AN: It's here! I hope you enjoy it! More at the end to avoid spoilers!
Thanks for the support! Enjoy!
Wednesday, July 2nd 10:00 p.m.
Riley rushed out the door in a frenzied search for Lucas. She had almost given up hope, frustrated tears welling up in her eyes when she heard a loud noise coming from a nearby alley.
She tentatively made her way down the dark, dirty alleyway, following the loud noises until she found Lucas, kicking a dumpster.
"Lucas! Stop before you hurt yourself!" she shouted, running toward him. She tripped over a pile of garbage, using her hands to brace her fall. Her knee hit the concrete hard, and she winced in pain.
Lucas watched the scene in shock. Seeing Riley in the alley at all without that guy was surprising in and of itself. Watching her tumble to the ground before he had the opportunity to catch her struck him with a panic he didn't know he possessed.
He scrambled across the ground before Riley could pick herself up, worried she might be seriously hurt.
"Here. Let me," he murmured, taking her hands in his and turning them palms up to examine the small scrapes on her hands.
He brushed away a little bit of dirt and gently blew on the cut. She gasped at the feeling of his warm breath on her fevered skin. Moving around to get more comfortable, she grimaced at the pain shooting up her leg.
Her knee already had a large bruise forming and her ankle was throbbing from where the straps on her heels cut into her and twisted it. Lucas' gentle hands took her shoe off and slowly turned her ankle, assessing the damage. His hands skimmed up her leg, cupping the smooth skin behind her knee. He moved closer to her knee, trying to see the damage in the dark alley. He gave her bump the barest of kisses, smiling when he heard her gasp.
Riley's heart beat wildly in her chest as Lucas idly stroked her leg. Knowing she wasn't badly hurt calmed him, but the excuse to have his hands on her was something he wasn't ready to pass up.
"What are you doing out here?" he asked.
"I came chasing after your stupid butt," Riley grumbled, pulling her leg out of his grasp. She carefully slipped her shoe back on before hesitantly standing, careful not to put too much weight on her tender ankle.
"Should you be standing on that?"
Riley rolled her eyes. "I fall a lot, Lucas. Trust me, I know when it's serious."
"Why did you follow me out here?" Lucas pressed, standing next to her.
"Why were you kicking that dumpster?" Riley asked, ignoring his question altogether.
"Because I didn't think you would appreciate it if I kicked that guy in there."
Riley shook her head. "Why would you want to kick Cam? He bought me a smoothie, and we talked for like 20 minutes."
Lucas scoffed. "You know why, Riley. It drives me crazy to see you with someone else, and it drives me even crazier knowing I have no right to say or do anything about it."
"You can say whatever you want," Riley mumbled, leaning against the brick building.
Lucas leaned next to her, crossing his arms. "There's nothing I can say, Riley. I was jealous. I saw you hugging that guy, and I saw red."
"It wasn't like that. I was trying to be nice. I was letting him down easy."
Lucas rolled his eyes. "Well, I knew I had to get out of there before I went off on him and made you even more mad at me."
Riley sighed, sinking down to the ground, pulling his arm as she did so he would come to sit next to her.
"I'm not mad at you, Lucas. I'm mad at me."
Lucas furrowed his brow. "I don't understand."
"Okay, yeah, you screwed up big time. Like huge. Colossal. Epic. Monumental."
"I get it, Riles!" Lucas laughed, grabbing her injured foot and placing it in his lap, using his hands to massage her ankle.
"Thanks," she pouted. "It does hurt."
Lucas nodded. "Now, how could you possibly be mad at your perfect self?"
"I'm not perfect, Lucas. I'm not even close." She could feel herself starting to cry and did everything in her power to hold her tears in. She was all cried out. "I should have fought for you, Lucas. All along, every day. I should have fought for us from the minute we met."
"Riley..."
"No, Lucas," she interrupted, stopping the hands on her ankle by holding them in hers. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for lying and pushing you toward Maya. I'm so, so, so, sorry for placing more value on her feelings than on my own, than your feelings. No matter what happened before or since, my lies, my choices created this triangle."
She was crying in earnest now, and Lucas pulled her on his lap completely, wrapping her up in his comforting embrace.
"Please, Riley, don't cry."
She curled up further in his arms, allowing him to stroke her hair and murmur sweet simple words into her ear.
"I'm sorry." He repeated over and over again.
"It's okay, Riles, it'll be okay."
"I'm still here. I'm here for you. We're okay."
The words poured out of his mouth until words failed him, so he settled for repeating her name over and over again. He planted a few kisses on her hairline, and he wiped away every last tear with the pads of his thumbs. When the tears stopped, he kissed her cheeks, her eyelids, her forehead, her nose.
He leaned in to kiss her lips, but she pulled away.
"I thought you said you were sorry," he questioned gently.
