Riley follows Lucas inside and looks around.
This feels so much more like a home than mine.
There are family photos on the wall, shoes scattered by the door, and a dog pillow next to a food dish near the door that must lead to the kitchen. It feels like someone lives here, unlike her house, where her parents are rarely ever home.
She follows him upstairs into his room. She's surprised for a moment at how tidy everything is. He is a teenage boy, right? She wanders over and sits on the bed while he rummages through his closet, finally grabbing a shirt and a pair of jeans. He turns and walks out of the room, presumably to change. Riley glances around and notices a picture on his desk. It's of him, Maya, and that other kid... Genuine smile boy. It looks a few years old, given how much closer to the same height the boys seem compared with the height difference now. They still look pretty much the same, maybe a little shorter, a little rounder.
The biggest change is genuine smile. In the picture, his hair is floppy and he's wearing an orange turtle neck. It's kinda cute. She doesn't hear Lucas come up behind me so when he says, "Oh, the good old days," She jumps and falls back into his chest. He laughs, catching her. She blushes and continues to look at the picture.
"What's his name?" She asks, pointing at the boy, realizing she still hasn't learned his name.
"Oh that's Farkle."
"Farkle? How unfortunate."
"But he's a great friend so we've learned to live with it," he says, laughing.
"Ready to go?" he asks. She nods and turns back to him after one final glance at the young trio.
"As I'll ever be," she says, letting him lead the way out of the house.