AN: Maybe in the sequel I'll kill Dylan with swords or something. It makes me sick that guys like that exist. Well, thank god for guys like Lucas right?
Also, I've never been arrested or known anybody who has been so I'm not sure if they can do that but like I said earlier, for the sake of this story they can.
Anyway this is the final chapter of this story but I am currently working on a sequel that will be titled Smile and that should be up soon! I won't be able to update Smile as often as I did Attractive because school has started now and school has to take priority over this. I also think I'm going to write a one shot from Riley's point of view that happens between chapters 7 & 8 of this story explaining why she decided to become friends with Lucas again and why she dated guys like Charlie and Dylan. Until next time my lovely readers!
Review and favorite!
Lucas and Riley got on the subway with ease. Their ride back to her apartment was fairly quiet. Lucas kept glancing at Riley to make sure she was all right. Well, that wasn't very well worded. Lucas knew Riley wasn't all right and never asked since they had left the police station. She would probably say yes but he knew she was hurting. He wished he had fought Dylan harder. He hadn't seen him since he was arrested, but Lucas knew he could have done much more damage. But he also didn't know that that was the Dylan Riley was dating. He also didn't know that Dylan not only abused Riley but he cheated on her. Lucas doubted it was just that one girl too. There were probably several but he was also pretty sure that they more closely resembled the woman they saw tonight, not Riley.
As Lucas stole occasional glances at Riley, he saw that her eyes were filled with unfallen tears. He knew she wanted to cry but was probably embarrassed to do so on the subway in front of thousands of people. He understood. He wouldn't want to cry on the subway in front of this many people either but he also knew the longer she held this back, the worse it was for her. He hoped they would be at their destination as quickly as they possibly could be.
Not twenty minutes after they boarded did they finally reach their destination. Riley flew out of her seat, giving Lucas little time to catch up with her. He finally caught up with her at the top of the stairs. He knew they had a few blocks to go before they reached her home and he wanted to talk but he didn't know what to say.
"Do you want to go to Topanga's?" Lucas asked, lamely. "I'll buy you a smoothie."
He knew this was probably not what she wanted but he wanted to cheer her up and get her mind off of everything that had happened this evening.
"No," Riley said. "I want to go home."
She didn't seem mad or upset when she said this. Her voice wasn't croaky nor did any tears leak from her eye. If anything she sounded… determined.
Little did Lucas Friar know that Riley had plans of her own. Yes, Riley was upset about this whole situation with Dylan. She had thought about it on the subway ride from the police station. She was willing to give him everything in hopes she would help make him a better person but he wouldn't do it. Lucas was right; he would never listen to her. Not when she was telling him about her day or not when she was begging him to stop hitting her. As she thought about all of this, she started to feel less upset with Dylan and more disappointed in herself. How had she not seen it before? Maya, Farkle, her parents and now Lucas were trying to convince her not to date him but she wouldn't listen. She knew she was always stubborn but she would have thought she would notice if she had a boyfriend that wouldn't treat her right. That had happened twice now and she was sick of it. She was sick of not being truly loved by her boyfriend.
But then Lucas the Good came along and finally admitted he has feelings for her. He told her he thought he could make her happy. Riley felt like he could do all of that and had known since seventh grade. She didn't know if she deserved it but she decided when they made the final stop before they would have to get off that she was going to take advantage of it. Tonight.
When Riley and Lucas were about a hundred yards away from her apartment complex, Riley spoke up.
"My family's out seeing the Christmas tree tonight." Riley said. "Dad always likes to go a few days after Christmas but before the New Year so it's not crowded. Anyway, we have to go through my window because I don't have my key."
"Okay." Lucas said.
The pair headed back down an alleyway to the fire escape that aligned with Riley's apartment. They climbed up the steps until they got to Riley's window and easily climbed into her room. Riley had been in such a rush to see Dylan that she had left the window open in her escape.
Once they were inside Riley's bedroom, Riley turned to face Lucas. She was about to do something she had done a million times but had never felt so confident doing it. It was mostly because for the first time she knew he felt the same way.
"So," she started, dragging out the word. "Did you mean all those things you said in the police station? You know, about having feelings for me?"
Lucas sighed and answered truthfully. "Yes."
Before Lucas could even register what was happening, Riley's lips were on his. He knew this isn't what he should be doing but she could always throw him off his game with her kiss. He wrapped his arms around her, enjoying the feeling of holding her in his arms again. Much quicker than last time, Riley's tongue demanded entry. For a split second Lucas thought he should push her off to talk about what happened tonight. She needed to talk about it, he knew that for sure. Also, he was pretty positive that she shouldn't be kissing another guy this quick after a break up. He was thrilled she was kissing him and would never complain about something like that but he didn't want to turn into a one night stand and then never speak to her again. They were going to be friends or boyfriend and girlfriend, nothing else.
However, Riley pried Lucas' mouth open with her surprisingly strong tongue and Lucas completely forgot what he was going to say to her or do to her. All he wanted to do was keep kissing her. If their first kiss under the mistletoe was perfect and had passion, love, heat and innocence, a new word would have to be created to describe this kiss which contained twice the amount of passion, love and heat than the first one did. Lucas was absolutely positive that no moral man could escape a kiss like that.
