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imaginarybird · 7 years

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Unwilling and unable to face everyone on her own when it comes time to attend Auggie and Ava’s wedding, Riley Matthews hires a solution in Lucas Friar. Loosely based on The Wedding Date.

Part One // Part Two // Part Three // Part Four // Part Five

Rating: Around a PG 13/14

Notes: As always, thanks to everyone who has read, reblogged, commented, liked…whatever you’ve done to support the fic. It means the world to me. And just a reminder, I’m more than happy to chat about this or any of my other fics if you pop into my inbox.

Some special shout-outs this chapter go to @sand1128, who has been an incredible cheerleader every time I feel like I’m faltering with this, and to @frankchurchillsaysrelax, who was a great sounding board when I was frozen at a particular moment. You’re both amazing!

In this chapter, Auggie and Riley have a little bit of family time, we go to dance class, and Lucas hears The Ballad of Corpanga.

The next day starts with Auggie taking Riley to sit at the far end of the breakfast table away from everyone else to apologize for bringing things up the way he had the night before at dinner.

Well actually, before that Ava gives a sweeping declaration that if a scene like that occurs again anyone involved will be banned from attending the wedding, regardless of their relationship to the bride and/or groom and their position in the wedding itself.

And before that there was navigating waking up next to Lucas, practically sharing the same space in the bed with his arm up above her head across her pillow and their bodies barely half an inch apart… Riley woke first and nearly had a heart attack when she realized she could feel his chest against her back in time with his breathing before she remembered that the night had ended with her practically demanding that they share the bed. Thankfully, she had been able to extricate herself and get into the bathroom to shower and go through her morning routine without somehow waking him up or otherwise embarrassing herself, and even though Lucas was awake by the time she was dressed and ready for the day, he wasn’t really alert or talkative until after his own shower (and really not until after they got downstairs and he had his first few sips of coffee in him) so their conversation had been minimal and unremarkable.

So for Riley, who’s choosing to do her best to forget her wake-up call and the awkward staring and silence followed quickly by everyone conspicuously starting up conversations and turning away the moment she and Lucas arrive at breakfast, the day really begins when she’s with her little brother and he’s trying to make amends for his misstep.

“I know it’s not an excuse but she was being a total bitch.” Auggie says after his initial apology. Riley automatically admonishes him for the language (that’s never been how they talk and besides that there are a few little kids in the room) but he continues talking as though she hasn’t said a word. “ And I knew no one else was going to stop her except for maybe Uncle Eric, and you weren’t going to fight back so I just thought I’d...knock her down a peg or two and remind everyone that she wasn’t exactly blameless for your junior year.”

“Except you know that’s not how they see things, Aug.” Riley shakes her head. “They heard you say that and they saw us attacking her for something she had no control over.”

“I never said I was thinking when I did it.” When Riley doesn’t join in his nervous laughter, Auggie glances down, contrite. “I’m really sorry Riley. I know I probably made things worse…”

Riley shakes her head, and briefly rests a hand on Auggie’s shoulder; the last thing she wants is her brother stressing himself out the week of his wedding over this problem that’s over ten years old. “Pretty sure that’s not possible.” She forces a smile to go with the cynical comment. “Don’t worry about it Auggie. Just don’t do it again, OK?”

“Are you sure?”

“Bygones, I promise.” She nods. “It’s not like everyone in the room didn’t already know the whole sordid story.”

Well, everyone except for Lucas, she internally corrects. She still hasn’t been able to bring herself to broach the subject, even after he had shared his own personal humiliation with her. A part of her feels like she has to. It doesn’t feel entirely fair to subject him to all of this and expect him to take care of her without knowing why. But at the same time, outside of family and those involved, there’s only a grand total of two people that she’s ever told the whole story to. And one of those had been under the influence of heavy duty painkillers when she had needed to get her appendix out.

It’s not something she talks about or even likes to think about. And even though she’s had a lot of time to process and come to terms with the fact that she was merely one player of many involved in the disaster and that everyone had done things that they probably shouldn’t have, Riley can’t help but feel that at this point she’s one of the only people who has reached that conclusion. If no one else sees things that way, who’s to say that Lucas will?

