seventeen - What Happens In Texas, Stays In Texas
‘’Hi,’’ Lucas greets Ryan Collins, the brunette that was approaching her group of friends that were surrounding the entrance to Mr. Matthews history classroom that next morning. She was holding onto her set of books for the class when walking down the steps, her luscious curls bouncing from behind her.
She bursts out into a wide grin, chuckling softly. ‘’Hi.’’ She looks around, her brows furrowing for a split second before asking, ‘’What’s going on?’’
Her smile dropped as she witnessed Lucas pursing his lips and shaking his head. He lets out a sigh and slaps his arms against his side. ‘’Nothing, Ryan.’’
She gaped at the back of his head while he turned to walk into Mr. Matthews empty classroom. Ryan pushed herself past Maya and followed after him.
‘’Hey,’’ She calls, her voice stern and almost threatening. Ryan pretty much had the best trip of her life with the best people she could surround herself with, spite the drama that roamed. She wanted the group to feel the same but it was everything but that.
Something was changing. It wasn’t the new perfume Ryan was wearing or the different hairstyle Riley has gotten used to. It was something raw, that could either make or break their friendships.
And Ryan Collins wanted to avoid it as much as possible. Of course, when you try to run away from trouble, trouble makes a run for you.
Ryan Collins entered the room fast and slung her bag on top of her desk but sat in Maya’s. ‘’Last and final time,’’ She then cocks a brow. ‘’What is going on?’’
He threw his head back with wide eyes, ‘’What do you mean, what’s going on? Ryan, you were there!’’
She leans over and jabs her pointer finger into the side of his head. ‘’I’m not in here, Lucas. I don’t know what goes on when it comes to Riley and Maya, or whatever it is that gives you the right to give me the cold shoulder.’’
He tilts his head to the side. ‘’I haven’t done that.’’
She arches her brows. ‘’Really? Because after you rode Tombstone the Bull, you’re real quick to be dismissive with me and- and what’s with these faces you always made?’’
He propped an arm on the desk to pinch the bridge of his nose and sighs, one louder than the last. ‘’I was just stressed.’’
‘’Lucas,’’ She scoffs, a corner of her lips quirked into a sly smirk before falling flat. ‘’You didn’t hug me or tell me bye once we came back. You never called or texted me to meet up before school. You just give me an awkward hi only because I walked in on you doing it with Riley and Maya.’’
‘’I’m sorry.’’
She shakes her head. ‘’No, sorry isn’t going to be enough on this one. I mean, for god sake, Lucas, you’re my best friend. I’m always here if you need to rant to anybody or just to figure things out with.’’
He cocks a brow. ‘’Are you talking about Riley and Maya?’’
She snickers. ‘’Duh.’’
He shakes his head.
‘’But what’s the deal?’’ She gets serious again. ‘’Do you really, genuinely like them? Or do you like them because you don’t want to make one feel bad for liking the other?’’
‘’I don’t know,’’ He shrugs his shoulders. ‘’They’re both amazing.’’
She narrows her eyes at him, a small smile playing her lips. ‘’That doesn’t answer the question.’’
As the bell rang and students began filling up their seats, Ryan sat in Maya’s seat a little while longer, allowing her gaze to linger with his before making her way towards her seat.
× × ×
‘’The Hoover Dam on the Arizona/Nevada border holds back ten trillion gallons of confused fourteen year old feels that looked to smack down the concrete structure of your life and my life, and it can’t take it, and I don’t want it. So everybody sit here and nobody move!’’ Mr. Matthews spazzed the next day.
Ryan raised a hand and informs, ‘’But, I’m still thirteen.’’
He waves her off. ‘’Besides the point. As strong as the structural integrity of the Hoover Dam might be, just one little tiny drop of water that makes it’s way through this barrier will chip away at the structural integrity of our lives as we know them, and the immediate-’’
Her teacher's words were drowned out when Zay had passed her a piece of paper. Though she didn’t hesitate on grabbing the piece of paper from his grasp before Mr. Matthews could catch on to what was going on, she couldn’t help but eye him curiously before looking down at the piece of folded up paper.
