𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 — 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚-𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

❝ 𝙖 𝙨𝙮𝙢𝙗𝙤𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙙 ❞

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

"Tomorrow morning, the Sun rises at 6:17 a.m, at which time we will leave the house so we are the first in line for the most important day of our lives!"

Taco day for Maya was one of the most important days of this year for the Matthews + Maya family. This special for tacos only came once every 25 years. Amanda realized quickly just how important it was when Maya came into Riley's room and started talking to both Matthews girls about the day the night before.

"Maya," Riley started, "they're just tacos."

"Whaaaaaaat?"

"Oh, boy," Mandy muttered, placing her head on her cousins shoulder. Don't get her wrong, she's always down for a good taco or two but waking up at the crack of dawn for them? That's a whole other thing, "is it necessary that we are first in line," she asked hesitantly.

"I would regard not being first in line as my greatest personal failure since not understanding fractions."

Riley's eyes were wide, "they're just parts of a number..."

"Well, parts? When would I ever need numbered parts?"

"How many tacos are you having?"

"Eight isn't enough," Maya answered Mandy, "but nine is too many. There's no solution."

"Yeah," the two Matthews nodded in unison.

"Okay, we took our showers and put on our clothes for tomorrow, so we're all ready to go when the Sun comes up."

Riley smiled and grabbed Beary-the-Bear-Bear, her most prized possession, "Beary-the-Bear-Bear is excited too. I love you, Beary."

"Okay, we are all set to go, so nothing can go wrong. Will there be any stops in Rileytown?"

"Sir, no, sir!"

"Where will the only stop be?"

"Paco's Tacos," Mandy stood next to her cousin.

"For their—"

"25th Anniversary 25-cent Tacopalooza!"

The three girls smiled at each other, "who else would get this crazy?"

Right when Mandy spoke those words, the door flew open revealing Corey Matthews, "Tacos!"

"Tacos!"

"How many ya want?"

"Eight-and-a-half!"

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

"Go, go, go, go, go!"

It was morning and Maya was shoving the two girls out of the bay window. She wanted to be first in line even more now that she could win a free bobblehead. They were right out the window when suddenly Riley spoke, "wait!"

"No!"

"Something's—"

"No!"

"Wrong," Riley looked around and finally gasped, "Beary-the-Bear-Bear! He's gone!"

"Come on, that stupid bear has been hanging on by a thread for years! How is this a problem?"

"Maya," Mandy scolded lightly.

"I've had him all of my life, Maya," Riley said, "where is he? We have to find him. Beary..."

"Bobblehead..."

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

"Matthews family emergency!"

Topanga was the first one to come into the living room, "move! Move, move, move!"

Matthews and Auggie come yelling into the room with water and other contraptions, when they reach the door, Topanga yelled, "everybody out of the house in under 10 seconds! Yes!"

The three family members are at the door when they see the three girls in front of them still in the house, "Riley, Mandy, Maya, why are you girls still inside?"

"Everybody out of the house in under 10 seconds except for them. Yes!"

"Is this an actual emergency?"

"Yes," the three girls replied.

Topanga shrugged, "even it's not, momma loves a practice drill."

"Did you get my tacos," Matthews asked as they came back into the room.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Beary-the-Bear-Bear is missing!"

"Ah, that bear has been hanging on by a thread for years."

"Uncle Cory!"

"Everybody knows this."

"Riley, why can't you just look for Beary-the-Bear-Bear when you get back?"

"Oh, sure. He's just missing," Riley said to her mother, "it's your day. I'm sorry," she grabbed Mayas wrist, "let's go, go, go, go, go."

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure I'm not okay," Riley answered these blonde, "the last thing I said to him was, 'I wish you were a slinky.'"

"Riley, he'll show up," her father said, "it's not a big deal."

Mandy cringed, "ooh, you shouldn't have said that."

"'Not a big deal?'"

"I messed up. I messed up," he said as Maya came barreling towards him.

"A teddy bear is a spice of joy and comfort and security and love. Beary was my childhood. Everything I went through, he went through. My childhood is missing."

From her place on the bench, Mandy looked at the door when she heard knocking, "who could that possibly be?"

Riley answered the door only to reveal all 4 boys smiling and looking for one thing, tacos, "what are you guys doing here?"

"We were told there would be tacos," Lucas said as they all come through the threshold.

"Three tacos please."

"Uh, may I have pancakes?"

Riley turned to Maya and Mandy, "who called them?"

"I invited them here," the blonde admitted, her face void of emotion, "I wanted them to know what it's like to want a taco and not get a taco."

Mandy rolled her eyes as she went up to her boyfriend and went into his arms as usual, it was never to early in the morning for hugs with Lucas.

"What could be worse than that, you—"

"The bobbleheads are gone!"

