AN: So if you are hoping for things to get better in this chapter… it's not going to happen. This chapter will contain some violence so if you don't like that I'm sorry. Just warning you now.

Follow, review and favorite!

Lucas left Riley's room wanting to cry his eyes out as well but not knowing exactly where to do it. He really didn't want to not be her friend. He loved her and always had since probably their eighth grade year. When any sight of negativity crossed her features it would hurt Lucas, even if he wasn't the source of her pain. What he had done to her in her room had killed him. How he was still walking and living with a functioning heart he did not know. But that was just it. Lucas' heart wasn't normal or functioning. It was shattered into a million pieces. He never thought Riley Matthews would be the one to cause him this pain.

Lucas wasn't surprised to see Maya and Farkle lurking outside of Riley's room when he finally exited. They each gave him sympathetic looks then Maya dashed into Riley's room to comfort her best friend while Lucas was left out in the hall with his. He hoped Farkle would comfort him too. He really needed it, probably as much as Riley did. Lucas took a few paces before stopping, leaning against the wall, and sliding down until he was sitting on the ground. Farkle joined him only seconds later but didn't speak because for once in his life, Farkle Minkus didn't know what to say to make this better.

"I-I can't believe I just did that." Lucas said with a strained and croaky voice. He also felt a tear run down his left eye. He would have lifted his hand up to wipe it away but he didn't see any use. It was just him and Farkle and he wasn't afraid to show emotion in front of his best friends, except anger.

"Why did you do it?" Farkle asked. He knew this probably isn't what Lucas wanted to hear but he had no idea what else to say.

"I don't know," Lucas responded. "What the hell am I talking about we can't be friends? She hid one boyfriend from me I hid tons of girlfriends from her. But I never tried to seduce her, either."

"Are you sure you didn't misinterpret things?" Farkle asked.

"What do you mean?" Lucas said looking him in the eye for the first time since this conversation had started.

"Well, one time earlier in the year, I came home for the weekend. I met up with Maya at Topanaga's and she said that Riley was sick and she wouldn't be coming. She started asking me questions about how a man should treat a woman and I thought she was finally falling for the Farkle charm. Turns out she was just asking about Dylan."

"Dylan?"

"Riley's boyfriend."

Lucas nodded in understanding but not quite wanting to talk about that guy yet. He wanted to focus on his own problems first. Did he misinterpret things? Riley's kiss under the mistletoe was her way of getting over him, not trying to start anything new. She had invited him to go to the art museum but he had been the one who said he didn't want the night to end, she only agreed to his advances. He understood why she gave in. Even now, he was pretty sure if Missy Bradford asked to spend a night with him, he couldn't say no. Maybe he had misinterpreted everything Riley had said to him since he arrived back in New York. All of this did nothing to change the fact that he still had feelings for her.

"I still like her, Farkle." Lucas said. "I like her a lot."

"I know." Farkle responded. "I wouldn't think you'd be this upset if you didn't."

"Do you know what sucks about this whole thing the most?" Lucas asked.

"What's that?"

"I could have had her." Lucas sighed as he rested his head in his right hand. "I could have had her since… since middle school. We could have been like her parents. We could have been engaged right now."

"Whoa, you want to get engaged? Slow down, buddy. I still need time to let Riley down easy."

Lucas let out a half chuckle at his friend. It didn't matter what happened to him, Lucas' friends could always make him feel better.

"No, I'm not ready to get engaged. Not now but if we had been together since middle school or even freshman year of high school, who knows what could have happened." Lucas responded.

"Well, you still have the present. Not everybody's Cory and Topanga or Romeo and Juliet. Not everybody knows who they are going to spend the rest of their life with when they are thirteen and not everybody's going to get married the second they can. Just because you have to wait for Riley or go through a few arguments with her doesn't mean you're not going to end up together. It just means you have differences but what couple doesn't?"

Lucas sighed as the two friends remained in silence for the next few moments. Lucas had been debating if breaking his friendship with Riley was really the best idea. He had made a mental list of the pros and cons of not being friends with Riley and the cons heavily outweighed the pros. In fact, there were no real pros on the list. Lucas had made a mistake. A big mistake at that and he was now hell bent on doing everything he could to remedy that.

