[ Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six ]
Prompt: After damaging $1000 worth of private property on a dare Lucas needs a quick way to make the money to pay the guy back. When Charlie Gardner suggests a bet Lucas takes him up on his offer. And what is the bet? Get into the pants of Riley Matthews, the schools very own goody two-shoes princess.
AN: So I wanted to establish a relationship between Riley & ‘Smarkle’ because I didn’t want her to be completely alone without Lucas. This is a filler chapter and is kind of intended to move things along. Hope you guys liked it. xo
Word Count: 3,471
Chapter: 7
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Riley’s lashes flutter as her eyes adjust to the bright florescent lights above her hospital bed. She wasn’t sure what time it was, or how long she had been asleep. Her mind was a bit groggy and for the life of her she couldn’t remember what day it was.
The sound of her mother’s voice catches her attention. She could just barely see who she was standing with. It wasn’t her father or anyone from her family. This person towered over her but sported the same dirty blonde shade of hair on their head. She listened intently as her mother spoke.
“The doctor explained to us that sometimes severe cases of pneumonia can cause confusion as well as other more expected symptoms. According to him, people like her who have weakened immune systems are more at risk for having bacterial pneumonia. Apparently, the infection quickly spreads through the bloodstream and invades the entire body.” Topanga sighs, reaching for the handle of the door.
In a haste Riley pulls the blankets up to her face, and shuts her eyes. For whatever reason she wasn’t ready to talk to her parents and she especially didn’t want to speak to whoever this mystery guest was that accompanied her mother.
“She’s still sleeping but you can go ahead and take the seat next to her.” She can hear the politeness in her mom’s voice.
“Thank you, Mrs. Matthews.” The stranger says. Except it’s no stranger at all. Despite the raspy, almost hoarse tone it had, she knew for a fact it was Lucas. “I’ll call you if she wakes up.”
Her mom reaches down and kisses her on the temple before exiting the room, leaving the two teens by themselves.
Riley could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she laid there praying he would leave. The last time she saw, let alone spoke to him was a week and a half ago. After their fight she didn’t want anything to do with him and there he was sitting across from her, trying to steady his breathing.
“I’m glad you’re getting better.” He says in a whisper. She could tell he was trying not to wake her. “Doc says they’re letting you go tomorrow morning so that’s a plus…”
She can hear him fiddling with something in his hand and it takes everything in her not to give in to her curiosity and open her eyes to see what it is.
“I don’t know if they told you but I’ve been visiting you every day during my lunch period while your dad is still at school. Your mom is surprisingly cool about it.” He chuckles to himself, reaching out to touch her hand.
“Riley…you need to know I never wanted any of this to happen.” He whispers again, this time leaning in closer to her face. “I never wanted to hurt you and I never wanted you to get sick – I know you probably hate me but --.”
“Lucas.” Her mom’s voice cuts him off, “it’s almost 1, you should start heading back.”
He nods his head and stands from his chair, giving her hand a quick squeeze before letting himself out.
Riley can’t help but think about the last time she saw him.
She and Lucas had successfully avoided his ex-girlfriend and her snooty friends at Charlie’s party. They spent most of the night dancing, although not sure you could call what they were doing dancing. His hands rested on her hips and her arms were draped over his shoulders, behind his neck. They swayed to the music but really they were just lost in their conversation.
At some point Lucas dips away to grab a drink and as Riley’s scanning the crowd she notices one of her friends, for lack of a better word, Izzy.
She spots the girl sitting alone in the corner and decides to walk over and see if she was doing okay. She and Isadora aren’t the closest of friends but they have almost every class together, and they occasionally talk and almost always sit together.
“Hey Izzy.” She smiles coyly, offering her an awkward wave because she wasn’t sure how to act in this particular situation. To her surprise, Isadora is more than pleased to see her. She hops up from her chair and embraces the slightly taller brunette girl, yanking her down onto the seat next to her.
“Oh my goodness, Riley!” Isadora shrieks, arms still wrapped around her classmate. “Finally, someone I know and actually like!”
Her sudden friendliness came to no surprise when Riley spots the red solo cup in her hand, filled with God knows what. She slowly takes the cup away from her bespectacled friend and places it on the table in front of them.
