Falling for Mr. Perfect

Old friends, old flames

Riley's POV

I turn toward Maya and give her a goofy grin. Maya chuckled slightly and placed her hand on my shoulder. "Riley, before we get mixed up in that mess over there." She sighed, referring to the mess of people dancing and screaming while chugging down beers and spiked lemonade.

"Please don't try and get into too much trouble." She breathed out, rubbing my shoulder a little. I could tell she genuinely didn't want me to get hurt or something happen. I slowly nodded my head and a small smile grew against my cheeks, my dimples exposing for the first time that night.

"Now, go have fun." She gave me a smirk and pushed me into the crowd of people. I felt so small and invisible in that huge crowd, everyone pushing me around like I was some kinda beach ball. My face came in contact with the ground, a loud thud occurring. Apparently a few people saw the incident and helped me off the floor.

I rubbed my cheek with my right thumb, sporting a pouty lip as the few people dragged me out the crowd.

"Is she drunk?" One said.

"Nah her eyes aren't dilated yet."

"Maybe she's lost?"

"Riley?" An extremely familiar voice called out. I squinted up my brow and turned to the left of me to see Farkle Minkus standing a couple inches away.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips and I slipped away from the crowd of people around me. I gave him a small smile and pulled him into a hug.

"Oh my gosh I haven't seen you in forever!" My grip tightened as I squeezed him tighter. Farkle graduated early a year ago and was accepted into Harvard.

For some odd reason he hadn't been calling and emailing like he said he would, ultimately upsetting me since I loved Farkle to death. He released our hug and smiled slightly. "Hey riles."

I relaxed as he spoke up, taking his hand and dragging him out to be balcony. "Where the hell have you been for the last year?!" The first words to escape my mouth when we stepped foot outside. I noticed Farkle slowly open his mouth but then quickly close it, as if he didn't want to tell me. I furrowed up my brow and gave him a look, pursing my lips together as he tried to speak.

"Go on." I said stolidly, folding my arms over my chest rocking myself back and forth on my heels.

Farkle sighed and bit his lip uncomfortably. "I've been traveling." He finally spit out. At first I thought nothing of it, that was until I realized he was supposed to be at Harvard.

"Wait a minute." I placed my hand on my hip and rose my eyebrows. "Did you drop out of Harvard?" I didn't want to believe my crazy assumption but I watched his shoulders tense up and his lip quiver nervously.

"It's a long story." He replied, plopping down onto a deck chair. He ran his fingers through his gelled up hair and let out a soft grunt.

"Four months after I'd been at Harvard, Smackle and I hooked up." I could feel my muscles tensing.

"Uh huh." I replied, letting out a short breath. Farkle nodded and suddenly I could see him trying to hide a grin.

"Yeah, she was visiting me and like I said we hooked up. After that night I knew I was in love with her Riley. I couldn't let her leave me. She told me she was going to travel the world for a year before coming back here and getting accepted into an university."

I nodded slowly taking in this weird story which seemed very strange for Farkle's normal behavior. "This just sounds... Odd." I sighed truthfully, playing with the hem on my skirt.