once again • [f.m. + r.m.]

prologue

October 14, 2015
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York

"And another one," Maya Hart said, aloud, as she grabbed a specific envelope out of the daily pile of mail and tossed it to the ever growing pile of similar envelopes.

Her best friend and roommate, Riley Matthews, groaned in their Brooklyn apartment, as she bottle fed her 3 month old son. "Are you serious?"

Maya nodded, as she stood up from the sofa she was sitting on and pointed to the pile that was taking up all the room on one of the furniture chairs, "Can we please do something about that mess? I can't sit or sleep or watch Netflix in my favorite chair anymore."

Riley sighed as she looked down at her baby, "But I don't want to see Farkle, though." She didn't like to be reminded of him.

"I know you don't. I don't want to see Lucas," Maya said, "I understand but Riles, eventually, you're gonna have to face him, whether you like it or not."

Riley set down the bottle of milk on the coffee table, "I just... I just can't imagine that going down well."

The last time she and Farkle spoke, it didn't go well at all.

Maya gave her look, "He does have a right to know. He has a son." She plopped next to Riley on the other sofa.

"I know," Riley looked frustrated, as she studied her son's face. He had Farkle's eyes. "I'm just not ready to look him in the eye again. I just wish that there was some way we could get his DNA sample and signature without him knowing."

Maya snorted, "I highly doubt there's a way around that."

Riley looked back up, "We have to find a way, though. It's not like Farkle and I ended our relationship on good terms. I can't just go up to him and ask for him to sign a random document."

She paused to think about the past. One year ago, she was dumped by the father of her child, Farkle Minkus, who was a wealthy Manhattan socialite. She was just an ordinary journalist in Brooklyn.

They had dated for a year and were happy, or at least that's what Riley had thought until he dumped her because she wasn't a Manhattan elite that fit with his image.

He had broken up with her in person in under 30 seconds and then he got right back into the Cadillac and was driven off to Midtown.

Riley had been absolutely heartbroken. Maybe she would have felt better if Farkle wasn't so harsh with the breakup but he was. He just dumped her like she was nothing.

It didn't help the situation when she found out she was pregnant with his child a couple weeks later.

Maya had been there for her through it all. She had been through a similar break up with Farkle's stepbrother, Lucas Friar. He dated her for a year and brutally dumped her the same way.

The only difference between their situations was that Maya didn't end up knocked up and Lucas had broken up with her after she found out that he cheated on her.

So, for the two best friends, their relationships with the socialites had gone bad. Riley was left pregnant and Maya was cheated on. They were both heartbroken.

"I know. I understand," Maya said, sympathetically, "but we'll have to find to figure it out one way or another." She comfortingly pat the brunette on the back, before grabbing a copy of People magazine and flipping through it.