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❛ ʟᴇᴀᴛʜᴇʀ & ʟᴀᴄᴇ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐖𝐎 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴsʜɪᴘ ᴅᴏs
ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛs ꒱


❝ THAT'S THE RING MY MOM
KEEPS THROWING AT MY
FATHER. SHE USUALLY
WANTS  IT BACK THURSDAY ❞

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"How long are we avoiding this?" Maya asked.

The three girls— including Miya— were sitting in Riley's bay window. It was Miya's first time sitting in the sacred spot and she felt the happy bubble of joy return at being so easily included. That hadn't always been the case— hence Jonah being her only best friend in England— and she wanted to make the most of it. Currently, Maya was trying to get her best friend to talk about her kiss with Lucas, which Riley was staunchly avoiding (though of course she was denying this.)

"Not avoiding nothing," the brunette replied stoutly, "just life moving on beyond that thing that happened between me and Lucas. I know what it was— you do not have to fish-face at me. Miya, you too?— other things are happening. Life got over it. Why can't you?"

"Life isn't over it," Maya disagreed, dropping her exaggeratedly puckered lips. "Haven't you noticed everything stopped? Nothing is happening."

"Everything's happening!" Riley exclaimed. She threw an arm around Miya and squeezed her close to her side. "We have a new friend to talk about! It's her first time in the bay window— that's a big deal! It's the biggest deal! We have to cement this moment in the bay window's history—"

"Does the new girl get first pick at the topic that we're talking about?" the Asian girl chimed in.

Riley beamed gratefully at her. "Yes! You get to pick the topic for the whole week. Anything you want, we'll talk about it."

Miya smirked at her. "Anything?" The Matthews girl nodded eagerly, so she continued nonchalantly: "I want to talk about that kiss you and Lucas had on the subway before school ended last year."

"Oka—" Riley began to agree, then her happy expression dropped. She gasped dramatically and pointed an accusing finger at the other girl. "You traitor!"

Maya had the opposite reaction; she gave Miya a high-five and resumed making her kissy face at the brunette. "I knew my name-twin would be on my side! Face it, Riley; until we talk about—" (Here, she made more kissy noises) "—nothing's ever happening again. Even Miya agrees with me."

Riley laughed off her claim. "Oh, that's the talk of a kook."

They fell into silence as they waited for something to happen. Maya almost got her way, but then Farkle made a sudden appearance. He leaned through the window and greeted them with one of his traditional, "ladies! And Miya!"

"Yay!" the brunette exclaimed, leaning sideways to throw her arms around the boy.

He smiled, delighted by the greeting. "Well, that's settled then."

Maya gave him a displeased look for interrupting her attempts at making Riley talk. "Are you here for a reason, Farkle?"

"I just wanted to make sure Miya knew what time we were leaving for the concert tonight. You got it, 'Nacci?" He asked, directing the question at the Asian girl.

Riley clapped her hands together. "A concert! We'll have to help Miya get dressed for that. It could take many hours, with lots of preparations—"

"I'm already ready," Miya cut in apologetically, then replied to her best friend: "don't worry, I'll be there."

"I did not see that coming," Riley said, slumping in disappointment.

As Farkle left them to their conversation, Maya returned to the original topic. She gave her friend a mischievous smile. "So we're back. Subway car, you lock eyes, you fall into his lap, you grab Lucas by the face. You start moving toward him and—"

"Riley!" Cory called his daughter's name as he and Topanga entered the room.

She perked up again. "Yay! Did I do something? Am I grounded? Do they have to leave? You have to leave."

"No we're glad you're all here. We need you to babysit Auggie. Miya, you're welcome to help out if you'd like," Topanga added warmly.

"They need us to babysit Auggie," Riley stated happily.

Maya waved a dismissive hand. "Been there done that."

"I haven't!" Miya protested.

"Yeah!" the Matthews girl agreed. "Things don't happen the same way twice. What if Miya turns out to be Auggie's favorite person and that causes a rift in our brother-sister relationship? Very riveting stuff right there! We'll be up all night working through our relationship problems."

