Set the Tuesday after Girl Meets Semiformal—may absorb some of Girl Meets Creativity as we go.
I own nothing but my own words and situations.
Chapter 2 – Girl Meets Time to Talk
Riley fiddled with the hem of her fourteenth skirt that morning. Who knew it was so hard to pick out a "breaking bad news" outfit. Clothing that she had haphazardly thrown from her body now covered every surface of her bedroom. She couldn't remember having ever felt so tormented in her life. This was even worse than when Charlie had asked her to the dance… she had promised Maya that she would talk to Lucas, and she knew that she had to keep that promise. Lucas deserved the truth.
She had spent half the night rehearsing what she planned to say to Lucas, but nothing sounded right and eventually she had fallen asleep. Now she was entirely unprepared. Riley scrutinized her reflection: mismatched, colorful, and empty-handed.
"Hun? If you don't come eat breakfast soon, you'll be late for school, " her mother's voice called, just before she opened the door to Riley's room. She froze in the doorway, her face steely. Riley knew what it meant when her mom got that look on her face, and it was never good: "When was the hurricane?"
Riley squeaked, running at her mother and wrapping her hands around her mom's neck: "Mommy!"
It was hard for Topanga to stay angry with her daughter clinging on to her. She hesitated a moment, telling herself to remember this moment three years from now when Riley was certain to be embarrassed by the mere idea of hugging her mother.
"I need help. Serious help. What are you supposed to wear when you need to tell a boy we're just friends?" Riley asked. Her voice buried in the skin of her mom's neck.
Laughing gently, Topanga pulled away, guiding her daughter over to the bay window and sitting her down. "It doesn't matter what you wear, honey, what matters is that you're kind and honest. That boy cares about you… even if you're an absolute tornado. How could you have possibly made such a mess this early in the morning? I only woke you up an hour ago—"
"I care about him too, Mom. That's why what I'm wearing does matter. I can't look too good, or I'll just depress him. I can't look too cheerful, because that will only make him feel worse. But I can't look too upset, or everyone at school will think I'm heartbroken, and I can't look too ugly because then everyone at school will think I'm weird and they'll wonder why Lucas ever liked me in the first place!" Riley exploded, jumping to her feet. As she spoke, she dashed towards different articles of clothing scattered around her room, but ultimately wrote them all off once again.
"It sure is chaos underneath that pretty hair," Topanga half-smiled, running a hand over her daughter's chocolate locks. Remarkably, she found herself a bit at a loss for a solution: "Just wear something you feel comfortable in."
"You're no help at all!" Riley exclaimed exasperatedly, collapsing onto her bed only to be swallowed up by mountains of her clothes.
It was just then that Maya let herself into the Matthew's apartment, and bounded in the direction of her friend's room upon noticing her absence at the dining table. "Morning sunshine! You ready for another day of endless droning as our teachers slowly beat us into boxes? Whoa-ho-ho…" the blonde trailed off as soon as she got a look at the total madness that was Riley's bedroom.
"Maya!" Riley cheered, sitting up straight with a hopeful grin on her face. Shirts and dresses tumbled off of her and landed beside her on the bed.
"She's all yours," Topanga smiled, slipping out of the room quickly. Just a second later, she popped her head back in: "Oh, and you're coming home straight after school to clean all this up. And now, I've got to get to work."
Maya grabbed onto Riley's hands, helping her up: "So, what's going on, cupcake?"
Maya did a double take. He sure didn't look like her Farkle, but everything else was the same. She didn't dare say anything more after he laid down the law at Topanga's, and she had to admit that she was starting to think he might be better this way.
Her friend sat across from her at their usual lunch table, practically vibrating with excitement. "You sure look happy," she remarked, swallowing a spoon full of red jello. He'd been so smiley all day that he could've been confused with Riley.
"I am happy," Farkle agreed. "Today is an amazing day."
Raising an eyebrow, Maya cast a cynical look over the cafeteria: "No, Farkle, today is meatloaf day. There is absolutely nothing amazing about today."
"Maya, Maya, Maya, you know that I find your usual gloominess mysteriously enticing but today," he paused, standing up and leaning across the table before yelling in her face: "you're just bringing me down! You big blonde rain cloud!"
In response, Maya narrowed her eyes at him, sending him back into his seat with a loud gulp. His hasty retreat brought a smile to her face as she scraped the bottom of her jello cup, her meatloaf untouched on her lunch tray. The pair sat in an easy silence for a moment; without Riley and Lucas their table seemed a lot quieter.
"So," Maya said, humoring him. "What exactly is it today that is so amazing?"
"Nothing in particular, I guess," Farkle answered, but the blonde knew he was playing it cool. "Just feels like it's a good day. I'm glad Riley is talking to Lucas. I think this will be good for them."
"Good for them?" She repeated incredulously. "We're going to find Riley in a puddle of guilt, and Huckleberry's going to build a raft so he can sail back to Texas on the Hudson."
"The Hudson feeds into the Atlantic Ocean."
"Fine, then he'll ride off into the sunset on the back of his trusty sheep."
"I don't know, Lucas is a pretty tough guy. I think you might be surprised," Farkle said knowingly before taking a sip from his carton of milk.
"Losing Riley is like losing a tooth. Sure you can still eat because you've got plenty of other teeth, but your tongue will always go back to that empty place. And when you smile you'll look like a redneck."
"He's not losing Riley. They're just redefining—"
"Who's not losing Riley?" Zay interrupted, sliding down on the bench beside Maya, so close to her that their shoulders touched. He drummed his hands on the surface of the table expectantly as he looked back and forth between her and Farkle.
Rolling her eyes, Maya moved over, "Riley is breaking up with Lucas."
