Chapter 48

Riley stared at her ceiling, and she literally felt like she hadn't taken a breathe since he proposed last night. The brunette placed her phone on silent and locked her bay window. She kept thinking, proposed. He proposed, she wasn't even 18 yet. Surely he was just caught up in the moment. But, was he serious? Was he just doing this because of Charlie? After she didn't respond to him last night he drove her home in silence. Still kissing her goodnight and saying he loved her, but he was bothered. Either by the fact she didn't answer or that he even asked.

Then she began whispering to herself. "I can't tell Maya, she'd freak and I can't tell anybody else, they'd freak. Hell i'm freaking out." She sat up in bed and continued to breathe heavily. The cheerleader was pretty sure she was having mini panic attacks all night and into this morning. "Why would he do that? He didn't tell me he loved me because he was afraid of running me off. So, let's just spring a proposal on her, that'd be cool. That wouldn't freak me out." Riley wanted to run, she needed to run, but she couldn't, or could she? She glanced at her knee and after changing clothes she tightened her brace as tight as it would go, then snuck out of the house. Or tried to.

"Honey, where are you going?" Topanga saw her tennis shoes and headphones. "NO! Riley!" The brown eyed girl took off down her steps, and put in her headphones. "RILEY MATTHEWS!"

"What's wrong Topanga?" Cory raised his eyes off of his wife and towards the end of the street when he saw his daughter running.

"Call Lucas."

I need you. I need you here. I need you now. I need security somehow. I need you, like you would not believe. You're the only thing I want, cause you're everything I need. Riley skipped the song and lightly jogged down another street, slowing it down now that she knew her parents weren't coming after her. The perfect song came on and she hurriedly put it on repeat.

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti. He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop bombs. The brunette quickened her speed, still somewhat limping on her right leg, taking it easy. He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out. He's choking how, everyone's joking now. The clocks run out. Times up, over, blaow.
Snap back to reality, oh there goes gravity. Oh there goes Rabbit, he choked, he's so mad but he won't give up that easily, nope. She kept running, but no matter how far she ran, the words marry me were ringing in her head. Did he not know her at all? Why would he do that?

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment you own it, you better never let it go. You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime. She stopped running and listened to the song. You better lose yourself in the music, the moment you own it, you better never let it go. You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime. The brown eyed girl placed her hands on her hips and breathed slowly. Her knee wasn't hurting her at all, but that could be the adrenaline pumping through her body. Riley's eyes raised and saw her surroundings. "Of course." She was at the park, with the trail she always ran when she couldn't think clearly, and when a shower wouldn't do the trick.

The brunette checked her iPod and she'd ran for 30 minutes. She wasn't ready to go home and get yelled at yet. "Might as well." Riley put the headphones back in her ear and started running when she heard a car door slam, she turned around and saw Lucas storming towards her.

"Riley what the hell are you doing?" He looked irate and she hated to admit it, but scared her. "Why are you running? Are you high?"

"I wish, do you have some? Sharing is caring." She giggled trying to lighten his mood. He glared at her, clearly he wasn't in a joking mood this morning. "I've got my brace, i'm fine."

"No sweetheart, you weren't cleared to run. Come on, i'm taking you home."

"NO! I'm not going home." She put her headphones back in and tried to run away but he stopped her.

"Riley, you're gonna regret doing this later. I promise. I need to take you home." Her hands landed on her hips.

"What about what I want? Did you ever think about that?" Lucas exhaled.

"Are we talking about you running or last night?" She crossed her arms and glanced towards her knee.

"How did you know i'd be here?"

"You always come here when you can't think. I figured you'd be at this park sometime today, but to my surprise, your mom told me you were running and I knew exactly where you were headed." Her knee was starting to burn, but she didn't want to show any pain. "I know you really well Riley. I know why you're up at the ass crack of dawn, because you couldn't sleep. If you had called me back last night, or unlocked your window you would've slept fine, and we wouldn't be here." The brown eyed girl was still trying to catch her breath, and put all of her weight on her left leg.

"If you know me so well, then why did you ask me that last night?" He licked his lips. "You knew what you said would get in my head and freak me out!"

"I'd like to tell you it was in the heat of the moment, but that'd be a lie."

"Wow you didn't hesitate." Riley whispered.

"Well, you were either going to stay or leave. I'm not going to hide who I am or what i've done. Lucky me, you stayed." She smirked.

"You happy about that?" The brunette couldn't help but chuckle lightly at their reparte. They'd had this conversation before.

"Relieved. Why didn't you call me back last night? Or open your window when I knocked?" Riley bit her lip and turned around. "I'm not going to apologize for asking you, but i'll apologize for scaring you. That's never my intention."

"Oh really, because you'd take the cake." She relaxed her shoulders and faced him again. "Lucas I really have to ask you this, are you crazy? We're still in high school, i'm not even 18 yet-"

"The list could go on, and on, and on. I know, I may have come on a little strong-"

Her raised hand interrupted him. "And, I know that 'may have' is not the right set of words to use here." She giggled and he took a step forward.

"I know I came on strong, and i'm sorry for scaring you." A piece of hair was flying in the wind that didn't end up in her ponytail and he tucked it behind her ear. "Please don't break up with me." Riley laughed, divulging her gorgeous smile. "There it is."

