Chapter 14

"I am so sorry

I never meant to hurt you like this, I never even saw the pain you were in and I know that's because I wasn't looking hard enough. I always promised that I would love you and Maya equally and yet I can see that my attention was always shifted towards Maya more. I think I felt like out of all of us, you had the best family around you, your parents are present and care so much for you and Auggie, my dad wasn't around much and was more focused on money, Mayas dad left and her mum was working so hard to earn enough money that she was alone and I hated seeing her that way, I always wanted to make sure you were both happy but you always seemed so happy that my attention waned towards Maya and I never even looked hard enough to realise you needed us too." Farkle hung his head as he spoke, his eyes focused on his hands as he twirled his thumbs around each other, never in his life had he felt as nervous as he did now. "I have realised from watching how everyone you have met here and Zayne and Vanessa treasure you, helped you to grow and cheer you through any challenge, I can say honestly that it wouldn't have even crossed my, Maya's or Luke's mind to suggest you to do horse riding let alone doing tricks. I know the reason why now was because we had absorbed an idea that you are fragile, naive and innocent and that we couldn't let the world get hold of that. I told Lucas you still liked him even though you asked me not to because I thought I knew better and yet now I know that was the first of many mistakes I made. I am sorry I never saw you for who you are Riley, I am sorry I wasn't there for you..." Farkle trailed off as sobs racked his body. He never imagined the pain that losing Riley would cause him because he never thought she would be the one to leave.

Riley watched with a pained expression at one of her oldest friends sobbing. Although he had hurt her by leaving her, she knew that he hadn't hurt her as much as Maya and Lucas had. Sighing softly she lent her head on Farkle's shoulder. She felt his body still with shock slightly at the weight of her head on his shoulder.

"Farkle, you do know I could never hate you right? It hurt yes, I won't lie. You and Maya were the two people I thought I could always depend on, you were always so adamant that you loved us both equally." She chuckled softly as tears came down her face. "I always felt like I was in the shadows of everyone, my mum is this amazing lawyer, my dad an amazing teacher, Lucas rode the bull, Maya artistic and cool, you and Smackle with your genius brains, Zay and his comedy and what did I have? Riley the super klutz? Riley who's most likely to smile to death? Riley the purple cat painter? Oh how about Riley the girl who made Maya soft.. I didn't even know how to be anything but those, then I saw Maya and Lucas." Riley shifted her weight forward, off Farkle's shoulder as she looked up at the sky. Farkle's eyes still full with tears followed her every move. "That hurt so much, my best friend kissing the guy I liked and who I thought liked me. Not long after we had sorted out the whole triangle. Both of them had their arms wrapped around each other. I couldn't stand it, I ran, I felt like my heat was completely broken and I didn't know how to fix it. I thought that maybe they'd talk to me about it, call me and tell me what happened and why and try to continue to be friends and I vowed that I wouldn't go to them. I wasn't going to chase them but they never came, they didn't even notice me not hanging around and so then I thought surely you'd and Smackle would notice but no. Only Zay did. Zay was there through it all, but I never wanted him to be in the middle I was worried for him." Riley took a deep breath as she felt like a slight weight lift off her shoulders at admitting how hurt she was.

"I don't expect you to forgive me Riley, I really don't but is there any way you could give me a chance to make this right, to show you I will never do this again." Farkle pleaded, his heart was pounding in his chest as he awaited her answer. Riley was silent for a minute as she looked at his face, she could see the dried tear streaks on his face, his eyes filled with hope and she felt her heart soften.

"Okay, I can't go back to the Riley I was though, I don't need the Riley committee, I need to be me and to continue to explore who I am." Riley smiled softly as Farkle smiled.

"I like the Riley you are now. It suits you." Farkle responded honestly as Riley lent into him again, he put his arm around her shoulder and lent his head on hers.

"Well now isn't this a sweet sight." A deep voiced drawled behind them causing them both to turn and smile as they saw Zay standing behind them with his hands in his pockets. "Mind if I join?" He asked before bounding over and landing on the floor so that Riley was in the middle.

Sorry for such a long wait for an update! I hope you enjoy this chapter! A big thank you to Ghostwriter for the idea of Farkle apologising for putting Riley in that position on New Year's Eve! I think that although Farkle messed up he wouldn't have caused as much pain as Maya and Lucas did, I loved Farkle and Riley's relationship so want to have a couple of inserts of that without losing the Riley we have now! Lots of love to you all!