Longing Hearts [Rilaya]

the golden age

Riley's POV

It's been almost two months since pride. Two months since Lucas, by some wild chance, found a straight girl there and soon managed to make her his girlfriend. Two months since Maya and I started dating. And two months of being reluctant to tell my parents anything, despite having no real reason to be.

I'm struggling to tear my gaze away from the way the sunlight is illuminating her face and turning her hair golden. She's tapping her fingers absentmindedly on the steering wheel to the tune of some song from a 90's playlist. There's a polaroid worn around the edges type of beauty to our story, it's been unfolding for years but only recently have we been able to clearly see how much deeper our feelings run. I know who I am, I know who I love, and I don't think I can bear to keep stealing secretive glances at her in front of my parents yet kissing her with so much sincerity behind closed doors.

"You're staring" she says.

"You're in no position to call me out, you almost ran that last red light because you were looking at me instead of the road" I grin.

"You were distracting me" she mumbles.

"I still don't understand why your dad let you borrow his car alone for this when you still need ten hours of supervised driving until you can get your license" I reply.

"I'm not alone he knew you'd be here too. Plus I know how to drive safely and it's for a good cause" she says.

"Baking cupcakes especially in this kind of heat isn't really a good cause"

"You'll be thanking me for choosing something sweet after eating Zay and Lucas's sorry excuse for a casserole" she says, pulling into a parking spot.

I keep quiet for a second because I know she's right. Mr. Minkus invited all our families over for an end of summer barbecue tonight since school starts in a week. He insisted on humoring his son's idea to have us "kids" pair up and cook something to bring alongside the food they have planned. Farkle and Smackle refuse to tell us what they're making but Lucas and Zay settled on some form of a casserole despite both having very little culinary skills.

"Yeah okay let's get the ingredients and prove to them that I actually can make baked goods without burning them" I say.

"That's the spirit!" she grabs my hand and tugs us both inside the store.

~~~

"Maya give me the measuring cup you're going to break it"

"Have a little faith Riles" she says before almost knocking it off the kitchen counter.

"The more you guys bicker about making something the longer it's going to take. Why didn't you just make it at home like the rest of us?" Lucas says as he walks into the kitchen.

"We forgot what time it was" I say.

"It's still going to turn out better than your creation."

Maya snatches back the bag of flour he had picked up and sticks her tongue out at him.

"Hey Mr. Minkus said it was good" he protests.

"He was lying!" Farkle shouts from the living room beside us.

Lucas glares at him as Maya and I laugh at the confirmation.

"The mac and cheese Farkle and I made was the favorite of the parents by far" Smackle says, joining her boyfriend on the couch.

Maya continues looking at the recipe while I check on the first batch of cupcakes in the oven.

"We'll see about that" I say.