"Riley." Maya said quickly, rushing towards and leaving Lucas behind, trying to think of something to say

"Sorry I just couldn't hear anything over the music. He was trying to tell me something" Maya tried to explain. Riley looked between them, confused.

"That's okay." Riley smiled weakly. "I was just going to say I'm going to get some air. I'll be back in just a minute." She walked out the back of the barn. Farkle, noticing her leaving rushed over to Maya and Lucas.

"What did she see?" He demanded and Maya couldn't explain. Lucas stepped up.

"She saw Maya and myself very close together, but it was nothing." He assured Farkle.

"It'll be better if I go after her." Farkle said and headed out in the same direction he saw Riley going off in. He felt so bad for her, he knew what it was like to watch the person you've loved from the moment you met them fall for someone else. It wasn't something you wished on anyone.

"Farkle?" Riley asked as he approached her. Her cheeks were a little red, and her eyes a little glassy, but she still smiled when she saw Farkle. The same small grin she'd give him when she was bored in class and caught his eye, or when he made a funny comment.

It was funny how Farkle thought no one could fall in love with a whole person. He never understood how that was possible, he felt you loved parts of a person individually. He always figured he'd love the way someone would smile, and they way that would laugh and they way someone would comb their fingers through their hair when they were stressed. He always assumed you fell in love with characteristics and singular traits of a person, and the rest just came with it and you loved that afterwards. For Farkle, the concept of falling in love with a whole person and not just all the little things you loved about them just didn't seem possible.

But that was how he felt about Riley.

The second he met her, talked to her and realized what she was like, that was it. He fell in love with every aspect of her; the way her smile lit up her whole face, the way she laughed when she wa s nervous, her undeniable love for the strangest of things and her blind ing optimism. There was nothing he could find that he didn't love about her. Every part of her was beautiful and she never failed to surprise him with just how wonderful she could be.

Farkle knew he loved her. She was his sun, the thing that lit up his world. She was his Thomas Edison in the darkness, she was the beauty in his weirdness, she was the person he never got tired of being around and the person he couldn't imagine his life without.

He loved Maya the moment she became part of Riley's life, but up until recently Farkle didn't realize he didn't love her in the same way. He loved Maya like he would a sister. She challenged him and questioned him and teased him non stop, and he liked it. She made him feel individual and that was great, but she wasn't the one he was in love with.

Watching Riley love someone else was one of the most difficult things he had to do. He thought he could make himself feel better by trying to focus him attention on Riley, and he mistook his caring about Smackle as a different affection that what it was. Smackle was so simila r to him, he thought she was perfect but things don't work like that. Science tells us that opposite forces attract, and him and Smackle were too similar. And he still cared for her, but it didn't stop him thinking about Riley.

Farkle knew she would never feel the same way about him, but when you love a person that much it's hard to let them go. When you fall for every inch of them, imperfections, flaws, ideals, beliefs, attitudes and everything, you can't give it up so easily.

He'd decided a while ago that he would do anything to make Riley happy, and maybe that meant helping her to be with Lucas, but he didn't think that would make her happy anymore. He couldn't tell her how he felt and what he thought, which was that she'd been unfortunate enough to fall in love with somebody she didn't know yet. And that broke his heart to see, but it was better than Riley's heart being broken if she ever found out.

Sadly, it seemed like that time was about to come.

"I'm here." Farkle said. "I'll always be here for you Riley." He said, sitting her down on a bench and hugging her tight. She was warm to touch, but she was shivering. Farkle removed his jacket and placed it lightly on her shoulders. She pulled it around her and placed her head on Farkles shoulder. He smiled a little smile to himself, wrapping his arm around her. This was nice.

"What's up?" He asked.

"I think something's going on between Maya and Lucas. I saw them tonight...something's different." She sighed and Farkle bit his lip.

"I'm sure it's nothing." He assured her.

"Shouldn't it bother me?" She said quickly and took Farkle entirely by surprise.

"What?"

