Oh Charlie!
Everyone is sitting down for dinner in the Gardiner household. Charlie's two older sisters are talking animatedly between them as they sit in their seats.
"I'm telling you. It HAD to be her. Who else would do something so vile?" Liz, his oldest sister, asks rhetorically. Liz is a senior in high school.
"Do you really think so? Does she think that's going to work?" Lorie, his second oldest sister, questions as she is shaking her head. Lorie is a sophomore.
"What are you guys talking about?" Charlie asks as he joins everyone at the table.
"Wait…maybe you know. We were talking about what happened between Riley Matthews and Lucas Friar…they are in your class…. Do you know them?" Liz asks as she pours herself a glass of water.
Charlie feels his stomach drop to his feet, not quite sure where this is going. "Yes, I know them. What happened?"
"Apparently, Lucas posted some stuff on social media saying that he and Riley were no longer a couple. That he was going to be with Missy Bradford now. Is it true?" Lorie explains what she heard in class.
"Really? Wow…um…. I didn't hear about that." Charlie is stumbling over his words and starting to sweat. He wants them to drop this conversation but he doesn't know how to change it without being obvious.
"It doesn't make any sense if you ask me. They have been together forever and he has never looked at anyone the way he looks at Riley. Besides, he doesn't seem to be the type to broadcast his public life like that. He has always been referred to as Mr. Perfect." Liz remarks as she begins eating her dinner.
"The other rumor is that someone, somehow got a hold of his cellphone and posted on his account. The only person I can think of that would do something so vile is that little snotnose Missy Bradford. From what I've heard she has always had a thing for Lucas. Why would anyone do something like that? Is she that desperate for his attention? I wouldn't want to be with a guy just because I destroyed his relationship. Sloppy seconds? No thanks." Lorie explains what she heard this afternoon in math class.
"I hope they find out what happened for this boy's sake. If this girl did this, I hope she gets punished. I know I raised my kids better than that. You all know to treat others with respect. Right?" Charlie's mother chimes in from her spot at the head of the table. She looks at each of her children and waits until they meet her eyes and nod their heads.
Charlie excuses himself from the table, grabs his jacket and heads outside to the balcony. He is by himself for a few minutes, just staring into space. He doesn't like how he feels at the moment. He started having second thoughts about his role in this almost immediately after Missy started posting. Now he knows what he helped her do was disgusting and disrespectful. He is desperately trying to figure out what to do now.
Suddenly, his father is standing over him.
"You OK son?" His father asks as he sits next to him.
Charlie is quiet for a moment. "Not sure dad."
"Charlie, if you are in some kind of trouble, you need to tell me. I saw the look on your face in there. Did you have anything to do with what the girls were talking about?"
Charlie can only nod his head. He doesn't want to look at his father's face, certain that it will be equal parts anger and disappointment.
"Tell me the whole story, now. I need to know how much trouble you could be in."
Charlie takes a deep breath and tells him the whole story. Starting with the Semi-formal in 8th grade, through "Twittergate" to his conversation with Mr. Matthews.
"Oh Charlie. I'm disappointed in you. Your mother and I raised you better than that. You say you have feelings for this Riley?"
"Yes, Dad, I do."
"I don't think they are the right ones, son. If you truly cared about her, you would want her to be happy. No matter who it was that made her feel that way. We can't force the people we love to love us back. It sounds like she is happy with him and you shouldn't be trying to change that. What if you were in a relationship and someone did that to you? How would you feel if someone did that to one of your sisters?"
"I don't know what to do anymore Dad. I don't know how to make this right." Charlie reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out the memory card from the phone he threw away, he starts to turn it over and over in his fingers.
