I couldn't leave you guys hanging after that cliffhanger last chapter. I'm excited about this chapter, so please excuse the lack of editing. I just really wanted to get this up! Please don't hate me.

Chapter Four

After hours of laying in her bed and replaying the moment in her head, Riley figured she wouldn't be able to sleep at all that night. So she decided to go to the one person that she really needed—Maya. Riley hurried over to Maya's apartment and aggressively knocked on the door until Maya answered it.

"Riley, what are you doing here?" Maya said groggily, her eyes half closed. "It's like three in the morning."

"I thought it would be more fair to you for me to come over instead of calling you to the bay window," Riley said nervously. She bit her lip and walked inside the apartment and closed the door behind her. Riley led the half asleep Maya to the couch and sat down.

"What's the matter, honey?" Maya said, resting her head on Riley's shoulder and shutting her eyes.

Riley chewed on her lip and waited a few seconds before answering, "Uh.. I kinda… I kinda kissed Evan."

Maya quickly sat up, her eyes wide open. If she wasn't awake before, then she was certainly awake now.

"You did what?!" Maya exclaimed. This just wasn't the news she expected to hear at three in the morning.

"I kissed Evan," Riley repeated softly, hanging her head down in shame. "Well, he kissed me."

"Whoa, rewind there for a second, honey," Maya raised her palms. "What were you doing kissing Evan?"

"After you left," Riley began, playing with her thumbs, "he came because he forgot his phone. I was having a breakdown from the stress and I was vulnerable and he kissed me. I pulled away as soon as I processed what was happening! And then I ran away."

"Wait, so where was Sienna while all of this was happening?" Maya shook her head in confusion.

"Sienna? Why would she be there?" Riley asked.

"I texted her, asking if she could go to the bakery to comfort you," Maya said. "I figured that if Lucas wasn't here, she'd be the next best thing."

Riley shrugged, "She never showed. Probably fell asleep."

"Weird," breathed Maya.

"Peaches, please tell me what to do," Riley turned to Maya and pouted.

"Well, for one, do you like Evan?" Maya asked.

"Of course I do," Riley replied. "If I didn't, I wouldn't have hired him. He's such a good person and he really knows what he's doing at the bakery—"

"No, not like that," Maya interjected. She rolled her eyes. It was way too early for her to be dealing with this, but it was Riley, and Maya would do anything for her. "I'm asking if you have romantic feelings for Evan."

"Oh," Riley frowned. "Then no, I don't."

"So then why'd you kiss him?" Maya raised a brow.

"I didn't!" Riley replied. "He kissed me!"

"Riles!" Maya groaned.

"I'm such a bad girlfriend, Peaches," Riley began to sob. "Lucas is never going to forgive me after this!"

Riley buried her face in her hands. Maya sighed and rubbed her best friend's back. She hated seeing her like this. She was never supposed to feel like this. Riley Matthews was an optimistic little bunny and Maya refused to think of her in any way other than that. Riley Matthews was not one to make stupid mistakes. Riley was vulnerable, and Maya hoped that was a good enough reason for Lucas.

"I can't face him at work tomorrow," Riley lifted her head. She shook her head in a panic.

"You mean today," Maya corrected.

Riley looked up at the blonde with a confused expression.

"It's technically already tomorrow," Maya explained with her finger in the air.

Riley rolled her eyes and sighed, "Not helping, Maya!"

"Tell you what," Maya put her arm around the brunette. "I'll open the bakery for you, and you can sleep in and rest for a bit and deal with your feelings. And if you really can't face him, just don't show up. You, your mom, and my mom have trained me well enough. I know the bakery inside out, you know you can trust me."

"Maya, have I ever told you how glad I am you crawled into my window when we were seven?" Riley said as she rested her head on Maya's shoulder.

"All the time," Maya replied.

They sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. Maya wasn't exactly sure how Riley was feeling, as she's never been in that position before, but she empathized with her. Maya obviously knew how much Riley loved Lucas, and she too was afraid that one stupid mistake could break up Cory and Topanga 2.0.

Riley rested her head in Maya's lap as Maya ran her fingers through the brunette's hair.

"So are you going to tell Lucas about the kiss?" Maya finally asked. There was no answer. Maya looked down in her lap and noticed Riley was already fast asleep. She sighed. She carefully pushed Riley off her and made sure she was in a comfortable position before Maya returned to her room to get some rest.

