Sorry it took a little longer than expected to get this up! Well, this is it.

Chapter Ten

Riley couldn't believe she just embarrassed herself in front of Lucas like that. She laid out her feelings on the table for him, and he rejected her. She couldn't blame him though. She understood that betraying him was something he clearly wasn't going to get over. It was hard for Riley to even forgive herself.

She walked a couple of blocks to a nearby gas station where she waited for her Uber to come pick her up. She took in her surroundings. It was all so nostalgic to her. She remembered the first time she visited Texas with her friends, the time Lucas was forced to ride Tombstone the bull. He had relied so heavily on Riley's faith in him during that time. But not anymore. In fact, she was positive he completely lost faith in her. Why wouldn't he?

The whole ride back to the hotel, Riley stared out the window, watching the flowing landscapes. How could things have gone so wrong? She tried to clear her mind, tried to forget about the exchange that happened about an hour ago, but she couldn't. His words replayed in her head. You don't get to make decisions about us anymore. I'm done.

The moment Riley stepped out of the elevator, she found herself crying. She returned to her room in that state, if not worse. Sienna quickly attended to the brunette, anxious to hear what happened with Lucas. She didn't need to ask Riley to know that it didn't go so well. The crying said it all, the pain and heartache evident on Riley's face was all Sienna needed to see. Sienna frowned, offering Riley tissues to wipe her face with. She led her to one of the two beds in the room and tried to comfort her. It didn't work.

Ten minutes later and Riley couldn't cry anymore. Her eyes were noticeably bloodshot and she lost her breath. Sienna remained seated while Riley excused herself to the bathroom to recompose herself. She regulated her breathing, she took some eye drops to help with the redness. When Riley thought she was okay enough to at least force a smile on her face, she returned to sit with Sienna.

"Riley, what happened?" Sienna asked softly. She was unsure if Riley was ready to talk about things, but she looked okay so she took a chance on it.

"Well, when Lucas first answered the door, he slammed it in my face," Riley began. She sighed. She was never going to forget that moment. She knew that it would be etched in her mind forever, no matter how things turn out. It hurt her, him shutting her out. "Eventually with my obnoxious banging, he let me in."

"Okay, not off to a great start…" Sienna commented, her voice trailing off. "But hey, at least he let you in, right?"

Riley nodded. She explained the whole situation to Sienna, to which Sienna seemed very surprised to hear. She hadn't expected Lucas to react like that, and neither did Riley.

"I'm done, Sienna," Riley sighed. "Done."

Sienna understood why Riley felt the need to give up once more. But she couldn't give up. Not now. Sienna knew that Riley and Lucas would only be miserable without each other, she already experienced it firsthand. Why couldn't Lucas see that he was better off with Riley?

"No," Sienna rubbed Riley's back. "You're not."

"Yes," Riley insisted, she laughed dryly as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. "I am."

"Nope," Sienna replied. "I won't let you be done."

"Why not?" Riley asked, irritated. "There's no use. I tried, Sienna. He's made up his mind. There's no way he's coming back to New York. I'm sorry."

"Oh, Riley," Sienna breathed. "You see the good in him, don't you?"

Riley nodded and replied sadly, "But he doesn't see the good in me anymore."

"Look," Sienna sighed. "We're here for another day. It can't hurt to try again. You never know. Maybe Lucas isn't in the right state of mind right now. But what I know is that Lucas loves you. I know you know that and I'm just saying it again. You can't give up on him so easily. Try again tomorrow. He'll probably calm down a bit from your conversation. And, if he still won't budge, we'll go back to New York and I'll help you get over it. At least if he's not there with me, you are. And I've grown really fond of you, Riley Matthews."

Riley lifted the corners of her mouth to form a small smile. "You're pretty awesome, you know that?"

"It's the Friar curse," she shrugged with a grin.

"You really think I should try again?" Riley asked.

"I know you should," Sienna assured her, placing a hand on Riley's forearm. "I've never seen two people so in love. What you two have is special. Lucas can't just throw all of that away. And if he does, he's not as smart as I thought."

"Okay," Riley breathed. "I'll go see him again tomorrow."

"Good!" Sienna gave Riley a hug.

"So then what are we going to do for the rest of the day?"

