A/N: Someone wrote Did I miss Maya not getting into NYU? This is more of a reference to Season 3 of the show where Riley said that she would apply to schools that would let them both in, but in the end well I wrote something different. Everything I put in this story has either happened in the previous fic, [season4] or in the show. This is a mix of it all plus a mix of BMW if you know from the title.

Joshaya Tag team is officially my favorite thing in the world, blame this chapter for it.

And Whenitsover, I understand the mix up, as well as the class thing because I'm writing this chapter before class.

Episode 23 – Girl Meets a long walk to Philadelphia

The moment Lucas got home he regretted leaving Riley the way he did, it was rare for them to fight about anything, but he knew it would happen eventually. There were times when he knew that they had communication problems when it came to certain parts of their relationship, but it was something that they had to work on together. Instead of going home he went to Zay's house only to stand outside for an hour before walking towards the café. He didn't want to be with anyone he wanted to think about how he was going to talk to Riley about all of this.

He was worried about her, he sometimes saw how she would close herself off when something was happening. He could kick himself because it took him a while to understand her tells, but he didn't think this was that kind of moment. It still hurts that he had put her through so much with the whole triangle business because he knew that hurting Maya would hurt Riley.

"Hey there Ranger Rick," Maya said pulling him out of his thoughts, he hadn't realized that he had walked into the café and sat down. It was almost normal, the way he could move around the city because of being with Riley.

One of their favorite things is just walking around and talking about nothing in particular, but sometimes the important conversations they should have been having the last few weeks were overshadowed by the trip, and a million other things that seem pointless at the moment.

"Uh… Lucas are you okay?" Maya asked him when he hadn't answered.

"Riley is giving up NYU for you, but she won't let me give up Texas A&M for her," he blurted out, Maya shouted something out to someone before sitting down in front of him with a questioning look on her face.

"I need all the details before I say anything," Maya said forcing him to look at her. "Come on Huckleberry, tell me everything."

He sighed before running his fingers through his hair, it had gotten a little longer, and he let it because he knew how Riley liked the feel of it against her fingers. "During our trip back home she didn't talk a lot, she was really quiet and I was scared that something was happening and she doesn't like to involve us until she's so hurt that it really starts to show."

"I noticed something was off when we were in Texas, but I didn't know what so I kinda watched her," Maya said to him. "Farkle told me to keep an eye on her, because he told me that she hides her feelings really well."

"Well she overhead a conversation and automatically says that she doesn't want me to give up on my dreams to follow her, she then told me that she doesn't want it to be something that forces us to break up over."

"But in the end, she made it an issue," Maya sighed before sitting back and watching the people around them. That's when Lucas noticed Josh standing behind the counter watching them, he knew that Josh could tell that something was wrong. He watched as Josh walked over to them and sat down next to Maya.

"Tell me what's happening," he said to Lucas and Maya smiled at him before walking towards the counter. Lucas couldn't help but feel like he was being tagged teamed by the couple, so he told Josh what he had told Maya and Josh nodded until he was finished before he spoke again. "You two are idiots I swear," he said, and Lucas looked at him wide eyed. "Listen I'm going to tell you something and it's going to sound crazy, but it might help, Riley is a self-sacrificing idiot."

"Josh," Maya said looking at him as she put down a cup of cocoa in front of Lucas.

"No," Josh said looking back at Maya. "You know I'm right, she would do a million things to make everyone else happy even if it meant that she would be miserable, because everyone comes first to what she wants," Josh sighed before turning back to Lucas. "You have to make her see that what she wants matters, and she wants to stay with you."

"But she's giving up NYU for Maya," Lucas said and Maya sighed.

"No she's not, originally when it came up it was because there was the threat of her leaving, and all of that, but she doesn't want to go to NYU anymore, she found this school, it's about two hours from the city I think, but it has this writing program that she wants to be in," Maya said, and Lucas knew this because the school also had a veterinary science program with farms close by for the students to work at. He had applied when she had shown it to him, it hadn't been about being close to Riley when he had applied, it had been about working with farm animals and the school had a pretty impressive program.

"I applied there too," he said before putting his face in his hands. "A&M was more about pleasing my father who wanted me to be a legacy, but that school was something different, my mom took me up there after I had seen the brochure and it was perfect."

"Perfect how?" Josh asked.

"I saw the conditions of the veterinary school, and talked to several students and some of the professors, they said that a smaller environment was better for someone who wanted to go into the field."

"Seriously you two need to talk about this before it goes beyond all of this…" she said waving her hands around. "Well, all of this stupidity. It's like the first week of high school all over again, except Riley's being the stubborn idiot this time."

"She's not an idiot Maya," he said automatically. Defending Riley was an automatic response for him no matter the situation. "I'll go over there and talk with her hopefully without the yelling part."

"Uh…" Josh said looking down at his phone.

"What is it?" Maya asked looking over Josh's shoulder.

"It looks like my brother drove Riley down to my parents' house in Philadelphia, so you might not get the chance to talk to her right now."

"I guess Riley needed some time to think after all," Maya said

Lucas looked at Josh shocked, how long had he been wandering around thinking about all of this? When he looked at his watch he noticed that he had been in a stupor for over four hours. He felt so stupid for not going back to her house, for walking out.

