Auggie gets a phone call from Ava a few minutes into our walk. He is a little hesitant at first because he didn't want to leave me alone, but I urge him to go. I watch him walk away, and I feel a little anxious to be alone on the streets on New York. It's not because I'm scared something is going to happen, I'm scared I'm going to run into someone from my past. I ran into one person already. I don't know if I'll be able to handle running into someone else, but I have an eerie feeling that is exactly what's going to happen.
The whole time I'm walking I'm looking at the floor. One reason is that I'm trying to hide my face, and another reason being I'm still clumsy and I have a tendency to watch where I step. When I finally look up, I can't believe where I'm standing. At the top of the stairs that lead to Topanga's, my mom's café. I haven't been here in years. When I'm here, I usually don't leave the apartment. So yeah, I haven't been here in years.
Against my better judgement I take the steps down. One step at a time, and I can feel nervous building inside the pit of my stomach. Why? I have no idea. That is until I'm at the bottom of the stairs standing in front of the window that peers into the café. It still looks the same. My mom was never susceptible to change. I wanted to walk in, but something stopped me. I see a group of three guys sitting at a booth. Two backs are facing me, and one is facing me.
I looked longer than I should have because a pair of blue eyes lock onto my stare. I see him make a movement to stand up and without a second thought I hurry up the stairs. I wasn't fast enough.
"Riley?" I want to ignore him. I really do. I try to keep walking. "Riley, I know it's you and I know you can hear me."
I turn around, "Hi, Farkle."
"It's really you! You're back." He takes a step to me reaching out his arms, but I take one back dodging his hug. I can see the smile drop from his face.
"I'm only here for a week, and then I leave."
"Maybe we can grab lunch. Catch up."
"I'm really busy."
"Oh." There is an awkward silence. "Why don't you come inside for a bit. I'm with Zay and –"
I cut him off, "I really have to go. Nice seeing you, Farkle." I give him a small smile and right before I turn around to leave I see him walk out. Lucas freaking Friar. Of course. The universe hates me
"Hey man, where did yo-" he stops mid-sentence when his gaze shifts to me. "Riley?"
"Yes, it's me! Look I really have to go. Goodbye." I don't hesitant for a millisecond before I'm rushing up the stairs trying to get as far away from this place as I can.
The one place I want to retrieve to is my parents' apartment, but it's currently being held hostage by my former best friend. It shouldn't come as a surprise; it has always been like that since the moment I met her.
When I get back to the apartment building, I go to the roof instead of going inside. I don't know if Maya is still there, and I don't want to find out. This roof has always been my sanctuary. It wasn't a secret, everyone knew, but it never stopped me from running here. I think they took comfort in knowing where I was with giving me my space. That or they didn't care. One of those reasons is why no one ever came after me. Whenever I needed to get away from my life for a minute, I would come here. It was almost like the rest of the world didn't exist while I was up here. I had brought sunflowers up here to plant in the little garden that was abandoned to bring some life to the roof. I look over and I see that that they have withered away. I don't think people come up here much.
"I thought I would find you here." A voice startles me.
I turn around to see my dad walking onto the roof. "Hi dad!" I waste no time in throwing myself into my dad's arms. I've always been a daddy's girl. He is the one person I miss the most.
He pulls away and looks down at me, "I heard what happened. Are you okay?" I nod. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah I'm fine." I clear my throat trying to hide the fact that my voice is breaking because I'm fighting back tears. "So, how have you been dad? How's the new job as principal?"
"I'm doing really good. As for the job, I love it. I feel like I'm making a difference in more students lives other than the ones I teach. Oh gosh, now I'm really Mr. Feeney." He lets out a laugh and so do I. "How is everything going in Seattle?"
"Everything is fine."
"Just fine, nothing exciting"
"No, why?"
"Well I don't know. Maybe I should ask Olivia Hope?"
I look at him with wide eyes, "Wh-what did you say?"
"Olivia Hope." He smiles.
"Where did you hear that name?"
He starts to laugh a little. "You accidently included me in a group email a few weeks ago signed Olivia Hope. I did some digging around. Found out my daughter is the famous creator of the website HopeInTheSky." He looks at me waiting for a response, but I don't say anything. "Riley, how come you never said anything? You sole handedly created this website that is worth millions now. "
I blink a couple of times before I manage to let words out. "Does mom know?"
"She doesn't. I didn't tell her. You kept it a secret for a reason. I wanted to respect that, but now that you know I know I do want to tell- "
"No!" I cut him off. "Please, just keep this between us. She'll ask questions, push for answers. You know how she is."
He puts a comforting arm around my shoulder, "She worries about you. She thinks the worst things possible ever since you dropped out of college half way through your sophomore year. Then you tell us you were working for a website a few months after that, when in reality you were running and managing the website. I just want to ease her mind."
I look at him. He can't be serious, but he is. "If I don't tell her, you'll just tell her anyway won't you?" I ask and a smirk spreads across his lips. "Okay you can tell her, but not until I'm back in Seattle. I don't want to be here for the integration."
