Sweet Cheeks. Rucas. GMW CHOICE AWARD WINNER!

Chapter.25.My Girl.<3.

Lucas' Point of View.
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It's truly incredible how one person can occupy your thoughts so much. How one person can make you question every decision and look at everything differently. I have had that mentality since I realized I had feelings for Riley. At the time we were in middle school so I thought it was a stupid crush, I'd get over it and eventually find a girl-who as some of the snobbier girls at the time put it, 'my speed'. I didn't ever know what they meant though, even with braces and her 'baby fat' I thought she was beautiful. Her dimples, her big doe eyes that held so much innocence it was almost hard to swallow. And that smile even when filled with metal was quite honestly, a highlight of my day. I like to attribute that to one of my reasons for pranking her so much, because in the end she'd be laughing about it no matter how mad she was at me.

Even when I up and left New York, and up and left... Riley, she still preoccupied my mind. I'd see a lemonade and immediately think of her. She was never huge on sodas, but lemonade was according to her 'the perfect mixture of tart and sweet'. At least that's what she told her friends, I had a problem of eavesdropping. When I ate French fries I'd subconsciously remember how she'd take a bite of a fry, unknowingly it would be right in half and then she'd nibble on the rest of it like a rabbit munching on a carrot.

But, my favorite thing to look at whenever I wanted to remember her was trees. Before I started pranking her relentlessly and she'd tag along with Josh to hang out with all of us-she and I would spend time in the tree house. The same tree house that had given her, her fear of heights. Either way, we'd spend hours up there playing games, talking and eventually Josh would get bored out of his mind but Riley and I never left. I loved that tree house, I remember when my mom and dad had to tear it down because it wasn't safe anymore and it was beyond repair. In reality, my dad was just crappy with his hands-my mom was the one from Texas after all.

The day it got torn down, I was in the 7th grade. I remember watching as each piece of wood fell to the ground, my heart seemed to have shattered. My mom knew, she knew how I had felt about Riley before I did and each time she'd bring it up I'd deny it wholeheartedly. But her words had always stuck with me, 'it isn't the tree house your sad about. It's the memories that you've made up there. But let me tell you something my love, memories will always be with you. They will always be in your mind, and those of Riley will always be in your heart'. I didn't say anything after she told me that, because in all honesty that's whenever things started to make sense for me. That's whenever I had to work things out in my mind.

I may have been in the seventh grade.

I may have been young.

But it was then I realized I didn't just have a crush on little Riley Matthews who would constantly tag along with her uncle who would be utterly annoyed by her presence. No, it was something that could be classified as 'feelings', something deeper than a middle school boy should possibly feel and that terrified me. Looking back on it now, did I really ever try to get over Riley Matthews?

I'd like to say yes, I'd like to say 'yeah that's why I was gone so long because I needed to be. I had a lot of baggage and she didn't deserve the extra worry'. But then I'd be lying to myself and I'm so relieved I never tried to get over her. I didn't want and will never want to forget her, or fall out of love with that beautiful creature who had wiggled her way into my life. Oh who am I kidding? I let her walk in, I basically had my arms wide open begging her to move faster. When I saw her last summer walking to her mom's bakery, I knew I didn't have a choice. Not that I'd want one, I had to come back.

I had to come back for her.

It still astounded me how much she had changed, and in all honesty I was kind of upset. I always thought she was beautiful, but she never caught the eye of any other guys. Which subconsciously I loved because in the back of my mind I had labeled her as mine. I don't care if that sounds possessive, I'm a jealous man-everyone I love besides my aunt and uncle have wronged me in some way shape or form or left me. I refuse for Riley to be one of those people, so yes I'm equal parts protective and possessive over her. So when I saw that she lost the braces, and even under her non-form fitting clothes I could tell she lost a lot of weight I gripped my steering wheel tighter knowing she was being eyed by a few men. I hadn't seen her in so long, I'd occasionally Facebook stalk Josh but- pictures would never do her justice.