coming out more as breaths than anything. "No matter how well he treats her, it won't be the same. Riley doesn't love him, you know? Not like how she loved you.

"I don't think she'll ever love anyone the way she loved you."

Lucas's heart clenched and his breath hitched halfway. "You really think so?"

Josh shook his head with a sad smile on his face. He had always liked Lucas and, when it came down to it, he had always imagined that Riley and Lucas would be the end.

"I know so."

Needless to say, Lucas was so far from over Riley. Yeah, he had dated a few times during college with some nice (and not so nice) girls at Colorado, but that didn't mean anything. Those were flings in a rash attempt to get over the girl who had been on his mind for more than eight years.

Those girls were pretty party girls that brought out the fun in his fraternity, but they weren't the ones he wanted. Lucas wanted a girl that wouldn't listen to him when she knew she was right, and he wanted a girl who brought the best part of him out. He wanted someone who reminded him to do work to make sure he could keep up with his goals, and he needed someone to ensure that he wouldn't hurt someone the way he had hurt her. It all came down to Riley in the end.

Lucas hadn't checked her blog in so long but, from what Maya and Farkle said, her business was a complete success. Riley had even graduated the year before in order to have enough time to do everything she wanted to do. Of course, he had expected that. Every corner he walked, he could practically feel the stare of her eyes from the magazine racks praising her as the next break-out humanitarian of the century. She had gone on to do interviews with the UN, was welcomed as a hero to second and third-world countries, blogged on the multimillion dollar blog, and held important trading stocks at Wall Street all at the same time. From what Farkle had said, Riley was working day and night to get her latest project afloat which Zay deemed a "masterpiece" while trying to balance all the other ones.

Lucas was genuinely happy for Riley, and now that he saw how great she could be without him, he was left wondering whether she ever really needed him. He was the one who had brought the idea of the blog together, but it was all her work that made it the success it was. She was extraordinary, and it didn't matter if he was there or not because she would've found her passion anyways.

He often wondered what would've happened if he hadn't dated Maya for those stupid three weeks. For one, Maya and Riley would still be friends. He had single-handedly broke the strongest friendship he had known. Of course, Riley had forgiven Maya but it had never been the same. After the incident, Riley and Maya grew apart despite Maya's constant attempts to bring them back together.

As for the rest of the group, he was sure that Farkle and Zay would be closer as well. Both of them still held the whole thing over Lucas's head like a dead weight and it wasn't exactly the best sensation. Most significantly, however, he'd have Riley. Riley and him would be together, studying and laughing with one another. It was funny how fast his heart began to speed up when he even thought of that.

"Sir, are you in need of assistance?"

Everyone on the airplane had already left. He was alone in the aisles save for the young flight attendant that was 100% checking him out as if he was a piece of candied meat on his father's ranch.

"Nope."

Lucas tapped his foot impatiently. Farkle always had a tendency to either be two hours late or two hours early. Lucas had only hoped that the first option would come true but, evidently, Farkle wasn't at the airport.

His obnoxiously annoying ringtone rang, disrupting the entire room. Lucas could practically feel the glares of the mothers near him trying to get their children to sleep. It wasn't completely his own fault that his ex-girlfriend Vanessa was a Computer Science major and, when he dumped her, had installed some sort of thing on his phone that changed his ringtone permanently and didn't give him the choice to change it (he bribed Vanessa's best friend to remove the naked picture of her as his wallpaper). Vanessa was the one and only incident in which he used online dating within the campus. When he dumped her, she had reigned hell on him despite his courteous and gallant gestures of friendship.

"Lucas here."

A loud voice boomed from his phone and crinkled in pitches Lucas didn't even think were possible. He quickly turned down the volume after (almost) dropping his phone on the ground. Considering his track record, he was surprised he had even lasted five months with his iPhone.

"I'm really, really sorry but I had this whole thing with Izzy and she was so happy and I got caught up and bro I'm super-." Lucas mentally groaned but made sure not to express his true feelings outwards. To be honest, he was super happy for Isadora and Farkle. She had outgrown her old self and now she was P.h.D certified in Quantum Physics. On the more literal side, she had literally grown. Her stomach now held a little baby bump holding the kid who was destined to either be the one that saved the world with his intelligence or destroyed it.

Lucas sighed. "It's okay, Farkle. I'll just take the cab home or something. That reminds me, your penthouse right? 5th Avenue, Madison Square Park area?"

As far as Lucas knew, Farkle owned a large luxury penthouse that he shared with Isadora. Maya had called it a "palace" and the place where she'd go if she ever needed to run away because no one would be able to find her considering the size of the penthouse. Farkle had about two extra bedrooms the size of eight of Lucas's dorm rooms each and had been more than willing to have Lucas take one. Honestly, Lucas was pretty sure that the whole pregnancy thing was stressing Farkle out more than anything.

He dragged his heavy backpack holding all of his college folders and important technological items and his luggages and duffel bags to the taxi center grudgingly. If Isadora wasn't pregnant, Lucas would've killed Farkle the second he got there. The time difference wasn't that bad, but the whole ordeal or being on the plane for so long was absolutely destroying Lucas.

The guy at the front desk looked at Lucas with a look of pity. Obviously more cases than him had experienced being forgotten and left at the airport.

"Girlfriend didn't pick you up?" The clerk asked, his eyes genuinely concerned. Lucas snorted. Unless Farkle was his girlfriend, the answer to the question was an absolute no.

