July 4, 2032

Riley Matthews would say she was definitely satisfied with her life. She worked at one of the most successful law firms in Washington, D.C. and that's about it. She doesn't have the friends people rave about anymore. She doubts she'll ever be a bridesmaid or maid of honor to anybody, despite what she and her middle school best friend had decided when they were fourteen. The only people she would be seen around today would be her work friends and any of their clients but their exchanges were usually very professional. She had almost entirely cut ties with her family. When she said she was going to intern in Washington, her parents were so proud of her. She promised to visit during Thanksgiving and Christmas but she hadn't been back to her hometown of New York in nearly four years. When she did go back, she would hardly ever leave the house. She was lucky to slip out the last time she had been there because… well, that might be a story for another time. Anyway, she had not been back since then. She had lied and said she had to work. It wasn't always a lie. Crime didn't stop for Thanksgiving or Christmas. But more often than not, Riley had those holidays off. So she didn't really have family or friends but she did have a successful career and that was more than most had so she was satisfied with her life.

"Hey, Riley." Riley heard a male voice from above her desk.

"Oh, hi Jake." Riley answered to the agent as he dropped a file on her desk.

"Here's a file on our latest recruit." Jake replied.

"Thank you, I'll look at is as soon as I get the chance." Riley replied with a professional smile.

"Great," Jake replied. He turned around to walk out of her work area when he swiftly turned around and reproached her desk.

"So, tonight's the big Fourth of July celebration." Jake stated. "Do you maybe want to go see-"

"No, Jake." Riley answered as she started to skim the file.

"All right." Jake answered with a polite nod. "I'll see you around."

Jake Fuller was an FBI agent who was assigned to bring background information of new clients to the firm Riley worked at. He had started around the same time Riley had and he always brought her the files, even before she started representing the agents in court. That alone made Riley realize that he liked her. He asked her out to the Christmas party the firm hosted every year but she said she was going back to visit her parents, which wasn't a lie. He had asked her out for every special occasion and it now became a regular thing anytime he would come drop off a file. He'd ask her out, she'd say no and they would carry on with their day. Riley had hoped he would have stopped chasing her by now. It had been almost six years. She hadn't had a guy that patient since Lucas.

Lucas. She would never admit this but there wouldn't be a day that would go by that she didn't think about him. There wouldn't be a day she wouldn't think about their- what might have been. If she had accepted one of the internships in New York, they would probably be married by now. They might have kids if she didn't screw it up again. When she wrote the message on the back of that photo, she truly meant it. She still loved him more than she had ever loved anybody, with the exception of maybe her family and Maya. If she had known that she wanted to be married to him for sure, she would have dropped everything and returned to New York to be with him, beg him to take her back and apologize for being so cruel to him. But in six years, she hadn't decided if the decision she made was the right one or not. Sometimes it felt like it was but other times it felt very wrong. Around the two year mark, she thought about getting back together with him but then the story for another time happened and she decided to stay here. It kept her grounded in Washington, D.C. for four years now and she was just now starting to teeter back and forth with her decision to stay in Washington to move back to New York. She had to remind herself that if she moved back to New York she would practically have to restart her career. There was no law firm like this one in New York.

"Ms. Matthews?" She heard from her desk. It wasn't until her personal intern, Ashley, spoke that Riley had been staring blankly at the document in front of her, tearing up while thinking about Lucas. That had happened a few times now. She needed to stop doing that.

"Yes, Ashley?" Riley responded after clearing her throat.

"A new client is here to see you." Ashley said.

"Oh, right I have a 11:45 appointment." Riley reminded herself. "Send them in."

Ashley went behind the corner that separated Riley's work space from the front of the firm to get her new client. Riley had read a bit about this client. She was an artist from New York who wanted to claim copyright infringement on some of her work. She had spoken to lawyers in New York about it but she said in her file that her father was an FBI agent and had worked with this firm before so she felt comfortable with this firm. What Riley found a bit odd was that this person had specifically requested her to work on this case. Why would the daughter of a former agent want to work with her? She would have thought this woman would request an older member of the firm.

"Hey, Riles."

Riley almost dropped the mug full of scolding hot coffee on herself when she heard the voice above her because she knew exactly who it belonged to. She looked up, hoping with every ounce in her being that it was just somebody who sounded like the familiar person, but alas it was not.

In front of her stood Maya Hart. She had certainly changed since high school and college. Her hair was a bit shorter but still much longer than Riley's had ever been. She had bangs that flicked with her eyelashes when she blinked. She was wearing a pretty floral shirt and a pair of coral skinny jeans that she had rolled up to her mid-calf and a pair of tan sandals. She looked really good.

"You're- you're art's under copyright infringement?" Riley asked, still trying to get over the shock of seeing Maya again.

