Riley's POV
We've only been in the store for twenty minutes and yet as I look up from the magazine I was skimming I've lost sight of both Farkle and Smackle.
I put it down and start walking knowing that I should really go help with the shopping. Just as I'm wondering where Lucas is, the only person working towards the objective, I hear his text tone from my pocket.
MrPerfect: where are you?
RileyMatthews: walking out of the candy aisle
MrPerfect: how predictable. I'm with Farkle and Smackle we're nearby
RileyMatthews: did you get everything on the shopping list?
MrPerfect: yes because no one else would. Well Farkle helped a little. Have you seen Maya and/or Zay?
RileyMatthews: I see them. Aisle seven, just follow the sounds of pointless arguing
Lucas, Farkle, and Smackle meet me there, Lucas sighs before nodding towards the shopping basket for me to put my opened box of cheese and crackers into it. I comply sheepishly and push past him to pull Zay away from Maya.
The spatula Zay is gesturing with for whatever reason has caught the attention of a middle aged woman passing by who's probably wondering why there are two teenagers arguing with kitchen utensils. To be fair, so are the rest of us. Smackle smiles at her respectfully but Maya grabbing a second wooden spoon isn't helping our case.
"I don't have a clue what you guys are doing but Zay we need you in order to check out" Farkle says, grabbing the spatula from him.
"Oh so no one needs me? I see how it is" Maya rolls her eyes and turns to face the other direction.
"You know I need you" I say.
"Babe I was joking" she grins.
I take the wooden spoons from her and put them back in their display next to us.
"I know but I want you to know your own worth peaches, to know that I need you and you mean a lot to me" I reply sincerely.
Her playful smile slowly changes to an appreciative and shy one and she kisses my cheek tenderly.
I don't know why I decide to take a risk and kiss her for a split second but I do know that it's going to do more harm than good when I pull away and see Farkle's expression.
He's glaring, not at us but rather someone, or something behind us.
"Well isn't this interesting"
Definitely someone. And a voice that I was hoping I'd never have to listen to again.
"What do you want Missy?" Zay sighs.
"I only came over to say hello but it seems as though I've stumbled upon some unexpected intel" she says slyly.
I see Lucas cross his arms and move closer to us protectively.
"You have no right to talk to us, you don't know any of us anymore and I'd rather not catch up" Maya says, her hands clenched into fists.
"You don't even go to the same school as us what's your issue?" Smackle says tiredly. Even Smackle knows drama and Missy are a package deal.
"Last time I checked I can do whatever I want. This is, in fact, a public grocery store if you haven't noticed. Where I go to school doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things now does it?" she stares Maya down who shoots her a spiteful glare right back.
I would be convinced that Maya is simply just incredibly angry if I didn't know that deep down she's just as scared as I am of letting the world know about us before we've decided for ourselves. Missy can and would take that away in the blink of an eye and from the looks on all of our faces, everyone else realizes this too.
She breaks eye contact with Maya as none other than Charlie Gardner walks up to her.
"You have got to be kidding me" Maya says flatly.
He looks at all of us cautiously and with good reason since none of us have had any actual contact with him since the start of freshman year. I didn't exactly want to seek him out at his brother's party and can't be bothered to keep up with his social life.
"Wait what exactly is going on here?" Smackle asks.
"Oh I'm sure you're all familiar with my boyfriend Charlie already" she says, turning to me to finish the sentence. He wraps his arm around her waist protectively. I roll my eyes at her.
"Man you really need to re-evaluate your choices in girls" Zay says.
Charlie's demeanor shifts to a defensive one while Missy unfortunately ignores Zay to focus on me.
"Why so quiet Matthews? Worried about your not so little secret getting out?" she says, voice laced with malice.
Now there's an immense amount of adrenaline pulsing through my body out of fear of what she's capable of and I want to act on it, spit an insult back at her. I hold back from doing either one of those things because I don't know her strength but the same can't be said for Maya. Maya lunges at her and Lucas immediately tries to hold her back from swinging at a smirking Missy.