Only a few seconds later, the door to Riley's room had opened and Maya Hart had stepped out. She didn't look very happy but neither man expected her to be.

"How's Riley?" Lucas asked stepping up first. "Is she going to be okay?"

Maya didn't say a word. Lucas figured she was giving him the silent treatment for being such a jerk to her best friend. Lucas couldn't blame her for being upset. He would be upset if somebody had picked on Farkle too. In fact, that did happen in seventh grade and that was as close as any of his friends had ever seen him to his old self.

Lucas sighed. "Can I talk to her, please?"

"She's gone," Maya said quietly.

"What?" Farkle asked before Lucas could get the word out.

"She's gone," Maya repeated. She inhaled a deep, shaky breath. "She texted Dylan to come meet her by their special place, which I still don't know where that is, and she left."

Lucas didn't like this one bit. The fact that Riley actually ran away from a problem was rare. Riley was always the type of person to face up to a problem and go at it stubbornly until it was no longer a problem. Her argument with Lucas was a problem and it was the first time he had ever seen her run away from any problem she had ever had. It upset him that he had caused this problem but it worried him so much more than anything.

Later that night, everybody had left the Matthews' apartment again. Cory and Topanga had asked repeatedly where Riley was to Lucas, Maya and Farkle but they couldn't give an answer if they wanted to. Lucas wanted to say that she was with Dylan but he didn't know how Riley's parents felt about him. They could love him for all he knew and him tattling on her would be no use.

Lucas started to get worried about Riley. It was eight o'clock and he had never known her to stay out past 7:30. Farkle and Maya were both gone before ten o'clock came around and told Lucas to text them when Riley came home. Then it was eleven o'clock and Lucas was awake with Cory watching late night television both waiting for Riley to get home.

"So, Mr. Friar," Cory started. "Are you doing all right?"

"Yes, sir," Lucas said. Based on the look he received from Cory he wasn't very believable. "Riley and I had a bit of an argument." There was no use at hiding it.

"Really?" Cory asked. "Do you mind if I ask what it was about?"

Lucas felt like he should answer him. Cory was more of a father to him than his own dad. He could always help him out with his problems and had a unique and fun way of doing it. He didn't want to get too intimate though. As much as he thought it was funny when Cory would shout "No!" and through him outside the apartment, Lucas didn't really have anywhere else to stay. Farkle's family had just arrived tonight and were taking up every inch of his parents' massive apartment. He figured he should answer Cory but keep it as vague as possible.

"She lead me to believe something about her that wasn't true and I got upset and ended our friendship." Lucas said.

"Huh," Cory said, less upset than Lucas figured he would be. "Was it really worth ending an seven year friendship?"

"I thought it was but now I don't think so." Lucas responded.

There was a moment of silence before Lucas finally broke and asked Cory a question he'd been dying to know the answer to all day.

"So what do you think of this Dylan guy, Mr. Matthews?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, you mean Riley's boyfriend?" Cory asked with a knowing smile. "Yeah, he's junk."

Lucas was flabbergasted at Cory's response. He didn't like Dylan? Why on earth was he letting Riley date him? Lucas didn't understand any of this at all.

"Then why let her date him?" Lucas asked.

"Well, Topanga and I have tried to tell her no but Riley's stubborn, you know that." Lucas nodded at Cory knowingly. "And she's not under our roof anymore. I can't control her life as much as I used to.

"You know," Cory continued. "I've come to terms with Riley dating now."

"You have?" Lucas asked with a small smile on his face.

"Yes." Cory said. "She's eighteen years old. It was bound to happen sometime. I just hope that she sees this Dylan for the creep he really is eventually and dumps him."

"Me too," Lucas mumbled.

"That's why I've been more open to you." Cory said. "Or at least trying to be. It's hard to change your mindset. But I like you, Lucas."

"Thanks, Mr. Matthews." Lucas said.

"I think I'm going to hit the hay, as you would say back in Texas." Cory said before standing up and heading back to his room.

