"Brother and sister. Riley and I are brother and sister now. What does that even mean?" I ask Zay and Ari. "I mean I know I don't like her like that but still brother and sister is just weird."
"What does anything mean out the mouth of a girl? I mean, I used to tell Vanessa, clear as day, "Vanessa, I'd buy you a house, and I'd be yours forever, and I'd buy you ice cream," you know what'd she say? "I don't want you to buy me a house, I don't want your ice cream, and I don't like you." How am I supposed to understand that?" Zay replies and Ari giggles quietly making me smile.
" I understand it" Farkle says making Ari laugh and I wrap an arm around her shoulders.
"Whoa. Gentlemen, look how lucky you are. You treat 'em right." Pappy joe says as Riley and maya come out.
"Thank you Pappy joe" Riley says.
"I've considered myself lucky since the moment this one said yes to being mine almost three years ago" I say looking down at Ari smiling widely.
"I see why you get homesick for Texas sometimes, Lucas. I never knew that the sky had this many stars. You know what else? I don't get nervous when I'm with you anymore. We're doing the right thing. Ah. Remember when we couldn't even say "hi" to each other? Remember how we'd go, "hi." "Howdy." "Hi." Remember? Now watch this. Say "hi" to me." Riley says making me slightly uncomfortable. I mean we were like that but that was mainly cause I felt weird I loved Ari and Riley was so obvious in liking me, that I felt weird talking to her about some things cause I didn't want her to get the wrong idea.
"Hi" I say stiffly my arms still around my girlfriend.
"Hi, Lucas. What up, brah? What's up with you, man? You good? You cool?" Riley respond weirding me out more that all I can say is "Hi"
(skipping the rest of the conversation because it's really long)
"And we're all gonna go spend our first night in Texas... what should we do?" Riley says after that weird conversation.
"I've been reading about Austin, and they call it a music city. They call it the live music capital of the world." Farkle says
"That's absolutely what we should do. Show them the town and listen to some music." Zay says.
"Yeah! Anybody good playing tonight?" Ari asks coming up behind me.
"If I was a young buck trying to impress my friends, I might suggest chubby's famous barbecue pit. Always good eats, always good music." Pappy joe says.
"But barbecued foods aren't good for you" Farkle says.
"Let me tell you what ain't good for you" Pappy joe
"You're not gonna do anything to me because you know I'm a New York intellectual and you don't want to be a cliche." Farkle says.
"Uh oh" I hear Ari mutter causing me to smile slightly.
"Lucas, fetch me my shotgun" Pappy joe asks me.
"Okay" I say moving.
"Lucas!" Farkle yells
"Okay I reply again.
"Okay, I'll go to chubby's, I'll eat your food, I'll listen to your music, but don't expect a changed Farkle, hombre." Farkle says as everyone starts moving.
"Coming with us?" I ask Pappy joe as me and Ari wait.
"Appreciate the invite. I'm extremely busy" he responds.
"Bye Pappy joe" Ari says kissing his cheek as we walk out and I smile knowing that he loves her even if he won't say it.
———— at chubby's————
"While I understand barbecue is not your thing, Farkle, you do seem to have found a new appreciation for our hometown cuisine. " Zay says
"More." Farkle growls
"Easy, cowboy. You need to calm down." I reply
"Oh, I have to calm down? They make a big deal out of you riding a bull for four seconds. Well, I ate him." Farkle replies
"Im guessing barbecued food isn't as bad as you said?" Ari questions giggling before Riley and maya walk off and we continue talking.
"Hey huckleberry we dancing or what" Riley asks when she comes back over.
"Actually I do believe I promised my babygirl a dance. Ari?" I ask standing up.
"I would love too" she replies smiling back at me.
"I missed you, ya know" I say once we're on the dance floor
"I missed you too so damn much" she replies.
"You wanna go on a late night ride tonight?"
"Yea. Just like old times. When you were gone, I'd go up our trail up to our spot just to feel closer to you" she says
"In New York is go up the roof of my apartment building and I'd look up, if your high enough you can see the stars, I'd look at them and I just knew that you were here looking up too. Helped me feel more connected to you." I say smiling at her as I stop dancing and just wrap my arms around her and kiss her.
Farkle POV:
"Hey huckleberry we dancing or what" Riley asks as she comes to the table confusing me slightly.
"Actually I do believe I promised my babygirl a dance, Ari?" Lucas turns to his girlfriend.
"I would love too" she responds and they walk off.
"Okay well I guess I'm just gonna go walk around here" Riley says kinda sadly confusing me more. Aren't they siblings now shouldn't she be fine with Ari and Lucas dancing and either way they are dating.
"You didn't want him to get hurt because you care about him." I say to maya
"I care about all of us." She responds.
"You care about him."
"I care about all of us."
"You care about him."
"I will kill you."
"I'm not gonna care about anybody for the rest of my life, all right? I tried it once. Didn't work. From now on, I like nobody." Zay says
"Zay?" We hear and turn to see another girl our age. "Unbelievable." Zay reponds causing me to find out this is Vanessa.
————( im gonna skip this)————
"Hey, everybody. Welcome to chubby's famous barbecue, home of the best ribs in Texas" we hear once we get to the stage.
"I grew up here!" I yell slightly.
"Okay, well we're about to introduce two lovely ladies and one of them grew up here as well, about two hours down the road in sugar land. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome Maddie & Tae!" The guy says.
"Well, it feels real good to be back home in Texas. This first one's a love song..." one of the girls says "Uh-oh." All of us except Lucas and Ari mutter
"And it's called no place like you." The other girl says as they start singing.