"The first thing you need to do, is to come clean about your involvement. You have said in the past that you really liked Mr. Matthews, that he was a great teacher and seemed to be a nice guy. Start with him. Let him know everything you told me about the situation. It will help put his mind at ease to know who was behind the cyber abuse and that it has stopped. I would then ask him what he thinks about coming clean to Riley and Lucas. If they are trying to work through it, he might think it's best that you not talk to them about it at all. I would prefer that you accept full responsibility for your actions and deal with the consequences but in this case, it might be making things worse for Riley. She needs to be your main concern. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir"
"Charlie, you are a young man now on the verge of graduating High School. I can't put you in a time out and send you to your room anymore. The choices you make now could have very serious consequences. After you talk to Mr. Matthews, TOMORROW, I want you to explain everything to your mother and your sisters. I need to know that you have learned from this. The only way I can do that is to see how you handle their reactions. You know they are going to be upset with you and rightfully so. I'm disappointed that you were involved with this situation but I am thankful that you realized what damage you could have done. Now, let's get inside and warm up. You need time to prepare what you are going to say to Mr. Matthews." Charlie's dad stands and hold out his hand to help his son up from the bench. He pulls him into a hug.
"Thanks for the advice Dad. And for what it's worth? I'm disappointed in myself too" His father pats him on the back and they head inside to the warmth of the kitchen.
Charlie tracks Cory down in his classroom between the second and third periods of the day.
Charlie knocks on the door "Mr. Matthews, sir? If I may speak with you?" He is nervous but trying to not let it show.
"Sure, take a seat. What can I do for you Mr. Gardiner?" Cory asks with his usual demeanor.
"Sir, I have something I need to discuss with you. I would appreciate if you let me get through it without any interruptions" Charlie implores
"Go ahead Charlie" Cory replies as he sits down next to Charlie.
Charlie tries to speak but stammers and stutters at first. Cory remains silent, he's not sure what he has to talk to him about but by his reaction, it is something big.
Charlie takes a deep breath and starts his story.
During the course of it, Cory can feel himself getting irate but is trying his best to school his features. He doesn't want to scare Charlie away. He wants to know everything. When Charlie pauses after asking him his opinion about whether or not to confess to Lucas and Riley, Cory takes a moment to calm himself.
"Well Mr. Gardiner, I am very glad to know how this all happened and that it will not continue to happen. I'm not going to lie to you, I am very upset that you would do this to my daughter and to Lucas. If nothing else, I thought you were all at least on friendly terms. I will need to discuss this situation with Mrs. Matthews. I am inclined to not have you speak to Riley and Lucas as I think it can only do more harm at this point. I ask that you come see me tomorrow and I will let you know for sure."
"Yes, sir. One last thing. This is the memory card that was in Lucas' phone. I'm sure there is stuff on here that he would want to have." Charlie explains as he hands the memory card to Cory.
"I will see that he gets it" Cory replies as he puts the card in his pocket.
As Charlie heads towards the door he looks back at Cory and says "I will be back to see you tomorrow sir. For what it's worth, having to explain this to you and my parents, especially my mom, scares me more than explaining it to Lucas. There has never been any love lost between him and I but explaining it to people I respect? Much more difficult." Charlie puts his head down and walks out the door.
Later that night, Cory explains everything to Topanga. While they are discussing whether or not Charlie should explain things to Riley and Lucas, Riley calls.
"Hi Honey" Cory and Topanga say in unison.
"Hi Mom. Hi Dad. I'm going to make this a short call. Lucas is here and we are going out to dinner with Aunt Morgan. It's time for me to come home. We will be catching the 12:17pm train back to NY tomorrow, which means we should be arriving in time for dinner." Riley explains. For the first time in weeks, Riley sounds like herself. Her voice is clear and bright.
"Great honey. We will have all of your favorites ready." Topanga replies, relief evident in her voice.
"Can you ask Farkle, Maya and Josh to join us for dinner? I would really like to get everyone's questions out of the way all at once."
"Absolutely honey. I'll start contacting them right away." Topanga leaves the room in search of her cell phone.
"Honey?"
"Yes daddy?"
"Can I talk to Lucas for a second?"
"Sure, hang on a second" Cory can hear Riley calling for Lucas.
"Yes, sir?" Lucas asks as polite as always.
"Am I on speaker?" Cory asks
"No, sir"
"I want to tell you something but I need you to keep it between us."
