British Invasion | 8
Overview:In the middle of her freshman year of high school Riley Matthew’s mother gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to run her firms London Office. Much to everyone’s surprise her mother accepts the job, forcing Riley and her younger brother Auggie to leave behind everything they’ve ever known. Almost three years later the Matthew’s family moves back to New York and Riley comes to realize a lot has changed in the time she’s been gone. Author’s Notes: Getting closer to finding out what happened in London that made them come home!!! Riley also finally apologizes to Lucas for how she acted in Texas. Chapter Eight: “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” Previous Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 Word Count: 3,823
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Riley stared at her father in horror as he silently walked across the living room to her. He looked disheveled, his hair was more unruly than usual and his normally expressive eyes looked like they had sunken in significantly. She swallowed hard, now very aware that Sam’s hands were still holding her. She nudges him off, terrified that her father would chase him out of the building or kick him out and tell him to get lost but the closer Cory gets the easier it is to see that he was looking right through them.
He walks past the startled teens, not saying one word as he saunters over to the kitchen, pulling out a bottle of water and taking a large gulp before turning to face them again. He pinches the bridge of his nose taking a deep breath before he addresses them.
“How long are you here for, Sam?” He asks, now massaging his temples in attempt to relieve some tension.
Sam stumbles over his words for a minute, trying not to freak out as the father of the girl he was just kissing glared at him from across the room. “Um, just for the weekend sir. I’ll be gone on Monday.”
“Topanga know you’re here?” Cory asks, taking another big gulp of his water bottle.
“Yes sir.” Sam nods, “She made up the guest room for me.” He adds in, hoping that’ll put the man’s mind at ease. He didn’t want him to think that he and Riley were sharing a bed, or even a room.
“Why don’t you go on over to bed.” Cory motions to the door. “I need to speak to my daughter.”
Sam does so without any hesitation, only once he’s over by the archway does he shoot Riley a quick glance over his shoulder but even then it happens so fast that she practically misses it.
Riley watches her father rummage through their fridge and cabinets in search of something to snack on. He ends up grabbing a pop tart and walks over to the living room, instructing her to sit down.
“Your mother’s okay with him being here?” He asks once he’s seated next to her.
“She let him in so…I guess so.” She answers quietly, looking down at her feet as she spoke.
“Riley, I’m worried about you.”
“Why?” She tried to remain level headed as she listened to him. She could already feel her emotions getting the best of her and the last thing she wanted was to start an argument with her father and risk waking up Topanga. That would only make things worse.
“Well for starters I just came home to find you kissing in the dark with a boy you swore to me months ago was ‘just a friend’.” He shakes his head, “You keep putting yourself in these situations where you know you’re going to end up hurt again. Or did you not learn your lesson the last time?”
“It was just a kiss.” She snapped having an awful feeling wash over her once she realized what he was referring to. A single tear slid down from her eyes, followed by another one, and another one, until soon, a steady stream of salty tears flowed its way down her rosy cheek. She quickly wiped her tears away with the back of her hand before speaking again. “Why are you overreacting?”
“It’s my job to overreact. I’m your father.”
Before she could stop herself she blurts out the first thing to come to mind, “Some father you are.”
She could tell her comment stung. He said nothing just nodded as if he understood why she took such a cheap shot. They both knew she was speaking from anger but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
After what feels like forever he turns to her again, “I didn’t mean to upset you, Riles. And I didn’t mean to bring up what happened in London…I just don’t want you to get hurt again.”
Cory gently pats her back before standing up to walk to his bedroom. Riley watches him for a second waiting until he’s almost to the hall to speak. “Sam wouldn’t hurt me.”
Without stopping or looking back, Cory responds. “I wasn’t talking about Sam.”
--
Riley barely slept last night but since today was Saturday she planned to have a chill evening at home. She was currently sat on her bed, carefully painting her nails while her favorite songs from the 80’s played through her speakers. Sam was across the room, comfortably sitting in her chair by the window, flipping through her stash of magazines discussing his disdain for her taste in music.
Her phone, which was plugged in near her vanity starts to ring. Riley pouts staring down at her wet nails and sheepishly smiles at Sam as he takes the hint and gets up to get it for her. “It’s your candid friend.” He smiles, putting the phone on speaker as he answers, placing it next to Riley.
“Hey Izzy.” She calls out, hoping she could hear her well. “What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you had plans this evening.” Isadora asks.
Riley glances over at Sam who was sitting quietly, observing her from his seat. He shrugs slightly indicating he was up for whatever. “Not really.”
“Oh. Good. Would you like to join me for the end of fall festival tonight?”
“End of fall festival?” Riley chuckles, “When did New York City become Stars Hollow?”
