"Honey?"
"Peaches?"
"You sure you wanna do this?"
Riley pouts. "Why are you trying to talk me out of this?"
"I'm not trying to talk you out of this! It's just…" and Maya starts pacing through the hallway.
"Yeah?" Riley follows.
"Sometimes-" she turns back toward the lockers.
"What?"
"You plan to do something that's more like something I would normally do-"
"And?" Riley's right behind her.
"You choke," Maya finishes, coming to a stop.
Riley nearly knocks her over before stopping herself and sucking in a huge gasp, eyebrows furrowed in offense. "I do not!"
"Really?" Maya challenges. "You wanna argue with me on this?"
Pause. "You're right, I do," Riley mutters, sliding down her locker onto the school floor.
Maya just laughs, sliding down next to her. "I'm not saying don't ask out Lucas. Just… maybe let me do most of the talking."
...
Farkle slams his tray down on the lunchroom table. "Riley's asking you out."
Lucas swallows the remaining chips in his mouth. "What?"
"Yep."
"She told you that?"
"Well, she didn't TELL me exactly," Farkle starts, sitting down. "But she's wearing her green top with the black flowers, and she ONLY wears that when she's planning to do something she's afraid of. What else could it be?"
"Um, she could have a test or a speech or be planning to finally kill the spider living in her locker?" Lucas smirks. "It's Riley."
Farkle's eyes widen at his friend's calmness. "I know what I'm talking about, Lucas. It's Riley. Semi-formal just happened, things didn't work out with that Charlie guy, and now the shirt? She's asking you out."
"Hey, there," Zay greets, plopping down next to Lucas. "What are we talking about?"
"Riley's asking Lucas out."
Zay's brows jump. "RILEY?"
"Why do you sound so surprised? They dated before."
A look passes between Lucas and Zay. Now FARKLE'S eyes narrow. "Is there something I don't know? Because you KNOW I like to know everything."
"No, that's just why I was confused," Zay says slowly, finally turning back to Farkle. "I figured they were over."
Farkle glances at Lucas, still suspicious. Lucas doesn't seem to notice though-he's now staring down at his tray in deep thought; he bites his lip. "You really think she's gonna ask me out?"
Farkle glances up to get a better look at two splotches in the corner of his eye. Speak of the devil-or, the angel and her best friend, the devil. He nods toward the two. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"
...
"Wait." Riley stops short as Lucas turns around, sees her, and promptly turns back to the lunch table. Not even a smile?
Maya turns around to throw her a questioning look.
"What if he says no? Maybe I should wait till after school to do this."
"If you wait till after school, you'll chicken out for sure, and then I'LL have to ask out Ranger Rick again." She hooks an arm around Riley's shoulder. "And nobody wants that."
With that, she pulls her over to the lunch table, taking a seat next to Farkle, Riley dragging a seat to the end of the table, in between Farkle and Lucas.
"Hey, guys," Riley greets. "What'd we miss?"
There's a pause. "The first five minutes of lunch," Zay says, covering up the awkward silence. "Where were you guys?"
Riley looks down to hide her blush, remembering her conversation with Maya. "Nowhere…"
"We were just talking to Riley's dad," Maya cuts in.
"You mean in the classroom?" Farkle asks.
"Where else?"
"That's funny," Zay says, "since he's been in the lunchroom since the period started." He points to their cheerful, mashed-potatoes-eating teacher sitting alone in the corner of the lunchroom.
Oh.
Time for a change in topic.
"So, Ranger Rick is awful quiet today," she says with a smile. "What's wrong? You missing the cows again?" she feigns a southern accent.
He smiles despite himself, looking up from the tray he'd been studying so carefully since she and Riley'd arrived at the table. "Thanks for the concern, mam, but I'm fine."
"How come you never call me a cowboy?" Zay blurts.
Maya opens her mouth. Closes it.
"Wow, these mashed potatoes are good," Lucas says.
"That must be why you've eaten so much of them," Maya notes dryly, eyeing his almost full tray.
