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I know on the show it was implied that the group took a train to Texas, but that makes absolutely no sense for a weekend trip so they're flying in this version.
"And then she told me that she'll consider it a personal offense if I don't keep in touch, and that she's gonna try and convince her parents that they should take their vacation in the city this year." Zay unrolls a sleeping bag across the living room floor while he excitedly recounts his night out with Vanessa. "Who knew that all it takes for a girl to notice you is to have other girls flirt with you in front of her?"
Lucas and Farkle share a look with each other before staring pointedly at their friend. "Everyone."
"Oh, like you two are such great experts on women."
"Better than you. I have Izzy, and Lucas here has-," Farkle cuts himself off and his grin fades as he seems to notice the territory they're approaching. He and Zay have been in high spirits since their return from the ice cream shop and even with his new complications and relationship troubles to deal with Lucas found their excitement and enthusiasm infectious enough to relax and turn his mind off of worrying about what was going to happen with Riley and Maya for a few minutes. Until now. "Well, what is happening there?"
Zay nods, stopping his work in setting up his makeshift bed. "Yeah, what happened after we left the campfire? And why is Riley sleeping in your room?"
The original plan for the weekend was for the boys to sleep in the room that Pappy Joe keeps for Lucas whenever he stays over and for Riley and Maya to share the actual guest room, but, like most of the other things Lucas had been planning on for this trip, with everything that's happened today, that has gone out the window. "I gave Riley my room because she and Maya had a fight." Lucas says and he goes on to explain that Riley had been planning on sleeping out back in the hammock and the only real option was to insist she take his room and that the boys could sleep out in the living room. He doesn't mention that since she left all of her things in the guest room and neither of them were in the position to disturb Maya, he also left her with one of his sweatshirts so she wouldn't have to spend an uncomfortable night sleeping in her clothes; information like that would only fuel the fire of Zay's interest and lead to some sort of awkward situation later on when he inevitably makes an inappropriate comment.
"What did they fight about?" Farkle asks.
Before Lucas can answer, Zay claps him on the shoulder. "Adjusting to the brother thing just fine, I see."
Lucas jerks from the touch, feeling the tethers he has on his control slip away. He's been so careful all day, schooling his reactions when Maya refused to support him at the rodeo and when Riley first gave her speech ending things between them. His world has gone upside down figuratively and literally multiple times today and he thinks he's done a pretty good job of staying calm and thinking things through before he reacts. But doing all of that has been exhausting and hearing someone else call Riley his sister, even when they've already straightened things out and both agree that's not what she really is, is enough to bypass the walls of control he has left.
"Riley is not my sister!" He watches the wide-eyed look that passes between Farkle and Zay and immediately feels bad for unleashing his frustration on them. "Sorry." He sighs and falls back onto the couch. "It's just...After you guys left us at the fire, I told Maya that I only like her as a friend."
"Oh snap." Zay whistles. "That couldn't have gone over well."
"It was fine. I mean, she wasn't happy but she wasn't mad or anything either. It seemed fine. And later Riley and I talked. She admitted that the brother thing wasn't true. We both still like each other."
Farkle has half a smile on his face as he raises an eyebrow. "Well, that's a good thing, isn't it? Things can go back to how they were and everyone's happy."
"Not exactly. Things seemed OK. Maya's pretty upset. Riley wouldn't really tell me about it, but I'm pretty sure that's what the fight was about."
Zay nods sagely, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Oh, I know about this one. You both still like each other, only you can't do anything about it because it would be unfair to Maya, leaving everyone in an uncomfortable, tensely awkward limbo. They've spent the last season and a half dealing with something just like it on High School Love Dodecahedron."
"You actually watch High School Love Dodecahedron?"
"You don't?" Zay returns Farkle's incredulous question with one of his own. "It's amazing."
"It's the same episode every week. Person A likes B who used to date C and D has a thing for B, even though B is still totally hung up on C, and E and F are dating but F is flirting with D. Two of them have a moment where it looks like they'll finally get together but at the last minute someone else shows up and ruins everything with a dramatic revelation. And it starts all over again."
