AN: I've been sitting on this story for a while now. I really like how it turned out! Hope you all enjoy it :D
If you have any questions I'm on tumblr more so than FF! My tumblr is wade-wilson 3
DISCLAIMER: I don't own GMW. Damn.
Seven.
Maya Hart was seven years old when she stopped believing in fairy tales.
Billy Ross had come up to her in the line for the water fountain to tug on her pig tails like he always did. She hated it, hated him for always putting his hands on her hair when she asked him constantly to stop it. After the fourth polite, "Stop it Billy", she snapped and shoved him to the ground. As she stood over him, her hands crossing over her chest, he shouted at her that she was a brat and he didn't know why he wanted to be friends with a baby who still believed in Santa.
Maya cried her entire way home. She couldn't believe that her mom and dad would've lied to her like that. She had never felt more betrayed in her entire life.
When she asked her parents about it her father told her the truth. He told her some bogus story about how even though Santa isn't real, he should always live in her heart. Even at seven, Maya thought he was being ridiculous. Katy Hart, however, wanted to preserve her daughter's innocence for as long as she could. She tried to backtrack, tried to tell Maya that Billy was full of it.
Later that night, when Maya was pretending to sleep, she heard her parents arguing about Kermit's decision to "ruin her innocence" and how it was his "every right" to do so since she was his daughter too. Maya was used to the arguing. They argued all of the time, and sometimes her daddy would end up sleeping on the floor in Maya's bedroom because it was the only place that Katy wouldn't follow him in to. Sometimes he would leave for a few days and come back home with presents for her that made her feel better about his absence.
But four days after the Santa Claus incident, Kermit left and didn't come back.
Maya blamed her mother for yelling at him over something as stupid as an imaginary fat guy... She blamed her for never letting Kermit just be himself, she didn't understand that some people can't make things work. In her seven year old mind, she blamed herself for even bringing up Santa Claus to begin with. Maybe if she had just played along with it her daddy wouldn't have disappeared.
She was seven when she decided that people always leave, love was gross, and fairytales were a waste of time.
Nine.
Maya Hart was nine years old when she decided that boys were cute.
There was this kid in her third grade class named Evan who had dusty blonde hair and a habit of giving her his cheese crackers at lunch. He had been the first boy to ever tell her that she was pretty and he had been the first boy to hold her hand out by the swing set at recess.
Riley had been convinced that all boys except for Farkle, Josh, and her baby brother had cooties. She had spent hours sitting with Maya at the bay window telling her about all of the side effects of the dreaded cootie disease.
According to Riley, Cooties made you go crazy. They made you act different than you usually do and they made you think boys were cute.
Riley was convinced that Maya had caught the cootie virus from Evan. There was absolutely no way that her best friend would allow some gross boy who picked his boogers in first grade to ever hold her hand on their field trip to the aquarium.
Maya had even spent actual time making a valentines day card for the kid. Maya didn't even make valentines day cards for Riley, so it was pretty confusing for her that all of a sudden Maya was into having a boyfriend.
It was definitely the cooties.
So when Evan told Maya that he had to move away the summer before fourth grade, Riley was relieved. She figured maybe Maya would get rid of the cootie virus and they could go back to playing with dolls and ignoring all of the boys that spoke to them.
The cooties didn't go away, and the next year Maya found another boy named Caleb that bought her ring pops and asked her to marry him.
Maya had no idea that the cootie virus was serious stuff, but she didn't care either way. Boys were cute and she didn't want to give them up any time soon.
Eleven.
Maya Hart was Eleven years old when she decided that boys were the absolute worst.
Her fifth grade year, she, Riley, and Farkle were separated into two different classes. She had decided that it was because her teachers were out to ruin their friendship, but in reality it had just been random selection. She hated being separated from Riley because it meant that they had different recess times. Since Riley and Farkle were Maya's only real friends, she found herself sitting alone at recess pretty much every day.