It was meant for Riley. She tapped Farkle’s shoulder with the paper in the same hand and waited for him to turn. Once he did, he took the piece of paper and passed it down to RIley Matthews.
Cory Matthews quitted his lectured and eyed Riley, along with the rest of the class as she opened her note.
‘’Riley,’’ He calls. ‘’What’s that?’’
Quickly folding the paper up and hiding it in her desk, she tells him, ‘’Nothing.’’
‘’Riley,’’ He calls again but with more concern. ‘’Did something get through?’’
The brunette stayed silent.
‘’Riley, something happened between me and Lucas,’’ Maya blurts out.
Ryan leans over a little further out in her seat to find her features falling in disappointment. She turned to Lucas as if she needed some confirmation on this possible charade, until he mumbles, ‘’Oh, boy.’’
Riley turns in her seat towards the back and smiles. ‘’Yes, Charlie. I will go out with you.’’
Ryan turns to look at a giddy Charlie Gardener while Mr. Matthews points a thumb back towards the board and pulled off a scarred look. ‘’Hoover Dam!’’
× × ×
Ryan Collins cocks a brow. The first time in a while where her focus has been entertained by what was written on the chalkboard for today’s lesson.
It was day three being back in New York and in white chalk, Cory Matthews written the names of Riley Matthews, Maya Hart, Lucas Friar and Ryan Collins in that order.
‘’Matthews,’’ Maya giggles. ‘’We know that everything you teach is always about us, but this is just lazy.’’
He held his hands out in an urgent gesture. ‘’I don’t have the time! I’m going right for it. You don’t think I could mash this up with the end of World War II if I wanted to?’’
As Mr. Matthews takes a deep breath, Ryan points a finger towards the board, her gaze still remaining on her name. ‘’Why is my name there?-’’
‘’America loves Russia!’’ He exclaims, ignoring her question. ‘’Then America doesn’t love Russia! Japan loves France now! Japan asks France to go bowling! So they go on a couple of dates, but then Japan says to France, I just want to be friends. So France says, I got enough friends. So they try to be civil with each other, but there’s a certain chill while they’re hanging out by the lockers. There’s a chill! You don’t think everyone in this room is going bowling with everybody else at some point?’’
He turns to point at the board furiously. ‘’Riley, Maya, Lucas and Ryan is all about everybody in this room, in every room, in the whole word and the universe! They just got there first. The jerks.’’
Ryan propped an elbow on her desk and raised a hand. ‘’First of all,’’ She grimaced when tilting her head to the side. ‘’What? Second of all-’’ Her features twisted even further when repeating, ‘’What?’’
He then points an accusing finger at her. ‘’You’re going to high school. You are all growing up spite of my wishes. It’s real now. What’s happened already is nothing compared to what’s gonna happen to you now.’’
It wasn’t until now that Ryan switched her gaze from the board to her teacher.
‘’I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you. Don’t let anything bad happen to you!’’
Ryan gapes at her teacher who reached back for his satchel set in his chair and slammed both of her hands against her desk. She leans back into her seat with a frustrated sigh as Lucas prompts, ‘’The class isn’t over yet, sir.’’
He waves him off. ‘’Nah, I’ve had it.’’
× × ×
She was so frustrated. Everybody has been distant, everybody has been wonky. It’s like nobody wants anything to do with each other because it’s so awkward. At least, that’s what it felt like to Ryan Collins.
After attending Mr. Matthews class earlier that morning, she sat in the rest of her other classes with a big fat question mark in her head. She need answers that no one was willing to give.
Ryan was walking up the hallway after changing into her regular clothes from the girls locker room and perked from her thought bubble at the sound of Riley’s voice, conversing with none other than Charlie Gardner.
‘’No talking.’’
Charlie smiles. ‘’What?’’
Ryan stood behind the corner from their end of the hall and watched the scene unfold.
‘’I just mean that we don’t have to talk,’’ Riley explains herself.
‘’Oh,’’ He jerks back. ‘’Then, do you want to go to the movies?’’
