Chapter 5:

Lucas pulled Jasper into his lap as he took a seat in the examination room, stroking him gently and rubbing the spot behind his ear that he knew Jasper liked so much. The adorable pup and his owner had been on his mind all night.

It was a slow morning at the clinic. Dr. V's practice was a small but well loved one, unlike so many of the more posh ones around the city. He only had a couple other vet techs that worked there, as well as another receptionist named Terry who was currently on holidays. After Lucas had ensured that the few pets being kept overnight who needed looking in on had been tended to, he'd pulled the dog aside.

Jasper was just one of the many things he'd missed about the city. He'd come to love the dog in all the time he would spend over at Riley and Maya's apartment. "How are you feeling buddy?" He whispered into the dog's ear, as Jasper simply stared back at him with his big brown eyes. The dog's vitals were a little better than the previous day, and he seemed to have a little bit more energy, but no diagnosis could be made until Dr. V was able to go over the test results.

Lucas was so focused on Jasper that he didn't notice when Riley arrived until she'd stepped into the room and dropped her bag by his chair.

"Oh. Hey Riles, I just thought Jasper might want some company…" He wasn't sure how she would respond to him after how she'd walked away from him the previous day. He felt his stomach unclench when she smiled.

"You were always one of his favourites. Hi baby." She whispered the last part to the dog, as Lucas gently set him down again. The dog hopped into Riley's lap as soon as she took a seat, although not with his usual enthusiasm, getting comfortable and putting his head down on her shoulder.

Lucas laughed. "He still thinks he's a lap dog, huh?" And he felt a thrill run through him as she let out the first genuine laugh he'd heard from her since coming back.

Riley quickly sobered up though. "He's going to be okay, right?"

"I won't lie to you. I'm not sure yet, Riles. We can't know until Dr. V. gets in and can take a look at the tests he ran, but I can say that he looks better than he did yesterday."

Riley nodded, scratching Jasper's ear. "Hey Lucas… I wanted to apologize for yesterday."

Lucas looked up at her in shock. He moved to sit beside her as she continued to stroke Jasper's back. "Riles, what on earth are you apologizing for?"

"I know I was short tempered with you, but it hasn't been an easy few days. It was… it was hard seeing you again out of the blue."

"Riley, no. You deserve to be mad…I'm sorry. About Jasper, and…about leaving last year without telling you." He heard her breath catch as he said the words.

Lucas reached out and grabbed her hand, and she finally turned to look at him. "Riley, you're one of my best friends. You have to know I could never hate you. How could you even think that?"

He saw the tears well up in her eyes. "So then why did you leave like that? Why did you stop talking to me?"

Lucas opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by someone clearing their throat. "Sorry, Lucas," Amanda said from the doorway, and he felt Riley remove her hands from his, "But there's a cat out here who has something stuck in its front paw."

"I'll be right there, Amanda." Lucas turned to look at Riley, but she'd shifted her focus back to Jasper. "Riles, I'm off at one today. Can we please grab lunch and talk? You're too important to me to leave things like this between us."

"Okay."

Lucas shoved his hands into his pockets nervously as he led Riley out of the clinic later that day. They walked at a leisurely pace for a few minutes, in silence, heading over to Topanga's cafe. Lucas had been craving their grilled cheese panini since he'd come back to the city, and he'd happily agreed when Riley had suggested it.

"So how is Mr. Matthews doing? How did Auggie like having him last year now that he's in high school?"

Riley smiled. "You know you can call him Cory now, right? He hasn't been our teacher in years."

"I don't think it'll ever feel right calling him Cory." Lucas felt himself ease up, it almost felt like how they used to banter back and forth the previous year, before he'd messed it all up.

"Lucas Friar!" He heard Topanga herself call from behind the counter as he held the door open for Riley and followed her in.

"Hey Mrs. Matthews" he said, returning her warm smile. Riley's parents had been some of his greatest support systems when he'd moved to New York, especially after his own parents had gone back to Texas, and he'd really missed them.

"It's Topanga, for the hundredth time. Now come here!" She pulled him into a hug. "Oh, Cory's still at the school, but he'll be so excited to see you!"

"Mom, we're probably not staying that long" Riley rolled her eyes from beside him, coming back from giving their order.

"Hey sweetie. How's Jasper doing?"

"We don't know yet." Riley's concern was clear in her eyes as she hugged her mother. "We're going to go find a table. I'll see you later." Riley lead the way, leaving a very pleased Topanga watching after them.

She had always loved Lucas Friar. He was such a sweet and respectful young man, and he'd always been such a wonderful friend to Riley. She knew how much her daughter had been hurt by his sudden disappearance last year, and she hoped they had worked through whatever differences they had.

"You got our usual." Lucas said with a smile as the waitress appeared with their grilled cheese and tomato soups.

"How could I forget, we were here all the time." She said with a laugh, as she stirred her spoon in her soup absentmindedly.

"Riles, I'm so sorry for how I left things last year. I never meant for any of that to happen."

She continued to stare at her soup, unable to make eye contact with him for the time being.

"I never planned on staying in Texas last summer, but when the time came it just became too hard to come back. It happened without me really even realizing it."

"But why didn't you tell me? I mean you had to have known when we talked on the phone that one time?" She looked up at him, the hurt clear in her features.

"I didn't decide until… after that phone call. But that's not the point. You're right. I should have called, and I shouldn't have ignored your messages or treated you like that. Riley, you have to know how much you and your friendship mean to me. You're my best friend in the world, and I know I was an asshole but you have to believe how much I care about you."

