Christmas and smiles and a shoebox.
The parcel was a small thing, Maya notes, adorned with silver paper and a piece of string tied at the top into a small bow. A label tacked on was addressed to her specifically. She didn't need to know who it was from, she'd recognise his neat handwriting anywhere. Every parcel every year was more or less decorated the same, too.
"Who's it from, baby girl?" Her mother asks softly. Katy's warm brown eyes were widened with curiosity and excitement as she joins her eldest daughter on their old worn couch. Maya snuggles further into the back of the furniture, worn with age it may be, but oh so comfortbale at this time of year thanks to the fluffy throws and embroided pillows. Just what she needs after a long day with her ever joyful best friend. Maya had been dragged every which way amongst a flurry of last minute Christmas shoppers, herself and Riley included, and hadn't had the time to simply enjoy the act of sitting and gathering her own thoughts.
"Lucas." The sixteen, nearly seventeen, year old can't help but smile at the thought of her closest guy friend.
Ever since he'd moved to the city from the country state of Texas, he'd somehow wormed himself into Maya's life. Well, if giving him a Christmas present each year meant anything (it did in Maya's books so very much).
Even now, with the parcel in her hands, she can still perfectly recall his seafoam soft gaze and gentle smile. The gift was familliar, the act of thinking about him more often in the holidays was familliar, and Maya grew to love this familiarity. She could hold onto it in the rush of the season and know that Lucas would still indirectly be there every year at this time.
The gifts connected the two every year, despite the many trials their friendship had faced over the years.
It had always been Maya and Riley, her best friend, until they'd met Farkle at the tender ages of seven. He'd promised to love them equally and had held that promise without falter for years.
Seventh grade had soon rolled around, and fate had pushed her to Lucas in the middle of a crowded subway station. The confident twelve-year old had taught Riley how to flirt, using the Texan primarly as example, but Lucas had other plans.
He transferred to their middle school and befriended them all.
He stuck around as Riley's crush. And, romantically awkward as their relationship was, his relations with Farkle and Maya herself had only blossomed in their first year as a group of four.
Maya had given him a box of cheap chocolates before the school year ended, her go-to gifts for friends she held at arms distance, that year for Christmas. It wasn't like she could afford much more, anyway.
Yet he'd gone out of his way to get her a personalised ornament she could hang on her tree. It was a snow globe bauble, with a selfie of herself with Riley and Lucas at the mall. She could vaguely remember it was his favorite picture they'd all taken. What he hadn't known until the New Year was that her broken family life meant no tree. Her mother had barely managed to pay rent since her father had up and left years ago- let alone cashing out extra for a tree.
So instead, she'd treasured the ornament inside of an old shoebox.
Her simple friendship with the handsome Texan soon changed the next year. Eighth grade brought around mutual feelings between both Maya and Lucas- the blonde wasn't surprised- she knew she'd turned their gentle banter into a burning flirting game. She guessed she'd always liked the look of his face and the chemistry was undeniable but she'd never taken into account how much she actually cared for him.
Riley hadn't been happy, even though she hadn't been with Lucas at this time. However, the bubbly brunette had still given up her first crush for her best friend. That's about when their fifth member of their, somewhat complicated, friendship group had appeared- also from Texas. None other than Zay, Lucas' best friend.
But Maya knew her sister like she knew her own mind.
She loved Riley and wasn't about to gamble with their friendship because of a boy- her best friend deserved the world. Riley was heartbroken beneath her mask of happiness, so Maya stepped back once more after Farkle had confronted Riley's true feelings. He'd always been better at reading the brunette in comparison to the blonde.
Maya had still gotten Lucas some chocolates that year for Christmas, although this time they weren't cheap. And this time she mailed them to Texas for the 25th. They were his favorite, she'd learned that from Zay when they'd all went with him to Texas. Lucas had been shocked she knew his favorite chocolates but not nearly as shocked as she'd been when he'd mailed her a pair of heeled Texan boots that had reached her small apartment on the 26th.
She'd hidden them from Riley in her old shoebox and only wore them for special occasions.
From then on the three 'friends-with-unresolved-feelings', as Farkle had put it bluntly- Zay had agreed, danced around each other for the rest of the school year and the start of high school until Maya could no longer stand the tension. Herself and Riley were snapping at each other quite often and it seemed the rest of their friends were subtly taking sides.
