This was originally supposed to go up as a oneshot, but it got too long. So, here's my first multi-chapter fic — apologies for the varying lengths of the chapters.

Thank you for reading, and please be gentle if you review!

Set in the same timeline as, and a sequel to, my earlier fic Sanctuary.


*Set in spring, sophomore year of high school

It's ten days away, and Lucas still hasn't asked Maya to be his date for the spring school dance.

It's not that he hasn't tried. He worked his courage up a full three times — once when he and Maya were studying together in the library, once when they arrived earlier than their friends at Topanga's, and once during chemistry (when he really shouldn't have been getting distracted, because they were handling some rather concentrated chemicals). He'd even opened his mouth to say the words. Only to be interrupted. By Farkle.

Lucas doesn't even have to wonder anymore if the interruptions are on purpose. No one — least of all Farkle — develops a sudden, all-consuming need to discuss in depth the lives of renaissance painters (in the library), or to barge in to debate the merits of mango and passionfruit smoothie vs. peach and vanilla (at Topanga's), though hijacking Lucas and Maya's experiment in chemistry in order to show them how to correctly perform a titration is a very Farkle thing to do. It's almost as if he has some sort of inbuilt radar or tracking device whenever Maya and Lucas are close — which, considering Farkle, is probably exactly the case — and it makes Lucas want to go kick something.

Suffice to say the genius has been temporarily demoted as his best friend.

Worse, Charlie Gardner is being a pest. If Lucas thought he was mildly annoying back in middle school, he's infinitely more irritating now. He and Maya have been paired together for their English assignment — which is unfair because Lucas always pairs up with Maya for English (and every other assignment he can) — and it's downright annoying to see her with Charlie at the small table tucked away in a corner of Topanga's. He can't hear what they're saying from his seat at the group's usual table. But he can see how close they're sitting, and he grits his teeth when Charlie leans close to Maya as she points out something in the textbook open on the table between them.

It's not just Charlie who worries him. Maya is one of the most popular people in their school, and is on good terms with many of the upperclassmen. One of them is bound to ask her if Lucas doesn't do it soon.

But after seeing the kind of dance asks that his fellow students are coming up with, he wants to do more than just go: "Hey Maya, want to go to the dance with me? Great! I'll pick you up at six!" — he does that sort of thing often enough whenever they make plans to hang out.

He doesn't want to do anything big, loud, and obvious — lockers bursting with balloons and exploding confetti might be right up Riley's alley, but that's neither Maya's nor his cup of tea. He prefers something more low-key, where the sentiment is more important than the extravagance of the gesture. And he knows Maya shares his opinion.

But he also wants to do something fun, like his and Maya's game. Something that will make her laugh, that will make her gorgeous blue eyes light up... (Which is why he isn't too upset that his previous pathetic attempts didn't work out. He's still annoyed with Farkle, though, for disrupting the few opportunities he gets to spend time alone with Maya.)

Lucas also still hasn't figured out for sure if Maya returns his feelings, though he could've sworn their interactions have become a bit more flirty lately. But considering the number of little moments they've been having — especially since they almost kissed when she came over to his house a few months ago — he's optimistic. If Maya liked him only as a friend, surely she would have found a way by now to let him know without hurting or embarrassing him.

So, he is reasonably sure that she won't refuse to go with him to the dance, even if it is just as friends for now. There's nothing stopping him from asking her. Except the lack of a witty dance ask. (And Farkle.)

He has to come up with an idea, and soon. Maybe he can make it something about a square dance or a hoedown or do-si-doin'...