Girl Meets Faking It

Lucas and Zay were sitting in Zay’s truck when Lucas said, “This is my fault. I knew Riley had a girlfriend, but I kept seeing her.”

“Why you beating yourself up like this, bro?” Zay asked. “It’s not your fault they broke up.”

“Trust me,” he sighed. “You know how my family is, we’re ruin everything.”

“Not this again, man. Look, you’re not the asshole, and you don’t deserve to be treated like one,” Zay told Lucas. “Oooh, I’ll create another scandal to keep people distracted.”

“No, Zay, come on, let it go.”

“Fine,” he whined.

The next day, Maya was still getting the pitiful stares. People asking if she was okay. People telling her to stay strong. She just wanted to get away from all the states. She ran into Lucas; when they were trying to get away from each other, they actually managed to grab each other. She quickly got away from him as soon as she could. Maya then felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around, she saw no other than Charlie Gardner. Charlie was a nice guy and he was okay looking. He was no Riley but she had to rid her mind of Riley. Maybe this is what I need. A distraction.

“Hey, so I heard a rumor that you and Riley broke up,” he started cautiously. “Since it made its way to me, I'm guessing it's true.”

“Yeah,” Maya nodded, with a sad look on her face. “We did.”

“I'm here if you need a shoulder to cry on, I got two of them,” Charlie offered, patting his shoulders.

“I do seem to have lunches free all of the sudden.”

“I lunch,” Charlie said, hopefulness creeping out of his throat.

“How's today?”

“Perfect.”

Riley had been running all over the school before first period started, trying to find Isadora. Although they never really said anything about Lucas in the interview they gave for the Tumblr blog, people were already speculating about things. They said that their silence at the mention of the throuple date was evidence enough and implied that Lucas had something to do with their breaking up. Which he didn't...Right?

“Isadora!” Riley called out to the reporter who then made her way over. “We need to talk.”

“About?”

“People are getting the wrong idea about why Maya and I broke up.”

“On the record?” Isadora asked, taking out her phone to record.

“Our breakup isn't Lucas Friar’s fault,” she asserted.

“My sources say otherwise,” the journalist challenged.

“What sources? What are you talking about?”

Isadora showed Riley a picture of Lucas and Maya grabbing each other earlier that morning. Riley's face contorted and she wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling. Jealousy, betrayal, anger, sadness...it was like a tidal wave of emotions and she felt like she was drowning when she saw the picture. She took a deep breath and put on her best ‘I'm okay, no, really, I'm okay’ face.

“Triangles are very unstable. It's very easy to topple over. I think what's better than a triangle is a quadrilateral. Anyway, anything you wanna share with the people, Ms. Matthews?”

“It's been really hard dealing with Maya’s anger problems and violence!” Riley said quickly before running off.

10:15, Maya and Riley met in the hallway. (Some traditions were too sacred to change.) Except instead of running to each other’s arms like they usually did, Maya looked like she just wanted to run at Riley. They sat down on the bench and both bit their lips.

“I had to do what I had to do,” Riley defended.

“Anger problems? Violence?!”

“Isn't that what broke up a lot of couples in the binder?” Riley snapped.

“I'd like to know how lying and saying that I have anger problems and am violent has to do with helping Lucas,” Maya quipped, fuming.

“So now you care about him,” Riley scoffed. “Maybe we should talk about that picture of you two being grabby earlier today. You looked pretty cozy to me.”

“What?” Maya couldn't believe what she was hearing. First, Riley lied about Maya having those issues and now she was mad at them for literally bumping into each other? If anyone was to blame, it was the dumbass heehaw who didn't look where he was going. “No, that's not at all what it looked like.”

“Really?!” Riley challenged, raising her voice. “Because it looked like a repeat of what happened at the throuple date. Which you sure seemed to enjoy.”

“You are jealous,” Maya scoffed in disbelief. I just wish you were jealous of Lucas and not me.

“It looked like I had a right to be.”

“This was all about Lucas, it always has been!” Maya snapped, angry that something as dumb as a boy could make them fight.

“Well, you know how much I like him,” Riley pointed out.