He holds he hand out, "Deal." I take his hand and shake it.
"You are only 22 years old and you're so successful. How did all that happen?"
I take in a deep breath, "To be honest it started as a personal blog in the beginning of my sophomore year. A place I needed to let everything out. Soon I was getting asked advice from people who were in similar situation. I didn't want people to know who I was, so I came up with an alias. It became a lot bigger than I had anticipated and caught the attention of some pretty rich people who wanted to endorse it. They paid for me to rent out a building, but I couldn't do it all on my own. I hired some people. That was probably the hardest part. I had to make sure they were the right people from different walks of life, so I had diversity. I was so picky. It took me a month to hire the handful of people I have now. They are probably some of the best people that I know." My dad doesn't say anything; he just stares at me. "Do I have something on my face?"
He shakes his head and smiles at me, "You found your calling in life. I see the passion on your face. I'm so proud of you."
I can't help the smile that spreads across my face, "Thanks dad."
"I'm going to head inside. You come when you're ready." I nod and watch him walk in.
After my dad left the roof, my curiosity gets to me and I pull out my phone to look for the email that I sent my dad. Well, at least I know why Cory Martinez was late to the meeting that day. My dad got the email instead of him. I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I had kept it a secret for years and to finally let someone in on it, felt like a relief. I'm just glad my dad is waiting until I leave to tell my mom.
I spend about another hour on the before I thought I was in the clear to go back to the apartment without running into Maya. I was wrong.
I walk through my door and I see Maya with my mom's arm draped across her shoulder. They are to consumed into their conversation to realize my presents in the room. Hello déjà vu. I close the door as quietly as I came in hopes of escaping to my room. That was quickly demolished when Auggie barges in and makes his presents known.
Maya looks at me, and I can see her red puffy eyes. "Riles, can w-"
I cut her off, "Riley. You don't get to call me Riles anymore, and no we can't talk."
"Please. I owe you an apologize." I roll my eyes. She can't be serious right now. "Please Riley." She begs.
"I'm going to my room." I walk up the stairs to my room. I just want to be alone, but I don't get that.
I don't even reach my door before I hear footsteps coming up the stairs. Please be Auggie. I turn around and come face to face with the blonde hair blue eye beauty. She really had the audacity to follow me up here. I ignore her and keep walking to my room.
I'm about to close my door when a foot stops it. "Maya, please just go away."
"Not until you hear me out."
"Hear you out! You can't be serious right now?!"
"Please Riley just listen to me." I see tears run down her cheek. I almost want to grab her and pull her into my arms, but then I remembered what happened.
"Maya leave me alone."
"Not until I apol-"
I've had enough, I stop her, "You want to apologize for what Maya?! For kissing Lucas and telling him to leave me when you knew I was-" I stop myself, " You not only hurt me, but you destroyed Zay. Just forget. Save it I don't want to hear it."
"Riles, I-"
"Riley."
"Riley, I had my reasons. Just please let me explain." She tries to make her way into my room, but I stop her. "Please, I've lived with guilt for the past five years because I hurt you. I tried to find you, but you disappeared completely. Your mom wouldn't even tell me where you were."
"Wow, for once she chose me over you."
"Riley, you are still my best friend and my-"
"Yeah, you really showed that." I look down and something shiny catches my eye. I see a diamond engagement ring on her finger. "I hope you and Lucas are happy together." I gesture to her hand.
"Actually, I'm engaged to Zay." That catches me by surprise.
"I don't understand how that even happen after everything, but congratulations." I say with a hint of sarcasm.
"If you let me explain, you'll understand everything. I did it for you. I need you in my life, but in order for that to happen I need you to listen so you can forgive me."
"Maya, I do want to forgive." I see her eyes light up, "but I also want to forgot you." And the light quickly fades. "Just please, leave me alone." I close the door not wanting to hear anything else. Not even a minute later, there is knock at my door. "Just leave Maya!" I shout.
"It's not Maya." I hear my mom's voice call out from the other side of the door.
"Come in."
I walk over to sit at the bay window, and my mom follows suit. "I think you need to hear what Maya has to say."
I laugh, "Are you serious?" I look at her, "You are! Get out." I point to the door.
"There is a lot you don't know."
"Yeah. They also had the two weeks between prom and graduation to explain, but they didn't. If you are going to sit here and defend any of them to me, you can leave please. You knew everything that happened," all but one thing. "You held me while I cried during those two weeks. You saw how broken I was, but you want to know what I remember most."
"What?"
I feel the burning in my nose and the tears in my eyes, "That whenever Maya needed you and you were comforting me, you would rush to her side." My mom doesn't even look at me. She tries to hug me. "Don't, just leave." She turns on her heels to the door, but I stop her. "One quick question." She just nods her head. "Your vow renewal, who did you invite?"
"Everyone."
Whether I wanted to or not, before this trip was over I was going to face people from the past I wanted to leave there. I have a feeling a lot of things are going to come over. A lot on their end, but mainly secrets on my end.
