For three-year-old Lucas, life was good. His mama played with him for hours and his father checked the closet for monsters. His Aunt Lacey was getting married and choose him to be his ring bearer. He got a tux and everything. Before the ceremony, he was running around the church with the flower girl, Riley.
"Mommy's lawyer friend is getting married." She repeated, over and over, giddily.
Soon, their mothers caught up to them and made them sit still, as the wedding was about to start.
Soon, Riley noticed that his collar was turned up.
"Luke, your collar is messed up." Riley said, and reached over to fix it.
()()()
For ten-year-old Lucas, life was alright. He had a nice group of friends, Riley and Zay. One day, he was wearing a collared shirt to school. At lunch he was hanging out with Riley and Zay. They were talking about normal things, when Kayla came over.
Kayla was a nice enough girl, she just grew up too fast. She had gotten a good amount of girls to start dating boys, yet she somehow wasn't dating any one.
"Hey Luke." She said, in a sugary voice.
Zay fake gagged, and Riley felt her stomach churn. Only Riley could call him Luke.
"You're going to go out with me." Kayla said.
"No I'm not." Lucas replied, going back to his noodles in his thermos.
Kayla's eyes narrowed. "But Luuuke, everyone wants us together." She whined, sitting next to him, and placing a hand on his shoulder, it crept up to his collar, flipping it up.
"Except me. Leave me alone, Kayla." Lucas said, getting annoyed.
"Fine." Kayla stormed away, and Lucas tried to get himself to calm down.
"Luke," Riley whispered. "Your collar is messed up." She reached over, and fixed it. Lucas felt his face heat up, but he calmed down in the seconds it took her to fix it.
()()()
For thirteen-year-old Lucas, school was getting harder. Homework piled upon him, and high school was next year. Finals made the end of the year more stressful than relaxing.
The eighth grade formal came faster than expected, and while some people brought dates, Lucas and Riley went as friends. Zay left before the formal for vacation. Riley walked over to Lucas's house for a ride to the formal.
Lucas knew Riley was coming over, but stayed on the phone with Zay too long, so he quickly grabbed his jacket and rushed down the stairs. They took a few pictures and Riley noticed his collar flipped up from him throwing on his tie.
"Lucas, Your collar is messed up." Riley noticed, and went to fix it.
Throughout the night, Lucas would flip up his collar just to get her to fix it. And every time, she would fix it with a smile.
Lucas asked her out later that night, and Riley accepted.
()()()
For sixteen-year-old Lucas, relationship pressure had dawned on him. He was happy with Riley, but so many other people were pressuring them to go farther. Do something monumental.
Riley attempted to ignore them, but he saw it was getting to her.
"Hey Luke." Riley called walking into his house.
