Girl Meets 23

12 (Lucas)

-Texas, USA-

Lucas had been working as a vet officially for almost a year now and he loved it. The clinic he worked at was just outside of his local town so he was able to work with both everyday house pets but also some farm animals as well. He even had a few friends who would call him out to their farms when they needed an emergency vet. It had been a big decision moving back to Texas for college and veterinary school. His junior year of high school his best friend, Zay, and him had gone back and forth with each other on whether to say in New York or to move back home. A big part of Lucas's hesitation for moving was leaving Riley, his high school girl friend and close friend, behind. Riley and Lucas both knew though deep down that their futures were going in different directions, so they decided to go back to being just friends after high school. It was hard at first, really hard actually. Lucas was devastated that the two hadn't worked things out and really threw himself into his studies. Zay on the other hand was much more into the social scene in college. Zay went to school to pursue a degree in teaching. He had been inspired by their teacher Mr. Matthews back in New York. He had taught them everything they needed to know about life. Since graduating the two had been renting out a house together that was only a few miles from the vet clinic.
Life was nice in Texas, definitely slower than New York but in a way that felt familiar. He liked all the wide open space and all the clean air. Sometimes he still dreamt of the city lights and noises because that was what he had grown used too but then would be sharply awoken by his alarm clock. This morning was different instead of being woken by his clock it was knocking on the front door that woke Lucas from his city dreams. Flicking his eyes opened he groaned as the knocks continued to sound out. Lucas rushed up out of his bed, dressed in only his grey pyjama pants, and sheepishly made his way to the front door. He undid the lock and the sunlight blinded Lucas's eyes as he opened the door. When he could make sense of who was in front of him he was stunned. It was Farkle. Farkle who lived in London not in Texas.

"Lucas!" Farkle squawked in his usual excited way extending his long limbs out into the air.

"Farkle?" Lucas said thinking through the plausibility of this being a dream.

"Lucas," Farkle repeated bringing Lucas into a hug. As soon as their body's connected Lucas realised for sure this wasn't a dream.

"What are you doing here?" Lucas asked still stunned for words. His friend looked slimmer than he'd remembered making him appear slightly taller. His air was styled pushed up slightly at the front, similarly to how he'd worn it when they'd been in high school. Farkle had always struggled with change when it came to his image.

"Well, I was looking for a ticket to New York but then I saw this great deal on one to Texas and I thought why the hell not!" He seemed to be overly excited. Lucas could tell this was a front, something was up and Farkle just wasn't opening up all the way.

"Ok then!" Lucas said with a grin welcoming his friend into his home "come on in, Zay's not here unfortunately. He's been traveling but he should be in New York for Riley's party"

"Thanks," Farkle said taking off his coat, it definitely wasn't New York cold in Texas but it was still coat weather late November. "Would you mind if I grabbed a cup of coffee? I'm beat from traveling,"

"Yeah of course, the kitchens through here" Lucas responded leading Farkle out of the entry way and into the kitchen. The kitchen was nice, the cabinets were a cream colour with a light blue tile backsplash and butcher block countertops. It was a nice space and somehow the boys hadn't managed to make it look to much like a bachelor pad. Mostly thanks to the help of Maya and Riley via FaceTime. He started preparing his friend a cup of coffee and decided to ask the real question "what really brought you here Farkle? I don't mind having you here, I've missed you but this is very out of the blue."

"What! A guy can't spontaneously decide to fly from London to Texas to see one of his closest friends?" He deflected but Lucas shot him a stare. He knew Farkle better than this. He was a planner and the kind of person who thought things through so he could do things intentionally. "Fine, I'm feeling stuck in life and I want to move back to New York, but I think that my father will hate that idea even though I'm pretty sure it's the right thing for me to do, and I'm pretty sure I've fallen behind in the whole romance part of life" his words falling out of his mouth in seconds leaving him out of breath.

"Ok," Lucas said digesting everything that his friend just said to him. He was still waking up and he too needed some coffee to get him started for the day.

"I know I'm sorry, I just didn't know what to do and I was going crazy in my place in London just thinking about it all the time," Farkle whipped his face in his hand. Lucas could tell he was stressed "I'm just not sure how to make the right decisions anymore," he said candidly.

"Farkle, I'm sorry I didn't realise you were having such a hard time," Lucas passed Farkle his cup of coffee and some cream from the fridge. "You should have told me,"

"I wouldn't have known what to say," Farkle stirred his coffee. "Hey Lucas, it's me all the way in London oh by the way I'm going through a quarter life crisis," he made fun of himself.

"Dude I totally get being unsure about what to do next with your life trust me," Lucas said truthfully to his friend, "before I graduated I was really considering going back to New York, and sometimes on occasion I do think about what it would be like to go back,"

"So what changed? How did you decided to stay?" He asked kind of desperately. Lucas could tell Farkle had been starved from friendship for too long, which gave him a sense of guilt. He should have done better to keep tabs on his friend.

"Well, for one I think deep down I knew that this is where my life is going to play out," ever since Lucas was a kid he imagined having a family in Texas and growing old on a nice piece of land with said family. "But also life just stepped in when I was most confused and said this is where you have to be. You just need to wait for your sign Farkle" maybe Lucas was a bit of a romantic when it came to his outlook on life but he couldn't help it, the way things flowed in and out of his life felt so intentional and special but also random and unhinged all at once.

"Yeah, maybe." Farkle said clearly not loving the uncertainty of Lucas's response "I guess I always did imagine spending the rest of my life in New York, I think I always knew that."

"Look while we're there take some time to really imagine what your life would look like if you moved back," Lucas said thinking hard to come up with something Mr Matthews would say "sometimes life doesn't tell you what you want to here but you have to do what's right for you and only you can decided what that is,"

"Thanks Lucas, that's why I came here" Farkle finally genuinely smiled at his friend "even after all this time I know we have each others backs,"

"Of course," Lucas chuckled "always Farkle," he loved that his relationship with his friends from high school were as strong as they were. No matter how much distance or time between them it always went right back to how things were, as if high school was only yesterday. "Also you're welcome to stay here until we leave for New York, we can coordinate our flights if you haven't already booked yours?"

"Thanks," Farkle smiled sipping away at his coffee. Lucas was about to list the breakfast options to Farkle was a female entered the room.

"Babe?" The tall brunette said sleepily rubbing her eyes. Farkle shot Lucas a confused look

"Babe?" Farkle whispered clearly confused out of his mind.

"Farkle, this is Harper," Lucas introduced walking over and wrapping his arms around the woman "we weren't going to announce anything but since you're here," he trailed off giving himself to take in his friends stunned face. It had been hard keeping this a secret for so long. "Harper's my fiancé"