Title: kerosene beauty queen & her matchstick king

Rating: T

Summary: she was always ready to burn bright and show the world what she could be. she just needed someone who could handle the flames

They weren't the perfect couple, the one that everyone idolized. They weren't the calm, collected couple. People had always said they were as different as fire and ice. But in reality, they weren't. She was always ready to burn bright and show the world what she could be. She just needed someone who could set her off, someone who could handle the flames.

And he was up for the challenge.

It had always been him, no matter what anyone said. It was never supposed to be his charm and the original girl's positivity. It was supposed to be his streak of rebellion and the other one's fire.

It was supposed to be Maya and Lucas, not Riley and Lucas.

He lit a spark inside of her, that no one else would be able to ignite without being burned. He was able to take her sarcasm in stride, and didn't let it get under his skin. Instead, he just fired right back at her with his own sharp tongue.

Adam, Mason, Jack and Liam weren't able to do that. They saw her, were with her for a short time, then burned away. They took her sarcasm self defense personally, and didn't give her time to open up. They were gone before she could learn to be herself.

The tension between Maya and Lucas began building almost from the instant they met, but only became visible to everyone after they got back from Texas. The trip that left everyone's emotions scattered. Lucas was torn between positivity and fire, knowing his choice would affect all three of them. He'd be breaking one of his best friend's hearts, because they both had fallen for him. He knew, despite what Riley said, that she wasn't over him. There was something off about her voice when she talked to him, something fake. Riley and Maya were torn, both wanting to step back to allow their sister happiness with their Texan friend. Maya had pushed her feelings aside for a long time, and parted of her continued to shove them aside. She was used to being second choice. She knew Riley still liked Lucas, and that Lucas still liked Riley. He didn't know how he felt about Maya, so despite her feelings for the Texan, Maya decided to slowly fade away, leaving an opening for her two friends to get together. Lucas was torn between the blonde beauty, and the pretty brunette. There were a lot of late night talks and tears during the three friend's struggle trying to figure out their emotions.

Freshman year had been a year of adjusting to everything new, so the so called love triangle was forgotten for a full year. They all remained friends, and dealt with high school side by side.

Sophomore year had cause the most problems. Maya had finally gone along with the decision she made back in eighth grade to slowly fade out of her friend group, to let Riley and Lucas be together. The two had been spending a lot of time over the summer. They were the perfect couple, and Riley deserved her prince. She started making excuses as to why she couldn't join Farkle, Riley, Lucas and Zay at Topanga's. I'm working on an art project was the most popular, and no one ever thought twice about it. She was in multiple art classes that always seemed to have projects. She was much more serious about art than she had been in middle school, and was already starting to put together a portfolio. Not one friend questioned her in the beginning. And then it got to second semester, and she started getting questions. She brushed them off, not wanting to let anyone know what she was up to.

She spent lunches alone in the library in a back corner. No one ever thought to look for her there, and if any did, she could see them and hide before they saw her. In class, they had assigned seats and partners for class work. She was partnered up with her current boyfriend Liam, while Riley and Lucas were partners, and Farkle and Zay were partners. They sat on the opposite side of class from Maya, so they were never able to talk to her. And Maya always scurried out of class before they had even stood up. She floated from class to class alone. She began folding in on herself, only talking when called on, or when with her boyfriend.

It was because of this that Liam got fed up, and dumped the broken girl one day in early March. She had been emotionless over the break up, eyes remaining dry. No tears were shed from her hollow eyes for a week. And then, suddenly, her eyes were brighter and her head was held a little higher. She would not let herself be broken again, so she severed any connection to her ex's and continued to separate herself from her friends. She was looking for people who could lift her up, not ones who seemed to be forgetting her. She never heard anything from her friends, or that they were looking for her.

So she stopped looking for them.

It wasn't until a week before the end of the school year that one of them managed to corner her.

She had been hanging out behind school with others like her. She had decided to skip Chemistry that day. She was leaning against the wall, two others to her left, and three to her right. They were matching: black boots, black jeans, leather jacket, dark red shirt and sunglasses perched on the bridge of their noses. They each had a cigarette dangling in their hands, occasionally bringing it to their mouth, breathing out a puff of smoke. On the ground in front of them was an empty bottle peaking out of a brown bag.

"Maya!"

The blonde girl rolled her eyes, not even bothering to see who was bothering her. She still recognized that voice anywhere, despite the fact they hadn't talked in months.

"Maya Hart!" the voice called out again, as the person planted himself in front of the petite girl.

Immediately, the other five who had been lounging against the wall stood up, dropping their cigarettes on the ground, grinding them under their boots. They came to stand besides their comrade.

"This guy bothering you, Beauty Queen?" one asked, staring the invader down.

Maya sighed, waving her hand that was still clutching a cigarette at him. "It's fine, Mad Dog. I'll talk to him." Maya held back the urge to grin. She specifically chose that nickname for her comrade as one of her only connections to her old friends. And judging by the look on the invader's face, they hadn't forgotten it. Turning towards the girl next to her, she asked: "Jade, come with me?"

Sensing something in her friend's voice, Jade agreed. "Sure thing, KBQ. Want me to bring the, uh?" she nodded her head towards the empty bottle that was still lying upon the ground.

Maya nodded. She snapped her fingers, and the rest of the group retreated, leaving her, Jade and the intruder alone.