"Right now?" Zay asked with wide eyes, "Well, that just doesn't make any sense. I mean, come on, have you seen the front of her notebook? It's got more graffiti on it than a subway wall. Unlessssss, she finally realized that Lucas—oww!" Zay cut himself off, glaring across the table: "What gives, little dude?"
"It's not breaking up when they aren't even together," Farkle observed just as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch period. ""Let's get to history," Farkle encouraged, his smile returning, "I've got to make sure nobody else picked the same bill as me."
The three made their way to class, all eager to hear about what their friends had discussed during lunch. Maya trailed just behind the boys, stopping at her locker outside Mr. Matthew's classroom to collect her things for the rest of the day. By the time she made her way through the door, the second bell rang and all of her classmates were seated at their desks. All except one.
"Where's Sundance?" Maya asked Riley, who was sat at her desk doodling on a new notebook. Casting a backwards glance at Lucas' desk, the brunette shrugged, seeming to not have yet even noticed his absence.
"Take a seat, Ms. Hart," Mr. Matthews directed her impatiently, pointing to her usual spot. Confused, she sat down without a word as Riley's father began his lesson.
Ms. Kossal had left Maya to her own devices following the final bell of the day. It wasn't unusual for Maya to spend a little extra time after school in the studio on Tuesdays, especially when her art teacher had just given the class a new assignment. Maya didn't like to leave things unfinished.
Finally satisfied with where she was walking away from her painting—an exercise in recreating reflections on the waters surface—Maya began to collect her paints and wash her brushes. She peered at the clock above the doorway, but quickly took a second look once she realized how late she had actually stayed. Ms. Kossal was a generous woman but that didn't mean Maya wouldn't get in trouble if she got caught in the studio this late after class.
Swinging her backpack over her right shoulder, she quickly exited the room and decided she would just have to skip running to her locker. Her lips moved as she mouthed the lyrics to the last song she'd heard on the radio absentmindedly. Only a few steps away from the art classroom she collided with something and her carelessly closed pack flew out of her arms, scattering the papers of her notebook on the tile of the hallway.
Already prepared with a snarky remark, Maya glanced up to find that the wall she had walked in to was no other than Lucas Friar. The very same Lucas who had been missing since lunch.
"What are you doing here?" She asked. Like the gentleman she knew him to be, he immediately bent down to help her gather her things.
"I could ask you the same thing," he replied solemnly. The sound of his voice troublingly monotonous. As his hands ran across her most recent sketches, Maya fought the urge to tear her drawings from his hands. She had always been rather protective of her art. Half-smiling at a portrait she had made of Riley, he gathered his bearings: "Right. I forgot last class today was art. You just couldn't leave your canvas, could you?"
Once the last of her work was tucked away into her backpack—this time fully zipped and buckled—the pair stood up from the floor.
"Where were you all afternoon?" Maya asked him. Lucas the Good didn't skip class—that was kind of her thing. Sheparding down the hall with a single gesture, Lucas and Maya started on their way out of the school.
"I was in the gym," Lucas explained as they walked. "Coach said he'd talk to our teachers because I—"
"Wasn't ready to see Riley?" Maya prompted. The sun was still high, reflecting off the glass windows of the skyscrapers that bordered their walk to the subway.
Lucas met Maya's stare momentarily, before turning his dark blue eyes to the ground: "It wasn't so much Riley as it was everyone else. Everybody knows by now, I guess?"
"Not everyone," She said. She watched him carefully as he watched the pavement change beneath their feet. She could tell from his profile that his jaw was tightly clenched. When it came to Lucas, she wasn't usually one to back off, but something about today felt different. She didn't even have the urge to call him Ranger Rick or to grab his hands and square dance down the block. This wasn't the right time for their game.
He looked up at her, perhaps drawn by the weight of her gaze on his face, or perhaps surprised by her fairly comforting words.
"I think it's for the best. Riley's amazing… but you know that," he corrected. Maya tightened her grip on the shoulder straps to her backpack. What was happening? She wasn't supposed to be the person Lucas Friar opened up to. "But… it's just that… if she was really the girl then I probably would have planned something to put Charlie's semi-formal ask to shame. I probably would have asked her out on our first date before you tricked me into doing it…"
"Fancy yourself a romantic, cowboy?" Maya teased. Perhaps old habits die hard.
He chuckled, an amazing sound. A liberating sound. She relaxed a little, letting her hands slip from their grip on her straps as the pair descended the stairs into the subway.
"I probably would have been a little more worried about seeing Riley and a little less worried about seeing you," Lucas added, as he swiped his metro card at the turnstile. They were only a few feet from where they'd head in opposite directions: an uptown boy and a downtown girl.
"Me?" Maya questioned, though the noise of a train reverberating below their feet reminded her that she was going to have to hurry if she planned on catching this train.
Lucas shrugged, backing away from her, "Your Riley's best friend. I figured she wouldn't let our relationship change much, but I mean, now that I'm not her boyfriend what's going to hold you back from telling me how you really feel?"
Maya opened her mouth to respond, but the words didn't seem to come fast enough and Lucas tipped an imaginary hat at her before waving goodbye and heading off in the direction of his line.
What had he meant 'how she really felt'? Did he think that just because her best friend had called it quits that they were no longer friends? Did he think…?
No. He couldn't. That just wouldn't make any sense at all.
AN: Thanks to everyone for your reviews, follows, favorites, and more! I so so so appreciate it and love hearing what you guys have to say.
Please F&R if you would like more. I'll post another chapter if I get a good response.
I hope you guys don't mind that I'm taking things slow. AND I hope you enjoyed Topanga's and Zay's appearances :)
Best,
Hero
