TOPANGA'S CAFE

Laughter. That's all I could feel in my stomach. Boy, could Eric really crack me up, he seemed to be doing a lot more of that lately. I liked it, this feeling in my stomach I couldn't get rid of. It was a delightfully pleasant feeling I quite enjoyed. I didn't want it to go away, but all good things must come to an end.

"Okay! Evening over!" My lovely teacher, Mr. Matthews shouts.

"Hey!" Eric and I both exclaim. Riley sighs as she sat next to her father.

"What's the big idea Matthews?" Cory's best friend who was in town, Shawn, says as he sat next to Maya. He seems to be sort of a father figure to her. They are adorable. Maya's mother stands next to Riley and mine over by the counter. My mom was about to head to work, actually.

"Did you girls do your homework?" Matthews glances between myself, Maya, and his own daughter.

"I did excellent work," Riley simply says with a smile.

"As did I," I reply.

"I also did excellent work," Maya says in the sweetest of tones.

"One of us is completely lying," Riley says.

"Can you guess who?" Maya says.

"Give them a hint," I suggest.

"You guys need a hint?" the men look between the three of us, then straight at Maya.

"No."

"You know, a little discipline isn't a bad thing," Mr. Matthews says.

"I already went through this," Maya sighs, then bats her eyelashes at me.

"Who me? It's my turn to do this now?" I ask.

"It was bound to happen," Riley says. I look at our teacher.

"Yeah, okay, thanks, Mr. Matthews. I'll ponder on that." Riley did some weird gesture towards her uncle.

"I'm sorry, what?" Eric says so she did the same thing again, "Yeah. Just because you do the same weird gesture twice doesn't mean I get it," he looks at Maya, "Care to help explain it, Marie?" I lightly chuckle at his obviously meant to be a mistake.

"You know, this is usually the part of the evening when people give out fatherly advice," Maya sing-says.

"Oh!" Eric says, then looks over at me realizing what they want, "Oh. No, it's not my place."

I raise an eyebrow at him,"Go ahead. What advice do you have for me? I can take it." he gives me a pointed look.

"Oh, come on! We were having such a good evening. Can't we just leave it at that?"

"What's the matter? Do you not think I can take it? Come on! Let's do this," I bat my eyes at him, "The floor's your's." He stares at me as Topanga comes over to the tense situation.

"No. No, no. I have this wonderful instinct for too far. And we have arrived," she quickly says before Eric can even get a word out.

"There is nothing he could say that would bother me," I huff.

"It's not going to happen."

"Pretty please?" he sighs.

"I cannot avoid the prettiest of pleases. All right. So you want one piece of fatherly advice?"

"Give it to me," I reply.

"I think you should try something different," he simply states. I abruptly stand and look at him.

"W-What did you just say to me?" I reply quietly. He stands too.

"Oh. You see you asked me for advice. I told you... but you pushed," my lip quivers, and he seems to feel terrible, "Are you crying? I made you cry? Idina, you asked me for advice and I just told you how I was feeling. Why are you crying?" I look down at the ground.

"Because no one's ever cared enough to say that to me," I whisper. I look up at him and walk straight toward him with my arms opening and closing around him. He hugs me back with a smile, my head seeming to fit perfectly under his. My mother, Nicole, comes up behind me.

"Well, now I would take exception to that, but wow," she looks back at her mom friends, "I like where this is going."

"Mm-hmm," Topanga shakes her head.

"This is how it starts," Katy adds, making my mom cock her head to the side, before shrugging off the thought. Eric could feel my shaky breathing against his chest as I slowly started to cry.

"Make it stop," he looks at Cory and Riley, "Can we make it stop?" he glances at Shawn and Maya, "How do I make it stop?" he bit his lip, thinking, "How 'bout I take you on a roller coaster?" I stop crying and stare up at him.

"Why?" I quietly ask. He smiles back down at me.

"Because you told me you've never been on one."

"That's true not even as a child would she go," my mom says stepping forward, then everyone stares at her for a moment, "Okay," she awkwardly says, before stepping back into the line of the trio of mothers. I look back at Eric.

"I'd like that," I smile. Eric looks over at my mother.

"Could I take this one off your hands for the evening?" he questions. She nods in response.