"No," Maya responded with a chuckle. She duped her! "Do you want to go get lunch?"

"I don't know." Riley answered, cooly. "I have a lot of work to do, I was planning on working through lunch."

"Really?" Maya asked. "On the Fourth of July? I'm surprised you are even allowed to work on Fourth of July."

"Lots of people have to work on the Fourth of July." Riley shot back.

"I know." Maya said. "But the fireworks are going to be going off around here, aren't they?"

"Ms. Matthews?" Ashley asked, walking into the conversation. "Sorry to interrupt but we are closing after noon because of the fireworks aren't we? A client wants to know."

Riley sighed as she noticed a devilish smile on Maya's face. She couldn't lie and say they were open for appointments for a client unless she wanted to risk losing them.

"Yes, we are." Riley sighed. Ashley replied with a 'thanks' and left.

Riley looked to Maya and saw that same devilish grin on her face.

"I still need to work through lunch though." Riley said.

"You know, you have gotten better at lying since school but you're still not good enough for me to believe you." Maya replied.

Riley groaned from behind her desk.

"Fine." Riley replied as she grabbed her purse. "But please make it quick. I really do want to see the fireworks tonight."

The two girls went to a classy bistro near by. Once they had ordered their food and worked past the now awkward tension Riley never imagined having with Maya, they asked the typical questions two friends who hadn't seen each other in a while would ask. Riley told Maya about her work and the firm. Maya told Riley she had left John Quincy Adams a few years back and traveled the world, showing off her art and learning from the best. She had now grounded once again in Los Angles.

"Funny, I never saw you as a West Coast kind of girl." Riley said.

"What can I say, it suits me." Maya replied with a chuckle. "So how's your family?"

"I think they are pretty good." Riley said.

"You think?" Maya asked. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well I haven't really seen them in a few years." Riley said while bringing her drink up to her face, hoping that would muffle what she was saying.

"Why not?" Maya asked with a smile on her face, as if she found this amusing.

"Work really has been busy." Riley said. "Crime doesn't stop for the holidays."

"I suppose not." Maya said. "I just would have thought they would give you time off."

"I mean, technically speaking, yes, I had time off." Riley admitted. "But I want to be made a full partner one day. I can't be taking days off for holidays."

Maya chuckled quietly to herself.

"What?" Riley asked, perhaps a bit too defensively.

"Are you seeing anyone?" Maya asked.

"No."

"Do you have any social life at all."

"Maya!"

"Well," Maya asked as she took a bite of her food. "Do you?"

"I'm more work oriented at the moment." Riley chose to say.

"You've changed, Riles." Maya said.

"Good." Riley replied. "I needed to. The old, sunshine-y Riley would have been swallowed up in the real world."

"You think so?" Maya asked.

"Yes." Riley said. "The world isn't always positive."

"Well, you thought you could change it so it would be, remember?"

"Why did you want to have lunch with me?" Riley asked, doing her best to ignore Maya's previous statement.

"Oh… um… I was just in town and I thought I would have lunch with my friend. Catch up a bit." Maya said.

"Maya, I'm basically a human lie detector now." Riley said. "What's the real reason you came out here?"

Maya was still quiet. Luckily, Riley still remembered a sure fire why to get Maya to tell the truth.

"Ring power." Riley said, although she had gotten rid of their friendship ring a long time ago.

Maya smiled up at her once best friend, happy that after all this time, she still remembered their agreement.

"Well, speaking of rings…" Maya lifted her left hand up to starch her nose and that was when Riley saw a diamond ring on her hand.

"You're engaged?!" Riley exclaimed. "Oh, my gosh. Congratulations!"

"Thank you." Maya said. "And like I have said before, you don't have to call me Aunt Maya."

"You're getting married to Josh?!" Riley asked in a surprised tone. She supposed it wasn't the most shocking thing ever but Maya and Josh had split up shortly after she and Lucas did. She never knew the reasons but she couldn't be happier for the pair.

"That's great, Maya." Riley said. "I couldn't be happier for you."

"Thanks again." Maya chuckled. "But that's not all I came here to tell you."

"Oh?" Riley asked.

"I was wondering if you would be my maid of honor." Maya said.

"Oh." Riley replied as she slumped back in her chair.

"So?" Maya asked after about a minute of silence. "What do you say?"

"I don't know." Riley replied. "You don't have any better friends than me?"

"No, not really." Maya said. "There are a few colleagues that I worked with at John Quincy Adams and a few friends from college but you're the best friend I've ever had Riley and I want you to be standing next to me went I get married to the man of my dreams. Besides, didn't we agree that we were going to be each other's maids of honor when we got married?"