"I'm not going to break up with you. Been there, done that, I even got a souvenier, most of all I hated it. But, the next time you propose to whoever, whether it's me or some other lucky girl, keep it simple like that." He kissed her lips and almost immediately her knee started spasming. Lucas slowly laid her on the grass, after seeing her wince from pain.

"Look at me sweetheart." Riley stared into his eyes, trying not to cry. She pulled some grass out of the dirt and was finally able to breathe normally again as it slowly dissipated. "I hate to say I told you so, but-"

"Well, I hate crack, so I don't do it. Learn from me." He kissed her forehead, and scooped her up off of the ground. "I'm in trouble aren't I?"

"Oh yeah!" They started driving back home and her parents were waiting to pass judgement inside.

"Come in with me. Don't make me go in there alone."

"I promised to just drop you off." Her bottom lip started to come out and she pulled out her puppy dog eyes. "Fine, you win. You win! They can be mad at me too while they're at it."

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"Riley Matthews, next time you intentionally ignore me, I will make you pick a switch." Topanga was doing all the talking. Cory would randomly point and say 'yeah', agreeing with her every word, and sometimes he'd just repeat random words from her sentence.

"Yeah, pick a switch!" Riley clutched Lucas' hand.

"What were you thinking sweetheart? You're ligament is extremely tight right now, that's why we're doing those stretches, at any moment you could've torn it. It has NO give. N-O give. Your brace tightened it, and the stretches are bringing it back to normal."

"I know mom, i'm sorry. I had a terrible dream and I just needed to think it out." The running back closed his eyes. She didn't tell them about their predicament, and it made him smile. No matter the situation, she was always looking out for how her parents saw him.

"A dream?"

"Dream?" Cory repeated.

"Yeah. I don't really want to talk about it. But, it kept me up most of the night, and because I didn't want to break curfew or your trust I didn't leave the house like I wanted to." She was so sneaky. "I'm sorry."

"Honey we aren't mad about why you did it or when you did it. We are upset that you did it injured." Her knee started spasming again and the green eyed man felt like his hand was about to break off. Riley was trying to hide the pain but it didn't work.

Mrs. Matthews sighed. "Let it out." She cried out in pain releasing Lucas' hand and grasping a couch cusion. "This is what happens when you pull these stunts Riley." Topanga threw up her arms and grabbed the prescription medicine off of the kitchen counter. "Take it."

"I'll take regular tylenol." Her mother gave her the eye, that mothers always seemed to master and the brunette gave in. "Mom, i'm sorry. Please don't hate me."

"I don't hate you, but I don't like you right now."

"I love you too mom." Topanga left the room. "I love you daddy."

"Don't ignore your mother like that again. Clear?" Mr. Matthews questioned.

"Crystal."

"Go lay down, prop your knee up and relax. Lucas can stay but leave the door open." She agreed and her boyfriend carried her into the bedroom.

"I knew you were good for something." The couple giggled. "They hate me, don't they?" He chuckled and put in Batman.

"They don't hate you baby. They love you, they hate what you did. I hate what you did, you're going to be in pain for the rest of the day even with that medicine, and there's nothing any of us can do. Why'd you run? You could've at least walked." She giggled.

"No, when I run, I lose myself in the moment. I forget everything, almost like i'm leaving everything behind." He looked towards the ground. "It didn't work today, that's why I didn't stop." He laid down beside her and after glancing at the hallway, to confirm no one was there she continued in a whisper. "Lucas, one day you are going to make someone extremely lucky-"

"Why do you keep saying someone?" He swallowed the frog in his throat.

"Because life sucks. I hope that it's me-"

"It's going to be you." He laid on his side and leaned on his elbow. "I know that and you do too. You're just panicking still about last night."

"Either way I meant what I said earlier, keep it simple like that. Makes things more real, and spontaneous." She pushed him over and laid her head on his chest.

"It was absolutely spontaneous, there's no other word to describe that. Believe it or not, I didn't take you to the movies with your ex last night preparing to propose." Her fingers grazed across his abs.

"Which brings me to my next question. Did you do that because of Charlie? You feeling threatened?" He scoffed at her idea.

"No, Charlie would never have that sort of an affect on me like that. Not with a decision this big. I hate that he gets under my skin, especially the words 'i've known her longer' it bugs the crap out of me."

"You didn't tell me he said that. What did you say?" The brunette raised her chin to get a glimpse of him.

"I said that he doesn't know the person you've turned into. Sucks for him."

"You said 'sucks for you'?" She stared cracking up when he agreed. "You're so weird."

"It does suck for him. Now what did you tell him?"

She laughed and heavily sighed. "Check yourself before you wreck yourself. I go where he goes."

His lips curled and left it alone. "I think he's just upset that we're happily together. His problem, not ours, and don't let him fool you. I'm afraid he's going to use this 'i'm friendless' thing to get your sympathy." The running back pointed out.

"What's that word mean?"

"I just don't want to lose you because of something he does." Riley sat up and caressed his cheek.

"Hey, you said you'd forgive me if I kissed another guy."

"That wasn't an invitation." She kissed his lips.

"You don't have to worry about that. I may not have accepted your proposal last night, but that doesn't mean I won't in the future." He grabbed her and pulled her in for a kiss. The breathtaking, all consuming, passionate kiss, Riley loved kissing him.

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