Lucas smirks, his drama temporarily put on hold. "For someone who doesn't watch the show you sure seem to know a lot about it."
Zay and Farkle both ignore him. "I know it can get a little cheesy and dramatic," Zay admits, "but it's addicting. Everyone has chemistry with everyone else, and you have to watch to find out who's going to be endgame. Plus, the writers are really active on Twitter, and they swear that by the end of the season these crazy kids are gonna work everything out. Which is great because things have been super awkward and sad since Rose and Logan decided to only be friends to spare Mia's feelings."
His plot summary brings things back to reality. Lucas wants to roll his eyes as he usually would when Zay tries to compare television and real life, but this comparison hits a little too close to home. He shakes his head instead to get rid of the unease settling in his stomach. There's no reason to think things will happen anything like they do on the show. Riley, Maya, and him are real people. They're not stuck under the control of some writers' room beholden to a divided fan base; they know how to talk with each other and straighten things out on their own. "It's not gonna be awkward."
They both look skeptical. "Then what is gonna happen?"
"Riley and Maya are gonna figure things out and we're all just gonna be friends." Another look is exchanged between Farkle and Zay, like they both think he's being crazy and unrealistic. "We are. Riley and I agree that our friendship and Maya's is more important than anything romantic that might happen between us."
"I'm sure you did man." Zay says, looking just as unconvinced. "And I don't know a lot about this stuff, so maybe it'll work out just like you said, but in my...limited experience, what you think is the right thing to do and what your feelings make you do aren't always the same thing."
Riley knows that at some point she fell asleep, because she doesn't know that the sun is up until it's flooding the room and everything is too bright for her to keep her eyes closed, but it feels like she's been awake for days. Her eyes still feel tired and grainy, her mind is sluggish and if it weren't for the too hot feeling of being tangled up in the sheets and blankets she wouldn't want to move at all. A glance at the clock on the bedside table tells her that it's barely after seven, and on a normal weekend she wouldn't think twice about rolling over, throwing a pillow over her head and going back to sleep but since they have to spend most of the day traveling to get back to New York for school on Monday and that means a relatively early start, now seems as good a time as any to get up and get going.
Especially if getting up before everyone else means she'll be able to get her things out of the guest room and get ready for the day without anyone seeing her in Lucas' sweatshirt. The last thing they need is for anyone to get the wrong idea about what's going on between them, particularly Maya.
So Riley rolls out of the bed and does her best to smooth out the bedding before grabbing yesterday's clothes off the floor and tiptoeing out of the room.
She'd had a hard time falling asleep last night. Her mind had been racing, trying to process the day and to figure out what things were going to be like now. And now that she's awake, she's right back to thinking about it. What are things going to be like with everyone today? What do Zay and Farkle know about what happened last night? Is Maya still going to be mad at her? Are things with Lucas going to be awkward or weird?
Riley knows that choosing to be just friends with him was the right decision; she's not the sort of person who does something when she knows it will cause someone else pain and being with Lucas would definitely hurt Maya. Plus if they stay friends instead of boyfriend and girlfriend, they don't have to worry about anything hurting their relationship so that's two pluses right there for keeping things platonic. It's for the best for things to stay as they are (even if Lucas brought up some good points last night and she's not as worried about that) and it's doing the right thing by Maya. Riley knows that they made the right decision, but it still hurts and feels strange and she can't help but wonder if that's going to carry over when they talk to each other again.
A part of her thinks awkward would be better. If they're awkward, it should be obvious that nothing is happening between them. Maya's upset, at least partly, because Lucas didn't share her feelings and because Riley caused that revelation. Riley has to believe that she'll only feel worse if she thinks that Riley and Lucas are completely ignoring her feelings and moving forward with their own relationship. She wants it to be as clear as possible that nothing has changed and she and Lucas aren't going to be anything other than friends. Maya might be ready to hear an apology sooner if she realizes that Riley's trying to make it up to her.
Which is why she's worried about anyone seeing her in Lucas' sweatshirt. Obviously nothing happened, Lucas was just being a good host, but she knows what it looks like if you're wearing anything of a boy's, especially if you slept in it. She can only imagine the winking comments and innuendo if Zay were to see her.
