#i was happy but also sad that i woke up. i miss my little mabel. i miss her face

[you-are-awesome42]

Return to the falls. Part 1

Hey so this is my first fan fiction. Please tell me what you think of it.

Dipper looked down at his feet. He was in shock of what he heard and refused to believe it. "H-h-how is this possible?" He picked up the phone and dialed Mabels number. "Did you hear?" He said softly. She let out a small "yes." Dipper held his phone tightly "I can't believe he's dead." Dipper said. "Ford's dead." He gazed at the wall blankly in silence until Mabel spoke "we need to go to the funeral." Dipper didn't respond but pulled out his laptop and booked his ticket. " I just booked a flight. I'm assuming you're taking a bus?" Dipper said he couldn't see her but he knew from her sigh that she was devastated from the news. "Well on the bright side we get to go back to the falls." Dipper said trying to lighten the moment. The call ended with out Mabel saying a word. Dipper was a little excited from this unfortunate event. Mostly sad but he was happy that he would be able to see Mabel , soos and obviously Wendy. He hasn't seen Mabel since left for M.I.T to study get a degree in the paranormal sciences. When he had packed his bags he told his professors that he wouldn't be in class for the next few days or possibly weeks. He knew he had to get to gravity falls as soon as possible. He got on the first flight to gravity falls.

He slept for most of the flight with images of the town in his head. Wondering what happened to all the people he had lost contact with. He woke up when the flight lannded and saw soos with a sighn with dippers name on it. "Soos? Soos is that you?" He felt a mixter of happiness and suprise. He looked older and he had lost a lot of weight. "DUDE!" He said so loud that the people around him looked over and before dipper knew it he was giving soos giving him a hug. "Dude you look so much older! I can't wait to show you how much Gravity Falls has changed." He was ecstatic to say the least he looked different but was still the same soos. Dipper let out a friendly giggle " I missed you too soos." Dipper grabbed his bags and walked out the airport with soos. Dipper was surprised to say the least at how much the town had changed. Tourism had gone up and the town had gotten a healthy amount of income. After a surprisingly long trip from the airport to the mystery shack dipper looked at soos for a moment "so you've been running the mystery shack right?" Soos looked over "oh yeah dude. It's pretty sweet." Soos was oddly calm about the situation at hand. He didn't seem sad or frustrated in fact quite the opposite really he seemed happy. "Soos are you ok?" Dipper asked worried about his friends mental state. "Never better dude." Soos said with a smile. " Oh yeah that reminds me Mabels already here. I don't know how I forgot to tell you about that. Whoops" soos said lifting his arms up. Dipper had a strange feeling about soos something felt off. It was very possible that having not seen him or the rest of Gravity Falls in 6 years could have just gotten him in an unconformable state. "So I'll help get your bags in side dude." Soos said grabbing one of dippers bags. " Oh thank you Soos" dipper said in an unconformable voice. Dipper and soos got out of the car and into the mystery shack quickly. Dipper was surprised with how little the place had changed. It was almost exactly like the last time dipper had seen the place 6 years ago. " Mable's In the kitchen." Said soos taking my bags upstairs. Dipper walked over to the kitchen taking in the nostalgia of his area. When he got to the kitchen he was surprised to find not just Mable but also Wendy. " Mable? Wendy? Is that you?" Dipper asked. Mable got up and gave dipper hug. Wendy gave dipper a hand shake and a cup of coffee. " S-so how have you two been? Dipper asked. " Well pretty good until they weren't. How about you?" Said Mable "I would say the same." Said dipper before taking a sip of coffee.

Things for Wendy weren't all that great . She had been kicked out of her house for reasons both dipper and mable did not know but she was able to get a job at the local dinner and was living in an apartment with a room mate.

Soos had entered the room and took a seat at the table. He seemed to have been gone for quite some time but dipper shrugged it off. " So dudes sorry to get heavy on you but the funeral is tommorow and is there any clothing you need washed?" Asked soos. " No thank you." Said dipper. Mable looked down and said "no"

After having many hours of small talk dipper and mable went to bed (that is of course after Wendy left.) " So soos seemed kinda strange." Said Dipper. " Yeah he did." Said Mable. " Isn't also wierd that we haven't been told how Ford died?" Exclamed dipper. " What are you trying to propose this time Dipper?" Asked a very tier d Mable. " What if just what if soos killed Ford?" Said dipper in a dead serious tone. " Go to bed." Said Mable covering her self up with a blanket. " There's not a mystery here. There's only a loss." Said Mable. Dipper layed down and thought to himself what if Mable was right?

A few hours past and Dipper couldn't sleep. What if Mable was correct ,what if there was no mystery? Then suddenly a bright light flashed and Dipper was in a different room. Dipper let out a scream and looked around the new room he was in, It was the lab. He looked over to see a shadow figure was sitting in the corner of the room. "WHO ARE YOU? WHY AM I HERE?" Yelled Dipper. " Calm down kid." Said the figure dipper thought the voice sounded familiar. " Who are you?" Dipper asked again. "Well I'll be damed." The figure said before walking into the light. " You don't know what your grunkle looks like anymore?" Said Ford.

