A/N: *peeks out from underneath desk* ehehe…College stress honestly sucks. I'm so, so sorry for the long wait. I've been so crazy busy that writing inspiration didn't come to me until last night.

As she turned off her car, Riley allowed a small smile to grace her lips. Ever since her and Shawn's story had been published on Hit the Road's featured column on their website, it became one of their most popular articles. Because of this, Hit the Road decided to continue with the 'Small Towns, Big Fun' feature. Their goal was to try and feature a small town once or twice a month. Riley had started researching some in New York State for the upcoming months, and came across a small rodeo and fair that would take place a couple weeks from that point. Naturally, Riley volunteered since she enjoyed the last trip so much, and her superiors agreed. So here she was – back in Western New York. She was originally excited for this trip in the first place, but after her father found out about Lucas, the excitement turned into desperation to get away. Maya was right – she needed to get away to clear her head. Ever since her dad found out, Riley had been on the defensive about Lucas, and she didn't know why either. Her father hadn't bugged her about it since, so what was the reason? If they were just friends, why was she acting like this? What if…?

Riley cut herself off from finishing her though as she grabbed her notepad and stepped out of the car. She slung her camera bag over her shoulder and headed over to the main event area while she looked over the schedule of events. There was mutton busting for some of the kids, mother/ daughter tournaments, roping competitions, father/ son races, animal shows, and even a couple of bull riders towards the end of the day. There were also a few other smaller events, like a mechanical bull riding contest, but she suspected she would only be able to touch on those lightly. Although she wished she could touch on everything a bit more, but that was the problem with words limits. She liked to think of them like movies – everything you want to add sometimes ends on the cutting room floor.

She arrived at one of the main show areas just as the mutton busting started. As each kid took their turn trying to stay on the sheep for eight seconds, Riley scribbled down notes and even managed to talk to a couple of the riders so she could get some more information on it. After about half of the kids took their ride and tumble, Riley headed over to the barns where the show animals were kept. Despite the strong presence of the smell of manure, Riley continued on inside and began to snap some pictures. For whatever reason, the smell didn't bother her as much as it had the first time. She chuckled to herself as she snapped a picture of a beautiful palomino, which walked over to her and nuzzled Riley once she lowered her camera. Feeling the horse's velvet nose against her fingers made Riley feel at ease, and it made her start to lose herself in thought.

"Marvelous creatures aren't they?" a voice asked from behind her.

Riley didn't realize how long she had been daydreaming, for the voice brought her back to the current moment and startled her – which also startled the horse a bit. She looked to see where the voice was coming from and saw a familiar pair of emerald eyes glinting towards her.

"Lucas," she breathed. Out of all the places she could run into him, she ran into him at a small rodeo in a middle of nowhere town in Western New York. "W-what are you doing here?" she asked, stuttering slightly. Once the question left her lips, she realized how stupid it sounded, but it was still a valid question all the same.

Lucas smiled. "Well, there are a couple reasons. The obvious: I have a ride here today, but it doesn't count for anything. The other is that I come up here to relax… one of my buddies helps run this place, and when I asked him if he knew of any places to get away, he mentioned here – which included him taking care of my travel costs. The only thing he asked in return is that I do one ride for him. Sometimes I just need to get away, you know? It's nice to not have to worry about anything."

Riley nodded. "Yeah, that I do."

"So, I take it you're here on assignment?" he asked as he gestured towards the camera hanging around her neck.

Out of habit, she looked down at it and took the camera in her hands. "Yeah, Hit the Road loved what Shawn and I did last time, so they want to try and make it a bimonthly occurrence, if possible. There's only so much we can do on our schedule."

"That's good to hear! What else have you been up to? Haven't heard from you in a while," he commented as the two of them slowly started walking down through the barn.

Riley closed her eyes. "I'm so sorry about that… I've been so busy, and I've gotten myself worked up over things as of late that I forgot to return your calls."

"Nah, don't worry about it. Just wanted to make sure you weren't avoiding me," he returned in a joking tone, making her smile. Seeing her smile like that made Lucas' heart swell ever so slightly. "In all seriousness, I just hope everything is okay – because I know how much you were hurting last time, and if you ever need to talk, I'm here to listen."

She nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Don't worry, I don't think I could ever avoid you," Riley responded. "These past couple of weeks was just about me trying to sort out some things. Last time we saw each other…" she trailed, not sure if she should get into this now. But if she was going to help get over him, it was good to talk about it. "Last time we saw each other, Maya was helping me get out of a huge mess. I had just broken up with my fiancé and…" Riley trailed again, allowing for a long pause to come between them.

"You don't have to talk about this now if you don't want to," Lucas offered.

Despite his reasoning, Riley shook her head. "No, I need to stop keeping it to myself. My ex fiancé and I met during high school, and for the longest time I thought I was going to end up like my parents – a perfect, never ending love story that started early on in life. Then we went to college and something changed inside of him. He stood me up several times, cheated on me, and begged me to take him back every time – saying that he would change. And I did despite my best friend's and my parent's urgings because all I saw was the good in him. Eventually, he appeared to have changed, and then he proposed. Not long after I said yes, one of my friends who was in town spotted him in a restaurant cuddling up with a girl. My friend called Maya and me, and I dumped him there on the spot. The trip Maya took me on was to help clear my head."

Hesitantly, Lucas placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "I'm really sorry, Riley. He made a major mistake in doing that to you – quite frankly, I don't think he realizes what he's missing. You're a great person, and anyone would be lucky to be with you."

A small smile started to come over Riley's lips. "Thanks," she replied, hoping that Lucas didn't detect her shortness of breath. Feeling the warmth of his hand seeping through her tee shirt caused her heart to race. As much as she wanted to continue in this moment, she knew she had to end it before anything else happened. Her eyes drifted to her watch and she realized the time. "I hate to do this, but I really should head back to the main arena. The roping contest is starting soon and I want to try and get some good shots in," she explained. "You could join me, if you like." She thought she had only said the last bit in her mind, but she quickly realized that she had indeed said it out loud. Riley had to admit that it was a rather good idea, especially since they haven't seen each other in quite a while, but she was still surprised that she had said such a thing. Boldness was not her strong suit – that was Maya's area of expertise.

Lucas smiled brightly at her suggestion. "I would like that very much," he replied, and the two of the turned around and headed back to the main tent. Once they reached the fence, Riley changed her camera lens and readied herself for the start of the competition. As the gate opened, she brought the eyepiece up and started snapping photos. Instead of watching the roping as he usually would, Lucas kept on glancing at Riley through the corner of his eye. She was so calm and focused as each pair competed; she didn't even waiver when the calf dodged towards them and away from the pounding of the horses' hooves. There were several times where he had to try and force himself to watch what was happening in the ring, but it was no use.

OoOoO

To both Lucas and Riley, the rest of the day seemed to pass by fairly quickly. Once Riley covered the father/ son and mother/ daughter competitions, along with the animal shows, the two of them were able to find some time to talk. But it wasn't long before Lucas had to go get ready for his ride.

However, before he headed towards the chute, Lucas asked, "Hey Riley, uh, are you doing anything later tonight?"

Riley raised a confused eyebrow as she answered. "Other than drafting my article and going through the photos I took, no."

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner with me. I know a great place not too far from here, and it would give us a chance to catch up."

Riley wasn't sure how long it took her to respond – to her it seemed like time had stopped. Eventually, she managed to stutter out a yes before Lucas smiled, gave her a time when he'd pick her up, and headed off. Once he made his way towards the chute, Riley blinked and released the breath she didn't realize she was holding. What the heck just happened? she wondered.

Unfortunately for her, she didn't have a chance to go over what had just happened, for someone over the loud speaker announced, "And for our final event of this fine evening, a good friend of this rodeo, Lucas Friar, will do what he does best as he takes on Stampede!"

Riley raised her camera just as the chute opened and the bull came bounding out. She was only able to get a few decent pictures before Stampede made a sudden move about five seconds into the ride, causing Lucas to slide off of his back. Riley suspected that if the ride actually counted for something, Lucas would have fought for it – but since he was here for fun, there was no point in risking some sort of injury. The crowd let out loud whoops and whistles, congratulating the young bull rider as he made his way out of the ring and back towards Riley.

"Nice ride," Riley commented once Lucas was within earshot, but in all reality she had no idea what she was talking about.

Lucas smiled as he stopped in front of her. "Thanks. I'm sorry, but I have to go take care of something before we head to dinner. I'll see you then?"

Riley nodded. "Yeah; I'll see you then," she replied as her stomach started to form knots.

A/N: Let me know what you guys thought of it! Pretty please? I love hearing what you all think of it. Hope to see you soon!