“I don’t understand that reference.” Isadora says nonchalantly. “Perhaps you could explain it to me at the carnival tonight.”
“Little cold for a carnival, innit’?” Sam says offhandedly, picking up another magazine.
“Who was that?” The genius perks up.
Riley scrunches up her nose remembering she hadn’t told her friends Sam was staying with her. Not that it was really any of their business. Still, she didn’t want them to think she was hiding anything. “It was Sam, Izz.”
“Oh.” The disappointment in her voice was painfully obvious. Sam smirked to himself, silently laughing at her bluntness. “Well then, he can come as well.”
Riley giggles, feeling awkward for everyone involved now. “Alright, we’ll meet you there just text me the deets.”
Smackle hangs up and the room falls silent.
“She doesn’t like me very much.” Sam laughs walking over to where Riley was sitting.
“It just takes some time for her to warm up to people.” The brunette shrugs trying not to notice how close Sam was now. He sat next to her on the bed, their knees brushing as he scooted in closer.
“You know, we never finished our conversation last night?” He says in almost a whisper, tucking some of her loose locks behind her ear.
“I don’t remember much talking.” She admits, feeling herself blushing as he begins to lean in.
“Riley?” She hears someone call out her name. “Riles you home?”
She instantly pushes Sam back, jumping to her feet at the sound. Just as her feet touch the wooden floors her door opens. Her uncle Josh is standing in the doorway, eyes glued on the scene in front of him.
He wasn’t stupid, he could read a room and definitely tell when something was about to happen. He might be 3 years older than her but he still remembered how it was when he was a teenager, after all it wasn’t that long ago that he was one.
“Uncle Josh.” She smiles, jogging over to give him a hug. “It’s so good to see you.”
“Who’s the string bean?” Josh asks, rubbing her back but keeping his eyes locked on the boy in his niece’s room, sitting on her bed.
“This is Sam.” Riley quickly introduces the two and suddenly gets an idea. “Hey, we’re going to the end of fall festival tonight, wanna join us?”
“Sure.” Josh offers a tight lipped smile. “Why not.”
--
It was a considerably warm night for early November: perfect for the festival. It wasn’t so hot that everyone was sweating but it wasn’t freezing either, although Riley was glad she decided to bring her jean jacket with her to wear over her off the shoulder sweater.
The entrance could be seen in the distance and the long queues edged forward slowly. People were becoming increasingly excited and impatient as they took a few steps forward every so often. Faint music could be heard from beyond the tall gates with the occasional happy scream suddenly piercing the air. If you took a deep breath you could smell the food trucks which was always Riley’s favorite part about any fair or festival. Along with the sickly sweet smell of cotton candy and caramel apples there was the mouthwatering scent of fried dough and buttery popcorn.
The closer they got to the entrance the more the massive structures of the rides could be seen: a rollercoaster, a Ferris Wheel, a tilt-a-whirl. Haystacks and pumpkins lined the pathways where game booths and activities with giant stuffed animals hung up for prizes sat on either side.
Although initially she was dreading the evening, standing there now taking in the atmosphere Riley was happy she decided to come anyway.
“Bubbles!” Isadora’s personal nickname for her cuts through the crowd, immediately catching Riley’s attention. She spins around on her feet, trying to look through the overcrowded space for her petite friend.
“You guys go ahead.” She shoos Josh and Sam. “I’m going to go find Izzy.” Without waiting for a response she ducks away, happy to be ridding the boys. Josh wouldn’t leave her side and Sam insisted they needed to be alone to finish their discussion. They were both starting to drive her crazy.
“Riley.” She feels someone grab her arm and tenses up until she sees that it’s Isadora. The two girls embrace and make their way through the crowd till they find a less populated area.
“I thought Sam was going to join us.”
“He’s around here somewhere…with Josh.” Riley shakes her head, mentally kicking herself for inviting her uncle in the first place. She had hoped the awkwardness would subside once they arrived at the festival but so far, no luck.
“Josh is here too?” Izzy’s eyes widen behind her black square frames. “Sheesh. Any other surprise guests I should be mindful of?”
“Lucas.” She says in almost a whisper.
“You invited Lucas too?!?!” Isadora says a little too loudly. “Why on earth would you--.”
“No.” Riley cuts her off, gently moving the girls shoulders so she could see behind her. Lucas and Zay were standing by the cotton candy booth. She points them out. “Lucas.”
“Of all the nights.” Isadora rolls her eyes in frustration.
“Why exactly did you want to come here?” Riley asks realizing a weird pattern in her friend’s behavior lately. “First Charlie’s Halloween party and now this. I mean, as far as I know none of this is really your style. Is everything okay?”
