The year is 2019 and Lucas and his friends are just settling into the new apartment they all share. Riley, Maya, Lucas, and Zay are all attending NYU, pooling their money together to get a fair sized place to live. Of course they miss Farkle, but he's off to do great things at MIT. They still constantly text him, as well as Skype. He's doing well; on his way to take over the world.

When they discovered that the four of them were all going to the same school it didn't take long before it was decided to live together. Sure, they could've stayed at home but what's the fun in that? With four incomes it wasn't hard to find a place but it wasn't like it was the Taj Mahal. Riley and Maya shared a room, as well as Lucas and Zay. And they were all perfectly fine with that.

It's been a couple months into the school year and things were going great. Classes weren't too difficult, they loved the campus, they were all making new friends, and they all got along, for the most part. Lucas knew it was going to be at least a little difficult living with Maya. For two obvious reasons: 1. She would tease him mercilessly and 2. Being in such a close proximity all the time will make him have to take more than a few cold showers.

He's seen her unabashedly walk around the apartment in her bra and panties, claiming she was looking for a sweater she left in the living room. He had stopped eating his cereal, spoon frozen in air, when she had done this. Zay laughed and guided his hand to his mouth. He had never let him live that one down.

He's noticed a lot of new things about Maya that he had never known in the past seven years of knowing her. There were little things that he picked up like the fact that she left notes for people everywhere. If she used the last of the milk she would put a sticky note on the fridge. If it was raining she would put an umbrella in front of the door with a note that said "You're welcome." Sometimes, after she took a shower, or if Riley was currently in the shower, she would write in the condensation on the mirror. She would even leave notes on their bedroom door sometimes, saying things like, "Good luck on the test. " or "If you don't turn off your hillbilly music I'm gonna castrate you." Those always made him smile.

Speaking of his music. He's always known she didn't like it. She's made it very clear that she doesn't like country music. But more than once, while he's walking past the bathroom, he's heard her singing in the shower. "For every stoplight I didn't make. Every chance I did or I didn't take." or "I don't want good and I don't want good enough. I want can't sleep, can't breathe without you, love." He would smile to himself. When she came out and sat at the kitchen table he would sing quietly while making pancakes. "I don't want easy. I want crazy." He turned around and put a short stack on her plate for good measure. She narrowed her eyes at him but ate anyway.

He would push the limit with her a little bit sometimes. I mean, come on, how could he not? He would turn up the speakers when his iPod played a particular twangy song. She would mildly threaten him but then let it go. But he found out there instances where he should leave things alone. "Little Toy Guns" by Carrie Underwood came on and he saw her stiffen from her place on the couch. She whipped around and stared at him very seriously from where he was doing his homework in the kitchen.

"Turn. It. Off." He smiled a little.

"Or what?" She was up and in his face in a matter of seconds. She grabbed his collar.

"I said turn it off." His eyes widened a little. He grabbed the little remote and pressed the "next" button. Some rock song came on and she released him. She let out a breath and gathered her things and retreated to her room. Lucas looked from her closed door to the iPod deck to the couch, and back again. What just happened? No more than five minutes later Riley came out of their room. She put her hands on the table in front of him and forced him to look her in the eye.

"What did you do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Maya slammed our door, looking pissed as all get out, then basically hid under her covers. I tried to talk to her but she kept saying she was fine even though I could hear her sniffling. What did you do?!" He made her cry? He hadn't meant to. He was just teasing her a little. Playing their game.

"I just played a country song, that's all." Riley look confused.

"Really? What song?" Lucas flipped through the songs before it started playing again. Immediately Riley's face looked shocked.

"Are you insane? Turn it off!" Lucas fumbled with the remote before he turned the music off completely.

"What's wrong with it? It's a good song." Riley looked at him like he was crazy.

"Have you even heard the words? It's talking about a little girl hiding in a closet because her parents are fighting." It finally dawned on him. Oh shit. "I know she's told you that the only memories she has of her father is of him fighting with her mom but she never told you the extent of those memories. She's repressed a lot of them and sometimes wakes up crying because she dreams about hiding in her room, listening to them scream at each other. She would crawl under her bed or into her closet, hoping her dad wouldn't come in because she was scared of him. Now whenever she's reminded those times she gets these flashbacks and gets so scared. Sometimes she even cries. Don't feel bad that she didn't tell you. It took her a long time to tell me. After about the third time she woke up crying at a sleepover I had had enough and she confided in me." Lucas felt like complete shit. Sure, there was no way he really would have known but he still felt like the worst friend ever.

"Will she be okay?" he asked. Riley sighed

"Yeah, I'm sure she will. This one wasn't that bad. She was more mad than anything else. Just give her time." Lucas lowered his head, feeling shame. He spotted his sticky notes.

"Here, give her a note for me." He scribbled, 'I'm so so so sorry, Maya. I didn't mean to hurt you.' Riley smiled as she took it. She disappeared into their room for a total of 23 seconds before she returned and shook her head sadly.

"Sorry Lucas." He sat and thought for a minute before getting up and looking in the fridge and smiling in victory. He scribbled on another note and handed it to Riley once more. 'You can have my last piece of cheesecake from that bakery you love.' This time Riley laughed and crossed her fingers as she left again. This time it took eight minutes before they both walked out. Maya sat across from him, eating her promised desert, not saying anything. But not saying anything also means not yelling so that's a good sign. Riley gave him a thumbs up. They went back to normal after that.

He doesn't know why but he keeps picking up on all the little things she does. She taught herself to peel an apple completely in one peel like on Sleepless in Seattle, she puts one shoe on then the other shoe then has to tie the first one first, you can always tell what her mood is based on her nail color (if it's light like pink or purple she's in a fun mood, if it's dark like a deep red or black, run), every time she's on a set of stairs she quietly counts them, she chews on her hair when she's nervous or stressed, and she won't finish an episode of Friends if she can't do the clapping in the song (seriously, if she misses it she'll get up and walk away). These little things were cute and unique and they made Maya who she is.

These weren't particularly outstanding attributes. Nor were they annoying or off putting. Most people would just shrug these off if they noticed them at all. So why did Lucas?

So this is the first chapter of I don't how many. I'm just writing as I go along. I have plot points in mind but no real direction I'm taking this so I don't know just how long it's gonna be. Tell me what you think!