"I thought for a minute there that Lucas and Maya might be kissing. And all I could think was...Why didn't Maya tell me?"

"That's all? You weren't mad?" Farkle was astonished, he assumed he'd find Riley out here crying.

"That's why I'm confused. I thought I liked Lucas, I thought I loved Lucas. But all I can think of now is how...perfect him and Maya would be for each other." She looked completely terrified. "What's wrong with me? Why am I not upset? I should be upset."

"There's nothing wrong with you, you're perfect." Farkle said softly.

"But...Lucas and I are meant to be together. That's what I thought. We're so alike. That's why I wanted him to invite me to the dance, that's why we should have won best couple, because we're so similar. It's like he's my broth -" Riley cut herself off.

"He's like your what?"

"It's like he's my brother." Riley said slowly, lifting her head off of Farkle's shoulder and staring at him.

"What do you mean?"

"It's why I wanted to hang out with him. I thought he was perfect, we like all the same things, we act so alike. I love him to pieces, just like I love Auggie. That's why it bothered me when he didn't ask me to the dance. I assumed he wanted to hang out with me too, I didn't like him not wanting to be my friend."

"But I thought you loved him when you fell on him in the subway?" Farkle questioned. "I thought you wanted to be together forever."

"Yeah...together. Like side by side. It didn't occur to me that we'd be dating forever. I just imagined us being friends and going places together because we had similar interests. I just always assumed other girls would take him away from me."

"Really?"Farkle didn't want to get his hopes up that this was the end of Riley and Lucas, but it was looking positive.

"Yeah I feel the same way about Lucas that I do about Maya. Friends forever." She imagined Maya coming round for Christmas with the family, bringing Katy and Shawn and laughing together. She imagined Lucas taking Auggie to his high school football tryouts and the three of them watching Auggie in a school play where he played the star as a teenager. Always laughing and being happy.

"And...me?" Farkle asked carefully. His heart leapt at the idea of being with Riley, even as a friend for the rest of his life.

"Well of course." Riley has just automatically always imagined her life with Farkle. She thought about all the things he'd told her about over the past few years . How he'd dance with her at their prom and they could wear a mat ching suit/dress combination. The date he always said he'd love to take her to at a planetarium surrounded by stars. How their wedding would be huge and she'd look like a Princess. How they'd have loads of kids. How they'd hold hands ice skating and drink hot chocolate together.

Wait.

Riley snapped backwards from Farkle, standing up and staring at him with wide eyes. She couldn't think of Farkle in that way. That wasn't Farkle. Farkle was her friend, the boy who thought he'd been in love with her since 1 st grade. He was just her buddy.

"Are you alright?" Farkle asked, standing up to join her. "You look really freaked out."

Riley shook her head. This was not okay. Farkle was...Farkle. He was nerdy, dorky, scruffy with the weirdest fashion sense ever. That was who he always was to her, not... this. She looked him up and down and felt like it was the first time she'd actually looked at him in a long time. She'd not even realized how much he'd changed.

He was dressing differently, darker but still with his weird science T-shirts. It suited him. Even right now in his Texan outfit he looked good. His hair was shorter, he was taller and looked much older. Why had she had this idea of 10 year old Farkle still in her head? Why hadn't she not taken he time to notice how much he had changed?

But he was Farkle, he was...Riley tried to finish the sentence. He was kind. And sweet. And caring, considerate, smart, weird, uni q ue, confident and fun. He was Farkle. Why had that always seemed like a bad thing to her so she couldn't see him in a romantic way ?

"Riley? You're staring." Farkle pointed out and Riley blinked a few times. How long had she been looking at him?

He was still the same Farkle though. Why was he suddenly...cute?

"Just hang on a second." Riley said, stepping towards him. He smiled a reassuring smile and Riley liked. The smile was so familiar. She knew everything about Farkle. He wasn't some concept she'd fallen in love with, he was right there the whole time. She reached out her hand, balancing his warm jacket he'd so kindly given her on her shoulder and took his warm hand for a second.

