Ghost

ch 8

Farkle is confused. It doesn’t happen much, so it bothers him more than it probably should.

He loves Isadora. She understands him in ways no one else does, and the thought of not having her as a partner in romance is abhorrent to him. He loves her, and their relationship. But there’s a weird feeling of discontent that has been growing lately.

He started to notice it with the last boy Riley had dated. They had only gone out a few times before mutually deciding they just didn’t have the chemistry, but Farkle had found himself…. irrationally jealous. At first, he had told himself that it was just him being protective of her, after all the drama caused by her getting so caught up in Lucas and high school in general. When another boy had asked Riley out in the hall this past Friday, and his immediate reaction had been unfounded irritation, he had been unable to deny that what he was actually feeling was jealousy. But he had no reason to be jealous. Riley is not his to be jealous about. He loves her, of course, he has since they were kids. And he’s happy with Isa!

Farkle is thinking about this as Maya sits down across the table from him at the café where they are meeting for lunch. It’s Tuesday of spring break, so she is meeting him before heading to the job she got a couple weeks ago as a desk clerk for a dance studio. He greets her, watching as Maya immediately notices something is off with him. He hasn’t bothered to try and hide his turmoil, knowing she would see past it immediately regardless. Unlike the Maya of a few years ago, she surprisingly patiently makes small talk with him through ordering and receiving drinks, and ordering food, before she stops and simply stares at him expectantly. Farkle spills his guts in a confused jumble of abbreviated sentences.

There’s a couple minutes of silence as he watches Maya process what he has said. She takes a couple slow sips of her water before saying, “Per usual, for a genius, you are being kinda dumb.” Farkle isn’t offended. She has been telling him this since they were 6, always because he needs to hear it. The statement actually calms him down; both with its’ familiarity, and because it means that he is making a mountain of a molehill. There’s a simple explanation staring him in the face that he just can’t see due to his natural inclination to overthink things. Maya sees him visibly relax, and starts leading him in conversation so he can reach the conclusion on his own.

“All of these will be yes or no.” Farkle nods his understanding.

“You love Isa.”

“Yes.”

“You love Riley.”

“Yes, b-“ he cuts himself off as she raises her hand. “Yes.”

“You are romantically attracted to Isa.”

“Yes.”

“You are romantically attracted to Riley.”

Farkle hesitates at this one. After a moment of staring into the unjudging face of his best friend, his answer is another “Yes.”

“You are physically attracted to Isa.”

“Yes.”

“You are physically attracted to Riley.”

His hesitation is shorter this time. “Yes.”

“The reason you think you can’t be with both of them is due to a societal morae that is unsubstantiated and unsupported by any biological imperatives.”

Farkle has no immediate answer for this. Their sandwiches are set down in front of them, and Maya picks the tomato out of hers while Farkle processes her last statement. He idly moves the pickle spear from the side of his plate to hers, grabbing her discarded tomato slices and adding them to his own sandwich, and they begin munching in comfortable silence as he processes her last statement.