Riley didn't show up for her shifts at Topanga's for the next couple of days. She couldn't face Evan. Topanga noticed Riley had been spending her days at home, and so Riley's only excuse was that she was overwhelmed. It was still partially true. Topanga had made sure to give Riley advice on how to overcome and reduce stress by learning to balance her work life with her personal life. Of course, Topanga had no knowledge of the compromising situation her daughter had been in with Evan.

Maya was taking good care of the bakery, as she had promised Riley. Her opinion of Evan had obviously changed after what happened with Riley, but she still remained civil with the boy. He was the assistant manager and she was just a supervisor, so it wouldn't look good on her if she freaked out on him. After all, Evan didn't know that Maya knew. Maya also noticed a change in Sienna's behavior. Sienna had been doing really well at her job, but these past couple of days she just seemed out of it. She shrugged it off and figured that the teen was feeling homesick.

Riley finally returned to work a couple of days later. She knew she just had to forget about the kiss. She was still unsure if she was going to tell Lucas. She knew the guilt would eat her alive, but at the same time she figured that the kiss meant nothing to her, and telling Lucas would just cause some unnecessary argument between the two.

All morning, Riley had done a good job avoiding Evan. She spent the morning in her office, trying to get back into her work. She had requested Maya to keep Evan busy so that he wouldn't approach her. Riley was sure that Evan would want to talk about the whole ordeal and how she just ran off like that. And worse, he would want to talk about his feelings.

Much to her dismay, Riley had to go to the front of the bakery because one of her employees called her for some help at the counter. And of course, there Evan was, helping to clean a newly vacated table. He immediately caught Riley's eye and walked over to the counter.

"Riley, can we talk?" Evan asked.

"There's nothing to talk about, Evan," Riley said nervously. She bit the inside of her cheek. She really couldn't do this now. She walked around the counter to try to find something to do to occupy herself.

"We have to talk about it sometime," Evan insisted.

"No, we don't," Riley shot back, desperately trying to escape the conversation. Evan's presence alone was enough to reiterate the guilt Riley had been feeling since the night of the kiss. Her breathing got heavy and turned away from him.

"I know you felt something," Evan pressed, ignoring Riley's obvious wishes of being left alone. He stepped closer to her and grabbed her hand, turning her so she was facing him once again. She felt her breath hitch and she didn't dare to look up at him.

"Look, Evan," Riley sighed, looking straight at his chest. She didn't want anyone else to hear what she had to say, so she whispered, "I realize that I did kiss you back, but I know that it was my way of coping with Lucas being gone. The kiss meant nothing to me, and it was a mistake. Please understand that nothing is ever going to happen between us and that I'm with Lucas."

Evan scratched the back of his neck and took a step back, only now realizing he overstepped his boundaries. He really like Riley, but he knew nothing could ever happen if she was still dating Lucas. He never wanted to come between them. It just kind of… happened. And as guilty as he felt, he didn't regret it.

"I get it," he finally responded after a few seconds. "It wasn't my place to kiss you and I'm sorry it happened. But that doesn't change the fact that I like you, Riley. I'll respect your wishes and I'll back off. Just let me know when I can pick up my final pay check."

"No, Evan," Riley said, shaking her head. She looked at her feet, still refusing to meet his eyes. "I'm not firing you. We're too old to be letting our personal lives interfere with our work lives. You can keep your job, but I'm keeping my distance from you. I think we should start working alternating shifts."

"Fair enough," Evan said. He started to walk away but then turned on his heel. "But if you decide to dump Lucas, you know where I'll be."

"Evan and I talked about it," Riley declared. She and Maya were walking down the streets of Manhattan on their lunch break while Evan supervised the bakery.

Maya looked at her friend with a curious look. She urged her to continue.

"I told him it was a mistake," Riley said. "That it was my way of coping with Lucas's absence. I just hope Lucas takes that explanation well."

"When are you planning on telling him?" Maya asked. She avoided asking the brunette this question for the past few days, as she knew Riley wasn't in the right state of mind to give a proper answer.

"Not anytime soon," Riley admitted. "I'll eventually bring it up when it's been too long for him to get mad at me for it."

"Riley," Maya said sternly. She stopped walking, which in result stopped Riley as well. Maya turned to her. "This is very unlike you. You and Lucas value honesty and loyalty very much."