It was now one o'clock and no Riley. Lucas was very concerned now. Not even he would stay out this late. He doubted Maya, the most rebellious of the group, would be out at this hour. Especially since Riley is a lowly young girl in the big city of New York with creeps and criminals just waiting for somebody like her to fall right into their thieving laps.

Two o'clock came by and Lucas was becoming exhausted. The only things on TV this time of night were infomercials and pornos and Lucas would never be caught dead watching either of those things. There wasn't much to keep him up. He tried watching videos on his phone or reading but that got boring too.

At 2:30, Lucas decided he was going to brew a pot of coffee so he could stay up a bit longer. He was going to need it if he only needed to stay up another minute. It turned out he didn't even need a second because not a moment after he thought about this did the front door knob turn and Riley Matthews walked inside. He couldn't see her very well because it was quite dark where she was standing but he could make out her silhouette and it was enough to tell that it was her.

"Riley," Lucas said from his position on the couch.

Riley jumped in surprise. "Lucas, you scared me!" She exclaimed.

"And you scared me. Where have you been?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, just hanging out with somebody who cares about me." She responded, her voice oozing with sarcasm.

"Riley, I'm so sorry. I made a huge mistake telling you I didn't want to be friends. That was very wrong of me. I don't expect you to forgive me right now but I hope we can be friends again."

"No, I don't think so." Riley told him.

"Come on, Riley." Lucas said as he stepped closer to her. She immediately moved away. "It's me. I'm Ranger Rick. We kissed under the mistletoe. We spent the night under the stars. We are a king and a queen. You know me. You can trust me."

Lucas tried to move closer to her again but she swiftly moved to the other side of the apartment. What was she doing? Was she hiding something?

"Riley, what's wrong?" Lucas asked.

"Nothing's wrong. Now could you please leave me alone?" She asked.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong." He said as he tried to pounce at her again.

"Nothing's wrong!" She exclaimed as she moved away from him again. Through her silhouette, Lucas could tell she was covering a part of her face. Was she hiding something on her face? Lucas figured he'd beat her at her own game. He pounced one more time so he was by the dining room and Riley by the door. He turned on a big light by the dining room and Riley's other hand flew up to her face. Lucas slowly crossed the room until he was a few feet from her. She didn't move and suddenly looked completely vulnerable. He gently lifted her hands off her face and Lucas could instantly tell why she didn't want him to see her.

Riley's right side of her face was completely purple. She had one hell of a black eye. Lucas knew exactly where this came from and his blood boiled with anger and rage as he stared at her once perfectly innocent skin that was now one of the ugliest things he had seen.

"Did he do this to you?" Lucas asked through gritted teeth.

"No," Riley said as if it were obvious. "I just ran into a street lamp."

That was one of the lamest excuses Riley had ever come up with. Lucas didn't believe it for a second.

"Okay, he might have thrown a punch or two but he's stressed and has other things to worry about than me." Riley told him.

"I'll be fine, okay? I know a remedy that can get rid of this."

Riley started to walk to the kitchen but Lucas jumped in front of her so she couldn't get to the refrigerator.

"Lucas! Move!" Riley exclaimed.

"No." Lucas said. "I don't care how busy or how stressed anybody is. They don't take it out on somebody else, especially you!"

"I'm a big girl! I can take care of myself!"

"Clearly not."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means if you had a shred of common sense you would have dumped this guy a long time ago."

"Lucas, you don't even know him! He's a sweet guy when he wants to be! He has his flaws, yes, but who doesn't?"

Lucas sighed. He knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with her. At least not tonight.

"Okay, fine." Lucas said. "I'll let you get the stuff you need if you promise me something."

"Sure," Riley shrugged.

"Can you please consider my offer about being friends again?"

Riley thought for a moment before she answered.

"Fine, I'll think about it."

"Thank you."

Soon Riley had everything she needed to make this mask and left the room.

"Good night, Lucas."

"Good night, Riley."

Lucas Friar went to sleep with the image of Riley's bruised face in his mind. He hated it. It was Riley and it wasn't her fault. It was like seeing an abused puppy. It had never done anything to hurt anybody yet it was taking beating after beating itself. It was this night that Lucas vowed he would never see Riley Matthews like this ever again.