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

A Princess Proposal

Riley's POV

I'd always dreamed of being a princess. I even ran for princess of my middle school, complete with a white horse and a prince to ride away with me. The same prince was beside me now, standing with me in line to get into the happiest place on Earth. 

Disney World. 

Lucas had promised me for years that he would take me and today was finally the day and also happened to be my twenty-second birthday. Which meant that I was in charge today, anything I say goes much to the amusement of my boyfriend. "Truth or dare?" I ask him, bored from standing in line so long. I guess it didn't matter that it was the dead of winter considering the fact that we were in Florida; the lines went on for miles. 

"Riles." He rolls his eyes, pretending to be absolutely done with my games already but I know that he's amused. I knew his facial expressions better than the words of my favorite book. I shoot him a playful pout and he concedes with little more effort. "Dare." 

My eyes twinkle with excitement. I had the perfect dare for him, well actually it was Zay that came up with it and I had thought that it was the funniest thing ever so, I vowed to make Lucas do it whenever we finally made it here. 

"I dare you to propose to one of the princesses today." My boyfriend quirks an eyebrow at me and for the first time in a long time, an indecipherable look crosses his face. 

"One of the princesses?"

I chuckle, nodding my head. "Um yea, you know the ones inside. Aurora, Jasmine, Ariel-." I list just to mention a few. My boyfriend swallows harshly, stuffing his hand into his pocket. 

"Y-yea. Yea okay" he agrees and the game sorta dies there on account of the awkward. 

Another few minutes pass and finally, we're at the front of the line and getting our passes scanned before being ushered to security. 

Lucas stops dead in his tracks causing me to glance over at him in concern. I don't know what's come over him but it was worrying me immensely. "Luke, everything alright?" I ask him gently, taking a few steps away from security which in turn earns me about a dozen glares for ruining the flow of traffic. 

"Yea." He clears his throat, looking towards the men in black. "Sorry." He apologizes before brushing past me and walking towards the man furthest away. I could follow him but I'm far too excited to get into the park so, I find the security guard closest to me and without trouble I make it into the park. 

My eyes drink everything in as I look around. People were everywhere, shops buzzing with activity and characters from all my favorite childhood movies were at every turn, taking pictures and laughing with guests. 

It was everything I'd ever dreamed of. 

"I found you." Lucas' arms wrap around my waist and for a moment I let myself enjoy his embrace until I remember how oddly he'd acted in line. 

I turn around to face him, my eyebrows furrowed as I reach up to wrap my arms around his neck. "What happened back there?" I ask curiously, petting my fingers through his blonde hair. It had started to grow out recently but as a gift for my birthday he'd finally gone to get it cut. 

"Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about, okay?" He reaches out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear and despite myself, I blush. "Should we go find a princess for me to propose to now?"

I look around, gazing towards a food vendor. "Do we have to do that right now? I hear that the churros here are to die for."

Again, Lucas' face is masked in a look I've never seen before; almost like he's nervous but trying to hold it together for my sake. Unfortunately, it's not working for him. "Luke, are you sure that everything is okay?" I ask him wearily. 

Perhaps he brought me here to end things. Bring a girl to the happiest place you could think of to soften the blow. But that was ridiculous. Lucas loved me. 

"I'm okay" he assures me, forcing a smile onto his lips. "Let's go get you that churro" he insists, releasing me from his embrace but taking my hand as we take off into the crowds. 

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Disney World is no fun when the person experiencing it with you isn't enjoying themselves. 

I tug on Lucas' arm, pulling him back before we can join the line to meet Cinderella. My boyfriend furrows his eyebrows at me. "What's wrong? Isn't she your favorite?" He asks. 

I nod, looking up at the massive castle in front of us. I'd always dreamed of seeing this castle in person and now here I was, with one of my favorite people in the world and instead of feeling over the moon excited, I felt awful and empty. "There's something going on that you're not telling me."

Lucas' eyes widen. "N-no there isn't. And I really think we should go and get in line. I do still have that dare to do." 

He was right. We'd met Jasmine, Ariel and Rapunzel and despite the dare he hadn't gotten down on one knee to ask any of them for their hand. It was greatly disappointing to be honest. "Come on." He urges me forward and begrudgingly, I follow him.

The estimated wait time is over an hour and the entire time we stand in line, Lucas is on his phone, tapping away and texting someone while I'm left to fume silently. 

What a great birthday this has been. "Alright, you're next birthday princess." I look up at the kind woman working the line and smile. Lucas finally pockets the phone and together, we walk up to the princess. 

"Hello!" The woman is just as chipper as the character in the movie. "I see we have a birthday princess. Is there a dream your heart makes on this happiest of days?" 

The only dream I had now was getting through today without losing Lucas. "I have a dream." Lucas says, stepping forward. Was he really doing this? "I dream to marry a princess." Cinderella's eyes widen. "A princess whose eyes shine brighter than the sun that shines in the day, whose heart sings above hate, whose laugh is infectious enough to have me doubling over just at the sound-." And suddenly, Lucas is turning away from Cinderella and instead looking right at me. "Whose smile starts and ends my day, whose faith in me made me the man I am today." Tears well in my eyes as everything from today begins to make so much more sense. 

"You dared me this morning to propose to a princess. Little did you know, that was my plan all along." I gasp along with everyone in the crowd as Lucas, my prince, gets down on one knee and takes a ring box from his pocket. "Riley Eleanor Matthews, will you marry me?"

I can't seem to get words past my lips so a nod has to suffice, earning cheers all around us as Lucas stands up, a smile wide on his lips as he takes the ring and slides it onto my finger. "Wait." As I stare at the rock on my finger, his lips millimeters away from mine, it hits me. "You didn't want to go through security because you had this in your pocket."

"Yea." He admits sheepishly. "Talk about spoiling the surprise."

I shake my head at him in amazement, looping my arms around his neck as we fall into a kiss that incites more whoops and hollers from the crowd gathered around us until finally, we pull apart. "By the way, I got us another day here since I kinda ruined this one." He says and despite how frustrated I was with him all day, it all makes sense now and it was well worth it. 

"You didn't ruin anything" I assure him, leaning back in to kiss my prince.