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Rings

After school, we went home to do homework before finding something else, something fun, to do. Lucas was pointing out what I did wrong on a calculus problem white Riley doodled all over her English lit essay. Josh and Zay were doing rock-paper-scissors to see who would do who's science homework. Josh won.

Farkle stuck his head in the kitchen and beckoned to me.

"Maya," he whispered, "Come on."

I quietly got up from the table and snuck behind the wall. He pulled as wine-colored velvet box out of his pocket and opened it. There was a gold band with a small diamond in it, and a gold band with a huge trillion diamond in it. It didn't take a rocket scientist like me to figure out which ring was Farkle's, and which ring was Riley's.

"Farkle!" I gasped, "They're so pretty! Riley's going to love them."

He looked nervous, "You think?"

I socked him in the shoulder, "Don't you dare tell me you're getting cold feet now, Farkle Minkus!" I said.

"No, no!" he exclaimed. I relaxed, "I just want everything to be perfect for her, you know?"

"Yeah, I do. You can't help but want everything to be perfect for Riley," I said, patting his shoulder, "It's one of the repercussions of loving someone as perfect and awesome as Riles."

He nodded, "Yeah. Exactly."

"Hey," I said, "I never asked. Do you like being a werewolf?"

He smiled slightly, "Yeah. I do. It's great. It shouldn't be possible, but it is, and it's great. It's like having brothers, even though I'm an only child. And the muscles don't hurt," he said, flexing one of his biceps.

I smiled, 'I'm glad. I love the rings. Riley will, too," I said.

"Are you sure?" he asked. He sounded wary again. Even with all of the muscles, he was still Farkle, including the awkwardness and doubt. I half expected him to pass out from shock any moment.

I nodded, "I'm sure," I said.

He hugged me quickly and then went back upstairs, probably to put the rings away. I went back into the kitchen and sat back down next to Lucas. He looked up at me and smiled, but he didn't ask where I was or what I was doing.

I touched my fingers to Lucas's cheek. His skin was warm, but not boiling hot.

"I really do love you, Lucas. You know that?" I said, tracing my fingers across his cheek, his jawline, his neck.

He grabbed my hand gently and kissed it.

"I love you, too," he said.

I kissed him quickly and went back to calculus problems.