"That was like twenty years ago or something." Riley said.

"Please don't make me feel old." Maya joked.

Riley was inches from saying yes when she realized something else.

"Who's-who's going to be the best man?" She asked.

"Do I really have to tell you that?" Maya asked back.

"Then, no Maya." Riley said. "I'm sorry I just can't."

"He's changed a lot since the last time you saw him." Maya reassured. "He's happier now."

"Good for him." Riley said as she stood up to go pay for her food and leave.

Maya grabbed the strap of Riley's purse to stop her from leaving.

"Look, Riles," she started. "I know Lucas is your ex and it must have been tough to break up after six years together. In fact, I know it's tough but would seeing him again really be that bad? I promise he is different. He's changed."

Riley was on the verge of tears when Maya continued talking about Lucas. She felt bad but she never wanted to see him again. Even before his weird and disturbing behavior the last time she saw him, she didn't want to see him again. She felt awful because it was nothing he did. It was just every time she looked at him she remembered she failed him. She would have felt okay if he hadn't have admitted that he wanted to be a father after they lost their baby during their break up. Even then, she wanted to be a mother. She imagined having a son that looked just like Lucas and every time she looked at him, she was reminded of what could have been. It was just too painful and she couldn't explain it to Maya because as far as Riley knew, nobody but her and Lucas ever knew about the baby.

"I just can't do it Maya." Riley said.

Maya sighed before pulling out to her last resort.

"Ring power?"

Riley instantly felt guilty because Maya made her right hand into a fist to show their middle school friendship ring still resting on her pinky finger. She supposed she owed Maya one and could put up with Lucas for a day. Besides the bride and the groom, they were going to be the most important people at the wedding so they would probably be to busy to even interact with each other right?

"Fine." Riley sighed.

Lucas saw Josh reenter the main room of his apartment. He had just received a phone call from Maya and had to excuse himself from the football game they were watching. Giants vs. 49ers. It was a split between the two coasts and the two men had always cheered for opposing teams just to keep things interesting. Josh decided to cheer for the Giants tonight since he had identified the New York area as one of his homes. Lucas cheered for the 49ers because Austin was closer to San Francisco than New York, although both were still a stretch. This wasn't nearly as intense as the Eagles vs. Cowboys games proved to be. Josh had to leave the game when he got a phone call from Maya. Lucas was told Maya was out on business again.

"How's Maya?" Lucas asked when Josh came back.

"She's good." Josh said as he grabbed the remote on the couch and paused the game.

"Hey, what gives?" Lucas exclaimed. "San Francisco has it 3rd and goal with one minute left in the fourth quarter!"

"I need to tell you something I think you will really want to hear." Josh said in the most serious voice he could muster. It seemed to work because Lucas sat down on the couch.

"Yeah, man what's up?" Lucas said.

"Maya's not on a business trip." Josh said.

"Where is she?" Lucas asked.

"Well, she's not in L.A. either." Josh responded. "She had to leave for a… personal trip."

"Where is she?" Lucas repeated.

"She's…" Josh said. He really didn't know how Lucas was going to take this because he was probably going to catch on to what he was going to say as soon as he revealed where Maya was.

"She's in Washington, D.C." Josh confessed.

Lucas dropped his chip he had just dipped in salsa on the floor. He knew exactly what she was up to, he just needed confirmation.

"What-what was she doing there?" Lucas asked.

"She asked Riley to be her maid of honor." Josh said. "And Riley said yes."

Riley was coming back? Riley was coming back! This was it! This was his chance! If she would take him back, that is. He didn't blame her if she won't. He acted like a complete asshole the last time he saw her. Plus, he was the father to her never born child. He didn't know how she would react. It was possible she didn't even know he was going to be the best man. Hell, it was possible she didn't know Maya was marrying her own uncle. For all she knew, Maya could be marrying the modern day Van Gogh and Picasso is the best man. He decided he couldn't get too excited about this but one thing was for sure, he was shocked about seeing the girl he loved again.

Fireworks started exploding in the sky and the loud noise started a previously occupied Lucas.

"Happy Fourth of July." Josh said.

AN: So there is the first chapter of Professional. I'm not really sure how I feel about the title but I have to say this feels like some of my best work if I do say so myself. Feel free to argue.

So I had this whole plan for the Attractive Series to be three books long with a oneshot between books 2 and 3 but now I *think* I'm going to write a fairly short book 3 then a oneshot and book 4. The way I ended Smile was not what I had in mind but I liked it because it added a whole new book to this series.

If you are new to this series, please check out my other books, Attractive: Book 1 in Attractive Series and Smile: Book 2 in Attractive Series.

I have the best readers ever! Thank you guys so much for your continued support and love! I send it right back to you!

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