It wasn't fireworks or explosions. It was a warm, calming familiarity. Like her body was sitting next to a calming fireplace watching the flames dance around. It was nice.

"What you doing?" He asked. Riley wasn't sure what to tell him. She looked up at lips she'd never thought about before and considered touching them with her own. She imagined for the first time what it would feel like to be close to Farkle. Why was being with him so easy to imagine? Unlike Lucas there wasn't a million questions, thousands of doubts and hundreds of little problems.

Except now there was. Smackle.

Riley let go of his hand, stepping back and hugging him quickly, still very confused.

"Thanks for talking to me Farkle." She handed him back his jacket.

"Don't you need it anymore?" He asked.

"Oh no." She said. "I feel like I've just been sat next to a fire." Farkle chuckled and Riley thought it was the nicest sound. This was so odd, it was so new to her.

"There you two are!" Zay said, coming round the corner. He turned back. " Maya! Lucas! I've got them !"

Maya and Lucas raced round the corner and saw them both. Riley smiled, feeling bad for running off.

"I think we're late for meeting your mom Lucas." Riley pointed out. "Maya, can I talk to you when I get home please?" Maya nodded and exchanged a quick glance to Lucas that she hoped Riley didn't see as they headed off to get in the car.

Farkle was staring at Riley, trying to figure out what she'd been thinking about. She'd taken his hand and looked at him like...like he looked at her. Or was he just imagining it? Maybe he was just getting hopeful because of how well she'd reacted to how there might be something going on between Lucas and Maya.

The car journey home was quiet, explained to Mrs Friar as tiredness from all the dancing. She said it was understandable, but she always said she'd lit a campfire for them back at the house and asked if they could stay up a little longer for smores. They all agreed that they could and she was very pleased.

When they got back to the house Maya was terrified. Riley asked to be excused to her bedroom so she could put an extra layer on, and asked Maya to come with her. Once they were up in the room, Maya instant ly started to feel like crying. This could be it.

"We're best friends right Maya?" Riley asked and sat at the bay window. She could see the boys settling down at the fire through there, and she smiled as Farkle pretended he was controlling the fire through magic by waving his hands manically through the air the same way the fire was moving.

"We are." Maya agreed and took her seat next to her.

"So we tell each other all our secrets, don't we?" Maya nodded. "You tell me all yours, and I tell you all mine."

"Yes." Maya gulped, ready to admit to Riley what had happened.

"Can I tell you a secret Maya?" Riley asked before Maya got the chance to talk and carried on without an answer. "I don't like Lucas anymore."

"You...what?" Maya couldn't believe her ears.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, I just didn't realize it until today. He's like a brother to me, but you knew that didn't you?" Maya nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I knew you'd be hurt if you found out. I wanted you to be happy."

"You want to tell me your secret now?" Riley asked. Maya looked out the window and saw Lucas. Good hearted, annoying, incredible Huckle berry.

"Something happened between me and Lucas." Maya burst out. Riley nodded, fully expecting that response. She felt terrible.

"What happened?" She asked, trying to hide how bad she felt.

"He kissed me last night. It just happened, and I told him nothing was going to happen. I'd do anything to keep you as a friend Riley, and I understand you must hate me right now, but I promise nothing is going to happen again even if you don't like Lucas anymore."

"Oh Maya." Riley eyes began to sting and Maya looked really upset too.

"Please don't hate me, I'm so sorry ." Maya wasn't sure of what else to say.

"I don't hate you!" Riley said. "I could never hate you! I'm upset that I didn't real didn't like Lucas sooner so you didn't have to hide anything from me. I feel terrible you felt you had to hide it from me." She gripped Maya in a hug, letting her know it wasn't just her saying these things to make Maya feel better. "So...you and Lucas?"

Maya bit her bottom lip, sudden ly feeling very nervous Now that they had Riley's blessing, there was nothing stopping them from seeing what they were. Did Lucas want to be a together, like an official couple? They were so young, it would never last or work out and there was still so many complications. They were friends, it could be weird, they could break up and never want to talk again. Was it even worth it?