Riley doesn’t think that Lucas will up and quit if he hears the story (he has a contract to honor after all), but there’s a part of her that worries how his opinion of her will change.

They’ve only been at the charade for a day and she’s already grown accustomed to his support--in public and in private. The thought of losing any part of that unsettles her, to the point where she’s almost positive that she’s only going to bring the subject up if she absolutely has to. Until then, he can try to piece together the small snippets of information that have been floated around and everyone else can just be running on the assumption that he already knows.

“You have been the family’s primary topic of gossip for years.” Auggie nods, rolling his eyes. “Speaking of, other than the Maya thing...how did last night go?”

Riley’s mind immediately flashes to climbing into bed next to Lucas. “What about it?” She asks, speaking a little too fast to be called calm or collected. “The room is nice, Lucas and I slept fine, everything happened exactly the way it was supposed to.”

Auggie’s eyes widen and then his entire face crinkles. “What? No! Gross!” He shoves at her shoulder. “You are my sister and as far as we’re concerned you have no sex life, thank you very much.”

Oh. Oops.

“I meant, how did things go with the rest of the family? I only saw the awkwardness that was your conversation with dad.”

“Oh, the usual. Uncomfortable and laden with judgement. And then mom showed up.” Riley glances down to the other end of the table where her mom and dad are eating their breakfast while being lectured by Ava looking thoroughly embittered by the experience. She reasons that they’ve earned that particular brand of torment and turns back to grab her glass of orange juice and take a long sip. “And she was exactly how you’d expect mom to be.”

Auggie winces. “Awful?”

“I know I’m not always the most confident or assertive person but I’m 28 years old. I’ve been taking care of myself since I left my senior year. I’ve debated with a presidential candidate before for goodness sake. But put me in front of mom and it’s like I’m eight years old again, trying to tell her about knocking into the bookshelf and breaking her Junior Associate of the Year plaque. Completely unable to explain or defend myself.”

In reality, Riley hadn’t even been the one to knock into the shelf; Maya had when she had been attempting to recreate a dance from her new favorite music video. But Maya had also convinced Riley that if they told the truth, Topanga would be so upset with Maya that she wouldn’t be allowed over anymore and they would have to stop being friends. To eight-year-old Riley, that hadn’t exactly been difficult to believe; her mom demanded the best of everyone, especially herself, and the trophies and certificates that proved she had exceeded those standards were a source of pride and joy to her. The way Topanga took care of that shelf and showed everything on it off, Little Riley knew that damaging any of her trophies was probably the worse thing someone could do other than dropping Auggie. It wasn’t a stretch to think that she would be incredibly angry with Maya.

And Riley had never really believed in lying to her parents, but she also really didn’t want to lose access to her best (and only) friend. Her best (and only) friend who was supposed to be to her what Uncle Shawn was to her dad. Everyone said so.

Desperate to keep her friend and have that experience, Little Riley had fumbled her way through the lie and her mother’s enraged interrogation and lecture, scared that in doing so she was losing her mother’s adoration and approval, but just as fearful that if she didn’t she would lose Maya and have to go back to being the lonely little girl who was stuck singing with her dolls in the bay window of her room because nobody else would put up with her for very long. Nobody else ever seemed to notice her torment over what was ultimately a non-event, nor did they ever realize the truth, but Riley has never been able to forget the look of angry disappointment in her mother’s eyes as she went through her diatribe.

“If Lucas hadn’t been there, I think she’d still be lecturing me about my lack of contact and commitment to the family, Ava’s call to the meal and schedule be damned.” Riley finishes, drawing herself back to the present.

“How is loverboy feeling now that he’s met the family? He’s still here so he can’t have been too scared.”

Riley glances down the table again; Lucas is a bit closer to their end of the table, eating what appears to be an impossible amount of breakfast meat while talking to her grandparents. He catches her looking and winks at her before refocusing on what her grandpa is saying. “He’s, uh…” Riley struggles a moment to get her heart’s automatic fluttering reaction to the gesture back under control. “He’s not exactly a stranger to having a family that doesn’t understand or approve of your choices.”

