Hello everyone! I must say, I haven't felt this inspired to write in a while. Obviously, Girl Meets World just brings it out in me. I hope you enjoy the continuation of this fic. It's going to be a long one, I can promise you that. If you enjoyed it and wanted to let me know, please comment 3 I know how much effort it feels like to write a comment, so I really treasure each and every one (I write out my favourites and keep them in my phone case- or I did. I recently dropped my phone in the toilet)
Whipped Cream & Other Delights,
TheHarleyQueen
When Riley left the house, she was wearing one of the mom's old outfits from the 90s- one of the few she had left that she broke out whenever she, dad and Uncle Shawn were setting out on some sort of adventure. She and her mom had sat and talked over The Plan for what felt like forever (really, it was more like an hour). Her mom hadn't believed when Riley came to speak to her with three garbage bags full of clothes in her hands.
But Riley did know some things (contrary to popular opinion, apparently). And one of those things was most definitely, without a doubt, clothes. She knew that the Maya Hart New Winter Coat Fund™ wasn't made because her best friend was selfish or mean or whatever everyone else said, because Maya Hart's Old Winter Coat™ was fraying around the bottom and the sleeves only came midway down her forearm. She also knew that she wore some of the most expensive clothes in their friend group. Most of Maya's clothes were second hand, with the exception of a few choice pieces that were shared between her and her mom. She knew Farkle wore clothes costing between 20 and 2000 dollars. She knew Zay had more money than Lucas, because even though Zay's clothes also looked like they were from back home in Texas, they didn't have the small patches sewn up, never had the mark of something that had been mended, unlike Lucas's. She knew Smackle had more money than her clothes let on (because when she wore jewellery, it was quality stuff, unlike Riley's, which were mostly made to look quality).
Because Riley's thing had always been clothes. When it was just the three of them, Maya was the artist and Farkle was the genius and Riley was the one who dressed them when they went to go get their awards on stage. Now that it was the six of them and they were older, Maya was the artist and the beauty, and Farkle was the genius and the philanthropist, Lucas was the athlete and the handsome, Zay the clown and dancer, Smackle the brilliant and the lover. And Riley was still just Riley, the goofball who dressed everyone else up.
So no matter what her mom thought, this plan had actually been a long time coming, because every time Riley went out with her friends, she'd look down at her clothes and feel guilty, because she wasn't Farkle who was giving away twice what he wore (which made it okay to wear clothes that cost more than some people's rent). She was just Riley, who spent her allowance on clothes she didn't need because they looked pretty, and that made her feel terrible. So this plan that she'd detailed to her mom, the one where she sold all her clothes, bought a new wardrobe back that was cheaper than the one she'd auctioned off, and gave the rest to charity, wasn't the spur-of-the-moment Riley plan her mom thought it was.
And that was how Riley ended up leaving the house in an old outfit of her mom's, with five black bags (she'd actually been deeper through her closet and found two more bags worth of clothes that she hadn't worn in years) on the way to Demolition.
Since the "I'd like to sell all of my clothes please!" incident, she and her mom had actually created a pretty good working relationship with Aubrey (they came by Demolition often, helped to wash, fold and price the second-hand clothes while Mom gave Aubrey some basic lessons in law). So when Riley stepped into Demolition to sell all of her clothes a second time, she actually sat down with Aubrey and they negotiated until they came to a fair price (as mentioned earlier, one of the two things Riley had always known without a doubt was the value of clothes; the other was the Pluto was a planet) while her mom manned the register. It was a long process- Riley knew that she'd be giving a lot of money away in this plan (most of it her own) but she did need to make enough money off her clothes to go and buy some new stuff (she most certainly wasn't thinking, on any level, about how giving away clothes still wasn't enough to make up for all the mistakes she'd made over the years, the times when she hadn't known any better that haunted her).
It was past midday when she and her mom left Demolition with more money than Riley had ever had at one time in her mom's purse. Then it was time for the fun (Riley wasn't thinking about how this shouldn't be fun, because she was attoning. She wasn't).