"Tomorrow," Cory corrected her.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, we need you to babysit tomorrow," Topanga told them.

"Today we got nothing," her husband added with a shrug. Riley's parents left the room, much to her dismay.

She was left staring after them with disappointment. The other two girls exchanged an amused look as Miya picked up the blonde's story, which Farkle had called to tell her about the night it happened since he'd been ecstatic about getting to kiss Maya's hand. "So, you got Lucas by the face and—"

"Help me!" This interruption came from Riley's brother himself. He ran up to them urgently and Riley lifted him up to sit next to her on the bay window.

"Yay! Auggie, do you have any problems that I can help you with?"

He looked up at her imploringly. "Well, I made a new friend at school what if mom doesn't like him? What if she picks him up and puts him in the hallway? Like Ava! What if no one is ever good enough for mommy's little boy?"

"This is a thing," the brunette declared triumphantly.

Maya made a noise of disagreement. "Eh, not a whole thing. We check back on this twice tops."

Riley smiled fondly at her brother, who was leaning his head against her shoulder. She played with his curly hair absentmindedly. "I would be involved in it."

"We never even interact with this Ava kid," Miya pointed out. "Granted, I've only been here for about a week, but it doesn't seem like your guys' paths really cross. I think this is more your mother's thing since she's the one who puts Ava in the hallway."

Riley considered her words, then nodded. "Yeah, scram."

Auggie hurried out of the girl's room, calling out: "mom?"

They sat in another stretch of silence for a moment until the brunette finally broke. "So that's everybody we know, huh?"

"Not quite," Maya countered. "You got one more friend that has a problem you could get involved in."

"I do? Who?" Maya raised her hand and her expression brightened. She leaned across Miya to pull her best friend into a hug. "Oh, yeah. My troubled, misunderstood friend. People love your problems. You're a mess!"

The blonde cast her a dry, sidelong glance. "Thanks. My problem is that I have a best friend who doesn't want to talk about the most important thing going on in her life and I don't know what to do. Can you help me please?"

Riley sighed, finally admitting defeat. "I kissed Lucas."

"You don't say!"

Riley turned to the two girls, frowning as she let the worry show on her face at last. "What happens now?"

🌎🌎🌎

Things weren't any easier for Riley and Lucas the next day. Mr. Matthews stood in front of the class, introducing his lesson. He remained oblivious to the predicament that the pair was in, which was funny for everyone else but the two involved. "The new world. People who lived their whole lives in a certain place travel to a new land of new feelings and new opportunities, having no idea how to behave in this brand new society."

Lucas' head jerked up as their teacher spoke while Riley stiffened in her seat. She whispered harshly to the boy: "Lucas, what did you tell him?"

"Nothing! I am also uncomfortable."

Maya snickered at the situation, which clued Farkle in on what the girls had been talking about yesterday. "Wait, Mr. Matthews doesn't know Riley kissed Lucas?"

"Nope," the blonde answered in a teasing, sing-song tone.

"So everything he says is making them uncomfortable?"

"Uh-huh," Miya agreed with a grin, happy that she was finally in on the joke, rather than being the butt of it like she usually was.

"Shall we take advantage of this?" Farkle asked.

Maya smiled slyly. "How could we not?"

"I will begin." The brunet stood and addressed the curly-haired man before him. "So, Mr. Matthews, tell me, after you've had the courage to close your eyes and take the face of the new world in your trembling hands. . ."

Cory squinted at him, not picking up on his daughter's uncomfortable squeak of protest. "What are you trying to say, Farkle?"

"Are you supposed to be a couple next or what?"

"Huh?"

In an effort to ignore the topic they were currently discussing, Riley and Lucas feigned confusion. "Huh?"

"What?"

Farkle nodded sympathetically, as if he their bewilderment was to be expected. "Oh, you don't understand my question? Perhaps my dear friends miss Maya Penelope Hart or Miya Namiko Capelwood could help me out."

Sarah, who sat on Maya's other side, leaned towards the girl and said in a drawling voice, "Pen-el-o-pe."