He felt Riley start to turn him so he was now facing her door. She broke the kiss and he almost told her she shouldn't be doing this until he looked in her eyes and saw a fire he had never seen before. It made his knees weak and he lost his ability to speak. She took her jacket off and tossed it on the ground before she began kissing him again. Her hands went up his arms and shoulders. He felt her tugging at his jacket too and eventually she had pulled it off and threw it on the ground next to hers.
Riley stared at him with that fire in her eyes again. She returned to give him a quick kiss but it was broken when Lucas felt himself falling. He landed on her bed and Riley wasted no time climbing on top of him to straddle him. She grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him like he was dying. How Lucas found the wherewithal to stop this insanely wonderful thing that was happening to him, he didn't know, but he did.
"Riley," he managed out between kisses. "Riley, stop."
Riley shot up abruptly. What had happened? Was she a bad kisser? Lucas said he had feelings for her, right? Did she just travel back in time? Her hair was still short so that wasn't it. What did happen?
"Is there something wrong?" Riley asked. Lucas sat up but she continued to straddle his lap.
"No, I mean that was great," Lucas said. " And as much as I would like to continue this, I don't think now is the right time."
"Now's not the right time?" Riley asked. "Let's see, my family's not home, I just broke up with my boyfriend and you said you had feelings for me, how is now not the right time?"
"Because of all of those things." Lucas said.
"I don't get it then." Riley stated and she slouched a little bit.
"Riley, you are right about all of those things and all of those things make you emotionally vulnerable." Lucas explained. "I doubt this is what you really want to do tonight and I don't want you to regret any romantic moments between us before we even start a relationship."
Riley sighed. Lucas, as usual, was right. She probably wouldn't want to do any of this if it hadn't been for her break up with Dylan. She didn't even think for a moment if she would regret any of this the next day if Lucas let her go as far as she wanted with him.
"You're right," She sighed. "I just don't want to think about it is all." Riley started to feel tears coming to her eyes.
"That's okay," Lucas said. "You don't have to talk about it but if you want to let anything out, I'm here for you."
Riley gave him a small smile and felt a few tears leak out of both of her eyes. Partially because she was upset Dylan would treat her this way and partially because Lucas was being as sweet and kind as any boy had ever been to her.
"Really?" She asked.
"Really." He stated as he cupped her face in his hands and wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs.
Riley let out a deep sigh before she caught sight of a picture in the corner of her room. One of her and Dylan when he was in college with her. They had met at orientation and started dating shortly after that but Dylan had only lasted two weeks in school.
Riley stood up and walked to the back of her room, grabbed the picture and tossed it on the floor with a rage. She noticed he was in a lot of pictures on this wall. She took all of those off and threw them on the ground too. Even pictures that focused on her and Maya and he was just lingering in the background or she knew he was at the place the photo was taken. It felt good to release this anger but she quickly felt tears begin to blur her vision. Before she could help it she was crying. Really crying. She put her face in her hands and began to weep.
She removed her hands from her face when she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her. Riley pressed her face into Lucas' chest as she continued to cry. She would have to apologize for getting her tears and snot on his perfectly nice shirt later. But right now, she could care less if she was getting his shirt all messed up. She just held onto him like her life depended on it.
Lucas held her in his embrace. He enjoyed holding her but hated seeing her upset. He rubbed her back while she continued to cry and kissed her head every now and again, hoping that she would understand just because one person didn't like her doesn't mean another person might be in love with her. The feelings that Lucas had been feeling towards Riley were scary since they were happening to him so quickly, but he knew she had been feeling this way about him for seven years so he had some catching up to do.
Lucas and Riley had been standing in this embrace for what felt like hours. They'd be lying if they said they weren't starting to get tired but neither of them wanted to be separated from the other.
"Do you want to lay down?" Lucas asked after a while.
Riley nodded as she pulled out of his embrace. She walked over to her door and made sure it was locked before she joined Lucas in bed. She leaned into his side and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gently kissed her forehead.
"Thank you, Lucas." Riley said. "For everything."
"Anything for you, my queen." Lucas responded.
Riley gave him a smile and then quickly fell asleep on his chest. It was amazing to think last night she didn't get a wink of sleep because she was debating whether or not she and Lucas should be friends. Now, she wouldn't know what she would do without him.
Riley woke up early in the morning to a loud thud. She sprang up out of her bed like a Jack in the Box only to see Lucas standing in front of her. She assumed it was him who made the loud noise.
"Hey, it's okay," Lucas said as he wrapped his arms around her. "You can go back to sleep."
"What are you doing? What time is it?" Riley asked, still calming down from the panic Lucas had given her.
"It's five o'clock." Lucas said. "I, um, got an alert on my phone."
Lucas showed Riley his phone screen and on the lock screen it said: 6:45- Flight from New York to Chicago
"I'm really sorry," Lucas said. He knew now was not the perfect time to leave. "I completely forgot about it with everything that was happening these last few days and I-"
"No, its fine," Riley cut him off.
