(Italics are flashbacks)

Lucas sat in the learning center, staring absentmindedly out the window. The clouds were covering most of the stars that night, and the rest were masked by the reflection of the lights on the window. But that didn't matter to him right now – Lucas wasn't focusing on the stars like he usually would, especially at this time of night when most of the students were finally making their way back to their dorms. Or rather they were trying to, anyway as they stumbled along the sidewalk.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a frustrated breath. Sleep had eluded him ever since that night, and it was starting to show. Lucas still couldn't figure out what went wrong between him and Riley that night three weeks ago over break, and what she meant. They had always gotten through hardships together. Why was there a sudden change in heart? A change so sudden he was still busy picking up the pieces of his shattered heart.

"Excuse me?" a voice asked, breaking the silence.

Lucas jumped at the soft voice, not expecting anyone to be in this area – except maybe the cleaning crew. He looked up to see a petite woman about his age with shoulder length caramel hair, sun kissed skin, and deep brown eyes. She looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he may have seen her before. She was wearing a forest green cardigan with a white tee underneath and jeans. "Hi. Can – can I help you with something"

"You're Lucas, right?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah? And you would be?"

She shook her head a little bit and sat down in the armchair beside his, curling her legs underneath her as she leaned on the arm. "I'm sorry. I'm Lauren – we're in the same Calculus class. You've seemed rather tired or preoccupied the past couple weeks. When I saw you here I figured I'd ask if you're okay. I have been meaning to ask, but you duck out of class really quickly."

Calculus! his mind clicked. She sat in the same row as him, over towards the window while he opted for the seat closest to the door. "Sorry about that," Lucas began, "I have practice on the other side of campus right after calc, so I have to get there as fast."

"It's okay. So… are you okay?"

Lucas let out another sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "No… no I'm not. Something rather unexpected happened about two weeks ago, and I'm not handling it too well."

Lauren placed her hand on Lucas', sending a chill up his spine. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do? Do you want to talk about it?"

"Thanks, but no. I'd rather just try to get my mind off of it for now." he smiled, albeit very sadly.

She nodded gently as she leaned back in her chair. "Okay, but if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here to lend an ear."

Lucas lightly bobbed his head from side to side. "Maybe someday."

The axe sang through the air as it easily slid through the chunk of wood and drove itself into the stump the wood was sitting on. Lucas yanked the axe out of the tree stump and placed another piece of wood onto the stump. He swung it again, sending the two halves flying in opposite directions and onto the ground.

He never did tell her.

Lucas wasn't sure why he never told her, especially since they told each other most everything. However, when it came to Riley, Lucas never did say much – all Lauren knew was that they dated up until their freshman year of college. Maybe it was because it was too painful, or maybe because this lovely mess he was in now would have happened sooner. Lucas sighed as he pushed the memory from his mind and reached for his water bottle. Despite it being a bit cold for Texas in December, he was wearing only a white v neck tee and jeans – his red flannel shirt long forgotten about as it hung on a branch nearby. He wiped the sweat that had formed on his brow before grabbing his axe again and starting back to work.

He was so frustrated with himself. What in the world was I thinking?! How did I get myself into this mess? How could I let myself get into this situation?

If anything, not telling Lauren about what happened with Riley should have been a huge sign that maybe she wasn't the one. They should be able to tell each other everything over time, even if it was still rather raw. But he thought for sure she was…

Lauren and Lucas sat by the fireplace in the student center after drinking a couple of coffees over the course of a few hours. Most of the students were out celebrating the homecoming win, while the two were content on cuddling on the couch.

After a while, Lauren turned her head to make eye contact with Lucas. "I love you, you know that?" she asked him with a beautiful smile painted across her face.

"I love you, too," he said as he wrapped her up in his arms and kissed the top of her head. As he felt her melt into his side, Lucas closed his eyes and smiled. He realized that he could easily stay in this moment forever. It just felt right… like it was meant to be. In that moment, Lucas realized that Lauren was –

He drove the axe right through another wood chunk as if it were butter, causing the blade to become lodged in the stump a few inches. Lucas let out a frustrated groan as he tried to remove the axe, but it refused to budge. No matter how hard he tried it remained right where it was as if he wasn't worthy to lift it.

"So, how ya doin', Luke? You okay?" Pappy Joe asked.

Lucas turned to see his grandfather leaning up against one of the trees with his arms crossed and a certain look plastered across his face. He knew that look. Pappy Joe knew the answer, but he was setting him up. It didn't help that Lucas had a habit of retreating to his grandfather's farm whenever he was rather frustrated or deeply confused. There was something about the farm that helped Lucas clear his head… or rather, there was someone that helped him. And that someone was looking him dead in the eye.

