𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 — 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏
❝ 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙣' ❞
──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──
"Brother and sister," Andrew spoke, still not able to wrap his head around what happened only a few hours earlier, "Riley and I are brother and sister now. What does that even mean?"
Zay scoffed, "what does anything mean from a 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 she said; '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?"
Farkle shrugged, "I understand it."
The boy's turned toward the door as the three girls made their appearance. Once Amanda and Lucas locked eyes, they could feel the blush flushing on their cheeks. They haven't told anyone about their kiss and didn't know when the right time was to tell them that they finally made it official.
"Woah, gentlemen," Pappy Joe started, "look how lucky you are. You treat 'em right."
Riley smiled, "thank you, Pappy Joe," she turned to the sky, "I see why you get homesick sometimes, Lucas. I never knew the sky had so many stars," she turned to Andrew, "and you know what, I don't get nervous when I'm with you anymore, Drew! We're doing the right thing. Ah, remember how we couldn't talk to each other about a lot of things? Remember how we would beat around subjects? Remember," she clapped him on the shoulder, "now watch this, say 'hi' to me."
"Hi—"
"Hey, Drew! What's up, bro! You good, you cool?"
"Hi..."
"Still got some catching up to do."
"Riley, I don't even know what's going on right now," Andrew stressed.
"What's going on is that we are going to be the best of friends and care about what each other says for the rest of our lives."
"Riley, we've never not had that. What does brother and sister mean?"
Riley shook her head, "it means this—" punch, "and that—" another punch.
"Riley!"
"Aw, you said that just like a brother would," the brunette smiled after she stopped hitting him.
"Can I at least hit you back?"
She shook her head.
"Only you get to hit me?"
Riley nodded, "we're just like how you and Maya were."
"No, you're not," Maya spoke up.
The Matthews girl gasped, "Maya, I thought you weren't talking to Andrew."
"I'm not. I'm talking to you."
Amanda sighed, "Maya, are you really not gonna talk to him?"
"Amanda, he could've gotten hurt on that stupid bull," Maya stressed, "what do you think him getting hurt would've done to the people who—"
"Care about him," Zay stood, "I think you were about to say 'care about him'."
"I'm not talking about me. You think I'm talking about me?"
"Yes, I do."
"I'm talking about everyone here."
"Okay, Maya," Riley jumped in, "Andrew is okay, Lucas is okay, we're all okay. Nobody got hurt," she reassured, "and we're gonna spend our first night in Texas. What should we do?"
"I've been reading about Austin, and they call it a music city. They call it the live music capital of the world," Farkle informed.
Amanda nodded, her hand wrapped around her boyfriend's bicep, "that's absolutely what we should do! Go into town and listen to some music."
"Yeah," Lucas smiled down at his girlfriend, "anyone good playing tonight," he asked Pappy Joe.
The older man rubbed his chin, "if I was a young buck trying to impress his friends, I might suggest Chubby's famous Barbecue Pit. Always good eats. Always good music."
"But barbecued foods aren't good for you."
Amanda good feel Lucas push her back towards the door, she could see the others moving as well, away from Farkle and what was to come.
Pappy Joe glared slightly at Farkle, "let me tell you what ain't good for you."
"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 cliché."
"... Lucas, fetch me my shotgun."
"Okay."
"Lucas!"
"Okay."
Farkle turned back to Pappy Joe, "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."
──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──
"While I understand barbecue is not your thing, Farkle, you do seem to have found a new appreciation for our home cuisine," Zay drawled.
On their dinner table, were ribs piled high, Farkle having the remains all over his face, "more," he growled, his face covered in sauce.
"Easy, cowboy. You need to calm down," Lucas chuckled from his seat next to Mandy.
"Oh, I have to calm down? They make a big deal out of you and Andrew riding a bull for four seconds. Well, I ate 'em," Farkle spazzed.
──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──
Amanda went by the bar area with Riley and Maya to try to help them with their situation with Andrew.
"Maya," Riley started, "will you please say something to him? I know that you care about him, it's okay."
"I just don't want anything to change."
Riley sighed at Maya's response before going over to the table again with Maya and Amanda in tow.
"Hey, Canada," Riley called to Andrew, leaning against an empty chair, "are we dancing or what?"
Andrew's eyebrows rose, "oh, we can do that? That's apart of the new rules?"
"This kind of dancing, sure."
Once the two were gone, Amanda sighed while turning towards Maya, "Maya..."
"What's going on with you," Farkle asked the blonde.
"I don't know," she told the boy, "do you know? 'Cause, help me."
Amanda excused herself from the table for a breath of fresh air. Lucas followed behind her, telling the others they'll be right back.
Lucas found his girlfriend against the wall of the building and looking up at the night sky, "you okay, little darlin'?"
Amanda chuckled at her boyfriend, "little darlin'? That's new."
"You got 'bubba', I got 'little darlin''. Is that okay?"
