Maya has never been a people pleaser. She also never wasted a perfect opportunity to freak people out; show them why they should stay away. She had moved to New York from the Midwest about two weeks ago. She had gotten accepted to NYU and was here on a scholarship to study art. She liked to think of every day, every interaction, as an opportunity to perform, to become an art piece. And what better time than now when she had a completely blank canvas in front of her. No one knew her here. She could be anything, anybody she wanted.
She hadn't been able to test this out just yet, seeing as how classes don't start for another week, but that just gave her more time to perfect her craft. But that also didn't mean she couldn't freak out a poor guy trying to do his job. She ordered a pizza about 20 minutes ago and was currently setting up her stage. She set up a makeshift shrine with a random picture of some kind of demon she found on Google. She was wearing a long, black gown, complete with a black veil to cover her face. She had just finished lighting the many candles she had placed around her living room when she heard a knock at the door. She pressed play on her iPod and the room was filled with generic monk chanting and music. Then Maya quickly knelt in front of the shrine.
"It's open," she said in a low, dramatic voice. She could hear the door open behind her but other than that it was quiet. She concealed a grin. Maybe he would be so scared he'll just drop the pizza and run. After a moment she heard him clear his throat.
"Um, sorry to interrupt, ma'am. But I have your pizza." Wow, he's braver than she gave him credit for. Maya stood up, keeping her head down, and slowly walked over to him. When she was about a foot away she lifted her head and stared into his eyes.
"Don't worry about it. I was just in the middle of worshipping the god of the underworld." The tall blond didn't falter. In fact, he smiled down at her.
"Oh good. I don't like disturbing people during religious rituals. It just feels so rude." Maya blinked a couple times and lifted her veil.
"This doesn't bother you?" Tall Guy shook his head slightly.
"I would never judge someone. Especially based on their spiritual beliefs. That's not fair to the person. My name's Lucas, by the way. What's yours?" Maya was not about to give up on this. She walked over and stared dramatically into the light of one of the candles.
"The name's Tempest. It means 'violent storm'." She turned her head to glance in his direction. Again, the little frickin' ray of sunshine was smiling.
"That's really interesting." Maya let out a huff and walked back to him.
"You aren't fazed by this. You really aren't gonna judge me." She put a hand on her hip. Lucas pulled her pizza out of his bag.
"Well I really can't judge a girl who's brave enough to eat sauerkraut on pizza. You seem like a real go-getter. It's always refreshing to meet someone who doesn't fit the norm and dares to say, 'I'm different.'" She stared at him with her brow furrowed.
"You got all that from a pizza topping?"
"That, and all this." He gestured to her and the room. "Oh, this is $13.95 by the way." Maya pulled some bills from her pocket without looking away from him, narrowing her eyes.
"Here's 20. I normally don't tip that much but you're too cheery and I fear that you're gonna kill me with kindness or something if I don't." Lucas laughed.
"Sounds like something I would do, thanks. I'll let you get back to your prayers. See you later." He smiled brightly and waved before he left.
Maya let out a huff and proceeded to blow out every candle before plopping herself on the couch. She took a piece of pizza out of the box and started chewing on it. All of a sudden she knew she had to speak to him again. Maya rushed out onto her fire escape and searched until she found him opening his car door.
"Hey!" Lucas jumped a little but when he caught sight of her he smiled and raised his hand above his head to wave.
"Hey, long time, no see."
Maya resisted the urge to gag. "You said 'See you soon.' What did you mean by that?" Lucas smiled down at his shoes before looking back up.
"You know, some people just use that as a way of saying goodbye." Maya blushed a little. "But in this case, I happened to see the stack of NYU papers on your table. I assumed you were gonna be going there and, what a coincidence, so am I." Maya stared at him for a moment.
"It's never a good idea to assume things." She turned away and walked back inside. Before she shut the window she heard him shout, "Hope to see you soon!" Maya rolled her eyes.