On Monday, once I get home it started to pour and Auggie refused to leave. Why he hates the rain is something I will never understand, so instead of doing something, we stay at home, dry, and order a couple of movies off of pay per view and order in some food. This was something we always use to do when I was in New York. We joke and laugh and talk. We talked about Ava and he tried talk about Lucas and I, but I derailed the conversation. He only mentioned him because my phone kept going off with calls or text for him that I ignored. I ignored my phone all together. By the end of the night we were both exhausted.
On Tuesday, Auggie and I both spelt in a little longer. I was the one who went to go jump on him to wake him up. Once we were both up and ready, we leave to start our day. I show him two important places of mine. First, was the café where Auggie met Michael, Jessica and Nathan. Michael and Jessica both took a liking to Auggie and vice versa. Nathan and Auggie talked amongst themselves about Nathan's football game next week and the cheerleader who has his heart, so Auggie gave him some relationship advice.
The second place, is Hope. When we first got there, he didn't get out of the car. I knew he would feel uncomfortable, so I told him to stay in the car. I went to go talk to her, and as I was standing looking down Auggie comes and puts his arm around my shoulder. He asked if he could have a moment, so I gave him to him. I watched from the distance as his lips moved and my heart felt warm. I wish I knew what he said, but that is something between the two of them.
When we leave, I told him he could drive and to wherever he chooses. He picked the one place I didn't want him to. The space needle. We go there every single time he comes, and each time I never go up. I hate heights, but Auggie loves it.
He forced me out of the car and pleaded with me to go up. That takes about ten minutes, but he was able to finally get me on the elevator to go up. I was a nervous wreck the whole way up, but Auggie tried his best to keep my distracted. Even though, I made it up, I counted the seconds until I was back on the ground. I felt like the structure was swaying. I didn't let Auggie know how scared I was because I saw how much he loved it. He took picture after picture with his phone.
We spent hours up there. When we finally came down, Auggie apologized for making me go up. He had nothing to apologize for. I don't think I would do that again though.
Today, I wake up a little earlier than normal. I roll over and reach for my phone and once again Lucas is bombarding my phone. One text is particular catches my eye.
Lucas
FARKLE KNOWS WHERE YOU ARE!
Great! I wonder how much Farkle can take before he gives into the wrath of Lucas. I'm just praying he doesn't go Texas Lucas. Who am I kidding? He just might. I need to talk to Farkle.
Hello?
Farkle! I shout. Lucas knows you know!
I know. He says mildly annoyed. I didn't tell him, so don't worry.
Thank you.
You should tell him though. I scoff. Listen to me. He is hanging on by a thread Riley. He's getting mad because he feels like he is so close to being with you, but at the same time so far away. If you really want to be with him, you need to act on it. I understand you have to resolve feelings about yourself first, but I really think he can help you with that. Just let him try.
Farkle, can you do me a favor? If I try to do it myself, I'll just back out at the last minute.
Anything. What is it?
Before I can answer, Auggie barges through my door. "Goodmorning!" he woke up in a good mood. I look over, and he's already dressed for the day. "What's on the agenda for today?"
Tell Auggie I said hi. Farkle laughs.
"Farkle says hi," I relay the message.
"Sup Farkle," Auggie yells. "I'll be down stairs eating some cereal," he says closing the door behind him.
I'll email you what I need you to do. Thank you so much! I'll talk to you soon okay.
One last thing, talk to Maya. She said she hasn't talked to you since Friday, and she has some news she wants to share with you before she tells the rest of us.
I'll call her and tell Lucas not to give up please. You'll find out soon why. Bye Farkle.
Bye Riley.
After I get on my phone, I open my email and type on the details out of what I need Farkle to do for me. I reread twice and I have to force myself to send it. I toss my phone on my bed, and lock myself in my bathroom to get ready for the day.
After about half an hour, I'm finally ready for the day. I move to grab my phone and as I walk towards to door, the light on my phone flashes on. I stop and look down to see Lucas' name.
Lucas
I guess I'll be seeing you soon. At least that's what Farkle told me. I hope it's true.
Me
It is.
Lucas
You texted back? Well, I can't wait to see you!
I don't text back. I close my bedroom door behind me and down the hall and towards the stairs. I'm halfway down the stair, when I feel my phone vibrate in my hand.
Lucas
In case I don't hear from you the rest of the day, I love you Riley Matthews. Always have and always will.
I can't help the smile that grows on my face and the butterflies awake in my stomach. I stare at my phone rereading the text as I finish the rest of the steps.
"Who's the reason behind that smile?" Auggie voice startles me, and I trip over my own feet. I quickly shove my phone in my pocket.
"No one."
He scoffs, "Okay. Well, when you decide to text Lucas back tell him I say hi." He starts to laugh.
His laugh starts to fade along with the smile, "Riley, can I talk to you about something?"
"Of course," I say plopping myself next to him on the couch. I see nervousness wash over his face. "Hey whatever it is, you can talk to me."
He takes a deep breath, "I've always been kind of mad at you for dropping out of college," my eyes lock on his, but he quickly looks away. "You don't know the kind of pressure mom started to put on me once you told her what you did. It was like she expected me to be the child you were supposed to be."
