A/N My internet was down last night otherwise I would have posted this already, I will try to continue to do once a day as part of countdown to Texas! Continues thanks for the great reviews and support. I am pleased my Lucaya readers think I have done them justice, because I really want to honor the characters.

Special shout out to onceuponatime2011 whose boyfriend was semi-quoted here as he had a very similar response to Lucas's…protective reaction in Rileytown.

On with the date! This builds to the scene depicted in some stills from Texas 3 as requested by a reviewer

The Date Part 2

Topanga's

Lucas leaned back and let out an exasperated sigh "Zay and his big mouth. Am I not allowed to compliment a friend on her talent and say I want her to get to do what she wants? I told you guys his mouth is always getting him into trouble. He blurts things out without even thinking about how people might feel. Like the stupid 'blonde beauty/pretty brunette' line. I mean, could I sound shallower?"

"Yeah, about that…" Maya replied.

Lucas quickly jumped in "Okay Maya I know what you were thinking, and yeah, I did talk about you guys with Zay. And we're guys. When I tell a guy I made friends with two girls of course his first question is about looks."

"So he was telling the truth?" Maya asked.

"Well, yeah Maya. I mean you are really pretty. I have eyes, you know. Zay coined the term 'blonde beauty' and I just kind of went with it. It helped him remember the differences between you guys. But I'm not that shallow, I talked about other stuff too. Leave it to Zay to leave the other stuff out."

Maya responded "Actually he did say some really nice stuff you told him about Riley. I could tell that, based on what Zay said, Riley meant a lot to you."

"She does mean a lot to me" Lucas replied emphatically.

"I know! I just meant during your conversations with Zay. Don't get defensive cowboy. I witnessed first-hand just as many, in fact way more, Riley and Lucas moments as you saw with me and Josh. You don't need to convince me you care about her. Knowing Riley though, she focused on the negative. She has always been insecure. Back to the issue of 'feelings' I don't think you did anything for me that you wouldn't have done for the others. Right?"

Lucas answered "Of course. At least I'd like to think so. If I can't beat people up to the point of being expelled in order to be there for my friends, the least I can do is show how little rhythm I have to save an arts program. Public humiliation was totally worth it."

"Thanks for that. I'll try to limit your need to sing and dance in the future. It's for the best. Believe me" Maya laughed remembering their "thinking creatively" vaudeville performance that magically had worked. Maya said as her laughter calmed. Lucas pretended to be offended at first, but Maya could tell he was relieved.

"Seriously though it's nice to know you guys have my back" Maya sincerely said "But if Riley was feeling like you would never get, using Zay's words here, 'fired up' for her she can't doubt that now. I mean you broke a freaking table for her, in her mother's bakery no less. And her mom is a shark lawyer who could sue you back to Texas."

Lucas scrunched his forehead "Man I didn't even think of that. Thank God Topanga was cool with it. The only thought I had was that I had to get to her. No one needs to deal with stuff like that alone."

Maya looked at Lucas wryly "Um Lucas? You went a little above and beyond there. I mean you crashed into the room like a freaking wrecking ball. Not to mention it was obvious even to Mr. Matthews that you could barely contain yourself. Part of me was worried you were going to beat up that girl or something."

"Ha. Ha. That isn't what I meant and you know it. I just didn't want Riley to have to deal with it. I would have figured out something. She just, had already dealt with enough of it. I wanted to keep her from getting more hurt than she already had" Lucas responded.

Maya replied "Believe me, I get the instinct. I offered to handle it too, remember? Turns out we both underestimated her a little bit on that one."

"Yeah, we did. She was great" he responded softly "I just don't understand people. Why would you want to tear someone like her down? Can't they see that someone like her is special? It sucks someone would use that against her."

"I know. It's really nice that you get that too, Lucas. I'm not sure if I ever told you that. Lots of guys would avoid the 'weird,' especially at our age. Farkle and I have always known how amazing she is. It's nice that other people can see it too" Maya sincerely complimented him.

"How could I not?" Lucas replied. They shared a smile, and any awkwardness was gone.

Maya continued "Ok then. We addressed that your reaction to the Arts Program goes with your knight in shining armor thingy you got going on, and that Zay has a big mouth. This is a pretty productive date so far, I must say. Go us." Maya lifted her smoothie and toasted with Lucas.

Matthews Apartment:

Riley and Josh were uncomfortably full after gorging on unspeakable amounts of ice cream and chocolate and were laying on opposite ends of the couch groaning. Riley heard her phone beep, then groaned at the effort it took to move off the couch to reach for her phone.

Josh heard Riley let out a strangled sound as she dropped her phone "Everything okay niece? You look panicked. What's going on?" he asked worriedly.

"Um, yeah, no, sorry Josh. It's just a text from my Mom. Don't worry everything is OK. She just needs me to…do something for her" Riley answered, words tumbling out of her mouth.

"What does she need you to do?" Josh asked.

Riley's eyes darted around the room as she anxiously paced and she answered "Mom needs me to go to Topanga's. The expense reports for last month are in her office here and she needs me to fax them to her from the bakery with this month's expense reports, which are on her desk there. The copies on her flash drive aren't like, in the right format or something I don't know, so I have to get the original and fax it to her. And the only original copy is…there. She only asked because she needs both originals to be faxed to her so she figured I could do both at the same time I didn't want her to think anything was wrong with me and we don't have a fax machine here and the waitress doesn't know how mom organizes her office there and-"

Josh cut her off because Riley was speaking in endless run on sentences again "Riley don't worry about it, I can take care-"

"No! Uncle Josh remember? I am fine. Besides you don't know where the stuff is either and Mom is super OCD about her offices. I make the most sense. Really, I will be fine. They may not even be there. They were just meeting there at 6" Riley replied, realizing she most likely sounded like a pathetic stalker "I'll go get the report she needs from her office here and then we can go okay? Okay."

Josh grabbed the apartment keys "Well this should be interesting" he said under his breath as they rushed out the door.