A.n.- Well it's been a really rough week, but thankfully I'm still able to write so I'm thankful for that. Some of my favorite chapters are coming up so I hope you are ready for it. But until then, enjoy the chapter.

"So are we going to talk about it?" The blonde was hot on my trail no matter how quickly I couldn't out pace her or her questioning.
"Ril-Josh." She reached out and grabbed my arm stopping the escape that I had planned. I let out a sigh turning back to her.
"What is there to talk about?"
"I don't know how about Farkle sending me an sos text and me spending hours looking for you yesterday." I felt bad that she had wasted time looking but I did tell Farkle I wanted to be alone.
"I told him that I didn't want to be bothered."
"Farkle gave me the cliff notes on what happened Riles, I think you should talk about it."
"Why? What good would it do?" I replied annoyed. All this was happening because I was filling in for Josh.
"Riles"- I suddenly turned so my brown eyes matched her blue ones.
"You know what I want to talk about? Farkle." I saw Maya's eyes widened with the subject change.
"What about him?"
"He deserves to be happy, I know he likes someone. He gave me a love sonnet to look at yesterday."
"He did?" Maya stuttered back.
"I think I figured out who. I've seen him hanging out with smackle a lot recently. He deserves to be happy." I said confidently.
"Are you sure this is the best idea; you know what happens when you meddle?" I hesitated for a second, she did have a point, but not enough for me to call off the plan that I had set in motion.
"I'm not meddling I'm simply pushing two people together that would have worked out on its own. Now are you with me?" I held out my hand for her to grab. She stared at me blankly for a second before releasing a small smile.
"What could possibly go wrong?" She replied grabbing my hand in a strong hand grab.
"Now about yesterday"- the warning bell rang silencing the blonde.
"Oh would you look at that, I have a class to get to." I was eager to avoid that conversation like the plague. I didn't let her retort as I ran into the chemistry. I did a head nod towards Lucas who was leaning against his seat. I saw Darby offer a small wave a little more timid than normal.

It was our assigned partners for a lab and as fate had it I drew Darby's name. She was thrilled, Lucas less so because it meant that he was not paired with the blonde.
"So any plans for fall break?" She whispered leaning in towards me so the teacher wouldn't notice us not working on the project.
"Going home having dinner with the whole family. My mom is probably going to badger me about my love life."
"Oh?" Her interest perked. "What, no girlfriend to speak of?"
"No," my eyes glance for a second over to Lucas who was motioning to himself. I regretted this deal day in and out.
"Here's a funny idea, would you ever consider Lucas, I think I can see the chemistry between the two of you, it's like fire." I can say that my heart leap with the face she made in return.
"Lucas? No."
"I think I can see it." I pushed.
"No," she laughed. "I mean he seems like a great guy but I want my guy to be a bit more in touch with his feelings not parading me around like eye candy."
"Trust me, he isn't like that. He's the coolest person I know besides me and you're not my type."
"Why not?" The awkwardness bred in the air between us, my smile faltered.
"Well you know, I just don't think of you in that way. I actually think you're someone I feel comfortable around."
"I feel the same way." It looked like she was going to continue but the teacher shot me a dirty look from across the room.

"Josh!" My pace slowed as I heard the name I was beginning to get more accustom to with each passing day. I turned to see Darby jogging to catch up.

"Glad I caught up to you." She gave a smile before readjusting her backpack in a nervous manner.
"What can I do for you?"

"I thought about what you said." I tilted my head to the side wondering what exactly she was referring to.
"About Lucas," she continued. My heart skipped for a second at his name, I found myself even more curious now.
"I decided that you were right. I'm going to give him a chance." There was nothing harder in that moment that to try and keep the joy from wiping on my face.

"What?" Since when has Darby liked Lucas? Throughout my interactions with her it always seemed like she could care less about whether he was interested in her or not.

"If you said he's a good guy. Because you're my friend I believe you that he's a good guy." Of course now she chooses to believe me and my intentions. She bit her lip and pushed the hair behind her ear. She pulled out her notebook and ripped a small piece of it out. She scrolled different digits on the paper and passed it to me.

"Can you give him my number?" I looked at the paper like it was a foreign object. She offered it to me a second time before I took it. Thankfully my phone vibrated before the conversation could go any further.