To be continued.

So this was my first time writing a fan fic. Please tell me what you thought of it. I'll try to have part two out some time in two weeks.

Thanks for reading :D

@unoriginalandlackingworth

#gravity falls #gravity falls fanfiction #gravity falls fandom #dipper pines #mabel and dipper #fan fiction #mable pines #soos #wendy testaburger #the mystery shack

[abuziewicz]

my media use

At noon on Thursday, October 29th, I woke up. I had about two hours until I had to pick my sister up from school. I took a shower, got dressed, and went downstairs. By this point, it was around 12:30pm. I ate a bowl of cereal, picked up my phone, and laid down on the couch. When I get on my phone for the first time in a day, I check my emails and text messages first. I have emails from Venmo, Word of the Day, Postmates, and Holt International. Venmo let me know I had signed in to the app. Word of the Day gave me a fun new term: “subitaneous,” which can mean “suddenly.” I occasionally deliver food with Postmates, so they let me know what benefits they offer, such as store or entertainment discounts. Holt International is a Christian company that finds kids who are missing parents or struggling financially, and connects them with volunteers who sponsor them by sending a monthly fee over, to help them cover expenses. My parents have sponsored kids for years, and when I got my own source of income, they chose a girl in India for me to sponsor as well. Holt International sends me various promotional emails. I check my email to see if there are any coupons, or information that I need, such as paychecks. Mostly my email revolves around money, when I think about it. Sometimes I feel stressed out when I check my email, because my bank will tell me how much money I have, or I will read a subject line wrong and think I’m in trouble with a company. Usually, I just feel a sense of necessity, to see what I’m being emailed about, and to delete the emails I do not need. 

After I check my emails, I check my text messages. Most mornings this sequence is flipped, as messages are much more important in my world than emails are. However, this morning, the only text in my phone is a confirmation request for my wisdom teeth removal appointment in a week. I respond “Y” to confirm. I am a little nervous about the appointment, but I am glad it will happen so soon. 

It is now 1pm. On Monday, I had taken my one-year-old 16GB LG smartphone and factory reset it in the hopes of getting more storage and faster processing time. Unfortunately, this did not work out as well as I had hoped. While I did have more space, the “system” (undeletable, inaccessible parts of the phone) took up 9GB of my available 16, and would only increase, even after a full wipe. I click on Snapchat, take a quick close-up picture of my face, and begin to type. Any story posted to Snapchat will only last 24 hours before disappearing. There is an option for the poster to have story posts saved into their Memories, a camera roll just for Snapchat. I have a private Snapchat story, in which I control the amount of people who see what I specifically post in that area. In this story, I have about 30-33 viewers. I ask such viewers, over top of the close-up selfie, “Anyone with Apple iPhones: what is your storage like? I am thinking of converting.” After it successfully adds to my story, I am on the Snapchat “Chat” screen. I have “streaks” (numbers that indicate the number of days two people have sent each other Snaps back and forth for) with eleven people. I send, one by one, a different picture to each of the eleven people. When I first downloaded Snapchat, I had over two dozen, maybe even three dozen streaks. Some people have hundreds. Often, people take one single picture, indicate in some way that the image is being sent to maintain the Streak number, and send it to everyone they keep a streak with. I have eleven people I send streaks to. It is no great hassle for me to send a different picture to each person. In fact, I prefer it, as it takes up more time. Most people take a little while to respond anyways. I dislike when people respond to my Snapchats within seconds, it is stressful to me! “Don’t you have anything else going on?” I wonder. “I understand that it’s a pandemic, but do some homework or something. I only snapped you twenty seconds ago.” Once I have sent all of my streaks for the day, I scroll over to see what other people have put on their stories. I usually only have around 50 stories to go through each day. I pay a little more attention to some, a little less attention to others. It is pretty easy to skip quickly from one story to the next if I want, but it’s only 1:20, so I have time to look at each one. There are Friday fundraisers, one of my sister’s friends had an emergency appendectomy (thankfully she was fine, and excited to watch Impractical Jokers in the hospital), some people had work pictures or puppies in beds. Most of the stories make me smile, a few don’t elicit much of a response or thought besides “oh, that’s nice.” Usually Snapchat does not bring me negativity that I am aware of. Sometimes I worry for people, in the event of, oh, a hypothetical emergency appendectomy, or when someone is sad or worried. One person makes me frustrated sometimes, as they routinely ask people for money for rent and food, then use that money to get tattoos. They tell people they used their money to get a tattoo, not food or rent. Lately they have not posted any requests, but the next time they do, I will most likely block them. Mostly, I am happy to use Snapchat to see what my friends are up to, even if I can’t see them very often.