“Well, he seems like a really great guy. I’m glad you found him.”

“Yeah, me too.” Riley’s not really sure as she answers whether she’s referring to Lucas in his professional capacity as an escort and companion for the week or in the nebulous region of something more personal that it feels like they’re hovering near, but she knows without question that it’s the truth. She’s glad that she found him.

“OK!” Ava claps her hands together. “Now that everyone’s here, we can get started. I know a few of you still need to change your shoes and things so before I hand things over to Natalya, our instructor for the day, I just want to take the opportunity to say a few things and give you an idea of what we’re hoping to accomplish today.”

“I know you said she was detail-oriented and all that, but is she seriously going to explain the purpose of a dance class to a bunch of adults?” Lucas leans over and murmurs his comment in Riley’s ear, forcing her to smother a giggle in the crook of his shoulder to avoid attracting attention.

They’re sitting on a small row of chairs on the edge of a dance studio, putting the shoes that they’ll be wearing for the wedding on so they can jump through Ava’s next ‘wedding party participation’ hoop: a dance class. The rest of the wedding party had arrived throughout the morning while the Matthews spent time relaxing on the beach, and after a light lunch everyone’s phones chimed with the calendar reminder that Ava had sent out (after Riley and Lucas’ late arrival to dinner the night before, she was not taking any more chances and she had sent the itinerary for the week out to everyone with orders to set whatever alarms they needed to on their phone to ensure that they would be on time). Not that the reminder had been needed with everyone together on the beach. Ava had been more than happy to usher everyone to go change into more appropriate attire and drive to the nearby dance studio.

“First of all, thank you all for taking the time to come here today, and for agreeing to be a part of our wedding!”

The group claps and cheers a bit and Ava grins, clearly in her element as the center of attention. “Now, we’re here today because Auggie and I want to kick off the reception right with some dancing. Nothing too fancy, just a small choreographed foxtrot for the wedding party on their entrance. Then Auggie and I will come in and do our first dance together, a waltz, while you all wait in the appropriate positions off to the side, and at the very end of the that you’ll all come back in and join us to finish things up. Are there any questions so far?”

Thankfully, nobody raises their hand or says anything. Riley reasons that Ava has been chatting their ears off about it for weeks now and everyone already knows just about everything that she’s saying.

And even though it sounds like there’s going to be a lot to take in over the next few hours, Riley actually finds herself looking forward to it. She’s gotten over a lot of her clumsiness from high school, and while she’s by no means about to go out and audition for a dance contest or anything, Zay has taken her out dancing and taught her enough basic skills that she’s fairly certain that she won’t stick out like a sore thumb and attract negative attention.

Plus, the only other family member present besides Auggie is Uncle Josh; everyone else in the wedding party is Auggie and Ava’s friends from school. She and Josh had been close when she was younger, but that had ended her senior year of high school. Nowadays he’s usually perfectly content to pretend that Riley’s not even there unless he’s getting drawn into a conversation by someone else, which should make this a lowkey afternoon. No one else really knows her, not enough to be interested in the family drama.

Between that and the quiet morning she and Lucas had spent on the beach with Eric and Linda, Riley is feeling pretty good and relaxed about her afternoon.

“Great! This is going to be so wonderful you guys, I just know it.” Ava gushes, clapping her hands together a second time. “Now, everyone will have an assigned dance partner, and with two exceptions, your partner will be from the opposite side of the wedding party. Riley, as Auggie’s version of a best man, and Melanie, my fabulous maid of honor, you two will each be dancing with your boyfriends--side note: Lucas, Todd, I need you to run your suits by me tonight to make sure they won’t stick out too horribly. Everyone else, Auggie is going to read off your partnerships. As soon as you have your proper shoes on, please find your partner and we’ll let Natalya get things underway.”

Auggie starts reading a list from his phone and the couples slowly start standing and finding each other and some space on the studio floor.

