The Princess & The Cowboy: A Collection of Rucas One Shots

Twins Meet World

Riley's POV

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lucas asks me as he comes up behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders while I'm wrapping the birthday presents for our twins. Shortly after Lucas and I had gotten married we had been blessed with two children, a boy and a girl named Brooklyn and Oliver. They were the lights of out lives and we had never been happier than we were the day they were born but now, fourteen years later it was time to pull back the reigns a little bit. 

"My parents bought me one when I was their age" I reply defensively. "And honestly honey, would you be this worried if it were only Ollie we were buying the subway card for?"

"Yes because they're our kids" he exclaims. I giggle, standing up and pecking his lips. One thing I loved about my husband was how wholly he loved our children but lately he was turning into a full fledged Cory Matthews. 

"Luke, they're old enough for this" I assure him, walking past him towards our kitchen to check on the cake that was baking for this afternoon's party. 

"No they're not" he argues, following after me. "Do I need to remind you what happened with us on the subway?" he asks and I roll my eyes. 

"That was a freak occurrence. Honestly babe, how many girls have you heard about falling into the love of their lives lap on the subway on their first day of middle school?"

"One and that's enough for me." I smile to myself as the front door opens and the sound of our arguing children drift into the room. 

"I'm telling you, Shelby likes me" Oliver says cockily and I look up in time to see our daughter roll her eyes at her younger brother. Brooklyn had been born two minutes and twenty-seven seconds before Oliver which technically made her older and she had spent the entirety of her fourteen years reminding him whenever she could. 

"She does not. She literally only hangs out with you because you always invite yourself to our hang-outs" Brooklyn exclaims, looking towards me and Lucas. "Mom, dad, tell Ollie that Shelby is my best friend and has absolutely no interest in him whatsoever."

"Aren't you both too young to be dating?" Lucas asks desperately. I bite my tongue. Since our kids turned into teenagers Lucas had been having a hard time remembering that we had our first kiss at their age and that we were a full-fledged couple a year later. 

"Dad" Brooklyn groans. "We're not babies anymore."

"I've been trying to tell him that" I reply, leaning against the counter. Lucas shoots me a death glare and I laugh as I turn back towards our kids. "What time are your friends coming over for dinner?" I ask curiously. We weren't having a huge party for the twins but we were letting each of them invite three friends of theirs over for dinner as well as a couple family members. 

"Around five" Oliver replies. "And I'll prove that Shelby likes me" he adds, sticking his tongue out at Brooklyn. I smile, looking up at Lucas. 

"Don't you regret not having more?" I ask teasingly and he shakes his head. 

"Not even for a second." 

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Everyone gets here around six. I try not to get upset with the twins for the hour delay and try to put on a happy face despite the fact that dinner was definitely less than perfect now because of the oven tricks I had to perform to make sure it didn't burn or get cold. 

We all crowd around the table and dig in, sharing stories while I watch Oliver scoot closer and closer to Shelby every minute or so. Finally, about halfway through dinner Maya interjects. 

"So, how's it feel to be fourteen?" she asks the twins. Oliver rolls his eyes, lifting his soda to his lips. 

"It would be better if our parents didn't still see us as kids."

"You are kids" Lucas replies, calmly sitting back in his seat. "And you're much too young to be having crushes and-and going off on your own throughout the city."

Maya furrows her eyebrows. "Um Huckleberry, at fourteen you had already kissed Riles." 

Oliver's eyes bug out of his head as he glares at Lucas. "You what? You said we were too young to be dating!"

"Well" he begins but Brooklyn cuts him off. 

"That's kinda hypocritical dad. Why didn't you tell us that you guys had your first kiss at our age?"

"And they started dating at fifteen" Maya piles on. 

"Alright Maya, they get it" Lucas cuts her off. "It's just hard, okay? I'm your father and I-I don't want to think of my babies growing up."

"We're not babies" Oliver says confidently, glancing at Shelby. "We know you both love us and all that but you can't keep us under lock and key and you can't expect us not to do the same things you were doing at our age. It's not fair."

I nod in agreement, standing up. "You're right" I reply. Oliver looks at me in surprise; he clearly didn't think that his little speech would actually get him anywhere. I walk towards the small decorative table along the edge of the room and pick up two envelopes and hand them each to the twins. "We know you're growing up and while it is hard as hell, we understand."

They share a quizzical look before ripping open the envelopes. Brooklyn is the first one to see what's inside and she shrieks in excitement. "Oh my god! Subway cards?"

"No way" Oliver exclaims. "T-this is awesome."

"Of course there are restrictions" Lucas interjects, "but we'll go over those later" he adds with a soft smile. 

"Can we go use them now?" Brooklyn asks impatiently. Lucas looks towards me for back-up and I nod my head. 

As hard as it is to watch your kids grow up, you have to let them; you can't hold them back forever. My own parents taught me that and it led me to the greatest moment of my life...meeting Lucas, my subway boy.