This idea is a bit unpolished for my liking, but I had a Gilmore Girls inspired dream about Maya an Lucas and this is what came to be. If you have any suggestions or comments please feel free to share them, any feedback is appreciated. I haven't written any fanfic in a long time and I'm really rusty, so forgive me.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, the show or any of Girl Meets World or the aforementioned Gilmore Girls.
She pulled him by the sleeve outside of Topanga's releasing him once they reached the nearest table. The blonde headed Texan boy gave her a rather perturbed look, gesturing for her to get on with it.
"Don't give me that look Huckleberry, I know something's up. Spill."
"That's why you dragged me out here Maya? To demand that I 'spill' to you?" replied Lucas in exasperation. "Nothing is wrong, I'm perfectly fine."
Maya's blue eyes softened slightly as she took in the muscled teen in front of her. Despite his best efforts to hide it, something was clearly wrong with the him. He could try and brush it off if he wanted to, but Maya knew better.
"Huck-" she began, before correcting herself. "Lucas," The boy in question glanced up making eye contact with her for the first time tonight. "I dragged you out here because I know something is wrong, you haven't been yourself lately." Lucas began to tense up, breaking his gaze and turning away in denial. "Lucas, please..." Maya's delicate hand grasped his bicep, pulling him towards her. "I understand if you don't want to talk much about it, but I can't go on pretending everything is alright. I've seen the way you are acting around the others; they might not notice it, but I do. Plus you've barely looked at me! You've been short and unresponsive and...is it me? Did I do something? Is it something with Riley? Please Lucas, just talk to me."
With a sigh Lucas turned to face Maya, feeling a wrenching in his gut at the look on her face. He hated making her feel like that. So..insecure, unsure of herself. Maya was the most confident, strong person he knew, and it killed him to see her anything but herself, especially by his hand. She was one of his best friends, he would never wish to cause her harm. "Look Maya, I'm sorry. I hate to see you like this, it's just...I've had a lot on my mind lately."
Maya smiled at him softly, encouraging him to continue. "Is everything okay between you and Riley? You guys have been together for like five months now, you are bound to start having some little problems here and there."
Lucas sighed deeply, rolling his thoughts over in his mind. Despite their deep friendship he was a tad reluctant to share. "Things haven't exactly been...purple cats and rainbows lately, if you get what I mean."
"No kidding Ranger Rick." she scoffed.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? " he challenged, a little hurt at getting such a response when he was trying to open up. When the petite blonde responded only with a guarded look a wave of insecurity rushed through him. "Has..did Riley say something to you?"
Buying herself some time Maya took a seat astride one of the nearby chairs, resting her elbows on the chair back in front of her. "Look Ranger Rick, you know Riley is my best friend, I'm not going to betray her to her boyfriend, no matter how good of friends we are. What I can tell you is that she's concerned. I think she's starting to sense something is amiss with you and the thought of her perfect little cowboy being not so perfect is making her a little loopy."
"Christ!" roared Lucas, kicking one of the chairs to the ground with a loud thud. Maya's eyes widened in shock. It wasn't very often that Lucas the Good lost his cool. It took a lot for him to let that side of show. He had worked so hard after leaving Texas to set aside that part of himself, for the sake of his future. "Another thing to add to the fucking list."
"What list?" she questioned, growing more concerned. "Lucas just, come on, take a breath." she soothed as he paced angrily in front of her.
"I can't Maya!" he exclaimed angrily back at her. "I'm so confused.. frustrated...gah! I can't even pick a fucking emotion not! God, I feel like I'm ruining everything."
Standing up now, Maya moved closer to her friend, unsure how to calm him down but wanting to be there for him. "I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."
"You don't get it okay, you wouldn't understand. "
Maya bristled at Lucas' words. He knew her past, he was there for he when she lost herself, surely of all people she would understand. "Try me."
Lucas stopped his pacing to look at her again, his blue eyes scanning her face carefully. His forearms were taught with tension and his jaw clenched, outlying the harsh angle of the bone. His face was pinched with thought, with what, Maya was unsure. He appeared to be looking for something, in her face or her eyes, somewhere in the vicinity at least. Finally he dropped his gaze, seemingly satisfied with what he found. Wiping his palms on his jeans, he breathed deeply, taking in the night air. God how he missed the fresh, open air in Texas. It smelt so much more pure, more real than the stench of the city.