“The truth?” She sighs. Riley nods her head.
“I’ve been hoping we’d run into Farkle.” The raven-haired girl admits, readjusting the glasses on her nose.
“Okay.” Riley was done being patient. She had to know what was going on with them. “What exactly happened between you two?”
The shorter girl struggled with her words for a second before mumbling out, “Feelings. Feelings happened.”
Past Izzy she could see that Lucas and Zay finally noticed the two of them standing there and decided to try to join them. Riley grabs Isadora’s hand and scurries them off, not wanting to interact with either of them, especially Lucas.
“What’re you – Riley! Slow down!”
“Walk and talk, Izz.” She hurried along her slower paced friend until *SMACK*. They both stumbled into someone. Isadora colliding head first with the tall lanky boy, knocking her glasses off her face.
“Are you alright?” The familiar voice belonged to a familiar lanky boy, the one Isadora so desperately wanted to run into. Riley couldn’t help but smile. The genius did say she wanted to “run” into Farkle and that’s exactly what happened.
“I’m fine.” Isadora huffs, brushing the dirt off her legs. “Super Klutz over here forgot how to--.” It isn’t until she puts her glasses on that she realizes she was talking to Farkle. “Oh…hello there.”
Farkle smiles and outstretches his hand. “Would you like to join me for a walk?”
“I’d love to.” Izzy smiles, “But..”
“No you’re fine.” Riley insists seeing the hesitancy in her friend’s eyes as she looks over to her. “You go, I’m good. I should probably go find Josh anyway.”
She watches the two geniuses walk off, hand-in-hand, smiling ear to ear. Riley takes a deep breath and stares up at the sky, seeing the big Ferris Wheel hovering above her. Needing just a few more minutes to herself she hurries over and gets in the surprisingly short line. When it’s her turn to board, the guy at the gate gives her a weird look. “Just you?” He crinkles his eyebrows together.
“Yeah, just me.” Riley smiles politely thinking he’d just accept it and move along the line. Instead he decides to mortify her.
“We’ve got a single rider here!” He calls out to the crowd around them, Riley’s face burning hot with embarrassment. “Single! Who’d like to join this lovely young lady for the ride?” He calls out again. “Single!”
“Oh my god.” She buries her face into her palms. “Please stop saying that.”
“I’ll ride with her.” She hears someone say. When she looks up she sees Lucas smiling at her as he climbs into the passenger pod, sitting across from her.
“You don’t have to--.”
“I want to.”
--
It was safe to say that Riley’s ‘avoid Lucas at all costs’ plan had failed. Miserably. She was already waiting to count how many times the Ferris Wheel rotates around by the time their pod reaches the top. Trying to look everywhere but the boy sitting in front of her was hard but she managed to focus on the pretty lights and the bonfire in the distance.
She could just barely hear the melody to Simple Mind’s ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ is now playing on the ground beneath them. Once the song started she smiled softly not being able to resist the catchy tune.
“I love this song.”
“I love this song.”
They say in unison, followed by awkward nervous laughter.
When their pod meets the top the second time around it comes to a full stop. Her eyes growing wide once she realizes they’ve stopped moving.
“Did-did we stop?” She looks over the edge, through the bars, rocking their passenger car in the process. “Yeah.” Lucas smiles, “That happens. It’s to give the riders a view of everything around them.”
Thick silence falls over them. It was painfully obvious to Lucas that Riley was trying to avoid his gaze and Riley knew he knew what she was doing. It didn’t take long for him to mention it.
“Is there a reason you haven’t made eye contact with me this entire time?” He asks, fidgeting with his sleeve.
If it were anyone else she would have dropped her gaze, but with him she’s drawn in closer, always wanting more. But she couldn’t look at him without thinking about that night at Charlie’s Halloween party and everything his girlfriend said to her. Did Avery have a point? Would staying friends with Lucas be his downfall? Was it really in his best interest to leave him alone? To finally let him move on for good?
Then he says the words she needed to hear, "We're ok, you and me. Right?" Riley just nods, taking in every moment for her memory, knowing it’s the medication she’ll need to survive the rest of the year without him.
“I never apologized.” She looks up at him, knowing she’s playing with fire. If she wanted to, she could’ve told him about the conversation with Avery. Not that it was much of a conversation to begin with. More like she talked, Riley listened. But right now she didn’t care about her, if this was going to be the last time she spoke to him, their last moment together, she was going to make it about them, not Avery.
“Apologized for what?”
“For not saying it back.” She says, holding his gaze. She wouldn’t say it, that would be too hard. But she wanted him to know that she regretted not saying it, that if she could go back she would have said it and perhaps, if the circumstances were different she’d say it now. “I should’ve said it back and for that, I’m sorry.”
