Things You Should Know (Part 4)

Things You Should Know (Part 4)

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I sent the first text as we turned down the alley.

Open the Window

“Did you figure out what you’re going to say yet?” I looked over at Lucas who was standing under the bottom of the ladder cracking his knuckles.

He returned my look with a shrug. “No idea.” He licked his bottom lip and grimaced. “You figure out how to untie my hands?”

“Nope, not yet.”

“Great.” He sighed heavily. “I see this going really well.” He ground his teeth together and shook his head at me before he pulled down the bottom of the ladder and then drew himself up.

“Me too.” I grinned up at him as he stopped to look down at me.

“Dire. That’s the word you used earlier right?”

“Yes. We wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think it was.” I assured him.

“What do they say, desperate times call for desperate measures?”

“I have heard that said a time or two.”

“OK, remember that. You said to convince her.” He started climbing again.

My phone signaled an incoming text.

You’re on your way back up?

“What are you thinking? All of a sudden, I’m not crazy about the look on your face.” It was determined, I decided after a moment. He looked determined.

I replied to Riley.

Open the window and let him in Riley.

“I’m thinking that sometimes, spoked horses just don’t listen.”

HIM? Her response was immediate this time.

“What does that mean? Spooked horses don’t listen?”

“It means I’ve got to try a different approach.” He replied.

. “Yes, but what does that mean, Lucas? Sometimes spooked horses just don’t listen? What does that mean?”

”Just what it sounds like. Sometimes horses get spooked. And even if they know you, even if they trust you, they get spooked and sometimes they are so spooked, they just don’t listen.”

”So what do you do when they don’t listen?”

”What you have to, to get their attention, to keep them safe.”

”I don’t think I like the sound of that!”

”You said dire. Your word, not mine. Maybe she’ll listen.”

Lucas was already past the first landing and more than halfway up to Riley’s when she appeared hanging over the railing to look down at us. If at all possible her messy pony tail was messier then when I had left earlier, half of it wasn’t even in the band anymore and it all fell forward into her face as she looked down at me. She had changed since I had left too, into what I had come to believe was her favorite pair of pajamas. The pants were purple with those bunnies from the TV show she liked to watch and she had on a gray tank top trimmed in the same color purple.

“What’s going on Farkle?” she asked me coldly not looking at Lucas at all. She shot that mean intimidating stare at me that always made me want to take a few steps back.

“Friar here has something to say and you are going to listen.” I informed her folding my arms across my chest glad I was a couple of stories removed from that glare.

“There isn’t anything he could say that I am willing to listen to right now.” She struck a haughty pose, pointing her nose in the air and turning away from me.

“Too bad, he’s not leaving until you do, so turn around and get it over with.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head. She continued to stare pointedly away from me as Lucas reached the top of the ladder. “Riley, I am too tired to play this game with you tonight. It’s been a shitty day, it’s getting late and my hand really freaking hurts. Please just turn around and talk to him.”

“Why does your hand hurt?” She spun back around to look at me but I saw the instant Lucas caught her attention instead. He hadn’t even climbed onto her landing yet. He had stopped at the top of the ladder, hands on the railing on either side of him. Her face clouded with concern and she was on her knees in front of him cradling his face in her hands before I could blink. “What happened?” She asked tilting his face to look at his eye. His hands came down to rest on the landing beside her legs. “Zay said he took you to the gym. This doesn’t look like Zay took you to the gym! Where did you go after that?”

“I hit him!’ I called up to her.

“I deserved it.” Lucas told her at the same time wincing as her thumb grazed the corner of his eye.

“You did this?” She shot a quick incredulous look at me before turning to study Lucas’ face again.

“He earned it.” I assured her as she started to catalogue his injuries out loud to me.

“His eye is swollen shut!” She exclaimed.

“He’ll live.” I told her and leaned up against the wall.

“His nose is bloody.” She was dabbing at that streak of blood across his check we hadn’t bothered to clean off.

“Not anymore. It stopped.” I more than half expected her to lick her thumb and wipe it away. She didn’t. She pulled tissue out of her pocket for the job.

“How many times did you hit him? Farkle, you split his lip!”

I watched Lucas flinch as she prodded it with her thumb and grasp at her knees to keep his balance.

“So kiss it and make it better.” The words were out of my mouth before I had even thought to say them. I wasn’t even quite sure where they came from.

I nearly smiled as three wide eyes fell on me. They mirrored each other exactly, shocked eyes and open mouths. Their shoulders had dropped at exactly the same time and exactly the same angle. They turned their heads at the same speed. They were totally in sync. How could two people be so attuned to each other and not know it?

