twenty - Time Jump
These past couple of months, have been a little.. Difficult to sustain. With the entire feminist act in science class, Farkle’s home life crisis with the money situation and learning about communism, Ryan Collins had to pretend that everything was okay between herself and Lucas Friar.
But nothing was okay. Nothing was the same.
How could Maya and Riley go through this everyday? Ryan constantly thought of to herself. It was exhausting. She couldn’t fully act the way she normally acts around her best friend because she wasn’t sure if it’d trigger his emotions.
Neither of them were able to talk to each other either, let alone look at each other. They were able to stand near each other when they were around the group. But, you would never catch them alone with just the two of them.
And yet, Lucas couldn’t help but feel responsible for all of this. He should’ve been more careful with his emotions. He should’ve been less obvious, more subtle. He should’ve gotten rid of those emotions the second he felt them.
The further Lucas Friar and Ryan Collins grew apart, the more Isaiah Babineaux, Farkle Minkus and Lucas Friar became closer just as Maya Hart, Riley Matthews and Ryan Collins did.
Which is why Ryan sat in between Maya and Riley at Riley’s bay window that Saturday morning.
Riley was grinning. Too long for Ryan’s liking if anything. She didn’t know what was going on, she just gotten a text from the bubbly brunette to come over.
‘’What?’’
‘’I need to ask you both for permission for something,’’ She immediately blurts out.
Maya waves her off, chuckling, ‘’Whatever you want.’’
‘’Awe,’’ Riley gushed. ‘’Ever since we were little kids you would always tell me whatever you want while Ryan would just pick at her nails and ask if I got any food, even before any of you even knew what it was.’’
Ryan looks up from her nails that had nail polish chipping off the surface and points a finger at her, ‘’Speaking of, do you?’’
Ignoring Ryan’s needs, Maya smiles and eggs on, ‘’You got a good thing going here, kid. Don’t blow it.’’
‘’You guys really don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.’’ Riley shifts in her seat. ‘’Remember when I first asked you if you wanted to be friends?’’
Maya shakes her head, ‘’Did I take it on? Am I still here?’’
‘’You can’t just say yes this time,’’ Her features fell flat. ‘’This one’s different.’’
Ryan tilts her head to the side. ‘’Riley, why do we keep going down memory lane?’’
‘’I want to completely redo-’’
Maya points at her and smiles meekly, ‘’Your hair.’’
Riley laughs. ‘’You want to change my hair?’’
‘’I think you could try something once,’’ Maya suggests, but Riley shakes her head, shooting the idea down once it was made. ‘’I don’t want to change my hair.’’
‘’We gotta look at that everyday,’’ Maya counters.
Ryan lifts her hands in wanting no part of this. ‘’Don’t bring me in this.’’
‘’No, say it,’’ Riley urges. ‘’You got a problem with my hair!’’
‘’I got a problem with your make up,’’ Ryan then flattens her lips.
‘’What?’’ She gapes.
‘’The eyeliner hun, makes your eyes smaller than what they already are,’’ She points out. ‘’If you’re gonna be doing that, at least do some eyeshadow.’’
Riley jerks her head, her lips opening and closing from being flabbergasted. ‘’Well you change your hair and you change your make up.’’
‘’Hun,’’ Ryan cocks a brow. ‘’My highlight is brighter than my future, there’s nothing to change.’’
Maya shakes her head vigorously with furrowed brows. ‘’Stop being ridiculous! Both of you!’’
‘’I want to completely redo-’’
‘’The way you dress,’’ Maya finishes for her, again.
Ryan and Riley tilt their head at Maya as Riley asks, ‘’You don’t like me at all, do you?’’
The blonde cranes her neck forward. ‘’Your one of my favorite people in the world, along with Ryan. I wouldn’t change a thing about you.’’
Riley straightens her posture and announced, ‘’I want to tear down the bay window.’’
The brunette beside her had her hair shifting swiftly when turning back to face her with wide eyes. ‘’What?’’
‘’You shut your face.’’
Riley cocks a brow. ‘’It’s time.’’
‘’What’s the matter with you?’’
Ryan shifts in her seat, leaning back into the decorative pillows. ‘’What do you mean it’s time? What’s wrong with it?’’
‘’We’re changing, Ryan,’’ She prompts.
‘’We’re not,’’ Maya remarks.
Her gaze shifted over towards the blonde sitting on the other end of Ryan. ‘’Maya, the most important things in our lives are changing. The bay window is one of the most important things in our lives. It’s changing with us. It’s time.’’
Ryan remained silent as Maya calls, ‘’Riley, look at me. Some things mean too much to us to ever change. I don’t ever want this place to change. Look at me and tell me you understand that.’’
She was lost in a daze until Riley calls her name, pulling her out of her trance. ‘’Ryan?’’
She looks up and met their gaze. One was angry while the other one was collective.
The calm and collective one had asked, ‘’What do you think about this?’’
Ryan Collins swallows the pool of saliva in her mouth that she didn’t even know was forming until now and spoke in a small voice, ‘’We’ll always have the memories, Riley. Even when it’s changed, we’ll be holding onto the old ones while making the new ones.’’
‘’Are you insane?’’ Maya’s eyes were wide at Ryan. ‘’Okay, no, Riley. You don’t have my permission for this. This place has always been my sanctuary from the storm.’’
‘’It still will be,’’ Ryan assures.
‘’Maya, we’re doing it.’’
‘’It never mattered what was going on outside these windows,’’ She pats the seat on both sides of her. ‘’When I sit here with you and Ryan, one or the other, I’m safe. We’re not changing that.''
‘’You looking forward to high school?’’ Riley questions out of the blue.
‘’We still don’t know if that’s gonna happen!’’