‘’Perfect. The movies are perfect. We can just sit there,’’ She then chuckles. ‘’You’re not gonna try and hold my hand, are you?’’
Ryan tilts her head and furrows her brows as Charlie tried to play it cool. He raised his arms in defense and scoffed, ‘’Uh, hey, I just found out that we’re going to the movies. I had bowling planned but that’s out the window.’’
‘’Okay. Well, I’m looking forward to our date.’’
‘’Me too,’’ He nods. ‘’No talking, no hand holding hands.’’ He lets out a meek, ‘’Yay.’’
Ryan slowly stepped out from behind the corner as Riley walks off without another word. This isn’t what Riley wanted. In fact, this whole arrangement the love triangle has going on isn’t what anybody wants.
Lost in a daze, she slowly continues to walk, letting her feet become her mind while her actual mind was clouded with thoughts, conspiracies and judgements. She was so caught up in her own world, she didn’t even hear nor see Charlie wave at her and greet politely, ‘’Hi, Ryan- oh, okay. Bye.’’
Ryan stops walking entirely when a presence stood in front of her. She saw a pair of Vans right in front of her Adidas. Not thinking much of the situation, she takes a step to the side to continue walking, but those same pair of Vans blocked her from doing so.
She looks up and right into Farkle’s blue oceanic eyes. She didn’t realize how much taller he is compared to her until now where if she were keep her head on a straight level, she’d have contact with his chest.
‘’Finally,’’ She breathes out. ‘’Somebody who isn’t totally M.I.A.- you know even Zay hasn’t talked to me.’’
‘’Did you see what I seen?’’ Farkle blurts out, rearing the encounter towards a different point.
She cranes her neck forward. ‘’What?’’
‘’Between Riley and Charlie, just now,’’ He elaborates. ‘’Did you see it?’’
She scoffs out a small smile, but her furrowed brows contradicted her, ‘’Yeah, I did. What’s it to you?’’
‘’What did you think?’’
‘’Farkle, why does this matter?’’
He wasn’t willing enough to listen to her thoughts and points of the situation back in Texas. Why does he want to hear now?
‘’Because you’re smart, Ryan,’’ He shamelessly admits. ‘’And even though you have a mean way of showing it, you make sense.’’
Her eyes were wide, she was stunned. The genius called her smart, and he was almost desperate to hear her perspective on things. Maybe this time, he’ll take her words into consideration.
‘’Wow,’’ She breathes out. ‘’Um,’’ She cringed. ‘’Thank you, I guess?’’
He nods his head, licking his bottom lips. ‘’So, what did you think?’’
She shrugs her shoulders, ‘’I think that this date with Charlie isn’t what she wants. I think this whole arrangement Lucas, Maya and her have, isn’t what anybody wants. I think everybody needs to sit down and be honest with how they truly feel and deal with it from there because if we don’t, it’ll hurt us in the end. And I don’t want us to get hurt. I want us to grow stronger.’’
He cocks a brow at her. ‘’Is that so?’’
She nods her head. ‘’Yeah, I really do.’’
‘’Lucas is really lucky to have you, Ryan,’’ Farkle compliments. ‘’You know that?’’
She snorts. ‘’I doubt that. I’ve barely seen him since we got back,’’ She looks up at him and couldn’t fight the urge to hold back her wide grin. ‘’But thank you, Farkle. That means a lot.’’
He furrows his brows at her. ‘’Why do you think your name was on the board today?’’
‘’Ugh,’’ She throws her head back. She opened her arms and walks closer to him to wrap her arms around him. ‘’I wish I did. I sent two girls to the nurse today because I was so frustrate playing baseball in gym.’’
‘’I’m glad I’m not in your gym class,’’ He smiles.
She pulls away from his touch, her features pleading for a proper answer. ‘’I’m serious, Farkle. What do you think?’’
‘’I don’t know, either,’’ He breathes out. ‘’But, I’m going to find out. I promise.’’
She winced. ‘’Let’s not make promises we can’t keep.’’