I open my mouth, but he doesn't let me talk. "She talks about me going to college to become a law like her or even a doctor. School is hard for me. I would drown in law or medical school, but she doesn't seem to understand that. I mean I barely manage getting b's now in high school."
Our matching brown eyes lock, and he is wearing a stern look. "I need you to help me tell mom that I want to go to NYU and study photography." A smile slowly creeps to his face, "It's something I'm really good at, at least that's what my photography teacher says. He submitted some of my pictures into a contest and the winner gets a five-thousand-dollar scholarship," his face is beaming with joy. "I don't think I have a chance, but for my teacher to think I have a chance means a lot."
"I love it. Learning about so many different photographers and their techniques. It's amazing. I want to learn more. Riley, I need to learn more, so I really need your help with mom." Now I know what my dad meant when he said that I found my calling because I think Auggie just did.
"I'm there for you. When do you want to tell her? They come in late tonight."
He shakes his head, "I don't want to ruin Thanksgiving, but before we leave I want to tell her."
"Well whenever you choose to, I'm there." He nods his head. "Hey Aug," he looks at me. "How did you get into photography?"
He looks at me, "Well, when you left I really missed you. I mean you barely called at all in the beginning, I understand why now because of everything that happened," his eyes stay locked on me studying my face, but I just signal him to continue. "I spent a lot of time in your room because sometimes it felt like you were still in New York, and you were just hanging out with you friends or something and you'd be home any minute."
Without thinking, I reach over to grab his hand. "Auggie I'm sorry. I was, I am kind of a horrible sister."
"Are you kidding me? You're the best sister anyone could ask for! Yeah the first year in a half or so sucked with only getting a five-minute phone call twice a month, but that doesn't dismiss everything else you've done for me. Like when I was eleven, and I had my tonsils removed the day before Halloween. I was so mad that I was going to miss out on all the sugary goodness, but I didn't because of you. While I was stuck in bed, you were out trick or treating for hours for me. The best part was I didn't miss a single second of it because the whole time we were facetiming."
He smiles, "When you got home, you showed me the pillow case that was more than half way full. You were apologizing for not getting enough, but all I thought about was how I had the best sister in the world. That's only one of the millions of things you've done for me. I'm really lucky to call you my sister."
My eyes start to water with happy tears, "Awww Auggie!" I waste no time engulfing him into my embrace. After a minute, we let go. "You're a pretty amazing little brother, the best."
He laughs, "Okay, enough with all this mushy stuff back to your question. Well I kept going into your room every once in a while, and I don't know why but the camera Uncle Shawn gave to you always caught my attention. One day, I took it out." I'm about to same something, but he beats me to it. "I know I know I should have asked. I'm sorry. Anyways, I started taking pictures of everything and anything. Some of them came out pretty cool, actually really cool. I still didn't know what exactly I was doing, so Uncle Shawn taught me. He showed me how to focus a camera, using the right light and right angle."
I saw excitement and passion written all over his face as he talked about it. This is what he really wants, and I'm going to do everything I can for him to get that.
"I know it's your camera, but-"
I cut him off, "No, you have it. I love that Uncle Shawn gave it to me, but I never used it. Maybe a few times, but I capture an image by using my words."
His eyes go wide, "I can really have it?" I nod. "Thank you!" he wraps his arms around me. "I actually brought it with me. I can go grab it, and we can leave."
He runs the stairs, "I'll be waiting the car then." I shout after him.
As I wait for him in the car, I pull out my phone to text Maya.
Me
Farkle said you needed to talk to me.
I press send and wait for a response, but not even a minute later she's calling.
Riles, I'm pregnant! I can hear the joy in her voice.
Congratulations!
So, we moved the wedding up a little.
How much is a little?
In two weeks. She laughs
My eyes go wide. That isn't a little bit Maya.
I don't want to wait any longer. I want to be married to Zay. We are going to start a family. I do have one thing to ask you. I see Auggie coming out of the house. I want you up there next me, and I know we aren't exactly past everything yet. I don't want to look back and regret not having you there where you were supposed to me.
Auggie gets in the car. Can we talk about this later? I was actually on my way out with Auggie. I'll call you later.
Uh okay. Bye.
Bye Maya.
Auggie looks at me, and I shake my head. "It's nothing. So where are we going?"
He shrugs his shoulders, "Wherever you want. As long as I can take pictures of something."
"Soo, you wouldn't mind if I stopped by work," Auggie rolls his eyes. "Oh come on. I won't be long. I just want to check on everything, and there is stuff for you to do that's around the building. I'm sure you can find something to take pictures of."
"Fine," he huffs.
I can tell he is irritated. I promised him no more work after I had to make a quick detour on the way home from the cemetery Monday and took longer than twenty minutes to get home. But something has been on my mind since the seeing Farkle.
Once I park on the street, Auggie gets out of the car and starts to walk away. But I call after him.
"Auggie!" he turns around.
"What?"
"I'll only be ten minutes I promise. If I'm any longer, you can go in there and drag me out." I smile at him, and he tries to hide he's smile.
