AN: Oooooo things are about to get real interesting! I'm sorry if last chapter made you want to kill me. Yes, Riley has a boyfriend and we are going to meet him soon, but not this chapter.
This chapter is the angstiest so far and does contain a wee bit of swearing. If you hated my last chapter, you're really going to hate this one. Once again, I'm sorry.
Also shout out to ChordOverstreetFan for guessing this was going to happen during Chapter 1! I'm sure a few more guessed it but they were the first to comment so yeah.
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"Riley already has a boyfriend."
Lucas could not believe the words that came out of his best friend's mouth. Riley has a boyfriend? The person he may supposed to be with has a boyfriend? That certainly answered a lot of questions Lucas had been asking since he arrived in New York. Cory was nice to him because he knew Riley was over him. Whoever this guy was, he was probably this saint with the brain of Albert Einstein and a face carved by angels. He had probably even charmed Cory into liking him even though he was going to take Riley away from him one day. Something Lucas had failed to do.
It explained why Maya and Farkle wanted him to come here for the break. They wanted to rub it in his face that he had missed out on her. They wanted to get him all hot for her and then break the news. He had been friends with Maya and Farkle since seventh grade but they had been friends with Riley since kindergarten. They probably didn't want to see one of their friends drown but he knew if they weren't given a choice, they would have to sacrifice Lucas.
It explained why Riley wanted to get over him. She probably was over him already. She had to be if she was dating somebody else. He knew it was selfish because he didn't show any remote interest towards her back in high school but he was interested now. He really liked her. So much so it scared him. He had never felt so strongly about a girl and these feelings had only aroused two days ago.
One moment, Lucas was standing out in the hallway with Farkle, his mouth dangling wide open and tears forming in his eyes. The next, he was in Riley's room on her window sill with Maya and Farkle. Maya speaking was enough to pull him back into reality.
"Lucas-"
"How could you not tell me?!" Lucas exclaimed standing up so he towered over his two friends. "This couldn't have been mentioned in just one of the texts or phone calls we had leading up to this?! It's not that hard to add. Not like it's so long you're going to have to break your fingers or lose your voice explaining it. That's all! Oh by the way, Riley has a boyfriend. See I just did it! It's not hard."
"It's not that we couldn't tell you," Maya started.
"We need your help." Farkle finished.
"What?" Lucas asked a little calmer now.
"This guy's a creep." Maya said. "This guy couldn't even spit on Charlie's shoes."
Lucas thought back to the gang's sophomore year of high school. A new guy named Charlie had moved to New York from Tennessee. He was almost a carbon copy of Lucas except he did things Lucas would never do to any girl. Once he started going out with Riley, he would yell at her, push her and even cheat on her. What confounded Lucas and the rest of the group was that Riley put up with it. She would just say things like 'he's had a bad day' or 'he tripped and fell on her lips'. They were dumb excuses but luckily Riley found the strength to break up with him after about six months together. If this new guy was that bad, Lucas wasn't quite sure he wanted to meet him. He wasn't afraid of the guy but rather what he might do to him.
"Okay," Lucas said. "What do you want me to do about it?"
"Riley has liked you more than anybody else." Maya explained. "Turn on the cowboy charm. Make her like you so she'll break up with the new guy."
"Maya, I'm not going to make Riley like me." Lucas said. "I can't and even if I could I'd probably just hurt her feelings again which I'm sick and tired of doing."
"I thought you said you were going to ask her out?" Farkle asked.
"I was," Lucas said as he tried to come up with an excuse. "But I just realized it wouldn't be fair to her if we did. We live over two thousand miles apart!"
Maya and Farkle seemed to see right through him when he said this. He knew he was wrong and wanted more than anything to break Riley up with this creep but it was selfish of him to do. She's eighteen now. That's a legal adult in the state of New York. She lives by herself. She can make her own decisions without his help. Maya stepped up first.
"Lucas, Riley is my best friend in the whole world," she said. "I don't like to see her get hurt. I know I can't protect her from everything but I'm afraid she might be in too deep this time. I've tried talking to her. Farkle's tried talking to her. We haven't gotten anywhere. You're our last hope."
Maya was nearly in tears by the end of her speech. Lucas knew Riley and Maya were as close as any two platonic girls could be. He understood that she didn't want her to get hurt. He didn't want her to get hurt either but what could he do? She didn't like him anymore. It was over. Whoever this guy was had won and he didn't even know there was a war brewing.
"Maybe you're right," Lucas said. "Maybe she is in too deep this time."
Lucas then left the room before either of them could get a word in. He didn't want to argue with them anymore. He knew their intentions were good and they were just trying to help a friend but he didn't know what he could do. He tried telling them that but they didn't listen. He wished he had less stubborn friends. He would always help Riley or Maya or Farkle to the best of his ability but there were certain situations he couldn't get them out of. In Riley's case, this was one of them. She had made her bed and now she had to lay in it.
