Secret of Life

Hello Again

Sorry I've been so MIA lately, guys. A lot of stuff has been going on, but I hope you enjoy this one! 

- Riley's POV -

Monday morning, Maya and I stand at our lockers waiting for the first period bell to ring, when my phone vibrates in my back pocket. Expecting a text from Lucas, I'm surprised by the name on the screen. Pushing my eyebrows together, I'm not sure whether to respond to the text or to ignore it completely. Maya notices the look of momentary shock as it crosses my face while I stare at the screen, unmoving.

"Who's that?" Maya attempts to see over my shoulder, standing on her tip toes. Locking my phone and clumsily shoving it into my pocket, I smile at Maya reassuringly, pushing my hair behind my ears.

"No one. Just Mom reminding me of something. Let's go to class." Slamming my locker closed, Maya shrugs and does the same, following me to Dad's classroom.

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"Riley? Earth to Riley." Lucas is leaning his head down, his face close to mine, trying to catch my eyes. Blinking, I look up to him, trying my best to focus on him. He places his hand on my cheek, stroking his thumb over my cheekbone. "Hey, are you feeling alright? It's like you've been spacing out all day." He places a hand to my forehead. "You're not coming down with something, are you? You feel sort of hot." He takes his hand away, finally able to catch my eyes, his voice lowering. "Did you have a dream last night, do you wanna talk about anything?" 

Swallowing, I contemplate telling Lucas about the text I had received this morning. I'm always honest with Lucas, I don't hide anything from him. I have learned that doing so with one another only gets us into trouble. The thing was, I didn't feel the need to tell Lucas about Charlie's text; I saw it as being completely harmless. The problem was, Lucas had always been the type that doesn't see things in the innocent way I normally tend to. His eyes light up now as I smile into them.

"No. No nightmare, I feel perfectly fine. Everything is completely fine," I respond, trying my best to assure him that I'm telling the truth. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I stand on my toes to peck his lips gently. "I promise."

"Good," he pulls away grinning with one of his big, goofy Lucas grins, the kind that lets you know he's truly content. "Are we still on for our date tonight at Topanga's?"

"Um...yeah," Lucas rises an eyebrow as my gaze directs over his shoulder. "Yes, we are. Of course. I just have to go take care of something really quick." Letting my arms go from around his neck, the nervous feeling that had priorly been in my stomach returns. "I-I'll catch up with you outside, okay?" His eyes never leave mine as I begin taking several small steps back from him.

"Alright..." He turns to leave with a mixture of concern and confusion on his face, heading towards the doors, disappearing outside of them. I jog through the empty hallway, taking the steps two at a time as I make my way to the north hall, hoping I'm not too late to catch who I'm looking for. Stopping short, I'm greeted with the incredibly wide smile of a brunette boy.

"Hey, Riley."

"Hi, Charlie." I step forward, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

"How are you?"

Ignoring the question, I raise my phone in the air.

"Charlie, what was your text from this morning about? You know Lucas wouldn't like --"

"Riley, it's just going for hot chocolate, not having an affair," he chuckles, shoving his hands in his pockets as I respond with a nervous laugh. "I understand if you aren't comfortable with it or if you say no, I just figured it would be nice to catch up, see how you are." He shrugs. "It's been a while."