"Don't beat yourself up about it," Josh said to him before patting him on the knee and walking back to the counter.

"You ever wonder about how big a romantic gesture is? Especially if you do it without thinking?" he said when it was just him and Maya.

"Whatever you're planning Riley would love it as long as the two of you talk," she said to him before walking off to where Josh was.

He knew what he had to do, and then they were going to have a long discussion about college, because there was only so much they could do if they kept things from the other person.

Riley woke up just after five in the morning, those early morning in Texas were messing with her sleep schedule. Artemis looked up from the floor as Riley got up, her little tail wagging so Riley slowly got dressed and took Artemis for an early morning walk down the block and back, because even though the little pup could jump and act all happy, her short little legs could only handle so much. They were back in the house within ten minutes, so Riley made herself some tea and sat down on one of the chairs in the backyard watching the sun rise like she had during her time in Texas.

She sat there mostly mad at herself over the fight with Lucas, she knew he had a point about her making decisions for him, the fight felt ridiculously stupid now. She had already picked out her school, she didn't know where Maya was going, or even Farkle who has been her friend for as long as Maya has been. She was happy with her decision, it wasn't some Ivy league school, it was small in comparison, but it meant that she would get the attention she needed from her teachers.

"Heavy thoughts for such an early morning," someone said forcing her to look up and see Mr. Feeny in front of her. She had forgotten that he had lived next door.

"Well this week has been filled with them," she said to him as she stood up and walked towards her father's mentor.

"I'm good at listening," Mr. Feeny said before opening the gate and gesturing towards the bench where they had sat when her parents and Shawn had been digging out the time capsule. It felt like a million years ago now that she stood there a senior in high school.

"Well," she said sitting down. "It's about my boyfriend and I fighting… are you okay talking about that?"

"I have lived through and seen many relationships in my life," he said to her. "This includes your parents, so I think of myself as an expert on teenage relationships."

Riley smiled at him, "Okay," she said before telling him about the argument she had had with Lucas the day before. She told him about how her parents sometimes wondered if their lives would have been different if they had gone to different schools. She also told him about what Lucas had said about Riley giving things up for Maya but not for him, but how she hadn't really given anything up because she wasn't sure about where Maya was going to go to school. When she was done he smiled at her before speaking. She realized that this man had been there for her parents though the hardest parts of their relationship, so there was a possibility that he would help her, even if it meant letting go of Lucas.

"Honestly Ms. Matthews, from what you've told me, you didn't let him come to his own decision on the matter, and while sometimes letting go of someone is harder than loving them, in the end you can't make decisions for them either," he said to her.

"I need to talk to him about this don't I?" she asked looking over to the older man.

"Yes, but you have to really talk because in the end a person's dreams change as they grow up, he may not really want to go to that school, and you know this because you no longer want to go to NYU which baffles me, but since your mother did the same thing and found herself happier, maybe this means that you have to let him come to his decision on his own."

"I feel like such an idiot," she said before burying her face in the palms of her hands.

"If you're an idiot so am I," Lucas's voice said, and she thought she was hearing things because of her messed-up sleep schedule.

Mr. Feeny squeezed her shoulder, "I'll leave you two to talk."

At his words Riley's head shot up to meet a familiar pair of green eyes. "Lucas what are you doing here?"

"Well I was going to go back to your apartment yesterday to tell you how much of an idiot I am, and you weren't home, Josh drove me here, with Maya complaining the whole time because it was so late," he said making Riley look for her Uncle and her best friend. "They're asleep in the living room."

"Lucas," she said getting up and walking towards him. "If you're an idiot so am I because it wasn't my place to make the decision for you about what school you want to go to."

"We can be idiots together," he said before pulling out a small purple cat with a forget me not in its collar. "Riley, I don't want to go to A&M, I don't want to be a legacy and be miserable because everyone would want me to be like my father when I don't want to be."

"I don't want to go to NYU and it's not because Maya isn't going," she said taking his hand in hers. "I want to go to …"

"I know," he said smiling. "I'm going there too, I checked it out before I applied months ago, and before you even applied to the school, I didn't know you were going there until Maya told me and I realized that sometimes we keep things from one another because we think we know what's best."

"I guess we need to get better at talking," she said before putting her arms around his shoulders.

"We talk fine, we just need to stop internalizing things that we think will hurt the other person."

"Lucas, I love you," she said before kissing him.

"I love you too Riley," he said once they were apart.

"We're such idiots," she said smiling.

"The biggest idiots, but we're idiots in love, so I guess it comes with the territory."

"So, what now?"

"Now we get some breakfast and you show me around Philly," he said smiling.

"That would be better with Josh, because honestly even with all of the visits since I was a kid I don't know the city as well as he does, but I can make breakfast if you help."

"That is something I can do, so lead the way," he said gesturing towards the back door. "Your grandparents won't mind that I'm here right?"

"Nah, my dad might but he's in Atlantic city with my mom so," she shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows."

He gave her another kiss before they started working on breakfast, it was so normal she realized, the two of them cooking and being silly, but it was also good because it meant that this was just another way for them to communicate. Lucas's words, their fight, Mr. Feeny telling her like it is, even the fact that Lucas had crossed state lines just to talk meant that their relationship would be stronger because of this. They just had to remember to learn to talk to one another before things became too bad.