After scrolling through Snapchat, it’s around 1:40. I open the Instagram app. I talk to a few friends through Instagram direct messaging. I am actually not sure why that is our main form of communication, but I do not mind it. My friend Russell has answered my Snapchat story through Instagram. He has an older iPhone, but as long as he doesn’t update it, it doesn’t get any slower. We discuss other aspects of the iPhone. I am thoughtful about it. Another friend and I get into a small argument- we have both been busy, and were worried that we were growing apart. I am slightly annoyed, then understanding and calm. A group chat I am in, called The Rats, is sending pictures of baby opossums. They are adorable and their mouths open at a full 45-degree angle. The possums make me smile. Returning to the Instagram home page, I can see posts made by people I follow. I like nearly every post I see as I scroll down. Mostly I follow people I know, and a few brands. It takes only a minute or two to like everything and return to the top of the page. Similar to Snapchat, I take care of business, then move on to stories. I pay very little attention to Instagram stories. Even though I don’t follow a lot of brands, some of the people I follow post dozens of stories in a row. I have to click through them rapidly. Sometimes it makes me feel anxious to move so quickly. Usually, if someone repeatedly posts too much, I “mute” them, which means I do not have to see their story anymore unless I actively choose to. Sometimes, I forget, and am left tapping tensely through the tags. As I finish going through stories, my mom walks in the door. It’s 1:50pm.

My sister goes to a technical school 15 minutes away. She has to be picked up around 2:15pm. My mom puts down some bags from errands she’s run, grabs some water, and asks if my brother and I want to join her to pick up my sister. My brother is in the middle of an XBox match, but the dog and I love car rides, and joyfully accompany her. She asks me to turn on my Halloween playlist as we drive. Around 1:55pm, I connect to the car’s aux cord, and pull up Spotify. As we drive, I fiddle with the Spotify songs- even though I made the playlist, there are some songs I prefer to hear over others. I also occasionally respond to messages about iPhone storage. Each one convinces me a little more, bit by bit. I am on my phone for about seven of the fifteen minutes that we drive to the school. As we wait in the parking lot, I text a little more. We were in the parking lot for about fifteen minutes- my sister forgot her iPad in her classroom and had to go back for it. I am on my phone for about nine of those fifteen minutes. When my sister gets back again, we head towards home. Beggar’s Night is going on at 6pm. It is around 2:30pm. My sister and I are going to dress up as Dipper and Mabel from Gravity Falls for when we ladle out candy. My sister and the dog are dropped off at home so that she can finish her costume and he can run around the backyard. My mom and I go to Walmart to pick up candy. We do not usually allow ourselves to pick up candy until very shortly before Beggar’s Night, as we will eat it. Even less than four hours was not enough time to exercise self-control, as each member of the family stole a few pieces. I am not on my phone for most of the Walmart trip. We are only there for around twenty minutes, weighing the prices and candy amounts of each package. After paying and driving home, we get in the door around 3pm.

I get on my laptop to check my CState email and Blackboard. I have no due assignments for the night, but I check to make sure I haven’t forgotten something. This takes around five minutes. I begin to finish my Dipper costume (painting a white ball cap partially blue), periodically answering more iPhone suggestions, and responding to regular messages. The hours of 3pm, 4pm, and 5pm consist of texting, painting, and briefly eating. I spend about one & a half of the three hours texting. I can’t easily text while I paint, but I perform both tasks alternatively while I wait for the paint to dry or people to respond. When it hits 6pm, we are ready for Beggar’s Night. We have masks on, a long ladle to scoop candy into bags, and cover from the garage to protect us from rain. Over the course of the two hours, we only get about a dozen kids, maybe fifteen at the most. My mom scoops generously, since she knows anything left over won’t last until 9pm under our roof. People are grateful and talkative. I am on my phone only once during Trick or Treat, and only for five minutes, to upload a Snaochat story of my sister and I as Dipper and Mabel, and of course, send a couple of texts. After Trick or Treat is finished, we are all cold, and left with about 10 of the 255 candy pieces. We settle down in front of the TV.

It is now around 8pm. We watch TV together nearly every night as a family, usually for at least an hour. In celebration of October and Halloween, we have started to rewatch Stranger Things. Other shows we may watch include New Girl, My Name is Earl, Bob’s Burgers, The Good Place, and The Legend of Korra. Sometimes we’ll throw in a movie if we have enough time. Usually we watch three or four episodes per night- one episode from one show, then moving on to one episode of a different show. I love all of these shows fairly equally, though I can confidently say The Legend of Korra is my least favorite. I still enjoy it! In comparison, though, I enjoy it less than the others. We watch shows that usually include comedy, to end our days with a collective laugh. Tonight, we watch New Girl, then Stranger Things, followed by My Name is Earl and tying up the night with Bob’s Burgers. We only have two episodes left of The Good Place, so we have been putting off watching it. I am mostly finished texting for the day. Before 10pm, I send goodnight messages and plug my phone in to charge. The end credits of Bob’s Burgers mark the end of my day.

[seriestrash]

The Story of Us

PROLOGUE || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 9 ||

Chapter Ten: Re-do-eo

Word Count: 4629

✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮

Riley crashed quite quickly after her talk with Lucas at the inn. All her emotions drained her, making sleep a welcomed guest. The following morning Riley wakes, not from the sunshine beaming through her balcony doors but rather the loud ringing of her phone. A sleepy Riley rolls over thinking it’s her alarm and she fumbles around groggily in attempt to silence it but when the brunette becomes a little more alert she realises its a call and not of the wake up variety. 