Taking another deep breath, he exhaled softly and began, "Nothing is how it's supposed to be. I've worked so hard to be where I'm at now and nothing feels right. I finally made the football team this year but I feel like all the fun of the game is gone. I work hard in my studies to go to a good college, but I don't even know what I want to be anymore; the whole vet thing just seems silly now. I make sure to keep my cool and be a good kid, keep myself and you guys out of trouble, be the...how did you put it?"
"Prefect little cowboy."
He snorts at the thought," Right, the 'perfect little cowboy' that Riley wants me to be, but it's too much Maya. I can't handle being the hero all the time, I can't be Lucas the Good all time. It's too much pressure."
"Hey, hey, it's alright, come here." she soothed once more, pulling him in for a hug. She felt him slump a bit into her arms and took it as a good sign. She pulled back slightly, grasping his face in her palms and lifting his gaze to meet hers. "It's okay to not have it all together, no one expects you to. I'm sorry if I made you feel like you did with that nickname, I was just joking around. Lucas, you are an amazing guy, but not because of all those things you do or accomplish. You are an amazing guy because of who you are. None of us would change that, none of us want you to feel like you need to be anything other than that."
Lucas smiled softly at her, grateful for her friendship, for her kind words. There was a moment of relief in his eyes that gave Maya the slightest inking of hope, before it was quickly replaced with confusion and pain. His brow dipped, alighting a series of creases to appear on his face. She let her hands slip, sensing this conversation wasn't quite over.
"Then there's the whole thing with you, Riley and I." It was Maya's turn to now look upon him in confusion.
"I thought that whole thing was put to bed. You choose Riley, it was always Riley from day one."
"I thought so too, but..now I'm not so sure." Maya's mind was reeling from his response. This whole thing almost cost the three of them their friendship on more than one occasion. How many times had they had that stupid conversation over what they felt or didn't feel. Her mind knew that they were headed into dangerous territory and that she should just stay away, but something inside flared at the thought that things between her and Lucas might not be done after all.
"What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly.
"You're right, I chose Riley. Riley was the first one I had a crush on, the first girl to ever make me feel like I was that knight in shining armor she wanted so badly. She loved that I wanted to be a vet, that I was protective and loyal and smart. That she could bring me home to Mr and Mrs Matthews and know that I would make a good impression, because I'm a polite and respectful person. She sees me as the man I want to be. I should want to be with Riley, she's the one who keeps me on track."
Maya shook her head in disbelief. "Lucas what are you talking about? Riley doesn't make you that person, you're him already. You are all those things and more. You don't need Riley to be a good person, you've shown me over and over again that that is who you are."
"Am I though? Think about it Maya, think about my past, think about Texas. The amount of fights I used to get into. The trouble I caused. When I moved to New York I vowed to never be that guy again. I feel so ashamed of myself when he comes out. "
The more he went on the angrier Maya grew. She couldn't stand here and let him go on like this, let him tear himself down. He was such a great person, why didn't he see that? "Enough!" she screamed, grabbing him tightly by the arms. "Enough, enough, enough!" Lucas stopped abruptly in surprise. "I can't stand here and hear you say those things about yourself. Lucas, trust me, who you were in your past isn't who you are now. Just because you made some bad decisions doesn't mean you need to carry the weight of them your whole life. You saw what my past has done to me, how hard it was for me to get through some of that."
"But your life is still not easy Maya, I see you battle so much pain still." Hearing it out in the open like that hurt. She was forced to look away for a moment in an attempt to collect herself. Now was not the time to be airing her demons.
"Not the point."
"Then what is Maya? What are you trying to say?"
Despite her best efforts, a stray tear fell down her cheek as she replied. "That you don't need to go through it too. We all care about you so much Lucas, and beating yourself up over something so small in the scheme of things is not healthy. I like you just the way you are, so do the others. Grow and change as you need to but don't do this, don't make life harder than it needs to be. I care about you too much too... I won't let you." By the end her speech another tear and fallen to join the first.
