2. Plan really cool, romantic dates for her

Date night was Friday night, but Riley and Lucas had skipped the past three. Deadlines, family birthdays, the usual excuses. But deep down, Riley knew it would be wrong to go a month without any dates, so she made sure Lucas knew he was going to meet her at her apartment at 7:00.

She put her usual effort in, a jean skirt with a floral blouse and her favorite brown boots. The buzzer went off at 7:05. Lucas was standing in jeans and a baseball tee pushed up to his elbows. He had a white paper bag in his hand.

"Hey," she said, smiling. "What are we doing tonight?"

"I thought we could stay in, watch a movie. Sound good?" Lucas said, walking in. Riley shrugged. That was what they always did. They scrolled through Netflix in silence for a few moments before Lucas hesitantly said, "Wanna see if Maya and Farkle can come over?"

Riley knew date night should just be the two of them. But she also knew they'd probably have more fun if Maya and Farkle were there too. They responded within minutes.

Maya: bold of you to assume im not on my way already

Farkle: I'll bring popcorn! :)

Good, Riley thought, because Lucas had already brought tacos in that white bag. Maya would be happy. As they waited for the others to show up, Riley and Lucas sat in comfortable silence. "What do you think we should watch?" Lucas said, breaking the silence.

Riley perked up. She'd already thought about it. "Ooh, I was thinking Titanic!"

Lucas scrunched up his nose like he smelled something bad, but only for a brief moment. Then, Mr. Okay With Everything shrugged. Nodded. Said, "If you want."

A small surge of irritation rushed up in Riley. If he didn't want to watch Titanic, he could just say so. But no, he'd go along with what she wanted. Why was that a bad thing? But she just sighed, saying none of that. "Maybe we should wait until the others get here."

Maya texted that she was five minutes away. Riley leaned back on the couch and sighed. "Tell me a story," she said to Lucas.

"About what?"

"Anything." She thought for a moment. "About your childhood, about Texas." She could almost hear Lucas shrug. But he started talking, a story about riding a horse for the first time. Riley was so fond of these stories. She was so fond of him. It was times like this that she almost forgot that they hadn't been on a real date in months. She liked his stories She liked talking to him. Maybe that was enough. Maybe she could settle for settling.

And then the buzzer sounded. "It's Farkle," she heard through the speaker. A smile sprang to Riley's face. She buzzed him in, and within a few minutes, he was knocking. Farkle, Maya, and Zay filed into the room. Lucas knit his brow. "Hey, man," he said to Zay. "I didn't know you were coming."

"I texted him," Maya said, looking towards Lucas but not at him. Zay slung his arm around Maya's neck. If Lucas tensed a little, Riley pretended not to notice.

"I tried asking Smackle, but she's taking the SAT in the morning, which is crazy since we're only sophomores, but Isadora Smackle is an unstoppable force," Zay said, smiling. "Still, you can't have movie night without Zay. Isn't that right, Honeynugget?"

"Oh, that's making a comeback?" Maya said, plopping onto a pillow she put on the floor.

"Hey, you came up with it. This is your fault."

"Oh? Yeah? You want me to start calling you Hunkalicious?" she said, pulling Zay down next to her.

"I would love for you to call me Hunkalicious. I would - hey, everyone, Maya Hart and Isaiah Babineaux now exclusively go by Honeynugget and Hunkalicious," he yelled, hands cupped over his mouth.

"Stop it. Stop it. I'll kill you," Maya said, dissolving into laughter. After a few moments, everyone joined in, except for Lucas who was slightly frowning.

"Farkle!" Zay shouted, after his laughter died down a little, "we were promised popcorn, I believe?"

"Just a second," Farkle called from the kitchen. Riley hadn't noticed him go in.

Lucas leaned down towards where Maya was sitting, paper bag in hand. "Hey, Maya," he said, voice low and teasing. She jumped a little in surprise at the sound of his voice. "I got tacos."

Maya's face exploded into a grin, and quickly Lucas' face matched hers. She snatched the paper bag out of his hand. "Did you get my favorite?"

"Extra cheese, red onions and green salsa. Your taco looks like a Christmas tree."

Maya pulled it out, grinning even wider somehow, and then, as if remembering herself, her excitement dissipated a little. "Well, thanks, Heehaw."

"No problem, ma'am," he said, and instead of shuddering like she used to, she sort of froze, blinked hard once and slid into her seat next to Zay again. Riley thought that seemed weird, but before she had time to think about it too hard, Farkle came back from the kitchen with the popcorn bowl in his hand. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. He was looking at Riley.

"What?" she said. His gaze was so intense, Riley felt he might crush her with the power of it.

He blinked hard, not unlike the way Maya had moments earlier. "Sorry." He took a few steps towards her until they were standing an arm's length from each other. "You just look really beautiful."

Riley's face flushed. "Well, you know, it was date night, so."

Farkle furrowed his eyebrows and his mouth to say something when Zay showed up out of nowhere and plucked the popcorn bowl out of Farkle's hands. "I'll take that, thank you. So," he said, returning to his seat next to Maya, "what are we watching?"

Lucas shrugged, making his way over to the armchair. "What about… Good Will Hunting?"

"No," Zay said. "No angsty ass cowboy movies."

"Seconded," Maya said. She shoved a handful of popcorn in her mouth. "What about A Quiet Place?"

Riley whimpered a little just at the title. She was always afraid of horror movies. Farkle's head snapped towards her and then he said, "Why not a Gilmore Girls marathon? I wanna see if Luke and Lorelai fall on the will-they side of will-they-won't-they."

Riley turned to him, eyebrows raised in surprise. "You watch Gilmore Girls?"

His ears turned red. "Oh, well… you told me how much you loved it."

Before Riley could respond, though, Zay had grabbed the remote and taken charge. "Nope. We're watching Love, Rosie."

Maya groaned, reaching for the remote, but Zay used his height to keep it away from her. "No sappy rom-coms, please, I'm begging you." But before she could protest further, the title sequence had already started rolling.

Lucas had taken the armchair, Maya and Zay elected to remain on pillows on the floor, so Riley and Farkle took the couch. By the time the movie was an hour in, she'd ended up laying next to him with her head leaning on his chest. Her face was inches from his. Somewhere deep inside of her, she knew that this was wrong when her boyfriend was sitting feet away. But it was Farkle, just Farkle, like it had always been just Farkle, and in the dark this felt safe, and natural somehow.

The movie was everything Riley liked in a film, but she still found her eyes drooping shut. "I think I'm falling asleep," she whispered.

"That's okay," Farkle whispered back. "I'll tell you what happens."

Riley smiled to herself. "But you already know what happens, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Of course you do. You're so smart, Farkle." She curled up closer to him. She felt herself drifting farther away. "I'm not gonna make it. Tell me now."

"Okay," Farkle said, and the last thing she heard before drifting off completely was, "In the end, they end up together."