"Ten minutes and I'm come get you." I nod, and he turns on his heels to walk away. I do the say heading the opposite direction.
Everyone is sitting down on their laptops when I enter, but the turn the attention to me when they hear the door. Evan is by my side in a second, and now knowing who he is I feel guilty and a little more uneasy than I usually feel around him. The rest of my employees wave over hi, but the stay focus.
"Evan can I talk to you?" A smile grows on his face.
I start to walk to my office, and he follows on my heels. Once we are alone, I waste no time in asking questions.
"Why didn't you tell me who you were?"
His eyes go wide as a smile spreads on his lips, "I'm guessing Farkle told you who I am."
I nod, "Why didn't you? I came back in Monday looking for you after I found out, but you were already gone. Did you know who I was? I mean obviously you did, you remembered Farkle."
He lets out a light laugh, "At first I didn't recognize you at all actually, I mean you did look familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. I think it was like a week after you had hired me, I decided to finally read some of your post on the website. In one of them, you talk about a dream you had. It was about being back at the ski lodge with someone sitting at the bay window, and he pulls a red little box out. You said he was recreating a moment, but this time it was a ring."
He smiles, "I wondered why I was about to see it so clearly. I thought maybe it was the way you put an immense amount of detail, but that wasn't it. It was the fact that I there when the first moment was created, and that's when I remembered who you were."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
He takes a deep breath, "I kept reading, and you mentioned more than once wanting to leave behind your old life and move forward. That the only people you wanted from that life was your family. I didn't say anything because I was a part of that life, and you what if you didn't want me around because I was a reminder."
"You could have told me, I wouldn't have-" I stop myself. "Okay I might have told you it wasn't going to work out. I'm sorry." I smile. "How did you end up here in Seattle?"
"My mom wanted a fresh start my sophomore year. Once I graduated, I was going to back but never did. This place grew on me, kind of became home." It kind of reminded me Lucas.
"Didn't you want to be a uh, what was it again?" I ask.
"A Sherpa."
I smile, "Yeah that."
"I'm still young."
My phone starts to vibrate in my pocket, and I try to ignore it but it doesn't stop. I pull it out, "Sorry." I say looking at Evan.
"It's okay."
I see I have multiple text messages from Lucas.
Lucas
It finally hit me that I'm finally going to see you. That I'm going to know where you are.
Do you know how happy I am?
You're beautiful Riley Matthews.
I'm going to do whatever I can to make you mine again. I love you.
As I read the texts, I can feel my cheeks hurt a little because of the smile that took over my face. I really do want to be with him, but we do need to finish talking some issues out.
"I've been around for three years, and you've never smiled like that before." His voice pulls me back of my Lucas daze. "Well I have once. That weekend at the ski lodge with-" he searches his mind for the name.
"When I was with Lucas." I finish for him.
"Yeah him. You left to New York for that week and you came back happier. I'm betting he had something to do with it." I don't say anything. "I'm also betting he was the one that was on the phone that one day I came into your office."
I nod, "He was."
"Riley, I don't really know what happened between the two of you, but if I remember correctly, I saw the look I told you about all those years ago." I cock my head to the side in confusion. "He opened possibilities for you that you didn't think was possible. Whether he gave you confidence to believe that, or it was something else. It doesn't change the fact that he was the cause behind it. You loved him then and you still do now." He lets out a sigh, "What I'm trying to say if whatever happened between you to is fixable. Fix it."
"Thank you Evan."
"For what?" he looks confused.
"For saying everything that you just said. I just didn't expect you to be the one to tell me anything regarding me being with someone else, since you-" I stop myself.
"Since I've been pining after you for a while now." I nod. "You're amazing Riley, and you deserve to be happy. I haven't known you since I was little, but I see you push anyone away if they get too close."
I scoff, "how would you know that?"
"I observe things about me and you happen to be one of those." He looks at me, "That sounds creepy, what I'm trying to say it allow yourself to be happy. Stop blaming yourself for what happened with your daughter." My eyes go wide. "You share a lot about yourself when you know people don't know it's you."
He starts to move to the door to leave "Evan," I say as he reaches for the door. "Really thank you."
He smiles, "Anytime."
I walk out of my office right after him and tell everyone goodbye. Once I'm outside, I can see Auggie in the distance walking towards me. My ten minutes must have been up. He sees me moving towards him, but something catches his eye and he captures it in a picture.
My phone starts to vibrate. I expect to see another message from Lucas, but it isn't.
Evan
Please don't wait too long to be happy.
I stare at my phone and read the message. Farkle did say earlier that Lucas was hanging on by a thread, and if I lose him because I waited I'd hate myself even more. I won't ruin my plan though. I just need him to know to keep holding on, but from me.
I click on Lucas' name and put the phone to my ear and hear listen to the ring, but he doesn't answer.
I'm sorry I couldn't get to the phone. I was probably saving an animal or coming up with a master plan to get Riley back. If this is Riley, well than I love you. Beep.
My heart starts to flutter. He is amazing.
That is some voicemail you have there. I laugh. I just I wanted to call and tell you not to give up on me please. I pause and I can feel my heart beat fasten. And one last thing, I love you too, Lucas.