After Maya's and Cory's meltdown, Andrew spoke to his girlfriend, "so... We're all here to look for your childhood teddy bear that Auggie chewed the face off of?"

"Oh boy."

"Will we never let that go?"

──

"I love Riley and Riley loves me!"

A little Riley and Maya were sat atop of the coffee table while Riley played with her stuffed bear. Footsteps were heard from the archway revealing a tiny Auggie, "can I play?"

"Did someone say something," little Maya sarcastically asked her best friend.

"Pay attention to me!"

Maya grabbed the bear from her best friend and turned to Auggie, "why should we pay attention to you when we can pay attention to him?"

"Oh, yeah," the little Auggie chomped down and bit the face off of the bear, causing his big sister to scream.

──

Amanda was taken back when her cousin starts screaming, "I was remembering too hard," she said once she was finished, grabbing her head.

Auggie got up from his seat, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was just a little kid. I ate anything that got in my way."

"Auggie, it wasn't very nice to eat Riley's bear," Zay commented, "and in fact, you would think in doing that, that would teach Riley not to eat someone's cookie."

"Get off that," Mandy spoke from Lucas' arms. His arms around her shoulders as her back leaned against his front.

"I do not wish to."

"That bears been nothing but trouble for me my whole life," Auggie defended, "I just wanted you to play with me. I didn't do this."

"Oh, yeah," Maya stepped forward towards him, "then where were you the evening of the 15th?"

"I was out of town on business."

Maya shrugged, "he didn't do it, guys."

"You know what," Matthews said, "if this means this much to my daughter, let's respect her feelings. Let's find this stupid, faceless bear."

Mandy hummed sarcastically, "that was very respectful, Uncle Cory."

"Y-you know, I-I would, but I-I got that big game with, uh, s-s-sports. Yeah," Farkle stuttered.

Lucas nodded, "yeah, yeah, and I would too, but I got the, you know, the big—big science fair with, uh... I don't know," this made his girlfriend wack his arm, making him wince slightly.

"Why'd you two switch characters," Zay asked.

"We panicked!"

"We're gonna be trapped in here looking for a stuffed animal! We'll do anything to get out of it."

"Oh, come on, guys," Mandy stepped forward, mostly to make sure Lucas doesn't sneak away, "it's not that bad."

"I know," Andrew chimed in, "who's up for a taco," Maya ran forward just in time for Andrew to turn around and for her to jump on his back, "you lost! Now get off of me," he chuckled.

"Well, I'll stick around here as long as it takes because I am a supportive friend," Zay said.

Maya stood up, "hey, Riles, what about just this once, I can be the unsupportive friend?"

"Oh that's nice, Maya."

"Absolutely," Riley said after her cousin, she took said girls hand and walked them away from the door, "live your lives. Oh, but before you go, one quick story."

"Awe, I love this one," Mandy smiled at her cousin.

Maya shut the door as everyone got settled, "hey, a story," she stomped.

"Once upon a time, there was a tiny Riley—"

"And a tiny Mandy, but that's for later—"

"—and she was given a bear."

──

"Sweetie, I know you don't feel good, but mom and dad have to go to work."

"Please don't go."

Cory Matthews chuckled, "Mrs. Svorski's in the other room, and we have a special someone to keep you company, and she brought a gift for you."

The door to the apartment opened and another tiny girl and Topanga came through the door. The little girl was holding a stuffed animal. Topanga sat with the girl on her lap, "Riley, this is your cousin, Amanda. Mandy, can you tell Riley what you brought her?"

The tiny girl brought the teddy bear in between them and held it out for the other girl to see, "look, it's a teddy bear! Topanga picked it out with me."

Tiny Riley disregarded her cousin and turned to her parents, "but I want you."

Her parents sighed, "we know, honey," her mother said, "but when you look at this bear, it's like we're looking right back at you."

"So, it's like we're with you all day," her father added.

Tiny Riley turned back to her cousin and asked, "what about you?"

Tiny Mandy smiled, "the lady at the store allowed me to put a heart inside the bear, so when you squeeze it, you can think of me when I'm away, and I'll always be there, no matter what."

The parents smiled at the pair and kissed them goodbye, leaving the girls all alone.

That day was the start of Riley and Mandy.

──

"And the little girl loved the little bear for the rest of her little life."

"And whenever she hugged the little bear, her cousin always came to mind."

While everyone was touched by the story, Maya wasn't, "whoa! Great story! That was so good. Guys, let's go," she turned to the rest of the people in the room to see both parents sniffling, and the boys completely overwhelmed and touched by the story the cousins told.

"Oh no."

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

The Matthews household was torn apart, everyone looking for Beary-the-Bear-Bear in everyone corner of the house, coming up empty.