"It's perfect," she paused, "I've always enjoyed helping my friends. And I've always succeeded for the most part. But, seeing Maya and Riley in this position," she shook her head and turned to look at Lucas, "Riley doesn't love Andrew like a brother. She's stepping back. I don't want her to step back. She does everything and anything for Maya and always puts her happiness on hold for her best friend. Andrew is so good for her, ever since we were kids. She's happy when she's with him. I just don't understand why she would do this."
"Hey, look at me," he spoke, putting his hands on her shoulders, "we're growing up, Mandy. It's time for us to make our own decisions, whether they're good or bad. Riley may or may not know what she's doing, but remember, no matter what happens, all of us are going to learn from it. Everything will turn out the way it should be in the end."
After she nodded in response, she was pulled into her boyfriend's chest, taking a deep breath. I could get used to this, she thought with a smile.
──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──
The friends returned back to Pappy Joe after a fun and slightly awkward time at Chubby's filled with music and dancing.
Once Pappy Joe saw them returning, he chuckled in greeting.
"You've just been sitting here, Pappy Joe," his grandson asked.
"Oh, after you run around enough, you'll find that a comfy chair on your own front porch is your favorite destination," he paused, getting out of his seat, "Oh, by the way," he tapped the window, "Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son."
"What?"
"Lord Chesterfield had a son who traveled the world."
"What is that," Riley asked.
"Why are you doing that," Amanda blurted.
"It's a blackboard," the older man motioned to the window.
"My daddy made you do this."
"He's good people."
"No he's not," the cousins spoke in unison.
Pappy Joe continued, "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 into the world and find out who he is."
"My Uncle is trying to teach us from beyond the grave," Amanda groaned. Riley nodded aggressively in agreement.
"Matthews wrote us a letter, didn't he," Maya spoke.
"He did," Pappy Joe nodded, and began reading;
"Dear my favorite children,
Take care of each other. Enjoy the world."
Joe passed the note to Riley, who smiled in response.
"I don't want this night to end," Farkle said.
Riley looked around her friends, "what do you do around here when you just want to look at each other's faces a little longer?"
──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──
Silence was among the friends, the only sound heard was the cracking of the fire they surrounded. Amanda could practically see Riley's wheels turning in her head. She was planning on doing something, and Amanda didn't know if it was good or bad.
Pappy Joe wiped his hands, "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 burn out yet."
"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."
"Thank you, Maya. I wish you'd consider me yours till the time I, you know, bleh."
The group laughed at his remark as he took his exit, leaving them alone with only silence and the crack of the fire.
Farkle broke the silence, "you guys were lucky."
"How come," Lucas asked from his seat next to his girlfriend. Their hands intertwined with the girl's head on his shoulder.
"To grow up out here. To have this sky. And these stars. This has been the best weekend of my life," Farkle turned to Lucas and smiled, "thank you."
"Promise me we'll always be friends no matter what."
"Riley—"
"Promise me," she turned to Maya, "no matter what happens, I am telling you that I will always be your best friend no matter what."
"Oh," Maya took a breath, "there's nothing I could do—"
"No, there's nothing you could do, Maya. Do you understand? It's you and me till the time we, you know, bleh."
Once Zay was pulled from the group by Vanessa, Riley though it was time to leave Andrew and Maya alone, "Do you want me to buy you ice cream, Farkle?"
"What?"
"Do you want me to buy you ice cream?"
"Sure."
"Okay, let's go—"
"Riles," the girl turned toward her cousin, who stood from her seat, "really think about what you are doing."
"Mandy—"
"No. I mean it, Riles. Think before you act on this one, because if you don't, you might regret it in the end," she grabbed her boyfriend's hand and proceeded to walk away from the camp fire, making a mental note to come back and help Lucas with the task of taking down of the fire.
──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──
"Maya likes you."
"Riley, what are we?"
"You like me?"
"No."
"Oh, Canada, oh, Canada—"
Andrew grabbed Maya by the face, their noses touching.
"Why did you do that?"
"I wanted you to stop."
"I don't want to keep anymore secrets from her."
──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──
"What happens now?"
Amanda and Riley were the first ones up on their last day of their Texas vacation. The two watched the sun rise and talked about everything. The pair didn't like how they left things between them the night before.
Amanda sighed at her cousin's question, "that depends, Riles. It's up to you. I know you still have feelings for Andrew."
"Amanda—"
"I know. I know. It's not that simple. And as not only your friend, but as your family, I won't tell a soul and respect your decision. But, I will tell someone if this situation gets out of hand. If it's absolutely necessary, I will."
"Thanks, Mands," Riley paused, "so, you and Lucas?"
"We're together. Officially."
"I'm happy for you," it was silent again before Riley spoke, "when you said 'not only your friend', you're wrong," Amanda turned toward her cousin with furrowed brows, "you're my best friend. Have been since literally birth," the girls chuckled.
Amanda grabbed Riley's hand, "I could say the same thing."
"I'm glad you moved to New York."
"I am, too, Riles. I am, too."
──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──
edited: 27 feb 2021
( yuh. i know nicknames are capitalized but little darling is more aesthetically pleasing when lower-case ha )