1

Summer 2020

New York

Even at the age of eighteen, Riley was not the type of girl who was willing to stay out past ten without a good reason. So it came as a surprise to her when she found herself agreeing to attend their senior graduation party – on the basis that it would be the last time she would be seeing all of her friends in one place.

The party had been specially planned and hosted by Brad, a jock whose family owned the top three floors to an apartment building. And at the present moment, every inch of it smelt like booze and sweat and activities that would not be spoken of the next day.

"Catch you later!" Maya shouted in Riley's direction as she intertwined her hand around Lucas' and dragged him off to the opposite side of the room. Just a few steps forward and the couple was swallowed whole, lost in the teeming crowd of self-proclaimed adults.

They were only ten minutes in and their group of five was already down to three.

Just then, Riley felt someone sling an arm across her shoulder. It was Zay, who had his other arm around Farkle and was now pulling the three of them into a tight huddle.

"Let's not hold back, a'ight," he said, making sure that he had split his gaze meaningfully between the two before letting them go with a light pat on the back.

Before either could respond, the boy then proceeded to swipe off two plastic cups filled with beer from a passing tray, and shoved it into their hands.

"Shall we cheers to the night?" He offered, holding his own drink up.

Farkle looked over at Riley uneasily, but upon seeing her raise her drink, proceeded to do the same.

"Cheers!" They exclaimed in unison, downing their drinks in one gulp.

After that, Riley wasn't sure if it was the throbbing bass of the music that pulsated with her heartbeat, or the spotlights that shone so brightly that she had to squint in order to see, but she found herself accepting every other drink offered to her.

She lost Farkle and Zay along the way as well, and now slightly tipsy, found herself pushing her way through the mass of bodies in the main room up the stairs to the second level, where it was less chaotic. Groups of teenagers sat in circles on the carpeted floor and sofas, either talking or playing games.

"Riley!" A voice suddenly shouted across the staircase landing. "Over here!"

It took Riley several seconds to pinpoint the exact location it came from, even with Farkle flailing his arms wildly in the air to grasp her attention.

She finally spotted him sitting amongst the circle of people closest to the bedroom doors and started clambering towards them. "There you are!" She said, "I've been looking everywhere for you."

Farkle smiled and scooted over to make room for her to sit. "Have you? I've been here all along."

Several of their good friends – Sarah, Yogi and Darby – were there as well, and they all eyed them with a mischievous glint in their eyes.

"You came just in time," Darby said, rubbing her palms together excitedly. "We were just about to send in the next pair!"

Riley frowned, trying to process what she had just said. "Sorry, send in where?"

"There," Sarah replied, pointing towards the white door that Riley's back had been facing. "It's Brad's bedroom. We're playing Seven Minutes in Heaven, have you heard of it?"

"Oh, that."

Although Riley had never played the game before, she knew it well enough to avoid it, especially when her other friends weren't around. But perhaps it was the couple of drinks she'd downed, or the fact that Farkle was by her side, because she felt more reckless tonight, ready to take on anything that was thrown her way.

"Are you and Farkle up for it, then?" Darby teased, eliciting laughter from around them.

Riley cocked her head to one side as she looked towards Farkle, who merely blinked back at her, clearly drunk himself. He had peeled off his black, trademark jacket due to the drowsy heat that engulfed them and laid it down on the floor beside him. Under the dim light, he appeared soft and vulnerable. The boy never did well in parties whenever he was sober, and now that he wasn't, she didn't want to abuse it – no matter how reckless she felt like.

But just as she was about to decline, Farkle tore his gaze away from her and nodded fervently, answering on behalf of the two of them.

"Of course," he said, breaking into a grin as he picked himself up and dusted his jeans.

Offering a hand to Riley, he asked, "Are you coming?"

A thousand replies rose up in her throat, but with the state that she was in, she didn't know how to piece them into coherent words. So thinking better of it, she reached out for his hand in silent consent and engaged his help in pulling her up to her feet.

"Great!" Sarah smiled at the two as she restarted the countdown timer on her phone. "You guys have seven minutes."

Farkle nodded once again and opened the door, leading the way into the room. From behind him, Riley could already see that it was illuminated only by desk lamps, one on each side of the bed.

Before stepping in after him, she sized up her friends who were still watching them expectantly.

"I know what you lot are thinking, so you better wipe those thoughts out of your heads!" She warned, "It won't happen today and it won't happen ever."

And with that, she swung the door shut with an audible click.

As soon as the door was closed, silence fell abruptly across the room as if all sounds had been sucked into an invisible vacuum. Only the soft vibration of music blasting from outside reminded them of the party that was continuing to rage beyond the four walls.

Farkle had, by then, seated himself comfortably at the edge of Brad's bed and looked like he was waiting for Riley to say something.

There was a slight pause before the girl spoke up.

"Why on earth did you agree to that?" She asked, crossing her arms as she leant against the desk positioned opposite the bed.

The boy shrugged. "Remember how Zay told us not to hold back? I saw the expression on your face before you took the drink just now. It was hesitant. Hesitant but hopeful. Care to explain that, Miss Riley?"

Riley felt a laugh escape her. Farkle had always been a fast talker, even under normal circumstances. But when he was drunk, he spoke at double the pace and rarely made any sense, which she found absolutely hilarious.

"Well, Mister Farkle," she giggled, "As you should already know, I don't really enjoy parties like this. They're just too wild for me. But when I took that first cup and drank it, I guess I was hoping that it would feel different this time around."

Farkle stretched his limbs and let loose a lazy smile. "Well did it?" He prodded.

"Not really. It's kind of difficult when all you're thinking about is how everyone's just going to start leaving you."

