Maya Penelope Hart had a serious problem.
You see, she had a craving like no other. It wasn't just something she could ignore while she painted. It was a craving that was gnawing her from inside-out until she finally set down her brush with an exasperated sigh, glaring at her stomach. She walked to her kitchen, mumbling to herself. She opened the cabinet, but stopped because of what she saw—or, what she didn't see.
Her craving was spaghetti. She loved spaghetti, but she also was in the middle of an important masterpiece. Seriously, why the hell was she craving spaghetti at 10 at night? On top of that, there was one problem—there was no more sauce. She opened all the cabinets, searching for just one last jar so she can satisfy that burning desire for the food. After giving up and angrily sitting down, she noticed she forgot to check one last cabinet. It was the highest one—one Maya could not reach. After using a pair of tongs to grab the handle and open it, sure enough, a jar of prego sauce sat in the back of the cabinet. Usually, she would ask her mother for help but she was not home. She just started her night shift at Topanga's and wouldn't be back until 7 in the morning.
Maya tried before to grab something from the highest shelf. She grabbed a chair from the kitchen, but it was a spinny chair so she wounded up almost breaking her neck after falling. She was too scared to try that again, so she searched her house for a chair, stool, anything. Her bedroom, her mother's bedroom, the bathroom, and the living room all had not one chair. There was only a loveseat couch, but Maya wouldn't drag that all the way to the kitchen because it wouldn't fit.
She even considered going to the store, but her neightborhood at this time of night was not the safest—espeically for a teenage girl. In a huff, Maya sat on the floor of the kitchen, her craving only getting stronger. She pulled out her phone, hating to ask a favor from anyone at this time of night but it wouldn't go away. Her first thought, of course, was Riley. But the girl was sure to be sleeping, and having her walk to her house at this time of night was just out of the question. So, she considered Farkle. He knew where her house was, but the boy would be sleeping at this hour, too. Maya paused at the next name in her contacts. She considered asking for help, her pride was just too strong for her to do it. But the growl of her stomach was just enough to make her click the name and quickly type: "Sup, Cowboy. You up?" Her finger hovered over the send button before she finally pressed it, growling at herself.
The sound of a low buzz 5 second later made Maya jump. She didn't expect a reply, let alone so quickly. But she read the message, anyway.
"Yeah…why?"
Maya bit her lip, swallowed her pride, and typed a response. "Can you come over for a quick second?"
The resonse was even faster than the first: "Is something wrong?"
"If you mean almost dying from a craving, then yes" Maya sent.
The response was slower than the first two, but he still responded in 10 seconds. "On my way."
Maya didn't reply, only set her phone down and felt guilty for asking for such a ridiculous favor, but the craving was gnawing at her. So she got up and began to boil a pot for noodles. And then something dawned on her—what did she look like? She spent hours painting, and she usually does that in a oversided, old t shirt and sweats with her hair in a sloppy, messy bun.
Maya ran to her room, looking in the mirror and wincing. She quickly put on a presentable enough shirt but kept the sweats on, focusing on the atrocity she called her hair. She undid the "bun" and went through her tangles with her fingers, wincing when they got caught on knots. She was only half way done when there was a knock on her door. Maya sighed, wondering why she even cared what she looked like, and got up and went to the door. Of course, she looked in the pep hole just to be sure it was him. Sure enough, it was so she opened it.
He stood on the steps, hands in pockets, and a smirk on his face.
Maya cleared her throat. "Thanks for coming, Lucas."
He slightly raised his eyebrows in surprise for her using his actual name, but nodded and stepped inside.
"So…what about this craving?" he asked when she shut and locked the door.
Maya sighed, hating having to ask him to do this but there was no other choice.
"I'm having a random, but serious craving for spaghetti," Maya said, leading him to the kitchen. She drained the noodles that were now cooked and set it back on the stove.
"Why do you need me?" Lucas said, standing at the entrance of the kitchen, looking around. Maya realized it was his first time in her house. Yes, he had seen her bedroom that night Riley slept over for Halloween. But he never set foot inside.
Maya just pointed to the jar of Prego sitting in the cabinet. Lucas didn't answer, only slowly smirked and looked at her.
"You need me because you're too short to reach the sauce?" he said, grinning, now.
Maya looked away, feeling her face heat up. "Well there's no chairs in my house besides the one I almost died on and I really need spaghetti right now but that's the only jar of sauce and I can't reach it so yes I need you to get it, please!" she ended in a huff, looking away in embarrassment from the ridiculous favor she asked him.
Lucas didn't answer, so Maya turned around. He was walking to the cabinet. He reached up and merely grabbed the jar. He didn't even need to stretch his arm out all the way. He walked up to Maya, smirking, and silently handed it to her.
"Thanks," she mumbled, turning back to the noodles so she can pour the sauce on.
"My pleasure, Ma'am."
Maya didn't need to look at him to know he tipped his imaginery cowboy hat. She simply tried to open the jar, but to no avail. She wiped her hands on her shirt and tried again, and the unessessarily tight cap wouldn't budge. Curse the dried paint on her hands!
Lucas gently took the jar, opened it with ease, and handed it back. Maya mentally scorned herself as she wordlessly took the jar, face turning red as the sauce.
"I guess I'll be going now," Lucas said slowly.
Maya bit her lip. She was guilty she asked him to walk all the way to her house just to get a freaking jar. So she cleared her throat.
"D-do you want to…you know, stay to have some spaghetti?" Great, she stuttered.
Maya was pretty sure she heard a small sigh of relief. "Yeah, thanks," he said.
So Maya finished the spaghetti and Lucas got two plates. And they ate spaghetti at almost 11 o'clock at night in Maya's apartment. Of course, they didn't finish their meal for another hour due to talking, bickering, and laughing as they sat on the kitchen floor (Maya didn't have a kitchen table in their apartment, and she was incredibly embarrassed and suggested they eat in the living room but Lucas told her the floor was fine, and sat down and began to eat and a grateful Maya did the same).
By the time they were finished, it was almost 12 in the morning. They put their dishes in the sink and Lucas asked,
"Who's gonna do the dishes?"
"Uh, you," Maya said in a "duh" voice. "I made the spaghetti."
"And I came over just to get a jar off a shelf!"
"So? You got a free meal out of it."
So they began a new argument, and somehow ended up laying on the kitchen floor adjacent to each other, the tops of their heads slightly touching a half an hour later. Finally, the argument settled and Maya ended up washing the dishes but Lucas dried them. Of course, they had a towel vs. water fight, which they ended up having to clean the kitchen all over again.
Finally, at 2 in the morning, the dishes were done, kitchen was clean, and two sleepy teens said their goodbyes.
"Thanks again for, you know, helping me," Maya said quietly to the boy standing in front of her at the door.
"Thanks for the meal," he answered, smiling at her.
Maya smiled back and he left with a tip of his imaginary hat and closed the door. She leaned on it, a stupid, goofy smile on her face as she thought about what just happened.
She finally went to bed, replaying over and over what just transpired until she finally shut her eyes and fell into a happy sleep.
Let's just say after that, Maya had inconspicuously made her mother put things on the high self after grocery shopping so a certain tall boy could come over and help get it down for her.
A/N: Aaaand done. You made it to the end, yay!
I really hoped you liked it. Reviews and favs are very appreciated :)