#isadorkables

Looking up from her notes, she took a quick peek at her companions who were seated around her, a soft smile coming across her face as she did. Smackle and Lucas were seated on the opposite couch from herself, Smackle’s anatomy notes between them, as they quizzed each other on their vocab words. Farkle was on the other side of Lucas, seated next to herself and he was hunched over his history notes, cursing her father lightly under his breath. She giggled softly, her father had given them a particularly insightful essay prompt for their final paper, and while she had found the task easy and enjoyable, others were struggling.

This kind of setup had become routine with them in the last couple weeks especially, Smackle and Lucas had quite a few classes together this year, and Riley enjoyed spending her afternoons just sitting with them while they worked together. Farkle began to join them as the year got closer and closer to winding down, junior year had been tough on all of them and Farkle had disappeared for a while, but he found his way back to them and now studying together in the afternoons was a tradition.

“What are you smiling at?” Riley jumped slightly in her seat, not expecting to be snapped from her daze. Smackle was looking at her with a raised eyebrow, clearly her question had interrupted Farkle as well, as he too was now looking at her with an inquisitive look on his face,  sharing a glance with Smackle quickly before snapping his gaze back to her. Lucas, on the other hand had his pen pushed against his mouth, his lips curled into a small smile.

“Oh nothing, sorry, off in Rileytown, don’t mind me.” She said, shrugging her shoulders softly, Farkle and Smackle shared another look, both of them shrugging as well. Lucas merely smirked at her for a moment, and she couldn’t help the blush that crept onto her cheeks, before dropping his attention back to his notes.

After about another hour of studying, Riley and Lucas were now sitting side by side on the loveseat, shoulders touching as he read the assigned book for English and she began outlining the paper she had to write for her Spanish class. She had given up on her math notes, deciding to ask Dave tomorrow to help her study. He was really her only friend in the class, and had been excelling almost all year.

Farkle and Smackle were opposite them, whispering to each other as they worked on a project for their advanced level physics class, Riley could only pick up some of the words that they were saying to each other, but even those words she didn’t quite understand. She studied them for a moment, smiling at their interactions. The way that Farkle’s hand resting on her shoulder as she typed on her computer and the way Smackle’s shoulder would brush against his when she turned to look at him. A lot of things had happened in the last year to shake her belief in fate, but watching Farkle Minkus and Isadora Smackle together renewed her faith.

Shifting her attention, she abandoned her Spanish work completely, she would have plenty of time to work on it later, and decided to instead study her boyfriend next to her. This past year had been harder on him than anyone, and it had been rough to watch him handle it all. Things still weren’t completely back to what she considered normal, and she knew there was a chance that they never really would be. But she had faith that things were rebuilding themselves and that’s all she could really ask for. Reaching over, she placed her hand on his thigh, smiling softly when his gaze met hers momentarily.

“Riley, sweetheart, can I talk to you for a second?” Riley eyes snapped from her boyfriend to her mom, who was standing behind the counter, a small smile on her face and her hands placed on her hips. Riley nodded, squeezing Lucas’ leg lightly before getting up and joining her mom on the other side of the room.

“Yeah mom?” Topanga took a moment to observe Riley’s friends over Riley’s shoulder, before meeting her daughter’s glance again.

“You know that you’re going to have to move out of here at the end of the night, right?” Her tone was teasing, but Riley knew her mother well enough to know that she meant it. While Topanga hardly minded Riley and friends using the bakery to study, she always expected them to clean up after themselves.

“Yes mom, don’t worry, we’ll be out of your hair in no time and you’ll  never know we were here to begin with.” Topanga smiled fondly and a comfortable silence fell over the pair for a moment.

“How are they doing?” Riley’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she cocked her head to the side. “Smackle and Farkle, I’ve seen Smackle plenty this year, but Farkle disappeared for a while there, they alright?”

Riley smiled, looking over her shoulder at the genius pair, who were still working on their project, but had wide grins on their faces and kept stealing glances at each other. Farkle’s arm was now draped over Smackle’s shoulder, and Riley didn’t think she had ever seen the pair look happier than they did at that very moment.

“I truly don’t think they’ve ever been better. Farkle just, needed to find himself, Smackle understood that and now they’re right back where they’re supposed to be.” Topanga nodded, and while she looked pleased with Riley’s answer, Riley could tell there was another thought lingering in her mom’s mind.

“What about Lucas, everything alright there?” Riley nodded slightly, Topanga had taken a special interest in Lucas this past year. While Riley’s parents had always liked Lucas and never disapproved of their relationship, in the last couple of months, Topanga had practically pulled Lucas into their family. Not that Riley had any qualms with that.

“It’s getting there, you know how hard this year was for him, but, I know Lucas and I believe in him, so I know that everything will find it’s way back to where it’s supposed to be in the end.” Riley and her mother shared a soft smile.

“Good, I’m glad. Now get back to work, I’ll see you at dinner and Lucas too. Tell Smackle and Farkle that they’re welcome to join us as well.” With that, Topanga winked and squeezed Riley’s shoulder before disappearing into the kitchen.

When she turned, Riley’s smile grew on her face as she saw her three friends, Smackle had closed her laptop and Lucas had folded his book across his leg to keep the page, all three of them adorned with smiles. Joining them once more, she sat herself down next to Lucas, who, without breaking conversation with Farkle, intertwined their fingers together and leaned into her.

“What are we talking about?”

“Farkle was just telling us about the incident that occurred in his drama class this morning.” Smackle said, a smirk on her face, clearly she had already heard all about it. Riley giggled lightly, shaking her head, focusing her attention to Farkle as he dove into a story about a banana peel and some sort of trumpet.