Riley shakes her head. ‘’Maya, it’s gonna happen.’’
‘’Yeah,’’ Ryan slaps her hands down in her lap. ‘’We get to break out into a dance number, never learn anything in class, meet our Troy Bolton.-’’
While keeping eye contact with Maya, Riley points a finger at her, ‘’That’s not what would be happening to us.’’
‘’Because we have no talent!’’ She exclaims. ‘’Now we have to get a basic Troy, who doesn’t sing, dance and does basketball.’’
‘’You stink at change, Maya, and I want to hit the the ground running from the very first day,’’ Riley attempts to reason. But this only caused the fiery blonde to jerk her head back and jab a finger into her chest, pointing at herself. ‘’I stink at change? Remember when you were afraid that Lucas was changing? Remember when you said, change fills my pockets with pennies of uncertainty?’’
Maya nor Riley noticed how tense Ryan became at the mention of the cowboy’s name as she points an accusing finger at Riley. ‘’You stink at change.’’
‘’Yes, but I’ve changed.’’
Ryan furrows her brows along with Maya when looking at Riley. Did that really make sense in her head? Ryan shakes her head vigorously, pushing Riley’s remark aside and turning to look at Maya. ‘’Riley’s got a point, Maya. It’s a natural part of growing up. We’re changing, so what’s wrong with a little redecorating? This place will still be special.’’
‘’You know what’s natural?’’ She licks her lips and points out the window. ‘’The way the sun comes in through these windows and the pillows are warm when you put your head on them, or how the moon glows off of the curtain and we don’t care that it’s the middle of the night because we’re here, and we’re safe and we’re protected.’’
‘’And we’re doing it,’’ Riley adds.
‘’Or how Farkle comes in through the window all our lives and says, ladies!’’ Maya continues to list off. ‘’I don’t want that to ever change.’’
Coincidentally, that’s when Farkle climbs through the window and settles in the available seat beside Maya. The girls waited for him to greet with his per usual ladies line that Maya went on about.
‘’Hey,’’ Farkle flatly greets, wondering what everyone was waiting for that caused them to stare at him silently.
‘’Why do things change, Farkle?’’ Maya asks.
‘’Because things grow,’’ He responds, pretty much repeating what Riley Matthews and Ryan Collins have been saying this whole time. ‘’Did you know that every seven years, your body grows a whole new set of cells? Every seven years, it’s like you’re a whole new person.’’
Riley sat up in realization. ‘’Mr. Norton taught us that in Science.’’
‘’Yeah,’’ Maya nods, countering, ‘’Well, I’m exactly same as I was when I was seven and I’ll be exactly the same when- Do it.’’
Ryan furrows her brows when Farkle blurts out, ‘’Twenty one.’’
‘’Uh, no you won’t,’’ Ryan chuckles. ‘’At twenty one we’ll have more responsibilities, our hair will grow, our bodies will change, we’ll get taller, have different mindsets-’’
‘’Okay!’’ Maya exclaims while holding a hand up. ‘’I think we get it.’’
‘’Maya, the difference between you at seven and now is that at seven, you just met me and now, you’ve learned to use me.’’
Ryan chuckles softly as Maya nudges his arm. ‘’I know a good thing when I see it. You’ve been growing ever since we met.’’
‘’Yeah,’’ Riley agrees. ‘’Farkle, I hope we can say that you’ve grown into a handsome young man without embarrassing you.’’
Ryan cringed at Riley’s choice as Farkle hesitates to let out, ‘’Uh, no. You can’t.’’
‘’Riley,’’ Ryan whines. ‘’Who still says handsome young man anymore? You gotta get updated. We say,’’ She turns to Farkle and puckers her lips. ‘’Yo, you fly, son.’’
Maya bursts into laughter. ‘’Oh my god, that is so much worse.’’
Ryan giggles in contrast to Maya’s laughter, but she soon calmed down. Her gaze wandered over to Farkle and there she went, admiring him again.
‘’Awe, look at him,’’ Maya gushed, petting his cheek. ‘’Remember the little boy he was? Remember first day we met him?’’
‘’Do I remember?’’ Riley smiles. ‘’He saved my life. He saved my life twice and neither of you could have save it once.''
Ryan and Maya mimicked in their baby voice, ‘’You have to wift your head, Wiwey!’’
× × ×
It was a Halloween party at the Matthews household back when they were seven years old. Maya stood on one end of Riley dressed in a costume bag for a Ninja. Riley was dressed as, of course, a princess while Ryan dressed in a Mad Hatter costume.
Riley was so called drowning in a bowl of water that apples floating around in it. Though, it wasn’t necessarily drowning if only her head was in the bowl while the rest of her was standing. She kept slapping her hands in the water.
‘’You have to wift your head, wiwey,’’ Maya flatly tells her repeatedly while Ryan sat on the couch beside them. Her hair was wet and she was chewing on one of the apples she rightfully claimed from the challenged. ‘’You have to wift your head. Wift your head.’’
Ryan looks up from her snack when a boy calls, ‘’Wadies!’’ It was a little scrawny boy who wore glasses. At the time, Farkle was a much lighter blonde. He wore a black turtle neck under his vampire costume.
Farkle flips his cape, moving it out of his way to point at RIley, who still couldn’t lift herself up from the bowl. ‘’What’s the matter with her?’’
Maya turns back to her friends and prompts, ‘’All you have to do, is wift your head.’’
Ryan held onto her apple in her lap as Farkle walked around Maya towards Riley’s side, pulling up from the bowl.
The brunette wipes the water away from her eyes and asks, ‘’Why do people wike this game? They say come up when you get an apple, but what if you don’t get an apple? What are you supposed to do?’’