“I think maybe you had enough.” Riley laughs, helping the girl sit outright. “I’m shocked to see you here, Izzy. I thought you said high school parties were a social construct you had no interest partaking in?”
Isadora lifts her eyebrows and an almost bewildered expression crosses her face. “You listen to what I say?”
“Of course I do.” Riley smiles, matching her confused look. “You’re the smarted girl in our school why wouldn’t I listen to you?”
Isadora doesn’t answer, she bashfully lowers her gaze and smiles to herself. Before she could say anything else, a tall, lanky boy walks over, concern etched in his eyes.
“There you are, Smackle.” He sighs, reaching out for the raven-haired girl. He notices Riley and narrows his eyes at her. “Who are you?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” Riley replies, yanking his hand away from her clearly intoxicated friend.
“I’m her boyfriend.” He answers with an almost condescending tone. “She’s drunk and I’m not feeling too well so I need to get us both home.”
Riley stares up at the shaggy haired boy, trying to decide if she trusted him or not. She recognized him from school. He was the other genius that walked the halls but she didn’t have any classes or anything with him so her judge of character was based solely on their encounter that night. He didn’t seem threatening.
He was very much sober and the pale clamminess of his skin confirmed his story about him being sick. Still, she was unsure of letting him take Isadora.
“If anything happens to her --.” She warns, helping Izzy to her feet. He rolls his eyes in an almost “ha-ha” way.
He pauses for a second, letting out a rather loud sneeze before taking his girlfriend by the waist.
“No offense but I don’t trust you.” Riley says offhandedly, steadying the drunk girl between them. “Me and Lucas were just about to leave anyway, why don’t we join you guys?”
He scoffs at her offer, but eventually relents allowing her some time to find Lucas so the four of them could leave.
That’s when she overheard the conversation between Charlie and Lucas. She inserts herself into the mix, confused about what they were talking about and when Charlie casually mentions her dating Lucas is a bet, she’s beside herself and angrily walks outside.
Hurtful words are exchanged and the truth is revealed. Charlie was right, it was a bet. Lucas had been lying to her, using her the whole time and she never felt more stupid in her entire life. She had to get away from him.
She leaves him standing there in the snow as she makes a run for the front of the house. The boy she had been arguing with over Izzy was standing there with her over by his car, watching the whole thing go down.
“You okay?” He calls out, shooting her a sympathetic look.
“I’m fine.” She nods her head, wrapping her arms around her body suddenly very aware of the cold. In all the commotion she forgot to grab her coat.
“Need a ride?” He asks, just as she’s passing him. She stops and turns around, watching him carefully place his girlfriend into the back seat.
Riley looks back and sees Lucas making his way to her. In an attempt to avoid any more confrontation and to make sure Izzy got home unscathed she agrees to the ride, climbing into the passenger seat.
They sit in silence for the majority of the car ride. As they pull up in front of Isadora’s house, the boy excuses himself and gets out of the car. Riley watches him guide the tipsy teen up the stairs and disappear behind the front door. He returns 5 minutes later and gets back into the car.
“I put her in bed.” He informs her. “Thankfully her dad is still at work.”
After giving him directions to her address, the car falls silent again. Apart from the sniffles and coughs coming from his end.
“I’m Farkle by the way.” He says, breaking the awkward silence.
“Riley.”
They pull up to her street and Riley tells him he can park a few houses down. After thanking him for the ride, she gets out and just as she’s about to close the door he stops her.
“Thank you.” He interjects, meeting her eyes. “Most people wouldn’t have cared enough to make sure she got home okay… I know Smackle isn’t the easiest person to get along with --.”
“I was just doing the right thing.” She chimes in.
“You’re a good friend.” He states, “So, thank you.”
She nods her head and smiles softly before closing his car door and making her way to her house. She waits for him to pull off before she lets herself in.
The lights are still off so she quietly heads upstairs to her room. She pulls on warm pajamas and gets under the covers.
The second her head hits the pillow she’s hit with an overwhelming feeling of sorrow, her mind reeling over the events of the night. She buries her face into her pillow and allows herself to cry, hoping the cushion would muffle the sounds of her sobbing.