We all start moving to the beat slightly. Riley, Maya, and I turn to see Lucas swaying with Ari and twirling her around. Laughing lightly. It's then that I can truly read the expressions on their faces. They love each other and I hope nothing breaks that up cause they truly look happy.
Lucas POV:
"You've just been sitting here, pappy Joe?" I ask as we walk back up onto the porch.
"Oh, after you run around enough, you'll find that a comfy chair on your own front porch is your favorite destination. Oh, by the way... Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son." He responds smiling
"What?"I ask confused
"Lord Chesterfield had a son who traveled the world." He says
"What is that? What are you doing?"Ari asks confused
"It's a blackboard."Pappy joe says
"My daddy made you do this." Riley says
"He's good people."
"No, he's not."
"Chesterfield writes him letters about how he should behave himself because a father knows... The only way for a kid to really learn anything is to go out into the world and find out who he is." Pappy joe tells us.
"My daddy is trying to teach us from beyond the grave." Riley says.
"Is he actually dead?" Ari quietly asks me.
"No" I answer her.
"Matthews wrote us a letter, didn't he?" Maya asks.
"He did. "Dear my favorite children... "Take care of each other. Enjoy the world." Pappy joe reads.
"I don't want this night to end." Farkle says
"What do you do around here when you just want to look at each other's faces a little longer?" Riley asks.
We walk off and Pappy joe builds us a small campfire for us to enjoy "Please do me the great favor of dousing these embers real good when you're done. That house and me might be real old, but we ain't quite ready to burned down yet." He says.
"Well, I never thought I'd say anything like this, but... I'm real sad I don't have a pappy Joe of my own." Maya says.
"Thank you, Maya. I wish you'd consider me yours till the time I... I... you know... bleh." He says making Ari giggle at him, "that one already does" he says pointing at Ari's giggling figure.
"Okay" maya responds.
"You guys were lucky." Farkle says
"How come?"I ask him
"To grow up out here... To have this sky... And the stars... This has been the best weekend of my life. Thank you." He responds making me smile.
"Promise we'll always be friends no matter what." Riley says.
"Riley..." Maya starts
"Promise. No matter what happens, I am telling you that I will always be your best friend. No matter what." Riley cuts her off.
"Oh. There's nothing I could do..." Maya asks confusing me.
"no, there's nothing you could do, Maya. Do you understand? It's you and me until the time we... You know..."Riley says serious.
"Bleh." They both say .
"Zay." Vanessa says appearing
"Vanessa?" Zay asks confused as to why she's there.
"Pappy Joe told me you were out here."
"You were looking for me?"
"I wanted to tell you I was sorry."
"What'd you do?"
"I never really gave you a chance. Now I'm too late because I could never steal you away from your new friends... Could I?" Vanessa asks Zay.
"Steal me from these people? Hmph. No. No, you couldn't." Zay responds.
"What if I bought you ice cream?" She asks him making me smile at them.
"You know, Vanessa... They're not really both my girlfriends. Or either of 'em."
"I think I knew that. That's not what impressed me. They're your friends who stuck up for you, so I must have missed something... Or you must have changed." She tells him.
"Well, I've learned that people change people."
"Hm, from beyond the grave, he's teaching us." Riley says making Ari tense lightly and I rub her arm as to calm her down.
"We're breaking up with you, honey nugget. Let her buy you ice cream." Maya says.
"Vanessa, you made a mistake with this one. He's pretty wonderful." Riley adds.
"Well, let's go see." Vanessa responds.
"Do you want me to buy you ice cream, Farkle?" Riley asks.
"What?" He responds
"Do you want me to buy you ice cream?" She says again.
"Oh. Are you sure?" He asks
"Yeah. Let's go." Riley says as they get up.
"Riles, where are you going?" Maya asks.
"You need to feel whatever you feel, Maya." Riley says.
"It's you and me forever." Maya says.
"Ari you wanna come with us? We can get to know each other more" Riley asks which confuses me. Why is she inviting Ari and not me.
"Actually I do believe you promised me a night ride" Ari says turning to me.
"That I did. Let's go saddle up" I respond grabbing her hand and pulling her up. "We'll be home late tonight so see you guys at the house" I say as we walk away hand in hand.
"Maya likes you" I hear all of a sudden.
"Riley" maya yells.
"It's why she couldn't watch at the rodeo" Riley says.
"What are you doing" maya asks.
"Look I'm sorry maya but I have a girlfriend and I promised her a date. Come on Ari. I wanna see Thunder and Baja" I say pulling her away.
"Is this gonna be bad for you and your new friends" Ari asks on our way to the barn.
"Probably but I don't care cause you're the only girl I want. You're the only girl I've ever wanted. Okay so you don't worry about any other girls cause I'm yours okay. Always" I respond
"And forever" she continues.
————(next day)————
Ari's POV:
I'm walking up to the pens where Judy the sheep and tombstone the bull are because I know Lucas is there.
"I wouldn't be who I am today without either one of you so... thank you" I hear him say "But you guys are nothing compared to Riley, Maya, and especially Ari"
"I'm glad to hear that" I say making him turn around.
"I don't want to leave you again" Lucas says wrapping his arms around my waist as mine go around his neck.
"I don't want you to leave either but we'll see each other again soon. I'll make sure of it"
"If it's not in a few months I'm coming back down"
"Agreed"
"I love you Ari more than you could ever know"
"I love you too Lucas so much"
"Love of my life. Always" he says.
"And forever the love of mine" I say as we both lean in for a passionate kiss.
"You ready?" We hear once we pull only to find Pappy Joe.
"Yeah thank you for everything" Lucas says an arm still around me.
"Good luck in the world boy" he says as we all walk off toward the train.
