Riley Matthews & Lucas Friar
Request the pleasure of your presence
To celebrate their wedding
On Saturday, May 20th
At four o'clock in the evening
I stare at the invitation, failing to acknowledge the phone blaring from the counter. My stomach is suddenly in knots, my hands are shaking, and my breathing has become sporadic. Farkle had told me they were one of the few who were "making it" from high school, not including their short break freshman year of college when Riley wanted to "find herself and indulge in the college experience". However, I hadn't spoken to either of them in almost three years.
Three years. Why invite me? It didn't make any sense.
Unsure of how much time had passed, pounding on my apartment door broke me out of my staring contest with the delicate piece of paper on the counter.
"Maya, open up! I know you're in there. You can't ignore me; you know I won't go away." Slowly, I turn my head to stare at the front door, still not attempting to meander over to let him in. "Maya, please…" He's begging. He rarely begs. Sighing, I muster up a reply.
"It's –," I pause to clear my throat, "It's open". My eyes glance back down to the invitation on the counter, wishing and willing the words on the paper to change, or for the invitation to just go away. I barely make out the door opening and closing, as well as the footsteps that approach me in the kitchen.
"You'll never guess what I got in the mail today," he starts. "I mean, how did they even get my address?! I haven't spoken to them in –"
"Me too," I interrupt quietly.
"—years let alone – what?" He abruptly stops his ranting to stare at me. "You got one, too? Riley cut you out. Why on earth would she invite you if she doesn't want anything to do with you?"
"It's not from Riley."
"What? Of course it's from Riley. It's Riley's wedding," Farkle tried to reason, despite his confusion at my statement.
Look at the writing," I shakily motion to the envelope while I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "It's Lucas'."
"Lucas?" He furrows his brow while trying to look at the invitation placed in front of me. "Yeah, that's definitely Lucas' handwriting. Riley wrote out mine. It was much too bubbly to be Lucas' handwriting."
"I just don't understand why. I haven't spoken to either one of them in years, him longer than her." My eyes begin to tear up as I remember everything leading up to the core six's demise. "Why would he do this?"
"Maya –"
"Does he know that it's going to get under my skin? That I'll sit here remembering everything that I've tried so hard to forget? Because I am." I start to pace around, getting more upset with every word coming out of my mouth.
"What are you going to do?" He questions. I abruptly stop my pacing, my back to Farkle.
"I just don't want to remember anymore, Farkle," my lip quivers as I shakily try to keep my composure. "Everything still hurts too much." I turn to grip the edge of the counter as a horrific sob escapes my chest. Farkle rushes to my side and places one hand on my back and the other gently on my arm. With tears suddenly streaming down my face, I turn around to look at him. His eyes hold sympathy. Sympathy that I don't want.
"It's okay to cry, you know," he softly states, his hand softly rubbing up and down my arm. My chest tightens before another sob erupts from my chest. I slowly sink down to the floor, my back against the cabinets.
"It's been five years since everything happened. I shouldn't be crying anymore. Everything should be in the past," I pause and try to calm myself by taking a deep breath, "but it still feels as if it were yesterday." I slowly wrap my arms around my legs and pull them closer to my chest. "All I want to do is forget, but whenever I start to, something pulls me back to then." Placing my head into my knees, Farkle sinks down next to me and begins to slowly rub circles onto my back. I allow myself to lean into him, accepting his embrace.
"I wish I knew what to do." He's so quiet that I barely hear him, but I don't say anything in response. We sit in silence for what feels like ten minutes as my brain runs rampant, but in reality was almost an hour. Silent single tears continue to stream down my face, but no one would know I was crying unless they were looking at me. "Did– did you want to go? I wasn't going to, but if you wanted to, we can go together. Smackle already decided that she wasn't going as she believes that it's preposterous that Riley would ever believe she'd want to go, and therefore you wouldn't be third wheeling."
I chuckled at his nervous rambling as it was something that always made me smile no matter what the situation was. "You're an idiot for even asking. Of course I don't want to go." Suddenly, I recall the statement he made as he entered my apartment. "Wait. How did they get our addresses?" I whisper, not entirely sure if he could hear me. He pushes me back a little to be able to look at me.
"What?"
"I don't know how they got our addresses," I restate, more confidence in my tone. "How did they get our addresses?"
