riley matthews

missy was a people pleaser when she wanted to be one, and part of that was being a people reader, too. it was clear from riley’s question, even her body language when missy approached, that she was skeptical. it seemed little riley matthews wasn’t quite as naive as she once was, but missy doubted there was much of a change since they had gone to school together. so when she heard the sure, she immediately sat down with a smile. internally, she scolded herself for not getting a coffee before approaching her former classmate – she’d need a lot of caffeine to get through this, but it was too late for that now.

“of course, why wouldn’t i?” she asked innocently as she settled into her seat. “being here is…so stressful, it’s just nice to see a friendly face. how have you been settling in?” small talk was a chore, but at least she was good at it.

      the other girl’s assertion was interesting; riley, never having been friends with missy, had no idea what kind of stress there was involved with her life being uprooted and replanted in walton creek. for riley, the only things that had come to cause her grief since entering the magical place were certain interactions with the people who’d also come along from back home. so far, her schoolwork hadn’t suffered, and small town life was treating her pretty well even if she got waves of homesickness missing the city. maybe there was actually something she could relate to missy bradford on.

     “i like it here,” she answered, “it’s a really cool place if you give it a chance...but there are things i miss from new york. how about you, missy? how are you settling in?”

         once upon a time when farkle had first found out the news , he didn’t know how to deal with it or of how to articulate how he felt . he remembers merely running , long legs running out of his home and he felt the claustrophobia in the elevator until he could feel the crisp cold air of the new york streets . though , he never stops running even when his chest heaved and scratched painfully at the lack of his athleticism but he found himself one block away from riley’s apartment . his body had brought him to her , ready to tell her everything in some sort of last attempt at rationalizing it but part of him stepped away from the familiar path and turned to walk the other way in which he refused to believe in what he had heard . riley was a safe place and farkle had even ran from her but never truly admitted it to himself . 

          so he stood there with the forlorn memory etched in his brain and the lie he just uttered leaving a searing pain amongst his lips . if he couldn’t even believe his lie what was the likeliness she’d believe it ; then she continues to believe it and he wants to lets out a sigh of relief without being too obvious . he felt like he’s been holding his breath from the both the feeling of her touch and the notion that he wanted her to ensure that she never found out what he had been hiding . 

         his eyebrow raised , huh , was that how it felt to have his hand interlaced with riley matthews ? it’s a momentary thought but it wraps his mind in more brain numbing thoughts about how good it actually felt . he felt calm and serene from the minute her fingers move against his . he doesn’t need her to say anything to feel so content in that moment , here they were a year later and she still felt like a safe place even if she didn’t know it .

         he finally smiles at her , head tilted downward to look at her with an adoring look and pulling their interlocked arms closer to him . “ i’m sure the perfect movie will find us .” he said , finally moving them in the directions of the theatre , with no movement to move their hands away from them and a smile not leaving his feature once . “ besides , why complain when i got the greatest partner in this endeavour . ”

     “we’ve always made pretty great partners, haven’t we?” when he keeps her hand and begins putting them back on track on their walk, some of her worry is assuaged. enough that her smile felt right resuming its usual place, pushing dimples into her cheeks. she still intends to watch her friend for any sign of distress he might let slip, but she thinks for now that they’re safe to just go about their date day and enjoy whatever movie they stumble upon. she wonders if there won’t actually be a unicorn featured in what they see; as far as she can tell it’s something that might happen in this magical town. they’ve spoken it into the universe, and now the universe might answer. there’s just something in the air here...and a few other things she might want to try speaking into existence, if it really works.

     the feel of farkle’s hand in hers is warming and confusing; how is it that the same kind of touch can feel so awkward and wrong with one person, and so natural with others? she had never been so comfortable holding hands with lucas, even when they’d been dating--and maybe that was the problem in itself. they shouldn’t really have been dating. she doesn’t regret any of the choices she’s made in her life that have led to this point, and her first relationship was one that still holds a certain value to her, but looking back on the situation from present day makes it clear that the infatuation she’d once had was...not as solid as the friendship built around it.

     the exact opposite seems to be happening to her right now: being faced with someone whose friendship has been present and deeply ingrained in her life for so long that any possibility of attraction has never been seriously considered. until now. riley has to remind herself not to follow that train of thought right now, in the presence of the very one who’s making her question everything she thought she knew. compartmentalization is key.