“You were not kidding about her putting a lot of thought into this ceremony.” Lucas comments as they find their own space on the floor to stand. “I have been to a lot of weddings and I have never seen a reception open up with a number that could be from Dancing with the Stars.”

“She was probably watching the show when she came up with her vision.” Riley whispers back. The last thing she wants to do is catch attention while gossiping about the bride. “Ava’s a massive fan.”

They chat quietly while waiting for everyone else to be ready and the instructor to get started, but are quick to refocus when the older woman calls for the group’s attention.

“So the first thing I would like to do before we get completely underway learning the basics of our dances themselves is just to assess where everyone’s level of skill is.” Natalya says. “My assistant, Paul, and I will briefly demonstrate a proper frame, and then we’ll play some music, and I want everyone to just...do what comes naturally for them. Dance exactly how you know how to dance.”

In a matter of moments, Riley is facing Lucas, his left hand wrapped around to rest on her shoulder blade while she loops her hand over to his shoulder, and their right hands clasped together on the other side. It’s not any closer than they’ve stood over the past couple of days--if anything there’s a little more space between them than when they’ve been practically cuddling to sell their coupledom to her family or when they were sharing a bed the night before, but Riley finds herself fighting to keep control of her breathing. Lucas is really right there.

“Don’t be nervous. This doesn’t count for anything.” He nudges her gently with the hand on her shoulder blade either completely mistaking the source of her nerves or trying to discourage her from that sort of thought without being rude. Her cheeks feel like they’re on fire as she considers the possibility. “I only know a little bit of this stuff anyways, so we’ll keep it really simple. Just keep your eyes on mine, and follow me lead.”

Another moment and there’s music playing, a soft standard that Riley vaguely recognizes.

Slow. Slow. Quick, quick.

Lucas taps the pattern in time with the music several times over, a spark seeming to travel between them with every pulse. Then with a gentle squeeze on her back, he guides her to start moving. With each step the room seems to fade away until it’s just her, Lucas, and the music. Slow. Slow. Quick, quick. Slow. Slow. Quick, quick.

For a split second, Riley feels like her feet aren’t even on the floor.

Then just as quickly the music fades out, and Lucas guides them to a stop. Where they stay breathing heavily and staring at each other.

There’s something strangely intimate about the position. Lucas is right there. A warm, stalwart presence holding on to her. Even though they aren’t pressed up against each other, it feels like there’s nothing between them. And those gorgeous green eyes are locked with hers, to the point where it practically feels like they’re boring into her soul and it’s all Riley can do to remind herself that they are in a room full of people and it’s not nearly as amatory as her mind is telling her it is.

It just… really, really feels like it.

Riley can’t exactly blame Lucas for stepping away from the evening’s activity, a bonfire on the beach, to return a few phone calls. He’s had his phone on silent (or, at least, she hasn’t heard his phone so much as beep) for their entire trip and it’s only natural that he has some messages to return, and it wouldn't exactly be fair of her to make him wait until the middle of the night when he’s quote unquote ‘off duty’ to return them; even people with the strictest of bosses at their normal nine-to-five jobs get breaks throughout the work day, and Riley is determined to be a good, non-demanding, easy-to-work-for client/boss, so of course she waves him off when he mentions a need to speak to his business partner.

Besides. Things have been kind of...weird since the dance class. It isn’t exactly easy to forget staring into Lucas’ eyes for a few hours, locked in an embrace with a thrum of electric energy hovering between them as they moved to the music. Riley’s trying to remind herself that her relationship with Lucas is strictly business, and that whatever it is she thinks she’s feeling for him is probably really just some physical attraction mixing with her deep appreciation for Lucas being a source of comfort at a time when she’s feeling so vulnerable, but it’s not exactly working. Not when strictly business means holding hands and sharing glances and blurring all kinds of lines.

Riley had almost welcomed the opportunity to clear her head and rest that came when Lucas had mentioned the need for his phone call with open arms. She would have if him stepping away hadn’t meant that she’s now stuck at the beach party alone, white knuckling her drink and praying that none of her family decides to stop their mingling with each other to come and try and talk with her.