Best Friend. She ignored the pang of regret that these words brought on for her, because she knew that's all they would ever be. But she stared into his eyes for a long moment, and saw honesty in them. She knew him better than she knew herself, and knew that he meant what he was saying. Unable to form the words, Riley nodded.

"I'm so sorry Riley, you can't even know how much."

"You're my best friend too, Lucas." She said after a few moments, and it was his turn to try to ignore the fact that he wanted so much more. "I believe you, and I know you're sorry. I mean, I could have put more of an effort into contacting you and seeing what was going on with you-"

"Riles, no. You don't get to take blame for this" He said, cutting her off by grabbing her hand. "That was all on me."

She tried to ignore how her heartbeat quickened at his touch. "I want to trust you again, Lucas. But I need you to be honest with me. Why did you stop talking to me last year? What did I do to make you so mad?"

Lucas closed his eyes in guilt and frustration. Of course he would be the one acting like a jerk and Riley would think it was her fault. "Riley, you did absolutely nothing. I wasn't mad, I was…" jealous. Heartbroken.

She looked at him expectantly. "What, Lucas? Just tell me."

He took a deep breath. He needed to tell her the truth, for the sake of their friendship. Or at least as much of the truth as he could without jeopardizing their friendship. "The truth it, Riles, it was hard. It was hard knowing you were with Charlie. I'm really happy that you're happy with him, but I let my personal feelings cloud my judgment and…it just became easier to back off from talking to you for a while." He looked up and noticed she had a cloudy expression again as she stirred her coffee absentmindedly. Had he said too much? Was she thinking of a way to let him down easy?

"Riley, what's wrong? Did I make you awkward by-"

"Charlie didn't make me happy." She cut him off, still looking down at her mug, trying to muster up the courage to tell him.

"What?"

"I wasn't…I wasn't happy with Charlie," she finally looked up at him. "I just convinced myself I was and ignored every instinct that told me otherwise."

Lucas was shocked. He'd been keeping up with her Facebook page, and she had tons of posts with Charlie...actually, now that he thought about it, almost all those posts were ones that Charlie had tagged her in. And he hadn't posted something new in a few weeks. "Wait…wasn't happy? Did you two…" he couldn't help the sliver of hope that arose.

"We broke up." She took a deep breath, as if bracing herself, "he cheated on me."

The shock rose in him, followed closely by anger at the unshed tears he saw in her eyes. How could anyone do this to Riley? He wanted to find that prick and smack him in the face. "That asshole." He whispered as he tried to process this.

"Look, I know you were right about him, but I just can't hear that right now. Please." She looked back down, unwilling to meet his eyes.

Lucas had a million questions, the first of which being where Charlie lived, but he stayed quiet. Did Riley think he would actually rub that fact in her face? It broke his heart to see how much she was hurting right now. He should have been there for her through this.

Lucas reached out and grabbed her hand again. "Hey Riles, can I ask you something?" He waited until she looked up at him uncertainly, "would you like to go split a sundae at Garfield's with me? I could really go for some ice cream right now."

He watched as a smile replaced the tension on her face.

Brad looked up from his spot at the reception desk as Lucas came into the office the following morning, with a noticeable spring in his step. "Hey Dr. V, Amanda." Lucas shot them both a smile before heading to the back to scrub in. Brad smiled to himself. His own reasons aside, he was so glad to see the younger man looking so much happier. Lucas had become like a son to him, and though he'd understood, he'd missed him when he moved back to Texas.

"So…how did things go with Riley yesterday?" Brad asked casually when they were across each other examining a gerbil half an hour later.

The same smile crept up to Lucas's lips, though he didn't seem aware of it. "It was…good. I missed her" his face clouded slightly "she's been going through a lot and I just wish I'd been there for her more. I've been such a jerk this year." The frown deepened as he looked down at the animal.

"Well you're here now, son. Trust me, that counts."

"Yeah. I just hope she can trust me again" Lucas said this part almost more to himself. He and Riley had spent the rest of the day together, and it had been great, almost like a year ago. But he could tell that she was still a bit reserved around him, and she had every right to be for how he'd hurt her. Although they had gotten sidetracked by her news about Charlie, he was sure that his half-answer about leaving last year wasn't enough to make everything magically better.

"You just need to be consistent, son. Show her that you're not going to disappear from her life again."

"Oh that reminds me, would you mind if I left an hour early today? I want to get my paperwork in to the admissions office at NYU before they close, the lady on the phone said I should have no problem transferring my classes." Lucas looked up at the doctor, who made no effort to hide his grin.

"Yes. In fact, I think you should leave right this second" Dr. Vanderbilt replied.

Lucas groaned from where he'd landed unexpectedly on the hardwood floor of his old apartment. He shouldn't have been surprised, Zay was the king of overzealous bone crushing hugs when he got excited. He hadn't even gotten the words out before his friend had tackled him to the ground.

"I knew you'd be back, man. Took you long enough!"

"Zay get off of me" Lucas said breathlessly, pushing his friend off him, but he couldn't help smiling himself.

"We kept your room open for you" Farkle said as he held out a hand to help Lucas up, pulling him into a hug.

"Guys, you shouldn't have done that. Rent must've be so high split two ways."

"Relax man, my dad was more than happy to help."

Lucas felt a rush of gratitude sweep through him for his friends and roommates. God, he'd missed them.

"You really didn't think I would stay in Texas permanently?"

Farkle and Zay just shot each other a look before bursting into laughter.

Thanks for reading!