Chapter 7 – Home Sweet (Boring) Home
Two weeks had passed since the accident and Riley had been confined to her room the whole time, the doctors told her to take it easy and that she wasn't allowed to go back to school for another week and she felt as though the walls were closing around her. It was early in the day but she couldn't sleep at all with her leg in that cast. She hadn't slept much since she was released from the hospital and she was getting irritated at everything because she was trapped at home. That morning her dad helped her onto the living room couch so that she could have a change of scenery but in the end it just made her angrier.
Riley knew that she wasn't angry but just bored, sitting at home all day with nothing to do because she did all of her homework when Farkle and Smackle were tutoring her. No one was home when she was sitting there waiting because everyone was at school or working. What she was feeling was lonely. She didn't want to tell everyone so instead she whined to Lucas about dumb things. She pulled to her phone to text him.
Riley: Lucas I'm bored….😟
Lucas: Sunshine I'll come see you after school. Just do the homework you got yesterday.
Riley: I did it already
Lucas: Riles how did you finish it already, Farkle gave you a week's worth of homework.
Riley: Do you know how it is to sleep with this thing on my leg
Lucas: Try to keep yourself busy, I'll bring some cake and ice cream later. We can watch a movie.
Riley: Okay but I get to pick the movie.
Lucas: Please not another Disney movie
Riley: You don't get to make the decision, I do
Lucas: That's the only thing I'm asking for
Riley: Don't worry you'll love it.
Riley sighed and turned on the TV, cuddle bunnies was on so we started watching it thinking of Lucas coming over every day since they returned trying to keep her spirits up.
"What did I do to deserve him?" she said out loud. She knew that she shouldn't doubt their relationship but she was. Instead she would look at the book he gave her and wonder about why the universe looked so beautiful but they were stuck on a speck of a planet. She thought about Pluto out there alone and in the dark because he was so far from the sun.
"Was that Riley?" Zay asked as he and Lucas walked towards History class.
"Yeah, she's bored to death. She only has one more week before she's allowed out of that cast and into a boot but until then she's trapped. I think she's getting cabin fever from being stuck at home since she can't move around at all."
"Man, I never thought I'd see the day," Zay said laughing.
"See the day for what?" Maya said as she walked up to the guys.
"That Riley would have this boy so whipped that he would do anything for her like bring her cake and ice cream."
"Really Ranger Rick you're going to become the Ice Cream man for Riley?" Maya said as she joined Zay in mocking Lucas.
"You guys are funny, but if it was you stuck at home all day how would you react?"
The pair stopped laughing and thought about it seriously before Maya took out her phone and started playing the Mister Softee jingle from the ice cream trucks that came around during the summer.
"Can I have that as my ring tone for Lucas?" Zay said before cracking himself up.
Lucas shook his head and walked away from Maya and Zay before the two of them thought up another way to make fun of him.
The rest of the day went by without much of a hassle for Riley, mainly because she couldn't really move around. After watching Cuddle Bunnies for the third straight hour she fell asleep as the music from the show lulled her into exhaustion. So when everyone she knew walked in through her front door they had all stayed quiet. Lucas motioned for them to go to the bay window so that they could all talk. He put the cake and ice cream they picked up on the way in the refrigerator and followed the Matthews and his friends to Riley's room.
"Friar why are we in my daughter's room?" Cory said as he sat down at the window.
"It's not bad, I just have an idea and I wanted to discuss it with you all before Riley wakes up," Lucas said as he stood at the door. Everyone looked at him as though he was going to ask for Riley's hand in marriage.
"Okay Ranger Rick what do you want?" Maya said as Josh climbed in through the bay window.
"Hey family, where's Riley?"
"She's asleep downstairs Josh. You came for dinner?" Topanga asked.
"No I just brought some stuff over for her to keep her from going crazy, but since you offered I will stay for dinner because I'm a college student and I'm sick of eating take out and the food from the dining hall is just gross."
Maya smiled at him and said, "Can I stay too?"
"Sure Maya I'll make enough for everyone. How does spaghetti and meatballs sound to everyone?"
"Yay," Auggie squealed and everyone shushed him.
