Truth Or Dare
Riley runs off the bus, flinging her arms around the best friend she hadn't seen in what felt like forever. He does the same, squeezing her tightly to him. She allows him to spin her around, her feet in the air. "I missed you so much!"
"I missed you too, Riles." He breathes into her neck, setting her back down gently. The others look in for a moment before Riley turns to them, lacing her fingers with Farkle's.
"Guys, this is Farkle. Farkle, this is Maya, Zay, and Smackle." She says, pointing a red fingernail at each of the band members, respectively. He gives them all a small smile and a wave.
"So you're the famous Farkle," Maya says, slinging an arm around the new comer as if she had known him for years; she ducks her head down to where only he can hear and smirks, "yYoure gonna tell me all the embarrassing stories you have on Riley."
Farkle laughs, "Sure, Riley has plenty of those."
Riley gives them both puppy dog eyes, crossing her arms. "Do not."
"Remember that time you had a crush on Jude and you tried to-" Farkle doesn't get to finish his sentence due to Riley coming up and pressing a hand to his mouth. She smiles sarcastically at Maya, who looks quite amused at both of them.
"Okay, that's enough of that for right now," she says, leading Farkle to the entrance of their hotel. "Why don't we get something to eat. Then we can go hangout at the pool."
---
"We should play truth or dare," Zay offers; it was getting close to 11 and they had just gotten out of the pool. Now all six of them were scattered around the hotel room that would be housing the girls. Zay and Farkle had their own room to themselves.
"Oh yeah, like we want to open up that can of worms..." Maya mutters, mind flashing back to the previous times they had played that game. Even Smackle knew that it never ended well.
"I think it sounds like fun," Farkle counters, "I don't really know you guys, so it would be a good way to get to know you."
"Okay, you go first then." Riley says, turning to Farkle. At this point they had all gathered on the hotel room floor, forming a circle. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth," Farkle says, his eyes gleaming at her as if he knew something she didn't. She smirks back at him.
"Is it true that you haven't taken your eyes off of Smackle since you met her earlier?" Riley asks. Maya quirks an eyebrow, looking between the two, who are both getting very red.
"Uh," Farkle falters then shrugs. "Yes, it's true."
"I had wondered where you two snuck off to," Zay says, "You were gone much too long to be just 'getting snacks'."
"Okay, okay!" Farkle says, but he's laughing, so they know he's not really too annoyed with Riley's choice of question. "Hm... Maya, truth or dare?"
"I'm not scared of you," she says, locking eyes with him. "Dare."
Farkle pretends to think for a moment, resting his hand on his chin and narrowing his eyes. "I dare you to... kiss... Riley."
There's a sudden tension in the air; Riley can feel her heart beating in the back of her throat. Zay is looking at Farkle like he wants to start a fight or something, but he doesn't. Smackle glances between Riley and Maya, then looks at Farkle. Maya, however, had been the only one to not sense the feeling in the air. Riley was glad for that.
"You're so lame," Maya says, turning to Riley. "I don't get the big deal of guys wanting see two girls kiss."
Riley bites her lip, watching as Maya brushes strands of brown hair behind her ear. Their eyes meet and Maya smiles assuringly, slowly leaning in. If Riley wanted to bolt, wanted to say something, do something, now was her chance. But she couldn't; she was frozen in the spot. Their lips met and Riley's eyes flutter closed, her hands resting on Maya's shoulders.
The kiss hadn't lasted for more than five seconds, but Riley wanted it to last longer. Except, Maya didn't feel that way and they were in a group full of people and Riley really just needed a drink of water. She says as much and goes to get a cup, then heads to the bathroom, filling it up in the sink. She can hear Maya talking outside the door.
"Farkle," she hears Maya's voice, louder than the others. Maya was always loud. Not necessarily in your face, but she had a natural way of drawing people to her. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Is Smackle a good kisser?"
"I don't know, is Riley?"
If the game is still going, Riley can't tell. She doesn't hear anything after that. She can feel her eyes well up with tears. She opens the bottom drawer, pulling out a wash cloth and getting it damp. She wipes her face, trying to calm herself down, but she feels so stupid. She shouldn't have told anyone.
She's thankful Zay had been kind enough to keep her secret, but she doesn't understand why Farkle would just... exploit her like this. Once she figures she's calm enough to go back out, she takes her place in the circle.
"Riley!" Smackle says, everyone's attention diverting to her. "Truth or dare."
Riley weighs her options; none of them seem good. She decides, "Truth."
"Tells us how you and Farkle met."
Riley let's out a breath she didn't know she had been holding and silently thanks whatever God is watching her for Isadora Smackle
---
"I had fun today," Maya says softly. The room is dark and Smackle is asleep, but neither Riley or Maya could fall asleep.
"Me too," Riley says. Things between them were a little awkward now, at least on Riley's part, but they were still best friends. She and Farkle had been through a lot worse and had come out stronger than ever. There was no reason for one kiss to change anything.
"Your friend Farkle is pretty... interesting. He is really smart, like you said," Maya continues, "And he cares about you more than you think."
But he used my secrets against me, Riley wants to counter. But she can't, so she doesn't. "I know."
Maya bites her lip, wrapping her arms around Riley and pulling her closer. Riley sighs, closing her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the comfort of a friend.
"I know what's going on," Maya says softly, minutes later, once she hears Riley's breathing slow down, indicating she's falling into slumber. "And it's okay. I like you too."