Thankfully, other than the sounds of someone moving around the kitchen the house is still quiet, and it seems she's lucked out. Riley darts down the hall to the guest room. The door is ajar so she walks right in, assuming Maya is still asleep. Instead Riley finds her standing at the dresser, getting ready for the day. She's already dressed, hair wet from a shower, and doing her makeup in the mirror.
Maya notices her right away. She doesn't stop the application of her lip gloss, just angles her eyes briefly to take in Riley's reflection. She sighs once, but doesn't say anything and Riley has never felt smaller in the presence of her friend. Obviously, she's not ready to talk about it.
"I just...need to grab my things and I'll get out of your way." Riley says, angling past Maya to get to her overnight bag. Maya still doesn't say anything, which hurts more than Riley would care to admit. They've fought before, but even during their worst arguments that lasted for days they would still talk to each other; it's always still felt like she had her best friend. Now it hasn't been twelve hours and Maya's not even acknowledging her and if her words the night before had been painful they had nothing on the aching void of this silence. It seems like the only thing to do is copy her and not say anything lest her feelings betray her so Riley simply grabs her bag and turns to leave.
Maya's flat tone stops her under the door frame. "Nice sweatshirt."
Of course she noticed. Of course she recognized it. Why would anything go the way Riley was planning? She takes a deep breath and turns around, hoping Maya will listen to the explanation. "I didn't have anything to sleep in."
"So naturally you went running to him."
"I didn't want to bother you while you were so upset."
"Saint Riley to the rescue."
Riley does her best to ignore Maya's bitter comment. She reminds herself that she's only lashing out because she's hurt, hopes she doesn't mean half of it, and tells herself that if Maya wants to be mad at someone it's better that it's her. Another part of her still crumbles. "You asked for space. I was just giving it to you."
"But you gave it to me by going to him."
Riley frowns. Maya may be hurt and disappointed but why isn't she listening? Why doesn't she trust that Riley would never do anything to hurt her? "Lucas is my friend, Maya."
Maya finally turns around. "So are Farkle and Zay. Why aren't you wearing something of theirs?"
"They weren't here. Lucas was. Why are you being so weird about this?" Riley wants to be calm and reasonable about all of this so when Maya is ready, fixing things will be easier. She knows if she loses her temper and things escalate there will only be more stuff to straighten out and apologize for later, but she can feel her patience dwindling. She's willing to cut Maya a fair amount of slack, but it's not fair that she's acting like she's the only one affected by what happened the night before. Things are different for all of them now. They're all going to have to adjust and things would go a lot better if Maya would at least acknowledge that and maybe remember that she's dealing with friends who care about her.
"I don't think it's weird to be upset that you went right back to how things were with him. Supposedly he's your brother now, but the second you find out he doesn't like me you go running back to him."
"I didn't go running to him, he found me, Maya." Riley throws her hands up. Maya's not listening and she's twisting everything around and Riley can't keep banging her fists against that wall. Her patience snaps. "And yeah, we talked about everything but the only thing we went back to is friendship. Lucas is my friend. One of my best friends. I'm sorry he doesn't like you, really, I am, because I know it would have made you happy and I know how hurt you are now and I hate that you feel like that. But last night you didn't want my help and just because you want to stay alone and feel sorry for yourself doesn't mean I have to. I'm not gonna stop hanging out with someone who's been a good friend to me when his only crime is not returning your feelings and being up front about it instead of leading you on, and if you think that I should then maybe we aren't as good friends as I thought."
Riley storms out before Maya has a chance to form a reply and hurries down the hall to the bathroom. Her bluster fades as soon as the door closes behind her. What was she thinking? What happened to being a calm voice of reason? How could she give into her own hurt and irritation like that? This was supposed to be about Maya.
She blinks back her frustration and disappointment in herself and clenches her jaw tightly as she starts to get ready for the day.
Riley forgoes a shower (she'll just feel gross after a day on a plane and take one when she gets home anyways) opting instead to throw her hair up into a messy bun. She brushes her teeth and washes her face before changing her clothes and stuffing everything haphazardly back into her bag. She doesn't bother with makeup; more often than not she still feels like a little girl playing dress-up when wears more than lip gloss, not like a fierce woman in her war paint like Maya and her mom seem to become with just a swipe of blush and mascara.
