Riley and Maya weren't the only ones discussing what went down the night before. Lucas had called over Farkle and Zay. 'Why? Why did you call us? I was sleeping', Zay said as he suppressed a yawn. He took a swig of the bottle of water he had in his hands. 'Zay, I called you around twelve', Lucas said. His friend shrugged. 'I need my sleep, okay? How else do you think I look this handsome?' He smirked at his friends. Lucas rolled his eyes, and Farkle just looked creeped out. 'Why did you ask us to come over?' Farkle asked as he sat down on the couch in the Friar's living room. Lucas looked at his hands and bit his lip. 'Something happened last night.' Zay coughed. 'That's one way to put it. I mean, wow, you and Emily really... hit it off.' He stuck out his tongue at his friends. Normally, Lucas would have responded to that comment, but he was silent. 'Dude, what's wrong?' Zay asked him, confused there had been no protest. 'I kissed someone', Lucas slowly said. 'Yeah, we know. We saw you and Emily', Farkle chimed in. Lucas shook his head. 'No... I mean, yes, Emily and I kissed. But that's not what I was talking about.' He looked up at his friends. Zay's eyes widened. 'Wha-a-at?' Lucas tried to swallow the lump that was forming in his throat. 'Maya wasn't feeling so well, so I walked her home.' Farkle stood up from the couch. 'WHAT? You kissed Maya?!' The water bottle Zay had been carrying fell onto the floor, spilling its whole content. 'No!' Lucas said. Now, his friends were looking confused. 'But if you didn't kiss Maya, then who did you- Oh', Farkle said as the realization suddenly hit him. He remembered Riley leaving with Maya and Lucas. 'Huh? I don't get it', Zay said.
'Who did you kiss?' 'Bro, that's not cool', Farkle told Lucas, who didn't know whether he was more surprised by Farkle's disapproval or because of the fact he called him 'bro', which was very un-Farkle like. 'You shouldn't have kissed Riley!' Farkle exclaimed. Zay's eyes widened even more. 'Shut the front door', he said in utter amazement. 'Riley's the girl you kissed, even though you had just kissed Emily, who, as I recall, was your date?' Lucas nodded, looking down at the ground. 'I'm such an idiot', he said. 'Well that, my friend, is the understatement of the century.' Farkle shot him a look. 'What? It's true.' Lucas didn't have anything to say to that - he knew it was the bitter truth. He was an idiot for doing that and mentally cursed himself for doing that to Riley, the girl he cared about most.
After his conversation with Farkle and Zay, which lasted for about two hours more - who knew guys were that big talkers? - he decided he ought to apologize to Riley. And that was why he showed up at her apartment's doorstep later that afternoon. He felt a nervous flutter in his stomach, a feeling he'd had ever since... Well, ever since he'd first met her. He didn't want to go through with his plan, but he knew he had to. He owed Riley an explanation, even though he himself didn't really know why he'd done what he'd done. He took a deep breath. 'You can do this', he told himself out loud, before knocking. After ten seconds or so, the door was opened by no one less than Riley herself. He saw Maya standing behind her. Oh God, he thought. It was going to be hard talking to her alone, but with Maya there too? Impossible. Lucas wondered if he could still turn his back on the situation and Riley and leave before he made things even more complicated. He considered running away, but as much as he hated to admit it, Maya would probably catch up with him and drag him back. So he said 'hi'.
'Hi, Lucas. Come in', Riley said softly. Maya shot Lucas a warning look as he entered the apartment. Hurt her and I'll hurt you even more. 'Hi', he said again. 'I came here to talk to you', he said when he saw Riley's questioning look. 'About what happened last night', he added. 'What happened last night?' Riley asked. 'I don't recall anything.' Lucas knew she was lying and it would've been easy for him to play along. But he knew that wasn't an option. 'I', he began, 'kissed you.' Riley bit her lip, not knowing what to say. 'Maya', she said and without further explanation, her friend walked to the door. 'I'll talk to you later, okay? Call me if you need anything.' Riley gave her friend a brave smile. 'I will', she replied, before shutting the door behind her friend. That left her alone with Lucas. Again. Which didn't exactly end well the last time. 'Last night was a mistake', Lucas blurted out. Riley didn't know what she had expected him to say, but she still felt a pang of sadness when he said those five words. 'Um...' 'That came out wrong', Lucas said. 'It's not like I didn't want for it to happen.' Riley raised her eyebrows. 'I mean, it wasn't supposed to happen. And it won't ever happen again. I'm so sorry, Riley. I shouldn't have kissed you. I'm really sorry.' Riley looked at him, at the green eyes she adored so much. If she'd had the courage, she would've walked over to him, taken his face in her hands and pressed her lips against his. In another universe, maybe, but no. In this one, it was out of question. She wondered if Maya would've done it. Riley wished she was more courageous, like her friend. 'You don't have to apologize', she told him. 'It's fine. And like you said, it won't ever happen again.'
Hi everyone :) I hope you liked this new chapter! I feel kind of bad I'm going to end 2016 with a kind of sad chapter :c Anyway, thank you all so much for reading. And a special thanks to those who have voted on previous chapters. It was this year that I started writing these GMW stories and I couldn't have done it without your support. I'm so grateful for all of you and I wish you all an awesome New Year's Eve, and a happy and healthy 2017!
Lots of love,
♥