          he flirts to normalize everything , not for her but for himself to feel a physical sense of normalcy . he wants them to be exactly like they were and maybe throwing in a couple flirtatious words may do him well to forget but instead he still feels it . he doesn’t want change , he knows realistically things could but i has this inkling of harsh hope that everything stays the same and their just riley and farkle , best friends . 

          he loves everything about them , about how far they’ve come since he pulled her head up from the pool of water when she was bobbing for apples to her secret santa gift and all the memories that came with her . his friends reminded him of stability , they reminded him of the ground beneath his feet and stopped him from getting consumed by his feelings inside about everything but there’s something that stops him from outwardly telling riley everything on his chest and it was her empathy . it was different than anyone else’s , he’ll look in her eyes and feel like she feels it too and if pluto was a still a planet in his books so is keeping one riley matthews happy and content .

          palm out , he flashes her a confused look and his lips move to say “ huh ? ” he doesn’t understand her panic until he flashes a look to his hand and see’s the indents on his hands that were probably a few seconds away from actually causing damage . he barely felt the pain of it , he had become so accustomed to the feeling of his nails embedding themselves into his palm that he barely realized how bad the habit came . he watches her , analyzing her every move and she cares for his hand in a way he probably never would but he almost smiles adoringly at her , he loved that so much about her and how she’d stop everything and anything for others . 

          he blinked , “ what ? oh , um , yeah i’m fine . ” even he doesn’t believes the words coming out of his mouth , it was all pieced together roughly as he stuttered out words and hoped that she’d believe him . clearing his throat in a last attempt to solidify the lie , “ i didn’t even realize i was , you know , doing that . ” he moves his other hand on top of one of hers , fingers wrapping around her hand to motion her to stop , “ i’m fine , riley . i promise , i really am fine . ” his hands gives hers a gentle squeeze , his own heart squeezing roughly at the blatant lie he had just given her . “ so , the movies ? if you’d like , you could keep holding my hand . i like it . ” he teased her .

     she stops in her consoling movements as he holds her hand steady, not because she believes him when he says he’s fine but because she really wants to. farkle is the last person she expects to lie to her; he wouldn’t even let her keep her own feelings secret when their revelation risked those of their other friends. but would he consider his own reasons for hiding whatever he was really thinking valid? once upon a time, he had thanked her for lying to protect his feelings--because she could never bear to hurt him. and she knows he’s never wanted to cause her any pain either, so for all she knows, he may be able to justify to himself lying for her sake even if he wouldn’t let her lie at cost to hers...

     that explanation might work; however, riley doesn’t want to think he wouldn’t trust her enough to talk if there were something bothering him, so she has to take him at his word no matter that she can tell there’s something off here. she’ll just have to pay close attention to him the rest of the day (which she’d probably have done anyway, albeit not with such clear intention.) she just needs to make sure he’s okay before she can feel truly settled, and it’s a good thing she’ll have plenty of time to spend with him today to ensure that.

     removing her now-unneeded hand from the bottom of their little clasped pile, she moves the other to intertwine her fingers with his and swing their joined hands down at their sides. of course she's going to take him up on his offer, whether he was joking or not--she’s keeping him close from now on, her little mother-hen heart beating with the desire to protect her loved one without  real proof of the need for such care besides an unexpected sign of stress and an inkling that it meant something.

          it was surreal to feel this sort of feeling again , his heart jittering and racing in his chest when he thought he had it all figured out but it also made him question himself , when did he stop feeling the nerves of his heart ? when did he start to shut it out ? he couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment it shut down , maybe it had been the tumbling of event that happened one after the other but there’s this familiar pang in his heart when he lets go of riley . the memory of the potential of riley moving away to london suddenly flashes through his eyes . he feels it again , a strike of metaphorical pain hitting his heart and he once again wants to hold her , maintain physical contact in fear she’ll disappear but he doesn’t . he keeps his hands in his pockets as his nail beds seem to continue to dig into his palm with maximum effort .

          he watches her movement , he’s studied her for their whole friendship that he can understand what a little tick can mean but his nerves are on fire and his brain can’t seem to differentiate things . his heart seemed to be on overload , continuing to beat against his chest and he feared everyone in the vicinity may hear it for it seemed to be screaming within his ears . he stops the internal monologue to lecture himself , that he needed to stop with these thoughts before he said or did something stupid or that the way his heart was racing would lead to an actual heart attack . he bucked up his confidence and relaxed his shoulders when he finally asks her the question , it’s said with ease and smoothness but all he hears beyond his voice uttering the words is the piercing scream of his nervous system bellowing throughout his whole body . this was just riley , why in the farkle was he acting this way ?

