Carousel | RIARKLE

•eight - r.m.•

"Riley," Lucas spoke into the phone. "We need to talk."

Riley sighed. She had known this was coming. It was only a few days before she was ending school, and she knew he'd want to break it off.

"What's up, Lucas?" She felt her voice shaking, and she twisted her fingers nervously.

"There's just...my momma, she has cancer, and I think it's best if we're not together." Riley inhaled sharply, the tears already starting to prick at the corners of her eyes.

"Alright." She whispered into the phone, trying to hide that she was crying. If Lucas knew, he didn't show it.

"Bye." Lucas hung up the phone, and Riley immediately blocked him. She didn't want to deal with him anymore. He pulled on her heart strings and made her feel something, then pulled away. He was going to regret this.

The very next thing she did was call Maya. In seconds, Maya figured out the problem and was rushing over to Riley's house. She brought a few tubs of cotton candy ice cream with her and Finding Dory, Riley's favorite things in the whole wide world.

She appeared in the bay window, setting down the items before holding out her arms for Riley to jump into. She dod, and the two girls mourned together.

Maya put the movie in, grabbed the most comfortable blanket from Riley's closet, and revealed the tubs of ice cream. Riley's face brightened momentarily, and the girls were happy. Soon they were laughing together and Maya had fixed her happy little ray of sunshine again.

* * *

Less than three days later, Riley got an email back that she was accepted into the position. It informed her that she was starting her job on May 28th, only a few days before school ended.

Already she had aced finals and was getting ready to leave home. She couldn't be in that house anymore. There was too much angst left over from the divorce and Riley did not want to deal with it. Besides that, she had the whole breakup with Lucas to think about. She just couldn't figure out why, in either of the situations.

How could two people that loved each other so much, just fade out of love?

Almost too quickly, it was May 28, and she showed up at her new job. They handed her a ring of keys, a t-shirt that appointed her as one of staff, and a set of instructions and keypad codes.

She was assigned to Ring Around the Bottle, a joke of a game. It was pretty much impossible, according to science. All physics denied it, and Riley had watched plenty of people try(and fail). And today was no different. Every single person who walked up barely managed to get a single ring around a bottle.

The day passed slowly, with very few people coming by her station. They probably knew it was nearly impossible. Smart people.

The sun beat down on her neck just as her manager came over to switch stations. Then she saw him. Farkle Minkus, resident genius of the school. He walked slowly towards her just as she moved to the next station, some sort of catch a fish or something.

He stopped at her station.

"Hey," he spoke deeply. "It's Riley, right?"

"Yeah." Her voice shook, and she blushed a little before sticking out her hand. "Wanna try and catch a fish, Farkle?" He shrugged.

"Why not?" He stuck his hand out with a dollar bill in it, and Riley handed over the fishing pole. His tongue stuck out as he tried his hardest to catch a plastic fish. Finally, he succeeded in getting the magnetized pole onto the fish's mouth. He cried in triumph and pulled it out, setting both the fish and the pole on the counter.

"Alright, you get a large prize," Riley announced, motioning towards the tall shelf stacked with life-size stuffed gorillas and plush elephants, along with a few scattered bears and horses.

"That one," he pointed out a purple gorilla with glitter covering its face. "It's beautiful." He accepted the prize and held it out again.

"What?" Riley asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"You can have it. I have plenty of stuff at home."

"Right." Riley dead panned, eyeing him skeptically. Then again, he was über rich. At least he wasn't cocky.

"It's true. Take this, I don't need it." She squeezed it in her arms and kissed it on the top of its fluffy head.

"Thank you, Farkle."

"Anytime, Princess." And with that, he was gone.

Riley sighed, leaning her head on an open palm that was propped up on her elbow. This would be an interesting summer, especially with Farkle here. He seemed like a nice enough guy. At least, she felt like she could trust him.

Several others passed by her stand, most only there to stare at Riley like she was a piece of chocolate. She hated every minute of it.

Finally, Riley stopped for an hour break that she was allotted for dinner. She hurried to the nearest Subway and ordered her sandwich, sitting down and relishing in the fresh flavour. Then she froze, eyes blinking in disbelief.

Farkle Minkus. Here. And now, of all times. He was plenty rich, why couldn't he just go get dinner elsewhere? His eyes searched for a place to sit before he spotted Riley. His face split into a wide grin, and he waved slowly.

"Hey, Farkle." Riley commented as he sat down across from her. "What's up?" She asked, taking another bite and covering her mouth with a hand sheepishly. A stray piece of lettuce fell down her front, and she blushed.

"Sorry." She mumbled, reaching underneath her shirt to retrieve the piece of vegetable.

"I'm good. Tired, but good. And now, I'm eating dinner with a gorgeous girl." Confidence radiated off of the guy, and Riley smiled back.

"Yeah, but here of all places? Haven't you got bucketfuls of money that you could spend on more fancy restaurants?" Riley laughed a little, and chewed her sandwich thoughtfully.

"I–My father, Stuart Minkus - the CEO of Minkus International - he wants me to take over. And, until I agree to do so, I have a very small budget to live off of. He doesn't want to waste anymore money on a disappointment like me. We spent a long time arguing about it, but he eventually just gave me this deal. I get my car still, and all my belongings I had before, but I just don't get as much allowance." He shook his head, sticking his hands out for the sandwich. "Besides, who's to say I don't just like healthy foods?"

-Alli<3