Amanda and Lucas took Mandy's room, which seemed pretty fitting, when the latter stumbled across an old baby picture of his girlfriend, he chuckled, grabbing her attention, "you're adorable," he held up the picture for her to see.

She chuckled as well, "ugh, put that away and help me."

"Okay, okay," after a couple more minutes of looking around, they decided to take a break. Sitting at the bay window in silence as Amanda plays with his fingers, "I didn't know that bear had anything to do with you."

"Yeah, uh, that was the first time I met Riley," she nodded with a distant look in her eyes, "my mom was hesitant to introduce me, seeing that I couldn't be with Riley all of the time since we didn't live by each other but Aunt T and Uncle Corey thought it was a nice idea."

"Were you nervous?"

"A little," she answered, "being an only child with a mom who works 24/7 got pretty lonely and I didn't really have a lot of friends in school so I didn't know how she would react to seeing me," Amanda chuckled, "at first I didn't think she liked me but when I explained what the bear meant regarding me and her I think she warmed up to me. Do you have anything from your childhood you still hold on to?"

"One things. It's kind of dumb though," Lucas spoke shyly.

"I'm sure that's not true. What is it?"

"When I was like four years old," he sighed, "my Pappy Joe gave me something called a sack of gold. It was a little canvas bag and it had drawstrings to open it."

Mandy's eyes turned wide, "Bubba, are we rich?"

The boy laughed as he scooted closer to play with her hair as he spoke, "I thought so. I kept it for years. Then one day, I saw that Zay had his own little sack of gold too. And I said, 'Hey, Zay, you got a sack of gold?' and he said, 'Yeah.' And he opened it up, poured the whole thing in his mouth, chewed it, and blew a bubble."

She nodded with a chuckle, "it was bubblegum?"

"Yes. His was."

"Yours was real gold?"

"Yes. I believed it was," he said, "and I still believe it is. 'Cause I am never gonna open it up to find out any different."

"It's funny about these things we hold on to," Amanda started, "and how life let's us know when it's time to let it go."

"Yeah," her boyfriend nodded, "sometimes it's jute a little bag of bubblegum. But if the right person gives it to you, then it's gold."

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

After a long day of searching, and a visit from a stressed out Uncle Josh, Beary-the-Bear-Bear was officially lost. Riley and Andrew have been gone for quite sometime and Mandy didn't know if anyone else noticed beside her.

"Attention! Tacopalooza is officially over! Somebody just came and cleaned us out good! We'll do it again in 25 years!"

"What're we gonna tell Riley about Beary?"

"Hey, where is Riley," Matthews asked after Farkle spoke.

Amanda smirked, "she and Andrew were looking together."

"Riley!"

The girl in question came down the stairs with her boyfriend, "yes?"

"Where have you guys been," Zay asked, "we haven't seen you in a half an hour."

"An hour," Maya countered.

"A half an hour."

"I don't get it!"

"Riley found what we needed to find," Andrew told the group.

"Yeah. Andrew and I found out that we were looking in the wrong place, so then we looked in the right place."

Amanda walked up to her cousin, "You found the bear?"

"No," she shook her head, but didn't look discouraged about it, "did you find the bear?"

"No..."

"Remember when Auggie wanted to give up Mr. Googly and grow up," Maya asked as she sat down next to the boy in question.

"But then I didn't," the boy said, "I wasn't ready."

"Yeah. Good for you," the blonde smiled, "but at some point, I think we are ready."

"How do we know when that is, Maya?"

"I think something inside us tells us," she answered the boy, "I think it actually comes to tell us. Riles, I don't want to let you down, but I...I think your bears gone."

"Yeah," Riley smiled, "I don't want to let you down either. So, we got you this!"

Andrew pops up with two full bags of tacos.

"Tacos!"

While everyone crowded around the table to eat, Riley noticed Amanda sitting on the couch. She sat next to her cousin, "Mandy—"

"Are we gonna drift apart now?"

Taken back by her statement, Riley softly questioned, "what?"

"My gift to you is gone. The thing that held your childhood and the start of our relationship is gone. What's gonna happen to us now that you're letting go of that part of you?"

"Mandy," Riley scoffed, "that bear is not the reason I became close with you. It's the fact that you went out of your way to get someone a gift you never met before. Just because that gift is gone, doesn't mean that wherever we are or end up we won't have each other."

"I just don't want to lose you—"

"You won't," Riley grabbed her cousins hand and squeezed it, "it's me and you. Best friends, sisters, family. It's us. I'm not going anywhere."

The two girls stand and hug the life out of each other as everyone looks on at the loving moment between the girls.

Amanda sighed as she pulled away, "now, let's eat!"

──︒✿ཾ∘∗✽ᜒࠬ. ──

edited: 2 march 2021