"I know we do!" Riley retorted. "But trust me, he doesn't need to know. It'll be better that way."

Maya sighed. She knew what Riley was doing was wrong, but she wasn't in the right place to intervene. Instead, she said, "Riles, I love you, and although I don't agree with what you're doing, I trust you'll eventually do the right thing. Lucas has grown on me over the years and I'd hate to see you two throw your relationship away."

"Thanks, Peaches," Riley smiled, glad her best friend was so supportive. "You know I'd never do anything to sabotage our relationship. I love him too much."

Riley's phone started ringing. She tried to ignore it for the sake of Maya, but Maya had a feeling it was Lucas. She understood how much her best friend missed him, and it wasn't fair to let her miss this call.

Riley hesitated to answer the phone in her pocket but Maya nodded and gave her an assuring look.

"Answer it, I know you've been waiting," Maya encouraged.

"Okay," Riley smiled. She took the phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen. And, as expected, Lucas's name and phone flashed on the screen. "I'll be right back."

"Sure," Maya said.

Riley headed towards a nearby bench and sat on it while Maya went inside a boutique that had an outfit in the store window that caught her eye.

"Babe," Riley greeted cheerfully. She was glad that he called, as they hadn't talked in over a week. But at the same time, she knew talking to him would kill her inside. She hated keeping things from him.

"Hi, Riles," Lucas replied groggily.

"You just wake up?" Riley inquired.

"Yeah," Lucas said. "I came home from the clinic late last night. I wanted to call you as soon as I woke up."

"How sweet," Riley gushed.

"I know we haven't been able to talk a lot lately but I hope you know I still love you and nothing's going to change that," Lucas said. After worrying about whether or not Riley had time for him, he decided that it didn't matter. He loved her and shouldn't feel like he was getting in the way of her life.

Riley couldn't help but to feel a pang of guilt. She gulped, "I'm sorry I haven't been calling or texting either."

"I get it," Lucas said. "You thought I was too busy and would have no time to answer my phone, and you didn't want to be a bother, right?"

"Yeah…" Riley's voice trailed off.

"Well, me too. But I know now that it was a stupid thing to think, because you can never bother me. We haven't been communicating too well lately and I hope we can change that. I promise as soon as I get home we'll spend so much time together that you'll get sick of me," Lucas laughed. He jokingly added, "Unless you like, cheated on me or something and you'd be too busy spending time with some new guy."

Riley scoffed, "What makes you say that?"

"Relax, jellybean," Lucas said. "I was kidding. I know you'd never do that."

Riley was overcome with another wave of guilt. With Lucas's history of anger issues, she didn't know how he'd react if she ever decided to tell him what happened with Evan. She gulped. She said with a hushed tone, "You're right, I would never." And as much as she hated herself for betraying Lucas, she hated herself even more now for lying to him.

Lucas clearly didn't realize Riley's unusual tone and moved on to another topic, "By the way, do you know what's going on with Sienna?"

"What do you mean?" Riley asked in the same low voice. She couldn't even pretend to be in a good mood, she was just lucky that Lucas was oblivious to the fact.

"I tried calling her the other day but she wouldn't pick up," Lucas explained. "So I called my aunt and she said that Sienna has been coming home crying lately and that she doesn't leave her room. Do you think you could talk to her for me?"

"Yeah, for sure," Riley said. Come to think of it, Riley did realize something off with Sienna. Right before Riley and Maya left for their break, Riley recalled seeing an expressionless Sienna who looked like she didn't want to be there doing her job. "Anything for you."

"Great," Lucas said. "I'm gonna go get some more sleep. Doc gave me a day off today due to my late night last night. I promise I'll call again soon. I love you."

"I love you too," Riley breathed. She ended the call and sighed when she put her phone in her pocket.

Sienna really didn't want to be at the bakery. She couldn't focus during her last couple of shifts, but today was much worse. Being at the bakery only replayed that night in her head. The night she had lost all respect for Riley, the night her heart ached for her cousin. This secret she kept to herself was really taking a toll on her. She even went as far as refusing to answer Lucas's calls, because she knew if she answered, she would have told him everything. And he didn't deserve to hear it from her.

Evan too had noticed Sienna's strange behavior; he had just watched her rudely talk to customers who were waiting to be seated. The customers didn't like her attitude and left the bakery. Evan, completely appalled by what he had just witnessed, approached the teen.

