Girl Meets the Mind of a Genius

Genius Meets Staying

Farkle (con)

"What?"

"Just, please, stay with me," Riley makes eye contact with me, "I know everything has been weird and I know that this might be stupid but I don't care, Farkle."

My heart starts pounding.

She grabs my hands again, "I need someone to be here for me and you're here and you're the only person who will understand. Please."

"Are you sure?" I ask quietly.

She looks down at her forearms, "I don't want to do something I'll regret. Not again."

"Okay."

"You will?"

"Of course I will."

Riley smiles for probably the first time in a while.

I wish she wasn't getting bullied. I wish she wasn't making herself suffer like she is. I wish I could make all of the pain and stress disappear.

But, despite all of that, I'm so glad I can be here to help her. I'm glad I caught onto everything and I'm able to support her.

I smile back at her, "So, what now?"

Riley's phone buzzes again and I grab it before she can.

I don't look at anything, I just turn off her phone and put it in my pocket, "This is going and staying away."

She looks doubtful for a moment but nods, "It's a Friday night, can we just relax instead of doing anything actually productive?"

"Whatever you want Riles. Your room, your rules."

She lets out a little laugh.

I miss that laugh.

She jumps up, "Wait, Farkle, you know what we never finished? New Girl!"

I smile up at her, "Riley, we started and stopped watching that four years ago. I think we got through two seasons."

"Exactly!" She reaches down for my arms and pulls me up, "Come on, I'm in between shows and apparently it's really good. You couldn't binge while you were concussed so there's no better time than now!"

"I've been able to do whatever for about two months now."

"Okay but it's been that long since we really spent time with each other so I don't care, we're doing it."

"Whatever you say." I laugh.

She looks so happy. I would do anything to make her so happy.

"Let me change and wash my face," she's running around her room like a child, "Do you need something to sleep in?"

"What do you think you could give me to sleep in? I won't exactly fit into your purple onesie."

Riley rolls her eyes, "I do have a father and he does have clothing. I thought you were supposed to be a genius."

She opens her bedroom door and disappears into the hallway.

"I would threaten to leave but I feel like that's just mean." I call out to her.

"It is." She yells back

Riley walks back in with a shirt and shorts, "Are you happy now?"

"Go change."

"I thought it was my room, my rules!" She throws the clothes at me.

I catch them and laugh, "If we want to get anywhere on this show before you pass out, you need to hurry up."

"Fine!"

She disappears into her bathroom.

I change and sit down on her bed to look around.

I have no idea what we just got ourselves into. Never in a million years would I have thought this is how this day would go.

I just have to keep calm and remember that she's dating someone. There's a boundary. It needs to be respected or Lucas will actually kill me.

I hear a door open and stand up really quickly only to see it's just Riley coming out of her bathroom.

Ever since last December, I have nightmares about Mr. Matthews walking in on me doing anything.

I stand at the side of her bed and just stare at her, "So, what should I be doing?"

She sits on her bed, "Come on, it's not like we haven't slept in the same bed before."

"Maybe when we were 11."

"Yeah, but it's not a big deal, right?"

It's a big deal. A very big deal. I already can't handle it.

"Sure, totally fine, I'm cool with it. No biggie."

Very convincing.

But then I have a very scary thought, "Your dad's not going to kill me?"

Riley sighs impatiently, "If I say no, will you stop fighting me?"

"Yes."

"Then no."

Riley flips around her TV until it gets to Netflix and she turns on the show.

I get under the covers next to her and stare at her TV screen.

I stop when there's a solid two inches between us as a boundary. 

It's like when you sleep in the same bed as a family member and you're intentionally trying to leave space between you.

Riley raises her arms up to tie her hair and her sleeves slip down

I see her arms completely exposed.

My eyes widen and my stomach drops.

It's so much worse than I remember.

Riley sees me staring and she follows my gaze to her arms, "Farkle...I'm okay."

I bite my lip because I don't want to cry. I need to be strong for her. That's why I'm still here.

"Come here"

She scooches over to me and cuddles into my arms.

I take a deep breath and calm down. 

As long as she's with me, she's safe. I need to help us get back to normal.

"What episode is this?" I ask, trying to jog my memory on this show.

"I remembered we had just finished season two that's about Cece's wedding so this is the first episode of season three!"

I don't remember who Cece is or what happened, but I'm just going to smile and nod.

That's the most ingenious thing a guy can do.

"I can tell you don't remember any of this but I don't care enough to try and catch you up so you can just ask questions while you're super confused along the way." Riley smirks.

"You aren't wrong," I nudge her, "but you'll fall asleep within about 10 minutes so I'll figure it out for myself. I should be able to do it. They say I'm a genius."

"You're lucky I love you," she wedges herself against me and relaxes.

She said that so casually, as if we were actually dating.

Maybe there's hope for me after all.

I smile and kiss the top of her head, "And I love you."