Lucas sauntered downstairs where a majority of the Matthews' family was. He spent the day talking to anybody and everybody except Riley. He didn't even steal glances at her anymore. He didn't want to look at her because she had used him. She had treated him like a piece of meat and he didn't like that. He also did his best to avoid Maya and Farkle. Every now and again they would sneak up behind him when he wasn't talking to somebody or moving to talk to somebody else and whisper something along the lines of 'please' in his ear. He knew what they wanted but he couldn't give in.
It was around five o'clock that Riley had enough of Lucas avoiding her. She walked over to him as he was getting some more punch, snatched his wrist and dragged him back to her room. She locked the door behind them like she had done the previous day. Lucas stood in front of her with a stoic expression on his face as he took a sip of his punch.
"What is with you?" Riley asked very accusingly.
"Nothing," Lucas said nonchalantly. "What is with you?"
"Me? I haven't done anything all day! I keep looking to you when you're in conversations with other people trying to get your attention! It was working yesterday, why not today?"
"Trying to get my attention…" Lucas thought out loud. "Oh, are you flirting with me?" She didn't have to respond to get an answer. "Oh, Riley how many times do I have to tell you I'm not interested?"
Riley was dumbfounded and Lucas knew that was the wrong thing to say the second it came out of his mouth. He wished he could take it back but it was out in the open now.
"You're… you're not interested… you're not interested?" Riley asked as tears started to form in her eyes. "Then… then what the hell was that under the mistletoe, huh? Or last night? You did all of that because you're not interested?!"
"Well, I was," Lucas explained still trying to maintain his stoic stance. "But then I learned something about you that is kind of an issue for me."
"What's that?"
"Oh, I don't know that you have a boyfriend!" Lucas exclaimed finally breaking his cool.
"I… who told you?" Riley asked.
"Maya and Farkle." Lucas responded. "That was the whole reason I came here. They kept badgering me and begging me to come."
Riley let out an aggravated grunt. "That is just like them."
Lucas figured, for Maya and Farkle's sake maybe he should try to talk her out of this. This guy did sound pretty terrible.
"I don't know, Riley. They made him sound pretty bad."
"Okay, who are you to say that? You've never even met him! And Maya and Farkle don't know him like I do! He can be really caring when he wants to be! He's fantastic! And he would never lead me on if he wasn't interested."
The last bit hit Lucas right in the heart. Yes, Riley had planned all these adventures they had had the past few days but he could have stopped it. He could have said no to the mistletoe and insisted they stay home for the night rather than leave. But also, they had been all Riley's ideas.
"These things that we have done the past few days have all been your ideas, not mine. Not even one of them was mine!"
"You agreed to it!"
"Fine, I agreed to it. Send me straight to the bottom lair of hell! But Riley I never, never, would have come up with those ideas on my own. I never would have tried to seduce you without your permission. You used me. I don't know why but you did."
Lucas took a deep breath before he thought about what he was going to say next. He didn't want to but he couldn't do this anymore.
"I can't trust you anymore." Lucas said. "You've changed. I thought it was for the better but it's not. I don't like this Riley but more importantly, I can't trust this Riley and I have to be able to trust my friends."
Riley looked up at him with big puffy eyes. Tears where running down her cheeks and her nose was beginning to become stuffed up. She knew exactly where this was going and she didn't like it at all. She didn't like it in the least bit.
"No, Lucas," Riley whispered. "No, no, no. I am your friend! You can trust me! I'm sorry."
Riley had walked up to him and started rubbing her hands on his chest. He really enjoyed it but he had to walk away with some dignity.
"No, no. Riley, stop!" He said as he shoved her away, gently but hard enough to get his point across. "There you go again! I don't want to have that kind of relationship with you unless I'm going to be your boyfriend. Your only boyfriend. And I think the past couple of days we pushed it too far."
Lucas took another deep sigh as he himself felt tears start to prick at his eyes. His voice was getting croaky too and he didn't like where this was going at all.
"We can't be friends."
That was the breaking point for Riley. She slowly fell down her chair as she let the tears flow. She was openly sobbing in front of him. He had seen her cry before but never sob or weep or anything like this. He wanted to hug her and hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right but that type of comfort was for friends and he and Riley weren't friends.
He wanted to curl up in a ball right next to her and cry his eyes out too. He had just lost one of the best friends he had ever had. He was convinced it was the right move but lately he had been doubting his decisions concerning Riley. Everything he had thought about her since they met were disproved in the matter of two days. He thought she was unattractive, now she was attractive. He thought she wasn't the girl of his dreams, now she was the girl of his dreams. He thought he could trust her, but now he could never tell her another secret again.
Including one of his deepest, darkest secrets; despite the fact that she had used him and played him, he was still in love with her.