“How can I not?! He’s all you ever talk about! You're like a...horny parrot — Lucas Friar, Lucas Friar, Lucas Friar!” Maya yelled.

The raising of her voice made Riley a little bit scared, she rarely saw Maya get this angry. “Okay, maybe I overreacted,” she said, taking a deep breath.

“No, you made yourself perfectly clear, Riley.”

That you care more about this stupid cowboy veterinarian with his dumb blue eyes and Texas stories than you do about me.

“I know what role you want me to play, and I'm sick and tired of playing it!” Maya continued. “And I think we should break up.”

Riley was about to agree with them breaking up being a good idea and for the best but then Maya said something that scared the crap out of her.

“For real.”

“Peaches, come on!” Riley pled. “Let’s not fight!”

But her words were lost on Maya who was now off the bench and back to her class. Which meant that Riley really pissed her off. Because she would never leave their session early and go back to class, she was Maya Hart. Riley sighed and put her head into her lap. All of the sudden, it didn't matter whether Lucas and Maya were actually being grabby in the hallway. She didn't care about any of that if she didn't have Maya. What have I gotten myself into?

It was that day at lunch and Maya felt a little lost. Even though she knew she would be spending her lunch with Charlie, it didn't feel normal to not spend it with Riley. They had spent almost every lunch together since they were six years old. It was habit, it was expected, it was something they both looked forward to. But Maya had to remind herself that her anger at Riley was completely justified. Not only did she let her dumb crush blindside her, but she also lied about Maya having anger and violence problems. That entire subject in general was a touchy one for her because she always felt like if she hadn't met Riley, she might be like that. And she was pretty sure Riley knew it was a sore spot as well. As soon as she got in line for lunch, the television in the cafeteria which usually displayed the menu, along with the student’s phones, displayed the principal.

“Good day, Abigail Adams High School,” the principal said to the students. “We have some announcements to make but before that, we have a very special guest.”

Everyone looked around the cafeteria, no one knowing who the special guest was.

“I know that everyone has been a little bit shaken up by the breakup of Riley and Maya. But Riley is here to say a few words.”

Maya wanted to disappear because she was so nervous and had no idea what Riley was going to say. At that time, Lucas had taken off lunch to go to the dugout but managed to look at his phone to see Riley’s announcement. He frowned, not really wanting to hear from Riley, but also being curious as to what she was going to say.

“Thank you,” Riley said to the principal, as she walked on screen. “And thank you everybody for listening and giving me a chance to clear up any misinformation you might have heard.”

Riley’s voice was quivering and she seemed like she could burst into tears any second. She was terrified to do this. This was hard, putting yourself out there was really hard. Especially for Riley, who despite trying not to, cared way too much of what other people thought of her.

“I was the one who invited Lucas to the throuple date,” she admitted. Everyone could hear the shame in her voice. “Why? I don't know. What can I say? I'm confused. I don't know what I want.”

Standing in the lunch line, Maya was gripping onto every word Riley was saying because she could tell it was genuine. Maya was also hoping that I don't know what I want and I'm confused line could apply to Riley’s feelings for Maya.

“All I know is that I don't want to hurt a guy who's a really good guy.”

Maya couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit at that comment. She really didn't like Lucas. At the dugout, Lucas couldn't help but smile at that comment. Even though he was mad at her, Riley’s opinion still meant a lot to him.

“And I don't want to lose Maya,” Riley’s voice cracked as she said this, on the verge of tears. “The person in the world who means the most to me. I never meant to hurt her. I never meant to hurt anyone.”

When Maya heard that, a smile graced her face. It didn't matter to Maya anymore that she had said that stuff about Lucas because everyone could tell that the person who Riley cared about the most was Maya. She ran out of the lunch line, forgetting all about food and Charlie Gardner, just thinking about Riley.

“So thanks for listening,” Riley said, as she wiped her eyes. She then saw Maya running into the studio room where she was recording the message and smiled through her tears. In a romcom-esque like way, they ran into each other’s arms and hugged each other, almost afraid to let go of the other. Everyone in the room started clapping, everyone (except for Lucas and Charlie) watching started clapping, it was a celebration.

