Riley's POV
It's been almost two months since pride. Two months since Lucas, by some wild chance, found a straight girl there and soon managed to make her his girlfriend. Two months since Maya and I started dating. And two months of being reluctant to tell my parents anything, despite having no real reason to be.
I'm struggling to tear my gaze away from the way the sunlight is illuminating her face and turning her hair golden. She's tapping her fingers absentmindedly on the steering wheel to the tune of some song from a 90's playlist. There's a polaroid worn around the edges type of beauty to our story, it's been unfolding for years but only recently have we been able to clearly see how much deeper our feelings run. I know who I am, I know who I love, and I don't think I can bear to keep stealing secretive glances at her in front of my parents yet kissing her with so much sincerity behind closed doors.
"You're staring" she says.
"You're in no position to call me out, you almost ran that last red light because you were looking at me instead of the road" I grin.
"You were distracting me" she mumbles.
"I still don't understand why your dad let you borrow his car alone for this when you still need ten hours of supervised driving until you can get your license" I reply.
"I'm not alone he knew you'd be here too. Plus I know how to drive safely and it's for a good cause" she says.
"Baking cupcakes especially in this kind of heat isn't really a good cause"
"You'll be thanking me for choosing something sweet after eating Zay and Lucas's sorry excuse for a casserole" she says, pulling into a parking spot.
I keep quiet for a second because I know she's right. Mr. Minkus invited all our families over for an end of summer barbecue tonight since school starts in a week. He insisted on humoring his son's idea to have us "kids" pair up and cook something to bring alongside the food they have planned. Farkle and Smackle refuse to tell us what they're making but Lucas and Zay settled on some form of a casserole despite both having very little culinary skills.
"Yeah okay let's get the ingredients and prove to them that I actually can make baked goods without burning them" I say.
"That's the spirit!" she grabs my hand and tugs us both inside the store.
~~~
"Maya give me the measuring cup you're going to break it"
"Have a little faith Riles" she says before almost knocking it off the kitchen counter.
"The more you guys bicker about making something the longer it's going to take. Why didn't you just make it at home like the rest of us?" Lucas says as he walks into the kitchen.
"We forgot what time it was" I say.
"It's still going to turn out better than your creation."
Maya snatches back the bag of flour he had picked up and sticks her tongue out at him.
"Hey Mr. Minkus said it was good" he protests.
"He was lying!" Farkle shouts from the living room beside us.
Lucas glares at him as Maya and I laugh at the confirmation.
"The mac and cheese Farkle and I made was the favorite of the parents by far" Smackle says, joining her boyfriend on the couch.
Maya continues looking at the recipe while I check on the first batch of cupcakes in the oven.
"We'll see about that" I say.
"Where's Zay? Did he go exploring the house because I'm not searching for him again" Farkle says.
"He's on the back porch with the parents" Lucas says.
"Oh please tell me they didn't let him suggest any board games because the last time I played monopoly with him we stayed at his place until two in the morning" Maya says.
"I'm going to go check on him, it's actually cooling down outside now you guys should join us after you're done" Lucas says.
"Tell them we're almost ready" Maya replies, putting her hair up in a ponytail.
He nods and we both get back to work.
She takes the tray out of the oven to cool before wrapping her arms around me from behind.
"How's it going?"
"You're too short for this" I grin as I turn around in her embrace.
"I'm not that short you jerk" she says, poking me in the side.
"Oh but you really are" I reply, trying not to laugh at how she's narrowing her eyes at me.
She then proceeds to throw a handful of flour in my face.
"Maya!"
"You were asking for it!" she says, a laugh escaping her lips.
I wipe the flour off and spray her quickly with the side sprayer from the sink.
She gasps and grabs the bag of flour to throw some on me again.
It continues like this until she has me pushed up against the side of the counter and I've lost my grip on the sprayer. The marble is cold against my back where my shirt has ridden up slightly. I pull it back down and step closer to Maya.
"I win" she smirks and dusts some flour off my cheek.
"Well technically you didn't because you're all wet but I'll let you have this one" I say.
She smiles and pulls my face closer to kiss me.
"Shit" Maya says as she breaks the kiss only to see her father and my own standing at the entrance to the kitchen in shock. Zay comes racing up behind them about to say something but falters.
