the only exception, a maya hart story

s e v e n

Somewhere around 2:00 AM, I finally gave up from tossing, turning, and scrolling through my Instagram feed. Hopping out of bed, my feet hit the cold floor with a loud creak that was much louder in my head than it was in reality. The sensation of cool soothed my mind as I hobbled out to the balcony, still in only my tee-shirt. As I opened the doors that led to the outside, a fierce breeze came and swept my vicious, blonde hair behind me. The soles of my feet embraced the feeling of the tile flooring and curled my cold toes into my feet to bring in more heat. I tiptoed my way over to the railing laying my hands on the beautiful marble.

    I barely heard it when he said it. The words were the faintest whisper of a sentence, but I knew who it was instantly.

    "Couldn't sleep either, huh?" Farkle said, continuing to look on past the balcony.

    "Not a chance.. Got a lot on my mind, that's all," I said, wondering what was keeping Farkle up so late (or early, I guess).

    "Yeah, me too," he said in a half-awake voice that made me want to hug him. A tone of voice that made it sound like he was deeply hurting.

    I turned to face Farkle, looking at him for the first time. He wore a black beanie with a black Adidas shirt and a pair of Nike grey sweatpants. Like me, he wore no shoes whatsoever. I suddenly felt extremely self-conscious about my bare shirt that came just above my knees. I hadn't expected to come face to face with another person out here at this hour, but then I remembered this was Farkle I was here with, and he wouldn't lay a finger on a woman without consent.

    "So what're you lying awake about?" Farkle asked me distantly.

    I didn't know whether I should tell him the truth or not. I didn't want to violate Riley's privacy and I sure didn't want to tell him about Lucas right now. Figuring he'd find out about Riley tomorrow (or today, I guess) anyway, I might as well tell him in advance.

    "Riley's leaving for home tomorrow," I said quickly, with the mindset of ripping off a bandage quickly to get it over with.

    "I know, Maya," Farkle said.

    "She has to go home for-Wait did you just say you know?" I said extremely confused.

    "After talking with my aunt and uncle for an hour or so yesterday, Riley came past me in the hallway. I saw her tear-stained cheeks and I instinctively stopped her and asked her what was wrong so I could help if possible. Needless to say she told me everything, and I proceeded to wipe her tears off her face," Farkle said, dragging out the last part out as if it hurt to say it.

    I couldn't help feeling slightly jealous that Riley told Farkle before me. I mean I was her best friend, right? We tell each other everything. But I found it sweet that Farkle comforted her today while I was off abandoning my best friend and she was hurting the most.

    "There was this one point where Riley laid her head on my shoulder and I-," Farkle said then stopped and looked up at me with complete sincerity.

    "Maya... I... Maya, I think I'm in love with your best friend," Farkle said with a mixture of complete adoration and pain in his normally inquisitive eyes.

    "Maya, I can see sparks fly every time she smiles. Her eyes show me that there's more going on in her troubled mind than she ever will let on, and I love that she hides her own pain to save someone else from feeling it. She's this innocent, little flower that has been tainted by the world we live in. She can enchant me with a single glance," he said pausing to take a breath. "God, she's so beautiful, Maya. It sucks to love someone you can't be with, you know?"

    I tried to process everything quickly enough to come up with a response without leaving him hanging there.

    "I know, Farkle. But why can't you be with her?" I asked with genuine confusion.

    "Maya, she only sees me as a FRIEND!" he said with a slight grunting sound at the end out of frustration. "She's my WORLD, and I'm her friend," he said with a slight shake of his head.

    The way he said the word friend put me on guard. It came with a feeling of disgust, as if he would rather be anything else in the world to her than a "friend."

    "I'm not going to pretend that I know she likes you because it would be cruel to play with your emotions like that. But I know that you mean an endless amount to her, Farkle," I said as a tear ran down his innocent cheek.

    I rushed over and gave him a hug of pure sorrow, not caring that I was still in my bare tee-shirt. My friend that was there for me through everything was hurting beyond belief and I refused to just let him deal with it on his own. I would've taken on the full burden if I could've, but I couldn't, so a hug was the best I could do. He hugged me back even though he was almost a foot taller than me, and my hands only went around his waist. Standing on my tip-toes, I kissed him on the cheek, purely a kiss of friendship, and he hugged me even tighter.

    "Why did I have to fall for her?" he said through sobs. "Just when I'm ready to move on, she does something like today, and it drives me crazy that she can't even tell I love her!"

    "Farkle, I love Riley, but she might be the most clueless girl I've ever met. You and I know that better than anyone. Her blind optimism shields her from seeing people's true intentions: good or bad," I said with honesty.

    "Can we sit down? My legs hurt," Farkle said with the faintest hint of a laugh.

    "Of course," I said returning his soft laugh as a tear of pity streamed down my face.

    "What hurts the most, I think, is that I've been her friend for so long. We've grown up together. I know everything about her. I mean, I just don't know how to ignore my love for someone I know better than myself," he said snapping back to serious as quickly as it had gone. "And I was hoping that this summer could be different and she and I could change our relationship, but now she's leaving and I don't know..."

    "I know," I said simply.

    It's hard to say how long we were out there talking, but by the time the sunrise came up and our eyes had comically large, dark circles underneath them, Farkle decided it would be best to go inside and attempt to go get some sleep and make sure no one saw us this morning with our conversation. The both of us got around a total of 3 hours of sleep that night, but we didn't care. The presence and love of a friend for one another was enough to discard everything else.

         

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OH MY GOD IM SORRY I DIDNT UPDATE FOR SO  LONG BUT I HOPE THIS WAS SATISFACTORY FOR NOW...

I love Markle friendship they are the absolute cutest, I'll fight you on this..

NEW CHAPTER COMING SOON!!!!!

- ZOEEEE