Girl Meets Wedding Bells(Joshaya & Rucas)

Girl Meets the Accident

Maya woke up with a huge smile plastered on her face the next morning. Her date with Josh had been amazing. How could she have ever been so insecure about his feelings for her? He had made clear he wanted her in his future.

'Well, someone looks happy', Riley, who had been awake for a while already, said to her friend. Maya sighed happily. 'Yesterday was great', she told the brunette. 'Earth-shattering great or just the, you know, great-but-nothing-more kind?' Riley asked. 'Try the best-night-ever type of great', Maya replied. Riley nodded approvingly. 'Damn, girl. Sounds nice', she said. Maya smiled at her friend. 'Hey, why are you up already? It's only...' Maya took a quick glance at the clock on her bedside table. '... seven-thirty. I thought you wanted to sleep in today.' 'I know', Riley said, 'but since I missed our surfing class yesterday, I made an appointment with Thomas for a lesson this morning so I can catch up with you and Farkle.' 'There's not much to catch up', Maya told Riley truthfully. 'Farkle and I are not exactly what one calls a pro.' Riley giggled. 'I'm sure you two are not that bad.' She gathered her bikini, cellphone, rental wetsuit, a towel and stuffed the items in a large purple duffel bag. 'Lucas doesn't mind you're alone with your, well, let's admit it, cute surf instructor?' Maya asked Riley, who immediately dropped the bag. 'So that's why he insisted on coming to watch me today!' The brunette rolled her eyes when the realization hit her. Maya chuckled. 'Classic Huckleberry. Well, have fun, Riles. And good luck on the waves!' Riley smiled as she walked to the bedroom door. 'Thanks. You have fun daydreaming about my uncle.' She stopped in her tracks and said, 'That sounded really weird. Um, you know what I mean. Bye, Maya.' Riley quickly left the room, leaving a laughing Maya behind.

When Riley and Lucas arrived at the beach thirty minutes later, Thomas was already waiting. 'Hi Thomas', Riley greeted him cheerfully. 'Hey Riley', the surf instructor replied. 'Who have you brought today?' 'This is Lucas. My boyfriend.' Thomas smiled as he extended his hand to the Texan. 'Hey there, Lucas. Nice to meet ya.' The older boy's friendliness took Lucas by surprise. He shook Thomas' hand and said, 'Nice to meet you too.' Thomas turned to Riley. 'You ready?' The girl nodded. 'We have to be careful out there', he told her, nodding at the sea. 'Big waves are expected today.' Riley nodded. 'Understood', she told Thomas. 'Great. Then let's get started. Lucas, are you joining us?' 'Oh no, that's fine. You two go ahead.' He felt relieved Thomas seemed to be a nice guy, and the bit of jealousy he'd felt the day before when Riley announced her private surfing lesson with the instructor had vanished. He sat down on the soft white sand and watched as Riley waded into the water with a yellow surfboard after getting a few instructions from Thomas. He sat back and relaxed. At least for now. He did not know yet what was about to happen.

The lesson started out really well. Riley proved she was a quick learner. After only five minutes out in the ocean, she had already caught two waves, which was pretty remarkable according to Thomas. Of course, Riley hadn't stood on the surfboard for longer than a second before she lost balance and fell off, but the fact that she had already managed to stand up twice counted for something. The ocean seemed to be working in Riley's favor. The waves weren't too high for a beginner, nor were they too small to surf.

'You're doing awesome', Thomas told her. 'You just have to put your body a bit higher on the board.' Riley shifted so she was in the desired position. 'Like this?' she asked. 'Yes. That's good', Thomas replied. 'Here comes your next wave. Keep that focus!' Riley didn't have time to look behind her, and started paddling ferociously. When the wave reached her, she pushed herself up with all the strength she had in her. 'Oh my God!' she shouted as she stood on top of the board and worked to keep her balance. 'I'm standing!' she exclaimed. 'I'm-' She couldn't finish her sentence, because she fell off the board and landed into the ocean. She spit out a mouthful of salt water. 'Yikes', she said before clearing her throat a few times. Just a few feet away, Thomas was watching from his own surfboard. He clapped loudly, and said, 'Amazing, Riley. Truly amazing.' Back on the beach, Lucas was also cheering for his girlfriend. 'You go, Riley! Show them all how amazing you are.' A proud grin had spread on his face. 'That's my girlfriend!' he exclaimed happily to a few tourists who had been watching Riley catching the wave. They gave Lucas a strange look before taking off.

The boy then heard a shout. 'Riley, watch out!' The words had come out of Thomas the instructor's mouth. The waves suddenly seemed larger than before. The first wave pulled Riley underwater. The water's force had flung her to a nearby group of large rocks, the peaks of which rose about ten feet above the water. Another wave rolled closer and when it reached the brunette, it took her under again. Lucas waited for her to come up again, but he saw nothing. As Thomas paddled towards the spot he had seen Riley in a few seconds ago, Lucas jumped into the water, his clothes still on, as he started swimming like a mad man, desperate to rescue Riley. 'Riley!' he screamed, not caring about the salt water spilling into his mouth. He swam faster and faster. But it seemed like he couldn't reach her. 'Riley!' he screamed again. There was no sign of her. The ocean had seemed to devour her under the sky that had suddenly turned grey.

'Riley!'

Hi everyone :) I hope you liked the chapter, even though there's a little bit of a cliffhanger at the end ;) Thank you all so much for reading. And a special thanks to those who voted on previous chapters and to those who added this story to their reading list. I wish you all a great day!

Love,

♥