I start to internally panic trying to come up with something to say, and it probably shows on the outside as well.
"Cory why is your daughter covered in flour?"
"Why's yours soaking wet?"
"Dad I can explain..." I start to say but can't finish that sentence.
"What's the matter Maya? Cat got your tongue? Or was it Riley" Zay laughs.
She glares at him and throws an unfrosted cupcake in his direction but he just catches it and examines it.
"Uh surprise? I like girls. I'm dating Riley and I have been for a little while now" Maya says sheepishly as she rubs her arm.
"Riley?" my dad asks, an unreadable expression on his face.
"I'm bi and yeah we're um together, and all our friends know" I choke out, bracing myself for his response.
She holds my hand behind the counter and rubs her thumb in circles gently, trying to calm my nerves.
"Wait am I supposed to be surprised by this?" Shawn laughs.
"What?" Maya and I both say incredulously.
"We've known there was something there for ages" my dad says, breaking into a wide grin.
"So you're okay with it?" I ask.
"Of course sweetheart why wouldn't we be, you know this. I'm glad you've found yourself" he says, coming over to envelop me in a tight hug.
"No wonder you don't have a single poster of a boy in your room" Shawn laughs as he pulls away from hugging Maya.
She nods, a soft blush on her cheekbones as she sighs in relief. I smile at her as my dad shakes flour off his shirt.
"I told you that everyone saw that you were more than just close best friends" Farkle says smugly.
Him and Smackle probably heard the entire thing from the other room, which is interesting because he didn't stop us from messing up his own kitchen.
"I need to tell mom. Oh and Auggie" I smile, appreciating how lucky I am to have such accepting people in my life.
"Everyone is out back" Shawn says, motioning us to follow him.
And we do. Farkle, Smackle, and Zay tag along and Smackle wraps her arm around my shoulder happily congratulating me on finally telling them. Lucas raises his eyebrows at the flour on my clothes but gets up and pulls Maya and I into a hug after we make our announcement. My mom and Auggie join him eagerly. Katy hugs Maya reassuringly and not a single parent there objects to our relationship.
It's a huge weight lifted off both our shoulders and I feel happier than I ever thought I could. Farkle gets two clean shirts of his and tosses them at us to change into.
When we get upstairs Maya pulls her shirt over her head and starts to put the new one on but can't resist the opportunity to wink at me when I pause in the process of smoothing out my own to look at her.
She stands in front of me and wraps her arms around my neck.
"Hey Riley?"
"Yes"
"I really love you"
"I really love you too Peaches"
~~~
The next week flashes by in a blur. I spend as much time as I can outside and with my friends as possible to soak up the last few days of summer. The nights are spent with Maya watching the last few seasons of a tv show together with my father constantly telling us to keep my bedroom door open and Maya ignoring him.
She climbs through my bedroom window at seven, hugging Topanga and ruffling Auggie's hair as we leave for school.
"You ready?" she asks, those beautiful blue eyes looking brighter than ever.
"Ready as I'll ever be" I say, taking a deep breath as she intertwines our hands while we walk into the main hallway.
I hear whispers around me.
"Wait are they dating?"
"When did that happen?"
"I knew it"
Thankfully I can't hear anything inherently negative so far. I spot Amber and Julia leaning against the lockers nearby and they both smile at us.
"Me and you. Together. Junior year?" I ask.
"Let's do this" she grins.
———
a/n: so here it is, the last chapter. It's so crazy that I finally finished this, I've had the basics of it planned out literally since the start of 2017 and didn't even start posting until the end of that year. Thank you to anyone who has ever read and supported this story, I've grown so much this year while writing it and this ship is a special one to me because I grew up alongside these characters and the fandom really helped me fully find myself. Anyway I'll definitely still be writing, probably long oneshots because I'm terrible at updating schedules but who knows. I'm going to try out some ideas I have for other ships in the future like maybe Choni but this is not the last of Rilaya you'll see from me. I also have this up on ao3 under the user vintagepluto so again thank you and I'll definitely read any feedback you all have 💕 Oh and Happy Holidays and an early
Happy New Year since it's wild twentygayteen is coming to an end
-Andrea