I turn Maya's shoulders to face me when Lucas puts her down and her face softens as she meets my eyes.
Charlie must notice this because he looks back and forth between the two of us, processing Missy's comment and putting the pieces together.
"Wait so you two?"
Lucas steps in front of us and up to Charlie, intimidatingly taller than him and using it to his advantage.
"Listen Charlie this is what's going to happen. You're going to forget this interaction happened. You're going to be the decent human being I know you are and make sure your homophobic excuse for a girlfriend doesn't do anything with what she knows. Because if she does I will not hold myself back from getting back at either of you and I won't hold Maya back either" he says, not a single trace of insincerity in his words.
"Hey I'm entitled to my own opinion, it's not my fault they decided to be a couple of freaks. They'll get what's coming to them eventually" Missy says.
"Shut your mouth Bradford" Maya immediately retorts.
"It's not a choice you close-minded idiot" Farkle says angrily.
Charlie surveys each of us individually. Lucas standing in front of him, Zay standing in front of Missy with crossed arms and a firey look in his eyes. Smackle and Farkle glaring at both him and Missy. Maya clenching and unclenching her fists slowly. As his gaze lands on me, I give him a pleading look. I was the one who took the risk of kissing Maya and she doesn't deserve to fall with me for it. I know he at least used to be a good guy at heart and I hope that he realizes how terrible it'll be for us if she outs us to our whole school. We all know she'd find a way to do it and Charlie seems as if he knows it too.
"Missy lets just leave them alone okay. They're allowed to love whoever they want, everyone is. This is just bringing up trouble from the past, It's not worth it" he says calmly.
Lucas backs away from Charlie, surprised by the response.
I feel the muscles in Maya's shoulder relax and I exhale a breath I didn't know I was holding in.
"Fine I'm sick of all of this liberal bullshit anyway" she scoffs and flips her hair as she starts to walk the opposite way.
"I hope karma slaps you in the face before I can" Maya yells after her.
I mouth a 'thank you' to Charlie and he nods silently at me. He also nods more seriously at Lucas to assure he'll keep our secret who returns the gesture in appreciative affirmation.
"Charlie!"
"Coming!" he bolts the other way to follow her and a large part of me wonders why he'd ever even want to be with her in the first place.
"Anyone else feel bad for him?" Zay asks as soon as they disappear out of sight.
All of us raise our hands in unison.
"Well I for one have had enough intolerance for today" Farkle sighs.
"Smackle remind me to never let Zay convince me to come to this store again because no one is walking away perfectly unharmed like this if Missy and I see each other again" Maya says.
"Noted. I really hope she comes around one day, viewing the world like that isn't going to do her any good" she replies.
"So no one has a revenge idea? Personally I was thinking key her car if you can find which one outside is hers but that isn't legal so don't do that" Zay says, half joking.
"Why don't we just set it on fire?" Maya asks.
"Committing arson is not the plan for tonight" I say.
"What about tomorrow night?"
"Yeah there are marshmallows we can roast in the aisle next to us" Zay says.
"You two are insane" Lucas says.
"Well I'm not paying the bail for any of you who get in a legal altercation so I say we head out before anything else can happen" Farkle says.
Maya sticks her tongue out at him.
"True we should go, the sooner we get all of this to my mom the sooner we can eat" Zay says, taking the shopping basket from the ground where Lucas had placed it out of the way.
Lucas and Smackle follow Zay but Farkle lags behind a little to keep pace with Maya and I.
"Are you two alright after that whole thing? Like genuinely? because it was intense" he asks.
"I'm okay" I reply.
"Oh please she's just an ignorant idiot I'm fine" Maya nods.
"Alright good, I don't want her getting into either of your heads. You're allowed to love whoever you want it's perfectly valid, some people are just uneducated" he sighs.
He hugs each of us, lingering on mine probably because he probably thinks I'll be the one more affected by the experience. He might have a point but I ignore it.