She was heartbroken.
Riley waits to hear the sound of the door close before she opens her eyes. Even though he was no longer sitting in the seat across from her she could still feel his presence, his smell still lingered there making her feel that much closer to him.
--
It took a lot of convincing from Riley and Topanga for Cory to get on board with her going back to school. She was only in the hospital for 3 days but they still kept her home after she was cleared out of fear that something would happen.
Riley was starting to feel a little stir crazy. She could only stare at her walls for so long. She was ready to face her demons head on, no more feeling sorry for herself. She wanted them to know they didn’t break her.
It was her first morning back and she took a little extra time getting ready. Who knew having a severe case of pneumonia took the life out of you. She applied a little more makeup than she usually would, just to make herself look more awake, straightened her hair so it laid perfectly down her back and opted for a tan colored ribbed turtleneck sweater dress and paired it with black tights and black ankle boots.
As she’s deciding which jacket to take her skype goes off notifying her she had an incoming call from Maya. She glances over at the clock noting that it was 5 a.m. her time. Intrigued by why she could be calling at that hour, she picks up.
“Peaches.” She smiles at the screen at the sight of her best friend. “To what do I owe this surprising call?”
“I can’t sleep.” Maya groans, banging her forehead against her desk. “I knew you’d be awake and… wait, why are you dressed up?” She raises her eyebrows. “Where you going?”
“Back to school.” Riley answers like it was obvious. She steps back allowing Maya to get a good look at her outfit. “What do you think? Too much?”
“You look great Riles, but your outfit isn’t what I’m concerned about.” She pauses, “Are you sure you’re ready to see…everyone?”
“I’m sure.” Riley says so confidently she even has herself believing it. Truth be told, she knew it would take some time before she was completely comfortable being there again but she also knew she would regret not going back.
“Well good luck.” Maya smiles, “I’m proud of you.”
--
At school Riley feels completely out of her element. Although she’s caught up on her schoolwork thanks to the fact that her dad is a teacher she still feels out of step. She tries her best to ignore the snickering and whispers she hears as she walks by certain individuals, most of them warranting a well-deserved glare.
She decides to skip lunch, remembering she and Lucas would usually sit together. Instead, she makes her way to the library to eat her snacks and to her surprise Isadora and Farkle are in there as well.
The two of them visited Riley in the hospital last week. Farkle was hell-bent on apologizing for getting Riley sick and his girlfriend was returning the favor of being caring and thoughtful.
Isadora’s face lights up when she spots Riley trying to look for an available seat.
“Riley, over here!” The petite girl waves her down. “Sit with us.” She insists, moving some of their books out of the way.
She smiles a thank you and joins the two geniuses at their table, keeping her bag on the floor, not wanting to invade their study space.
The three of them sit quietly all immersed in whatever they were doing. Farkle was going over his AP physics book, Isadora was highlighting equations in her Trigonometry book and Riley was eating her fruit snacks, reading one of her favorite novels by Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.
Every now and then she’d glance up and just as she was looking up Izzy would be glancing up as well. They’d share a smile and then return to their books. She liked that they didn’t pry, or make her feel uncomfortable. And she had to admit, it was nice having company even if none of them were speaking.
The bell rings dismissing them to their next period and as Riley gets up, someone trips on her bag, grabbing her arm to steady themselves.
“I’m sorry.” She pants, swiftly pulling her things off the library floor. Her eyes are met with a familiar pair of dark brown ones. Lucas’ best friend Zay stood before her, unsure of what to do next.
“No biggie.” He chuckles softly, sliding on his backpack. “Didn’t know you were back at school.”
“First day back actually.” She politely smiles, fiddling with the hem of her dress. She looks behind the boy to make sure he was alone. The last thing she wanted was to have another confrontation surrounded by her classmates.
“He’s not here.” Zay informs her, noticing her wanderings eyes. “He sprained his ankle on the court yesterday.”
“Is he okay?” She asks, trying to hide the unsettled look that she knows is already etched on her face.
“It’s just a sprain, Riley.” Zay laughs, shaking his head at her concern. “He’ll be fine.”