Riley blinked upon processing what she'd said, surprised by her own honesty. And it seemed like her words had struck a chord in Farkle as well, for he had fallen quiet, soaking up the weight of its implications.

The brunette's eyes drifted across the room, looking everywhere but at her friend. Brad's room hardly seemed representative of the cool jock that he was in school. All the times he'd gone home, he had been returning to a little boy's treasure trove filled with glow-in-the-dark planets stuck to the ceiling and toy trains that still powered around in circles along their tracks.

"Oh look!" She exclaimed out of the blue. "It's Pluto!"

Farkle looked to where she pointed at – a tiny dot that glowed on the ceiling, trailing behind the other planets in the solar system. It was literally indistinguishable from an ordinary circle.

"Brad must've stuck them up there when he was a kid…before Pluto was removed as a planet," Riley guessed.

"No offence, but I personally think my planetarium is much nicer," Farkle retorted, sounding offended. "At least my Pluto actually looks like one."

Riley's eyebrows crinkled into a frown. "You're so mean when you're drunk," she chided.

Farkle nodded approvingly, not in the least bit provoked by that comment. "I think it makes me more honest, too."

"Oh wow, how brutal that must be." Riley laughed, feigning mock disgust.

The boy remained quiet as he studied her for a good moment. It seemed like he was mapping a mental image of her face, and she could feel the intensity of his gaze as it drifted from her eyes to her small button nose and down to the dimples of her cheeks before stopping right where her lips were.

"Farkle…" Riley started, only to be cut off by him.

"God, I'm going to miss you so much," he said, rising up from the bed to take a few steps forward.

Riley tried to back up a little, but found herself hitting the edge of the table with nowhere else to run. The glazed appearance of Farkle's eyes had suddenly been replaced by an acute sense of awareness that defied all odds of his drunken state.

Reaching out to pick a stray lock of hair that had fallen across her face, the boy tucked it gently behind her right ear, causing a tingle to run up her spine when his fingers unintentionally brushed against her earlobe.

Riley gripped the edge of the table for support, pushing so hard against it that her bottom had sidled up the top and was now sitting on it, placing her at the same height as Farkle. She didn't know when or how he'd gotten so close to her, but their noses were now almost touching and their eyes so near to one another's that it was a struggle to even hold the other's gaze.

"I–"

Before Riley could protest, the boy leaned in to kiss her, bringing his hands to her waist as he pressed his body against hers.

His lips were gentle and searching, and Riley felt her breath catch on a sigh as she reciprocated, her hands grasping for the back of his neck as she slid her fingers through his smooth, chestnut hair. She didn't know it was possible, but he tasted of galaxies and stardust and the mint that he always popped into his mouth after meals.

As the kiss started to grow more urgent, all Riley could think of was how much she never wanted this to end. The insides of her stomach felt like it was being tickled by the soft flutter of butterflies' wings, and till that moment, she had never thought Farkle to be such a good kisser.

In fact, it was taboo for her to even think about it in the first place, especially since he had been dating Smackle for nearly five years now –

Riley's eyes snapped wide open. Smackle.

The girl immediately broke the kiss and pushed Farkle away with a surprising amount of force, causing him to lose his balance and stumble backwards onto the bed. He rolled over on his side with a soft groan.

However, he didn't get up or even attempt to do so. Judging by the way his chest rose and fell at a steadying pace, it was safe to assume that he had finally collapsed from all the drinks.

Riley stood rooted to the ground for several seconds, trying to comprehend what she'd just done. All of the sluggishness she previously felt was now wiped clean away, and in its place was something much worse – guilt and disgust towards herself, creeping mercilessly up on her.

"I have to go," she found herself whispering aloud, sounding truly horrified. And inside her head, the words rang like a fire alarm:

What have I done? What have I done?

Willing herself to step away from Farkle, she headed towards the door. Taking the first step was easier than she had expected, but as with all things, fleeing was always the easiest way out. She just couldn't muster the courage to face him. At least not right now.

Hauling her next foot forward, Riley tried to walk as calmly as she could to ensure that her urgency could not be detected by her friends outside.

"Where's Farkle?" Yogi asked as soon as she stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her. He had on his usual, cheeky grin, but this time it seemed ominous, like he knew exactly what occurred inside.

Riley blinked, and the next moment, his grin meant nothing at all. She was scaring herself into paranoia.

"He fell asleep," she finally answered, side-stepping the group as she did so. "Please don't wake him up. Let him sleep."

Sarah raised an eyebrow at her retreating figure. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"Home," Riley said, "I'm going home."

As soon as she was out of their line of sight, the girl burst into a full sprint, unable to contain it any longer. The crowd on the first floor had not thinned one bit, but that didn't stop her from ploughing through it, swivelling her head from left to right in search for Maya.

Unfortunately, Maya Hart was nowhere to be found, leaving Riley with no choice but to flee out of the house by herself. Ditching the lift and awkward small talk, she scrambled down nine flights of stairs and burst through the exit into the sweltering heat of the night, panting furiously.

There had been a perfectly good reason why Riley was not the type of girl who was willing to stay out past ten, and this was probably it.

A/N: Hi guys! I had to retype the author's note again because when I clicked to save the previous one the internet suddenly disconnected so I lost everything I'd written :( Just to keep this short and sweet, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The events of this night have an important role in setting the story into motion, so I'm excited to see how it unravels for all of you. And just a little sneak peek, the next chapter will be set four years into the future, where our dear characters are finally in their twenties. Hope you're as excited for it as I am, and do let me know what you think about the story so far by leaving a review! Thanks for reading :) Till the next chapter!