"I have to go to work anyways," I turn to her as she walks over to me, kissing the top of my forehead, "Have fun baby. Try something new." she walked out. Shawn goes on one side of Eric as Cory glides to the other.

"So, I hear we're going to an amusement park?"

AMUSEMENT PARK

"I can't do this," I bit my lip as I nervously wait with Riley and Maya.

"You can," Riley encourages me.

"And you will," Maya replies. I look over at Cory, Shawn, and Eric, who stand to wait in line for our tickets. They're buying them for the roller coaster. Even saying that word right now honestly makes me quake.

"So what do we do now?" Shawn questions the men as they walk back over to the table where us girls sit.

"Sit down, Shawnie!" Cory answers, pushing his friend into the chair next to Maya as he sits down next to his own daughter. Eric scoots into the chair next to me.

"Relax yourself. It'll be fun," Eric promises. I look at him, then looked over at the cotton candy machine, and grin in the light of an idea.

"Alright. I'll bet you one cotton candy bag."

"If you like it I win?"

"Yes."

"Deal." we shake on it. A red and yellow sign lights up, signaling that its time to go on the ride. I see people dizzily exiting and freeze up as I stand. As the adults go ahead of us Riley and Maya pull me into the line.

"You can do this," Riley whispers.

"Trust me, it's all part of the plan," Maya smirks as a roller coaster car with 3 rows of 2 seats pulls up to us.

"What plan?" I tilt my head looking at her. They girls just share a mischievous look before Maya sits next to Shawn in the second row, and Riley scoots next to Cory in the third, forcing me to slide next to Eric in the front. Eric can see my worry and lightly places his hand on top of mine, which for some reason comforts me. I look up at him with a nervous smile as the ride revs forward. Then it happens. Bumps from all directions. Twists and turns, up and down and all around. I scream my head off. It was absolutely terrifying, yet gave me an amazing rush. When it ended I smile with contentment as I exit the ride slowly, a little shaken up.

"You okay kiddo?" Eric questions me with a grin.

"W-Wow," is all I reply with before walking over to the cotton candy vendor and buying one cone, "I owe you this. A deal's a deal."

"Yes, it is," he laughs, before taking it and handing me some, which I gladly take. We hang out at the park for some time, eventually making our way into this weird little accessories store. I end up trying on a bunch of different hats, before finding a cute purple fedora and putting it on, as I turn to Eric.

"Do you like it?" I pretend to pose. He turns around, wearing a Viking's hat, now with wide eyes.

"Wow," he starts to stammer, "Look at you." Cory and Shawn come up next to him, both wearing nothing but smiles.

"Yeah," Shawn lightly smacks Eric's back.

"This might be my favorite day ever," Cory nods at Shawn. Eric takes the tag off my hat and goes to the cash register. I go up next to him.

"Eric, you really don't have to do this," I mumble persistently. He looks over at me as he hands the cashier a few bills.

"I want to," he declares, "I want to be responsible for this," he pauses "If you'll let me," I smile at him.

"Thank you. No one's ever done anything like this for me before," I admit.

"You're welcome. Now, pick something else out and go and be happy then come to us with that face on," Eric chuckles. I grin at him before Riley and Maya tug my arms, pulling me away.

"Did you see that?" Riley says to Maya, ignoring the fact that I'm right there.

"What?" I ask.

"Sure did," Maya grins.

"What's happening?" I pause their commotion.

"Oh, nothing's happening..." Riley starts with a smirk. Maya looks at Eric, who stands with Shawn and Cory, then back at me.

"It's already begun."

THE MATTHEWS APARTMENT

"It's that someone wanted to do this for me," I gesture to the fedora on my head. Riley and Maya sit in the bay window, legs crossed as they watch me trying on my new accessories.

"Of course, it isn't about the fashion thingys," Maya says rolling her eyes playfully. I scrunch my nose in confusion.

"It's about you," Riley smirks. I sit down and bite my lip.

"I need to tell you something."

"Anything," the two girls stare at me.

"And I don't want you to react, Riley," I look directly at her, knowing of her normal bubbly attitude.

"I won't," Riley promises.

"I don't want you to react, because if you react too big, you're going to jinx it," I glance between the two girls, "Please don't jinx it."

I go over to the desk and put on a scarf, showing it off the girls, "Love it!" Maya shouts as I smile.