Hearing that did nothing for her. Mainly because she knew for a fact the only time Lucas played basketball was when he was feeling miserable. Playing ball always helped him figure out whatever he needed to be figured out so him spraining his ankle while playing was weighing heavy on her heart.
After everything that happened, she still found herself worrying about him.
--
Riley was under strict instructions from her parents to come straight home after school. She was, under no circumstances, allowed to go out, visit anyone or really do anything until she was completely cleared of her pneumonia and until they thought they could trust her again.
Explaining to her parents how and why she got sick meant being honest and being honest meant admitting to sneaking out at night while they were asleep to go to parties. Needless to say her parents weren’t too thrilled.
She reluctantly walked to her last period and as she got closer she saw that the lights were off and the door was locked. One of her classmates were walking by her when they notice her standing there.
“He’s not here today. It’s free period for anyone who has him.” She tells Riley before walking away.
For a split second she considers going to the library or just driving home but she gets up enough nerve to walk out of school, get into her car and drive in the opposite directions towards Lucas’ house.
As she sits in her car outside his home, she has this internal battle about whether or not she should actually get out. The Sheriff’s car was parked in the driveway and she could see the light on inside the living room.
Before she knew it her legs were moving and she was heading straight for their front door. She knocks softly a few times, still hesitant about being there.
Mr. Friar answers the door, wearing his uniform. The confused expression on his face said he was surprised to see her there too. “Oh – Riley, what can I do for you?” He smiles despite his brows being furrowed together.
“May I speak to Lucas please?”
Mr. Friar hesitates, pondering her request. A part of her feared he knew everything that happened. She was scared he’d ask her questions, or worse; offer up an apology which was the last thing she wanted to hear.
He nods his head and steps aside. “Sure thing. He’s down stairs in his room just tell him I was called in to the station.”
Riley locks the door behind him and makes her way down the familiar hall and to the basement door.
When his older brother went off to college in Sacramento, Lucas got his pick of rooms. He could stay upstairs with his parents or move into the basement which was remodeled into a studio, except a little smaller. He had his own bathroom and mini fridge, a bar from when his brother lived down there and all of his old instruments and work out gear.
The walls were a dark navy blue color and plastered all over was posters of bands she never heard of and movies she only watched because he asked her to. There was baseball décor in one corner and in the other was his punching bag and other boxing equipment.
It was just like she remembered it.
Music was playing softly in the background as she made her way down the stairs. She recognized it from one of the playlists he made her a few months back. It was a slow song that had really melancholy undertones to it but it was calming to listen to.
As she gets further down the stairs she sees him sprawled out on his bed shirtless, pillow covering his face, and his ankle propped up on a bunch of cushions. She takes in the view for a moment before tapping on the wall.
“Not in the mood, dad.” He mumbles.
“Actually, he just left.” She says knowing it’ll snap him out of it.
Sure enough he springs upward, sitting at full attention now, flabbergasted that she was standing there in his room again.
“Riley I – I didn’t – I wasn’t – expecting you…” He stammers, running his fingers through his messy outgrown hair.
“I know.” She breathes, “I wasn’t expecting me either.”
“Do you wanna sit?” He attempts to scoot but the position his leg is in makes it difficult.
“I won’t be staying long…” She looks around for a bit and then annoyed with her own stalling she sighs. “Look, I’m still angry at you. I haven’t forgiven you yet either…but I wanted you to know me being in the hospital wasn’t your fault.”
He tries to interrupt but she raises her hand to signal she wasn’t done speaking. “Contrary to popular belief you don’t get sick from being outside…The guy who gave me a ride home had a cold and at the time I didn’t think much of it because I was so caught up in our dispute that I wasn’t worried about catching whatever he had. I woke up the next morning with what I thought was a regular common cold but as the week went on it got progressively worse until I just couldn’t take it anymore.”
She sighs again, this time heading towards the stairs. “I might still hate you but I don’t want you to blame yourself for something that wasn’t your fault. Besides, you have plenty to feel bad about…me being hospitalized isn’t one of them.”
“Riley –“
“Take care of yourself, Lucas.” She cuts him off. “Hope you feel better.”
He watches her leave and lets out a deep breath as he hears the front door close.