“Hello?” Sluggishly, she answers. 

“Riley, are you alright?” Topanga’s voice panics on the other end. 

“Yeah, I just woke up.” Riley yawns as she sits up. 

“Did she answer?” Cory could be heard at a lesser volume in the background. 

“Yes, she answered.” Topanga replies to her husband. “Never do that again, Riley!” 

“I already apologised,” Riley holds in the sigh. “I’m sorry and when I come home for real I’ll work at the bakery until I can pay you back for the plane tickets I wasted.” 

“It has nothing to do with the money.” Topanga states. “You scared us. The airline called to say you missed your flight but my father said he watched you get on the bus. We had no idea what happened to you.” 

“I’m really sorry, mom.” Riley says more genuinely. “I didn’t think of it like that.” 

“That’s alright,” Topanga softens, “I’m sorry that your father and I yelled yesterday. Our fears crossed over into anger very quickly.” 

“Are you still mad at me?” Riley asks sheepishly. 

“No honey,” Topanga says, “Just worried. Why did you change your mind about coming home?” 

“Charlie and I broke up, then Maya and I had a fight.” Riley is surprisingly forthcoming with the truth. 

“Are you alright?” Topanga questions. 

“I think I will be and I think that depends on my stay here.” Riley answers.

“It sounds like you like it there..” Topanga is quiet. 

“I do.” Riley says softly. 

“Well, we miss you here.” Topanga states. 

“I miss you too.” Riley’s smile is small. 

The conversation wraps up soon after. Now fully awake Riley swings her legs from out under the covers and decides to get ready. The New Yorker had a brief chat with Jedediah before showering and getting dressed. Riley also texted Lucas to confirm she could get a lift to the rodeo and also to check that Mabel was indeed coming along too. 

After slipping on the brown cowgirl boots she 'forgot’ to return to Mabel, Riley makes her way downstairs. 

“I woke up early and I’m still running late.” Riley chuckles as she quickly jogs down each step.

Jed is standing in he living room with a cup of coffee in hand. “It sounds like they’re only just getting ready to go next door.” Riley knew he was right, even she could hear them all buzzing about out front. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come along today?” Riley asks Jedediah, “I’m sure there’s space in someone’s car if you don’t want to drive.”

“Thank you, but I have a few things to do today.” Jed smiles.

“Okay, well I should probably go,” Riley bounces on her toes as she’s in a rush. “I assume everyone will be doing some sort of celebration after so I might not be back until late.”

“I’ll leave the front porch light on.” Jed says.

“Thanks grandpa, I’ll see you when I get back.” Riley says as she heads for the door. It was a natural slip, grandpa, Riley didn’t even catch it, but Jed’s mouth curls into a warm smile, “I’ll see you later, Riley.”

The brunette quickly makes her way outside and spots Lucas, the twins, Zay, Jacob, Annabeth and Mr. and Mrs. Friar all hovering by the cars. 

“There she is!” Tristan calls out loudly as Riley approaches. 

“Not so loud.” Thomas groans beside him. Clearly one twin was bouncing back after the party quicker than the other. 

“Glad to hear you’re staying a little while longer.” Cassidy greets Riley with a warm hug, it was nice but it made Riley miss her own mom. 

“I couldn’t miss this superstar do his thing today.” Riley jokes as she points a thumb back to Lucas.

Cassidy responds with a frown. Jacob shakes his head and soothingly pats his mothers back. “There’s still time, Ma, don’t worry.” 

Riley turns back towards the other four boys. Lucas is closest to her but before he could get a word in he’s pushed to the side. “Riley!” Tristan greets her with a hug. “I’m glad you’re here- Well, sad if you’re sad, but selfishly happy...” 

She gives Lucas a small smile knowing he was interrupted but turns back to Tristan quickly. “I’m happy to be here.” Riley grins. She figured Lucas would have filled them in on what happened, the exact details he shared, she wasn’t sure but she knew they would have pried some sort of an answer out of him. This made it easier for Riley, to not have to explain herself. 

“We should probably hit the road.” Zay yawns as he jiggles the keys in front of himself. 

“Yeah and I’ll drive.” Lucas reaches out and grabs the keys. 

“Hey!” Zay whines. 

“I was the only sober one last night so I think it’s a fair call.” Lucas chuckles. 

“Fine, but I call shotgun.” Zay proceeds to let himself into the passenger seat of the car. 

“It’s good to have you back.” Thomas greets Riley as if it’s a delayed reaction.

Once everyone piles into the car, Riley ends up in the back seat wedged between the twins. 

“Wait, how is Mabel going to fit in the car?” Riley calls out as they go down the street. Thomas snuffles beside Riley, he sits up straighter. It was as if he didn’t care if people knew about his feelings or not. 

“Well, you sort of took her seat.” Tristan jokingly pokes. 