Besides which, she's Riley 'Sunshine' Matthews. Her smile is her war paint. So before she leaves to go get breakfast she finds one in the mirror.
Riley leaves her bag back in Lucas' room and goes to the kitchen, where Pappy Joe has made a veritable feast. Lucas, Farkle, and Zay are all sitting around the table still in their pajamas, devouring the food. Maya has a plate of eggs, but despite there being space at the table, she's sitting in the makeshift bay window staring outside while she eats. Riley's heart gives off an echo-y pang in her chest and her smile droops down a little. She can't even decide what to do about it before Pappy Joe greets her.
"Good mornin' Miss Riley."
"Good morning Pappy Joe." She boosts her grin back up for him. He's been so welcoming this weekend and doesn't deserve to get any drama or upset as his thanks.
"Sit right down and help yourself to whatever you want. You kids have a long day ahead of you and the best way to start that off right is with a full stomach."
"Well everything looks great." Riley comments, taking the empty seat between Zay and Farkle. The table is loaded with breakfast food. Stacks of pancakes, a pile of scrambled eggs, toast, breakfast meats, pitchers of milk and orange juice, and just about anything a person might want to put on top of any of it. "I don't even know where to start."
Farkle serves himself several slices of bacon, piling them on top of his half-eaten pancakes. "If you want any of this I'd get going on it. This pig is shaping up to be my next tasty conquest."
Lucas smirks. "I don't think we have the whole pig."
Pappy Joe reminds them that they have an hour before they have to leave for the airport and excuses himself from the room. Riley pours herself some orange juice while the boys talk more about how many pieces of bacon equals a whole pig and enjoys the moment; aside from Maya distancing herself from the group things feel natural and comfortable. There's a glimmer of hope that not everything has changed.
But just as quickly, in a rush of pessimism she's not used to, Riley finds herself wondering what she'll have to sacrifice to keep this the same. She shakes the thought away as quickly as she can. Negativity doesn't fix or improve anything.
It only takes a minute or two for the bacon discussion to taper off and then Lucas is quick to change subjects. He turns to face her. "Did you sleep OK, Riley?"
Her heart melts a little at his caring tone and the warmth in the smile aimed in her direction. Her own grin grows and feels more genuine than it has all morning, but a fork clattering against a plate breaks the spell. Everyone glances toward Maya, who's staring resolutely at her food and fumbling to get her fork back in her hand. Lucas' smile fades and Riley immediately busies herself, serving herself breakfast. "I slept fine." She answers as shortly and closed off as she can manage. They're friends, nothing more, and friends can make small talk about how they slept or the weather or anything else but they can't do it smiling at each other like no one else in the world exists. They'll give everyone the wrong idea. "Did you?"
"Fine." Lucas nods.
"Good." Several beats pass and no one says anything. Riley focuses on buttering her toast, but even without looking she can feel everyone's eyes, can practically hear them moving between the triangle of Maya, Lucas, and her, waiting for something to happen.
"Wow." Zay says, breaking the silence after many agonizing seconds. Sarcasm practically drips from his voice. "You were so right, Luke. This isn't awkward at all."
"That must have been some fight last night." Lucas comments, sliding up next to Riley in while she browses in the airport gift shop. Technically everyone else thinks that he's left the group in the terminal to go to the bathroom, but that was just a convenient excuse. He's wanted to talk to Riley since the awkward encounter at breakfast, but there's been no opportunity; they can't talk in front of everyone and they've been stuck with the group for most of the morning. But now that they're through security and waiting for the flight to start boarding, everyone is quite happy to break away from each other and take a moment to breathe air that's not thick with awkward tension.