"Really?" Lucas asked.
"Yes," Riley answered, honestly. "I know you didn't expect any of this to happen and neither did I, honestly."
Lucas nodded. He was happy she was thinking logically about all of this. It made him having to leave a bit easier. However, he wasn't absolutely sure she was going to be all right.
"Will you be okay?" Lucas asked.
"Yeah," Riley said. "I've got most of my family here and Maya and Farkle."
Lucas nodded again. He knew if anybody could make Riley feel better or help return her to her old self when things got a bit wild and crazy, it would be Maya and Farkle. They had proven it time and time again in middle school and high school and although lots of things had changed, he doubted that had.
"And I have your number so we can talk or text, right?" Riley asked.
"Yes, of course," Lucas said. "Any time you need me, city girl."
Riley smiled at him. She knew he was going to have to leave eventually but she didn't realize it was going to be this soon. There were so many questions she wanted to ask him. Most of them could be asked through text or on the phone but there was one that deserved to be asked in person.
"Do you have to leave right now?" Riley asked as she sat down on the edge of her bed.
"No," Lucas answered. "I've got a few minutes."
"Can I ask you something?" Riley asked.
"Of course."
"What are we?"
Lucas took a deep breath and sat down next to her. He was glad her brain seemed to work better than his did in the morning because he was about to leave without asking that even though he really needed an answer too.
"I… um… I don't know," Lucas said. "What-what do you think we are?"
"I was hoping you'd know." Riley said.
They sat in silence as they each racked their brains about what to call themselves. Were they just friends? Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? What were they?
"I don't think we are just friends anymore," Riley spoke up first.
"I don't think so either," Lucas said. "But are we really boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"I don't…" Riley trailed off. She had been hoping and praying to be Lucas Friar's girlfriend for seven years now and didn't think this was how she would feel in this moment. She thought she would be all giddy, maybe even let out one of her signature 'yay!'s but she didn't feel that way at all. She had just gotten out of a relationship and Lucas was going to be over two thousand miles away from her later tonight. Did she really want to start a serious relationship with somebody she really cared about and could see herself spending the rest of her life with long distance? Riley had never known anybody to have a long distance relationship but from what she had seen in TV and film and what she had read about, they were difficult. She ultimately decided that she didn't want to be his girlfriend. Not just yet.
"I don't think so," Riley finally responded. "I think we are somewhere in between."
"I think so too," Lucas said. "I don't want to start our relationship from two thousand miles away."
"Me neither," Riley said. "Is there a word for what we are?"
Lucas thought about this long and hard. There had to be a relationship between two people who came from different places who weren't quite boyfriend and girlfriend. They just weren't emotionally ready yet. Suddenly, it hit Lucas like a ton of bricks and he knew exactly what they were.
"We are a king and a queen." Lucas said. Riley looked up at him, slightly confused. "Think about it; in the old days kings and queens would often come from different places. They would marry so they could have power over both of their lands but they were rarely ever in love or ready for a real relationship."
Riley smiled at him. She was his queen and he was her king. Of course she would never introduce anybody to Lucas like that but she liked this little game between the two of them. That Christmas present was a really good idea.
"I like that," Riley said as she leaned on his shoulder. "Are we going to be the types of kings and queens who have lots of affairs behind the others backs'?"
"No," Lucas said. "I was planning on keeping this exclusive."
"Me too," Riley said.
She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked up at him. He was smiling down at her in a way that had always made her heart skip a beat. She loved it when he did that to her and she loved the fact he was here. He would have to leave in a few minutes but he was here now and he was here last night when she was an absolute mess and that's all that mattered.
"I'm really glad you decided to come here." Riley said.
"I'm really glad I came, too," Lucas replied. "I guess we have Maya and Farkle to thank for that."
"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure they are going to be just as involved in whatever this is as we are." Riley said.
"You're right about that," Lucas said. "And I'm going to call it a potential relationship."
"I like that," Riley said. "Once we get our royal affairs in order, we can have a real relationship."
Lucas chuckled quietly as he kissed her forehead. Riley looked up at him and gently placed her lips on his. She kissed him sweetly and gently because this was probably going to be the last time she would be able to kiss him before he had to leave for the airport. He backed away all too soon.
"Do you have to leave now?" Riley asked.
Lucas looked at the clock on his phone before answering her.
"Yeah, I do," he sighed. He stood up and grabbed his luggage he had brought in the room earlier. "I'll miss you." He said as he kissed her cheek.
"I'll miss you, too," Riley said. "Call me when you land."
"I will," Lucas said as he began to step out of her window. "Goodbye, my queen."
"Goodbye, my king."
Lucas boarded his plane, thinking about this trip. It had its ups and downs but he couldn't have thought of a better way to spend the holidays. He now had a queen or a potential girlfriend that he had never been so excited about. He had never imagined having a future with somebody as clearly as he did with her. He was thrilled with what the future would bring the pair and couldn't wait until he finally felt comfortable enough to call her his girlfriend because, now, she was everything.
Lucas was so glad he finally saw Riley Matthews as attractive.