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twenty-three | THEIR MEETUP #6

FARKLE
at the park, with Riley, in New York

Did she hear me?

I tilted my head to the side to see her reaction, and boy, was I glad to see that she was looking ahead, smiling gleefully.

"Me too." She shouted back at me after a while.

My smol bean.

Does she like me the same way I like her? Or does she just care for me as a friend? I want to know. I need to know.

The both of us were pretty slow, considering that Lucas and Zay were both jocks, according to their Instagram.

And I was so glad to know that Riley definitely didn't mind. She wasn't the kind.

We were both in last place, but neither of us cared.

"So, we're like little itsy tiny snails compared to the rest of them, huh?" Riley joked, putting her index finger and thumb about 3cm apart to show me the little snail she was talking about.

She was so adorable. I laughed so hard that my sides hurt. And then it happened.

I lost balance.

"Woaaah, what the hell?" I screamed as I tried to balance myself on the bicycle.

I wasn't able to. The whole bicycle seemed out of control.

"AHHHHHHH!" I screamed even louder than before.

I was tilting to the left, about to fall. My hands were sweating, and just happened to slip and soon, none of my hands were holding onto the handles.

"Farkle! What's wrong!" Riley shouted as she immediately stopped her bicycle— I could tell by the screeching of her brakes.

And then I fell.

I heard her footsteps, running as fast as she could toward me.

"Farkle! Are you okay? Tell me you're okay! Where are you hurt? Hello? Farkle, answer me!" Riley screamed as I groaned in pain.

"Things got rough and so did my ass..." I tried to force the words out of my mouth, but trying to make a joke of what she said — smooth ass.

"You're bleeding on both legs and you're still joking about it!" Riley managed a little laugh as she tried to sit me up by using one hand to push my back and the other on my right hand.

Her hands felt so warm on me. And I loved it.

"Agh... it hurts!" I mumbled when she tried to touch my wound.

"Oh! Sorry!" Riley apologized as she blew on it, as if she finally realized that touching it wasn't the best thing to do.

I was in excruciating pain. My legs hurt like hell and I couldn't even manage to stand up even with Riley's help.

"Oh my god, Farkle. You better be okay. Don't close your eyes! No no no, this can't be like those movies where the main character closes his eyes and dies! Not that you're gonna di— whatever! What am I even saying? Ugh, I'm too scared!" Riley burst out.

My legs hurt, but like all other injuries, the pain was starting to go away, and it was probably half the pain I felt when I first hit the ground.

Seeing Riley so cute and troubled because of me, my heart swelled. I pretended to black out, and I could hear her panicked voice.

"Farkle! What are you doing? This can't be happening! Wake up, wake up! Shit. This is all my fault! I shouldn't have distracted you while you were cycling! I'm so sorry, Farkle! Wake up now! This instant! Hey!" I could tell that she was already crying because one of her teardrops fell onto my face.