Maya glanced out the window and just caught Lucas' eye as he peered upwards to make sure Maya was doing okay. He smiled the smallest of smiles.

Yeah, it was worth it.

"I like him Riley." Maya admitted. "Why does that scare me so much?" Riley giggled. Maya hadn't ever liked anybody that she could remem ber , it just wasn't her thing.

"It scares you because it's real. Looking back, you two have something really special. I just wish I could have seen it earlier."

"You think?" That was really nice to hear, Maya was so glad everything she'd thought about just wasn't in her own head.

"Of course. When it's scary, it means it the real deal. I mean..." Riley looked down the window at Farkle who poking a stick into the fire. "Sure he might be your friend. And it's weird to have new feelings for somebody that has been nothing but your friend for so long. One of your best friends. Someone's who's always been there for you, and liked you for who you were, and you wished you'd noticed before it was too late and-"

"Too late, what!?" Maya burst out. What did she mean too late? What did she mean?

"Oh no!" Riley realized she'd been going off in a tangent. "I didn't mean Lucas, I was thinking about something else." Her eyes fell onto Farkle again and this time Maya noticed.

"Hey Riley...do you want to hear something weird?"

"Well Maya this doesn't really seem like the time to-"

"Farkle and Smackle broke up." Maya announced and watched Riley's face light up although she tried to conceal it.

"Really? Why? When? Why didn't he tell me?"

"Yes. It just didn't work out. A while back. And he just didn't think it was important." Maya eyed her best friend, trying to figure out if she'd gotten this correct. "But it is important... because you like Farkle!" She accused and Riley's mouth fell open.

"I do not! How dare...why would you think that? I mean... is it obvious?" She gave up and watched as Maya squealed in delight.

"It's so obvious! Oh that's so cute and..." It dawned on her that it was Farkle. "Farkle?!"

"I know! Farkle! Isn't it perfect? I just didn't know it until now, and I don't like Lucas anymore and now you can be with Lucas and I can see if Farkle wants to be with me."

"Of course Farkle wants to be with you Riley, he's always been mad about you." She tried to sound less depressed about the next statement as to not alarm Riley. "Lucas and me on the other hand ...I think I might have blown that one."

"There's only one way to find out Maya."

Both Farkle and Lucas both looked up instantly when the girls came to join them at the campfire. They both sat down, but Riley turned to Farkle very quickly and decided she wanted to talk to him alone. She couldn't wait.

"Farkle, Mrs Friar said there was some ice cream. You want to go get some?" Riley asked and Farkle went with her immediately, not thinking too much of it. He'd learnt not to get his hopes up.

Maya turned to Lucas but he didn't look at her.

"Lucas. We need to talk."

"Farkle, we need to talk." Riley said, practically shaking she was so nervous about what she was about to say.

"Okay, what's up? Is everything okay?" Good old Farkle, always concerned and caring about her.

"Everything's great. I just wanted to talk to you. I wanted to ask..." She braced herself for what was next. "Do you think people who've been friends for a really long time can ever be more? So if they looked at each other one day and there was just something different? They could work, right?"

"Riley, I know what you're about to tell me. And I already know." He grinned at her and did a little tiny wiggle up and down on his feet to show just how excited he was.

"You do?" Riley was relieved, she really didn't want to have to explain herself.

"Maya told me this morning, I think her and Lucas is a great idea and I know you brought me in here so we could leave them alone. "

"Oh." Was all Riley could say.

"Was that not what you were talking about?" Farkle could tell by the expression on her face that she wasn't expecting his response. Had Maya not told her and Lucas and herself?

"No. It's just...when you spoke to me earlier, I realized something."

"Okay."

"How long have we known each other Farkle?" Riley tugged at the bottom of her shirt slightly so she had something to distract herself with as Farkle thought back.

" Since first grade."