‘’You still wift your head, woser,’’ Ryan calls out before munching another piece of her apple.
Riley looks back at Ryan to stick her tongue. She then turns to Farkle and smiles. ‘’You saved my life. How can I repay you? I know! Apples!’’
Riley dunks her head back into the bowl and starts slapping her arms into the water.
As Farkle helps her up again, Ryan smacks her forehead. ‘’Ai cawamba! Don’t you learn, woman?’’
Ryan slides off of the couch to get closer to Maya, Farkle and Riley. Maya looks over at Ryan and nods. ‘’She a lotta work.’’
Riley then shakes her head. ‘’I am not a smart person.’’
‘’That’s why you all could use a friend like me,’’ Farkle offers.
‘’Why?’’ Ryan asks.
‘’Because I promise to wove you three the same.’’
Riley twiddles with her hands as she proposes, ‘’Well, what if you wove one of us more? What if you marry one of us?’’
Farkle pulled Maya close to his side with one arm as he struggle to pull Riley and Ryan in the other. ‘’It will be the same. I promise.’’
Ryan gags as she rips away from Farkle’s touch, making it easier from him after she exclaims, ‘’Bleh! That sounds messy. I want a man that’s all for me, like prince Ewic from the Little Mermaid.’’
‘’What’s your name?’’ Maya asks the kid.
All of a sudden, he runs away and gets down on both knees while using his cape to hide him by pulling the material over his head.
‘’If I tell you, don’t laugh.’’
Riley shakes her head. ‘’We would never.’’
Ryan shrugs her shoulders, commenting, ‘’How can we laugh at a name?’’
Lifting the cape off of his head while he stands, he turns to the trio and tells the, ‘’Farkle.’’
Maya was the only one who bursts into laughter while Riley was biting her bottom lip.
‘’I wanna laugh, but I promised!’’
Ryan questions with furrowed brows, ‘’Do your parents love you?’’
‘’Yeah,’’ He nods. But, Ryan contradicts him by shaking her head. ‘’I don’t think they do.’’
‘’What’s your last name?’’ Maya asks once she was done laughing. Farkle turns around again and throws the cape over his head. Only this time, he remained on his toes.
‘’I don’t wanna tell ya.’’
‘’Why does Dracula wear turtlenecks?’’ Riley randomly asks.
He takes the cape off of his head and turns to him. ‘’Because I’m scared of vampires. They bite your neck.’’
‘’But you are a vampire!’’ Riley exclaims.
Farkle cocks his head to the side. ‘’My mind is very fancy. Feel free to use me as you see fit.’’
× × ×
‘’And I always have,’’ Maya perks.
Farkle shakes his head at her. ‘’Your costume was a bag.’’
‘’I couldn’t afford a costume,’’ Maya shrugs her shoulders. ‘’I was a different bag every year.’’
‘’Look how much Farkle changed,’’ Riley points out. ‘’It’s nothing to be afraid of. Maya, we’re changing the bay window.’’
Ryan was amazed by how quick Farkle’s features changed as he furrows his brows furiously. ‘’Why can’t you just change your hair?’’
‘’You’re changing the bay window?’’ A voice piped up. Ryan had turned to find Lucas Friar climbing through the window. She couldn’t help but watch him intently as he takes a seat next to Farkle, causing the group to scoot over.
Maya slaps her hands against her thighs and remarks, ‘’Oh, look what you did. You made hee-haw show up out of nowhere.’’
‘’Lucas, how does this affect you?’’ Riley asks as he takes his seat. ‘’You didn’t grow up with us.’’
‘’Yeah, I didn’t have to. I know this place has a lot of meaning to you. That makes it a special place to me,’’ He then waves a hand between Maya, Ryan and Riley. ‘’Because you guys are special to me in..’’
She felt her chest sink as he took a pause. His smile had dropped and he suddenly couldn’t remember where he was going with this.
‘’In, um..’’
Ryan scoffs. ‘’Way to make it awkward, Friar.’’
He gapes at the brunette that bowed her head, using her hair to block view of her face. ‘’Ryan, I’m sorry. It’s just-’’
She looks up and shakes her head. ‘’Stop apologizing. Okay? Just forget it.’’
‘’High school’s coming up,’’ Riley mentions. ‘’We’re changing. Look around, guys. This is a little girl’s window. It needs to change with us.’’
‘’Hey, Huckleberry,’’ Maya calls. ‘’It might’ve been okay to have known you as long as we’ve known Farkle.’’
‘’Yeah,’’ He breathes out a smile. ‘’Being friends with you guys has changed me in the best possible way. I wish I could have always had that.’’
Riley pulled off a crooked smile as she assures him, ‘’We could do it. I say we’ve known you since you were a little kid.’’
‘’Well, how do you do that?’’
‘’A musical number,’’ Riley announced as she stands up and getting on top of her seat.
Ryan didn’t even care if Lucas and her exclaimed in unison, ‘’No!’’
‘’In a town of old Austin in Texas,’’ Riley sang.
Lucas gets up from his seat and asks, ‘’Why?’’
‘’Why?’’ Farkle asks right afterwards as Maya climbs to stand on the seat that Lucas sat in. She then sings, ‘’Lived Bucky McBoing Boing Huh Hugghhr!’’
His head lagged to the side as he turns to face Maya. ‘’Will you please be kind?’’
× × ×
Riley’s room was practically destroyed. All the colorful patterns and designs were no longer amidst, even the carpet was gone. It as a sight for sore eyes, the group couldn’t believe it.
Neither could Cory and Topanga Matthews.
While Riley, Ryan, Farkle and Lucas stood around while Maya was the only one remaining in her spot on the bay window.
‘’How could you let them do this?’’ Maya whimpers. The question was more towards her parents who seemed to be surprised by what they walked into.