“No,” Riley frowns. “I could ride with Cassidy in the other car..” 

“Calm down, Sugar.” Zay says without even turning around. “Mabel is small, she can just squeeze in the back with you.” 

Lucas pulls up out front of Mabel’s house. “Okay, Tommy go ring the bell and let Mabel know we’re here.” 

Thomas shoots his cousin a glare for singling him out be he does just as Lucas says. Riley watches through the open car window as Mabel nervously exits her home and begins to walk with Thomas. Riley figures Mabel tried really hard to get out of a day with just the guys but knows they wouldn't have let her. 

Mabel is halfway down the path when her whole demeanour changes and her face lights up. “Riley?” 

“Surprise!” Riley hangs her head out the window. 

Mabel is cooing her pleasant surprise but also confused questions as she hugs Riley through the window. “Yay, but why aren't you in New York?” 

“Long story but I’ll explain later, okay?” Riley doesn’t want to go through it all again with everyone in the car but she did want to tell Mabel about it. 

“Okay,” Mabel nods. 

Once everyone was in the car again it took a moment to work out the logistics of the seating arrangement. Firstly, they tried just all sitting beside each other, it was a tight fit but Riley couldn’t work the seatbelt around both her and Mabel so the brunette ended up with the shyer girl on her lap and the belt awkwardly but efficiently across them both. They didn’t have too far to drive out of town but some anxiety over her friends safety flared up in Riley in the meantime. 

Everyone arrived at the rodeo in one piece and Riley instantly calms down. She cranes her neck as she tries to take in all of her surroundings at once.

“There you are!” Cassidy’s voice causes Riley to stop her eye wandering. The brunette spots Cassidy and her carful of people, along with Pappy Joe, her English teacher and Lucas’ Aunt, Abbey whom is standing with a man Riley presumes to be the twins father, Caleb. 

“We got held up Mabel’s,” Lucas explains. 

“Well you’re here now.” Cassidy hugs her son tightly. 

“Mom.” Lucas mumbles and eventually she lets go. 

“You should probably get yourself signed in, boy.” Pappy Joe says enthusiastically to Lucas. Riley notices he’s probably the only person that’s treated the rodeo this way other than herself. Everyone had been so negative or spent a great deal of time and effort tying to convince Lucas to not go through with it. 

“Okay,” Lucas nods with a deep breath. Lucas disappears off with his grandfather. 

Riley turns to Mabel and links their arms together. “Since this is actually my first rodeo, don’t leave me okay?” Riley chuckles nervously. 

“You got it.” Mabel grins. 

Zay can be heard off to the side, “I wonder if Vanessa will be here today.” 

Thomas can be heard groaning in response. “Where the hell did Tristan disappear?”

“You hungry?” Mabel questions, ignoring everyone but the two of them. 

“Starving!” Riley admits. 

The two girls peel away from the group to settle their grumbling stomachs. That and Mabel was dying to know exactly why Riley isn’t in New York. After filling their bellies with things not deemed appropriate for breakfast and Mabel’s mind with knowledge of why Riley stayed, the two girls get up from the grassy step they sat on and wander over to the array of tents in search of the others. 

“There’s plenty of funny smells in the city but none quite like this.” Riley crinkles her nose as they walk. 

“That would be the sweet smell of horse manure.” Mabel jokes. Just as she says that the two girls walk out from behind a trailer, they come across two horses secured to the side, both grazing in the grass. 

Riley steps closer, not minding the smell so much anymore. 

“You look like you’ve never seen a horse before.” Mabel laughs softly. 

“I’ve seen them.” Riley shoots her a playful glare. “Just not like this.” 

“Like, alive?” Mabel raises a brow. 

“Where do you suppose I see... dead...” Riley whispers the last word. “... Horses?” 

“I don’t know.” Mabel is cutely defensive. “What do you mean ‘not like this’?”

“Like up close... I don’t know.” Riley shakes her head, embarrassed. 

“I guess I forget how different our lives were growing up sometimes.” Mabel softens.  

“Have either of you seen Tris?” Thomas sneaks up behind the girls. 

“Not since the car ride,” Riley shakes her head. “Is he with Zay?” 

“No, I lost Zay to Vanessa twenty minutes ago.” Thomas rolls his eyes.

“You’re not big on the hopeless romantic types?” Riley playfully questions. 

“It’s not that, it’s just that I’ve been here a dozen times before with Zay. He goes back to New York tomorrow.” Thomas frowns. “Zay has a lot of feelings and breaking up with Vanessa is the worst.” 

Riley nods. “Have you seen Lucas?” As much as she wanted to stick with Mabel and talk through the previous days event with her, Riley did really want to spend time with Lucas before he entered the arena. 

“Pappy Joe is showing him off to all his friends, like Lucas has already won..” Thomas wears a small grimace. 

The three head into the main food and beverage tent in search of missing members of their group. Unfamiliar faces filled the room. Riley’s attention is drawn to a television screen displayed by the tents entrance. A live feed of the events taking place outside. Riley watches as a complete stranger rides a bull and it viciously thrashes about. Suddenly the reality of today hits Riley. 