Smackle, a distant friend over the years, also joined their high school around this time and became the sixth memeber or their newly completed group. With Smackle and Farkle together at this time, Maya knew it was time to kill the annoying triangle between herself, Riley and Lucas. It was tearing apart the best friendship she'd ever obtained. So during the ski lodge trip, she'd pushed Lucas to Riley like she'd pushed her into his lap years back on the crowded subway and hadn't looked back.
She'd gotten him a gift that year because he was her secret Santa- Riley had forced her to play. What Riley didn't know was that she would've gotten him one anyway, as awkward as her interactions with him had become. She'd mailed something thoughtful because with their slightly bruised friendship she longed for things to go back to the way they were before the feelings and fights.
So, she'd painted him a canvas. The painting consisted of a starry night sky, which may or may not have been inspired by 'the campfire'- and overtop the scenery she'd written him a message with glittery white paint. A simple 'Merry Christmas, Huckleberry' in her neatest cursive.
He must have felt the same way about their bruised friendship because despite Smackle being her secret Santa she'd recieved two thoughtful Christmas gifts that year. Lucas had mailed her a pack of charcoal pencils- and she knew they hadn't cost him a small penny. They'd come, a day late- again, with a small note, 'Always try new things, Shortstack.'
She'd never used charcoal penicls before. She usually stuck to water color when it came to her art.
So she used the charcoal pencils in the new year for an artshow that Mr Jackson had entered her into.
She'd kept the note in her old shoebox, however.
Her charcoal portrait of her favorite horse of Lucas's had won first place. The rest of the year was uneventful.
Things had heated up again in sophmore year. Riley and Lucas had split and Maya had 'accidentally' found out who Farkle's real feelings were for. Smackle had pieced it together and had broken up with him, turning to Zay and Maya for comfort.
The genius boy had begged Maya not to say anything, but following her own heart, she'd told him what he'd told Riley, "We don't lie to each other, Farkle."
She wouldn't let something like this tear them apart like it had done eighth/ninth grade, even if things had miraculously recovered. Truth be told, Maya's friendship with Lucas still wasn't what it once was but that was about it.
Riley and Maya, sisters in everything but blood, were stronger than ever so her life was mostly stable. And the fact that her mother had remarried with a baby on the way was a great bonus. That didn't mean she didn't still think of her father and his new family on bad days, though.
So she'd told Riley, in private, about the genius' feelings but apparently he wasn't the only one with a secret. Short months later, Riley and Farkle were a thing, the new 'it' couple of the school.
Maya had been as equally shocked as she was happy for them. And also happy for herself because since the breakup Lucas had sought Maya's friendship and they'd gotten closer than they ever had before. It had made the blonde realise that maybe she'd never really gotten over Lucas romantically, but she didn't want to ruin this new closeness with feelings. She'd learnt her lesson freshman year.
So she'd stayed silent about her feelings and gotten him a pocket watch for Christmas last year. He was always talking about his grandparents and how his Pappy Joe was a true Texan with style because of the said pocket watch. So it seemed only fitting she'd give one to him. She'd mailed it and hoped it would put a smile on his face 1,765.7 miles away from her, just like all his gifts did for her.
In return, she'd gotten a handmade wooden photo frame engraved with flower patterns. The picture inside was one Riley had taken of the two at Lucas' 16th birthday party. As he was a year older than the rest of them, Maya and her close knit friends had been treated early to one heck of a sweet sixteen bash. His mother had paid for the six of them to ice-skate at the NYC rink, then go go-karting until lunch where Lucas was surprised with a large pool party complete with the whole school. The picture consisted of Maya nearly falling at the ice rink, laughing despite herself as Lucas held her up by the waist, his own smile and light blush- or maybe it was just the red from the cold- on his cheeks.
The blonde had hidden it away in her old shoebox.
Now here she was, with her aching legs curled beneath her, staring at a small present Lucas had mailed to her from Texas. He usually spent the holidays back in Texas with his aging grandparents and this year was no exception. However, when he mailed her gifts, for some reason, it always came the day after Christmas- not the day before.
"Should've known, he sends you one every year. You know, if I didn't know any better I'd say the two of yo-"
Fortunately for Maya, her baby sister began to cry at the top of her lungs, cutting their mother off short. The blonde teen thanks her lucky stars for little Mariah.