"So why are we all here Lucas?" Zay said turning back to Lucas.
"I want to do something for Riley but I need everyone's help, especially Maya, Farkle, and Smackle," the three of them looked up as he said it. "I want to paint the stars on her ceiling, along with Pluto. I want it to be accurate too and I don't want to mess it up. I also want some of them to light up so that it would help her sleep at night, especially since she hasn't been sleeping a lot."
"How do you know she hasn't been sleeping a lot?" Farkle asked.
"She told me earlier but I already knew because whenever we're watching a movie together she would fall asleep. It could be the loudest movie in the world and she would just knock out."
"She can't sleep with that cast on her leg, since Riley usually sleeps on the side her cast is on I guess it's part of the reason why she's been having trouble," Maya said, partially angry that she didn't notice before. "So when do you want to do this?"
"That depends on how long it would take and who can distract her for the day, I already started getting the supplies but I just didn't know how to well do it without her knowing."
"How long were you thinking about doing this?" Maya asked curious about why Lucas had put so much thought into doing something so extraordinary.
"I had the thought after the first night she was home from the hospital, she kept looking at the book I gave her, I was hoping that looking at the stars on her ceiling would help her sleep better. I don't want one like the one you have at home Farkle, I just want something special for her."
"I understand, I can help with everything but we still need a distraction and something that would take her out of the house even if it was for the day which might be all we need if we work fast," Farkle said.
Lucas looked around the room at everyone before settling on Topanga. "How about a spa day?" he said to her.
"Just me and Riley?" she asked him and the whole group nodded as if agreeing this would be the best. "Fine but this better be a good spa because if we have to distract her for the day it would have to be for something good."
"I'll ask my mom about a good place to go to, she's always dragging my dad away to one so that he could learn to relax. It doesn't work for long because he's all business but it could work for Riley," Farkle said.
The group decided to do everything the next day, Farkle called his mother and she gave them the address to the spa she liked the most as well as full access to the whole place. The group decided to skip school the next day with Cory's permission so that they would be able to get everything done in time but they all had to complete extra homework from all of their teachers to make up for the lost day. Even though Lucas knew that Riley was going back to school the week after he knew that she wouldn't be able sleep even with a boot on her leg covering a new cast.
Lucas, Zay, Farkle, and Smackle all decided to leave and plan out how they would put everything together and also so they could but the rest of the supplies, he made she that Topanga would tell Riley about the cake and ice cream. Before he left he kissed Riley's forehead wishing her sweet dreams and promised himself that he wanted her to be happy.
Riley woke up to the smell of her mother cooking dinner, she wasn't sure how long she was asleep but she knew that she was hungry.
"Hey mom… when did you get home?" she asked.
"A while, you were sleeping when I walked in, Lucas came over and gave me a cake and some ice cream but he didn't want to wake you up so he left. Maya and Josh are staying for dinner though so they'll help keep you distracted for a while."
"But we were supposed to watch a movie together," Riley said feeling sad that she wasn't going to see him.
"Riley you'll see him tomorrow night."
"Okay I guess."
"Don't worry tomorrow you and I are having a mommy, daughter day. I'm taking you to the spa and we're going to get pampered. That way you won't be so mopey when you see him."
"Alright, at least I'll get out of the house for a couple of hours," she said smiling. "Can we stop by somewhere so I can pick something up?"
"What do you want to get?"
"Um well… there's this watch I saw online and the store that sells them in the city is in midtown um… I want to get Lucas a present since he's always bringing me something, plus there's this blue shirt that I saw with hints of green in it that would bring out the color of his eyes," she finished saying as her face turned bright red at the thought of buying something for Lucas to wear.
"You're so cute," her mother said sitting down next to her. "I'll get a wheelchair for you so that you can get around for the day, it won't be comfortable because your cast goes up to your mid-thigh but at least we can go do this before we get to the spa."
"Thanks mom," she said with a smile hoping that Lucas would like his present. It was something she had saved up her babysitting allowance for as well as the money she got for doing chores around the house but when everything had happened in Texas the money had stay untouched. Now that they were telling each other their feelings and they were getting closer she thought about the present again.