‘’We didn’t,’’ Cory looked over to Topanga who was eyeing him with furrowed brows. He faced the group of kids and asked almost furiously, ‘’What did you guys do?’’
‘’Riley,’’ Topanga gestures towards the bay window. ‘’This is your favorite place in the world.’’
‘’I’m just a teenage girl rearranging her room a lot,’’ Riley simply explains with a shrug of her shoulders.
Her mother folds her arms across her chest. ‘’Uh-huh. What’s really happening?’’
‘’Just because we’re going to high school, she thinks we should destroy our childhood.’’
Ryan rolls her eyes and shifts her weight from the right leg to her left. ‘’Maya, don’t be so dramatic. She’s not destroying your childhood. Playing Mr. Meaty on Nickelodeon, that is destroying a childhood.’’
Maya shifts in her seat to face her more. ‘’This isn’t funny, Ryan. Look around! What do you think she’s doing?’’
‘’Okay,’’ Cory nods. ‘’You know, this raises an interesting question. Who here knows-’’
‘’Stop!’’ Ryan interrupts him, allowing with the others.
Their teacher eyed them incredulously. ‘’Stop what?’’
Ryan narrows her eyes and points at him. ‘’You don’t get to do this, it’s a Saturday.’’
‘’And you were going to teach us something,’’ Riley shakes her head, continuing the line of scolding along with Ryan as they both shook their head at him.
‘’No,’’ He drags out.
Lucas pursed his lips. ‘’Sure, you weren’t.’’
‘’You need help, Matthews,’’ Maya spoke up from the window.
‘’You’re not aloud to teach us anything today,’’Lucas forbids.
‘’I wasn’t going to teach you anything,’’ Cory insisted.
Everyone had let out a meek yay, while Farkle had groaned in disappointment.
‘’Because you already know this one,’’ Cory counters, killing the buzz which caused the group to groan. All except Farkle, who was the only one to let out a pleasant yay.
Lucas, Farkle and Ryan plopped onto the foot of Riley’s bed in that order.
‘’The truth is,’’ Cory began. ‘’People get comfortable with what’s familiar.’’
‘’Yeah,’’ Topanga agrees. ‘’And when you get too comfortable, you don’t allow yourself room to grow.’’
‘’The worst thing you can do is fold your arms and refuse to accept what’s gonna come anyway.’’ Just as Cory Matthews finished his sentence, Ryan leaned over to look over at Maya who did just as Cory described.
‘’Shaking my head,’’ She remarks aloud, performing that action. ‘’The shade was real, huh, Maya?’’
‘’Hey, Riley,’’ Lucas piped up. ‘’Is that my boot? Can I please have that back?’’
Riley breathes out a chuckle. ‘’No.’’
Topanga walks up to RIley and supports her. ‘’Honey, it’s totally okay that you want to create space for new memories. Let’s just keep the old memories somewhere safe.’’
Ryan watched her mother gently take Beary the Bear-Bear and Lucas’ boot from her grasp. ‘’You may decide that you want to visit them again later.’’
× × ×
About another half an hour has passed and Farkle, Ryan, Maya, Riley and Lucas sat on the wooden bench in the window, in that order as the group finished reminiscing over the memory of Topanga giving birth to Auggie Matthews.
That was also the same day where Maya had told the girls that her father left.
‘’I don’t want to go to high school,’’ Maya announced.
‘’Why not?’’ Riley asks.
‘’We’ve always been together,’’ Maya shakes her head, chuckling dryly. ‘’Even when you were off for that year, Ryan, it still and will always be just us three. But what if something changes? What if something happens? People drift apart in high school.’’
A corner of Ryan’s lips quirked into a sly smirk. ‘’We’re not just people, Maya. We’ve been friends throughout the most serious situations. I think we’re ready to go to high school.’’
She clicks her teeth. ‘’You can’t even have a civil one on one conversation with Lucas without yelling at him. You two aren’t even best friends while you're at it-’’
‘’Maya,’’ Riley scolds.
‘’If someone is going to convince me on this, then that someone should have some sense here.’’
‘’Yeah, but you guys are leaving it to Lucas to decide who he wants,’’ Ryan shrugs her shoulders. ‘’Haven’t even had a second since New Year’s to sit down and actually talk about this.’’
Maya challenges her. ‘’If you think you’re so much better than prove it. Because, and not to be a point dexter, but you haven’t gotten around to talking it to him much yourself, Ry.’’
Internally, she cringed. She hated when Maya throws her nickname in for sarcastic terms. Most importantly, she didn’t want to have a forced conversation in front of all their friends.
‘’Ryan,’’ Lucas calls. Her gaze shifted from one pair of blue eyes to another. He looked at her with concerned, that same concerned gaze he’d use whenever Maya had pressured her from when she returned. It amazed her to know that even though she’s been treating him badly, he will still defend her. He will still and probably always will have her back.
So you can only imagined how much it pained her when she tells him, ‘’I’m sorry, Lucas. But I don’t like you in that way.’’
The meaning of concern in his gaze was gone. There was nothing to replace it, his features looked so empty.
‘’I really only see you as my best friend,’’ She breathes out. ‘’And I’m so sorry that I’ve been mean to you. I was just mad at myself because I didn’t feel the same way back.’’
He flattens his lips into a straight line and nods his head. ‘’It’s okay, Ryan.’’
She shakes her head vigorously. There were tears pooling at her sacks, and she was fighting so hard to resist them. She didn’t want to let them fall, she didn’t want nobody to see her cry over this. It wasn’t really a reason to cry, if you think about it, but she was so scared of the results. ‘’No, it’s not okay, Lucas. Tell me how you really feel. Tell me that you’re mad at me, tell me that you don’t want to be friends anymore, tell me something more than okay.’’
