Title: Blackout

Ship: Rucas

Point of View: Riley's

Summary: (Right before graduation/legacy) After everything that has happened in the past few months or so Lucas, Riley, and Maya are at a standstill in their relationships with one another. It is the day before graduation and Farkle and Zay have tricked Lucas, Riley, and Maya into meeting at Topanga's in an elaborate scheme to get them to settle their feelings for one another. However, things go awry when a storm knocks out the power lines and causes a blackout, leaving the three friends trapped with nowhere to go and nothing to do but talk about how they feel. Will they make it out in time for graduation? Will they make it out without any hurt feelings or scarred friendships? Or will the darkness cause more harm than good for these friends?

Note: I wrote this before Girl Meets the New Year, so a few things might not work with how that episode unfolded, but that's okay we're just gonna go with it.

Part 1: Thunder, Lightning, Lights Out

We sat in silence staring at one another, analyzing each other's faces intently as if the answers were hidden somewhere beneath the surface. This was different than the way we stared at each other a few months ago surrounded by the Texas night sky and the crackling fire. It was so uncomfortable that I actually squirmed in the large plush chair I was sitting in, as if it would help me escape somehow.

"I can't believe they did this," Maya complained, shifting in her seat and picking at a piece of fabric on her jacket.

"Oh I can. This is classic Zay," Lucas replied. I wonder if Zay had done something like this when they lived in Texas together. Were there other friends he had to trap together in a room to get them to talk about their feelings? Other girls like Maya? Like me?

"Farkle too. He'd do anything if it meant keeping our friendship the way it was before... all of this," I pointed out, tracing patterns on the fabric of the chair with my fingers. Swirls, stripes, hearts, a black hole I could use to fall through to escape this torture.

"Did Farkle really convince your parents to lock us in here? Isn't this breaking some kind of law? Isn't this child endangerment?" Maya raged, standing up and looking around for an escape route or something to smash. I wasn't sure which one.

"Relax Maya, I have a key to the backdoor. We can leave any time we want," I said calmly, not looking her in the eye.

"Then what are we still doing here? Let's blow this joint!" Maya enthused, heading for the backdoor.

Just then the room was filled with the sound of thunder so loud that it made me jump about six feet in the air. I bit my lip and looked outside to see rain coming down harder than I had ever seen it.

"Whoa there Riley, you okay?" Lucas asked, concern written all over his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine Lucas. It just took me by surprise I guess. I didn't know a little light summer rain could turn into something this intense," I replied, my voice wavering only slightly.

I looked up at Maya. She was staring at us, her brow furrowed and her eyes curious. I wish I could read her mind sometimes. I never knew what she was thinking anymore. I never knew how she was feeling.

"It used to get like this in Texas sometimes. Storms so bad that we had to spend the night in the barn keeping the horses calm. They were spooked so easily, it made me realize that they're not so different from how people are with their own fears. Their own feelings even," Lucas confided, remembering his life before New York.

"How did you get them calm?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"We talked to them. Assured them that the storm would pass soon and everything would be okay," Lucas admitted, looking at me and smiling slightly.

"How great for you and the horses Huckleberry, but we need to get out of here before the storm gets too bad. Let's go guys," Maya called from across the room.

"I don't think so Maya. It's already pouring and I don't think it's going to let up anytime soon," Lucas interjected, getting up to look out the window.

"Lucas is right. We should stay here until the storm clears up. I'm going to text my dad to tell him what's happening," I agreed, pulling out my phone.

"Farkle and Zay are way to good at this," Maya complained, a bitter tone to her voice.

"Maya, I don't think they summoned a thunderstorm to keep us trapped in here," I countered as I typed out a message to my dad on my phone.

"Oh, don't underestimate them. They are 100% capable of this kind of scheme," Maya proclaimed, moving away from the backdoor and coming to sit at the counter.

"Well, regardless of if they did a rain dance, summoned the rain gods, or willed it to happen by simply thinking it, it's happening, so we might as well get comfortable," Lucas responded, peeking out the window one last time before coming to sit back on one of the chairs in the center of the room.

Silence again. Except this time the sound of the rain pounding hard against the roof served as therapeutic background noise. A few minutes passed as we listened to the rain pitter-patter on the roof. Someone needed to say something. Something needed to happen. I took a deep breath, preparing myself to say something, anything, when a voice that wasn't mine broke the silence.

"Why did you lie about how you felt?"

As if a force in the universe willed it to happen, Topanga's got even quieter than before, the world went still, and we were engulfed in darkness. There was no light inside the room or outside on the street. The storm had caused a blackout and we were in the middle of it.

"Well that can't be a good sign," the voice that I now identified as Maya's, said.

And it wasn't. Whatever was about to happen, I was terrified. Of the storm, of the darkness, of these feelings. Of growing up. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I knew that whatever it was, it was happening now. And I was going into it completely blind.