Still, she can’t blame Lucas for stepping away to return a few phone calls.

She just kind of wants to when Shawn comes over. “Hey Riley,” he greets, taking a sip from his own drink as he approaches.

“Shawn.” Riley doesn’t know what to think that her surrogate uncle is approaching. Despite the fact that he’s technically her godfather, they’ve never been particularly close; she doesn’t remember the early years of her life when supposedly he was helping her parents to raise her, and when he got a job as a travelling photographer and blogger he all but vanished from her life save for e-mails and the occasional phone call. Then when his work brought him to move back to the city when she was in middle school, he tried but just couldn’t seem to understand her. Like everyone else it seems, he found it easier to bond with Maya, and it wasn’t long before they weren’t really interacting with each other at all unless it had to do with her or Riley’s parents. She can’t imagine why he’s trying to talk with her now.

“You know, I wasn’t sure I was gonna have a chance to talk to you alone. Your boyfriend has been glued to your side ever since you got here. Did pretty boy finally need a break?”

Riley very nearly clenches her jaw and her heart starts to hum uncomfortably in the middle of her chest.It’s not that she thinks Shawn means anything rude with his comment--tiny little mostly meaningless jabs like that are how he communicates--it’s just that it seems like no one is ever referring to Lucas by his name, just random descriptors, and this one feels particularly pejorative. And she can’t tell if he means to imply that Lucas needs a break from the family in general or just a break from her and it leaves her on edge to be so unsure as to what exactly is happening in this encounter. “Lucas had to make a couple of calls. He went somewhere quiet.”

“Right.” Whatever he’s assuming, it’s obvious that Shawn doesn’t believe her, despite it being true. “It looks like you two are pretty close.”

Oh. It’s gonna be one of those talks. “We are.” Riley answers, keeping her words clipped. She learned a long time ago that nothing good comes from being overly friendly and encouraging anyone when they try and go down this path.

“You love him?”

“We haven’t said it yet.” Riley regards him with a little more suspicion; she has no idea if she and Lucas would have said any sort of I-love-you’s if they were really dating (it’s not one of the details they’ve discussed) but she doesn’t want to leave much ambiguity about their ‘relationship’ so leaving the implication that they are in love feels like the safest bet.

“Yeah, but it’s in your eyes when you look at him.” Shawn smirks. “His too.” A beat passes, because Riley has no idea what to say. The conversations never go like this. Thankfully Shawn picks right back up. “You two look really happy together.”

“We are.”

“That’s great.”

Wait, what? “It is?”

Now Shawn frowns. He reaches out with his free hand, resting it on her elbow. “Riley, I know we’ve had our differences about somethings but when have I ever begrudged you happiness?”

A part of Riley wishes she were brave enough to give an answer filled with all of the biting sarcasm and truth that question deserves. But she’s not a confrontation person, particularly with people that she knows, even if it’s someone that’s long drifted away from her. She doesn’t know how to swallow the part of her that’s a people pleaser, who just wants people to like her and it’s that part that keeps her standing in submissive silence.

“Anyways, I wanted to talk to you because of last night.”

All right. There it is. The real reason for the talk. Lucas coming first was just a red herring. Riley sighs. “What about it?”

“It was really unnecessary, don’t you think?”

Riley’s grip contracts around her glass. She hadn’t even done anything. She had gone in the night before determined to introduce Lucas and fade into the background, and it was other people who turned nothing into something, but as expected, everyone is more than happy to stay true to form and lay the blame at her feet. “I didn’t--,”

“I mean, it’s been ten years. Over ten if you really think about it.” Shawn continues talking as though she hadn’t started to say anything at all. “That’s a long time to be holding on to this grudge of yours.”

The humming of her heart starts to pound, almost achingly. “It’s not a--,”

“Everyone else has been trying to get past this for years, and you make it so hard. You isolate yourself and refuse to have a real conversation about any of it and you won’t even give them a chance. And it’s not a good way to go through life Riley. I’ve been there and believe me when I tell you I’m right about this.”