He chuckles softly. ‘’I’m not mad at you nor will I stop being friends with you. I meant what I said in Texas. You’re too important to me, Ryan. Too important to lose. So don’t apologize for how you feel, because I never intend to risk my friendship with you.’’
He extends an arm out towards her, reaching for her hand as he stands up. ‘’Now, come on.’’
Ryan sniffles, smiling at his grin as she placed her hand in his. She allows him to pull her up, wrapping her in a hug. Of course, Lucas was about the same height as Farkle, so she buried her face into his chest and wrapped her arms around his torso while his wrapped around her shoulders.
She felt his chin resting on the top of her head. ‘’I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little hurt. But, I’ll get over it. I promise.’’
She didn’t know how to respond. She hates that he feels that way. She hates knowing that she was the reason as to why he feels that way. What she didn’t know, was that Lucas was overall happy to remain best friends. Crush or no crush, he just didn’t want them to become strangers.
‘’You see, Maya,’’ Riley points to the two. ‘’How could that possibly happen when Ryan and Lucas are still best friends?’’
‘’How could it possibly happen that the bay window would change?’’ She began to cry. ‘’How could it possibly happen that people just leave?’’
By now, Ryan and Lucas had pulled apart from the hug and were back in their seats as Riley turned Maya by the chin to make her look at her. ‘’Maya, sometimes change is good. It leads to a wonderful growing up. Don’t you want to be big girls?’’
Maya shoves her hand off of her shoulder, pouting. ‘’No. This was the first place that I ever thought was safe. Even if my whole world changed, this place never would.’’
‘’Maya,’’ Ryan scoffs. ‘’You’re saying the same thing over and over again. We get it, this place is valuable. It’s also valuable to Riley and me. This is still the same place, just with a new design. This will still be that same place where you could feel safe, why do you keep thinking that part of the bay window is going to change?’’
‘’Because it’s not just the bay window we’re saying goodbye to.’’
‘’It’s us, right?’’ Farkle asks. ‘’You think you’re gonna say goodbye to us?’’
‘’Maya, we’re not going anywhere,’’ Lucas assures.
‘’Not in high school, not any time. It’s always going to be us.’’
‘’Very good,’’ Cory praises. He was still in the same spot by the door with Topanga by his side, holding onto the items she had took from Riley earlier.
Lucas cocks a brow. ‘’That’s it?’’
He bops his head. ‘’Yeah.’’
‘’That’s what you wanted us to learn?’’
Cory jerked his head back. ‘’Leave me alone.’’
‘’It’s his day off.’’
Without another word, Riley’s parents had walked out of the room.
Maya had her head down as Riley rests a hand on her shoulder. ‘’Maya, we’re never leaving. No matter where we go, we’re never leaving. And Farkle told us that he’d always love us equally no matter what.’’
Farkle nods along. ‘’I’m as good as my promise.’’
Riley cocks a brow at Ryan, egging her to chime in.
‘’I’m pretty pist at you right now,’’ Ryan blurts out, nostrils flared. ‘’But I’m not going anywhere.’’
Riley turns to Lucas. ‘’Lucas?’’
‘’Right here.’’
‘’Maya,’’ Riley calls. ‘’High school’s just the next place.-’’
Ryan nods her head. ‘’Yeah, it’s college that we have to worry-’’ The ending of her sentence was muffled under Farkle’s hand, as he pulls her close to his side.
‘’Your safe place is us,’’ Riley continues. ‘’Your safe place is Ryan and I.’’
Ryan furrows her brows when she lifts her hand up to show off her ring. ‘’And I’m yours.’’
Riley smiles and holds onto her hand. ‘’From the day that we meant.’’
× × ×
Ryan Collins and Riley Matthews were friends longer than the iconic duo that is known of today. They met at pre-school and it happened to be a coincidence that Riley and Ryan had the exact same snack for lunch time.
They had the same brand of Mott’s apple juice in a small bottle and an equally small pack of Stauffer’s animal crackers. But, Ryan’s was slightly more different because she had gummy bears. At the time, gummy bears were Ryan’s favorite.
Any food that was an animal really was Ryan’s favorite food.
Riley had noticed. At first, she was happy to know they had the same taste, literally. She thought they could be twins, especially since they almost looked alike with the features they shared. But when she noticed the gummy bears, Riley had lost hope for her twin.
Knowing Riley, however, she took this to a different turn.
She had walked up towards the girl that afternoon and asked if they could share gummy bears. It wasn’t that Ryan was greedy, she just wanted to know why. So she asked her why.
Ryan always laugh when thinking back to this day, because at that moment, Riley admitted that they if were going to be twins, they need to play the whole part.
''We're not twins,'' Ryan jerks her head back.
''Of course we are!'' Riley exclaims. ''Our parents just forgot to have us together.''
She narrows her eyes at her. She didn't know what type of game this girl was playing, but she did know that she didn't want to have lunch alone like usual.
''You're lucky I'm not gonna finish these gummy bears all by myself,'' She caves in. Which was true. Her whole lunch was going to end up her evening snack because she'd get full.
However, Riley grins. She got into the seat next to her and displayed her lunch in front of herself and Ryan.
She tilts her head to the side as Riley picks up a red gummy. ''Say, why do you think we're twins?''
''Well,'' She chews on the head. ''We both don't have friends around here, but I think we got two different reasons.''
She furrows her brows, ''What's your reason?''
''People don't like me,'' Riley never lifted her gaze off of the headless gummy. ''I tried to make friends but they all run away. You're the first that hasn't done that, or called me weird.''
She shrugs her shoulders empathetically. ''If it makes you feel better, people don't like me because they think I'm mean.''
