Lucas Friar is a jerk. An inconsiderate, hurtful, hulking huge mass of a jerk. Too bad that he was also Riley Matthews' boyfriend, but apparently not for long. It was the end of September, in the first hours of the day after Maya's birthday. The gang stole their parents' favorite liquor and had an late night gathering at Topanga's. Sure, Riley swiped the keys to the restaurant from her mother in order to throw it but Maya could only turn 18 once.

It was at her party that the couple made their big scene, complete with yelling and crying, all in front of their friends. Riley and Lucas have been dating since freshman year and they have never argued they way they did tonight. The weather was still warm but the girl held herself together with frail arms. Her best friend, Farkle Minkus followed behind and put a third arm around her, as she was starting to teeter on her tall shoes.

Sloppily, Riley's arm hung on Farkle as her voice cracked, "Farkleeeee..."

"Rileyyyy..." He said back.

"I don't get - I don't get how people don't understand... if they want to be with someone? Like, you say you like me, OK, cool, then just like me! Be with me forever and let me have your babies! Right? I mean, right?!"

"Mhmm." Farkle nodded.

"Like, if you say you want to be together forever, then that - that's the shit you need to mean!" Only when Riley was really upset did she curse.

Lucas telling her that they might not be together forever - and he was OK with that - sent her over the edge. It was so bad that Riley ended the party early. Lucas grudgingly asked his girlfriend if she wanted to come back to his place to talk, but she just took off in the opposite direction. Literally running. To make sure she got home safe, Farkle jogged after her, reassuring his friend that he would fix this. However, when they got to Riley's bay window it was locked. The only other option was to go through the front door but Auggie and her father both had this habit of falling asleep in front of the television. Her gangly limbs were even worse with alcohol and she would definitely wake someone up, so she decided to go to sleep it off at Farkle's.

Riley leaned against her friend with her eyes closed as he tried to open the door to the building his family owned. The glass door opened and Riley almost fell in but Farkle caught her against his chest. Riley started to cackle uncontrollably and the laughter became contagious. Farkle and Riley collapsed into the elevator, bodies still pressed like glue. Her giggles subsided in the crook of his neck. Slowly she drifted into a doze, until the elevator reached Farkle's bedroom.

The Minkus family downsized with assets but Stuart just couldn't part with his dream castle, the thing that he built his whole soul into. This thing that he planned for the whole legacy of Minkus to be buried in. He was in the process of designing the blueprints of the plots. Riley spun around, making herself even more dizzy. Then, she dropped onto Farkle's bed. When she looked up, her buzzed, spinning vision made the hundreds of stars on the ceiling into thousands.

"I forgot about the planetarium." She hummed. "Pluto's still here, right?"

The boy sighed, taking off his sneakers and laying beside her. "Yeah. Pluto never left."

"Good." There were a few moments of shared silence until, Riley asked, "Do you think Lucas was right, Farkle? I mean, really right? Nothing is built to last?"

"Well, 'nothing' can't last forever because nothing doesn't exist, therefore it can't 'last'. The only logical answer to this question is that as humans, we will never know the answer to this eternal question. Yeah, it's a mind-fuck."

"You think you and Smackle'll last forever? Or at least, get married and have Sminkii?" Farkle's girlfriend, Smackle, was invited to the festivities but didn't come because she had an exam the next morning.

Farkle made a dry chuckle, "We could. Anything could happen."

"Yeah..." Suddenly, Riley sat up, thinking harder.

Farkle joined her, "What is it?"

"Anything could happen, meaning that Lucas and I could break up and all of this will have been for nothing - "

"I wouldn't say 'nothing' - "

"Farkle, why doesn't he just do it now, then? Just rip the band-aid off! Bite off my head, so I don't feel it so much! Why doesn't he just break up with me now, instead of waiting until the year's over?"

"Lucas doesn't want to break up with you, Riley. At all. I think he's just... What I think he meant is that the only constant is change, right? So, no, you and Lucas may not be together 'forever' but that'll be OK with him because he got to know you. He got to love you and that... made him the luckiest man on earth. In the universe." Lucas definitely did not say that but if Farkle was in his shoes, that's definitely how he'd feel.

"But, if that's how he feels then... What could change that could make him not love me anymore? Why do people stop loving other people, Farkle?" Riley's eyes began to brim with tears.

"I don't know, Riley." Farkle shook his head, before helping his friend dry her eyes with his thumbs. "But, I know that Maya and I... We'll never stop loving you because to us, there is not one thing about you that's unlovable."

Touched, Riley sniffled and smiled, looping her arms around her best friend in a loving embrace. "Farkle... you always know what to say."

After loosening the hug, Riley put her soft lips on Farkle's cheek. Maya, Riley and Farkle have all pecked each other on the cheek before, no biggie. Yet, Riley didn't pull away, right away, like she did all those times before. She kept her grip on the boy and gazed into him. Farkle Minkus had stopped being that little, awkward and silly genius he was in middle school. He grew into a mature and strapping young man. Girls would vie for his attention all the time, especially when they learned that his girlfriend no longer attended Abigail Adams, in favor of Einstein Academy. Of course, all of this went over Farkle's head but Riley noticed it, secretly when she had a moment from Lucas. She would fantasize about what it would be like to kiss him, for real.

