Begin Again - prequel to The Project - book 3

12

Farkle's POV:

Yesterday I got home from camping with Riley for the weekend. We had a really good time, too.

What she didn't know, was that was probably the last time she was going to see me for a while.

Tomorrow morning I'm moving to Hawaii, and today's the day I tell Riley goodbye.

I go to my living room and grab a jacket, then head to Rileys.

I knock on her apartment door and Mrs. Matthews answers.

"Hi, Mrs. Matthews." I say.

"Hi Farkle." She smiles. "You want me to get Riley for you?"
"Yes please."

"Okay. Come on in." She opens the door and I sit on the couch. She dissapears for a second and Riley appears.

"Hey Farkle!" She says, with a smile.

"Hey." I force a smile back.

"What's wrong? You don't look to happy."

"Well, I came to give some bad news."

"What is it?" She asks.

"Riley.. we have to break up." I say quickly.

"Wha- why?" Her eyes get wide. "Oh my gosh Farkle is it because of Lucas?"

I become confused.

"Lucas? He's out?" I ask.

"Oh." She sighs. "Uh, yeah he's out."

"Why would I break up with you because of Lucas?" I ask getting suspicious.

"I-I dont know it was just- I was just saying stuff.. I dont know." She stutters.

"Riley, tell me what happened with Lucas."

"Nothing." She says quietly and looks at her shoes.

"Riley, tell me or I'm going to leave."

I know she wouldn't want me to leave because she didn't want to remember our goodbye like this.

"I.." She starts shaking.

She must've done something she wasn't supposed to, because she's scared to tell me.

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. "Lucas and I kissed."

"You.. what?" I say suprised.

"It wasn't supposed to happen it just did.. it was an accident!"

"You dont just accidentally kiss people, Riley!"

"I'm sorry Farkle!"

Everything falls quiet. After a minite, I finally say something.

"Im moving to Hawaii with my dad tomorrow. I came to say bye."

"Bye." She says quickly and runs up to her room.

I don't know what to do, so I just leave. I walk out the front doors of the building, and find Maya about to come in.

"Oh, hey Farkle." She says.

"Hey." I reply.

"What brings you here?"

"Just saying bye, but it was a bit more dramatic than I thought it would be."

"Why did you need to so bye?"

"I'm moving to Hawaii."

"Wow. I cant beleive my little Farkle is leaving me." She says with a sad face.

"Don't worry, I'll call and text. Maybe even video chat."

"Sounds like a plan." She smiles. "How'd Riley take the news?"

"Well, we broke up. She thought it was because of something she did."

"Like what?"

"Did you know Lucas is out?"

"Yeah." She nodds. "And when I went to visit him Riley was already there for some reason."

"Yeah I know." I say, picturing Lucas kissing my girlfriend. Well.. ex-girlfriend.

"What? How?"

"Riley told me."

"Do you know why she was there?"

"Yea. Well kinda. All that I know is the guilt got the best of her and she told me she was kissing Lucas, and she thought maybe I saw, so I was gonna break up with her."

I could see Maya's heart drop.

"Oh.. okay. Well, bye Farkle. Have fun in Hawaii." She says plainly, then dashes into the building.

Maya's POV:

I can't believe Riley would do this to me. I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind.

I burst into her room where she's sitting on the bed.

"I thought we were friends, Riley!" I yell, and she stands up.

"Wha-"

"Don't you dare play dumb with me sweetheart. I know this game very well."

"Maya, will you just tell me what your talking about?"

"I'm talking about Farkle telling me that you went to Lucas's house to get yourself a little kiss!"

"What? No, no! That's.. its not.."

"Tell me. Tell me right now that he was lying."

She just stares at me with a sad, sorry look.

"If it was true then why did you say it wasn't?"

"I said it wasn't true that I went over there to kiss him. I went to help him with something and he just so happened to kiss me!"

"So he kissed you?"

"Yes. But why does it matter?" She starts yelling too. "Your with Josh. You love him. He loves you. What does it matter if I date him? Is it all of the sudden a rule that I can't like someone you've liked?"

"Riley you know I more than liked him. I loved Lucas. More than anything in the world."

"Yes, but now you love Josh, and he loves you. You and Lucas are over. Farkle and I are over. Now I'm  moving on and so is Lucas. We need each other."

"You need each other? Please. And funny how you think your trying to 'move on' when you already did before you and Farkle even broke up. Your acting pathetic Riley." I stare at her.

"Why do you care so much anyways? You're with Josh and you love him. That's all that should matter. Not, Lucas's OR my love life. Why dont you stop trying to live others lives and get your own."

"Your being such a brat!"

"But I make sense! Focus on the guy you love not the one you've lost. Lucas isn't yours anymore."

"But I want him to be mine! I love him more than anything in the world. He's the one I love, and no one can change that."

I feel someone watching us. I turn around to see who it is, only to find Josh, hurt.

"Then I guess that makes me the guy you just lost."