Robin sat on Miya's right and copied her classmate, chanting, "Na-mi-ko."

Maya gave her seatmate a death glare, growling, "Farkle," under her breath.

The boy's eyes widened in panic. "It came out. It just came out. It came out. It just came out!"

Curiously, Lucas shifted forward to murmur, "Penelope? Namiko?"

Maya met his gaze, challenging him with an arched brow. "Really, huckleberry? You want to play with me right now?"

Miya shrugged. "Eh. I'm okay with it."

The blonde's fierce attitude cowed him and he sank back into his seat quickly. "No."

But she wouldn't let him go that easily. She leaned closer, daring him to contradict her as she casually remarked: "'cause you've done quite enough, haven't you?" She gave him a mocking kiss, just like she had with Riley yesterday.

"Maya. . ."

Riley's use of her friend's name was a bit more reproachful. "Maya. . ."

She turned back to face the front, putting on the airs of a student who was interested in paying attention. "Mr. Matthews, I think what Farkle is trying to say is once you've kissed. . ."

"Yeep. . ."

". . .the shores of this new world, I bet your friends from the old world would want to hear about how the new world is and if you don't tell them, well that's just selfish."

Cory was just as lost as he'd been before. "What are you trying to say, Penelope?"

"Are you supposed to be a couple next, or what?"

The curly-haired man gave up trying to understand the situation on his own. He came out from behind his desk to get closer to the students in question. "Alright, what's going on here, guys? Miya, could you explain it to me?"

The Asian girl glanced at Riley, whose face was tinted pink. She looked down at the books in front of her, her fingers fiddling with the pages. Maya was leaning back comfortably in her seat, smirking at the lighthearted teasing she was putting her friends through. Normally, Miya would hate being the center of attention, even with Cory being her preferred teacher. But her biggest desire was to be included, and the only way she could see that happening was if she played along— even if she would hate to be in Riley's place if their positions were switched. So, instead of taking pity on the brunette and denying that she knew anything, Miya cleared her throat as if she were about to do a huge reveal.

"Well. . ." she began, drawing out the word, "what I think my friends Maya Penelope Hart and Farkle James Minkus—"

"James?" Lucas repeated incredulously. "Your parents go with Farkle for a first name but stick you with a totally normal middle name?"

Farkle sat down heavily, burying his face in his hands in embarrassment. "Miya, I trusted you with that! You know it's my greatest shame to have an average middle name!"

The Asian girl winced. "Sorry, I'm sorry. Maybe we should just. . ." She searched around for a change in topic and her attention caught on Riley, whose fingers were still playing with the pages of her textbook. She seized her own copy and brought it in front of her, opening it to a random page. "Read from the book! That's a good idea, right?"

"Yes!" Riley agreed eagerly. She copied the other girl's actions and began to read aloud: "'the boy and the girl had no idea of the changes they would soon be facing. Everything was different including their own bodies. . .' What the. . ."

"You're reading your health book," Maya pointed out with an amused smile.

Farkle— who had recovered from his discomfort at having his secret shared— lifted a finger to interject quickly: "word of warning page seventy-three. I don't understand. It makes no sense. It looks impossible."

Cory sighed at the teens' dramatics. "Riley, what is going on here?"

Even though she loved teasing her best friend, Maya would never oust her without Riley's approval first, so she hastily replied, "Farkle kissed my hand."

"You did?"

"It was glorious," he admitted.

Maya added in a deadpan tone, "it was. I went home and questioned everything."

Their teacher nodded, not quite believing the blonde's story. He pointed a finger in Miya's direction. "I know you weren't there, so you're off the hook."

"Yay!"

He directed his attention to his daughter. "But you were, so where were you while all of this hand kissing was going on?"

Riley stared straight ahead as she attempted to convincingly lie to her father: "nowhere, with no one doin' nothing with nobody."

🌎🌎🌎

Two days earlier. . .

Living with the Minkuses took some getting used to. For one thing, their house was huge. They had an actual (mini) train to get from place to place since walking would take too long. After living her entire life in a one-bedroom apartment, Miya worried that she would get lost— but luckily Stuart had thought ahead and created an app with an interactive floorplan to help guide visitors around. There was so much to see and do— movie theater, bowling alley, swimming pool, just to name a few— that it almost made up for the second problem that such a large house created.