Katy Hunter shakes her head wistfully and returns to her bedroom to settle her little girl, not before giving Maya a we'll-finish-this-talk-later glance.
Saved from her embarrassment for now, Maya hurries off of the couch to her own room. She shuts the door behind her carefully before reaching under her bed to collect her old shoebox.
The box in question had seen better days but Maya couldn't part with it.
It held too much value.
So instead of replacing the cardboard box, she blew off the thin layer of dust and opened it. She was greeted with the best gifts she's ever recieved and that sense of familliarity once more. The ornament, the boots, the note and the most recent item, the picture frame. She smiles at them fondly.
The blonde girl bites her lip as she ponders whether or not to open the gift now or wait until tomorrow, or the 26th; it was practically tradition by now.
But, she'd always been a curious girl so decided to open it. Maya makes her way back to her bedroom door and slides down it. She wanted to open this in privacy, so blocking the door was the most natural option, although she was sure her sister had her back as of now.
With a faint smile, Maya tugs at the thin brown string bow and watches as it falls to the floor. She tears into the silver paper nimbly and is surprised to see a sqaure black gift box.
The blonde girl pauses with a gulp. She knew what these kind of boxes held. Usually jewellery, guaranteed Topanga would recieve one from Cory every year.
Her heart beat sped up then, she was comparing herself and Lucas to the relationship, or more importantly, marriage of her best friend's mother and father. What on earth did that mean?
Nothing, she decides briskly as to not get her hopes up.
With slightly clouded thoughts she takes off the small lid, laying it beside her. She's presented with folded lined paper first. She takes out the paper but not before peaking at what lay beneath it.
A beautiful silver chain with a matching stone shaped pendant sits comfortably on a jeweler's cushion. It was engraved with a single golden stone and as Maya reaches for it and turns the pendant over she reads out loud the words engraved to the back of the pendant.
"Ever yours, every Christmas, Huckleberry."
The slightly overwhelmed adolescent then unfolds the lined paper and dubs it a letter. The folds of the paper are neat and precise and the words are scrawled with immaculate pen-men ship. She'd always been jealous of his handwriting- and when teased about hers she'd always hit him and tell him that messy handwriting was a trait of an artistic soul.
She clutches the paper to her and reads it aloud quietly, but not before picking up the faint scent of his pinewood cologne that she secretly loves and Granny Mary's freshly baked ginger cookies.
"Dearest Shortstack, I was going to start this with wish you were here but it sounded corny in my head and even worse out loud. But it's still true," this elects a small laugh from the girl, probably as planned,
"Swiftly moving on, I know I usually beat around the bush and over think every small descion- to the point it drives you crazy- but I don't want to do that this time. I've fallen pretty dang hard for you this past year; I guess I've felt this way since you were twelve and I thirteen but didn't understand what I was feeling then. Every Christmas I think of you, but I've never desired your presence more strongly than I do now. I even sent this package early for this reason, despite Texan mail being 'slow' or something like that.
I know you're excited to spend your sister's first Christmas with her, but maybe you could join my grandparents and I for the New Year afterwards. I know you love the stars here and Granny Mary talks about you every year already," Maya smiles at that, she was also very fond of Granny Mary, her cooking was to die for.
"She said I should invite you round. Although, truth be told, I'd been thinking of this before she even said anything. So, yeah, I formally want to invite you to the Friar's family home from the 26th onwards. Hopefully Shawn trusts me by now- all I want to do is discuss the ideas that are most likely forming in your head thanks to the gift. But I mean it, Maya, my feelings for you are genuine. Hope to see you soon- ever yours, every Christmas, Huckleberry."
Maya's heart flutters against her will, she tries desperately to push the feeling down.
"P.S. your train ticket has already been paid for, turn over."
Sure enough there was a train ticket tacked clumsily to the back of the lined paper. But, more than one.
"The others have been too, just incase Shawn doesn't approve of you coming alone, I'm sure Granny Mary would love to meet Mariah. Merry Christmas." Maya finishes quietly with a dreamy smile only Lucas could put on her face. She allows it to grace her face, for now.
She rises to her feet swiftly and places the letter back into the gift box after removing the train tickets. The girl then takes out the beautiful pendant and clasps its around around her neck with the eagerness of a child- the kind of emotion she'd only express alone to mantain the cold reputation she'd spent years building up, of course.