"I know!"

"Yay!" Riley shouts almost jumping up.

"I think there's a chance I might've been living life a little bit off," I look at the girls, "And I think, maybe you two know why."

"We like when we know why," Maya grins.

"What do we know?" Riley asks me, confused.

"Don't get all excited, okay?" I say, sitting down between them.

"I promise to not be excited!" Riley shouts.

"I know Maya will be able to relate to this," I look at the blonde, "Because she use to feel exactly like this."

"Is this the hope thing?" Maya raises an eyebrow. I nod and look between the two.

"I used to think hope was for suckers. But maybe if you don't hope for too much, but let yourself hope for one thing, it might actually happen. Today was a real good day. I'm going to hope for one more and we'll see what comes. Please don't get excited and jinx it," I see the girls about to explode as they share excited looks, "Okay, let it out." I sigh holding my breath.

"Love it!" They shout popping up. I pipe up slower than them with a smile gracing my face.

"Me, too!"

TOPANGA'S CAFE: THE NEXT DAY

Maya, Riley, and I were about to walk into the cafe when Riley stopped, causing Maya to stop, then me to stop. The brunette pulled the three of us to a table as we watched without my mom and Eric noticing us outside. The door was wide open so we could hear everything. My mom started off smiling kindly at Eric.

"Thank you for coming," my mom says, sitting down, "You need to stop being nice to me." Eric was dumbfounded by her comment.

"You need therapy," he lightly chuckles.

"No kidding," my mom mumbles, before shaking her head and looking at him, "Listen, I love the way you are with Idina, and I believe you may even be sincere, but there's no need to be nice to me."

"I don't think you and I have ever even had a normal conversation," Eric thought about it.

My mom sighs, "When I left Ezekiel..." Eric bit his lip to stop from laughing as she talked, "What?"

"I'm sorry. I never pictured your ex-husband as an 'Ezekiel'," my mom tries to shake it off and starts again.

"I left Ezekiel... I decided to shut that part of me off. You know, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on-"

"Me? Shame on me? Why?" Eric sits, staring at her, "Nicole, I have no idea where this conversation's coming from."

"You're confusing your affection for Idina with affection for me and you don't need to do that."

"Wait. When did I affection you?"

"You put your arm around me!" I scrunch my nose and look at my friends.

"Do you think he's talking about yesterday?" they nod. Yesterday my mom had been seeming to feel bad after Eric bought me all those cool accessories, so Eric said they were from both of them. It was awkwardly adorable.

"Oh, Nicole, come on," he scoffs, "Sometimes an arm around somebody is just an arm around somebody."

"Oh, okay," my mom simply says, sitting next to him and putting her arm around him.

"Um... What is that? What are you doing?" Eric nervously asks. My mom looks at him seriously.

"What are you doing?" she replies with a pointed look. Riley looks at them, before looking back at me.

"Seems like it's going pretty good in there," Riley mutters.

"I'm hoping," I mumbled. Maya smiles.

"Then we'll hope with you," they both put their arms around me.

"I know what things mean. I'm a woman and I have instincts. And your charity does not extend to me, so you don't need to ask me on a date-"

"Wait a minute. Are you asking me out on a date?"

"No!"

"Nicole, you seem mad at me for no reason. Do you think there's a chance that you're actually mad at somebody else who's not me?"

"I didn't view my marriage as disposable. I was all in. I said those things to him in front of God and I meant it... he didn't."

"Yeah. I get it. I thought my college roommate was going to be the one forever. I wanted Rachel-"

"Rachel?" my mom fake scoffs, "What kind of name," she shakes her head, changing her attitude, "No, Rachel's a fine name. It's my cousin's name, actually."

"I wanted us to be some version of Cory and Topanga. But I guess there's only one of those," he looks at her, "Nicole, relationships end. Sometimes out of nowhere, on a sunny day. But you pick yourself up, and you rebuild. And you don't look back." I see our teacher suddenly run down the stairs, passing us obliviously and running to Eric.

"Knock! Knock!" he shouts.

"Who's there?" his brother asks in return.

"The only person who could change your life from things are going pretty good right now to... AHHH!"

"The only person who could change my life from things are going pretty good right now to..."

"AHHH!"

"Who?"

