I'm so excited for you guys to read this. Enjoy!
The Art of Letting Go
Chapter Twelve
For the rest of the week, Farkle and Zay had planned to tell Lucas everything. Smackle was involved in the plan as well. Maya was supposed to be, but they couldn't seem to pry her away from Riley. It was comforting to know that after Lucas and Riley got back together, everything would be back to normal in their friend group.
The group, minus Riley and Lucas (obviously), met up at Topanga's that Friday afternoon.
"Thank you all for coming," Farkle said as Maya and Smackle sat at a table while he and Zay stood.
"This better be important," Maya stated, looking at her fingernails, uninterested. All but her knew about the plan. They still wanted her to be part of it, so they invited her anyway. Smackle pointed out that it was better this way, telling her everything last minute. That way, Maya would have no time to protest and would be forced to go along with it.
"Oh, trust me, it is," Zay assured the blonde. "It's about Riley."
Maya's eyes grew wide, "Is Missy bullying her again?"
"No," Farkle replied. "It's also about Lucas."
"We're gonna tell him," Zay announced. "Today."
"What, why?!" Maya snapped. "He's going to freak out and Riley's already fragile as it is!"
"He has a right to know, Maya," Smackle said.
Maya looked at each of them, realization hitting her.
"You're all in on this?!"
They all nodded firmly.
"Look, Riley's finally starting to get over him okay," Maya informed them, standing up.
"Yeah, okay. Sit back down," Zay scoffed. Maya sat back down, annoyed. "Riley still loves Lucas. Lucas still loves Riley. This whole breakup was because Riley thought it would be best for the both of them. She was protecting them. Now don't tell me that Riley's getting over him, because she's not."
"Okay, you caught me, I lied," Maya admitted. "I just missed her, okay? Getting them back together just means no more Riley and Maya time again. I mean, I do want them back together because I want Riley to be happy, but I also told her that I'd support her no matter what. And what she wants is to get over him."
"Riley's never going to get over him, you know that," Smackle pointed out.
"And don't be so insecure about your friendship with her," Farkle said.
"Peaches," Zay teased, putting a hand on Maya's shoulder. "You and Riley, your friendship's built on solid rock. Nothing will change that, not even Lucas. I don't know if you know this but Riley canceled a lot of plans with Lucas to hang out with you."
"Really?"
Farkle nodded, "Lucas told us."
"Riley told me too once," Smackle confirmed. Maya turned to look at Smackle.
"She told you and not me?" Maya stated. "Why?"
"Because she didn't want you to think that he was getting in the way of your friendship, Maya," Smackle explained. "Lucas was very understanding; he knows how important your friendship is to her."
"Yeah, now stop being selfish and help us," Farkle retorted.
"Fine. What's the plan?" Maya inquired.
"What am I doing here?" Lucas asked, sitting in a chair at the bakery while his friends surrounded him. "It's Friday night, I have things to do."
"Oh, as if you have plans," Maya scoffed. "You haven't been going out since Riley broke up with you."
Lucas rolled his eyes and ignored her.
"Maya, don't be rude," Zay snapped.
"What?" Maya turned to Zay. "I thought that was part of the plan?"
"It's not," confirmed Smackle.
"What plan?" Lucas raised a brow.
"Nothing, just shut up," Farkle replied.
"Geez," Lucas muttered. "Can we speed this up then?"
"Alright," Zay put his hands together. He put his hand out towards Farkle, palm up. Farkle pulled out the rope from behind him and placed it into Zay's hand.
"Um, what are you doing with that?" Lucas gulped.
"You talk too much, ugh," Maya groaned. "Just shut up and let him do what he needs to do."
"Zay…" Lucas sounded worried.
"Lucas, I love you man, but you need go along with this, alright?" Zay said as he made his way behind the chair Lucas was sitting on. He grabbed Lucas's wrist and pulled it behind the chair. He then tied his wrists together with rope.
"Is this necessary?" Lucas complained.
"Yes," his friends replied in unison.
"We'll make this quick," Farkle said. "Like ripping off a Band-Aid."
"Everyone knows you still love Riley and we know that Riley still loves you," Zay began, returning to stand in front of Lucas. "The only reason why she broke up with you was to protect you."