"Sienna, what was that?" Evan threw his hands in the air. "You can't be rude to customers like that! I thought we trained you better."

"You guys did," Sienna folded her arms.

"Then why are you breaking conduct?" Evan asked sternly.

"Well, I mean, everyone's breaking rules," Sienna scoffed. "Why can't I?"

"Sienna, what do you mean?" Evan sighed. He didn't want to have to deal with her teen angst.

"You're an asshole, you know that?" Sienna spat, staring him straight in the eye. She wasn't scared of him. "Before you came everything was going amazing! Then you show up and now my life's a mess. You douche."

Evan stood his ground, "With the way you're speaking to me, you know I can fire you, right?"

"I don't care!" Sienna yelled. "Do whatever the hell you want. I mean, that's what you've been doing anyway! You have no empathy for others, do you? All you think about is yourself!"

"Um, Sienna?" Riley chimed in. She had seen the teen's outburst, and now she knew she needed to have a talk with her. As much as Riley hated Evan, Sienna had no right to be talking to him that way. It was just plain rude.

Sienna immediately sighed and slouched her shoulders. She rolled her eyes. She wanted to feel guilty, but she wasn't. Sienna knew they both deserved what was coming to them. They betrayed her cousin, of course she was going to resent them.

Riley raised her brow, "May I have a word?"

Sienna rolled her eyes with a scoff. She followed Riley to the office. Sienna was totally prepared for this confrontation. She had had enough pretending like nothing happened. It wasn't fair to her, and it sure as hell was not fair to Lucas.

"What has gotten into you, Sienna?" Riley yelled as soon as she shut the door behind her. She walked over to Sienna, who was standing in the middle of the room.

"Nothing," Sienna replied. "I just don't want to be here."

"What's going on?" Riley pressed.

"Nothing," Sienna repeated. "I'm a teenager. I get mood swings."

"Oh, wait till your cousin finds out how you've been treating Evan and the guests," Riley gritted her teeth.

"Lucas? Oh, don't bother," Sienna scoffed. She took a step closer to Riley. "What about when he finds out how you've been treating Evan?"

"Excuse me?" Riley's voice softened.

"I saw you kiss Evan!" Sienna yelled. She couldn't suppress her anger anymore.

Riley's eyes grew wide.

"You did?" Riley asked. The guilt overtook her features.

"Yeah, I saw you two kiss," Sienna deadpanned. "Do you realize how hurt Lucas is going to be when he finds out?"

Riley stepped forward and placed her hands on Sienna's shoulders. She pleaded, "That was never meant to happen. Don't tell Lucas, please."

Sienna swatted Riley's hands away from her, "You know I could've already told him, right?

"But you didn't," Riley whispered. If Lucas knew, he wouldn't have been so cheery with her on the phone earlier.

"Nope," Sienna replied, popping the 'p.' "Because I kept it to myself. And it's taken an emotional toll on me. It's killing me that my cousin doesn't know his girlfriend cheated on him! I'm protecting him. You know how? By letting myself feel the heartache that I don't want him to feel. But it doesn't matter. Because he's going to feel it anyway. You know why?" She paused. "Because you're going to tell him."

Riley's face dropped. She felt tears well in her eyes.

Sienna raised both brows, "You don't want to hurt him, do you?"

"That's the last thing I want," Riley said softly, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Me telling him would hurt him even more," Sienna pointed out. "It's better he finds out from you."

Riley nodded. She's never been so scared of a sixteen-year-old girl before. She had a good reason to be, Sienna could sabotage their relationship with a phone call if she wanted to. And Lucas would trust her word because Sienna would never do anything to her him. But instead, Sienna's giving her a chance to fix things herself.

"By the way," Sienna said. She walked to the door and reached for the knob. Before she opened the door to exit the room, she deadpanned, "I quit."

For days, Riley considered calling Lucas to confess about the kiss that happened between her and her co-worker. But for some reason, she couldn't get herself to do it. She'd have her phone screen on Lucas's number, and all she'd have to do was press 'call,' but she never did. During their last conversation, Lucas had promised they would communicate more, and so the continuing lack of communication from her end didn't go unnoticed. Lucas had tried texting her and calling her several times throughout the days, but she'd never answer. She'd have her phone in her hand when the calls and texts would go through, but she never did anything about them. But Riley knew Sienna was right and that it would hurt a lot less if Lucas heard the news from her instead of his cousin.