Just then we see a girl with light auburn hair enter, it's short and motherly, "Hi Eric." she simply says. Eric stares at her, seeming surprised by her presence.

"Rachel. Boy. Look at you. You're here," Eric smiles, hugging Rachel, before she pauses.

"I need to talk to you," Rachel simply says as Cory runs out and to our table. Riley slaps her father's arm.

"Look what ya did!" Maya shouts.

"You ruined everything," Riley pouts. Matthews rubs his arm and looks at me.

"Katrina?" is all he says, addressing one of his lessons about Hurricane Katrina. I lightly smile.

"Staying right here," I say.

"Hi, Rachel, I'm Nicole. Eric speaks highly of you," my mom shakes the red head's hand as I bite my lip full of nervousness.

"Well, I think highly of him," Rachel smiles.

"You know what?" my mom looks Eric up and down before looking back at the woman, "So do I. Well, I'm going to leave you two alone." my mom comes to our table outside as we all watch the old flame.

"I really missed you," Rachel says, sitting down.

"Yeah?" Eric sits down with a bitter tone, "You've got a funny way of letting someone know."

"She seems nice," I simply say.

"She's very pretty," Maya admits, "I'm sorry, Idina."

"It's our fault. You hope for things and you get smashed," Riley sighs.

"Everything will turn out the way it should," I shrug.

"How can you say that?" Riley says, "That's Angela. She's going to take him away," Maya looks at me and smiles, knowing me.

"She's not giving up hope yet."

"Why not?"

"I just got it," I smile as we turn out attention back to the uncle and redhead.

"Well, did you hear I moved back to Texas?" the redhead starts.

"Yeah I heard from a little birdie," Eric slightly smiles. Rachel looked down.

"I married my old ex from before college. You know the one I broke up with before I moved in with you and Jack?" she pulled out her wallet and showed him a little picture, it was a boy with dirty blonde hair, "His name is Michael. He's 10, and absolutely wonderful."

"I'm so happy for you Rach," Eric looks at her, "Rachel, why are you here?"

"I need someone to talk to. It can only be you. How about that?"

"Okay."

"What's going on?" the redhead showed him an engagement ring.

"I'm engaged now."

"YAY!" I shouted from outside, and my friends stare at me. I just couldn't help the smile on my face.

"He's a military man, lives on a base in Dallas."

"Why did you leave me?"

"I wasn't ready."

"And then you were?"

"Well, life goes on, Eric. You know, I think life puts people in front of us, so that we can be prepared for what comes next. I was ready because of you."

" hope life knows what it's doing. Why did you come see me?"

"Okay. My fiancee wants me to move onto the base with him. And I don't know if I'm ready for that big step."

"Yeah, now he's trying to convince me that I'd be a good military wife and I need somebody who understands me to tell me if that could be true. I mean, you're the only one I can trust with this." Eric sighed and put his hands together.

"You have a son, keep going with life. Have more kids. Put more of you in the world. And then sit in a chair and watch them. You'd be amazed. We're here to make somebody else happy."

"Thank you, Eric. I knew I could count on you to tell me what's right," Rachel smiles, before looking out the window at us; I dip my head down, but she's already seen me and smiles, "Hey, can I tell you something right?"

"I wish somebody would." she points right at me.

"Who's that?"

"It's Idina." he looks over at me, and waves. I wave back, then duck back down.

"She has not taken her eyes off you since I walked in."

"Yeah. She's somebody I've grown very fond of." she sees my mom too, who sits next to me watching as well. I can tell my mom really likes Eric... I just hope he doesn't hurt her like my dad did.

"And that's her mother?"

"Nicole, yeah. That's her mom."

"Mmm. Is she the one?" Eric blinks at Rachel, and scoffs.

"What? No."

"Is she the one, Eric?"

"No. I don't know her enough to know anything."

"Well, let me tell you what's right. Let what we had make you ready for something. Life knows what it's doing," she smiles at him, before walking out and seeing me and my mother, "Good luck." she says to us, before walking out of our lives.

AMUSEMENT PARK

We're back at the amusement park, this time, we decided to bring the ladies with us. AKA Topanga, Katy, and my mom. We're in that same store where he bought me those cute things. Eric struts over to my mother as I joke around with Maya and Riley.

"Hey, can I buy you some accessories?"

