The Third Wheel

Chapter 18

Chapter 18
••••
"Don't be an embarrassment. Stop being so dumb." Riley heard a combination of George's mocking voice, and Farkle's voice in her head, both speaking together to her in unison.

"Go pick up after the children." Riley was thrown back into reality once George made a silly noise in the back of his throat, further mocking Farkle. Riley chuckles lightly. "God how do you even listen to this guy?" George asks, and Riley's looks at him. She continues to laugh. "No, seriously." Riley shrugs, the cold air brisking past her.

Suddenly they saw someone walking towards them. "Hey!" He yells.

"Hey, Richard! I haven't seen you in ages!" George and him hug. Riley smiles, waiting for her turn. They let go, and Richard attacked her in his bear hugs.

"How are you my little coffee bean?" He asks, and Riley smiles.

"She's your coffee bean!" Richard and George laugh at her silly humor.

"Where are you guys headed?"

"To Riley's house." George exhaled naturally. Riley flicked her bangs out of her face, exposing her cheek and chin. Richard gasps.

"Jesus Christ, Riles. What happened?" George stops to look as well. "Did you get into a gang fight?" Richard lightly laughs. " 'Cause that's the only explanation that I got." Riley stays silent as she takes a deep breath. As she exhales, smoke comes out of her mouth, and she pokes it. "Who hurt you?" Richard asks.

Riley sighs, "Farkle."

He stands still, shocked. "Wh-wha-"

"Farkle did it. He hit me. He's been hitting me, actually." She continued to stare ahead with a straight face. "But I don't want to talk about that."

"What do you want to talk about then, peaches?" George asks with his voice low.

She turns to Richard, "Tell me how school is going." Riley demands.

He continues to look shocked, "S-school? Yeah we can talk about school um..." He kicks rocks as he walks. "Einstein Prep is the same. The kids there don't really get my sense of humor. That's why I'm moving back to your school. Grey."

"Grey high school? With us?" Riley asks exited. He nods. She smiles wide, "Yay."

They walked for a bit more, until it was extremely late. Then, Richard said he was heading home, waving goodbye, and after that Riley and George decided to head home as well.
••••
Farkle
I make a sharp turn with my head to see Ashton standing there. I growl.

"Fuck do you want?"

He smirks nonchalantly as he leaned against the wall adjacent to Maya's graffiti. He propped his right foot up, and stares directly with his piercing green eyes. He sucks in a breath. I continue my squint in his direction, holding Maya's hand tightly.

"I remember showing you this place." He glances at her art, and then shifts his gaze to Maya. He scans her up and down. "You've come a long way since then."  She doesn't respond, refusing to play his games. His foot falls as he saunters over, getting a little too close to her face. She tightens her grip on me.

"You left me. You stole Sophia from me. Hell, you even turned John against me!" He throws his hands in the air. "But, I know what I want." He puts a finger on her chin. "And I'm sure as hell going to get it." She pushes him, hard. "Ow." He whimpers. Then he throws himself at her, grabbing her by the waist. She screams at the top of her lungs, fighting as hard as she could. But her little body was hopeless against his.

"GET OFF OF HER YOU BASTARD!" I scream as he pins himself against the wall, not letting go of Maya.

"What are you going to do, huh? What the hell are you gonna do, Minkus?"

I pause. "Get off of me!" Maya continues to cry. He whispers something in her ear, and she cries even harder. I reach for my ankle, and grab the blade that was next to my skin. I flick it open, while it still laid straight down next to my side. Maya stops struggling and gasps, her eyes landing on my weapon. Ashton laughs. I slowly approach him, until I'm inches away from his face. I put the weapon next to his ear, and switch my blade open.

"Let go of her, or I will cut you up, you fucking bastard." I touch the blade on his skin. Ash's hands shook as he let go. Maya sprung from him immediately, running into my arms, hugging me. I put the blade down, and kiss Maya's cheek.

"You're crazy." Ashton's voice shook as he backed away from the ally.  

Once he was gone, I shift my gaze down to Maya. "You saved me!" She gushed as she looked up at me. I switched my blade back in, putting it in my pocket.

"Anything for you baby girl." I told her, as I continued to hold her. We swayed for a bit, and then she reached up to kiss me. I took a deep breath with my nose as she did so, holding her tight.

She softly let go, and looked at me seductively. She said something I wouldn't ever expect her to say. "You know... you were pretty badass out there babe."

I gulped, "Wh-what?"

She ran her hands along my sides, and around my waist. "I'm saying you're a bad boy."

"Uhhuh." I continued to stare at her with wide eyes, waiting for what would happen.

"So, what do you wanna do?" She nods her head up at me. "Bad boy?" A pit of nervousness enveloped in my stomach. I swallowed it down.

"Continue our way to my place?"

"Sounds good." She states, and whisks around to start heading down the street. I follow her. "You want one?" She asks as she whips out her pack.

Nah. I'm good. You should try and stop too sweetie. That's what I should have said. But what did I say instead?

"Hand it over." She put in my hand, and I placed it in my mouth. After she finished lighting her's, I snatched the lighter from her. I cocked an eyebrow, while lighting it. She continued to stare at me the way she did.

"So." She blew smoke out of her mouth. "Black Friday party. Will you come with me?"

"Depends. Who's house."

"You don't know him."

"Ok. Yeah I'll go with you."
••••
We opened the front door to see Rachel sleeping on the couch, and Riley sleeping on the floor next to her, on a couple of blankets and a pillow. George slept on the couch across from her. Riley slept extremely sound. Maya tapped her shoulder, and woke her up.

"Yeah?" Riley asked groggily.

"We're gonna go to a black friday party and your coming." Riley's expression was plain. "So, that means we're going shopping tomorrow for the party."

Riley smiled wide, "Yaaaayyy."

Charlisa walks into the big room with a glass of water. "I guess I'll come too with you guys. I haven't gone shopping in a while."

"I might join too. I mean there's nothing else better to do."

"Okay. So the four of us are going to the mall tomorrow." Maya decides.

We all agreed to the plan, and Maya and I ended up getting ready for bed. She said she forgot her pj's, and asked to borrow my sweatshirt. I knew she was lying, the sneaky bitch she is. But, nonetheless, I let her borrow it anyways. Then we went downstairs to sleep with Riley and Charlisa on the floor bed, because there was nowhere else to sleep. I think Aunt V and her husband got into a fight or something, and they were sleeping in separate rooms.

Riley and Charlisa were already sleeping when we got there, so Maya and I snuggled for a bit before falling asleep.
••••
Maya woke me up in the middle of the night, her little hand poking my arm. I open my eyes groggily.

"Farki, I had a nightmare. And it was about Ashton, and he tried to ra-" She began sobbing.

I gestured towards me in a come here motion. "Come." She came into my chest and snuggled me. I put my arms around her."First me, and now you?" I joke once she was feeling better she laughs a little. "Alright, I got you, now go to sleep."
••••
The blade became my self defense. I felt better about myself once I started using it. I forget where I got it from, but It worked in saving my life, and saving Maya's life as well. As long as I didnt abuse it's power, everything was okay. But, is that what I did?