MOMENTS ( rucas )

ix. three weeks.

a/n: ok so the last time i posted a one shot i hadn't hit 1k reads yet and now i'm at 1.4k???? which is???? amazing???? thank you guys all so much for reading and voting and commenting and all that good stuff it makes me so so happy that you guys are enjoying these so fjakdjfklasdf. anyways i hope you all had a wonderful holiday! this one shot was written back after girl meets her monster and is v fluffy (can u tell i like fluffy rucas, you'll see what i mean. please enjoy and let me know what you think!! ily all sm.

...

All and all, the three weeks that Riley is grounded end up being some of the worst weeks of Lucas' life. Alright, so he's being a little dramatic, the entire year he was expelled from school and the months and months of living in love triangle limbo definitely were rougher and more exhausting, but that didn't mean that the three weeks without Riley weren't tough.

After weeks of living in bliss, spending afternoons and weekends at the Matthews' house or sitting in Topanga's with Riley, to suddenly have all their interactions limited to school, Lucas is pretty lost on what to do with himself. Them spending countless hours together outside of school wasn't a new phenomenon that started when they started officially dating, Riley had always been one of Lucas' go to people to spend time with, and while he loved spending time with Farkle and Zay, he needed a little bit of variety.

For the first couple of days, Zay can't stop taking digs at him. When everyone is sitting in Topanga's, Zay chuckles every time Lucas looks at the empty seat next to him where Riley usually sits, and when they go to the movies one rainy afternoon, Zay elbows him and comments that maybe this time Lucas will actually pay attention to the movie instead of looking at Riley the entire time. The only person who seems to be just as lost as he is, if not even more so, is Maya, but Maya still laughs at Zay's digs.

It's then that Lucas decides that he hates every single one of his friends.

While he completely understands why Riley ended up being grounded, that doesn't stop him from thinking that it's totally unfair. The can only see each other at school now, all communication is completely cut off, no phone, and Riley can only use her computer for school related purposes while sitting at her dining room table in front of at least one of her parents. According to Riley, her father was completely giddy over the whole thing, even if she was suffering completely (her words, not his).

After about a week of moping, and simultaneously complaining about the situation when they actually were together, Lucas decides to start making the most of the time him and Riley do get to see each other. He starts meeting her at her locker first thing in the morning, so he can see her before class starts, he begins walking her to all her classes, which she's confused about at first, but she finds it absolutely adorable when he shyly tells her that he's doing it so he can spend more time with her (and no, if Zay asks, he did not turn bright red when she kissed his cheek in the middle of the hallway).

And while, Lucas misses their evening phone calls, afternoon study sessions and weekend movie dates more than anything, it makes him happy to spend a couple extra minutes with her throughout the school day. He also can't help but smile softly when she tells him almost every single day about how much it stinks that she's only allowed to see him at school.

They also start to become slightly more affectionate than they have been before at school. Usually they keep their hand holding and hugging and cheek kisses to private moments between just the two of them, not wanting a repeat of eighth grade when the whole class knew all of their business. But it's almost impossible for their hands to not find each other when they're walking down the hallway, or for Lucas' lips not to lightly touch her cheek when they stand outside of her 7th period science class, because it's the last time he'll see her before the end of the school day.