"He's really good at it," I sing-say from the racks.

"No, no, you can't buy me anything," my mom shakes her head persistently, "We hardly know each other."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" my mom looks down, seeming to be in thought, then back up at him with her brown eyes serious.

"Yes."

"Wait. What? Seriously?" he seems shocked, glancing at all of us, "Right here in front of everybody"

"Sure. It would be real bad for me if you said no," my mom says as Riley goes next to her uncle, lightly patting his back.

"Uncle Eric?"

"Yeah?" Maya goes on the other side of him.

"This is, like, a real important moment in your life," Maya states.

"Yeah, I think it is." finally, I can't help but interject, standing next to my mother.

"How're you gonna handle this, Slick?" I ask, looking at Eric. He seems to be in deep thought for a few moments, before glancing up at my mother and I. It's awkward for some time.

"You gonna leave me hangin' or what?" My mom finally lightly huffs.

"Idina? Would it be okay with you if I..." I'm biting my lip, struggling to contain my emotions as I look at my two friends.

"Okay," Maya rolls her eyes.

"Let it out," Riley gives me permission. I explode.

"YAY!" I take a very long time to shout with joy. I nod viciously giving Eric the license to date my mom.

"Nicole, I would love to go on a date with you," Eric grins, "Thank you very much for asking."

TWO WEEKS LATER

Is this what it's like to be happy? I think so because for some reason every morning I've been waking up with a smile on my face. And now, Ms. Oden has decided to call me into her office for some reason and spoil my smile first thing in the morning. I sit patiently awaiting her return. She comes back with a folder in hand and sits down at her desk.

"Hello Idina," she kindly beams at me, "Your mother said it was okay if I talked to you about this."

"Okay," I sit up a little straighter in the chair, "So what exactly is this about?" she opens up the folder.

"Well, do you remember those tests your class took last week to see what your future job might be?" I nod, remembering it well, "You placed exceptionally on it. In fact, you placed in the genius level," I smile.

"R-Really?"

"Yes really," she closes the folder and bites her lip, "But, with these new revelations... proper testing is needed." I tilt my head.

"I know I'm apparently now a genius and all, but would you care to clarify that for me?" I ask her hesitantly.

"Idina, you need to be tested for a range of autistic disorders," I look down at the blandly colored carpeted floor, "Are you alright Idina?" Ms. Oden asks me. I shake off my trance.

"Perfectly fine," I mutter looking up at her with blank eyes, "May I please go back to class now." she nods, handing me an excuse slip as I wrap my backpack over my shoulder, quickly taking the slip and walking out.

I walk back into history class, quickly handing Mr. Matthews my excuse slip. He eyeballs it as I sit down in my seat, the front corner desk by the window, Sarah behind me as usual and Maya next to me. It's all the same... but I'm not.

"Alright let's get back to the lesson," Matthews says, pointing to the board which reads Frenemies, "Now as I was saying, a friend who is an enemy is no friend at all."

"But what can cause a friend to become an enemy?" Riley asks.

"And how can you differentiate between the two?" Lucas adds. Maya looks at him.

"Big word Huckleberry," she says, before turning around in her seat with her elbow resting on the tip of his desk.

"Well, Lucas, a friend will always be by your side no matter what. And, Riley, a friend can become an enemy through a simple fight... or even when the terms of the friendship change."

"I like my friends," I state out of nowhere, glancing over at my core group, "I like all my friends very much. You are all my friends and that's how it will stay." Farkle tilts his head.

"But some of us are more than friends," he replies. I stare at him.

"No some of us are not," I start, "Some of us are nothing more than friends. We all need our friends to stand by each other. When people change the terms of friendship," I bite my lip, "That's when friendships can really come to an end. Not a frenemy relationship, but just a flat out ending," I look at the love triangle of Riley, Maya, and Lucas, before looking back at Farkle, "I won't let that happen to you and I. I won't let that happen to any of us."

"Idina-" Farkle starts.

"Farkle, I need a friend more than I need a boyfriend," I straight up say with a huff, before turning back to Mr. Matthews as all the eyes in the classroom stare at me, "Mr. Matthews please continue."

"Are you sure?" he glimpses between Farkle and me.

"Please continue," I firmly state, looking straight forward at the board with dull chalk.