“That’s what Lucas is going to do?” Riley gulps. 

“Yeah but that bull is considered ‘gentle’ compared to Tombstone.” Thomas shivers. “You still want him to go out there?” 

“If it’s what Lucas wants.” Riley nods. Her gaze flicks back up to the screen when she hears Lucas’ name being mentioned. The commentator was saying that this would be the first time in four years that someone would try take on Tombstone. 

“The time to beat is three seconds.” The commentator says. 

“Three seconds. That’s easy right?” Riley asks for reassurance. 

“Sure.” Mabel says unconvincingly. 

A clip of the record holder plays on the screen. He badly gets thrown to the ground causing Riley to wince. “Can Lucas Friar beat his big brothers record and walk away the new champion of Tombstone?” 

“Hold on,” Riley turns directly to Thomas. “Jacob is the record holder?” 

“Yes.” Thomas rubs at his neck like this is a conversation he wanted to avoid. 

“Why did I not know that?” Riley asks. “Did you know that?” She turns to Mabel. 

“No.. Yes, I didn’t really think about it.” Mabel stutters. “That was four years ago.” 

“Lucas hates being compared to his brother so we agreed not to bring it up.” Thomas calls Riley’s attention again. “But at least now you see why we’ve all been so stressed about Lucas taking on the same challenge.” 

Obnoxious laughter flows into the tent halting all conversation. Simultaneously the three teens spot the rival group of boys that Riley has come to dislike as they seem to instigate and prolong most of the bad blood between ‘The Rat pack’ and their group. There’s only two of the three present. 

“I’m too hungover to deal with this bull.” Thomas mutters to himself. 

“Where’s Lucas?” Miles asks he approaches with Nathan. “He chicken out last minute?” 

“Maybe we’ll have to drop the ‘baa’s’ for clucks.” Nathan snorts.

“Or maybe he will ride the bull and just die after one second.” Miles coaxes his head. 

“Just because we haven't physically fought in two years doesn’t mean I’m above it.” Thomas clenches his jaw as he takes a step towards them. 

“Remember why we’re here.” Mabel jumps forward and surprises both herself and Thomas when she lightly grips his wrist. “You can’t support Lucas if you get kicked out.” 

“Right.” Thomas meets her gaze and instantly melts. Mabel drops her hand nervously and steps back towards Riley. “You talk a lot of crap for someone who stopped rodeos a year after Lucas.” Thomas is calm but packs his tone with as much sting as he could. “I don’t see you signing up to ride Tombstone.” 

Clearly defeated Miles and Nathan scurry off to lick their wounds. 

“Seriously where is Tris?” Thomas groans, he wished his twin was there to witness his verbal victory. All Riley offers up is a slight shrug. 

“They may have been asses about it but they have a point.” Jacob says. With the commotion Riley hadn’t even noticed him enter the tent.

“I don’t agree with a single word they said.” Riley folds her arms. Jacob lightly tugs at Riley’s elbow and pulls her aside from the rest of the group. 

“You’re really okay with Lucas doing this, riding Tombstone?” Jacob gave her a look like he was surprised by her behaviour. 

“Lucas wants to do it. Why is it a bad thing that I’m supporting him?” Riley crinkles her brows. “You’ve done it before. You hold the record.”  

“Yeah and along with the record, I broke my wrist and three ribs!” Jacob was a little more worked up. “I didn’t come here to watch the same thing happen to my little brother. I came here to try and talk him out of it!”

“He’s not going to listen.” Riley tried her best to not come across as argumentative. 

“I know. He’s had this thing since he was little with trying to better me which means he won't listen when I say I’m asking him not to do it because I love him.” Jacob sighs. 

“That’s not at all what this is.” Riley says but Jacob doesn’t hear her. 

“Doesn’t matter if it comes from me, my parents or his friends. He’s not going to listen.” Jacob looks Riley directly in the eyes before speaking again. “But, I think he’ll listen if it comes from you.”

“Jacob, that’s really sweet that you think so but you’re wrong.” Riley shakes her head. 

“He likes you, Riley, he listens to you.” Jacob softens, “Please?” 

“Then I hope he hears me when I say that I believe he can do this.” Riley holds Jacobs pleading gaze. 

“Thank you, Riley.” Lucas surfaces out of nowhere having heard the end of their conversation. Zay and Pappy Joe are with him. 

“Lucas, you can’t do this!” Jacob pleas.

“He’s right, Luke, you don’t have to do this…” Zay backs up Jacob. 

“Let the boy do it,” Pappy Joe says, “Make this family proud.”

“I have to.” Lucas nods in agreement.  “This whole town thinks I’m a loser, so it’s time to prove them wrong.”

“No.” Riley says quietly, like it was meant only for her ears but the surrounding group turn their attention to her. 

“I thought you were on my side?” Lucas deflates. “I thought you weren't going to talk me out of it.” 