She looks up with arched brows. ''Are you?''
''I tell people things to fix what they're doing wrong and they get hurt in their feelings and call me a bully.''
She starts swinging her legs given her feet couldn't reach the floor, even in the little chairs.
''You seem pretty nice,'' She plops the rest of the gummy bear into her mouth. ''Your sharing your gummy bears with me.''
Riley reaches for another red one. ''You know I like to chew the heads off. I put them out of pain.''
''You're Riley, right?'' She asks before taking a sip of her juice.
She nods her head, humming while chewing on another head. ''And you're Ryan. My twin.''
Ryan smiles and pushes the rest of her gummy's over to Riley's side of the table. ''Here. I like my crackers more.''
Riley furrows her brows. ''How do you eat your crackers?''
''I like to eat their legs first,'' She giggles. ''I want them in pain.''
With wide eyes, Riley points at Ryan and labels, ''You're the evil twin!''
From that point, it was always just those two. They did anything and almost everything together. They slept over at each other's houses, had play dates, went on trips together.
One day, it was another play date only it was at Riley's house. They were laughing, jumping on the bed.
Thinking back, Ryan nor Riley couldn't exactly explain what was so fun about doing that for ten minutes.
Maybe it was because they were together, that they were so happy being together?
A younger Maya had climbed through the window, but she was hesitant. She saw how much the two girls were having, they might just kick her out.
''Hi,'' Ryan greets. She lets her body fall back on the bed before climbing off of it.
Riley repeats Ryan's actions as the two head for the bay window.
Ryan sat on one side of Maya while Riley sat at the other.
''Are you a stranger?'' Riley asks.
‘’Yeah,’’ Maya admits.
‘’Are you a stranger coming through my window?’’
‘’Yeah.’’
‘’Then- Ah!’’ Riley starts to scream before Maya slaps a hand on her mouth, stopping her before anybody could of heard.
‘’I’m running away from home,’’ Maya tells them. ‘’I saw your curtains and your pillows, and I heard you guys laughing. I like laughing better than yelling. Please don’t yell.’’
By now, her hand was no longer covering Riley’s mouth.
Ryan tilts her head to the side while she fiddles with her fingers. ‘’Why are you running away?’’
‘’Because my mommy and daddy are always fighting,’’ Maya explains. The blonde looks around the room and asks her, ‘’What do you do here?’’
‘’We sit here and we play.’’
‘’Cool,’’ Maya nods her head.
Ryan cocks a brow. ‘’Do you wanna play with us?’’
‘’Yeah,’’ She smiles. ‘’What’s your name?’’
Riley pressed a hand to her chest, ‘’I’m Riley,’’ She then points to Ryan, ‘’And this is my twin, Ryan.’’
‘’Woah,’’ Her eyes went wide. ‘’You guys are really twins?’’
Ryan shakes her head. ‘’No. But, she likes to call us that and I don’t mind. What’s your name?’’
‘’I’m Maya Penelope Hart.’’
Ryan smiles again. ‘’Hi, Maya.’’
‘’Guys!’’ Riley exclaims. ‘’Let’s be best friends forever.’’
‘’Whatever you want.’’
Ryan grabbed onto her stomach once she felt it growling. ‘’I’m hungry, you got any food?’’
‘’Peaches!’’ Riley looks at Maya. ‘’We’re calling you, peaches.’’
Ryan pursed her lips. ‘’I was thinking more of a burger.’’
‘’Now that we're best friends forever, we should get a few things straight,’’ Riley starts off, pushing aside Ryan’s comment.
‘’Like what?’’
‘’I'm a lot of trouble. I'm gonna be the dangerous one.’’
Ryan giggles. ‘’You’re a lot of trouble because your dumbo.’’
Maya leans over and peers at her, her features becoming intimidating. ‘’I’m the dangerous one.’’
‘’Okay,’’ Riley gives in.
Maya starts laughing as she points out, ‘’You have a baby monitor.’’
Just as it was mentioned, the monitor chimed and soon Cory was heard, asking his daughter, ‘’What are you doing, Riley?’’
‘’Ju-’’ Riley was about to answer, until Maya had shushed her. The blonde had grinned as she pulls of a squeakier tone, ‘’Just sitting here talking to Ryan.’’
‘’Okay, honey,’’ The girls giggle quietly. He actually bought it. ‘’Have fun.’’
‘’That was fun,’’ Ryan giggles.
‘’We're just gettin' started,’’ Maya smirks at her, nodding her head.
‘’Yeah,’’ Riley sighs. ‘’I feel guilty. I'm gonna go tell him.’’
‘’Oh, boy,’’ Maya pulls her back. ‘’am I gonna be good for you.’’
‘’And Ryan and I will sprinkle you with goodness,’’ Riley grins as she pulls Maya in a hug. Maya held her arm out for Ryan who then joined in on the hug.
‘’I sprinkle goodness when it’s not fun.’’
She scoffs. ‘’Whatever you want.’’
‘’Can we be like this forever?’’
The girls sat up, departing from the hug as Maya thought out loud, ‘’Well, don't you think
someday we'll have to grow up?’’
‘’How will we know when that is?’’
‘’It's now.’’
The fourteen year old version of Maya looked up to look at Riley while Ryan never teared her gaze away from the younger versions of themselves. They were so little, so clueless of how their lives would change over time.
Ryan didn’t get it before, but now she realizes that change is a little scary. She was confident, she was ready and anxious to see what high school would bring for her. But she wasn’t ready to let the little girl in her go.
Maya, Riley and Ryan got up from the bed and walked over to the bay window where the little girls were at. Though her chest felt tighten, Ryan almost wanted to laugh when she saw the little version of her eye her wide eyes. She knew she was curious but she was also excited to meet her.