Lucas, now worried about Riley since she wasn't answering her phone, turned to Sienna for some answers. He called her one day after his shift at the clinic and was pleasantly surprised that she had picked up.

"Sienna, you busy?" Lucas asked as soon as Sienna picked up.

"No, I just got home from the bakery," Sienna lied. She hadn't talked to Lucas for a while, and she wasn't about to tell him that she quit her job. She didn't want to worry him from thousands of miles away. She was going to let the call go unanswered, but she felt at ease after quitting her job and confronting Riley.

"Okay, good," Lucas said. "Do you know why Riley hasn't been answering her phone?"

"Not sure," Sienna quickly answered, uninterested.

"What do you mean? You see her every day!" Lucas reminded her.

She shrugged to herself, "Not lately."

"Why not?"

"She took a couple of days off, Evan's been taking care of things," Sienna lied once again. She cringed when she said his name. Saying his name took her over the edge. Her voice started to crack and she knew she was on the verge of crying. Lucas took notice of this. He knew his cousin well. She swallowed the lump in her throat, "Not too sure why though."

At this point, Lucas wasn't worried about Riley anymore. He was worried about Sienna. He knew something was bothering her, and to him, family always came first, no matter what.

"Sienna, are you okay?" Lucas asked softly.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she wiped the tears that began to trickle their way down her cheeks.

"You don't sound okay," Lucas sighed. He paused before continuing, "You know you can tell me anything."

Sienna lost it.

"I can't, Luke," Sienna admitted. Her breathing got uneven and she began to sob. "I can't tell you. Not this, anyway."

"What do you mean?" Lucas furrowed his brows. He had no idea what his cousin was talking about. "Sienna, please."

"Fine!" Sienna yelled. She paused to catch her breath. "I quit the bakery, okay? I haven't seen Riley in days. I don't know what's going on with your precious little girlfriend."

"What, why did you quit?" Lucas began to worry. He wasn't sure what was going on back in New York but he knew it was nothing good.

"Because it's all your fault! You never should have left!" Sienna shrieked. Her voice suddenly softened, "You should've stayed in New York. None of this would've happened…"

"What happened?!" Lucas wanted to pull his hair out of his scalp. He so badly wanted to know what was going on but Sienna was being stubborn and wanted to keep things to herself.

Sienna finally calmed down a minute later and sighed, "Nothing, Luke."

Before Lucas could manage a reply, she hung up on him. He groaned. In a panic, he tapped on his phone and booked the next available flight to New York. Once it was confirmed, he rushed downstairs to confront Pappy Joe, who was on the couch watching a rodeo on TV.

"Boy, what's wrong?" Pappy Joe asked when he saw Lucas in a distressed state.

"There's something going on with Sienna," Lucas explained. "I just got off the phone with her and she was crying. Aunt Deana had been telling me that there was something off with Sienna lately. I need to go back to New York."

Pappy Joe stood up, "And what about your internship? It took a lot for me to get that for you. I know you care about your cousin but you just can't throw this all away!"

Lucas put a hand on Pappy Joe's shoulder and assured him, "I'm only going to be gone for a couple days. Please, Pappy Joe, figure something out. You know family comes first."

Pappy Joe sighed and gave in. He knew his grandson was right, family came first and he was glad that Lucas valued family as much as he did.

After a much needed pep-talk from Maya, Riley had finally built up the courage to tell Lucas everything. She took a deep breath. Maya patted Riley on the back before she returned to the front of the bakery. Was Riley really about to do this? Was she really about to tell him that she kissed someone that wasn't him?

"Hey," Lucas breathed. Hearing his voice made Riley's heart beat a mile a minute. She was suddenly considering backing out. But she knew she had to tell him sooner or later. And she also knew that sooner would be better than later. She couldn't stand to keep things from him, and so keeping this from him would only make her go insane from the guilt.

"Lucas," Riley closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," he replied softly. "How about we talk—"

Riley felt someone's presence suddenly in the room. She turned to the intruder. She dropped her arm to her side when she saw it was the one person she dreaded to see—Lucas.

"Face to face."

You guys! Another cliffhanger? I'm sorry! I couldn't help myself. It was a perfect place to end this chapter.

Also, since I don't write angst too often, I want to know what you think. How am I doing writing this fic? Am I hitting you guys in the feels? Like, not the fluffy feels, but the angsty ones?