Before Lucas could ask questions, Farkle quickly continued, "Apparently Missy Bradford goes to our school and she was bullying Riley for a while. Like physically bullying her. The only way out was to break up with you."
"Yeah that's basically the short story of it all," Maya nodded. So did Smackle.
"What?" Lucas asked, concern and annoyance evident in his tone of voice. He felt anger inside him. He clenched his fists and pursed his lips together.
"Farkle!" Zay snapped.
"Zay!" Farkle snapped back.
"We messed up," Zay said.
"How so?" Farkle asked.
"We used rope," Zay replied. He realized that back in Texas, Lucas was able to escape when Zay would tie him up with rope for fun.
"What, are we supposed to use chains next time?" Farkle said sarcastically.
"Guys, he's not an animal," Smackle said. "Using chains would be degrading."
"Could work better than towels or ropes," Zay shrugged.
Lucas didn't notice this exchange; he was too caught up in his thoughts. Riley was getting bullied again? And she didn't tell him? And she thought she could make everything better by breaking up with him?
Farkle made eye contact with Maya and nodded. It was a silent agreement that told Maya to go warn Riley while Farkle stayed with Zay to try to delay Lucas as long as possible before confronting the brunette.
"Come on, Smackle!" Maya grabbed Smackle's hand and dragged her out of the bakery.
Lucas's breathing was heavy and his adrenaline was pumping. With his built up anger, he pulled his hands apart from behind him, snapping the rope. He could feel the rope burn coming, but he didn't care.
"I think you forgot that I'm as strong as horse," Lucas said, standing up.
"Maya? Smackle?" Riley was sitting at the bay window watching as her two friends panted to catch their breaths. They entered Riley's room through her door, which raised curiosity in her, but then quickly noticed Smackle's skirt.
"You need to hide," Smackle instructed.
"Why, what's going on?" Riley asked.
"I don't know what caused Zay and Farkle to tell Lucas about everything, but that's what they're doing right now," Maya explained. "They had planned this beforehand, I just got dragged into it today."
"And we're here to warn you," Smackle added. "He'll probably be here soon."
"What?!" Riley reacted and quickly got on her feet. She started to panic. "What do I do?"
"You hide, honey," Smackle said. But it was too late. Lucas had already climbed in through the window. The girls had no time to barricade it. Farkle and Zay followed behind Lucas.
"We tried," Zay apologized for not giving the girls more time.
"He's stronger than me," Farkle reminded them.
"Strong as a horse," Zay mouthed, gesturing to Lucas.
"Riley," Lucas said sternly, his voice louder than usual. "I know you broke up with me but I still care about you. Why did you keep this from me? We've been through this before, Riles. We promised that there would be no secrets between us."
Riley didn't respond. She stood behind Maya and Smackle for protection, trying to avoid his eyes.
"I can't believe you couldn't come to me with this," Lucas continued, his voice getting even louder. He had learned to control his anger over the years, but still, there were certain situations where he just couldn't keep it in.
"She has her reasons," Zay tried to help. Lucas ignored him.
"She didn't come to any of us until long after she 'resolved' things," Maya added, using air quotes. Lucas ignored her as well.
"I am really mad at you!" Lucas yelled, anger evident in his facial expression. He took a step closer to her. Smackle and Maya stepped back and pushed Riley back further to her closet door. "I hate when you don't tell me things. It makes me feel like you don't trust me! And I don't think I can trust you anymore."
Riley didn't like getting yelled at. She felt especially angry that it was Lucas who was yelling at her. She started to cry. Zay and Farkle walked across the room to console the crying girl along with Maya and Smackle.
"Well you've done it now!" Smackle replied angrily, throwing her arms in the air for emphasis.
Lucas didn't seem to empathize with Riley.
"Remember in freshman year when I told you that you were too much for me?" Lucas continued. He didn't care that Riley was crying because of him. He was just there because he had things he needed to say to her. He wasn't there to console her. "Yeah, well you're way too much for me! I'm glad you broke up with me. I don't think I could've been with you any longer."
"Lucas, stop," Farkle insisted.
"Why should I?!" Lucas asked. "She hid this from me, from all of us! You can't tell me that you guys aren't even a little bit upset that she didn't tell us sooner."