His brow furrows as he recalls himself questioning that very thing as he entered her apartment, "Well, it's not like I told them. And I know for a fact that you didn't. So how –," realization suddenly hits him and his eyes go wide. "Oh. My God." He abruptly stands up and begins pacing around the kitchen. "What the fuck," he mutters to himself as he circulates his fingers over his temples – the classic sign that he is trying to calm himself down.
"Farkle?" I question. "Farkle, what is it?"
"That little weasel! I knew we couldn't trust him!" With that, Farkle rages out of the apartment.
I try to keep up with Farkle as he storms down the streets. His fists are clenched, and he acts as if he's about to kill someone.
"Farkle?" I call out, "Farkle, stop! It's okay, I promise." He abruptly stops and turns to face me, nearly causing me to smash into him and knock us both over.
"No, Maya, it's not okay. How on earth could you believe that it is?!" His eyes are filled with fury, and if I'm being honest, I've never seen him so angry. "After all this time he goes and does this?!"
I shrink into myself, scared because he's never spoken to me like this. Farkle notices my recoil and takes a deep breath to try and calm himself. Roughly, but caringly, he takes his hands in mine and pulls them up to his mouth to place a gentle kiss on them. Knowing that he's still fuming, I continue to plead to him with my eyes to calm down and forget this.
"I'm sorry, Maya, but it's not okay. Don't you see how this affects you? How it affects me? I've gone out of my way to protect you over the years, but this?! This crosses the line and destroys everything." He swiftly turns around and continues the same direction he was heading. I just stood there with my mouth agape for almost a minute before I bolted after him.
"What is that supposed to mean," I demand as soon as I catch up to him. He doesn't stop, so I reach out and yank his arm to turn him toward me, "Farkle, stop! What the hell do you mean you were protecting me? I don't need your protection. And besides, I never asked you to." I cross my arms across my chest and glare at him.
He coldly laughs, "Don't act as if you don't know. Riley may want nothing to do with you, but let's not forget that you cut Lucas out."
"I fail to understand your point." I deadpan.
Silence.
I raise my eyebrows waiting for an answer. Farkle throws his head back and groans while dragging his hands down his face.
"Seriously, Maya? Every time we'd go to the Gaslight because Zay was bartending, you never questioned why he seemed to always bring up Lucas? It's always bothered me, but it wasn't until now that I understood why." I stare at him, completely dumbfounded. "Jesus Christ, Maya. He's been feeding Lucas information. Like a fucking mole."
My eyes glass over with tears while processing this information. "Maybe he was just being nice. I mean, it's not like we're the best of friends. The Zay we knew would never have done that," I reason, mostly trying to convince myself. The truth is, it wouldn't have been surprising if Zay were feeding Lucas information. They've been friends since childhood.
"You can't just go in there and confront him."
"Like hell I won't," he spins on his heel and starts to continue to bolt down the sidewalk, but I grab his arm to stop him once again. He turns to glower at me, making me feel about two inches tall. "What, Maya?! The Zay we knew three years ago is not the same Zay we know now. He and Lucas were never not friends. You know this."
"Of course I know that. But that doesn't tell me what you were protecting me from," I somehow stumble to spit out. "I can handle myself."
"Leave it, Maya. I need to go have a talk with Zay."
"No! What did you think you were protecting me from?!" I all but scream at him. Those around us on the sidewalk had begun to turn and witness our altercation. Farkle just stared me down, refusing to answer. Sighing, I grab his left hand with my right to try and coax him back to my apartment, "Please don't confront him. Not at work. We can go over tomorrow after we've had some time to rationally think this out? Please? For me?"
My eyes pleaded with Farkle's angry ones while I anxiously awaited an answer. Realizing he was never going to give in, tears once again slowly began to slip from my eyes. I dropped his hand and took a step back before wrapping my jacket across my torso and crossing my arms.
"I'm sorry, Maya. You know I can't do that." And with that, he once again spun on his heel and continued to speed away down the sidewalk. I watch him as he goes, refusing to chase after him any longer. I wait anxiously, praying he'll turn around once he sees that I'm no longer fighting him to stop, but he never does. Eventually he turns a corner and disappears, continuing to storm away.
"Shit," I quietly breathe out as I repeatedly shift my weight back and forth. I stand there, stupidly, on the sidewalk weighing my options on either going to the Gaslight or just going home. "What am I doing?" I whisper to myself as I turn to my left and start to run down the side streets hoping to beat Farkle to the Gaslight.
I'm not quite sure what this turned into seeing as it started when I was having feelings. Somehow it turned into this... Let me know what you think?