"Whaddya want, cowboy?" Maya asked indifferently, reaching for the bottle in Jade's hand. She took a sip, then offered it to their guest. She removed her sunglasses from her face, letting them rest on the top of her head.

"Um, no. Maya, what the fuck happened to you? Where have you been all year?"

"Like you give a shit," the blonde retaliated, taking another swig from the bottle. As she removed it from her lips, she saw Lucas' eyes darken.

"Maya, you have to stop putting this crap into your body."

"Why should I listen to you? I doubt you care," she exhaled a puff of smoke with her words.

"I sure as hell care. We all do. We've been worried sick about you."

Jade let out a snort. "Sure you do, pretty boy. That's why you abandoned her. You never came looking for her, so she stopped looking for you. She found us instead. We've been here for her. And where have you been? With your precious little brunette girlfriend?"

"Don't talk about Riley like that," Lucas retorted hotly.

"So you two are dating then?" Maya asked, raising her eyebrow.

Nervously, Lucas shook his head. "We tried to earlier this year. It didn't work out. We're just friends. She's dating Farkle now." His voice changed as he continued. "But that doesn't mean you can talk bad about my friends."

Sensing Lucas was about to explode, Maya snapped her fingers at Jade, telling her new friend to leave them along.

"I'll be fine, J," Maya sighed as she saw her friend hesitate. "I promise. If not, you'll know. We did plan the signal for a reason."

Nodding her assent, Jade walked back to where the others were, still lounging against the wall.

"Maya. We missed you. I missed you. Trust me, we tried to talk to you. I finally figured out you've been hanging out here. I couldn't stand not talking to you anymore. So I came to find you. Where have you been Maya?" he asked pleadingly.

"You guys didn't need me. I was getting in the way of you and Riley," she shrugged. "I stepped back, just like I did in middle school. It was always Riley who deserved her prince. You guys were fine without me."

"Is that what you believed? Wow, Maya. You really can't see how much you mean to all of us. We do need you, all of us. Why didn't you just talk to us?"

"I'm used to being left. I wanted to leave first this time. I knew it would hurt less," was all he got in response. She slipped her sunglasses back down to cover her eyes. As she turned to walk away, he grabbed her wrist.

"Maya. Look at me," he demanded as he pulled her sunglasses off her face. He stared into her blue eyes. "You have so much potential Maya. You're a great artist. You can go far in life. I know you know that, somewhere deep down. I'm here to tell you that. You need people who will stay by your side, no matter what. Well guess what Maya? You have me, Riley, Farkle and Zay."

"But-"

"No, let me talk. We'll always be here for you. Throw as many insults and nicknames as you want at me. I can take it, Maya. Those jerks you were with couldn't appreciate your worth, but I can. Please, Maya. Stop doing this," he gestured at the butt of the cigarette she dropped and the bottle that had been drained before he arrived. "Keep these friends, if you want. But please. Come back."

The summer between sophomore and junior year was a time for rebuilding crumbling friendships. Maya slowly stopped her self destruction habits, and threw herself back into her art.

She rebuilt her friendships with Riley, Zay, Farkle and Lucas, though she knew nothing would ever be the same. They'd always worry she'd get back into habits she picked up sophomore year. She saw their eyes wander around her room, looking for bottles. She could see them sniff the air in her room when they came over, trying to see if she had lit a cigarette. She never did either of these things, but that didn't stop her from having a secret stash in the back of her closest.

Junior year came around, and the five were as close as ever. Farkle and Riley were still going strong, their one year anniversary creeping up. Zay was still dating Vanessa long distance, and everything was going fine with them. However, the two couple's dates and Skype conversations left their two friends alone often. And thus, the tension between them continued to build.

It wasn't until Adam, one of Maya's exs, forced a kiss onto the blonde, that Lucas had had enough.

No one knows exactly what happened between Adam and Lucas, except that Adam walked away with a black eye.

And the next day, Maya and Lucas entered the school, fingers intertwined.

Junior year was much easier in comparison to sophomore year. Maya divided her time as equally as possible between her family, school, art, her original group of friends, and her friends she made the year previous.

Maya was able to convince her newest friends to cut back, and then quit, their smoking and alcohol habits. Her two main friend groups began to intertwine without her always being there. "Mad Dog" went back to being Max, but refused to stop calling Maya "Beauty Queen," or "KBQ."

Her new group of friends were very protective of their blonde friend, so when she and Lucas started dating, they all had a talk with him.

Lucas was always meant to be with his vivacious friend. She needed someone who could handle her sarcastic remarks, and not be afraid to push her to her goals. He knew she wasn't fragile, and she knew he wasn't overly sensitive.

Maybe when they first met they were fire and ice.

But in reality, she was a kerosene beauty queen, and he, her matchstick king.

We were going way too fast
Chasing down the hourglass
Running from the past
Heading out with no direction
A kerosene beauty queen
Looking for her matchstick king
To burn in to my heart
Hand in to the flame
We could set the world ablaze

an: hope you enjoyed this one shot. I heard this song, and the one lyric really made me think of lucaya, so I had to write this. I'm not really sure how I feel about where this went, but oh well

Review and favorite!

my other two stories have not been forgotten. I'm working on the next chapter for both of them and hope to have them up within the next week

~R5 is my life