Farkle had mentioned it once or twice but it was understandably a topic that he didn't like to talk about. The vastness of the living space made it feel less like a home and more like a. . . morgue. If it weren't for the off-brand covers of pop songs that played softly from room to room, the silence would make the crushing loneliness even more apparent. You could go days without seeing anyone if you really wanted to. And this, compared to the hustle and bustle of New York just outside the giant glass windows only made it more noticeable.

Whenever Miya had stayed up late with her best friend when his parents were fighting, he'd theorized— in the way only a genius like Farkle could rationalize such a situation— that the size of the house was contributing to the discord in their relationship. At least, he'd said, it made it easier to ignore their fighting since not even the volume of their voices could reach his isolated bedroom. Miya understood this sentiment more now than she ever had when she'd been an ocean away from him.

While she'd always wanted her own room and had been ecstatic when Stuart had showed her one of their many spare bedrooms, she'd soon realized that it wasn't all she'd hoped it would be. Although he told her that he didn't care and she could decorate it however she wanted to— even allowing her to go so far as to change the entire color scheme— the moment she was alone, all she wanted to do was go where one of the other Minkuses were. It was the worst at night when it was both dark and quiet. She was used to hearing city noise her whole life and now, being held up on an actual pedestal away from the city, the silence was getting to her.

She bailed on sleeping in her own room on the first night after trying and failing to sleep for several hours. She pushed down her nerves and, taking one of the blankets with her (draped around her shoulders like a cape), she used her phone to locate Farkle's room. The brunette had been relieved to see that he was still awake, as evidenced by the noise she could hear from the other side of the door— he still had the TV on. Miya hesitantly knocked on the door.

Farkle opened it and— to her surprise— looked entirely unsurprised to see her there. He gave her a sympathetic, knowing smile as if he'd already guessed what had brought her to his door. "The loneliness got to you too, huh?"

She gave him a sheepish smile in response. "I don't know how you've lasted this long. Can I. . . stay here tonight?"

He nodded and stepped away from the entrance to let her in. "The TV helps— white noise, you know— but being around actual people is better."

And so one night turned into two nights, then three, until it became clear that Miya wasn't leaving his room anytime soon. He didn't mind in the least; in fact, he was grateful that he wouldn't be alone at night anymore. The Asian girl had taken over the couch, which was fine with her; she slept on a pullout at home, after all. Their new rooming situation also made it easier to stay up late and hang out—playing video games, studying (Miya's least favorite activity) or simply talking.

The last item in that list was touch and go. There were times when it didn't take much encouragement to get her best friend to talk about his feelings and others when it was like she was talking to a brick wall. He was justifiably most sensitive about his parents' fighting— something that the Minkuses tried to hide from their 'guest' (her) but didn't do a very good job of. She was pretty sure that Stuart and Jennifer didn't know that she knew about their fighting, otherwise they wouldn't try so hard to hide under forced smiles and pleasant attitudes. But there were times when they would be so into their argument that they weren't aware that they had an audience, like this afternoon.

Farkle and Miya heard his parents' voices as they got to the kitchen, intent on getting a snack before going to his room after school let out for the day. He stiffened the moment the elevators doors dinged open. They could see Jennifer facing her husband; her arms were crossed against her chest as she glared at him. They'd clearly stepped into the middle of the argument as she was snapping: "—work, work, work. It's always work with you. What about us, Stuart? What about our marriage?"

Although they couldn't see his face as Stuart's back was to them, he sounded tired as he replied, "Jennifer, you know how important my work is. . ."

She shook her head in frustration. "You're obsessed with your career and your accomplishments. I don't care if you don't make time for me, but what about Farkle? He deserves more than an absent father."

