AN: Happy Monday! This is weird but like I said I thought I'd give you guys another chapter before Friday since Royalty was only written for fluff reasons. It's hard to avoid fluff when the couple is as cute as Lucas and Riley are! Anyway, I also apologize for this super long chapter. Most of my chapters are just over 2,000 words and this one is over 3,000. I hope you guys enjoy it though!

This chapter came to mind when I was listening to "Kiss Me Kiss Me" by 5 Seconds of Summer so that's where the title of this chapter comes from. There is also a reference to Cory and Topanga's relationship in Boy Meets World for those of you who are fans of both shows.

I should also say I don't own Boy Meets World, Girl Meets World, 5 Seconds of Summer or the piece of art I reference in this chapter. I own this laptop from which I am writing this story but that is all.

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Lucas and Riley had snapped out of their love induced trance only moments later. As much as they wanted to kiss the other, they knew their absence was going to be noticed downstairs. Riley had locked her door but it felt rude to be out of a gathering they were invited to and expected to be at. Once they came downstairs, they went their separate ways, Riley going over to Maya and her mother, who was having an interesting conversation with Rachel and Lucas went over to Farkle who was talking to Cory.

"Hey, Lucas," Farkle said as he walked into their conversation. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, you know… just hanging around." Lucas responded. Lucky for him, both men seemed to buy it.

They continued to have a conversation about college life, comparing Farkle's Boston experience with Lucas' Texas one and even Cory's Pennsylvania/ New York one. Farkle seemed to be having a good time in Boston, but he was having a difficult time choosing what science program to go into. Astronomy or Anatomy? Chemistry or Biology? Archeology or Botany? He had no idea and was at one point only seconds away from suffering from a Farkle faint. Once he made sure Farkle was okay, Cory left to go talk to Shawn, Jack and Eric who were waving him over for some reason.

"So, what do you think of the new Riley?" Farkle asked Lucas.

"I think…" Lucas trailed off before he said what he was really thinking. Amazing? Beautiful? Perfect? She was but he didn't want Farkle to think he was head over heels in love with her. Maya and Farkle had a tendency to over blow things and didn't want this answer to lead to the pair planning their wedding.

"I think she's all right."

"All right?" Farkle said, wearing a rare expression on his face. The last time this had happened, Cory had told him the answer to a question was wrong. So, yes it was rare but no, it was not good.

"Yeah, well she's definitely different." Lucas gave him that. Nobody with eyes could deny that.

"Lucas, Riley was always pretty but now, she's a babe!" Farkle exclaimed.

Lucas smiled in Riley's direction. Fortunately, she wasn't looking his way when he did. Farkle was right. Riley was a babe, in the best sense of the word. Still, he didn't want his best buddy over blowing things.

"I guess if you go for that look." Lucas said.

"You don't go for that look? You don't go for sophisticated and beautiful?"

Yes."No."

"Really?"

She's so beautiful."Nah, not really."

Farkle gave Lucas a look that didn't seem to him that he believed him. Lucas felt like he should elaborate.

"Look, I've always thought of Riley like a sister. I love her but not that way."

Totally that way.

"Okay," Farkle said. "I guess I'm done."

"Thank you." Lucas said to his friend as he joined another conversation and tried to look a bit peeved.

A few hours later, it was close to dinner time. Shawn, Katy, Maya, Jack and Rachel left for their apartment for Christmas dinner, Farkle had gone back to his family's place, and Cory, Topanga, Amy, Alan, Eric, Josh, Riley, Auggie and Lucas stayed at the Matthews'. Lucas tried to get a seat by Riley but he was having a conversation with her grandfather when Topanga called for them all to sit down and eat. He enjoyed talking to Alan about the camping store he recently sold, but he would have much rather spent the dinner conversing with Riley and gently poking each other under the table for fun. Riley was sitting on the other side of the table, as far from Lucas as she could possibly be, by her Uncle Eric. A few minutes into their meal, Alan had started a different conversation with Topanga and Lucas began to eat his food, gobbling it up in about five minutes. He couldn't help but notice Riley was eating particularly fast too. Soon she was done with her meal and had excused herself to go to her room. Only a few minutes after that, Lucas' phone started to buzz. He reached into his pocket to see he had one text message from Riley Matthews.

Tell them you have to go to the bathroom and come to my room.

Lucas wasn't sure what he was going to get himself into but it seemed like a good opportunity to get some time with Riley. Just about everybody was returning to their hometowns either the same day or after he had to go back to Texas on the 28th. He did as he was told and went up to her room. He knocked on her closed door and she opened it, pulling him in as if there was a bomb where he was standing and shutting it.

"Riley, what's going on?" He asked.

"Do you want to get out of here?" She asked.

"What?"

