Farkle: Here
Riley: cominggg
Riley: you got the blanket?
Farkle: Yup. Got the food?
Riley: how could i forget? ;)
Riley quickly throws on her jean jacket and grabs her backpack filled with sandwiches, snacks, and waters for two. Right before she closes the door behind her, she yells out, "See ya mom! I'll be back for dinner!"
Riley steps outside her apartment complex and sees Farkle, checkered blanket in hand. "Ready?" she asks as a smile flits across her face.
"With you? Of course," Farkle bumps her shoulder with his.
They walk several blocks to Central Park, setting down their blanket on an open field. Riley drops her backpack onto the grass and begins taking out the sandwiches.
She notices Farkle's gaze lingering on her face. "What?" she asks, "Do I have something on my face?"
"No," Farkle smiles widely, shaking his head.
"Oh," Riley's face turns red. Riley silently curses her ability to blush so easily. She turns away from Farkle to finish unpacking the food.
Farkle picks up a sandwich and bites into it. "Wow, Gordon Ramsey. You're a world class chef, Matthews."
She giggles. "It's literally just peanut butter and jelly. It's pretty hard to mess up."
"I beg to differ. The balance needs to be just right, and you've got it down. I can't believe we haven't done this before," Farkle says in between bites.
"Yeah, me neither," Riley agrees, and sits back on the picnic blanket, finally relaxed.
After they finish their meal, they both decide to cloudwatch. They lie back on the blanket, their bodies facing opposite directions while their heads lay next to each other.
Riley points to the cumulus above them, "That looks like a unicorn with a party hat."
"I think it looks like a blob," Farkle deadpans.
Riley shoves him lightly. "Come on, Farkley, that can't be what you really see."
All that meets her is silence. They sit like that for a few moments.
Just as Riley is about to say something, Farkle pipes up, "I actually think it looks like a girl. A girl who's way smarter than she gives herself credit for, and a girl who makes killer PB&J."
Riley props her upper body up on her elbow to look at him. But he isn't finished.
He continues, "She's the epitome of sunshine and she's known by all her friends as the most caring, loving person they know."
Farkle mirrors her stance to look back at her.
"Do you really think all that?" Riley mumbles. "I don't think half of it is true."
"But it is," Farkle smiles.
Riley grins broadly. "I didn't know you thought that about me."
"Oh, I was talking about Maya," Farkle smirks.
Riley gasps and pushes at his shoulder, knocking him flat on the blanket. Farkle retaliates by tickling her sides, sending her into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
"Stop...Farkleā¦" is all Riley manages to get out between tickle attacks.
Finally, he stops out of exhaustion and Riley realizes with a start that she's hovering on top of him. Farkle and Riley's giggles slowly fade away as they look at each other. Riley's eyes dart across his face as if she's looking for something but she can't find it. Farkle can't seem to pull his focus away from her.
Just as Riley places her hands on his chest to push off of him, they hear a familiar voice say "Riles? Minkus?"
Farkle winces at Maya's voice as Riley flings herself off of him and scoots towards the other end of the blanket. She finally brings herself to look up to see Maya and Lucas, hand in hand.
"What are you guys doing here?" Lucas asks, confused.
"What? Just having a picnic in the park, two friends, eating, talking, picnic-ing. You know," Riley laughs nervously. She isn't sure why.
"Um, so, are we going to address what we just saw here? Because it needs to be addressed," Maya says.
Farkle shakes his head and shrugs. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just started to tickle her and that's all you were seeing."
"Was it? You sure about that, Farkle?" Lucas raises his eyebrows at Farkle like he knows something Riley doesn't.
"Yes, that's all. Nothing more going on here," Riley answers, nodding vigorously.
She sees Farkle's face fall. He visibly deflates. He mumbles to himself, "Yeah, nothing going on. As always," although Riley catches it and throws him a confused look.
Maya and Lucas look back and forth between Farkle and Riley as though they are piecing together a puzzle.
"What are you guys doing?" Riley asks, in an attempt to shift the conversation.
"Just on a date!" Lucas smiles awkwardly, lifting their interlocked fingers.
Riley realizes that she didn't internally cringe like she used to at the thought of them together.
Maya taps her chin. "Yeah, there's a lot of couples out on dates in Central Park today, huh Huckleberry?"
Farkle and Riley's faces heat up instantly.
"Yeah, and friendly picnics going on," Riley sheepishly adds.
"Right," Maya says as she starts to pull Lucas away from the blanket. "We're off. You two lovebirds, I mean, platonic birds, have fun."
"Really? You could've tried harder with that one," Lucas tells Maya.
"Yeah, yeah I know. It's all I got right now, okay cowboy? I didn't expect to see Riley and Farkle on a date today," she mutters as they walk away.
Riley barely catches what they say because she's too busy trying to calm her thoughts down.
"That was...something," Riley mumbles.
Farkle nods, but doesn't quite meet her eyes. He continues to eat, awkwardly adding, "this sandwich, though."
The second they open Farkle's front door, something feels off.
"You always say you're going to support my scientific achievements, and you didn't come to the last conference where I presented. And now, you're not coming to the national science foundation banquet with me?"
"I told you, I have to finish up my research for the 25th anniversary of the company," Farkle vaguely registers his mom's voice yelling from their room upstairs.
"It's always something!" Farkle's dad shoots back.
Riley blushes from the awkward silence that follows. Farkle coughs to try and clear the air.