He clears his throat. "You're right. They're not that good. And I'm gonna go replace them with a tray of hashbrowns instead." He takes off with his tray to the dismay of both Riley and Maya.
"Maya, what do I do now?"
"I don't know," Maya answers slowly. "I've never seen this before."
Riley gives her a pleading look.
Ugh. "Fine," Maya grumbles, standing up. "I'll go see what broke Huckleberry."
...
"YOU look like someone who is not getting hashbrowns."
Lucas flinches, dropping his tray clumsily on the counter of the waiting-line. "Maya."
She smirks, taking a few more steps toward him and setting her elbow on the counter. "What's the deal, Ranger Rick?"
He raises a brow. "What do you mean?"
"I mean you barely said a word at the table, and now you've been standing here for the past minute, staring at those mashed potatoes like they hold the secret of life."
He glances down, muttering something under his breath.
"What was that?"
His eyes meet hers. "People change people: the secret of life."
Her lips quirk up in a smile at the familiar line. "Right. And I am about to change yours."
"You are?"
"I am."
...
"What do you think they're saying?" Farkle hisses.
"I think I know," Zay whispers back.
"What?"
"They're saying, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHISPER IN THE LUNCHROOM, FARKLE."
Farkle scoffs. "Why would they be saying that?"
Riley laughs a little, craning her head to see above the crowded lunch tables and over to the waiting-line where Maya and Lucas are stood. They're both smiling-that's gotta be a good sign, right? Maya turns toward her then-was it that obvious she was watching?-and motions her over.
"I'll be right back," she tells Farkle and Zay, never keeping her eyes off the two at the waiting-line.
"Hey, guys," Riley says, flipping her hair oh-so-casually. "What's up?"
"Lucas," Maya starts with a deliberate look in her eyes-she only ever calls him Lucas when she wants something-"Riley has something she wants to ask you."
"Now?" Lucas blurts without thinking. He sort of figured if she was going to ask him out, she'd wait until after school. But maybe Farkle was wrong-maybe she's about to ask him if he wants to cram in some studying before their history test next period or if he can kill the spider in her locker for her.
Then he remembers: Farkle's never wrong.
Oh.
"Yes, now," Maya says, her eyes flickering with annoyance. She turns to the other girl then. "Riles?"
"Right," Riley starts, suddenly looking frozen where she's stood. "Lucas-um. I-Do you-"
Maya runs an exasperated hand through her hair. "Honey, we talked about this: six simple words."
...
Zay's eyes move from the three at the waiting-line to Farkle and back again. "You really think Riley's gonna ask Lucas out?"
"No question." His eyes go back to his chicken pot pie before snapping back up to his friend. "Why do you care?"
"You think they're right for each other?" Zay asks, eyes still glued on the three.
Farkle pauses. "I don't know," he admits.
Zay's eyes meets his once again. "Really?"
Farkle bites his lip. "Look, everybody knows I'm in love with Riley-and Maya. I want them both to be happy; I want Lucas to be happy too. So if Riley and Lucas make each other happy, and if seeing them together makes Maya happy, then I'm happy-but 'right for each other?' Soulmates?" He shrugs. "I don't know."
That's enough for Zay: a resolute look comes over his face, and without another word, he stands up from the table and strides over to the rest of their friends.
...
"Right." Riley runs her palms over her jeans, trying her best to regain composure. "Lucas, will you-"
"Lucas!" Zay comes bounding over to them.
"Zay," he replies. "What's up?"
"You've gotta get over here, man; Farkle's choking on a tater tot!"
"They're not serving tater tots today," Riley says, suddenly much more relaxed.
"Well then, somebody needs to tell that to Farkle! Come on."
The three follow him back to the table, and it takes racing ahead and performing a fake heimlich maneuver on a very confused, very annoyed Farkle, but by the end of the spectacle, lunch is over; it's too late for anyone to ask anyone out.
Unfortunately, not EVERYONE seems to be convinced of Farkle's choking; on the way out of the cafeteria, Maya tosses Zay and Farkle a suspicious glare. "Remind me I need to talk to you two later."