"Oh, come on! I'm so bored! Just talking to my family! I see them all the time! I want to get out! Come with me!"

As much as Lucas did want to be reckless and leave with her, he felt like it might be rude to leave a gathering he wasn't even invited to.

"Wouldn't it be rude leaving?" Lucas asked.

"They wouldn't have to know we left!" Riley said. "I stay up here studying all the time and I can send a text to my mom that we are both studying up here and lock the door. She won't interrupt us."

"What about your dad?" Lucas asked, doubtfully.

"He wouldn't cause a scene around family." Riley said knowingly.

"All right, fine," Lucas caved. "I suppose I can do with a night in the city on Christmas."

"No!" Riley said, immediately. "I mean… it's going to be really crowded everywhere. It's Christmas! Let's go somewhere out of town."

"Can we get a taxi to take us that far?" Lucas asked.

"We don't need a taxi," Riley said as she held up a pair of car keys. "We can take my dad's car. I'm a good driver, I promise."

Lucas chuckled at this irony. All his life he thought if he was going to rebel with Riley, he would be the one to convince her to do something crazy, not the other way around. But it really did sound great.

"Okay, fine," Lucas said. "Where to?"

"Oh, I've got some places in mind, Texas boy," Riley said as she popped open her window and crawled out and down the fire escape as Lucas followed.

The two snuck out to the parking garage and took Cory's family minivan, but not before Riley shot a text to her mother telling her she and Lucas were studying and not to be interrupted. It took forever to get out of the crazy New York traffic that was twice as busy as usual with tourists flooding the city for Christmas. Lucas couldn't deny that he was having an excellent time here, much better than he would have at Riley's apartment. He was a bit aggravated when they were stuck in dead lock traffic but soon they were out in the open countryside of New York, blasting the radio loud and just having a good time, like friends do.

About an hour later, they entered a small town and Riley pulled into the parking lot of a large one story building. As they got out, Lucas found that they were at an art museum.

"So we sneak out of your parent's house to go to an art museum? Very rebellious, Matthews." Lucas told her.

"I'm not trying to be rebellious," Riley told him with a warm smile on her face. "I'm trying to have a good time with you. I thought this would be fun."

"No, yeah. It will be. It sounds great!" Lucas said as they began to walk up the steps to the museum.

Since it was Christmas Day, the museum was offering free admission to everybody. Riley and Lucas began looking around at all the amazing sculptures, paintings and photographs. They had several famous pieces of work like The Starry Night and American Gothic but Riley quietly explained nothing recognizable was real. There was some original work from local artists that looked great but Riley and Lucas felt themselves drawn to the ones that were well known. Those pieces of work were from a different time and a different place that they had never been to before. In some cases, the only other way they could go to those places were if they read a book about that particular era. They both knew modern day New York pretty well and had come here to escape that.

Lucas came across one piece of art by a local artist that he actually really liked. It was a painting of the New York skyline but with warm reds, oranges, yellows and browns instead the cool blues, greens, purples and black. He probably liked it most because it was a bit rustic and western and reminded him of Texas but in New York and those were his two favorite places on earth.

"Hey, Riley, you have to come see this…"

Lucas looked to where Riley was, about thirty feet away from him, to see her staring wide eyed at another piece of art. It was clear to Lucas, whatever the piece was, Riley wasn't moving. He walked over to stand beside her. He wasn't surprised to see it was a photograph. Riley had a soft spot for photography since Shawn had given her that camera at the end of seventh grade. She loved taking pictures and had always been an excellent photographer.

The photograph Riley was staring at looked a bit old and, although you couldn't see any scenery, Lucas could tell it was taken in the west somewhere. The main focus of the picture was on a woman. She was pretty but in a subtle kind of way. She had her hand under her chin and was looking away from the camera. There were two children on either side of her who looked like they were crying. Lucas looked at the plate under the photograph to see the name of the piece.

Migrant Mother

Lucas then shifted his eyes to just a few inches away from the plate to his and Riley's hands, only centimeters from each other. Should he hold her hand? Would she be mad at him? Friends can hold hands, right? He figured he didn't have anything to lose and grabbed her hand, intertwining her fingers with his.

Riley looked down at their joined hands and smiled. Lucas swore he felt his heart skip a beat as she did. What was this girl doing to him?

"Hi," he finally managed to breathe out. He really wanted to play it safe and their normal exchange was the safest thing he could think of.

"Hey," Riley responded, looking up into his eyes. The pair just stayed there for a bit, completely silent. It wasn't awkward at all but extremely comfortable. He loved feeling her hand in his and seeing her staring at him with those big chocolate brown eyes. She looked rather happy about it too. All too soon, Riley began to blink rapidly and turned back to the photograph.

"What do you think of this piece?" She asked, not letting go of his hand.