"And since that time, we've been really good friends. But..." She paused and tried to compose herself. "You were my first kiss. Sort of. It was the chin but it still counted."

"What are you getting to?"

"I never thought of you as my brother Farkle. Not like Lucas or Zay. You've been my best friend and I've never looked at you as anything different until...today." Farkle grinned, he just couldn't help it.

"You looked at me differently?"

"Outside at the dance. You asked me if I saw you in my fu ture and I did. It wasn't being my best friend. It was all the things you've always told me about but I'd never thought I'd taken my seriously until now. But I guess I did, but like our kiss I just forgot. I dismissed you as a friend when maybe I shouldn't have. Friends don't think of friends like I think about you." Riley went for broke looking at how happy Farkle was looking about what she was saying. He looked star-struck, like he just couldn't believe it.

"Riley...I..."

"You don't have to feel the same. I know you liked Smackle and that you might of only had a crush on me and that's okay." She tried to reassure him but her voice sounded shaky like a leaf.

"I've always liked you Riley. I've been in love with you since the first grade. It's just I never expected you to like me back, so I'm pretty speechless."

"Farkle...speechless? There's a first time for everything." She joked and Farkle threaded his fingers through his own. A perfect fit. She raised herself up onto her toes, forgetting how tall Farkle was now and kissed his cheek softly. There was no way of describing how it felt except that it felt right. Like it was meant to be this way.

"Lucas, we need to talk." Maya said and Zay wondered where he could say to excuse himself.

"I'm gonna go...think of an excuse to leave." He burst out and jump up, going round to the front of the house to get away from the couples.

"Lucas?" Maya asked but he wasn't sure how to reply. "I'm just going to talk if you won't answer me."

"I was wrong earlier. I should have told you that if Riley didn't like you then we would be together."

"Thank you." Lucas finally said. "I just wanted you to be honest with me."

"I know. And I'm going to be honest with you. Riley doesn't like you. Not like that anyway."

"Really?" Lucas tried to figure out exactly what this meant in his head. It seemed very good, and he was over the moon Riley and him were on the same page. "So..."

"And I like you Lucas. I do. I think you're smart and funny and really lovely to me even when I didn't deserve it. You make me happy." She blushed a little, this conversation making her feel very funny. She was not used to being so unguarded.

"You make me happy too Maya." Lucas kissed the top of her head and watched as she wrapped her arms around his shoulder and placed her forehead on his. She looked so beautiful and delicate under the light of the fire. She glowed like the angel she was.

"I'm sorry about the last day, I just couldn't hurt Riley."

"Maya if you could, then you wouldn't be the girl I loved." Maya brought her lips onto his and enjoyed the sensation of finally being able to give herself to him fully, not being held back with feelings of guilt of regret. He tasted like joy, sweet and warm.

"I love you too ." She finally said out loud. "Even if you are a total Huckleberry."

"Hey, you have to admit, Texas isn't as bad as you thought." Lucas teased her and she glanced around.

"No. Texas is a wonderful place." And she meant it.

"Can I come back now?" Zay called round the corner of the house. "I'm cold and I know y'all kissing back there so you don't need space to talk ."

"Sure thing Zay." Lucas replied and moved a little bit backwards from Maya so Zay wouldn't feel like the third wheel.

Riley and Farkle also decided to join them, walking out the door holding hands. Lucas was surprised at this, but it made sense to him. He never did think Farkle was over Riley, and he definitely wouldn't have made a move on Maya if he'd thought Farkle liked her.

"Look at you two as well!" Zay announced, gesturing at them holding hands. They grinned and sat down next to him at the campfire.

"Congratulations you two." Maya commented and Riley gave her the happiest of smiles she'd ever seen. It was lovely to see her happy, she deserved it after how much of her life was spent making others happy.

"Well, everything seems to have worked out nicely." Zay said, looking at his best friends and was very pleased for them.

Lucas laughed. "Zay, you can say that again."

I hope you enjoyed the final chapter :) Thanks for reading, and feel free to tell me what you thought!