He shook his head as he decided to abandon the axe and wiped the sweat off of his brow, casting his gaze towards the ground. "No… no, I'm not," he replied as the other reason for his trip floated to the front of his mind.

Riley and Lucas were sitting on top of the roof of the Matthews' apartment after Riley's graduation party. The last couple of people had just left a few moments ago, and Riley was in desperate need of some alone time. Luckily for Lucas, she insisted that he should stay.

The two of them gazed up at the sky. Dark clouds were rolling in, but there were still a few stars visible – enough to make Riley happy.

"Can you believe that we've graduated high school already? It just doesn't seem real," Riley commented, her gaze still fixated on the stars.

Lucas shifted his gaze from the sky to his girlfriend sitting next to him. A soft smile graced his lips as he stared in amazement at Riley's awe. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to him before saying, "Yeah, it's hard to believe. Wasn't it just yesterday we met on the subway?"

Even though Riley was fond of that memory, she found herself blushing. "Time needs to slow down."

Lucas nodded as Riley met his gaze. "That it does," he agreed as his eyes shifted down to her lips, and then back up to her. As the two started to lean in towards each other, a drop of rain hit Riley right on the nose. The two giggled as Lucas reached up and brushed it away.

Quicker than they could blink, the clouds opened up and poured down on the two. Sheets of rain were coming down on them as Lucas stood up. "C'mon, we need to head inside before we get completely soaked!"

With a mischievous grin, Riley stood up, but didn't make her way towards the door. Instead, she darted towards the center of the floor and started twirling around.

"What are you doing?" Lucas called out to her.

Riley ran over to him, grabbed ahold of his hands, and dragged him back to where she was. "Having fun! Come on, dance with me! Live in the moment!"

Lucas chuckled as he twirled Riley around in circles. He spun her back into his arms, and the two started to sway side to side. As they moved across the floor, Riley melted into him and let out a pleasant sigh. After a few more moments, the two looked deep into each other's eyes. Lucas leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, allowing the warmth from hers to seep into his heart.

Pappy Joe walked up to him, bringing Lucas back to reality and making him turn to face him. "Y'know, the last time I saw you like this was about three years ago or so. Any correlation between the two?"

Again, Lucas sighed as he crossed his arms. "Sort of…" he trailed.

"Boy, you're going to have to give me more than that."

"Sorry, Pappy Joe… they're kind of related so to speak. Lauren broke up with me… right before I was going to propose to her," he started to explain as he took of his gloves and threw them onto the ground in frustration. "The reason why was because I ran into Riley on the subway on my way to meet Lauren, and I realized I still had all these feelings for her. I tried to put them aside because I thought for sure Lauren was the one for me, but I couldn't; I kept thinking about her when I should have been focusing on Lauren. Heck, I completely forgot about Lauren when Riley literally fell into my lap again. According to Lauren, I was looking at Riley in a way that I've never looked at her… I've never felt so bad in my life," he finished as a dull ache made its way through his heart.

Pappy Joe nodded as he crossed his arms. "So, what are you going to do?"

Lucas threw up his hands, "I have no idea. It felt so right with Lauren and I love her, but then Riley walked back into my life… a-and I'm just so confused!"

"Well, why did you allow Lauren to leave?"

Lucas raised a confused eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"What did you do when Lauren broke up with you? You told me at one point you thought she was the one. How did you fight for her?"

He thought back to that day two months ago and lowered his gaze. "I didn't… not really."

"So, why did you allow Lauren to leave?"

"Because Riley… she's something else. Riley is anything but typical; she's unpredictable. Even at her worst she's not that bad. She's as real as real can be. Riley's every lover that I've ever had, and she's every lover that I've never had. When I was with her again, it made perfect sense…" he trailed.

Pappy Joe shook his head as he placed a comforting hand on Lucas' shoulder. "Luke, you know I've never really believed in the 'soulmate' idea. I've always thought there's more than one person out there that you could end up marrying. But in this instance I feel that I may be wrong. If you had met Lauren before you knew Riley, I think she may have been the one for you. However, Riley is something special. It's clear that you still care for her, boy. When it came to Lauren, you were confused. But Riley… that was clear – despite all that's happened. You need to talk this through with her and sort out what happened that night… soon."

A/N: Oooooooh things are getting interesting! I hope this was enough to satisfy those who were worried :) I had most of this chapter in mind when I had the idea to expand it from a one shot, but originally Pappy Joe wasn't supposed to be in it. Anyway, let me know what you thought!