Sienna decided to cheer Riley up by taking her to her favorite places around town, as well as some tourist spots. They ended up having a late lunch at Chubbie's, which happened to be Lucas and Zay's favorite restaurant in town. Riley had been there multiple times during her previous trips, and she could never get enough of it. As the two waited for their food, a boy came up to their table.

"Sienna?" The boy said. He had shaggy blonde hair and a muscular body. Riley thought that his face looked awfully familiar to her, like she's seen him before. She wasn't sure where, though. She stared blankly at him as she tried to figure out who he was.

Sienna looked up at him and gasped, "Dylan!" She got up and hugged the boy before shifting over and offering him a seat, to which he gladly obliged.

Riley snapped her fingers as the name sunk into her head. "Dylan, that's it! I knew you looked familiar." She remembered seeing him in pictures Lucas had shown her of his childhood. Lucas and Dylan were really close friends until Lucas moved to New York, where they eventually lost touch. Riley had no idea that Dylan knew Sienna. She turned to Sienna, "You two know each other?"

"Yeah," Sienna nodded with a smile. "I'm sure you know he was one of Lucas's best friends other than Zay. But he was the assistant coach for the girls' basketball team I was on before I left."

"I had no idea," Riley said with wide eyes.

"So you know who I am, and I don't want to seem impolite," Dylan began, "but who are you?"

"The name's Riley," she replied, putting her hand out towards him.

A light bulb went off in Dylan's head. He realized that this girl was the reason Lucas fell in love with New York City. He smirked and shook her hand, "Oh, so you're Riley!"

"So you've heard about me?"

"Of course I have," Dylan nodded. "When Lucas first moved and before we drifted apart, he talked to me about you all the time." He added, "I had no idea how pretty you were though. Lucas never did care enough to send me photos."

"Oh, gee, thanks," Riley offered a warm smile. She didn't recall Lucas ever telling her this, how he used to tell Dylan about her when he first moved. She felt flattered, though.

Dylan returned the friendly smile. He looked between Riley and Sienna, "So what brings you two here? It's an awfully long way from New York City."

"Oh, we're here to see Lucas," Sienna replied nonchalantly. "Have you seen him around? He's here for the summer, you know."

"Yes, I know," Dylan nodded. "He's interning with me."

"Oh, is he?" Riley raised a brow. "He never mentioned that."

"Well, he's been extremely busy," Dylan said. "Barely has time to himself."

Riley sighed, "Yeah, I know."

"Um, does Lucas know you're here?" Dylan asked, directing his question to Riley. "I heard you two might've broken up."

"He told you that, huh?" Riley said. Dylan nodded. "Did he tell you why?"

Dylan shook his head, "Didn't want to get too personal. It's none of my business. You know he got a scholarship to A&M?"

"That's why we're here," Sienna revealed. "To convince him not to take it."

"What, why?" Dylan titled his head. "He's always wanted to go there since he was a little boy!"

"He's not a little boy anymore, Dylan," Riley said. "After he moved to New York, he changed his mind about it. Decided to do college in the city."

"But who are you to tell him what he wants to do with his life?" Dylan challenged. He didn't mean to come off as rude, he was just defending his old friend. If Lucas wanted to go to A&M, he should go to A&M.

"Whoa, you make her sound controlling," Sienna furrowed her brows. "She's not."

"She's not controlling, okay," Dylan said with a nod. "But you do have an effect on him, I can tell. You know, if someone was to talk to him out of taking the scholarship, it would be you. You're the reason he fell in love with New York, or so I've been told."

"I already tried, didn't work," Riley huffed.

"Lucas can be a bit stubborn."

When Zay didn't get an update from Riley like she promised, he decided to call his best friend. He figured that things had been worked out and the two had gotten back together. He was so wrong.

"Hey! How's my Sugar?" Zay greeted as soon as he realized Lucas picked up. He was at Topanga's, waiting for Maya to take her break so they could have lunch together.

"I'm great, Zay," Lucas replied, somewhat enthusiastically. "But I'm not too keen on that nickname."

"Oh, hush," Zay said. "You know I was talking about Riley."

"Riley?" Lucas scrunched his face, balancing his phone between his ear and shoulder as he played video games. "Why the hell would you be talking about Riley?"

"Watch your language," Zay commanded. "You know how fond I am of her."

