Matters of the Heart (Rucas Adult AU)

Chapter 8 - A Weekend Getaway, and a dinner with the parents

Riley was sure that they needed to learn to sleep on an actual bed one day instead of waking up together on some random couch. The only time they hadn't slept on a couch had been when they had gone to the beach weeks before, but in the end they always ended up asleep on a couch somewhere and she was starting to wonder why. It was the sound of Josh clearing his throat that had woken her up, Lucas was still asleep behind her while he held onto her waist so that she didn't fall of the side of the ridiculously large couch they had fallen asleep on.

"We need to talk," Josh said to her and she nodded. She knew he wouldn't have let it go, he was very protective of her just like everyone else was.

Looking at the clock, the numbers read that it was six in the morning, of course this meant that Josh was going to be a pain in the ass before she could get coffee in her. She slowly pulled Lucas's arm off of her waist and walked away from the room headed towards the nearby bathroom to clean herself up. When she came back out she saw Josh standing outside staring at the rising sun waiting for her, while Lucas slept on the couch. Sighing to herself she walked out to meet her uncle.

The air outside was on the chilly side, and she regretted not grabbing a sweater on her way out be she knew that she needed to get this over with as soon as possible. She stood next to Josh watching as the sun rose over the trees turning the sky from purples and reds to the soft blue that she knew all too well.

"Talk before I freeze to death," she said turning to Josh, rubbing her arms for warmth. The cold air making its way into her bones.

"I hate secrets Riley you know that," he said and before she could say anything back he turned to face her. "I get that you wanted this for yourself, and I understand that you want to move forward in your life but you can't keep me in the dark. We're family you and I and I need to make sure you're alright."

"I get that you worry Josh, I mean we grew up together," she said with a small smile. "But you also have to remember that I didn't keep this from you to hurt you. You know how hard it was to keep secrets growing up, I didn't have anything that was just mine, my life was an open book."

"I guess it's just hard for me," he said as he went to sit on one of the loungers that overlooked the back of the house. "I think it's more of a protective thing I guess, something that should be your dad's job."

Riley felt something in her heart break, she knew that Josh missed his brother as much as she wished she had memories of her parents. "I'm sorry, but I also think that it's time that I should have something of my own. Plus, you didn't hear me say anything about you spending so much time with Maya the last few weeks, but I'm sure you heard Lucas ranting about it."

"Yeah but he's also very understanding for some reason, although that first night I slept over I remember waking up to a grouchy older brother," he said making her wonder what Lucas was like when he had woken up to see some random stranger in his apartment, and then she remembered that Charlie had slept over there that night as well and she made a mental note to ask Lucas about it later.

"It could be that you see yourself as my older brother and not my overprotective uncle," she said almost laughing at the thought. They were so close in age that it wasn't an impossible thought either.

"It could be that," he smiled and she knew that he had realized what she had just realized. They were closer than she was with her other uncle and her aunt but the relationship was different, he had always protected her growing up, he called her to talk, and he had often wished that she hadn't moved to New York. "I know you want coffee and I probably woke you up earlier than you wanted to wake up, but I also want you to remember that I'm not going to stop giving Lucas a hard time about all of this."