“You heard me, Riley,” I warned as they continued to stare at me. “I am tired of this ridiculous farce! It’s making all of us insane. This triangle is making ALL of us do and say things we would never dream of doing. You slapped me! He yelled at you! Look at what I did to his face! I’m not even in it! And I don’t even know where to begin with Maya. This is not who we are. It ends tonight. It’s over. Done. Kiss it and make it better so we can all move on.”

“What are we three? That doesn’t even work on Auggie anymore.” She declared sinking back onto her heels and crossing her arms over her chest. “I am not going to kiss it and make it better. We can’t just kiss our boo-boos and make them go away.”

“Fine!” I sighed heavily. “Send him back down to me then. You know what? I like that idea even better anyway. Send him back down so I can hit him again. I really enjoyed it.” I gave her my best crazy voice.

“Be serious, Farkle.” She scolded.

“I am serious! Kiss it and make it better or send him back to me so I can punch him again. I’m sure there are more punches he hasn’t taught me yet.”

“You taught him how to do this!” She cried turning back to Lucas.

He shrugged at her. “He was pretty angry. He had a really bad day. He needed to let it out. And honestly, you know I earned it today. He’s blood thirsty Riley. Just do what he wants and get it over with.” His voice was so full of resignation at the end that I almost felt sorry for him.

She ran her tongue around her teeth looking back and forth between the two of us weighing her options. She finally raised a triumphant eyebrow at me and straightened up on her knees again. She took Lucas’s face in her hands and stared him down. “I’m mad at you.” She said simply.

“You should be. I’ve been an ass, a blind ass, and not just today. I don’t feel like myself. I’m not myself. I don’t even know where to begin to apologize. I’m sorry.” He lifted a shoulder at her.

She looked him over for another minute before she spoke. “You were an ass today. I can agree with that.” She tilted his face then and leaned over to press her lips against his eye. She pulled back and arched that eyebrow at him. “Better?” she asked dropping her hands away from his face.

Lucas shook his head slowly. “Not better.”

“That’s not what I meant Riley.” I called up to her.

“You weren’t specific.” Riley’s voice trailed off and she tilted her head slightly to the side. Her eyes widened as she focused on Lucas. I realized then he was speaking. I couldn’t hear what he was saying but his lips were moving and Riley was definitely listening to him. She shook her head no at him slowly as if in disbelief.

Lucas reached out with his right hand and gently laid his fingertips on her chest just above the band of her tank top. She started as if he had physically shocked her and blinked at him as he continued to speak.

What the heck was he doing? I cocked my head just like Riley trying to figure out what was going on. What kind of approach was this? Then he blew my mind.

He leaned over and pressed his lips against her chest right beside his fingers and he left them there. Her entire body quivered as she gasped loud enough for me to hear on the ground.  And then I understood.

Kiss it and make it better.

He was fixing her heart.

“Huh.” I murmured quietly to myself. Lucas Friar was full of surprises. I forgot that sometimes. His brain may not work the same way as mine did, but he was brilliant in his own right. He’d taken a glib remark that had come out of my mouth randomly and run with it. He thought on his feet. It was a gift not many people had.

Lucas eased back then looking up into her face. He shook his head slowly, saying something else and took her face in his hands. He wiped tears away with his thumbs that I hadn’t even realized she had begun to shed until he did. He pushed up on his toes and pulled her face closer to his own. He kissed her eyes each in turn and then pressed another kiss against her forehead.

Lucas must have been saying something again because Riley nodded. He pulled back away from her and came down off his toes. He dropped his forehead onto her shoulder and rested it there. I watched as he took a deep breath and his shoulders shook much like Riley’s had. Riley’s hand came up to rest against the back of his head and she pressed a kiss into his hair.

As I watched his shoulders shake again on his next breath, I felt a jolt of recognition tingle in my stomach. I felt my own eyes fill and that telltale burning in the back of my throat and I knew this was not the place for me to be anymore. I pushed myself off the wall and raised my hand in salute, looking to catch Riley’s attention. Her eyes flashed towards me and she gave a quick nod.

I hadn’t even turned fully around to leave before his voice stopped me.

“Hold on Farkle, I just need a second. You’re not done here yet.” His voice was thicker than normal and when I looked up he was holding his palm out to me even though he only had eyes for Riley.

I eased back onto the wall again and tried not to watch in avid fascination as Riley repeated the process he had gone through just a few minutes before. She held his face between her hands, wiped his cheeks with her thumbs and kissed each of his eyes in turn before resting her forehead against his. She was talking now, lowly so I couldn’t hear. His shoulders shook again and this time I realized it was with laughter.

He pulled away from her, placing his hands on her shoulders and spoke again. She replied and he threw his head back with a bark of laughter before dropping his forehead onto her shoulder again, shaking with mirth. She laid her cheek against his head for just a moment and then worked her fingers into his hair, tugging on it to get his attention. “Farkle.” She reminded him loudly enough for me to hear.