Ryan sat in the middle, next to little Ryan, Maya sat on one end next to little Maya while Riley sat on the other with little Riley.
Maya pulls a strand of hair behind her ear as she looks down at the younger blonde. ‘’Hi.’’
‘’Who are you?’’
Maya chuckles. ‘’I'm Maya Penelope Hart.’’
‘’But,’’ She furrows her brows. ‘’That's me.’’
‘’Yeah.’’
‘’You're me?’’
Maya nods. ‘’Yeah.’’
She held her head up high as she asked her, ‘’Prove it.’’
Maya chuckles softly. ‘’Sometimes when you sit on the toilet, you like to put the lid on your back and pretend you're a turtle-’’
The little version of her gasped before Maya continued. ‘’Named Mr. Shellington.’’
Little Maya gasped even harder. She was convinced.
Ryan looked down at the smaller hand that was holding onto hers. Her hand was so soft against her touch. They were both rubbing each other’s hand using the pad of their thumb.
‘’Are you me?’’
Ryan looks down at her and breathes out a smile. ‘’What? I’m not cute enough to be you?’’
‘’Cute?’’ The younger version of Ryan jerks back. ‘’Sweetie, you look gorgeous. You almost look exactly-’’
‘’Mom,’’ They said in unison. Ryan inhales sharply when she felt the tears again. Of course, this was a memory the girls were just visiting. And in this memory, her mom was still alive. Oh, how she wished she could see her one last time.
‘’How is mommy in the future? Is she old? With like, lots of grey hairs?’’
Her throat began to hurt as she tried to swallow back as much of her tears as she can. There is no mommy in the future, there is no mommy by the time she’s twelve years old. But she couldn’t bring that up. Not when she’s looking back at when she was so young.
She starts giggling, ‘’Do we call her old lady mommy?’’
‘’Mommy’s in a good place,’’ She sniffles, giving her hand a squeeze.
Riley’s younger self shifted in her seat to face her. She wanted to ask her, ‘’Are you me?’’
Riley smiles. ‘’Yeah, I am.’’
‘’Prove it.’’
Riley chuckles softly. ‘’Well, I don't have to. You believe everything.’’
Little Riley turned to her three best friends and approves, ‘’It's us.’’
Younger Maya looks away from her older self to look at Riley. ‘’It is?’’
‘’Yeah,’’ Ryan agrees.
Younger Maya turns to the older blonde and tells her, as if she didn’t know, ‘’Our daddy's gone.’’
Maya pulls her closer as she lets out a small, ‘’Yeah.’’
‘’Is everything gonna be okay?’’
Maya, Ryan and Riley, in that order, lifted the little girls onto their laps as Maya advises, ‘’Just stay close to these two and we'll be fine.’’
‘’Why are you here with us?’’
‘’Yeah,’’ Little Ryan nods her head. ‘’Don’t you have boyfriends to go to?’’
Ryan chuckles softly. ‘’How old do you think we are?’’
‘’Sixteen,’’ She answers. She seemed so confident in her answer, like there was no doubt that crossed her mind that she could’ve possibly been wrong.
‘’No,’’ Ryan drawls out. ‘’We’re fourteen. Well, I’m thirteen but I turn fourteen next month.’’
‘’Well,’’ Riley breathes out. There were tears forming in her eyes. Ryan knew that she couldn’t possibly be the only one to realize that losing this part of them was hurting her and Maya just as much. ‘’Because we wanted to visit you and spend some time with you before things change.’’
‘’You're gonna change?’’ Little Maya asks. She was curious.
Maya licks the tears off of her lip as she nods her head. ‘’Yeah, that's what happens. But we wanted to thank you guys for being who we were.’’
‘’We could never,’’ Ryan holds the little girl tighter. ‘’Let you guys go. We’ll remember you guys every step along the way. ‘Cause you know, we’re pretty darn special.’’
‘’Do we have to grow up and change?’’ Little Riley asks.
Riley, Ryan and Maya switched gazes at one another. It actually pained them to be facing the truth. They have to. It was a much sadder realization than they thought.
‘’Well, we're doing a pretty okay job so far,’’ There were about three tears drops that fell off of RIley’s cheek. ‘’And we get to grow up into whoever's the next us.’’
‘’Whether we like it or not.’’
Ryan pursed her lips. She knew this was killing Maya the most. She was the one who was protesting from the beginning. She shouldn’t have been so stern on her, because now that she understood the feeling, Ryan may have a little difficulty saying goodbye too.
‘’Do we have good friends?’’ Little Ryan asks.
Ryan grins. ‘’Oh, we have the best friends. Ones who are always there for you, ones who make sure to see you smile.’’
Little Riley nods her head. ‘’Good. So, who are we going to be?’’
‘’What?’’
‘’When we grow up more,’’ Younger Maya clarifies for her.
‘’I wanna see 'em!’’
‘’Bring 'em in here!’’ Ryan exclaims.
Riley, Maya and Ryan giggle. Ryan was so much more energetic when she was younger. She noticed how much she smiled, how out of daze she was from not paying much attention to the conversation.
She was so much more happy.
The girls pushed the little ones off of their laps as Maya regrets to inform them, ‘’Well, we can't, um, 'cause we actually don't know who we're gonna be yet.’’
‘’But,’’ Riley adds. ‘’We look forward to meeting them someday.’’
Little Riley perks up. ‘’And you'll tell them all about us, Peaches and Twin?’’
Ryan’s bottom lip trembled before speaking. ‘’We won’t need to tell them that, hun. You’ll be there.’’
‘’Okay,’’ Younger Ryan nods her head.
‘’So, we decided to change the bay window?’’ Younger Riley asks her former self.