I shoved the piece of paper in my pocket and hurried away as far as possible before I answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Riles?" The voice that I haven't heard in two weeks and the reason I was in this mess in the first place rang in loud and clear.

"Josh?" I was completely surprised. Why was he choosing to contact me now?

"Who else would it be?" He asked confused. I rolled my eyes at his slyness.

"No one." I answered shortly. "How is your art show going?"

"It's going great, I got into the finals, I got there early enough that I helped this owner set up and he wants to use some of my prints. I got into the finals." I grinned from ear to ear. He was doing something he loved and I admired him for that fact. I heard his tone which worried me slightly, there was a certain tone when he was about to tell me something I didn't want to hear.

"What do you need Josh?" I didn't want to play games with him to finally get him to tell me why he called in the first place. The best way is to go straight to the source.

"Well the finals occur in two weeks, and if I go back now, I could never manage to sneak back out here. So I was hoping"-

"No." I snapped.

"Come on Riles, don't be like that. Isn't it about to be a break from school, so you'll only have to cover me for one more week of school. Just tell mom that I'm trying to play catch up in school or something."

"They'll never believe that." I mumbled.

"I'll give you some of my prize money." What an interesting proposition. I did need the money, I had my eye on a dress the other day when I was shopping with Maya. You could hear the desperation in his voice. I knew how much this meant to him and my instincts as his sister started to kick in. He was clinging on to the dead air between our conversation.

"Fine, but after this, I'm done Josh."

"You are the best sister ever." Even though it was a simple sentence those words meant more to me than he would ever know.

"Yeah, yeah. I expect my form of payment the moment you get back here." I had rounded the corner to my hallway.

"Just don't get too many ideas. I'll cover for you for Mom and Dad for the week and one more week after and then I'm done." I reiterated before Josh said his goodbyes and hung up rather quickly, which made it easier for me to enter Josh's room without fear of Lucas hearing me talk to my brother on the phone.

I opened the door to see Lucas packing a suitcase preparing to go home for the week. I leaned against the door watching him for a moment.

"What are you packing your entire wardrobe in there?" Lucas almost jumped, clearly I had surprised him.

"Don't sneak me up on me like that."

"Sorry," I held my hands up in defense before sauntering further into the room.

"I was doing some thinking." I sat down on my own bed. I had to do some packing before I returned home myself.

"Care to share?"

"I was giving thought to what you told me. I think I'm going to tell my father over fall break about my internship."

"Lucas that's great." I was just hoping that his father was receptive to his news.

"And I owe it all to you," he paused for a second.

"I also gave some thought on Darby and I wanted to let you out of the deal. We can figure out another way for payment for the tutoring." Just the mention of her name made the piece of paper in my pocket seem to go ablaze. I wanted to give him the update but no words came out. I just found myself nodding in agreement.
'Tell him.' My inner voice pushed.
" Lucas, there's something I need time tell you. " The student phone rang in the phone and both of us stared at it. Lucas was the one who reached out and put the phone to his ear.
"Dorm room of Lucas friar and Josh Matthews." He chuckled at whoever was on the other.
"I'll be sure to remind him Mrs. Matthews." He respectfully hung up the phone.
"She told me to remind you of the fall dinner. Apparently you tend to forget and you weren't answering your phone." Every year my mother goes out and cooks everything she can get her hands on for a feast. It hasn't slipped my mind about the dinner, I knew it in the back of my mind. It was more I forgot when I told Josh I would give him two more weeks.
"Crap." I groaned.
"It won't be all bad, at least you won't be miserable alone." He replied coyly.
"What do you mean?"
"I'll be sitting right next to you enduring the same torture. Apparently your mother and my mother met at some book club and hit it off. Our whole family got invited." He offered a smile. I wanted to drop dead on sight. I couldn't be Josh my mother would see through it, Lucas was expecting to see Josh not Riley, and all the meanwhile I was sure that my mother would try to be setting me up with Lucas and it was moments like this where I didn't know what to do. How could I be in two places at once?

A.N.- So there you have it. For those of you dying to have some Rucas moments (As in Riley and Lucas not Riley dressed up as Josh), they are coming, and in my opinion worth it. We are officially half way done with the story. What else is there? Well you'll have to read to find out.