“I am on your side completely.” Riley says calmly. “But I won't stand here and let you speak about yourself that way.” Riley takes a few steps towards Lucas. The group of Lucas’ family and friends stand close by listening. “La perception du? do-” Riley struggles to remember the French quote. 

“La perception d'une chose ne le rend pas tellement.” Pappy Joe says it softly like an old memory that quickly floods to the front of his mind.

“The perception of a thing doesn’t make it so.” Riley translates. “If you let someone say who you are then you certainly won’t end up being who you were meant to be.” Riley continues to quote Lucas. “The town doesn’t think you’re a loser, you think you’re a loser.” Riley gently pokes at his chest. “You’re riding Tombstone, not for them, or your family, or even because I said so. You’re riding Tombstone to prove something to yourself and that’s okay. Sometimes we need  to go through these obstacles to discover something about ourselves.” 

“Calling Lucas Friar to the arena.” The commentators voice buzzes through the tent. 

“So go out there and be the hero I know you are.” Riley smiles softly. “And maybe afterwards you’ll see yourself the same way.” 

“Thank you, Riley.” Lucas nods as if to affirm her pep talk was sufficient when in actuality it was so much more than that. 

With no more time left to spare the group head towards the arena. The other missing family members all gather by the surrounding railing. Before Lucas parts with them to approach Tombstone he quietly stops.

“Hey Riley?” He asks softly. She pauses and holds his stare. “Maybe some peoples perception of you do matter.” 

Riley bows her head with a smile and the two part. Riley makes her way over to the group and climbs up a few pegs on the metal fence beside Mabel. Lucas gets into position, Riley’s heart is picking up pace and her hands feel clammy as she grips the fence for support. There’s a bang and the gate opens, Tombstone bucks his way into the arena with Lucas on his back being thrashed around. Riley holds her breath like she’s watching it all unfold in slow motion and suddenly Lucas is bucked off and crashes into the ground. A thoughtless natural reaction Riley wants to jump in and see if he’s okay but she feels Zay grip her shirt. He waits a until it’s safe before letting her go over, the rest of their group following. Lucas sits up a little dazed but ultimately okay and Riley felt like she could breathe again. 

They stayed at the rodeo till the late afternoon and followed it with a celebratory dinner at Chubbies. Lucas was busy being paraded around as the champion, so much so that Riley didn’t get a chance to speak to him at all. She didn’t mind too much because he looked so happy. Instead she got to hang around with Mabel for most of the day which Riley didn’t mind at all. 

As the large group were wrapping up at Chubbies and preparing themselves to leave it’s Pappy Joe whom suggests the teenagers use his fire pit to hang out a little while longer. Excited for this, Riley quickly heads to use the bathroom before they leave but she stops dead in her tracks when she stumbles upon Tristan. The softer looking twin was mid make out session with someone whom came as a surprise to Riley. Eli, one of Miles’ friends. 

“Oh my, I’m sorry!” Riley blurts out once she startled them. 

“Riley, this isn’t what it looks like.” Tristan throws his hands up defensively and Eli sheepishly leaves them alone. 

“Is this why you’ve been acting so strange?” Riley questions, “Why you keep disappearing all the time?” 

“Okay maybe it’s exactly what it looks like...” Tristan chuckles nervously. “Please don’t tell the guys.” 

“I won't share anything you don’t want me to, I just don't understand why this is such a big deal.” 

“You know how they feel about Eli, Miles and Nathan.” Tristan frowns. 

“Obviously you feel differently about Eli,” Riley says bashfully. 

“He’s not like them, he just hangs around with them because it’s been that way since they were little.” Tristan defends Eli. 

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me. Ever.” Riley shakes her head. “All I want and I’m sure it’s the same for the guys, is for you to be happy.” 

“Thanks, Riley.” Tristan wears a small smile. 

“Everyone is thinking of leaving soon, Pappy Joe suggested us ‘youngsters’,” Riley laughs, “use his fire pit tonight.” 

“Yes.” Tristan claps his hands together. “That I am down for.” 

Quietly, the two return to the group and the six teens squeeze back into the rental car and make their way to Pappy Joe’s farm where they sit around crackling fire. Riley sits at one end of a log with Mabel by her side, the way most of her day was spent. Lucas approaches her and nudges his head to the side. Riley crinkles her brows for a moment but excuses herself from Mabel and stands to follow Lucas. 

They walk a small distance away from the group before sitting down and end up with their backs against a large rock. They’re facing the fire although they only see their friends backs. Tristan and Zay chat on one log and all the way at the other end where Riley was sitting, Thomas had joined Mabel. The crackling of burning wood and chatter of the other teens all blurs into a distant hum. 

“Matchmaking again I see.” Riley says with a smile as she watches Mabel and Thomas chat. 

“I believe it’s my cousins intention to tell Mabel how he feels.” Lucas chuckles. 

“Oh?” Riley’s eyes widen with a giddy excitement. 

“Well, admitting his feelings is one thing... Having the courage to actually tell her how he feels... We’ll see.” Lucas grows nervous. 

“Well, whatever the circumstances are that brought on this chat I’m happy.” Riley grins. “I was beginning to think that you’re too much of a hot shot to talk to me now.” 