"What do you want, Zay?" Lucas asked.

"Just checking in to see how the happy couple's doing," Zay replied nonchalantly.

"Happy couple?" Lucas narrowed his eyes. "Did you call the wrong person or something?"

"No, this is Lucas, right?" Zay quickly removed his phone from his ear and checked the screen to make sure it was Lucas he was talking to. It was. He put the phone back to his ear. "Didn't you and Riley make up?"

"What? No!" Lucas sat up in his seat and paused his video game. This conversation was getting more of his attention than the zombies he was killing. "Where did you hear that?"

"Riley told us she was going over there to get you back," Zay said. "She said she was going to keep me updated but I didn't hear from her so I assumed things were all good. So I called you. Because, you know, you're my best friend. And I care about you."

"Well, Riley did come over here," Lucas confirmed.

"But then?" Zay urged.

"I turned her away."

"Why?!" Zay responded a little too loudly, earning him strange looks from customers at the bakery. He smiled nervously and decided to continue the call outside on the steps. "Are you out of your mind, Friar?!"

Lucas shrugged, "I must be. I just can't do it anymore, Zay. Not after what she did."

"Do you not understand how terrible she feels about the whole thing? She flew two thousand miles to see you," Zay explained. "Who does that?"

"Yeah, after she heard about my scholarship," Lucas muttered.

"No," Zay said, "after she heard that you weren't coming back to New York. She would've talked to you even if you didn't take that scholarship and you know it."

"She's only here because Sienna made her," Lucas huffed.

"She's there because she loves you," Zay countered. "Who else would fly across the country just to talk? Riley would. Because she loves you, and you love her. And you're using the scholarship as an excuse to avoid everything. You want to be with Riley and you know it."

"Shut up, Zay," Lucas shot back.

"You know I'm right," Zay smirked.

Lucas didn't say another word. Instead, he ended the call. He usually never hung up on Zay, and he knew he'd have to apologize for it later, but he just couldn't take it anymore. He had tried to forget about Riley ever since he got back to Texas, but today alone he had thousands of thoughts about her. It didn't help that she showed up at his doorstep. Maybe he needed to rethink the whole scholarship thing.

Lucas was having dinner with Pappy Joe, and he decided that it was an appropriate time to let him know about his decision about the scholarship. He had been thinking about it all day, and between Riley's visit and Zay's phone call, he didn't know what to do anymore. He knew Zay was right, that Riley's apology was genuine, but he couldn't get himself to forgive her, no matter how hard he tried.

"Pappy Joe, can I tell you something?" Lucas asked, not looking up from his plate.

"Of course, what is it?" Pappy Joe replied. He gave his full attention to his grandson.

"It's about the scholarship," Lucas admitted. He sighed and met Pappy Joe's gaze.

"Did you accept it yet?" Pappy Joe urged.

"Not yet, but I'm going to talk to them about it…" Lucas replied, his voice trailing off. "And um, I'm having second thoughts… I don't think I want to take it."

"What! Why not?" Pappy Joe gasped. It was a full scholarship to a really good school in the state. There was no reason for Lucas to turn it down. Unless he had a really good reason to. "It's one of the best schools in the state! It's Texas, it's home!"

"I love Texas, you know that," Lucas said. "But it doesn't feel like much of a home anymore. And I don't want to be stuck here for the next couple of years."

"But you've always wanted to go there," Pappy Joe reminded him with sad eyes.

"I did," Lucas confirmed. "But that was a long time ago. I've changed a lot since then. I know I'm stupid for wanting to give up an opportunity like that, especially the internship, but I really want to stay in New York. And I know if I work hard enough, I'll hopefully get more opportunities there. New York is my home now."

Pappy Joe raised a brow, "By any chance, did your prior decision have to do more with Riley and less with what I said to you?"

There was a pause. Lucas had to think about his answer. "Well, I do trust you, Pappy Joe, don't get me wrong. But I also think that I know what's good for myself. And yeah, sure, Riley's the reason I wanted to accept it, and she may be the reason I don't want to anymore…"

"What's with the sudden change of heart?" Pappy Joe asked. "I thought you two were over. Such a shame. I really like her."

"I really like her too," Lucas agreed with a long sigh.

"So what's the hold up?" Pappy Joe asked. "Why didn't you guys work things out?"

