Riley's in the hospital.
The words played itself in his head over and over again. No matter how much he tried to think of anything else, he couldn't. All he could think of was those words. Maya didn't give him much information, only for him to get to the hospital right now, and not knowing what was actually wrong made Lucas' mind run wild with all of the endless horrible possibilities.
It was four in the morning, but Lucas didn't care. He ran out of his house and in his car faster than he had ever thought possible. He ignored all the protests from his dad, who was already up, and didn't glance back once when his dad threatened to ground him if he didn't tell his dad what the hell was going on. Lucas knew he had to tell his parents what was wrong later and deal with the consequences from rushing out so abruptly, but right now it didn't matter.
All that mattered to him was Riley. He only cared about Riley and to find out what was actually happening. The rest of the world could fade away because the only person that Lucas ever cared for so deeply was hurt and Lucas had to get to her.
The ride to the hospital felt longer than it actually was. It felt like the universe was doing everything in its power to prolong Lucas from Riley. He had to stop at red lights every other block and he had been cut off by the slowest driver ever. All throughout the ride, Lucas couldn't stop his heart from beating faster than normal because oh god what if she's badly hurt. He couldn't bear the thought of Riley being in any sort of pain.
When he finally got to the hospital, he frantically asked whoever was at the front desk where his girl was. He couldn't bring himself to actually look at the person he was talking to or to care very much about how crazy he sounded screaming: where is she? Where's Riley? Where's my girl?
Once he finally calmed down a little to tell the front desk lady exactly who he was looking for, he got Riley's room number and bolted to her. Similar to the ride over, he came across slow walkers and slow elevators. He sighed a breath of relief when he finally found her room and ran in.
"Lucas! You came," Riley said, smiling up at him once she saw him. Her smile gave him the air he needed to breath, but he wasn't breathing yet. He could only breath once he made sure she was okay and safe.
"Of course I came," Lucas said back, taking the few steps it took to get to her. Once close enough, he intertwined her hands with his and kissed her forehead. He rested his forehead on hers and asked, "are you okay?"
"Lucas, I'm fine," Riley said, lightly giggling. "Who said I wasn't?"
"Well, Maya suggested.." he trailed off, feeling stupid for overreacting. Maybe Maya hadn't sounded as distraught as he remembered.
Riley didn't need any more explaining to know exactly what her best friend had done. She turned to Maya and raised her eyebrows pointedly. "Maya, you didn't tell him what actually happened?"
Maya shrugged nonchalantly, the smirk on her face showed that she didn't care that she had nearly gave him a heart attack. "I thought you would want Huckleberry by your side so I might've left out a couple of details to get him here."
"Maya!" Riley exclaimed, glaring at her.
"What?" Maya threw her hands up in fake surrender. "He was going to show up here no matter what I said. I just thought why not give your little cowboy a little fright? Why not let him prove how much he loved you?" Another glare from both Riley and Lucas made her give them a sheepish smile. "Alright, I'm sorry. I should've told Huckleberry the truth. I'm going now." She gave them one last smile before retreating from the room, leaving the couple alone.
"I'm so sorry about that. You didn't need to come down here. It's late and -"
"I don't care about that," Lucas interrupted, caressing her cheek. "What happened, Riley? Where are you hurt?"
Riley looked toward the end of her bed and Lucas followed her gaze. He looked at Riley's feet to find that her right leg was in a purple case already decorated with cats. The cats were no doubt Maya's doing.
"Maya and I were hungry so we went to the kitchen. I accidentally dropped a bowl and the broken edges fell on my feet. It hurt a lot, but I'm fine now. I only need to wear a case for a few weeks," Riley told him.
"And are you sure you're not hurt anywhere else? You're 100% okay?" Lucas asked again. He needed to make sure before he started to breath normally again. Although, being near Riley always made it easier to breath.
"Yes. I'm fi-"
Lucas cut her off again, but with a kiss this time. It felt so good to kiss her. Mere minutes ago, he wondered whether or not he was going to be able to kiss and hold her ever again. Right now, he was doing both and he couldn't have been more happy.
"Gosh, I was so worried," Lucas whispered once they pulled away from each other. Their foreheads were pressed against each others again and Lucas didn't have any plans to pull away from her ever again.
"I know. I'm sorry. I promise never to have Maya call you if I'm ever in the hospital again," Riley said, strengthening her hold on Lucas' sweater. She never wanted to let him go either.
"Promise me that you'll never land in the hospital ever again unless it's when you're about to give birth?" Lucas whispered again, giving Riley another forehead kiss.
Riley giggled and nodded against Lucas' touch. "I promise."
"I love you, Riley Matthews."
"I love you too, Lucas Friar."
