"Farkle, do you want me to buy you ice cream?" She'd said to get away from this, to let them have there time and just get away from it because it hurt to watch. He'd agreed, they'd gotten up and moved through the yard. They asked Pappy Joe for a ride to the nearest ice cream place, Zay and Vanessa already gone.

"You sure leaving Maya and Lucas alone is the wisest choice? " He asked as he moved to rise.

"Yes. They'll do the right thing. " Riley said, grabbing Farkle's hand and following Pappy Joe to his truck. They drove mostly in silence, Farkle unable to look away from Riley. She didn't know it but she was trembling. The revelation had ruined her and yet she didn't realize,

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Farkle. Fine. " Her hand was shaking inside of his, and he squeezed it.

"Are you cold? " He knew that wasn't the problem. She was this close to breaking down. But she wouldn't.

"I guess. " They pulled up to a brightly colored ice cream shop that probably didn't match how she felt inside. They got out and went inside, Pappy Joe reclining in the truck.

Her face contorted and he was a little scared she was going to break down right there. Just as he was about to ask what was wrong she said,

"Farkle I spent all my money." He sighed in relief, taking out his wallet.

"It's okay Riley, I've got it. Smoothie? "

"Yeah, you know me. I'll pay you back."

"It's not problem, really." He ordered and noticed Zay and Vanessa in the corner. Zay raised a hand to wave and Farkle moved to go over when Riley grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Farkle stop we're giving our couple friends couple time.

"You think Zanessa is already a thing?"

"Zanessa? I like that. " Riley smiled genuinely for the first time since she'd initially grabbed his hand and her hand had begun to shake.

"Thanks. What about Maya and Lucas though? They're not..."

"She likes him. I'm stepping back. Like she did. " What about like I did? Farkle thought, gazing at her with deep blue eyes, her dark brown ones hiding tears and a little agony.

"Maybe she likes him. You like him. I mean everybody technically likes him he's Mr. Perfect freakface. But that doesn't mean she likes him the way you like him. " What he wanted to say was, "Riley I adore you. I've been stepping back. Maybe it can be us now. You liked Zanessa? I have one for us too." But he bit his lip. She liked Lucas, and she liked him in a way that in part defined her life. She was his life, but he ate his ice cream in silence knowing that he wouldn't be happy if she wasn't. And if Mr. Perfect made her happy then that was what he wanted too.

"No. She doesn't lie him the way I like him." She took a deep breath, tightly clutching her smoothie cup.

"She likes him more." She let out that breath and with it a tear. Of course he noticed, he always noticed, but she wiped it up quick and he didn't say a word. It was almost hard to breathe, so he focused on his ice cream and for awhile they sat in silence.

"Do you think he makes her happy?" He asked after awhile.

"I know it tears her up inside when he's in pain."

"It tears him up when you're in pain."

"He gets fired up for her, too."

"So who does he like? Riley you're trying to give up these feelings but you can't, they're yours. He makes you happy." He was quiet then. Silent to the point of eeriness. To the point of tiredness.

"I bet your dad would have a lesson on this." He sighed and looked at his melty ice cream.

"How can history always fit into our lives? Does he like plan our lessons and our lives just perfectly match up?"

"Way too coincidental. Hey when do you think we're going to learn about Belgium 1831? What if Belgium 1831 is the lesson that magically fixes this problem? And then we'd have to learn about it because we gotta fix this problem!" He was a little bit too much on his future dictator side of excited.

"Farkle we don't have a problem!" She snapped. She... Snapped. He sat there, stunned. Riley didn't snap, except when she was under a lot of stress, and she didn't know what to do. Instinctively he took her hand and squeezed.

"It'll all work out. I hope."

"Can we just eat our ice cream and do what we were supposed to at the campfire? Just... Look at each other?" He smiled.

"Yeah. That's one of my favorite things to do."

SO SORRY for not mentioning Smackle because she really does need to be woven in to any real Riarkle fanfic, but it was too late when I realized and I didn't want to throw her in and risk the cohesive format. I hope you enjoyed this, please review, start and ship war if you want to, I'm not saying I'm team Lucaya, but I'm in for Riarkle- for the long game. So have fun with this, rip it to shreds if you want to, I've got friends who couldn't be more team Rucas so they pretty much cry whenever I bring up Lucaya or Riarkle.