Next to her, Miya felt her best friend tense; he'd told her before how much he hated it when his mom used him against his father. She wished that there was something she could do to make him feel better but she only had her mom, so she hadn't witnessed parents fighting that much and didn't know what to do. They were both standing, frozen, just outside of the elevator. It would probably be for the best if they left the kitchen altogether, but Miya felt like she was watching a ticking time bomb— she wanted to look away, but she couldn't.

Stuart held out his hands to try and calm his angry wife— an action that clearly incensed her rather than did its intended action. "Jennifer, please, understand—"

"No, Stuart, you need to understand." She took off her wedding ring and threw it at him, the small band glinting in the light before landing on the floor with a clink. It rolled towards the teens' feet. As Jennifer stomped towards them, she finally caught sight of her son and his best friend. Her angry expression smoothed over into one that was more polite. "Oh, hello, kids. How was school today? There's snacks for you in the fridge."

She stepped past them without waiting for a reply and into the still-open doors of the elevator, which closed smoothly behind her. Farkle bent and picked up the dropped ring. If Miya had been the type of girl to be enchanted by jewelry, she would have been stunned by the size of the diamond on the band. He clutched it in his fist as he said quietly, "I'm not that hungry anymore. Let's go to my room."

Miya agreed instantly, doing her best to hide the fact that her heart was twisting in her chest. She knew he would eventually end up making light of this; he'd turn it into a joke and laugh it off— she just hoped that, if he did want to talk about it, he knew that she was there for him. It was what he did whenever his parents fought since it tended to follow the same pattern. As he'd told her dejectedly: "my mom will throw her wedding ring at him, they won't speak for a few days, then my dad will buy her something shiny to make up for it. It'll be really uncomfortable to be in the same room as them after that (due to how clingy Jennifer became with Stuart), then another thing will set her off and they'll be back to fighting again."

🌎🌎🌎

Present day. . .

Farkle sat with Lucas on the bench in the hallway after class. The rest of their male peers pressed in around them curiously, wanting to know what happened between Riley and Lucas. The Matthews girl was experiencing a similarly uncomfortable situation with the girls of their class. As much as he wanted to respect his friend's space, curiosity got the better of him like it usually did and he couldn't resist asking, "so, what's the next thing you guys are supposed to do?"

Lucas gave him a bewildered look. "Supposed to do? What are there? Rules?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. But I don't see how you can just kiss someone and not be with them after. I only kissed Maya's hand and then I got her this engagement ring right after we got off the subway."

The Texan's eyes widened in shock as he opened the rectangular box. A very familiar ring sat on its velvet cushion, waiting to be slid romantically onto a finger. Farkle was grateful for the crowd of students that currently separated him from Miya; there was no doubt she would have made a big deal about him using his mom's engagement ring. While he knew that she came from a place of care, he was fine— really!

Lucas' exclamation brought him back to the conversation at hand: "oh my gosh, Farkle, how much was that?"

"Seventy-eight thousand dollars," he replied, not even blinking at the extravagant price. "But I got it for free."

"How?"

He smirked a little as if his answer were a punchline to a joke: "because that's the ring my mom keeps throwing at my father. She usually wants it back by Thursday so I gotta work fast."

Lucas didn't seem convinced by his argument; instead, he stated firmly: "I will not give into peer pressure."

"What if we carry you?" Farkle challenged him.

He scoffed, amused by the thought as he looked his best friend up and down. "I'd like to see you try."

"Darby!"

The blonde had been standing off to the side with her boyfriend, Yogi, but she turned when Farkle called her name. She pulled Lucas up by the arm then, together, they picked up his legs and carried him over to the girls, the brunet protesting all the while. They set him down just in front of Riley. Maya and Miya stood slightly behind her with the rest of the girls at their backs.

Riley had a hard time looking at the handsome boy, her gaze flicking towards him every so often but never lingering. She stood before him with her hands clasped in front of her. Nervously, she murmured, "what are we?"

Hesitantly, he answered her question with another question: "are we boyfriend and girlfriend?"

They could both feel the pressure of all the expectant stares of their classmates on them, which was making the situation a lot more difficult than either of them wanted it to be. Riley swallowed, anxiously rubbing her palms against her overalls. "Are we?"

