I found this prompt on tumblr somewhere and it screamed college!Rucas to me, so this was born! I have it all written out so the wait between updates shouldn't be very long. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

DC; I don't own anything. Except maybe the nickname for Missy, because I came up with it by myself lmao.

He hadn't intended for it to go this far — nor had she. It had all started so innocently, just to help pass the long hours spent in the library, to add a little humor into their days. They never expected...this to come out of passing simple little notes in books.

It all started two months into their freshman year of college, on a crisp Wednesday afternoon.

Riley Matthews sighed as she shoved a book in its place at NYU's Library. She finally got a job on campus, which seemed easy but proved to be quite tiring. Walking from one end of the ginormous library to the other end to put books back in their original places really took its toll on her (awkwardly long) limbs. She was fine doing the work by herself – she really was – but she was relieved to learn that the librarian had hired another freshman to help out a mere week after she got the job.

"Riley, I left a stack of books on the south end of the library for you to put up."

"Okay. I'll get right to it, Miss Stewart," The younger of the two replied, already making her way to the south end to shelf books. The sooner, the better.

"By the way, I hired another freshman to re-shelf books. He starts in an hour, but I'm going to need you to show him the ropes because I have to leave in ten."

"Oh. Okay. Yeah, I can do that." She smiled politely before going to shelf the books Miss Stewart had previously mentioned.

It wasn't a small stack of books, Riley learned when she approached the south end of the library, it was a mountain of books. She let out an almost-inaudible whine - she was in the library, after all - and started sorting the books into categories to put them up in a more efficient way.

Forty five minutes passed and she was only halfway done with the mountain of books when a boy behind her uttered a polite "Ma'am?"

She stuffed the Martin Luther King Jr. Biography onto its shelf and then turned to face the boy. He was tall, almost six foot, with dirty blonde hair, a strong jawline, and wore relaxed jeans, a flannel and a plain white tee under it. Her eyes widened when she took in just how handsome he was; she barely held back an awkward giggle. "Can I - um, can I help you with anything?" She mentally kicked herself for how goofy she was acting; but the boy didn't seem to mind. It almost looked as if he found it cute.

"Are you Riley Matthews?" He had a slight southern accent and boy, was it hot.

"Yes, that's me." She grinned up at him, all goofy and bright eyes. "Why?"

He let his eyes wander over her face as she smiled before he realized he took a moment too long to speak and blushed just the slightest.

"Um. I'm the new guy; the librarian told me to find you. She said you'd show me around." He kept staring at Riley. He couldn't help it, she was beautiful.

"Oh! Yeah. Well, do you want a full on tour or just the gist of things?"

"A tour would be nice," he gave her a grin and she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Okay. Right this way, then."

They spent the next hour walking around the library; the first half Riley spent explaining the job to him, the last half they spent talking and laughing. He listened carefully, silently admiring her beauty. She wore very little make up and had a pen stuck in her messy updo; but the most outstanding thing about her was her smile. He just couldn't stop staring.

"And uh, that's really all there is to it. We can split the library right down the middle, which is the biography shelves and the sci-fi shelves, to make it easier." The brunette stopped walking and looked up at the boy. "Whatever books go on my side you can just sit on the bottom two rows of the book drop off, and whatever books go on your side I'll put on the top two rows. That okay?"

He smiled, nodding. "Yeah. Sounds good to me. I um, guess I'll start on that stack of books in the back."

"Okay. Well- bye." She smiled and gave a little awkward wave, then turned around to go to her side of the library.

When she went to check her rows on the book drop off shelf and put a few books on his rows, she saw three books on her shelf. She set the books that go on the other half of the library on his shelves. Then she opened the first book on hers to check for any library cards and saw a small piece of notebook paper with her name on it. Opening it, it read;

The name's Lucas Friar. Sorry telling you my name slipped my mind earlier, but you distracted me with your smile. I like it. Thanks for the tour.

-Lucas

Riley glanced around to make sure no one saw her slip the note into her back pocket. She found a stray piece of paper on a nearby desk and pulled out the pen that rested behind her ear to carefully write a note back to him.

You're very welcome for the tour. Nice name, by the way.

-Riley

P.S Thank you. I like your smile too.

She folded up the note and wrote his name on it, then put it in one of the books on his shelf.

And that was it for the week. She didn't expect another note, nor had she thought to leave one. She spent her weekend with her best friend Maya, watching silly cartoons and finishing up any assignments due soon, and only once did the boy from the library cross her mind.