She closed her eyes to take a breath, her blonde hair cascading around her, hiding her face from onlookers in the cafe. She could feel the heat of his body near her, she knew he was close, but she was unsure how he was feeling. She wiped at her eyes with her sleeve and tilted her head up to check on him, when all of sudden his lips were on hers and his whole body was surrounding her. The shock of the action kept her frozen for a moment, but her bodily drives kicked in quickly, taking over her brain and urging her towards him.
His hand threaded into her long locks and his other arm pulled her hips closer. His lips pressed into hers passionately, eliciting a soft gasp from her as she clutched at his shirt. Inside her, her heart was soaring and she felt like she was on fire. It wasn't until he pulled away that the reality of what just happened washed over her like a cold bucket of ice. She had just kissed her best friend's boyfriend.
"Lucas...I...what about Riley?" she managed to pant out, her cheeks still flushed from the encounter.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you Maya, I don't feel the same way anymore. I should like Riley, she's the princess to my prince, but...I can't live up to being that anymore. I can't be the person she thinks I am."
Maya's head was spinning. She needed more oxygen, she couldn't make sense of everything that was going on. "Why... why are you kissing me then? What does that have to do with anything?"
Lucas tried to reach of her, but she backed away. She needed space to think. Lucas flinched a little in hurt, but continued. "You don't expect that from me Maya. You said it yourself, you like who I am, you don't ask me to be anything I'm not. You care for me, not the idea of me."
"But, what about Riley? How do you know she feels that way about you? "
"Because I've seen it. The way she acts around me, what she gets all giggly over. Maya you don't take any of my bullshit. You only let me be my authentic self. When I tried to talk to you like I do Riley you poured a smoothie over my head."
The petite blonde still looked at him in confusion, her hand holding back her hair an her teeth desperately chewing away at her lip. "But why did you kiss me? Why now? I mean, you're still dating my best friend!" The end of her sentence had her in near hysterics. What the hell was she supposed to do about this? Clearly she wasn't as over Lucas as she thought but..fuck. Poor Riley.
Lucas had the decency to at least looked ashamed. "Look Maya, I'm sorry, maybe this isn't the best timing in the world-"
"You're damn right Bucky" she snapped.
"-but I don't regret kissing you. I should have a long time ago. I wanted to that night at the bon fire but I was too chicken. I spent ages debating between you two and I convinced myself that Riley was the right one for me. Logically, she is. But I'm not happy with her Maya, not how I should be. My heart wants you."
He pulled her in for another kiss, and while her brain was screaming at her to stop, she couldn't help it. She pressed her lips pressed against his and molded her body into his touch. Her hands grasped at the hard plains of his back, her feet lifting her up towards him, looking for more.
Eventually, they broke for air, Maya resting her forehead against his chest, breathing in his scent. She let herself be intoxicated by the moment, not noticing the ringing of the bell on the door as her best friend joined them outside. Seeing them embraced like that Riley knew it was over between her and Lucas.
The slamming of the door behind Riley woke the couple from their trance, the two springing apart as if they had been burned. "Riley.." said Maya, her concern for her friend instantly returning.
Tears welled up in Riley's eyes as she brushed off Maya coming towards her. "Don't" was all she said as she ran up the stairs and out onto the streets of New York. Maya broke down finally into tears, torn between chasing after her friend or just leaving all together.
"Maya.."
"Don't! Just don't okay!" She yelled, her voice hoarse with her tears. She brushed him aside, pacing around the small courtyard, her boots clicking angrily. "Why did you have to tell me this now? Why couldn't you have waited? At least broken up with her first! God Friar, how the hell am I going to fix this?"
"Hey look, I'm sorry, but you were just as much into that kiss as I was. Don't blame this on me Maya."
"What? Are you kidding me? You initiated both of those! Even after I brought Riley up again!"
"But you didn't stop them."
"Just...leave me alone for now okay? I need to figure some things out."
"Maya!" called Lucas as she walked away from him. "Come on, Maya, don't do this." She ignored him, disappearing into the night, wrapping her sweater tighter around herself as the crisp autumn breeze picked up. She would fix this, she would, she just, needed to figure out how.