Story Number: #1
Length: 1655 words
Name: The Kiss The Photo and The War
Pairings and Characters: (Lucaya) Maya, Riley, Lucas, Missy
Description: A friend goes to war, and survives. He is coming back. You want everything to be perfect. You want to be a good friend and welcome him home. Only thing is, the more you think about it, the more you're dreading his return.
A/N So my first Lucaya fanfiction oneshot collection…THIS IS EXCITING so this first one is based on this photo taken I think sometime around WWII where a sailor guy is dipping some girl into a kiss and it is super romantic and there are all these people just smiling and watching. I LOVE IT
I frantically tie my apron around my waist, my sharp nails scratching my back and hands. Faster as I go, I have a feeling in the deep pit of my systems. It might just be the tight knot I have fastened onto myself, or the sickening one in my stomach.
"I really wish you would stop tying that so tightly," Riley sighs as she arrives in the entrance to my bedroom, "if he knew you were panicking this much, he wouldn't have written less than the ten times he has already." She groans slightly and walks behind me, tilting my head up from the ground to face my reflection in the mirror."
My long sleeved, white dress is simple and short. It reflects me whole-heartedly. The bottom half is covered by the light pink apron, but I'm not really paying attention to my clothes. I don't really know what my expression and face look like. Frazzled, excited, maybe scared. It's been nearly four years since he left. And I've been given only a few months notice to be told that he was returning home unharmed. I don't know what he looks like, he doesn't know what I look like. What if he has changed? Not just physically, but mentally. What will he look like? Older?
I mean, 19 definitely isn't old, but the last time I saw him, we were both 15 years old, when I still called him Huckleberry and he was the only one who could make me frustrated and angry and I would still love him to bits. As my friend…of course. Who knows how things have changed since then.
I'm still not sure what I'm more worried about, never seeing him again, or seeing him again. Today. Riley, Cory and the whole Mathews family have told me to just be a good friend and be supportive. Farkle and Shawn have told me to make him a nice dinner to welcome him home. So that's what I'll do. Be a supportive friend. That's all. He can save all the mushy stuff for Missy. His girlfriend. I'll make him dinner, let him invite Missy too, and we'll all sit down joke around and he'll tell funny stories from war. He and Missy will share a kiss and we'll all be fine. Except, it won't. Not ever.
Flashback to 4 years ago
"Goodbye Missy. I'll really miss you." He said, kissing her forehead gently. She smiles, tears in her eyes, and pulls him into a tight hug. They part and she returns to her family. She meets my eyes for a moment, and hatred fills her gaze. I quickly look away, before feeling another gaze on me. I turn to him. His eyes watering, and trembling. He doesn't really cry, this is Ranger Rick, the tough but kind hearted boy from Texas who was the shoulder to cry on. Who would beat up a bully in a matter of seconds, and straight away, turn into the kindest and most sincere person in the world. But no, he didn't cry. Not even for Missy.
I wanted to hug him, connect my hand with his and say goodbye like I want to. But that's not what I'm supposed to do. So, I just smile, quivering lips, and run away from the ship. I hear him call my name, but I know that if I return, then they'll all judge me. Call me a home wrecker, a slut who steals boyfriends. I'll just have to wait till he comes home.
End of Flashback
I snap from my thoughts and watch as Riley pulls my hair back into a simple and neat bun, which is near impossible with my curly hair. She finishes, and steps to the side. I force a smile and tuck a hair behind my ear.
"You know…I could make dinner, while you go see him get off the ship." She said, patting my shoulder. "He'd want to see you.''
I sigh and remove her hand. "Riley, we all know I'm the last person that he wants to see after 4 years away from everyone he knows and lov…" I trail off, hesitating, and gently push past her to go into the hallway, "Besides, he'd be busy talking to Missy."
"Maya, you don't know anything about what he wants." She says, following me down the stairs, her voice raising slightly.
"Yes I do, Riley. I know because he sent me letters."
She spins me around by the shoulder, sending my bun in a million different directions and making a complete mess of it. "You're not the only one he wrote letters to Maya."
Well, now I know for sure. I rip her hand off of me and sit down on the cushioned chair next to the table. I stare at the ceiling, contemplating still. I wasn't special to him. I never was. See, I knew that he was mad at me. Who wouldn't be? I didn't even give him a proper goodbye before he left the country. But there was still a small glimmer of hope in me, that thought maybe, just maybe, he still cared. That I was special and that he still at least considered me his short little stack of pancakes. But I guess I was just another one of his pawns in his chess game of life.
Riley sits down on the chair beside me, rubbing my back. She can probably tell that the tears are beginning to well like pools in my sockets. I was praying that she wouldn't, but ever since he left, its been harder for me to hold in tears. She begins talking again to break the silence.
"I didn't mean it like that. He told me stuff that he didn't want to tell you-"
"And is that suppose to make me feel better? Because wake up Riley, it's not working!" I yell, before stopping abruptly. I hope I didn't wake up Auggie.
"He didn't want to tell you things because he thought you would hate him for it!" She says, standing up again.
"He should be able to trust me, I've known him for 5 fucking years!" I stand up too. "I could never hate him!"
"Maya, you don't know what he was wanting to tell you, so don't change this to suit you!"
I huff and untie my apron, ripping the seam at the back in the process as I rip it off and slam it on the chair. By this point my bun has completely fallen out, leaving a half done pony tail, with lots falling out on the sides. I go to the door, not bothering to put on any shoes. I just need to get out, away from Riley for a bit, before I come back, we both apologise and I finally cook everyone's dinner. Everything will go to plan. Just not right now.
I hear Riley call my name but I just keep running out onto the street around the corner. Once I get out of the block, and I'm certain that Riley didn't follow me, I find a bare brick wall next to light post. Its on, now that the sun is beginning to set. I lean aginst it, staring at the now orange sky. I don't hold the tears back anymore and they come flowing out in loud sobs, that echo around the street.
I've tried being positive. I've tried telling myself that if I just fake it, everything will turn out okay and we'll all finish the story with a happy ending. But it won't, because life isn't like a fairytale. It's more like one of those tragic novels that end in someone dying or never finding the love of their life. The more I try to think of a way to end this story the way that we all want it ended, the less likely it seems to happen.
"Maya?"
It's not Riley.
It's him.
His messy hair, his watery eyes and the compassion evident in his face present with the obvious shock of seeing me, Maya Hart, crying on a street corner somewhere in the middle of Brooklyn. I stand up, wiping the tears slightly. I should just stand here and wait for him to come to me, be a lady.
But I'm sick of this bullshit. I can't be the normal person that everyone in society expects me to be, because my life was never normal since the day I was born. I don't plan on changing that for someone.
I run to him, ignoring the awkward looks from passers by and the gravel scraping my feet, because the only thing that I'm watching is him running towards me. We are dashing so fast that everything is a blur, its like we are hungry to feel each other, desperate to escape the loneliness we've been trying to escape for 4 years.
I'm going in for a hug, to remind him that I've missed my McBoing Boing best friend that always teased me and let me tease him. But as he neared me, I was unprepared for when he grabbed my waist, placed his hand on my back and dipped me into a kiss.
And in that moment, I realized how much I didn't care what people thought. Yes, people could call me a slut for kissing someone's boyfriend, but having an imperfect just makes me feel more perfect.
We pull away from the passionate kiss, joyful tears running down my face and his as we smile.
"Lucas."
"I love you, Maya."