Lucas' reply wasn't as enthusiastic as she was hoping for. "I don't know. . . you wanna?"

"I don't know. You think. . . maybe?"

"Wanna?"

Sarah squinted critically at their awkward interaction. "Are they weird or adorable?"

Darby put her arm around her much shorter boyfriend's shoulders. "No. Me and Yogi are weird. They're adorable."

"What just happened?" Riley asked, disbelief in her tone. "Do I have my first boyfriend?"

Farkle smiled at his friends; as much as he loved Riley— the same as he loved Maya— he wanted what was best for her and he hoped that this would make her happy. "I don't know, what just happened?"

Maya grinned, too. "I don't know. Can't wait to see what happens next."

Taking this as his cue, Farkle wasted no time in going on one knee in front of everyone. Turning to Maya, he opened the box to present her with the ring. Her eyes went very wide as she became entranced by the sparkly jewel that rested inside. Unfortunately, the teens were too focused on the event that had just transpired to notice Miya grimace, her face twisting into a bitter expression as she looked away from the scene.

🌎🌎🌎

After school, Riley and Lucas went on their date. Miya was happy for them and she hoped they had a good time. What she was not enjoying was Maya's and Farkle's presence next to her while they figured out what to do. The blonde was transfixed by the ring on her finger. She twisted her hand this way and that to watch the diamond sparkle as she smiled fondly at it. Farkle's similar expression was directed at Maya, who wasn't paying attention to him in the slightest.

Miya tried her best not to be bothered by the new 'couple'— she would've bet money that they didn't last the day; Maya was clearly only with Farkle for the jewelry— but she was doing an admittedly terrible job of it. She could hardly bear to look at the pair and kept her gaze on the cars that passed by on the street in front of them.

She didn't know why Maya-Farkle was getting to her— Farkle had all but waxed poetry about her and Riley for years; his feelings for them were no surprise. She supposed it might be because she'd been looking forward to spending time with him— just him, without either of the two girls— and now Maya's presence was ruining that. It wasn't like she didn't want him to spend time with his friends, but she had wanted some time where it would just be the two of them. So far, that only happened when they were in the Minkus' penthouse.

Despite her valiant efforts, Miya couldn't quell the familiar bitterness that rose within her when she saw Maya and Farkle together. She decided that was because she would be sentenced to fifth wheeling her friends for the rest of the year, which would suck. If the sharp twist she felt in her stomach every time she looked at them was related to jealousy at all (which it wasn't), it was probably just because of her recent breakup with Jonah and seeing anything related to love put her in a bad mood. (The controversial voice in the back of her head argued differently. She did her best to ignore it.)

"So," Farkle said, finally breaking from his love-struck daze, "should we go check on Riley to make sure her date's going well?"

"Yeah, let's go," Maya agreed, beaming at the diamond on her finger. "We should tell her the good news. You and I are going to be together forever."

Thinking that she was talking about him, the genius looked like all of his dreams had come true. (Regrettably for him, Maya was talking solely to the ring.) He turned to the Asian girl next to him. "Coming, 'Nacci?" He frowned when he finally noticed the. . . less-than-pleasant expression on her face. "What's wrong?"

She shook herself and forced a (very unconvincing) smile. "Nah, I should probably get started on. . . vacuuming the ceiling. See ya!"

The brunette left before they could question her odd excuse— not that either of them particularly noticed it.

🌎🌎🌎

To Miya's great surprise, Maya and Farkle were still together by the end of the day. He was even going through his closet to find a suit as if there was actually a wedding going to happen. She'd never been more relieved to have a real excuse to leave the penthouse than when Riley texted her, asking her to come over. She'd immediately responded and had left Farkle to deliberate over what he was going wear to his 'wedding.'

When she arrived at the Matthews' apartment, she knocked on the door like a normal person (unlike the majority of Riley's friends who seemed to prefer the fire escape.) Mr. Matthews answered the door and he ushered her in, shushing her before she could even say a greeting. In a low voice, he explained, "we're in a bit of a standoff here. It's best if we don't interrupt them."