"She came over today," Lucas said nonchalantly, his attention back on his food.

"She did?" Pappy Joe raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect Riley to be in town. Not when she had a bakery to run back in New York.

"Yeah," Lucas nodded. "She wanted to talk."

"And?"

"I feel stupid, Pappy Joe," Lucas sighed. "I tried to hear her out but I couldn't. Every time I look at her all I can remember is that she kissed another guy. But deep down, I know she really meant it when she said the kiss meant nothing to her. I know she really meant all the things she said to me. Why else would she fly out here to talk things out? I know she made a mistake, but I think I made a mistake, too."

"Talk to her, boy," Pappy Joe encouraged. He saw the glimmer of hope in his grandson's eyes. Even though he knew that Lucas was still upset with what Riley did, Pappy Joe also knew that Lucas loved her so much that he'd get over it in time. He thought Lucas would be stupid to let her go.

Lucas swallowed and shook his head, "I don't think that's such a good idea. After all the things I said to her, I don't think she'll want to see me again. I think I broke her."

"Well, that's just even more reason to talk to her," Pappy Joe pointed out. "Make sure she's okay."

"Are you okay with me not going to A&M?" As much as Lucas wanted to make his decisions himself, he still wanted Pappy Joe to be supportive of him no matter what.

"I'm fine, Lucas," Pappy Joe assured him. "Who am I to dictate your future? You have the right to do that yourself. And whatever path you take, I know you're making the right decisions."

The next day, Sienna was informed by Lucas that he had a morning shift at the clinic but would be back by four, in case she wanted to stop by. But of course, she wasn't going to be the one stopping by, Riley would be.

Riley didn't sleep very well last night, not that she had any sleep the past few days. The thought of Lucas kept her awake. The fact that their future together was uncertain scared the crap out of her. She never planned on losing him, yet here he was, slowly slipping through her fingers. All she wanted was to kiss and make up.

She returned to Pappy Joe's house to see Lucas. She lifted her fist up and was about to knock on the door, but before her fist made contact, the door magically flew open. She was startled by this. And so was Lucas.

"Hi," Riley said with wide eyes.

"Um, Riley," Lucas once again didn't expect to see her at his door. "I was actually just about to go see you…"

"Really?" Riley asked, surprised.

"Yeah…" Lucas nervously chuckled.

"Can I come in?" Riley raised her eyebrows.

"Of course," Lucas said, gesturing for the brunette to enter into the living room.

Riley was surprised at how calm he seemed to be in her presence compared to how he acted yesterday. Had he been thinking a lot about them too?

"Why were you going to go see me?" Riley asked as she sat politely on the couch. Lucas sat inches beside her, a lot closer than they were yesterday. Riley was screaming with joy on the inside. On the outside, she tried to keep it cool.

"I think we have a bit of unfinished business we need to talk about from yesterday," Lucas said. He shrugged. "What are you doing here?"

"Same thing," Riley formed a line with her mouth. Lucas was about to say something, but Riley quickly interrupted. "Let me go first. Sienna convinced me to come and talk to you and try to see if I could change your mind about getting back together with me. Now I know it's a long shot but even though it may seem as if I kind of gave up on you a bit, that's so not the case. I have hope for us always. So that's why I'm here, because we both know I'm not the type of person to give up. Especially not on those who are—"

"I'm sorry," Lucas took a deep breath. After hearing what seemed to be the start of Riley's well-rehearsed speech, he couldn't wait any longer. She needed to know how he really felt. Not the feeling he thought he did when he suppressed his real ones.

"Excuse me, what?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me," Lucas shut his eyes. He took a deep breath. "That night. If I had known you were having a really hard time, I would've called. I would've been there for you, Riley. And I'm sorry I wasn't."

"Really?" Riley stared at him blankly, then shook her head. When she realized Lucas was in a state of vulnerability, she took her chances and cupped his face with her hands. The warmth of her touch was enough for Lucas to flutter his eyes open to meet her brown ones. "Lucas, really, you don't have to apologize for that. It's not your fault."

"I know," Lucas sighed. He covered her hand with his, caressing it with his thumb. Oh, how he missed her touch. "But I can't help but feel like I could've prevented all of this from happening."