Maya teases him for being so protective until he rolls his eyes and elbows her gently as we get to checkout.
The point that Farkle had doesn't end up resurfacing in my mind again until later that night.
It took about five minutes of experiencing Zay's driving from the passenger seat to make Lucas snap and force Zay to let him drive instead. Zay dismissed all the comments from the rest of us about how Lucas is a better driver despite how much smoother the ride back was.
After Mrs. Babineaux generously made dinner for all of us we basically went back to laying around. Lucas and Zay found out during dinner that Smackle hadn't seen many vines that they knew by heart and insisted on going down to the basement to show her a compilation. Zay's mom went to watch tv in the living room, barely understanding the appeal of such a thing. Farkle settles himself next to me in a beanbag chair and checks his social medias.
When everyone is distracted Maya, who's been sitting next to the back door, slides it open and sneaks out.
I follow her since I have nothing better to do and close the door. I wander around the backyard until I spot her sitting in the middle of the trampoline. I had honestly forgotten Zay had one since it's off on the side of the yard he rarely uses it anymore.
"What are you doing?"
She props herself up on one elbow and looks at me before laying right back down.
"Watching the sky"
I climb onto the trampoline and lie next to her. We both stare up into the twilight as the light begins to fade. She gets distracted by a firefly blinking and sits up, trying to get it to land on her hand. I observe as she catches it tenderly and lets it fly back into the air to join the others.
I sit up as well, leaning my head on her shoulder and smiling at the gentleness that always shows itself when it's only the two of us. I stare at her lips absentmindedly and the doubts I always try to ignore are suddenly magnified at the thought of Missy's words.
"Maya can I ask you something"
"Of course"
"How do you know this, us, isn't wrong?"
She looks at me and her face falls a little as she says "she got to your head didn't she."
I nod sadly as she holds me closer. I didn't mean for it to, but the encounter at the store only brought the insecurities regarding our relationship and my sexuality back to the surface from where they're hidden away.
"I tend to care less about what society expects of me and I think that's why I don't let people like her get to me but I know that's just not who you are. I still have those fears myself if that makes you feel any better. You just have to realize that they don't know any more than we do about what ultimately is and isn't right Riles. People who think the way Missy does can't tell us how to live our lives, who to love. If I want to fall in love with you they can't stop me" she says.
I realize she's right. No one knows what absolute right or wrong is at the end of the day. Regardless of religion or personal beliefs everyone is just basing their morals off of what they've been taught by other people. Seeing it the way she does actually helps on a deeper level than I anticipated.
"I wish everyone understood it like that. I want to be with you more than anyone and it's only an stupid issue because you aren't a boy" I sigh.
"Society might be a wreck but hey the universe had you choose me when you could've literally chosen any one of the other billions of people on the earth so it can't be all that bad" she says.
"You're literally the cheesiest human being alive" I reply.
"You love it"
"Do not"
"Yeah you do"
"Yeah I do"
The corners of her lips curve into a grin as she presses them to mine tenderly.
The kiss soon becomes more heated as she pulls me closer to her to the point where I'm sitting in her lap.
I tangle my hands in her hair a little tighter as her fingertips wander under my shirt to ghost over the skin of my waistline.
"For fucks sake I told you they were out here"
Maya pulls back to look over her shoulder and rolls her eyes as she sees Zay and Farkle squinting into the increasing darkness from the back porch.
"No making out on my trampoline!" Zay yells.
Maya proceeds to flip him off before kissing me again and suddenly I'm not so scared of the looks or whispers we could get from being together because I know one thing for sure. She's worth it.
———
a/n: look who's still alive and actually updated! this school year is busier than I could have imagined so that's why I took forever but I'm actually determined to go back to a regular schedule because I have the ending to this story planned out. It's coming up in like two chapters since I've literally written all the ideas I've ever had even though it's wild to think of this being completed. Also thank you all so much for 3k reads that's actually so crazy to think people care about my writing that much