It takes everything Riley has not to give in to the tears that are springing to her eyes and she hates herself for it. As though she hadn’t wasted years dying for any of them to give her a chance, jumping at any glimmer of hope she could see and inevitably being disappointed. She should be full of rage at every syllable of Shawn’s words and all she can do is sink down under the guilt he’s laying across her shoulders. All she can do is feel the cloak of panic and upset engulf her, drowning any rational and reasonable response that she wants to spit back.

“Look,” Shawn says, gesturing with drink in hand, “Riley. You and I have never been super close, and I can’t pretend that I’ve ever really understood you, but I think I know you well enough to know that you’re never going to be really happy without your family around you. It’s time to apologize.”

“If you can’t pretend that you’ve ever understood her, now probably isn’t the time to start.” A deep, hard voice interjects.

When a hand slides around her waist, Riley realizes that her timely defender is Lucas. When had he gotten here? Unfrozen, she glances over at him and is surprised at just how cold the gaze he’s directing at Shawn is; he seems genuinely, and deeply, angry.

“Excuse me, I was just having a private conversation with my goddaughter.” Shawn’s reply is a little more heated.

Lucas doesn’t blink. “And now you’re not.”

“I’m sorry?” Shawn sputters.

“A conversation is usually two people talking. Listening to each other. Sharing ideas and trying to reach an understanding about something. But from where I stand, all that’s happening here is you’re trying to make Riley feel bad about a decision, but you won’t even listen to hear where she’s coming from. You’re more interested in blaming her for not coming around to your point of view than understanding why she hasn’t. And I’m not going to let you hurt her like that.”

For a moment Shawn just stares at Lucas, and the rest of the party seems to fade to the background. All Riley can hear is the ominous distant crash of the waves and an echo of Lucas’ unexpected defense. Is this part of the boyfriend package? She doesn’t remember there being anything about going to bat for her when extended family members lecture her and send her into a panic but the contract had been kind of long and wordy so maybe she just missed it… But if it isn’t part of his assumed role than what is it? And either way, what is Shawn going to do?

He’s always been a bit of a hot head, Riley knows. Sensitive to criticism and personal slights. Leftover pieces of his difficult childhood, her mom had explained when Riley had witnessed an incident in seventh grade. It just takes the right sort of thing to push his buttons and set him off and surely Lucas’ comments might qualify.

Riley would really prefer to not see the conversation get louder and draw attention from the partying crowd; it’s bad enough just the three of them.

However, instead of the anticipated explosion, Shawn raises his soda can in a flat-smirked toast. “Sir Lucas of LA bursts in on his noble steed to save the day. So that’s why she’s with you.”

The comment lands like a punch to the gut and rather than focus on how she feels, Riley watches Lucas to gauge his reaction; surprisingly to her, he seems even more on edge, clenching his jaw and shaking his head. “And that right there? I’m pretty sure comments like that are why she left New York. Come on Riley, let’s get out of here.”

Before she can even totally process it, Lucas is guiding her away from the confrontation, with his arm moving from her waist to wrap her hand in his instead as they walk. The further from the party they get the more the entire conversation hits her.

It shouldn’t hurt as much as it does. Shawn didn’t say anything she hasn’t heard a million times before and Riley has long given up on having any kind of meaningful relationship with him, but still… she’s never been able to just ignore people when they tell her that she’s the problem and start to point out every flaw. At least, not about the things that she’s insecure of and worries about herself. Having Shawn all but call her stubborn and selfish still feels like someone clawing at her very being.

Riley doesn’t even realize how the feeling is settling into her gut and crawling its way towards engulfing the rest of her until they stop, well down the beach and away from the crowd of the party, and Lucas is pulling her into a hug, his arms wrapping around hers.

“I am so sorry, Riley. I should have never left you alone there.” He apologizes, murmuring into her ear. “Are you OK?”

Riley nods into his chest, unable to trust that her voice will sell the lie. She knows she shouldn’t be accepting the embrace, let alone returning it, and she can’t imagine why Lucas offered it in the first place when there’s no one around to see but she can’t help it; she needs the moment to compose herself a little--to turn the lie into the truth--and it just feels so...right to be in his arms, even just for a moment.

