Hi everybody...it's been quite a while since I've had anything to say or a story I've wanted to write. I still don't know if I'm entirely up for diving back into the fanfiction world, but I felt inspired and decided to give it a shot. This is a story based on the characters from Girl Meets World and it will be a Lucas x Maya story even though it may not seem like it for a while. The story is entirely planned out, but not written, so my plan is to see what kind of response I get and then go from there.

I hope everyone likes the first chapter and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! Please let me know if there is any confusion with the timeline!

January 1, 2016

Lucas carefully sat between the two girls, trying not to get too close to either and silently wishing he could have followed everyone back to the apartment below.

"It's midnight…" Maya quietly said, refusing to look anywhere but the ground underneath her feet.

Riley replied, as fireworks ringing in the New Year went off around them, "And here we are…"

December 31, 2019

The skyline looked the same as it had three years ago, with the city waiting on baited breath for the clock to strike midnight and a new year to begin. The party too looked the same—the same mix of friends with a few new ones added here and there, all looking a little older, but otherwise just the same.

As an upbeat pop song came on over the speakers, Riley Matthews stepped out onto her rooftop as the party went on around her. She had to admit that over the years she had gotten pretty good at this sort of thing—streamers and balloons, hosting and schmoozing. Though, a frown appeared across her face when she realized her best friend was nowhere to be found. She understood when she was not at the party earlier, Maya always liked to make an entrance, but it was close to midnight and the blonde was nowhere.

Glancing at her phone, there were no new messages, which was strange. Riley knew Maya had been distant lately, but she never thought she would miss the party.

She saw Lucas talking with Farkle and Smackle across the rooftop, and she made a beeline for them. "Have either of you talked to Maya? She's not here yet and I'm worried."

Lucas awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "She wasn't sure if she could make it. I talked to her earlier and she thought she may have a cold."

Riley frowned, "Oh. She didn't tell me about that."

"You know Maya, she never wants to look weak. And she probably felt bad for missing your party, Riles, I mean, clearly it's a hit!" Farkle gestured to the crowded rooftop around him to illustrate his point.

"I guess…she usually gets grumpy when she's sick so it would make sense for her to go AWOL. She's probably annoyed it happened on New Year's Eve, which is practically her favorite holiday, a time for new beginnings and all that."

"Well we're close to midnight, Smackle and I need to prepare for our kiss." Farkle grabbed Smackle by the hand as they quickly walked away, leaving Riley and Lucas standing alone in the corner.

"I don't think I want to know what he means by 'prepare'."

"I'm just pretending it just means putting on chapstick and nothing more than that."

Lucas chuckled as he hugged his jacket closer around his body. Standing there, so close to Riley, was making him nervous. She kept glancing at him, but neither quite knew what to say.

"So…I heard you came with Charlie?"

She laughed, "That's an interesting way to put it. I invited him, just like everyone else."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to imply o-or…" he stuttered, "I just know he still likes you, so I figured you inviting him here meant something."

"I guess I just needed someone to kiss at midnight. After the whole thing with Leo…Maya has just been trying to convince me to get out more, so naturally I went back to Charlie." She laughed, "We both agreed we'll start as friends and figure things out from there."

"Considering midnight is like, very soon, shouldn't you be with him now?"

"Huh. Actually, yes." She looked around the rooftop curiously, but couldn't see Charlie anywhere. "Yet another person I've lost, I swear I'm zero for two today."

"Yeah…" Lucas trailed off awkwardly, and again, the two felt the awkward silence envelop them.

Distantly, the pair began to hear shouts of a countdown as midnight got closer. "Sixty…fifty-nine…fifty-eight…"

"You should probably go find him, I wouldn't want you to miss your midnight kiss."

"What about you? No one should ring the new year in alone!"

"Oh, I'll be fine. It's probably better for me to start the year off alone, maybe my life will be less complicated."

"Forty-one…forty…thirty-nine…"

"Lucas Friar, from what I can tell, your life needs more drama in it. Maya says everyone can use drama, or else life is boring. That's why everyone still watches Keeping Up with the Kardashians."