“I'm so sorry,” Riley choked out after they untangled themselves from each other.

“It's okay,” Maya said in soft voice, wiping away some tears from Riley’s eyes with her thumbs.

“I don't like it when we fight. Let's never fight again, okay?” Riley ran her fingers down Maya’s waist.

“Never? Us? I'm going to be with you for the rest of our lives. We're gonna have some conflicts along the way. But we'll work them out, we'll always work them out. Because we're Riley and Maya.”

When Lucas saw that, he threw his phone in the dugout and went into the batting cage to blow off some steam for the rest of the lunch. Back in the studio, Riley and Maya exited to go finally eat their lunch. After they got their food, when they went to sit down, all of the people in the cafeteria were chanting at them to kiss.

“Guess we should give the crowd what they want,” Maya said, with a bashful smile on her face.

They both leaned in to kiss each other, but what Riley gave Maya was the kind of kiss that you give your grandmother. It was just a peck. Nothing like the kiss from the date the other night. But Maya didn't think anything of it. At least she was still kissing Riley, at least she was still with Riley. That was enough for her, for now.

“So what do celebrities do when they get back together?” Maya asked, with a smirk, clearly making fun of how much Riley knew about this stuff. “Matching tattoos?”

“Look, I meant it when I said that this was all my fault,” Riley said quietly so bystanders wouldn't hear. “I never should have dragged you into this and I've been the worst friend.”

Maya was about to protest when Riley added, “Which is why I think we should still break up.”

Ouch, I'll never get used to her saying that.

Maya's face fell. She was so happy and now she was just broken again. She knew that she shouldn't hope for too much, this is what happens when people hope for things. They get disappointed. They get hurt. They get sad. They get heartbroken.

“We’ll tell everyone in a few weeks when this all dies down,” Riley declared. And I know that means we're gonna have to keep pretending a little longer, but I promise I'm gonna spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

She then kissed Maya’s cheek and ran off, leaving the blonde to ponder everything that just happened. She knew that she should be relieved. Relieved that she didn't have to keep up this lie anymore, relieved that she didn't have to act like she wasn't in love with Riley when they were alone, relieved that everything would go back to the way it was. But she wasn't. She was the complete and total opposite. She frowned as she thought to herself, what the hell am I doing?

Before lunch ran out, Riley managed to run down to the dugout to find Lucas who was in the batting cage.

“Hey, can we talk?” Riley asked through the fence.

“I'm busy,” Lucas replied, before hitting the ball with as much force as he could.

“I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am. I screwed up on so many levels.” Riley ran her fingers through her hair, looking down at the ground.

“Got it,” he snapped, hitting another. “I saw the announcement, Riley.”

“I really wanna fix this,” she said, gripping to the fence. “Do you think that we can be friends?”

“I have enough friends.”

“Well I thought that we really connected,” Riley admitted. They had had some really deep conversations with each other that she hadn't had with anyone else. He was started to become one of her favorite people to talk to. “You know, telling each other things that no one else knows. And I've really started to care about you.”

Throwing down his bat, Lucas came out of the batting cages and stood next to Riley.

“This whole school thinks of me as some selfish, manipulative jerk,” Lucas said, frowning.

“Not anymore, I made sure of it,” Riley assured him. “Nobody thinks that you're the reason we broke up.”

“But that's the point. I wanted to be!” Lucas groaned, clenching his fists and his jaw.

“What?” She furrowed her eyebrows, now Riley was just confused.

“Look, I know coming in between you and Maya is wrong but I can't help it. I think I'm falling for you.”

“Then let me catch you,” Riley whispered as she drug him to the benches on the dugout.

“Wait, what about Maya?” Lucas asked with caution.

“She's my best friend and I love her. But we're not a couple anymore. We're faking getting back together until it blows over.”

Lucas opened his mouth to say something but Riley cut him off, “I promise. No one else knows. Just you.”

Lucas laid Riley down on the bench, kissed her and Riley put her arms over her head so he could take off her shirt.