(Real quick A/N: Pretend this occurs is freshman year instead of middle school but Lucas still hadn't had the courage to kiss Maya in Texas. Yes, in my head Texas occurs in freshman year- it really just gives Lucaya's friendship a lot more depth. Lucas has been in New York since seventh grade but still gets home sick and finds it difficult to express himself. Lucas does also have slight anger issues due to his past but apart from that this storyline is canon to the show- well until the end I guess ^-^)
His New Year's Star.
Lucas waited, and he waited- but she still sat stubbornly frozen to her seat on the bench.
Sighing, he cast his glance back to the New York skyline with a wistful expression, overlooking 'the Big Apple' from his spot on the roof.
He much preferred the Texas new year, there were no stars here in New York. Lucas would love to show his friends- well one friend in particular- the stars once again. He recalled how that friend had loved them, and had snapped so many photos on her phone that she probably had little storage left now- all for this painting idea she wouldn't stop talking about.
And he missed those Texas stars too. Years back, when he'd first arrived in the big city- he'd thought he'd seen one.
Until his mother had given him a rude reality check.
"That's a helicopter, son." She'd told him.
"I miss home." Lucas had blurted with a bitter smile, "I miss...dad."
"I know, dear." His mother had consoled him.
"The night sky...it's so dark here."
"I know, love, but without the dark; the star can't shine. You'll find a different star here, you'll see, it's New York."
Lucas had let the words roll out of his brain and returned to his new room for the night after that.
What had his mother been waffling on about now, he'd wondered- not giving the wise words a second thought.
It was around then when he'd met his first friends.
The first was all blonde hair, and city clothes and big blue eyes. Her walls were the highest back then.
And sparks. Lots of exploding sparks around the blonde beauty.
Seconds later he had met Riley who smiled like a lovesick goof on his lap and behaved as any other girl with such an amazing life would.
And smiles. Lots of innocent smiles around the pretty brunette.
But when he got to know the one who intrigued him the most, namely Maya, she was quick to defend herself and began the teasing. Yet he still saw the similarities between them so clearly, two broken souls scarred by someone who was once so close.
Maya's father had decided to leave.
Lucas's father had decided to stay behind.
Riley's parents had decided to be excellent role models and lead a perfect life for their perfect daughter.
So that's why he'd allowed himself to think that maybe Riley was his new found light in this big city, this new star as such. He'd hoped that her perfect life could cancel out his dark past.
But only now did he understand his mother's famous quote, "Without the dark, you can't see the star."
Riley hadn't experienced a grey area in her life thus far- so he'd only seen the best in her. It was like trying to find a star to cling onto in the daylight. It's not that Riley wouldn't want to understand his past, but more of the case that she couldn't.
In Maya, well he saw it all in her, all of the colors. The good, the bad, the dark, the bright. He didn't need someone to cancel out his past- he needed someone to understand it. Someone who understood what it was like to have all of those angry feelings inside and not know what to do with them.
She used art.
He used violence.
Maya's star had been right there from the beginning. The shadows that lurked her past only enhanced her inner beauty. He'd noticed this before high school; before they had grown closer; before his on-off relationship with Riley.
Before all of that, but it had burnt most brightly in Texas.
Texas.
That's when he'd seen her true colors, her true feelings and then eventually his own.
Lucas' highlight reel from the week away in Texas hadn't consisted of the stars he once adored as a small child, but her.
The campfire, the feelings, the simplicity. It was official, Maya Hart had taken up every inch of his brain.
As soon as the confession had slipped from her mouth he'd found himself unable to think about anything else.
Maya Hart, the confident rebel who teased him relentlessly, cared for him too.
And he was tired of waiting for Riley to stop toying with his emotions.
"This spot taken?"
Maya's voice broke him from his musings and he smiled down at her. The fact that she'd appeared instead of her best friend said a lot to him.
"I was saving it." Lucas admitted.
"For who?" He noticed how her eyes flickered to Riley's form on the bench for a brief second before returning to his own eyes.
"I don't know anymore." He told her, the smile in his voice evident. In truth, he had been waiting for Riley to join him- but apparently she had bigger secrets with Farkle. Somehow he felt like he was just wasting his time with her.
Maybe Lucas had a happy ending somewhere, maybe he didn't, but right now his ending was not with Riley. Even the universe was starting to show it.
In Riley's world everything was one big fairy tale- but that life had never been him. He'd witnessed, first hand, his parents' rocky relationship quickly turn into the ashes of divorce.
And if Riley didn't want to be his midnight date then so be it.
The Texan had been secretly hoping that the blonde would be the one standing with him this year anyway. In fact, he'd been hoping for this a little while before the Texas trip. He just couldn't comprehend the fact that the normally unruly rebel was standing right next to him, devoid of any false emotion or cover up.
Lucas could see the vulnerability within her eyes, because she wasn't hiding her heart away now, she was wearing it for him to see.
And maybe his happy ending was with Maya, and maybe it wasn't. But right now she was the star he needed to survive in New York.
Lucas glanced down at the short girl also overlooking the city. She'd been there for him from the very beginning. Their mutual feelings had been built on a strong foundation of friendship.
She'd stopped him from beating up Billy for bullying Farkle.
He'd given her the confidence she needed to write a letter to her father for the forgiveness project.
He knew she had always cared for their friendship in her own little way, but he only now realised just how much.
"Hey, Lucas." She began, her voice timid.
"Yeah?"
"Have I ever said anything nice to you?" She asked with the smallest of grins.
"No." Lucas let out a low chuckle with a soft smile, surprised at her own feather-soft tone; no hint of teasing at all.
"Well, it's one mintue to midnight," the blonde's stormy eyes met his and held his gaze with all the confidence of a hero, "and I'm glad you're standing here."
Lucas stood there for a moment in shock- those words...they meant everything to him. She needed him standing there next to her as much as he needed her standing next to him.
She was the star he needed coming to New York and he was the star she didn't know she needed from Texas.
"Wow, that...that kinda makes up for everything."
She smiled up at him, and in that moment the dark, cold New York didn't seem all that dark and cold. And Texas didn't seem all that far away, either.
He had his blonde beauty, right there and right then, and he wasn't letting her go anytime soon.
So he stole his chance as the countdown for the New Year began. Fireworks exploded inside of him, not just around them, as he did what he'd been dying to do since Texas.
He swooped down and kissed her, a gentle hand on her waist as he felt her small hand cling to his shirt.
And then Farkle's strong voice broke through, "Riley still loves Lucas."
I guess I kinda left it as a cliff hanger xD You can follow the show's storyline and how it ended or make up a perfect Lucaya ending in your head like I often do XD Fun fact I wrote this months ago when I had really bad writer's block for my other story and then BAM! This fluffy one-shot was born. Hope you enjoyed- and I know its sorta a day early but have a happy New Year! :)