"I am."
"Then what's wrong?"
Riley shrugged, looking away from him.
"I thought you said you wanted to fight for us," Lucas accused.
"I will. I am!" Riley insisted, standing up and brushing off her dress. Her back was to him, and Lucas let out a groan.
"Well, then what's the problem? Because, Riley, sweetie, that dress is killing me."
Riley blushed, turning around to face him. "The problem is I don't know what to do. I don't know how we come back from this."
Lucas took a step closer to her. "We could try starting over."
Riley shook her head, closing the distance between them even more. "I don't want to start over."
Lucas tried to turn away, but a soft yet firm hand on his cheek stilled his movements. "I don't want to forget the last two years of our lives. Sure there was some bad in there, but there was a lot more good. I don't want to forget any of it, not even the bad stuff. I want to learn from it."
Lucas grabbed her hand, pressing it more firmly against his cheek. "I want that, too."
Riley looked up at him, her eyes shining, and she leaned in to give him a gentle kiss on the cheek. It reminded him so much of that fateful night in Texas he almost cried out. He reached for her, wrapping his arms around the small of her back.
"Riley, I want you to be my girlfriend."
Riley gave him a vibrant smile. "I want that, too, Lucas. You have no idea how much, but-"
"No," Lucas cut in, his voice revealing a hint of desperation as he held her tighter. "No buts. We both want the same thing at the same time. We have been through so much. We are finally ready."
"But that's just it!" Riley untangled herself from him. "I'm not ready, Lucas. I need some time. I need to help Maya heal. I need to heal myself."
"What about not putting Maya before yourself?"
"This time I'm not," she said confidently. "Please, try to understand. I want to do this the right way this time. Starting over now when there's still so much to work through will only lead to more heartache."
Lucas grabbed both of her hands, placing them on his chest and holding them there. "I won't hurt you, Riley. I promise. You're so scared of the bad things that could happen, you aren't even thinking about the amazing things that will happen. Be my girlfriend, Riley, and I'll make you so happy."
"I just need some time, Luke."
Lucas sighed, dropping her hands and walking back toward the entrance of the alley. "I'll wait for you, Riley, because you're worth it. We're worth it, but we've been waiting our whole lives for each other. Aren't you tired of waiting?"
Satisfied that he said what he needed to, he started back for the entrance of the club. He was shocked to see Riley's little hand on his bicep holding him in place.
"How about we make a deal? How about we go back to being unofficial? We can take things slow. I know it isn't much, but it's all I can give right now."
Lucas whooped, picking her up and spinning her around. "I'll take what I can get, Princess."
Laughing, she shouted, "Put me down!"
She playfully swatted his arms and chest until her feet were once again firmly on the ground.
"I'll wear you down, Matthews. I promise you, you'll be my girlfriend sooner than you think," he said with determination.
"I'm counting on it," she said with a smile, twirling around. "Now someone said something about a dance..."
"May I have this dance?" he asked, holding a hand out to her.
She took his hand, trying to lead him into the club, but he pulled her back into his arms, swaying her gently.
"Lucas! Let's go inside! There's no music out here," she giggled, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Shh! I just got you. I'm not sharing you with anyone, let alone a place packed with people!" He pulled her even closer, resting his head on top of hers. "Besides if you listen real close, you can still hear the music."
She closed her eyes, straining to listen and could barely hear a techno beat she didn't recognize. "Well, it's certainly not music you slow dance to."
Lucas spun her out and twirled her around, causing her to laugh. "We can dance however we want, Riles. It's just you and me."
"Just you and me. I like the sound of that," Riley murmured, burying her face into his chest.
"Riley, it's just you and me. No one else. Never again." He pulled her back to meet her eyes. "I promise. We're a straight line."
She giggled. She felt silly for being so girly, but she couldn't help it. She sighed, closing her eyes before settling back onto his shoulder. "I still wish there was some music."
He leaned forward, whisper-singing slowly in her ear, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know dear how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away..."
He ended his song, kissing the shell of her ear, and for the first time in a long time, Lucas felt like he was right where he was supposed to be. He looked down when he felt wetness on his shirt.
"Please don't cry, Sunshine. I know I don't have the best voice-"
"Lucas!" She laughed, wiping away a few stray tears. "These are happy tears! That was the most romantic thing..."
"Well, I'll sing to you anytime you want, Sunshine."
"Sing!" she teased, lightly smacking his chest as they began to sway again.
Smiling, he kissed the top of her head, relishing in the fact that he was allowed to. "You are my sunshine..."
AN: So... was it everything you wanted to be? Do you hate Riley for wanting to go slow? Isn't Lucas the sweetest? Tell me what you think!
Coming up... Zaya goes public. Ziley gets back on track. And some awkward post triangle interactions!
Thanks for sticking with me. We still have a few more days of this vacation!