‘’I mean it, Ryan,’’ He sternly assures. ‘’You don’t deserve to be left in the dark when all you want to do is help.’’
‘’You know,’’ She smirks. ‘’Isadora is really lucky to have you, Farkle.’’ She looks away and shrugs her shoulders. ‘’We all are, actually.’’
× × ×
‘’Oof!’’ Ryan exclaims when Riley pushes Ryan out of Topanga’s bakery while pulling Farkle outside with her. Farkle had agreed with Ryan Collins in the hallways earlier that day to meet up with the gang later at Topanga’s.
‘’Farkle, you don’t know what’s going on. Stop thinking.’’
Riley was so grim they way she spoke to Farkle. It was as if they were thinking the same thing of the same gesture and she couldn’t allow him to think it any further.
Ryan steps closer towards the two, her arms folded across her chest as Farkle spoke. ‘’I know Auggie’s right. He’s your only brother. I’ve seen the way you look at Auggie, and I’ve seen the way you look at Lucas. It’s not the same.’’
‘’I-I think I know my own feelings,’’ She stutters.
‘’You’re a liar.’’
‘’Farkle,’ Riley scolds.
‘’No,’’ Ryan chimes in. Her locks swifted when she looked at Farkle then back to Riley. ‘’He’s right. You still like Lucas. And you’re not only lying to us, but you’re also lying to Lucas and your best friend.’’
Ryan slaps her arms against her sides and scoffed. ‘’Oh my god, Riley, how could you put Lucas in such an uncomfortable position?’’
‘’Lucas and I don’t make a good couple,’’ Riley argues. ‘’There was that one time where we walked into my house holding hands and we stood so far part. It was so awkward.’’
‘’You were both just nervous,’’ Farkle reasons. ‘’Because that’s not who you are. Remember that night in library, you and Lucas were talking a true and genuine conversation. You found out about his home life and what he wanted to be.’’
‘’Okay, okay,’’ She caves in. ‘’But what about Maya? I mean we all remembered the amount of times she’s teased him.’’
Ryan pursed her lips. ‘’Boys come and go, Riley. So what, if either one of you gets hurt in this. Somebody’s going to be happy for one another and you’ll still be best friends. As long as there’s honesty.’’
‘’I don’t really know how Maya feels,’’ Farkle spoke out.
Riley cranes her neck forward. ‘’How are you not sure?’’
‘’This isn’t about her. We’re talking about how you feel,’’ Farkle prompts. ‘’Remember that smile you had once you gotten back from the library.’’
Riley furrows her brows furiously. ‘’Farkle, how do you even know about that? You weren’t even there.’’
‘’Doesn’t matter-’’
Ryan lifts a finger, just as bewildered as RIley. ‘’Uh, yes it does.’’
‘’Maya is my best friend,’’ Riley’s began to glisten with tears. ‘’She cares about him and he cares about her too.’’
‘’But you’re being selfish, Riley!’’ Ryan exclaims. ‘’Even to yourself. You’re not happy this way and you don’t even know if Maya and Lucas really want this like you think they do.’’
It was a moment of silence. Riley couldn’t hold her tears back any longer and Farkle was shocked. Ryan was actually furious with Riley. She knew something was wrong and it was how Riley was choosing to handle this.
‘’You can’t tell anybody,’’ She spoke after that moment of silence.
‘’No,’’ Ryan fires. ‘’We will unless you do.’’
She tilts her head to the side and lets out a desperate, ‘’Why?’’
‘’It’s not fair for you to control the emotional roller coaster, especially when everyone isn’t happy,’’ She states. ‘’We’re growing up, Riley. And even if we don’t know how to handle how we feel, we got to stay honest.’’
Riley licks her lips and holds her hand behind her back. ‘’You’re right. This is really hard and maybe I just need some time.’’
Farkle nods his head. ‘’We’re always here for you.’’
Riley pulled Farkle and Ryan in a small group hug.
If only things could get better from here.
Ryan's Outfit #1
Ryan Collin's Outfit #2
Ryan Collin's Outfit #3