          “ i think , we should stop thinking for a while . ” he started off , “ let’s have the movie choose us for once . ” even he was questioning the words coming out of his mouth and his body moved impulsively as he wanted to offer riley his elbow to link arms like they had done as children but instead he stood there with a palm open at her with indent of his nails and a tiny smile . “ shall we , mamacita ? ”

     she's truly at her best when they're together; no matter what was going on in her heart, farkle always brought her back to herself. not that it has always been effortless to be around him--there have been times when they push each other’s button’s, but each push has eventually been realized to be a shove in the right direction. they know how to grow from each other’s influence; it’s one of the ways in which their connection managed to strengthen throughout the years, their understanding ever expanding.

      it’s why she doesn’t cringe at his use of flirtatious slang she would once have chastised him over--there’s an irony to his mannerisms she can read and laugh along with. which she does at first, smiling at his gesture and opening her mouth to reply when she finally notices. “that’s a good idea, you know. two tickets for: surprise us. i--farkle, your hand!”

     as she reached out to take his offered hand, she noticed the crescent shaped marks that showed on his palm, evidence that she is not as great at reading his body language as she might have been. she pulls his hand closer to inspect the damage, less care in her distressed yank of the appendage toward herself for the rest of the arm it’s attached to...“are you okay?“ she’s already rubbing the hand between both of hers soothingly, and realizes she’s asking the question not just for the current affliction as it is on its own, but as a potential symptom of something deeper.

“maybe  –  but  if  it  hasn’t  snowed  here  already,  i  don’t  think  it  will  -  at  least  not  for  the  season.”  what  a  pessimistic  response,  ricky.  but  it’s  the  truth  and  maybe,  just  maybe,  he’ll  be  proven  wrong  -  he  doubts  it  though.  

it’s  not  an  unknown  fact  that  ricky  isn’t  the  biggest  fan  of  change  ;  his  surrounding  or  himself,  and  walton  is  the  epitome  of  change  in  his  book.  not  even  his  parents  problems  or  the  way  even  things  at  school  are  changing  can  compare.  "ricky,“  he  nods  as  she  introduces  herself  -  not  something  expected.  "you,  too.”

     “don’t be so gloomy--there’s still a lot of winter left for things to get cold and icy,” riley returns cheerfully. she pauses and replays her words in her head, realizing it may actually be a bit weird to consider bad weather something to hope for. but she’s always been one to enjoy things for the silver linings they present; that includes every kind of weather.

     shaking it off, she moves to stand beside ricky and says, “now let’s find your skateboard. we should try retracing your steps! when did you last have it?”

          farkle didn’t know if he was breathing anymore , his breath continued to hitch against his throat as the proximity between them seemed to be deafening . despite being a factual person , he lets his imagination roam with floating memories of his middle school self kissing her chin but the memory morphs into something else , it morphed to this moment with his hands grazing her cheek and one finally moving to her waist to pull her as close as he physically can before finally closing the gap . his heart raced at the thought , cheeks flushing a light pink as he realized he still thought about riley in the romantical sense . he surely thought any feelings he’s felt for the other was platonic , they were best friends , that’s it . 

          now , staring into her brown eyes he wants to second guess that belief but instead he pushes down the bubbling emotions as she breaks contact with him , his own eyes quickly flicking to the ground . he loved her . the question that seem to press against his mind was : did he love her ? he thinks about that movie zay made him watch , what was it ? the notebook and the romantic senses of love that filled the movie made him think about if this was it . he liked isadora smackle and he even loved her but loving her had came at the worst time for them ; never once did he feel so enamoured with the way he felt merely looking into riley matthews eyes . that was never exactly a new discovery .

          he feels like the public eye may find them odd , how long have they been standing there ? staring at one another ? he finally looks back at her with a slim smile finally gracing his lips wanting to ease the air between them , “ so , unicorns … ” he chuckled , slim fingers finally moving away from her and pressing into his pocket . he digs his nails into the palms of his fingers , he was trying to control himself and the obvious signs he may show about the current mindset he was in . riley would never feel something else other than friendship and he’s not willing to risk them due to his imagination running wild . “ heard they shine the best in the dark ? there’s probably a ton at cameos . also , i think we’re due in for some espionage work at the theatres to complete the whole wacky situations experience . ”

     the first thing riley does when he releases his hands from their place on her cheeks is take a deep breath. they may have been standing there in one another’s personal space for a matter of moments, but as far she’s concerned it had felt like a lifetime--like her perception of time had slowed to absorb every detail of the past minute and burn it to memory. she is sure now more than ever that she has no control over the whims of her own brain, but she can at least manage her conscious reaction to them. and her reaction needs to be to put everything she was thinking and feeling aside for further examination later. aka: bay window with maya at the next opportunity. if she can even bring such a topic up with her; she’s honestly as scared of that thought as of the realization that her feelings are more complicated than she dared to believe before.

