Chasing Butterflies | a GMW fanfic

Girl Meets How I Love You

[A/N: i would appreciate it soooo much if you all voted/commented your opinions on this story so far! It'd also be super duper cool if you, like, promoted this story to your friends!]

"You wanted to talk." Lucas said, glancing at Riley from across their table at Topanga's.

"Yes, I did." Riley nodded. "I forgive you. I know it was all stressful that night, and I hope you didn't mean what you said. I'm you're favorite person to talk to, and that's what I wanted to do. And I don't know why talking about us is different from talking about anything else."

"Well," Lucas started. "Of course it's different. Talking about our relationship means that we're both invested in it-" He stopped talking, then tried to rephrase his sentence. "So that's why I want to talk. Because I'm invested in this relationship, and I hope you are too."

"You hope I'm invested in the relationship?" Riley said, trying to keep from getting angry. "I am invested. You're the reason we're having this conversation right now."

Lucas sighed. "Actually, Riley, you're the reason we're having this conversation. You brought it up and felt the need to talk about our relationship."

Riley narrowed her eyes at him. "So are you willing to talk about us, or are you not? I don't feel like we're both equally invested in this relationship, now."

Lucas threw his hands up in the air. "Riley, I'm willing to talk. You know it was stressful, seeing one of my best friends hurt so much. I'm sorry for not wanting to talk earlier, and I should have."

Riley stood up and stood next to the table. "Then maybe you should have talked earlier. One of us is obviously more interested in this relationship than the other."

Lucas stood up as well, standing across from Riley. "I wasn't the one who told you I loved you like a sibling. And, I wasn't the one who was making heart eyes at Charlie Gardner when I thought we were kind of a thing."

"That's what you do! You assume things." Riley said, crossing her arms. "Besides, at least I didn't almost kiss Charlie. You almost kissed Maya when we were 'kind of a thing.'" She said, quoting Lucas' words.

"That was after you told me I was like a brother to you." Lucas said. "I was hurt - really hurt, because I didn't want to be like your brother."

"You do a lot of things you feel the need to apologize for when you're hurting. I'm hurt, too, Lucas. I thought I was your favorite person to talk to, but you didn't want to talk to me!" Riley felt tears building up in her eyes, but she held them back.

"You're still my favorite person to talk to, and you're overreacting to the situation!" Lucas replied.

"I'm not the one overreacting, you are!" Riley said, thinking that maybe she was overreacting. Was it wrong to hold Lucas accountable for all of this?

"Listen. I will sit and listen to you talk about Pluto, or how nice people are, or about the cute dog you saw on the street the other day. I could listen to you talk about anything and never get tired of it. I just think that when we talk about our relationship, it needs to be at the right time." Lucas sighed.

"That's crap," Riley declared. "The right time to talk about our relationship was when our two friends broke up. That's when we needed to talk about our relationship the most, because if we're both invested in this then we need to figure out anything that's wrong and stop it before it's too late."

Lucas shook his head. "That's like putting a bandaid over a crack in your ceiling. It might work temporarily, but it won't last forever."

"Are you saying that we won't last forever?" Riley asked. "Because if you know that we're going to end, why did you kiss me and take me on a date?"

At this very opportune moment, Riley's parents decided to walk into the room, looking concerned when they heard the raised voices.

"It's bound to end, Riley. Just like our last relationship. We're both going off to college soon, and neither of us would be any good at handling a long-distance relationship. We're going to end up how we did before." Lucas glanced over at Riley's parents before looking back at Riley.

"You mean we're going to end up as really awkward friends?" Riley asked, incredulous. "Is that all we'll ever be? Friends? Is that what you want us to be?"

"Maybe we're better off as friends, since all we do in a relationship is argue! Maybe it'd be better if we just put our relationships behind us." Lucas said, though he knew that this was a lie.

"So you just want to be friends. You want us to break up, then live as just friends?" Riley looked down at the ground.

"Maybe I do!" Lucas said, then his voice dropped to almost a whisper. "Is that what you want?"

Riley shook her head. "I don't want that at all, Lucas. But, if even if that's not what you want, maybe we're still better as just friends."

Lucas frowned. "I don't want to be just your friend. I don't want to be like your brother. I want to be your favorite person to talk to. I know how I love you, Riley. And it's not like a you're my sister, and it's not like you're my best friend."

"Then what is it like?" Riley asked.

Lucas ran a hand through his hair, then took a step closer to her. "It's, uh,-" he paused. "It's like this." In one quick motion, he stepped forward, kissed her, and had backed away before she had time to react.

He looked up at Riley's parents, giving them an apologetic smile. "Sorry," he said, then walked out the door.