Riley and Farkle stared at their lips the same way they would gave into each other's eyes: connecting, longing. Scared but eager, Riley went in for a peck on his mouth. A lot less innocent than the cheek. Then, she went back in and Farkle got the breath to kiss her back. Again and again, the kisses became longer and longer and more intense each time. Suddenly, Farkle had his hands knotted in brown hair, helping him gain entrance to taste Riley's delicious tongue once more. Riley was backing away, leading her best friend farther up the bed. Breaking apart only for a second, Riley's shirt went over her head. Feeling his fingertips on her skin made her imagine the feeling of lightening through her veins. Then, her hands went to his belt-buckle and Farkle assisted her, undoing the loops.

And, the rest was kind of a blur.

The next morning, Farkle woke up alone. There was an imprint in his bed, next to him but he still had to figure out if what happened last night was a dream or not. Looking down at himself with no clothes and feeling fresh scrapes on his back, Farkle concluded that it was true: he had sex with Riley. He wanted to sift through all of his feelings about it and that he cheated on Smackle but there was no time. He was going to be late for school.

The slamming of numerous lockers resounded in Riley's head. 90% of her really didn't want to go to school that Monday, but she'd rather just drag her ass from class to class rather than explain to her mother she had a headache from drinking her Grey Goose. Also, there was Farkle. When she woke up in his bed, Riley didn't know what else to do but get the hell out of there. Farkle was going to come to school and she was going to have to deal with it sooner than later. What was she going to say? What did he want to say? But should that even matter? They were both in long-term relationships with two great people. One of which, was approaching her as she was gazing blankly into her locker.

"Hey." Lucas greeted her with an unsure grin. Riley internally groaned. Of course he still looked good after drinking all night.

"Hi."

"I tried calling you."

"I know." While Farkle and Riley were just making out, her phone kept vibrating in her jeans that ended up on Farkle's floor.

"So... last night? I'm sorry."

"Lucas - " Even if he was wrong, Riley didn't want him to apologize because what she did was infinity-times worse. To Riley, Lucas should never have to apologize for anything, ever again.

"No, Riley... what I meant by what I said was that, things change and people change but I'm gonna make sure that you and I? We change together, OK? I want to grow with you, not away from you. Everything around us can fall apart, I'd be OK with that because we're going to be standing."

"Lucas..." It's official, Riley thought. I am a piece of shit.

"I love you." The biggest, stinkiest piece of shit.

Riley's boyfriend pulled her in for a bear-hug. She returned, trying not cry, "Love you, too." Queen of the Shits!

Thank God for Zay, he came toward them with Maya on his back. She was still passed out from the night before. "Hey, ya'll doing OK, now?" Zay asked.

"Yeah, we're good." Lucas answered, putting his hand in Riley's. She smiled weakly. "But it's nice to see this one was able to make it to school today!" Lucas teased Maya, petting her hair. She blew a raspberry, spitting on Zay's nice shirt.

"18, 18, 18..." The boys from Texas began to take up the same chant they did the night before, when Maya was chugging bottles. Zay bounced the sick girl up and down playfully, until it looked like she was going to vomit over his shoulder.

"OK, OK. No more of that. That's over." Zay announced, as Maya winced and groaned pathetically. The bell rung for first period and the four made their goodbyes. Lucas and Zay did a handshake, then Lucas pinched Maya's cheek before Zay carried her to the class they had together. Sighing, Lucas turned to Riley and gave her an sweet kiss.

"See you at lunch?" He whispered.

"Until lunch." The sentence ended with another kiss and Lucas sped off down the hall.

Riley was ready to go to her AP History class, until she remembered that it was a class she shared with Farkle. Already in the doorway, his blue eyes wandered up at her and she felt the earth slide out from underneath her feet. Riley carefully made steps to her assigned seat, in front of Farkle. Out of nowhere, snippets from their night together replayed in her mind: his warm, wet lips kissing from the nape of her neck all the way down her spine, the way she rode him into his big mattress and leaned down to count the fireworks in his eyes while kissing him...

"Riley!" Her history teacher and father, snapped her out of her thoughts. "Would you like to share?"

"What?"

"The note on your desk." Riley was so distracted that she didn't even realize when the piece of paper arrived. Her fingers shook a little while opening it and the words made her gulp. "What does it say?"

Riley cleared her throat before fibbing, "It says my hair looks nice." Then, she ripped the note into confetti and threw it into the air. "Whoo!"

Mr. Matthews looked to Farkle, confused and disappointed, "Farkle, you risked detention to tell my daughter her hair looks nice? Which is a lie, by the way. It looks like she's been in the woods and mauled by the same wolves that raised her."

Quickly, Riley glimpsed back to Farkle. Then he told the teacher, "Yes. Her hair always looks beautiful and I just wanted her to know."

Hopelessly sighing, Mr. Matthews shook his head, "OK. Detention, Minkus."

Riley was feeling secure for the first time that day. Maybe Farkle wanted to let it go, too. Suddenly, he leaned in slightly, making her freeze with the touch of his hand to her elbow.

He said just loud enough that she could hear, "We need to talk."

Shit.