He didn’t have to nod or speak to show that he knew exactly what she was talking about. The upside to having an undeniable bond with someone was not always having to verbally communicate. Most of the time, a simple look was more than enough. And he couldn’t stop looking at her.
Before the conversation could go any further the ride comes to a stop. Her courage was already starting to dwindle as they climbed out of their personal fish bowl. It was like now that they were back on the ground, all confidence was shot. Riley hoped what was said would stay up there in the sky where it belonged. She put her feelings out into the universe, to him and now she had to step back and let him be happy. Even if that meant being happy with someone else.
Lucas had yet to speak as he watched the girl before him walk off into the crowd. Leave it to Riley to have him feeling breathless. It was a weird feeling, one he wasn’t familiar with. For some reason it felt final. Like in a way she was almost saying goodbye.
Back in Texas when he told her he loved her and she refused to say it back, it was hard not to take it personally. Even though he completely understood her reasoning behind it he was left with this unexplainable incompleteness. For weeks he racked his brain trying to figure out what felt so unfinished about it and ultimately he decided it was because he didn’t know for sure if she felt the same way. She was adamant about leaving their feelings for each other back in that lake in Texas but he realized he didn’t know what the extent of those feelings were, at least on her end.
A part of him always thought if he knew what she felt, if he knew what they had was real and that she reciprocated what he felt for her then maybe he’d be able to move on. He’d have the closure of knowing what they had was something beautiful even though it didn’t last. But now as he stood there watching her walk into Sam’s arms, as he stood there finally knowing that she did indeed love him too, he couldn’t just let her go. He thought this newfound knowledge would bring him closure but if anything it just made him that much more confused.
Zay pats him on the back, pulling his attention back to reality. “You okay, man? You seem flustered.”
“That’s one way to put it.” Lucas mumbles.
--
Riley, Josh and Sam end up calling it a night. Each of them exhausted for different reasons, all of them ready for the day to be over. They shuffle into the loft, peeling off their jackets and shoes. Josh plops down on the sofa, turning on the television once he’s comfortable.
Riley and Sam migrate to her bedroom but not without Josh reminding them he had ‘ears like a hawk’.
They settle back into their positions from before they left, Riley sprawled out on her bed while Sam occupied the window seat. There’s a bit of tension between them and she can’t help but feel like it’s all her fault.
“You disappeared tonight.” He comments, trying to seem unbothered by it.
“Yeah.” She eases up, “I went to find Izzy she was going through something.”
“Hm.” Sam purses his lips, rubbing at the back of his neck. She could tell he was holding back and it was just a matter of time before he said what he was thinking. “So how’d you end up on a Ferris Wheel with your ex-boyfriend?”
“It’s actually kind of a funny story—“ She starts.
“What am I to you?” Sam cuts her off taking the conversation in a completely different direction. “What are we?”
“What do you mean?” She frowns. “We’re Sam and Riley.”
“Yeah but I don’t know what that means.” He relents, standing up from his chair. “Am I just a distraction for you? Something to keep your mind off your ex?”
She tries to get a word in but he continues his rant, “I mean, I was there for you when that whole Oliver situation happened, we’ve had moments, I flew all the way here to New York because you were feeling sad and you still can’t tell me what we are.”
“I…don’t know what we are.” She admits, “But I do know that you’re one of my best friends.”
He holds her gaze for a moment before dropping it to the floor, “Is that all I’ll ever be?”
--
Sunday comes and goes and before Riley knows it it’s time for Sam to go home. She stands out on the curb as he hails a cab for the airport, the rain hitting her skin like it would go right through and the water washing the street like a river would rise.
Beneath the sound of the city traffic, Riley could hear the sound of her rain boots splashing in the pools of water by her feet. She was so completely wet and numb that did she didn't feel the splashing of the vehicles or the wind that blew so hard it caused her long locks to violently fly around her. She waited for his car to disappear around the block before she went back upstairs.
After their talk on Saturday night the mood never really went back to normal, they barely said two words to each other and if she were being brutally honest, she was happy it was time for him to go.
She had a plethora of reasons why she couldn’t and wouldn’t start anything with Sam but really all it came down to was that something was missing. It wouldn’t be fair to him or fair to herself.
Not seeing the point in changing out of her wet clothes since it was still pouring down she grabs her school bag and heads for the door.
To her surprise just as she opens the door, Lucas is stood right outside, hand outstretched in a knocking position. He straightens up at the sight of her, a bit speechless at first.
“Lucas?” She wavers. “What’re you doing here?”
“I broke up with Avery.”