Except.
hey riles ~Peaches
i dont know why youre mad at me, but i am still sleeping over tonight right? ~Peaches
its Paco's Tacos Tacopalooza! ~Peaches
So Riley did the only thing she could.
Of course, Peaches! ~Riley Matthews
I'm not mad at you. ~Riley Matthews
Mom and Dad said that last night was Family Night™ ~Riley Matthews
Love you. ~Riley Matthews
ily 2 ~Peaches
She and her mom spent the entire afternoon working through thrift stores. None of the outfits she bought screamed Riley at her, but she didn't really want to be Riley anymore. Because Riley was "Smiley Riley" was "Ditzy Riley" was "Maya's Best Friend Riley", not "Riley Matthews: Her Own Person". She wanted to be like everyone else, not the girl who had The Riley Matthews Committee because she was too naive to know about the world. And she was having fun, with her mom, who she saw less and less these days (she knew what their apartment cost, knew that they lived comfortably because of the time her mom put into her work). So Riley worked through the thrift stores with her mom, making sure that the clothes she bought left enough money for her to be able to donate a sizable sum at the end (because she didn't want her mom to tell her dad tonight that she'd used something important as an excuse to get a new wardrobe. She could already hear the words flying around in her head and she knew her mom hadn't had a chance to say them).
It was 4:26 pm exactly when she found the jeans (she knew because her mom had said that they were going to the shelter at half-past-four, and Riley still needed one more pair of pants). They had rips in them, and not the artistic type. They looked as if they'd been made in the eighties, but Riley knew these jeans. She'd seen the girls with the signs saying "a woman's place is in the revolution" in jeans like these. These were the jeans that would help her remember what she wanted to be. And they were on sale (they'd been lying in the store for nearly ten years, but the owner wasn't going to tell Riley that. They were just happy to be rid of them). So Riley hurried over to the counter to pay, and her mom looked at her through the corner of her eye ("I can't believe Riley wants to look like she's homeless" she could hear her mom's voice, but her mom wasn't like that) but said nothing. And the owner smiled so wide that Riley decided that it didn't matter if no one else liked the jeans, because she did, and she'd made someone else happy by buying them, and that was two people happier than before, so they couldn't be terrible.
On their way home, Riley and her mom stopped by Help USA to donate the money that was leftover from selling Riley's closet (the ballpark figure was $1000. Riley tried not to cringe when she thought about how selfish she'd been). And when they handed the sum over, Riley swore she'd come back, that she'd offer to help out in any way she could, because this was what life was about (and she still had to atone). Knowing that she was, for once, helping someone made her feel like it didn't matter what she'd said and done before, because this was what she was supposed to be doing.
When they arrived back home, Riley kissed her mom on the cheek and thanked her softly, before heading up to her room to put away the new clothes.
Upstairs, she placed all the new clothes on her bed and threw open her closet. Steadily, she started hanging up all of her new clothes, humming under her breath. As she got into the song and the motions, she let her thoughts drift from her actions and into the future. Into school on Monday and The Riley Matthews Committee and the patriarchy. She was so in her head that she didn't notice him slipping in through the window.
"Good afternoon, Riley," came Farkle's voice, from less than an inch behind her. She jumped, the top she was hanging flying across the room. But she smiled at him and hugged him close, because she was still mad about The Riley Committee but they could talk about that. What they didn't need to talk about was that they were still friends. That they always would be.
"I see you went shopping," he smiled, walking across the room to pick up the shirt and grabbing the hanger from her, moving to help her with her task. This was what she loved about Farkle; they were always so in sync. He was really a great person (unlike you). She smiled and picked up the next thing on the bed- a pair of leggings.
"Yeah. Mom and I wanted to spend some time together," she paused, allowing him to take the hanger from her while she went and collected new clothes to hang, "...Farkle?" She began, before thinking better of it. But there was a chance that he was truly a robot, because he seemed to notice that something was off, "Yeah, Riles?" Everyone called her Riles, but she liked it best when Farkle (and Maya) did it. After all, he was the first one who'd ever done it- "doyoueverfeelbadthatwehavemoremoneythanourfriends?" She asked in one rushed breath. But thankfully, he didn't make her repeat it (he's good like that). Rather, he sat down, right where he was, and patted the floor next to him, motioning for her to join him. When she did, he started to braid her hair (it was something she'd taught him a long time ago. Now, whenever he was upset or thinking very hard, he braided her hair. It was a tradition).