Lucas just went with it, however, because he was just too damn tired to do anything else. He just wanted to sleep the whole week away (or maybe the summer) without having to worry about anything or anyone before University of Pennsylvania began in the fall. As he sat in the uncomfortable taxi with a guy that smelled like cigarettes and rotten bacon, Lucas looked out the window. At first, he shoved his head out just to get a breath of something that wasn't worse than a garbage dump, but he was rewarded with something far greater. The magnificent lights, the tourists clamoring around to get to their hotel ASAP, and the honks of the taxi drivers cursing at one another felt...nice. It felt like home, as if he had finally found himself once more. Lucas knew that he was right to follow Farkle's advice to just go back to Manhattan and study closer to home.

"Here."

Lucas payed the taxi driver while almost cringing at the feel of the money just slipping from his hands. Throughout college, he had mostly fed himself over instant noodles and cheap bottomless fries from the local Red Robin's. His friends and him had been tossed out of the restaurant a multitude of times from just ordering one drink and one hamburger and eating off the bottomless fries and refillable drinks. A student's got to do what he got to do in such a money crunching situation. To be honest, Lucas felt like college was just a way for administrators to make money by making students pay so that when the student gets famous, the school gets credit. All in all, college was awfully overpriced and just so expensive.

The upperclass side of Manhattan was more foreign to him. John Quincy was more South, but the place that Farkle had purchased was more near the North West side. The lights of the tall buildings were blinding and made Lucas immediately doubt whether he'd actually be able to get a wink of sleep.

As Lucas dialed the number for Farkle's penthouse, he was struck with an awfully familiar memory. He had went to Riley's apartment countless times with the same procedure, and so many good times had been rooted there. The four of them (plus Zay) together were the gang, and the desire to have them back like that was incomprehensible

"It's Lucas." The door immediately opened without need for another word, and Lucas walked in with an awestruck expression. Cleaned marble tiles were under his dirty feet and the smell of lavender scents were plastered deriving from the beautiful scented rock sculptures near the windows. The main office person waved him ahead, and he passed through another set of bulletproof glass doors lined with silver detailed patterns. The waiting rooms and restaurants on the bottom floor were beautiful and luxorious and, according to Farkle, there were more shops downstairs including one of the most famous and expensive restaurants. God he hoped that Farkle would cover his bill.

An iPad was attached in between all of the glass elevators with both a game for those waiting and a slot for Lucas to type in which level Farkle was on. As he waited for the next elevator while playing some World of Warcraft-like game and snacking on the cheesecake platters on the table, Lucas basked in the feeling. He could so get used to this lifestyle. Him, Zay, and Maya were the only ones still in college like the normal people they were.

By the time Lucas got up to Farkle's tall penthouse, he was about ready to spend his whole home-coming inside of the building. The complementary bowling alleys, pool tables, sophisticated real pools, rooftop sports center, and technology room were all to die for. The complementary food was absolutely delicious, and Lucas had already stuffed about three jars of homemade New York chocolate chip cookies in his backpack.

The second he stepped into the penthouse, he was tackled down by a much smaller figure. Isadora's face appeared above his and her gleaming smile and the belly she was carrying around made him hug her back gently. Isadora and him had gotten a lot closer over the years. She was the only unbiased person (in matters related to Riley at least) he could talk to, and her talks definitely put some confidence in him.

Lucas clapped Farkle in the back afterwards and set his stuff in his "new" room downstairs. Sure enough, Isadora and Farkle's room was upstairs along with one of the guest rooms. The whole penthouse was extremely hi-tech, geared with multiple iPads and Macs scattered across the rooms.

"We didn't have anytime to buy you a welcome gift. Sorry, bro." Lucas shook his head at Farkle, almost bursting into laughter. The King size bed, closets and drawers, couch, TV, computer, fancy rugs, voice-commanded lights, and desks were more than enough for Lucas. Maya was right; Farkle's "guest" rooms were the size of nine times his dorm.

"It is so fine, Farkle. So okay."

After Lucas changed, he walked out of his room and down the hall to attempt to catch up with Farkle's distress at Isadora's hormonal changes. When it came down to it, Farkle was still just a kid and he was absolutely not prepared for what was going to come to him. As Lucas walked, however, he noticed the large room next to him with the door slammed shut. He'd have to ask them about that later.

An amazing smell wafted into Lucas's nose as he walked closer to the pearly white kitchen. Isadora grinned as she pointed to Farkle who was making a small portion of pasta.

"Farkle," he said with a shaking head, "you didn't have to make anything for me." The plain food was more than enough with the nauseous smell and bland taste.

Farkle turned his head to Lucas with a weird expression before snorting. "I wasn't making it for you, you idiot." He poured the food into a bowl and put a fork by it before walking out with his apron on. Lucas laughed until he was almost on the verge of tears. It was so hard to take Farkle seriously with a pink and white daisy apron on that had small splashes of sauce here and there. Out of everyone, he hadn't expected Farkle to learn how to cook.

"If you're going to laugh so hard, why don't you take this over to the room next to yours!" Farkle grinned while trying to keep an angry and intimidating face at his best friend.

Lucas's eyebrows knotted in confusion but he kept laughing. Did Maya move into the room like she had said she would? Zay? One of Isadora's friends?

As his laughing died down, Lucas took the plate from Farkle's hands and walked to the door. For some reason, there was a weird feeling attached to the place that he couldn't put his finger on. He turned the handle and opened the door.

"Wait-," Farkle yelled as he began to run towards Lucas, but it was too late.

Right in front of the shocked Lucas was a small figure whose face was just as expressive as his own. Her messy bun was knotted on top of her head and she was dressed in mere boxers and a tank top with a MacBook held in her hands. Her face was make-up free and devoid of any effort.
Yet, she was still beautiful to Lucas. Even in those moments, Riley Matthew was just as breathtaking as ever.