Lucas rolls his head forward with a laugh. “Sorry I’ve been a little distant today.” 

“That’s alright,” Riley shuffles into a more comfortable position. Her arm pressed up against Lucas’, both their legs sprawled out in front. “I get that I’m just some girl from the city and a big rodeo star like yourself doesn’t have time for that.” 

Lucas nudges her with his arm and a quiet laugh before softening. “Thank you for supporting me today. It means a lot.” 

“You needed to do it.” Riley says simply. 

“I did, but I still don’t think I would have got on that bull if it wasn’t for you.” Lucas admits. 

“What do you mean?” Riley raises a brow. “You’ve been so determined since you first decided.” 

“Stubborn yes, but quietly terrified.” Lucas laughs nervously. 

“So you’re not planning on entering anymore rodeos?” Riley questions. 

“Never again.” Lucas chuckles as he shakes his head. “I think it’s time to quit while I’m ahead.” 

“I think that sounds very reasonable.” Riley laughs softly. Eventually the sound tapers off completely and they’re sitting in a comfortable silence. 

“So you’ve never ridden a horse before?” Lucas speaks up. 

“How did you..?” Riley crinkles her brows. 

“Thomas overheard you talking with Mabel.” Lucas explains.  “It’s so embarrassing.” Riley places a palm to her face. 

“Embarrassing how?” Lucas asks. 

“I just feel so different coming from the city.” Riley pulls her hand away. “You have stars, grassy fields, horses... I have tall buildings, subways, traffic... Don’t get me wrong I love New York but I can’t help but feel like I’m missing out.” 

“Hey Riley?” Lucas takes a breath. 

“Yeah?” Riley turns to him but before Lucas could open up Mabel comes scurrying over. 

“Riley, can we go please?” She asks visibly upset. 

“Sure.” Riley quickly gets to her feet. “You can sleepover at Jed’s.” 

Riley turns to give Lucas a confused and apologetic look as she escorts Mabel away from Pappy Joe’s farm. The two girls arrive back at Jedediah’s house. The whole walk there was silent. Mabel refused to speak. The house is quiet and they creep upstairs into Riley’s room. The bed is small but the two girls manage to squeeze in snuggly. 

“Care to tell me what happened?” Riley finally presses. 

“Thomas was going to tell me that he likes me.” Mabel speaks very quickly. “You know in movies they’re always like ‘girls know’ and I always thought that was stupid but I knew that’s what he was going to say.” 

“Okay... So you ran away before he could actually tell you?” Riley narrows her brows in confusion. 

“Exactly.” Mabel exhales loudly. 

“You’re going to have to connect some dots for me...I thought you liked Thomas?” Riley asks. 

“I do.” Mabel states. 

“So why did you run away?" Riley questions. 

“Naturally, I panicked at first but then I got angry.” Mabel explains. 

“Angry?” Riley is confused. 

“Why now?” Mabel is getting worked up again. “We’ve known each other most of our lives. Why the sudden interest?”  

“Sometimes it takes people a little while longer to realise things.” Riley says. 

“Maybe Thomas and I should just be friends.” Mabel says. “I’ve been trying to work on the confidence thing and I don't think that I can handle knowing that I was once invisible to him.” 

Before Riley could offer up some encouraging words both girls sit up when something hits the glass of Riley’s balcony doors. Unsure if they imagined it they stay put until another light tap. Yes, something definitely hit the window. Riley springs up to investigate. Her eyes widen when she spots the source of the noise. “Mabel!” Riley calls. The girl picks up her glasses and hurries over. 

“Thomas?” She is surprised to see him standing in Jed’s backyard. 

“Can I talk to you for a second, please?” He calls up. 

Mabel looks to Riley for her help. “Mabel, just hear him out.” Riley whispers. “If you’re so worried about why now, the ask him.” 

“What if things change?” Mabel quietly panics. 

“That’s a given.” Riley says softly. “But you can be afraid of the change or choose to embrace it.” 

“Scaredy cat is my default setting.” Mabel frowns. 

“Mabel..” Riley coaxes her head. 

“Be down in a second!” Mabel calls out to Thomas followed by a squeak directed at Riley. 

“Meow.” Riley giggles softly. It took a little more pushing but eventually Mabel finds the courage to go meet Thomas outside. 

Happily, Riley flops back down on the bed and she drifted off into a peaceful sleep before Mabel returned. 

End Notes: SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. I know I always say that!!! but I went away for the weekend and could only work on bits and pieces.... 

Anyway! Next chapter Riley embraces some change ;) 

BUT I need you guys to let me know if you want me to write what happened between Mabel and Thomas or just allude to it with an explanation Riley receives later? I have the scenario planned out in my mind but if y'all want me to focus on just Riley and Lucas (which the next chapter is!!!!) then let me know :)

Some MASSIVE changes happen next chapter.. IdK if you’re going to like them all dgjhfkjh STAY TUNED. 

#rucas #rucas au #rucas fic #rucas imagine #the story of us