     somehow feeling smaller now that there’s a more comfortable distance between them, she ducks her head, but lifts her eyes back to his when he brings the discussion back around to their safer talking point. slowly, she straightens into usual posture, chin up and shoulders back, a smile returning to her face as he continues. there’s likely very little chance of finding a wild animal inside a movie theater, even in such a strange little town as this, unless it’s on the screen of whatever feature was playing. either way, she likes the idea as a chance to spend some time with her friend; hadn’t they been trying to decide what to do anyway? it seems like a more practical use of their time than actually searching for unicorns, as much as she would like to.

          farkle’s sense of reality had been shattered about four months ago after waking up and suddenly being here , in walton creek ,  a town filled with fairytale characters that he heard only riley talking about since they met . his whole perception about the world had already tittered on it axis but being here , and witnessing a place filled with immense fictional characters was ,  he couldn’t even explain . he could tell her how it’s all wrong , give her the reality of what he perceived but instead he falls into the norm , he falls into magical words and sprinkles her little rileytown with a little more magic , just to ensure she was okay and happy . what was farkle minkus if he couldn’t make riley matthews immensely happy ?

          he let impulsivity get the best of him , his fingers find her shoulders and words flowing out of him before he could think then their on her cheeks , his thumb caressing her cheeks and face so close to hers he can’t remember how long it’s been since he’s been this close . he swallows slowly , his adams apple bobbing just as slow and the breath of his lungs hitching when his eyes seem to find hers . what was he doing ? why- why didn’t he have the power to pull away ? he couldn’t- no . he pushed the last thought out of his head ; he had been sixteen when he watched his parents love fully crumble and deteriorate , he had been sixteen when he told isadora smackle that love was scientifically not definitive , he had been sixteen when he stopped asking questions about love . yet , here he was at seventeen staring at a girl he had claimed to have loved his whole childhood but there was something different about it and it terrified him .

          he rationalizes things , he tells himself it’s all in the heat of the moment ; they’re riley and farkle and they get caught up in these sort of things , they were intense but it was them and how they could communicate . though , he feels the need to lean forward , to close the gap within them but he doesn’t ; he’s doesn’t think he could handle them crumbling and deteriorating but he believes thats the endgame of it . “ change … ” he breathed out , maybe before he would have accepted it but nowadays he seems to despise the word . “ there isn’t a world where one farkle minkus doesn’t do everything in his power for one riley matthews . i hope we never change . ” cause i’m terrified if we do .

     in this moment, her eyes so instinctively want to close, she wants to give in to the moment and lean forward and take the most incredible leap, but equally as strong is the gravity in his gaze--she can’t force herself to look away from the intense emotion she can see in his eyes, hardly able to blink. she wonders what it is he’s thinking behind those blue irises, if it’s anything like what’s going on in her mind currently or if she’s only seeing herself reflected there. could he possibly be standing a breath away, holding her like this and not feeling...anything besides the usual regard of a friend?

     if she’s honest with herself, she doesn’t know, and that’s reason enough not to make any move beyond tearing her stare away, glancing down and breaking the electric eye contact that seemed to hold them frozen in place. farkle has claimed to love her for most of their lives, and she knows he does...as the closest of friends. she knows she loves him in the same way. but he hasn’t tried to marry her since middle school; once he began separating himself from his more exuberant and confident persona of their childhood and started to focus on growing himself into a more mature version of himself--and especially as he starting going out with their own isadora smackle--he had also toned down his outward affection for both her and maya.

maddie could tell that the other girl wasn’t the sporty type, but she didn’t mind, she was feeling generous today and had decided to go easy on the younger girl. “alright then let’s go!” she tossed the basketball to the other, offering her to shoot the first shot. “hopefully, you don’t lose.”

     “oh. i’m going first, okay. let’s do it!” riley caught the ball and proceeded to bounce it a few times on the ground at her side to hype herself up. it was clear her opponent was much more skilled than her and she would, indeed, lose, but she might as well have some fun in the meantime. she lined herself up and made her best attempt at shooting for the basket, though unfortunately making no attempt to prevent herself from being blocked by the other.