“I’m really sorry.” Lucas repeats. “The rest of the day went so well, I didn’t even think…” He trails off and they stand together in silence,

“It’s OK.” Riley says, pulling away after nearly a minute when the sand beneath her toes feels a bit steadier again. She wipes at her face, just in case any tears fell. “You couldn’t have known he was gonna come over. He’s usually happy to pretend I don’t exist.”

“You don’t have to answer, or say more than you want to,” Lucas slides his hand back into hers and they start walking again, still going down the beach away from the party but at a much slower pace, “but what was all that about?”

“You pretty much summed it up when you stopped him.” Riley shrugs. “He’s my dad’s best friend, my mom looks at him like a brother… He was just going to bat for them, trying to goad their wayward daughter home.”

“And the knight in shining armor thing?”

“What about it?”

Lucas glances over at her. “It’s a little specific don’t you think? Everyone’s been kind of skeptical about our relationship but for him to label it like that? And in a way that so obviously bothered you… I just thought there was something bigger there.”

Riley stops walking. She debates briefly with herself over answering the question at all, but reasons that really, this part of the story is not that bad at all and barely has anything to do with her and besides which, Lucas has opened up a lot when he didn’t have to; the least she could do is try to return the favor and explain a little bit of why he’s being exposed to so much drama. “For that, you have to know my parents’ story.” Glancing around, she spots a nearby log of driftwood and sits down, digging her bare toes down beneath the cool sand and launching into an abridged version of her parents’ story for Lucas as he joins her. She tells him about how they met in pre-school, fell in love in kindergarten, got cooties in the first grade, started to seriously reconnect in middle school, and then had their ups and downs until they got married at the ripe old age of 18, to live perfectly and forever happy in wedded soulmate bliss.

“Wow.” Lucas lets out a low whistle. “That is quite the story.”

“Yes it is.” Riley nods, then sighs.”I hate it.”

“You...hate that your parents are happy together?”

“Of course not. But I hate that they had this epic love story and that it constantly follows me around. Instead of reading me Snow White or Sleeping Beauty when I was going to bed, I got tales from The Ballad of Corpanga and its companion story: Cory and Shawn--The Closest Best Friends to Best Friend That the World Ever Did See.”

“So you’d rather they filled your head with fairy tales? Princes and princesses, knights in shining armor…? Riley the people that spend their lives fantasizing about that spend their whole lives waiting for a happy ending that’s never going to come. Do you know how many of my clients…”

Lucas continues to talk but for Riley, the sentence fades out after he mentions his other clients. Not only is it embarrassing, knowing that he’s doing it so constantly (probably because of her behavior to try and remind her what’s really going on) but it stings that he’s missing the point entirely, when she thought it would be obvious.

“My parents’ story is just as much of a fairy tale as anything from Disney, Lucas. It’s just as fantastic, just as one-in-a-million...just because it lacks the thrill of a dragon or a fair maiden being rescued from her tower doesn’t mean it’s more realistic for someone to dream about it. It just means they won’t get laughed at for wanting it past the age of nine.”

Lucas takes a moment to consider her words this time, and he leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he speaks. “You know, you don’t really strike me as the kind of person that doesn’t believe in that kind of magic.”

“I’d have to be stupid not to believe in it when it’s been right in front of my face. Take away the fanciful embellishments of witches and royalty and fairy tales are very real. You can see people finding their happy endings all the time. But the hard truth...the one that no one wants to tell you because it’s not nearly so magical as everyone having one true love waiting out there to sweep you off your feet and make everything perfect someday...the one that I had to figure out for myself a long time ago, is that just because fairy tales are real, doesn’t mean that everyone gets to star in their own.

“Not everyone can be the princess, or have a fairy godmother to grant all their wishes, or have a prince burst in and give them everything they’ve always wanted. Some people are just the ugly stepsister in someone else’s story.”

#rucas #rucas fanfic #riley matthews #lucas friar #gmw #fanfiction #au #fic: Cold Cape Cod Clams

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