Maya bends at the waist to put the shoebox safely back in it's given hiding place, under her cluttered bed, leaving the ebony gift box on her bedside table for now. The blonde supposed the gifts weren't so much of a secret anymore.
A shrill gasp pops Maya's cloud nine state and she finds herself turning and shaking her head playfully at her mother.
Katy Hunter's eyes are pinned to the necklace, her six month old daughter in her arms awake but silent. Maya grabs her chance and takes her sister from her mother.
"A necklace?"
Maya nods and proceeds to pulling faces at her favorite baby.
Her baby sister is beautiful. With Shawn's sea blue eyes and hair that is much darker than Maya's, somewhere between both brown and blonde. She has long dark eyelashes, a custom baby button nose and plump tiny lips. Her skin was still red- from all the crying- and she was tiny.
"Like, jewellery?" Katy questions, again.
"Yes, mom."
"Like the sort Cory gets Topanga?"
Maya involuntarily blushes but keeps her attention on little Mariah Hunter.
"I- I guess." She mentally curses herself for stuttering.
"AH!" Katy squeals, "It was about time!"
"You love Texas, right mom?" Maya seemingly changes the subject, tickling her sister's chubby cheek which earns a no tooth grin in return.
"Yeah, why?"
"Lucas sent four train tickets for the New Year. It's why the gift came early, I believe." She sends her mom a hopeful look then.
"I'd love that, and so would Mariah..."
"But...?"
"But you're gonna have to talk to Shawn." Katy laughs slightly, "Now hand back my child, I'll settle her on her play-mat and we can watch a Christmas special. Two hot chocolates with whipped cream?"
Maya shoots her mother a fond look, she was so happy she was around more now. The relationship with her mother had once been very strained due to the fact that she had to work two jobs, including a night shift, throughout most of Maya's childhood just to stop them from getting kicked out.
At one point Maya practically lived with the Matthews. But slowly Shawn came into her life, Topnaga gave her mother a decent job with decent hours and honorable wages. Her mother had fallen for Shawn and vice versa thanks to some meddling on Riley's part; and they were now happily married. Katy still had her job but had taken time off to support Mariah. And Shawn was currently setting up his own business and working till late.
Maya allows a faint smile to cross her face when her mind reminds her of how Lucas, despite being in Texas, had always been there every Christmas and had subtly distracted her from the fact her father hadn't sent her anything in years.
"And sprinkles?" Maya asks cheekily, handing over her sister.
"And sprinkles." Katy repeats, grazing her nose affectionately against her baby's.
The older blonde turns to leave, but pauses half way through the teenager's door.
"Maya?"
The blue eyed girl meets her mother's gaze, expecting a sentimental piece of advice, "Yeah?"
"Lucas is a good one, don't try and scare him away." Her mother teases instead, and Maya blushes furiously as she quickly ushers her mother out of her room.
Alone again, she moves to her window and toys with the pendant adorning her neck. She looks out to the crowded streets of New York, observing the atmosphere of the chilly Christmas eve. The fresh snow had been turned to grey sludge by pedestrians and pollution as her neighbours rushed up and down the street with thin winter jackets rather frantically.
Then she thinks of Texas. The sky full of beautiful stars not stray helicopter lights mixed with a thick blanket of fog, and the warmth from the campfire she'd loved when Lucas had first showed direct signs of wanting to be more than just friends. She'd never gotten that first kiss, though...
Maybe this time would be different. Besides, Lucas was only ever hers at Christmas time.
She just has to get through her stepfather, Shawn. But that was another situation entirely, so Maya pushes it from the front of her mind with an eyeroll as she goes to join her mother and sister for a traditional movie might.
And that Christmas eve, if Katy picks up on her daughter's dreamy smiles quickly replaced by stubborn scowls whilst movies play she doesn't say anything, just beams, knowingly. Katy knew that, Shawn, although against the idea at first, would soon give in to his wife and step daughter and they'd spend the rest of the season and New Year in Texas whilst her eldest daughter would fall in love with Lucas as he already had for her.
And they'd be together, personally this time, at Christmas.
Eh, I suck at endings xD Hooe you enjoyed- I haven't written a Christmas special in a while and feeling festive started this a few days back :) If you really liked it feel free to review ^-^