After a lengthy silence, he spoke, "sometimes." He took a hairband from around her wrist and tied the simple braid together, before looking her in the eyes. Riley squirmed where she was sitting, fiddling with the end of the braid.
"I know it's not something I did wrong- or something they did wrong- to mean that I have more money than them. But when I see a discoloured patch on Lucas's jeans that mean that they've had to be mended again, or when I "donate" to Maya's new winter coat fund… yeah, I feel bad. And I want to do more for them, but I know they wouldn't want me to. So I don't say anything," he smiled softly at her, even as she undid and redid his braid (her own nervous habit), "why?"
But Riley couldn't answer that. She didn't even know why she was feeling so guilty about it today. She'd wanted to do one thing; donate to Help USA. She'd done that, but she didn't feel any better. She still had more than Maya, more that she didn't deserve. So she changed the subject.
"I was really mad at you about the Riley Committee thing."
Farkle blinked in confusion, before his face softened and he let her divert the topic. They needed to talk about this anyway, "Yeah, I know."
But she pushed herself up to pace around her room, needing to work her frustration out, "It's embarrassing, Farkle! There's important stuff that I didn't know about! You said you'd always want me to get better, but keeping me from the world isn't doing that! I'm not a little girl, and it hurt that you thought that of me!" He didn't respond, sensing that there was more to be said on her part, before they could reasonably talk about it.
"Farkle, do you have any clue what it was like to suddenly learn that your friends think that you can't handle anything? That you're a- a child that needs to be protected? I understand my dad keeping stuff from me, okay. He's always been overprotective. I even understand Maya doing it- I'm her good influence, or something, and maybe she was scared that I wouldn't want to be the good influence if I knew what the world was like- and maybe that's true! But you, of all people, Farkle, should know that I want to make my own decisions. And you took that away from me! How could you?" She broke off when her throat blocked up with tears. She wasn't going to cry about this. She wasn't that weak.
But when Farkle stood up and pulled her against him in a sturdy hug, she couldn't stop herself. She let out a choked sob.
"I've been thinking about everything," he whispered to her, "and you're right. I did the wrong thing. I had tons of chances to tell you and I didn't. And that was wrong. But I can't undo it. Can you forgive me?" And she pulled back and smiled at him softly, because of course she could. He was Farkle. She'd forgive him for anything.
They exchanged a smile and went back to hanging up Riley's new clothes, silently, side by side.
When she felt comfortable in her routine, she began talking again, softly. He knew not to interrupt her, "I sold all my old clothes today. I bought this stuff from thrift stores and second-hand shops. I don't want to be the girl whose most important part of her is the way she dresses, anymore. I gave the rest of the money away. I felt guilty about having expensive clothes I didn't need when people are out there starving."
Farkle didn't say anything (what would he say, really? It's true. You should feel guilty) he just smiled at her and began to hum.
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
When they were done, Farkle placed a soft kiss against her forehead and whispered in her ear- "you will always be more than how you dress, Riles. I love you."
{That moment would change their world. They didn't know it yet, though.}
He crawled out through the window (no one really knew how much time she and Farkle spent together. Between him climbing through her window and her going over for lessons in astronomy, they had grown closer than most knew). She smiled after him.
Not a minute later, Maya climbed through the same window, and began her speech about what Riley would not do tomorrow. She never noticed that Riley's entire life had changed last night. But then again, Riley was really good at hiding things.
For example, when something felt wrong the next morning, and she couldn't find Barry the Bear, she hid it.
Riley was good at hiding things.
BONUS:
There's tacos! ~Riles
On my way. ~Sparkly-Farkle
Maya's eating them all. ~Riles
On my way faster. ~Sparkly-Farkle
Save one for me. ~Sparkly-Farkle
I've saved two. ~Riles
I love you. ~Sparkly-Farkle
I know. ~Riles