"Don't ever think for a second that you had anything to do with it," Riley said. She peeled her hands off his face and folded them in her lap. She avoided his gaze. "You wanted that internship. And as much as I wanted to stop you, I couldn't. I couldn't get in the way of you and your dreams, Lucas." Riley knew Sienna would kill her for what she was about to say next, but who was she to get in the way of Lucas and his dreams? She took a deep breath before continuing, "And if you really want to go to A&M, you should go. With or without me in your life."

Lucas couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was she really encouraging him to take the scholarship? No way. He knew it was an empty gesture. There was no way she would be okay with that. He shook his head, disregarding her words for a second.

"Um, so I was thinking long and hard last night," Lucas began, looking down at his feet. "And I remembered this story you told me about your parents when they were seniors in high school. Uh, I believe it was on a ski trip. And your dad kissed a girl and your mom found out and it turned into this huge mess. But somehow, they worked it out. It reminded me of our situation. The only difference is that your dad kinda had feelings for the other girl and so they dated to see if there was anything there, and there wasn't. But you didn't date Evan. God, I hope you never do. But yeah, it was an empty kiss you had. A kiss, nonetheless, but empty. No feelings at all. On your side, anyway. And I'm still sorry you felt the need to find comfort in someone else because I wasn't there for you."

"Really, you don't have to apologize…" Riley whispered. As much as she loved how the conversation was going, she felt guilty that he thought any of it was his fault.

"Let me finish," Lucas raised an index finger to her lips. "Then I reminisced back onto our relationship. We've had a lot of good times, haven't we? A lot more than the bad. And so I thought, why should I leave the girl that I love with all my heart for one thing she's done wrong, when she's done so many other amazing things for me that no doubt outweigh that wrong? You've done so much good in my life, Riley. I don't think it's fair to punish the both of us for one wrong thing. People make mistakes, I get it. And I'm willing to look past that as long as it doesn't mean not having you in my life."

"What are you trying to say?" Riley was stunned by Lucas's little speech. Sure, she wanted to work things out with him, but she didn't expect him to say half the things he did. But still, she was glad he was able to look on the bright side of a really bad situation.

"I'm not taking the scholarship, Riles," he shook his head. He looked at her, but her gaze was focused on her hands. He sighed and lifted her chin with his finger, forcing her eyes to meet his. "When I made that decision, I wasn't in the right state of mind. You're right, I don't want to go to A&M anymore. Zay was right, I used it as an excuse to avoid my feelings, to avoid you. And I never want to do that."

"Zay?" Riley asked. "Did he call you?"

Lucas nodded.

"Gotta deal with him when I get back home," Riley muttered to herself.

"No, no," Lucas said, he placed a hand over hers. "He made me see things clearly. Don't get mad at him."

"For you, fine," Riley let a small smile escape from her lips. Lucas's heart fluttered. He missed seeing that smile of hers.

"I love you, Riley Matthews, and I think we should get back together," Lucas flipped over her hand and intertwined it with his. He looked up at her with hopeful eyes and a forgiving smile.

"Really?" Riley's eyes lit up. "You want to get back together?"

Lucas nodded. Riley happily brought up his hand in front of her face and pressed her lips onto his skin.

"I'll take that as a yes," Lucas chuckled. He released her hand and wrapped his arm around her instead, finally closing the space between them. He sighed contently as he squeezed her. Then he noticed the sad expression on her face. "Riley, what's wrong?"

"Lucas, I love you too," Riley replied. "But I still feel guilty about everything. There's one thing I gotta know, though."

"What is it?"

"Do you forgive me?" Riley bit her lip, unprepared for his answer.

"Honestly, I'm still not exactly over it," Lucas sighed, running hand through his hair. He then pulled Riley even closer to him, prompting her to rest her head on his shoulder. "But I know eventually I will forgive you. Because I love you and I know you'll find a way for me to trust you again. And I'd rather learn to forgive you and work things out rather than not have you in my life completely, especially when I know how much I mean to you. We'll take baby steps, but I know we can get back to the way we were."

Hope you all enjoyed! I tried to keep the ending as ambiguous as possible but of course I had to get them back together. As always, your support is always appreciated!

And again, if you're interested, my next Rucas fic should be up in a couple of days if not sooner. It's a lot lighter than this one.