Obscurity. Rucas. GMW CHOICE AWARD WINNER!

I'll Always be Here for You.

"You're late." Lucas sighed knowing he had been caught in the act of sneaking back in.

"Hi momma."

She leered and rose off the couch. "Why are you late?"

"I was walking my girlfriend home." He sincerely hoped that she would get distracted by the word 'girlfriend', so much so that he wouldn't be in too much trouble.

"LUCAS FRIAR!" She smacked his arm, "Why am I just now hearing about this?!"

He lazily shrugged his shoulders, but couldn't erase the smile on his face. "We've had conflicting schedules but that isn't an excuse-"Nice save Luke! "I should have texted you since I know you wanted to meet her!"

Her arms snaked around his neck and she gave him a tight hug. "I'm so happy for you baby boy." He internally groaned at the nickname his mom had for him, but whatever made her happy. "And I do want to meet her. Tomorrow, for dinner."

"Mom, we've only been dating like 3 days."

"So, consider it your punishment for missing curfew." They had a small argument going back and forth over the etiquette of walking a woman home, and his mom pointed out that they should have left earlier. It wasn't going to end anytime so Lucas threw up his hands in the air.

"You can meet her, but I don't know if she's ready for that just yet. I'm her first boyfriend, first kiss, and first date." He drifted off, incredibly happy that he could provide so many 'firsts' in her life. To think of another man doing any of that to or with her made his blood pressure rise. Though he hated she wasn't his first kiss, first girlfriend or first date. What he would give to just wait it out, to just wait on his Riley. His princess.

"Do I need to leave you alone?"

That statement quickly snapped him out of his thoughts. "Trust me we've done nothing of the sort. I just don't want to scare her. She's already had a difficult time this week."

His mom led him into the kitchen and after pouring milk and pulling out cookies did she tell him to explain. So he did, he told his mom about Riley's bully-Missy Bradford-and the rumor that had spread like a grass fire in the savannah. "So I told her to end the rumor and to stay away from Riley." A little white lie never hurt anyone.

But she saw right through it. "I'm sure that's what you said. Poor Riley, I want to scratch her eyes out." Oh mom you'd never hurt a fly.

He chuckled. "But, I did overhear a conversation between her and Josh-her brother-I'm not really sure what to make of it." He explained their entire conversation and how he was confused over the word 'fit' and the notion of them knowing if she had 'changed'. And whatever happened 'last time' she complained to the principal about Missy.

"So what did you do about it?"

He hastily took a bite of a cookie. Pondering whether or not he should tell her the truth. After he ran out of ingredients to chew he took a drink of milk and decided honesty was the best policy. Except with the white lie he told a few moments ago. "At first, I wasn't going to tell her the truth of why I fought, because she didn't trust me enough to tell me her secrets. But, I wanted her to know everything about me. I wanted her to know that she can trust me with anything since I trust her with everything I have."

"So she knows." How he wishes that was a question because the sadness in his mother's voice was undeniable. "And what'd she say?"

"That neither of us deserved that, and on our way home she mentioned how strong you were." A single tear escaped his mom's eye and she simply shook her head, drowning out the memories. "Riley really is incredible mom, I swear."