Miya wanted to ask what she would be interrupting when her eyes fell on Mrs. Matthews and a young boy. They were staring intently at each other, the older woman's face obviously struggling to maintain her pleasant façade. Her teeth were clenched together in a false smile as she ground out: "it's—pronounced—Dewey—for—the—love—of—god—just—say—it."

"Doy!" the boy responded happily, not even flinching at her irritated tone. Topanga let out a furious growl, her hands tightening into fists where they rested on the kitchen table.

The Asian girl glanced at Cory, who shook his head and hastily guided her towards the hallway to Riley's room. Once they were a safe distance away, she gave him a confused look. "What. . .?"

He winced. "As much as I love my wife, I do wish that she could let go of her incessant need to be right all the time." In a joking tone, he added, "I blame your mother for encouraging that in her, you know. Topanga only got worse once she picked up on Juliet's tendencies."

Miya smiled a little; she always liked hearing what her mom had been like when she'd been younger. Juliet so rarely talked about her school days, even now that she had mostly moved on from everything that had happened. "So. . . that kid won't pronounce his name correctly and it's driving her crazy?" She could only imagine what her mother would do in that situation.

"Bingo," Cory agreed with a nod. He opened his daughter's bedroom door after knocking. "And here we are. You can stay as long as you like, Miya. I think we're having petty revenge for dinner."

"Sounds delicious," she joked back, thanking him for showing her to Riley's room before she turned her attention on the girl.

The brunette jumped up from where she'd been sitting on the bay window seat, smiling at her in welcome. Cory left them to it as Riley grabbed her wrist to lead her back to the bench she'd been previously occupying.

"Thanks for the invite," Miya told her. "I couldn't stand listening to Farkle going over wedding details for another second."

She grinned, but it wasn't quite as exuberant as her usual cheerful personality allowed. Riley ran her hands over the skirt of her dress, hesitating slightly before she spoke. "I. . . invited you over because you're the only one of my friends who has actual boyfriend experience. How did you know you were ready to have one?"

Surprised, the Asian girl asked, "we're just. . . jumping into this? Don't you want to wait for Maya?"

Riley's expression became a little sheepish. "I actually just invited you over this time."

"Oh," she replied, touched that Riley considered her that good of a friend where she didn't have to rely on Maya's support to back up her advice. "Well, to tell you the truth, I don't think anyone knows when they're ready to have a boyfriend— or girlfriend, for that matter. It's kind of scary, you know? To care about someone so much that they're the only person you want to be with for whatever timeframe you're together. It just. . . sort of happens whenever it feels natural. It's not something you can force."

Riley looked down at her hands as she considered the other girl's words. "But how do you know if you want to be with someone like that? I mean, I know I like Lucas, but the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing went up in flames. We just did it because everyone said we were supposed to."

"Tell me about it," Miya said. "I think that's what happened to Jonah and I in the end. He never talked about it, but I think he felt like he was being forced to fit into a mold. Whenever I wanted to do boyfriend-girlfriend stuff, I always had to initiate it. He even said that he wasn't into being in a relationship as much as he'd thought he would be. But look at us— even though we broke up, we're still friends! You and Lucas can do that too, no problem. Maybe something will happen between you guys in the future when you're more ready for it, but this isn't the sort of thing you can rush. If you go too fast. . ."

"Dust," the brunette finished for her with a nod. "I thought the pressure would turn us into a diamond, but what Farkle forgot to tell us was that it takes years to make one— it doesn't happen instantly."

"Exactly," she agreed. "So you can tell everyone to just butt out of your business— well, not like that, but you know what I mean. You shouldn't let them hurt your friendship by trying to be something you're not. Just focus on what makes you happy and the rest will figure itself out."   

A/n: I know it's probably a throwaway line that was put in as a joke, but ever since I first heard Farkle say 'that's the ring that my mom keeps throwing at my dad,' it was my HC that Stuart and Jennifer didn't have a great marriage. Since we don't know a lot about what happens with the side characters at home (we never even see Zay's or Smackle's parents— or Lucas', I think), I wanted to explore that little.