"Well, it's very dark." Lucas responded immediately. "And I was hoping tonight was going to be rather lively. It is Christmas Day, you know."

"I know," Riley said. "But I always want to hear your opinions."

"Really?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," She responded. "You're smart and you have a unique perspective on things. So what do you think?"

Lucas let out a deep breath before he answered her. "I think it's very sad. I mean, I'm assuming the lady in the picture is the mother and those are her children." He pointed to the woman and the kids as he explained. "The children look upset and so does the mother and it doesn't look like they have very much. Don't get me wrong, it's a great picture but why are you so infatuated by it?"

"Because I think it's hopeful." Riley answered.

"Hopeful?"

"Yeah," She said. "I mean they don't have much in the picture and it's hard but life is hard. The children don't see hope because it's hard for kids that young to know what hope is but the mother, you can see it in her eyes. She has hope. I think hope looks good on people."

Lucas was surprised by Riley's answer. He hadn't quite expected that. It wasn't until she explained it like that did he realize that she was right. They were both right. Yes, in the moment it looked devastating but the woman looked like a heavy weight had just been lifted. Lucas couldn't deny that he felt like Riley's innocence had gone or faded significantly since he had last seen her but that was one thing about her that hadn't changed. It was still there.

Lucas showed Riley the piece he had been staring at and she thought it was wonderful, especially after he explained why he loved it. They wandered around the museum for about another half hour before a security guard informed them they were closing soon. Sadly, Riley and Lucas made their way back to the car. As soon as they had climbed in, Lucas was the first to speak.

"I had a great time, Riley, but I wish it wouldn't have ended." Lucas told her.

Riley looked at him with a devilish smile on her face.

"It doesn't have to. I know another place out here and its open all night."

"Well, I'm up for it if you are."

Riley nodded eagerly. She sent a quick text to somebody before she turned on the car. They drove for about another twenty minutes when they came across a field with several other cars parked on the grass. Riley found a semi-secluded spot to park the car. She pressed a button that opened up the sky roof in the car and jumped to the back seat. She shifted the back of the seat all the way down so it looked more like a bed than a car seat and pulled out some blankets and pillows from the trunk.

"I told my mom that I was spending the night at Maya's and you at Farkle's." Riley told him. "We can leave any time you want but I figured that could give us until whenever to get back home."

She tossed him a blanket as she rolled the windows down so a sliver of air was coming through the car.

"Something tells me you had this planned all along." Lucas told her as he raised an eyebrow. At this point, he didn't at all mind if she had.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself, Friar," Riley told him. "I was not planning on taking you out here tonight."

"Then why do you have the blankets and the pillows?" He accused.

"We only take this car anywhere when we leave town." Riley explained. "Sometimes we leave early in the morning or late at night so Auggie and I get tired and want to sleep. The pillows and blankets make it a little more comfortable."

Lucas shrugged as he decided to play along. "Okay, I'll let you off easy this time, Matthews."

"Oh, well, thank you, kind sir," she responded sarcastically.

"No problem, ma'am," He said as he tipped an imaginary cowboy hat.

They got situated with all the pillows and blankets and laid down on the seat. It wasn't until then, Lucas realized why Riley took him here. The stars in the sky were as bright as he had ever seen in New York. In the city, you could see little flickers of stars here and there but it was difficult to catch it. Out here, in the open, you could see thousands of stars in the air and even what looked like purple, galactic clouds surrounding groups of stars in the sky.

"This is beautiful, Riley," Lucas said, his eyes locked on the night sky.

"Y-yeah," Riley agreed.

Lucas looked over to see Riley was shivering. She had her blanket all the way up to her mouth and wrapped around her body but he supposed she was still cold.

"Are you cold?" He asked.

"A little, I'll be fine though,"

Instead of volunteering to go home, turning the car back on for a minute to heat it up a bit or anything else that might have made a little more sense, Lucas pulled her into his side hoping his body heat would help make her warm. He realized about a split second later that this may not have been the best thing to do with his plutonic friend.

"Is-is this okay?" He asked.

She had stopped shaking but he couldn't tell if she was getting warmer or because she was shocked he made such a bold move.

"This is perfect." She said as she snuggled further into his chest.

Lucas smiled as he continued gazing up at the stars in the sky. He smiled because everything around him was beautiful. The outdoors, the brilliant stars in the sky and Riley. He had never been happier in one spot, even though the arm that was around her was starting to fall asleep. She had an arm around his torso and even though she was the one shivering, he couldn't deny he was a tad cold as well and her body heat was making up for it.

Soon, he felt Riley's breathing start to slow and he knew she was starting to fall asleep. He could tell he was going to cave soon too so he pulled her a little closer to him, kissed her forehead like the night before and bid her majesty good night.

"Good night, my queen."