Maya nods her head. ‘’Yeah.’’
The girls were crying harder. Why did this literally have to hurt so much more than what it was? It was a redecorating, Ryan tried to keep telling herself. That’s all that there was to it. But she knew it was more. There was always more.
‘’Well, we can't wait to see what you do with the place.’’
× × ×
It was Maya Hart, Ryan Collins and Riley Matthews in that order, sitting in the bay window. They were adults, twenty one to be exact. Riley’s whole room looked so different. It was so pretty designed with more rustic decor.
The room wasn’t the only things that look different. The girls had grown to look so mature. Farkle was right. It looked as if they grown to be a whole new person.
Ryan Collins had a bob hairstyle that appeared to be growing. Her makeup even improved towards a neutral nude color, the style she’s always tried to perfect.
‘’There's a gallery in SoHo and they want to show my stuff,’’ Maya announced to her best friends.
Riley turns to Ryan, chuckling softly before looking at Maya. Ryan nodded in agreement towards Riley’s words, ‘’We'll come to your opening.’’
‘’It starts at ten,’’ Maya informs.
Riley’s face fell as she repeats incredulously, ‘’It starts at ten?’’
Ryan leans over to grip onto Riley’s knee, still smiling. ‘’We’ll be there, regardless.’’
The fourteen year old version of Ryan tilts her head to the side. She looked just as happy when she’s a grown adult. How is that possible? How much of her life has improved throughout her lifetime that brings this wide smile she’s only remembered having when she was a child?
‘’They want to make me an artist in residence,’’ Maya continues to inform her friends with more news. ‘’I found an apartment in SoHo.’’
‘’But,’’ Riley stammers. ‘’The farthest we've ever been apart is like-’’ Riley and Maya scoot further away from Ryan who sat in the middle. ‘’This much.’’
Ryan giggles as she reaches over to pull her best friends closer to her again. ‘’Let’s not get dramatic, guys. We’re gonna still see each other.’’
Riley cocks a brow. ‘’When?’’
Maya grins. ‘’All the time.’’
Ryan, being in the middle, she wraps both her arms around Maya and Riley, developing them into a group hug.
That was another person who looked even happier than usual. Maya appeared to be more mushy than what she was at fourteen, which is where Maya and the younger version of herself spat, ‘’Well, I'm disgusted.’’
As the trio pulls away, Maya looks around the room. ‘’Now what do we do?’’
Riley smiles softly. ‘’Now we leave this place.’’
Ryan arches her brows. ‘’Are you sure?’’
‘’How do we do that?’’ Maya questions along with Ryan. ‘’All of our memories are here.’’
‘’We take them with us,’’ The older version of Riley peers over to her bed, where every seven years worth of them was looking back at her. ‘’Look at them. Can you see them?’’
Ryan Collins, from the six year old, to the thirteen year old, to the twenty year old, they all breathed out a sly smirk. The older one of them all nods her head. ‘’Always.’’
‘’Okay, well,’’ Maya looks down at her lap. ‘’How would I do that?’’
Ryan and Riley turns to her. Ryan did the honors of lifting her head up as Riley advises, ‘’All you have to do is lift your head.’’
Maya had looked up and at once, all seven stages of the girls waved at their older selves.
‘’You think they know we're here?’’ Young Riley asks.
Riley nods her head. ‘’They know.’’
You would think young Maya would ask this, but it wasn’t. The current version of her did, and she was on the brink of another breakdown. ‘’They won't forget about us, will they? Are we always going to be with them?’’
‘’So,’’ Twenty one year old Maya breathes out. ‘’Goodbye, this room.
‘’Thanks for everything.’’
Ryan reached out to hold their hands. ‘’We’ll never forget where it all started.’’
Maya turns to the girls and cocks her head to the side. ‘’Out the window the way I came in?’’
Riley furrows her brows. ‘’Don't big girls go out the door?’’
Ryan waves her off. ‘’For old times sake.’’
‘’I like the way you think,’’ Maya grins before climbing her way out the window. Ryan followed after her as well as Riley. But, Riley had stopped to look back in, asking the girls, ‘’Are you comin'?’’
Maya and Riley refrained Ryan as the brunette herself reached out for the little girl in her that was walking away.
It took so much strength in her not cry, to even let these droplets of sadness pass her by.
The younger version of Riley stopped at the window and looked back at the girls. ‘’Comin'?’’
Ryan Collin's Outfit For The Chapter!
author's note; 7,908 WORDS AND COUNTING, BITCH THIS WAS THREE DAYS WORTH OF WRITING ! PLEASE COMMENT, I WOULD REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE THAT!
And I said three really's, so I mean it.
Also, before you bite my head off for picking Selena Gomez as Ryan's older self, I researched Victoria Moroles look alike and three websites said it was Selena Gomez.
And plot twist, Ryan doesn't like Lucas. She does, however like someone else.
But you guys won't find out for a while now. Happy waiting!
Side notes of what I thought throughout this episode; DISNEY DRAGGED IT, NO WAY IN REAL LIFE WOULD THEY LET A LITTLE GIRL WANDER THE STREETS INTO SOME GIRLS APARTMENT, ESPECIALLY IF SHE LIVE TWO STORIES UP
AND HOW CAN A LITTLE GIRL HEAR ANOTHER LITTLE GIRL SINGING TWO STORIES UP? MIND YOU THEY'RE IN MANHATTAN NEW YORK, BITCH HOW? DO YOU KNOW HOW NOISY MANHATTEN IS?
LITTLE RILEY WASN'T EVEN SINGING THAT LOUD FOR JESUS TO HEAR.
AND MAYA HART COULD WE GO ONE EPISODE WHERE WE DON'T MAKE IT ABOUT YOU?