As they had agreed on before the trip, they arrived back in New York the day before Thanksgiving.
Lucas and Riley had taken the subway back from the airport, and now stood outside the door to Riley's apartment. Riley tapped her foot on the ground and avoided eye contact with Lucas.
"Well," Lucas said. "I should get going now."
Riley nodded, and forced herself to look up at him.
Lucas frowned. "Bye, Riley."
"Bye, Lucas." Riley gave him an emotionless smile.
Lucas returned her expression and picked up his luggage. He turned and walked away, and Riley saw him pause.
But, he didn't look back.
She opened the door to the apartment and stepped inside.
Her mom sat on the couch with her dad, and their heads shot up when they heard the door open.
"She's back!" Cory said, grinning and standing up.
Topanga laughed. "Of course she is. Did you think she would just leave us?"
"I figured she was going to try to join the circus," Cory admitted.
Riley smiled half-heartedly. "It's nice to be back," she said, her tone less than enthusiastic.
Topanga raised an eyebrow, concerned. "Are you okay?" She asked.
Riley nodded. "I'm fine, just a bit tired. That's all," she lied.
"Alright. Try and get a good night's sleep. Remember, everyone is coming over tomorrow, and I'll need your help setting everything up." Topanga smiled.
"Right," Riley said. "Of course."
Riley picked up her luggage and slowly made her way to her room. The apartment felt so spacious and large after spending time in the small house in Texas, trying in vain to tip-toe around Lucas. Now, she was back at home, and everything felt quite different. She opened the door to her room and stepped inside, dragging her luggage in behind her. The door squealed shut behind her, and the took in the smell of her home - of her favorite perfume (which she always sprayed in her room) and of course, the distinct smell that the settling dust always left, no matter how much she cleaned.
But, she was home. She was away from Lucas - for now, anyways. But the realization finally set in - Thanksgiving dinner with him, Maya, Farkle, and her family. Everyone would be there to witness the disaster that was sure to happen.
Riley left her luggage in the middle of the room - it could wait - and she made her way towards her bed. She was close to laying down when she realized she was still wearing airplane clothes. She desperately needed a shower and she needed to change - and to her dismay, she found that her clothes and her hair still smelled like Texas and like Lucas, from the time they had spent on the plane. So, Riley had no choice but to go to her drawers and rummage through for a pair of pajamas - she assumed that her mom had been through her room, looking for any dirty laundry. She settled on a pair of flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt, then headed off to her bathroom for a shower.
On the way, she bumped into Auggie, who seemed to be eating their mother's favorite chocolate - the kind that was put in the pantry where Auggie couldn't reach it.
"Shh," Auggie warned. "Don't tell mom."
"She's very observant, Auggie. She'll notice that it's gone." Riley frowned.
Auggie sighed. "You're right. Probably. If she asks, I'll just blame it on you."
Riley lightly punched Auggie's shoulder. "You can't throw me under the bus like that."
Auggie grinned. "So, Riley. How was Texas-" Auggie wiggled his eyebrows, "-with Lucas?"
Riley tried to not let any emotion show. "Texas was great." She desperately hoped that Auggie wouldn't make her go into detail.
Auggie frowned slightly. "Just...great? Did you meet his parents?"
Riley nodded. "Yeah, I met them. They were great." Telling Auggie the truth wouldn't do anyone any good, anyways.
"Is 'great' the only word in your vocabulary?" Auggie asked.
"Goodnight, Auggie. Don't stay up too late, and don't eat any more chocolate," she warned.
Auggie grinned. "Alright, no more chocolate." He walked off towards his room, and left Riley standing in the hall.
•••
"Sweet potatoes," Maya said. "My Mother forced me to bring you sweet potatoes."
Maya stood in the door of the apartment, holding a glass tray of sweet potatoes.
"And, even worse, they're mashed sweet potatoes. They have nothing in them - no sugar, no butter - nothing but bright orange sweet potatoes." Maya awkwardly leaned against the door frame, adjusting the tray in her hands.
Riley still held the door ajar, considering her next move. "Why are you here?" She asked.
Her and Maya's most recent conversation still played in her head, and she wondered why Maya had bothered to show up.
"It's Thanksgiving, and you're supposed to spend the holiday with everyone that you're thankful for," Maya paused. "I'm thankful for you, and I'm not mad that you went to Texas without me. Please, let me in. I'm starting to smell like sweet potatoes."
Riley hesitated, then stepped aside. "Come in," she said, though she hardly sounded as if she meant it.
Maya stepped into the apartment, and Riley closed the door behind her. "Topanga!" Maya shouted. "I brought you some sweet potatoes!"
Topanga rushed into the living room where Maya and Riley stood. "I am so grateful for you, Maya. Here I was, panicking because I hadn't made sweet potatoes yet, and the other guests are supposed to be here in under an hour, and you bring me sweet potatoes."
Maya laughed and handed Topanga the tray. "You can thank my mom. I'm just the delivery person."
Topanga smiled widely at Maya before bringing the sweet potatoes to the kitchen.
Maya turned to Riley. "Are you still mad at me?"
Riley neglected to respond.
"Actually, I was the one who was mad at you, so you really can't be mad at me," Maya crossed her arms.
Riley took a breath before she spoke. "Maya, you were right. I needed you there, but you weren't there."
Maya sighed. "Bay window, right now." She grabbed Riley's arm and pulled her along as she marched to the bay window.
They reached Riley's room, and Maya pointed at the bay window.
"Sit," she commanded, and Riley sat.
Maya walked over to the window and sat next to Riley. "Speak. Start from the beginning."
Riley nodded. "Everything was okay before we went to meet his parents."
"Okay," Maya said. "So, what - his parents didn't like you?"
Riley shook her head. "I wouldn't know if they liked me or not."
Maya frowned quizzically. "But...you said you met them?"
Riley took a breath. "Okay, you can't tell anyone that I'm telling you this."
"Riles, you're scaring me. Just out with it. I won't tell a soul." Maya leaned forward, as if she was going to miss a part of what Riley was going to say.
"His parents...." Riley started.
At that moment, Topanga barged into their room. "Riley. Maya. The guests are here."
Maya threw up her hands. "You said we had an hour! You lied!"
Topanga shrugged. "I didn't expect them this early. Go. Distract them. I have to finish the food." She backed out of the room.
"Okay," Riley said, even though her mom was already too far away to hear her.
"Ugh," Maya said. "Finish the story."
"Later. It can wait," Riley promised. "For now, we have to go distract the guests."
[A/N: hope everyone is enjoying the book so far! Votes/comments are appreciated, of course! So, this chapter was originally supposed to be one very long chapter, but it turned out to be over seven pages long when I typed it up, so I had to break it down into 3 chapters - as I mentioned before, I have a limited amount of chapters in my buffer. I appreciate all of the 3.6k reads that I've gotten on this story so far! Unfortunately, I won't be able to update the next few weeks due to summer plans, but I've decided to have a little questionnaire in the meantime to help decide what direction to steer the story in. So, I'll ask a few questions below, and you can help by commenting your answers!
1. What ship(s) do you think will be endgame (will end up together)?
2. What ship(s) do you want to be endgame?
3. Who do you think Maya's secret crush is?
4. Does anyone actually even like Cammie? Do you remember who she is?
5. Is there anything I can do to make this story better?
It would help so much if you could all take some time to answer these questions so I can get some feedback!]