Lucas slowly pulled away from her, dropping one hand to her knee. He laid the other full against her chest this time, palm pressed to her heart and spoke directly at her again.

“Better, Riley? I’m not better if you’re not.”

She nodded.

“He needs to hear you, Riley.” He nodded his head in my direction. “He worries about you. He’s a good friend to me Riley, but he would do anything for you.”

She gave him a watery smile. “Including punching you.” She trailed one knuckle down the side of his face.

“He enjoyed THAT very much.” I called from the ground.

“Yeah, we may have created a monster. He wants to go to the gym with me and Zay tomorrow.”

She giggled and turned her watery smile on me then. “I’m better. Thank you, Farkle.”

I could see in an instant that she was. Even though she was three stories above me, I could see it from the ground in her eyes. It was back.

The beacon.

She could have been a lighthouse she was shining so brightly. Add magician to Lucas Friar’s bag of tricks. He could weave magic with his words. Or maybe his lips had done the trick? The hand on her heart? I wasn’t sure. Maybe it was a combination of all of it. It was a mystery to me. But it had worked for Riley, whatever it was. It really was time for me to go now. I should have left the second he touched her but I had been too enthralled.

I smiled up at Riley and took a step backwards away from them. “If you guys can’t handle this from here, I wash my hands of both of you. Lucas remember what I said about naturally assuming things?”

“Yes, don’t. Mutual understanding. Something we both agree to.” He smiled at me as well.

“Exactly. Riley,” I looked at her taking a few more steps backwards. “Let me know when I need to hit him again.”

“You won’t. You can teach me how.” She promised on another smile.

“Will do.” I turned laughing and started down the alley.

I was about halfway down the alley when my thoughts drifted to Maya and I turned back to them. They were exactly as I’d left them, his hand on her heart, her fingers wrapped around the hand on her knee, staring at each other.

“Guys!” I yelled to get their attention completely disregarding that it was well after 9 at night.

“Farkle?” They both turned and called to me at the same time doing the in sync thing again.

“Intervention on The Other One tomorrow. So think about it, when you’re done with..” I waved my hand up and down at them.

Lucas nodded at me while Riley cocked her head in confusion.

“What’s the other one?”

“I got it Farkle, it’s on the list anyway.” Lucas waved me away.

“The list?” Riley questioned.

“Of things we’re discussing before I leave.”

“Is it long?”

“What do you think?”

“That you should talk quick, it’s almost 10 o’clock.”

I could see his grin from more than halfway down the alley. Didn’t his lip hurt?

“Riley?” I called to her.

“Yeah?” She hollered back.

“He’s wearing shower shoes, let him the rest of the way up before he hurts himself.”

“OK.” She nodded and stood to let him up.

“And Riley?” I called again backing towards the main street.

“Yeah, Farkle?” She called leaning over the railing as Lucas climbed up to stand beside her.

“You’ve got until Perry and 4th before I tell your father to bring you ice. Make your 5 minutes count.”

“Call your girlfriend instead.” Lucas suggested playing with Riley’s messy pony tail. “Wait ‘til you get home to text him. I don’t need ice that badly.”

“It’s your face. Make the most of your 10 minutes then.” I saluted the pair of them and turned the corner out of the alley after they waved back.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and selected Isadora’s name off the list. I smiled when I heard her voice.

“Dearest, problems with the ex-wives tonight? You’re late.”

“They’re resolving. I’ve been with Lucas. You are never going to guess what I did tonight.” I couldn’t even wait for her to guess. I just continued on. “I punched Lucas so hard that his eye swelled shut!” I couldn’t contain the excitement in my voice.

“Really? Tell me about it.”

__________________________________________________________

Please bring Riley ice. What did she do this time? My fist accidentally ran into The Freak’s face. TWICE Ouch. How’s your hand? You SHOULD be asking about his face *SHOCKED FACE EMOJI* He’s wearing shower shoes and his eye is swollen shut. Let him use the front door tonight Am I stealing his shoes again? You never should have stopped. They didn’t. Is that so? Don’t play dumb sir. You don’t fool me. HULK- remind me never to make you angry. I just saw him. I think of myself as more of a Tony Stark Brilliant Playboy Millionaire? Minus the playboy part, he’s got lots of cool toys. Aren’t you the one with 2 ex-wives and a girlfriend? Huh. I guess you’re right sir Oh Canada? (My home and native land) Hambone? Thank you My pleasure for sure One nerd to another-  did it feel as good as I think? Better The Other One? Tomorrow’s fight. With reinforcements. Sounds good. C U 2Morrow Don’t try 2 B KOOL sir. It doesn’t work for us.