"Trust me, I've had too much drama for one year," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing," Lucas said, shrugging it off. "Trust me, go find Charlie, start your year off right. Be happy."

"Twenty-two…twenty-one..twenty…"

Riley felt her heart beating a mile a minute as she contemplated staying or leaving. This was the moment, the one she had been waiting for since she first met Lucas, now or never.

She turned her head and looked up at Lucas, who was gazing out onto the New York City skyline. He was the boy she had loved since that day on the subway, and this was her chance.

"Ten…nine…eight…"

"Lucas."

He looked down at her questioningly, "Yeah?"

"Six…five…four…"

"What if I want to be happy with you?"

"Three…two…one…"

Then she kissed him as shouts of "Happy New Year!" rang out around them.

Lucas felt frozen to the spot he was in and kissed her back in a haze of fireworks. As she pulled away, his mind couldn't process what had just happened. Riley looked sheepish, as a blush crept up on her cheeks. "Sorry, I thought that would be good idea. Now I'm just embarrassed."

"No, it's fine. It was…nice. Really nice."

"I agree, it was…nice." She smiled as she tried to figure out what was going through his head, but all she saw was shock.

"Riley?"

The brunette whipped her head around and broke into a mega-watt smile, as her best friend had finally decided to show her face at her party. "Maya! Where the hell have you been? You are never one to miss a party, especially a New Year's Eve party!"

Maya shrugged, "You know me, things to do, people to see. The party seems to be going well though, I see you took my advice to ditch the piñata." She gingerly took a step forward toward her friend and Lucas, who had quickly taken a few steps back when he realized she was there. She cocked her head and gave him a questioning look, but he kept his eyes glued firmly to the ground.

Riley wrapped the blonde in a tight hug. "How long have you been here?"

"I literally just walked in. Unfortunately I missed the whole midnight thing, but hopefully everyone still has some party left in them." She gave Riley a quick hug back, but then quickly extracted herself. She had walked into something weird and it was giving her a bad feeling.

Riley smiled sympathetically as Maya continued, "I'm going to grab something to drink downstairs. I'll leave you two alone."

She turned to leave, when the brunette quickly grabbed her arm. "Wait! I'll come with you! Lucas, you don't mind, do you?"

He waved them off as Riley and Maya walked off. Maya was desperately trying to look anywhere else but her friend as they made their way back to the apartment below. As soon as the door closed behind them, Riley exclaimed, "Oh my god! I have to tell you something!"

Maya stooped down to sift through the drinks in the ice cooler as she casually replied, "What?"

"I kissed Lucas!"

She whipped her head around in shock, "You did what?"

"I know! It was midnight and it just happened! I've never been that spontaneous before, but it just felt so right!"

Maya felt the color drain from her face and she gripped the diet coke harder to keep herself from dropping it. She took a couple deep breaths before steadying herself to answer. "That's…great."

Riley's eyes went wide. "You're okay with this right? I would never have done it if I thought you still liked him. You've been telling me for years that you're totally over him so I just assumed it was okay! Oh god, are you mad? Please don't be mad!"

"Oh, no it's totally fine! I was just surprised is all; I didn't think that was ever going to happen between you two. What happens next?"

"I have no idea." Riley flung herself onto the couch as Maya cautiously sat next to her. "I'm really hoping he wants to date, I just really feel like it's the right time now."

"That's really good…really good. Why don't you head back up there and talk things over with him, I'm sure he wants to see you."

"That's a great idea." Riley stood up from the couch and headed toward the entrance to the roof. "You coming?"

Maya smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'll give you a head start. It's probably not a conversation I should be involved in. Plus, I need to run to restroom really quick."

Riley nodded and left Maya behind as she headed back to Lucas. Maya sighed and quickly made her way across the apartment to the restroom. She gingerly closed the door behind her and slowly slid to the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees. The smile she had on her face for Riley's sake slowly faded into a frown as contemplated everything she had heard.

All she really knew was that everything that had happened this year was worth nothing and she never wanted to talk to Lucas again.