As Zay's comment had indicated, things are now completely uncomfortable. With everyone. Maya's quiet and distancing herself from everyone, but she's still watching and every time something happens between Riley and himself, even if it's just their hands brushing as they walk past each other or him asking Riley to pass the syrup, it's like he's telling her that his feelings are for Riley all over again she looks so hurt. In response Riley is trying overly hard to keep things platonic. She won't sit next to him or address him directly. She'll talk to the group, or even just Farkle or Zay, but not him. Lucas is pretty sure that she hasn't relaxed or taken a real breath since that first moment around the breakfast table. And while Zay and Farkle are trying to make normal conversation and keep the silence to a minimum, everything comes off as stilted and unsure.
Lucas doesn't know how long the group can possibly keep this up before the fracture becomes worse or permanent and he really doesn't want to find out. The only solution he can think of is to talk to Riley about what they need to do to make things easier for Maya since obviously what they're doing now isn't working. So when Riley goes to get some gum for the flight, he seizes the opportunity and comes up with his own reason to leave the gate.
"Maya's barely even looking at you."
Riley jumps a little at his voice, then relaxes after she realizes it's him. She glances towards him, but refocuses on the rack of magazines in front of her after barely a moment. "This morning didn't help. She saw me in your sweatshirt."
"Oh."
"Yeah. I tried to explain what happened, but she wouldn't believe me or she thought that I shouldn't be friends with you or something and I got mad when I should have just kept my mouth shut..." Riley sighs. "At this rate we're never gonna fix things."
At the disheartened look on her face Lucas forgets all about his own worries. Riley has never not been optimistic. She's always the one with hope and seeing her so upset and lost is painful. He wants things to be better for Maya—for her to be less hurt and for everyone to go back to being friends—but in the moment all he can see is Riley's own broken look and all he cares about is doing everything he can to make it go away. "It hasn't even been a day."
"I know...I'm just so worried." She says. She finally turns to face him, crossing her arms over her chest. "She won't talk to either of us...she's barely talking to Farkle and Zay...I've known Maya forever. She used to always pull away from people when she was upset, and it took years but I finally convinced her that friends are there to help you deal with that stuff, but now she's going right back to it. What if we lose her over this?"
"Riley, you're not gonna lose Maya. You're doing everything you can to make this easier on her. She just needs a little bit of time and she'll realize that." Lucas reassures. "And in the meantime, you left Farkle and Zay with strict orders to make sure she knows she can talk with them." When they had gotten their seat assignments upon check in for their flight and found that they had been given two sets of paired seats and one single, Riley had even been quick to volunteer to sit on her own and enthusiastically suggest that Farkle and Maya and Zay and Lucas sit together; she's definitely making an effort to be a good friend for Maya, even if she can't do it directly, and if Maya doesn't realize that eventually Lucas will be more than happy to step in and set her straight. "She may be mad at us, and she'll probably stay mad at me, but in a day or two she'll get that you didn't do anything to her."
"You didn't do anything wrong either."
Lucas shakes his head. "If she needs someone to blame, it makes more sense for it to be me. I'm fine with that." He's more than fine with it; he's known from the day he met them that Riley and Maya considered each other to be the most important people in their lives (outside of family) and the last thing he wants is to be the reason that they lose that. "My point is, you don't have anything to worry about. She's still wearing her ring, isn't she? If she hasn't taken that off, it's only a matter of time before you guys figure things out."
"Maybe you're right." Riley manages half a smile. "I think I'm letting all this silence get to my head. Things are never this quiet with us."
"It doesn't have to be quiet, Riley. We're here for Maya, but we're also here for you too. If you ever need to talk..." Lucas puts a hand on her shoulder as he trails off. Riley reaches up and lays her hand on top of his, meshing her fingers between his. She pulls so their hands come down to hang between them, but doesn't let go.
"That's really sweet Lucas, but I'll be fine. I just need to keep my priorities. And right now my priority needs to be her."
Lucas has his mouth open to correct her when the announcement declaring that their flight is starting to board comes over the airport loudspeaker.
"That's us." Riley drops his hand. "Go ahead back to the gate and make sure they don't leave without me, yeah? I still need to get some gum."
She turns to look at a rack of candy and doesn't leave Lucas much of a choice. He knows part of it is that she doesn't want to show up at the gate with him and get everyone talking once again, so instead of fighting her on it, Lucas leaves, feeling all the world like he's abandoning an important conversation and not at all certain what's going to happen next.