"Ok, sir" Lucas is puzzled but attentive
"I know who is behind the social media posts. They have confessed their involvement to me and assured me that it will not continue. I believe them as they handed me the memory card from your phone. What I need to know now is do you want them to come clean to you and Riley? Her mother and I are in agreement that we don't want them to talk to you about it as we think it could possibly do more harm than good. Can you talk to Riley and let me know what you guys want?" Cory explains everything in a rush. At one point, he heard Lucas take a sharp breath but other than that, there has been no reaction.
There is a moment or two of silence, he can hear Lucas breathing deeply and he is certain that he is trying to control his anger.
"I will call you back in a few minutes" Lucas says as he hangs up the phone.
Cory hangs up the phone on his end, knowing that Lucas not addressing him as Sir is not a good sign but he has faith that Lucas would not want to upset Riley so he is certain that Lucas is doing his best to stay calm.
Less than 5 minutes goes by before the phone rings again
"Hello?"
"Hi Sir." "Hi Daddy!"
"Lucas…Riley. Did you discuss things?"
"Yes sir we did.'
"And?"
"Daddy, Lucas and I are in agreement, we don't need to know who was behind it. We want to work on getting past it and focusing on all of the good things that are happening."
"Lucas? Are you comfortable with that decision?"
"Yes sir. Since Riley is comfortable with it, so am I. We just want to enjoy our last few months of school. Besides, the important thing is that we know it's over and I am happy to know that I have not lost everything that was on that memory card."
"Ok. I will let them know. You guys enjoy your dinner and we will see you tomorrow night."
"Goodnight Sir. Goodnight Daddy"
Cory hangs up the phone and looks for Topanga.
She is anxious to know what the kids decided.
Cory explains their decision and the reasoning behind it.
"Cory, it sounds like our Riley is on her way back."
"Yes it does honey. She is starting to sound like her old sunshiny self."
"I'm glad that we know who was behind the twitter mess, I don't know that we will ever know who sent her the texts."
"She has a new number now and we will tell her to be aware of who she gives it to. Now, let's plan our menu for tomorrow night so I can go shopping first thing tomorrow." Topanga grabs a notepad and pen.
"First thing tomorrow? Don't you have to work?"
"Nope, I'm taking the day off. My baby girl is coming home." Topanga explains with a wide smile.
"I can't wait to have my family all together under one roof again. We only have a few months before she starts college, you know." Cory replies as he wraps his arms around his wife.
"Shush! I don't want to think about that just yet." Topanga admonishes quietly as she hugs him back.
They snuggle together on the couch and begin to work on their list.
"Lucas?" Riley questions as she walks up to him with their coats in her arms.
"Yeah Riles?" Lucas asks as he holds up her coat for her to slide her arms through.
"Thank you for not being upset by my not wanting to know the details. I just want to focus on us."
"Us…I like the sound of that and like I told your dad, as long as you are comfortable with that, so am I." Lucas answers as he puts his coat on.
Riley leans forward and presses a kiss to his cheek. He looks down into her smiling eyes
"That's all I get? A kiss on the cheek?" he asks her happily.
"It's only our first date, in Philadelphia, sir. What kind of girl do you take me for?" She replies with a sassy wink as she wraps her arms around his waist and lays her head against his chest.
"What kind of girl? Princess, you are one of a kind and you are all mine." He murmurs softly as he kisses the top of her head. "Now let's go before Aunt Morgan comes in looking for us."
They head out to Morgan's car, ready to enjoy their last night in Philadelphia.
A/N: I made up the details about Charlie's family as we don't know much about them. We do know he has sisters that make him watch sappy movies and sit on him like he's a beanbag chair.
I chose not to have a confrontation between Lucas and Charlie as I felt that it would not be what Riley would want. She would not want Lucas to be put in a situation that would test his anger. The reassurance that it was over was enough for her to move on. Also, while important "Twittergate" was not the reason for her downfall, her inability to love and forgive herself was… it was just the final push.
Only 2 chapters left. Next chapter will be a quick time jump between their return, graduation and college.
The final chapter will bring us to the conclusion of chapter 1.
I have written a companion piece to this story. It is a one-shot in Lucas' POV. It will not be as detailed as this story was but touches on these key moments in their story as well as explaining their "present".