"Are you going to forget about me just like you've forgotten about Farkle!? You haven't bothered to really talk to him for weeks," Farkle's dad shouts.
"Oh and you think you're father of the year or something? You haven't even glanced at him in months. Where is your son right now? Do you even know?"
"Do you?" Farkle's dad answers.
Riley looks up at Farkle with glassy eyes. Farkle says nothing. Riley touches his upper arm, "I'm so sorry you're caught in the middle of this. I can go, if you want?"
She pulls her arm away but he reaches out to grab it. "No. Wait."
She looks back up at him, confused, but when she meets his gaze everything makes sense. He looks broken.
"You're insufferable. I'm calling the lawyer Monday," Farkle's mom screams.
Riley and Farkle hear the bedroom door slam loudly, leaving silence in its place.
Farkle studies his shoes. "Riles...is there any way I could come over for a bit tonight? Or, stay the night? I am not ready to face my parents after that. And I know they're just gonna use me against each other. I just-"
"Of course Farkle, I just want you to feel comfortable. I can't imagine it's easy being home with all of this happening. C'mon, my parents will definitely allow it. I might have to beg my dad a little though." Riley jokingly adds but it falls flat.
Farkle doesn't mind. "I'll grab my stuff," he whispers, the corner of his mouth tilting upwards.
They get into Riley's room, and Farkle drops his backpack on the ground. He sits down on her bed and visibly deflates. Riley leaves the room to ask her parents if Farkle can stay over.
She re-enters the bedroom and tells Farkle, "Okay I've got good news and bad news."
"Good news first," Farkle replies.
"Okay, so my parents said yes, but they want you sleeping on the couch."
"Darn. That really is bad news," Farkle forces a laugh. "I'm joking. Seriously, thank you so much."
"It's nothing, that's what friends are for," Riley smiles. Something about that sentence feels weird in her mouth.
He gives her a tight smile and nods.
Riley sits down, leaving a few inches between them. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Farkle sighs. "What about it?"
"How you're feeling? What's going through your head? Anything? Farkle, you can't just ignore this, you can't just keep it all inside," Riley urges.
"Yes, I can. I haven't run into any problems so far," Farkle shrugs.
"Farkle, you can't keep doing this forever! I need you to talk to me. I know it's hard but I also know that what you're doing to yourself is only going to hurt you in the future. You need to deal with this now. Talk to me, please."
"Fine. I don't know what to say...but I'll try. I feel like I'm drowning. My parents aren't my parents right now. Both of them use work as an excuse to avoid all the issues growing between them. They use work to ignore each other, and with that, me. I feel like I don't have parents right now. I feel alone. I hear them fighting and I just want to scream. But I can't. I can't break down for even a second because if they knew how much I was hurting it would break them. It would make them realize how shitty everything actually is, and then they might actually go get divorced. I want my family back."
Riley just listens to Farkle without interrupting. She'd never seen him open up to her like this. Or, anyone. She feels the bed shake slightly, and looks over to see him crying.
"I've never told anyone this before," he whispers, feeling her stand from her spot on the bed.
She kneels on the floor in front of him and says, "Farkle, look at me."
Farkle can't bring his eyes off his hands entangled in his lap.
"Farkle," Riley softly pleads, "look at me." She gently brings her hand to his chin and tilts it up slightly. Reluctantly, he meets her gaze.
"I can tell you're hurting, and if there was any way I could take away even a little bit of the pain you're experiencing I would do it in a second. But I can't. You're going to have to process this yourself in order to get past it, and I know you're strong enough, Farkle. You don't have to keep this all inside. Talk to your parents. They need to know how they're affecting you so they can be more self aware. Your feelings matter and deserve to be heard."
A tear slides down Farkle's cheek. "But how? How do I let my parents know they're breaking me without breaking them too?" Just as Farkle manages to get the question out, a sob breaks loose.
Riley reaches up and wraps her arms around his shoulders, rubbing circles into his back. Farkle crumples into her arms. They stay like that for a while, until Riley breaks the silence by sighing and whispering into his ear, "I don't know. But I believe in you and I believe in time, and I know things will turn out the way they're supposed to. You just need time."
They hold each other until the pain in Farkle's chest dulls. It could've been hours when he pulls back slightly, but it feels like minutes. Farkle's face is less than an inch away from hers. Her arms are still clasped around his neck, while his arms encircle her. His eyes flick back and forth between her eyes, as if they hold the answers. As Riley gazes back up at him, things are starting to make sense to her. She liked wearing his sweatshirt that day. She likes spending time with him more than she ever did with Lucas. She misses him when he's not around. And she wants to hold him until all his problems disappear. All of a sudden she realizes she has slowly been subconsciously leaning forward and she only notices when her nose grazes his. He can't help himself when he tilts forward. Riley's eyelids flutter shut in anticipation. Their lips brush against each other, only for a second. Riley feels herself give in, expecting the feeling of his lips pressed against hers, but the warmth of his lips never comes.
He leans back, causing Riley's arms to fall to her sides, hanging limply on the bed, and her eyes to snap open. Farkle abruptly stands up, and coughs awkwardly before quickly mumbling, "Uhh, gotta go to the couch, I'm pretty tired." He can't even look at her.
Riley feels cold with his absence and surprisingly feels disappointed. Her face turns red from embarrassment and her stomach twists. Farkle is already almost out of her room when he stops in the doorway. Without turning around, he says, "Thanks, Riley. You always know the right thing to say."
Then, he's gone.
That night she has trouble falling asleep with thoughts of almosts and what ifs.