"You're being too much right now," Zay said, disregarding Lucas's rant. Zay walked over to him and gripped Lucas's shoulder.
"Don't. Touch. Me," Lucas demanded, brushing off Zay's hand. "I'm not being too much, Zay. Riley is!"
Riley continued sobbing behind her friends. Her tears wouldn't stop, her breathing got uneven.
Lucas took a step closer to Zay.
"And you know what? I'm angry at you, too!" Lucas announced, poking Zay's chest. Zay stayed composed. He had seen this side of Lucas a thousand times. He's seen him at his absolute worse. This was nothing compared to that. "I am pissed that you knew about this for the longest time and didn't tell me! It made me go crazy thinking that you and Riley might've had something. Little did I know, you were comforting her. That was supposed to be my job, Zay!"
Riley didn't want to be in Lucas's presence anymore. She couldn't stand all the yelling and the tension he caused. She wanted him out of her house before someone got physically hurt. In between sobs, she looked at her feet and demanded softly but sternly, "Lucas, you need to leave."
Lucas didn't blink. He just stood there. He had heard what she said, but he wasn't going to leave just yet.
"I don't care how cute you are, Lucas," Smackle said, "but don't take another step. Stay away from her."
"Smackle!" Farkle reacted to Smackle's somewhat compliment to Lucas.
"Now is not the time, beloved!" Smackle replied.
"I'm not done talking," Lucas declared.
"You heard her, Huckleberry. Leave," Maya demanded firmly in a tone that gave her authority.
Lucas looked around the room. No one made eye contact with him. No one spoke up. He threw his arms in defeat.
"Fine," Lucas pursed his lips. He exited through the window. Zay followed him to the window and locked it when Lucas was gone.
Riley moved her hair away from her damp face.
"Thank you guys," she said weakly, plopping down onto her bed.
"It's what we're here for, Peaches," Maya replied, taking a seat next to Riley and rested her head on her shoulder.
"I know we've seen Texas Lucas before," Farkle stated, "but I've never seen him that bad with us."
"Oh, trust me, he can get way worse," Zay told his friends. He sat at the bay window. "We've gotten into a physical fight before. I got really bruised. He looked like I didn't even touch him."
"Zay, that's horrible," Riley commented.
"We've resolved that conflict, it's all in the past," Zay shook his head. "I know what and what not to do around him when he's angry."
"Yeah, I could swear he was going to hit you when he was yelling at you," Farkle said. "But anyway, Riley, how are you feeling?"
"I don't know, honestly," Riley admitted. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you all sooner about the bully. I was afraid that this would happen."
"You don't need to apologize," Smackle said. "What's done is done and the important thing is that we're here to pick up the pieces and make you feel better if you let us."
The others nodded in agreement.
"We're sorry that we told Lucas," Farkle said.
"But he needed to know," Zay added. "I told you I would tell if you didn't."
Maya lifted her head up off Riley's shoulder and wiped the stray tears falling down her best friend's face. Riley had finally caught her breath.
"It's okay guys. I know you're just looking out for the both of us. But what are we going to do about him now?" Even at times like these, Riley still cared more about her friends than herself. Though she wasn't quite sure if she and Lucas still stood as friends.
"I'll take care of it," Zay offered. He reached for the window to exit, but then he turned back to see his friends around a somber Riley. He decided that this was more important at the moment. "I'll talk to him tomorrow."
"Thank you, Zay," Riley said.
"Anytime, sugar," Zay replied, walking over to her to give her a tight squeeze.
"What we need to focus on right now is you, Riles," Maya said.
"I love you guys, you know that?" Riley sniffled. She put her arms out, requesting a hug from everyone. Maya was the first to accept, and one by one, the others joined the embrace.
So what did you guys think? I'm so proud of this one. I really liked writing this chapter, and I would say that this was my favorite! This is the longest chapter in this story to date. I wanted to separate this and include some of the Rucas confrontation in the next chapter, but I felt that leaving all of this in one was the best way to go.
The next chapter should be up by the end of the week, I have two midterms this week to study for. Hopefully this long chapter will be enough to hold you over. Please review!
Next: Zay knocks some sense into Lucas.