It wasn't so bad in the beginning. She enjoyed the little playground that her elementary school had built in the middle of New York City. It was like their own miniature Central Park. There were trees, and grass, and birds that weren't disgusting street pigeons. Maya found her a nice patch of grass under one of the four big trees and she would draw pictures of what she saw around her. It worked for her, and it allowed her to keep to herself.. Which was really all she ever truly wanted unless Riley was there.
All Maya ever did was mind her own business and stay out of the way of the other kids, which is why when some kid named Matthew asked her if she wanted to play with him and her friends.. she was a little confused.
"The rules are simple," Matthew said with a gross smile that Maya honestly could have punched off of his face. "The game is called Kissing tag, and the boys chase the girls. If you get kissed, you're the loser."
There were five boys and three girls playing. Maya didn't find it fair in the least, but she was too hard headed to back out now. Especially when Riley's voice was in the back of her head telling her that she needed to make herself more "approachable".
"What happens if you lose?" She asked, raising her eyebrow as her hands perched on her hips.
"Well, you have to kiss whoever caught you for ten seconds." That gross smile was back on Matthew's face again and Maya seriously considered hurling.
She rolled her eyes as she reached up to put her hair in a high ponytail. The other girls seemed pretty into the idea of kissing some gross boys who hadn't brushed their teeth after eating sloppy joe at lunch that day. She didn't understand the whole girl/boy dynamic that so many girls were starting to jump into. Some of them had started to wear lip gloss and eye shadow. Maya was still wearing torn up t-shirts from the goodwill and saggy blue jeans.
"That sounds like the worst game ever."
Matthew locked eyes with her, almost like he was challenging her to a duel... Or at least, that's how Maya saw it. "So are you going to be a quitter? You can go back to your tree and be a loser if that makes you happy. But we're going to play this game."
The other kids snickered under their breath and another kid, Maya thought his name was Ryan, said "Maybe if her girlfriend Riley was playing she'd be into it."
Maya felt her blood boil, her skin felt hot and before she knew it she had punched Ryan square in the face.
"You don't even get say Riley's name! She's too good and you're a piece of garbage," She said while standing over a crying Ryan.
Everything else was a blur after that. The teachers ran over and everyone was pointing fingers in her direction. The principal called her mom, but Katy never answered her phone. So then they tried Kermit, which resulted in Maya laughing under her breath and offering up a "good luck" to the principal.
The only person that could be reached was Topanga, who hurried to the school to pick up Maya. Once Maya saw Topanga come through the door, she jumped up and ran towards her, hugging her tight.
When Topanga found out why Maya hit Ryan, she didn't scold her. She walked into their elementary school the next day and demanded that the Ryan kid get the same type of punishment Maya did, since he was clearly a nasty little thing.
They both ended up with a week of suspension, which Maya spent going to the office with Topanga and learning about how the law worked.
Boys were the absolute worst, but Topanga? She was the greatest.
Thirteen.
Maya Hart was Thirteen years old when she decided that some boys weren't so bad after all.
It was the week of the muffin project and Maya had to spend more time than she would've wanted over at Lucas' house. It wasn't that she didn't like spending time with him. The problem was that she liked it a little more than she wanted to admit. Her whole life she had been around boys who were obnoxious and rude. But Lucas was different. He had this whole gentleman thing going on that Maya could really go for.
She felt selfish when she thought about how she had wished that she'd never of pushed Riley onto his lap on the subway. She had spotted him first, but the defense mechanism in her brain told her that boys = abandonment and she couldn't handle that. She felt like the worst friend in the world when Lucas' fingers brushed against hers by accent when reaching for something and it sent electric shocks through her body.
Not only did boys mean abandonment to her, but now they meant lying to her best friend. It was hard for her, but she would never be able to look Riley in the eyes and say, "Hey, so I'm super into Lucas." That would never fly with her.
She was doing just fine with compartmentalizing her feelings for him and her fierce need to protect Riley from anything bad. That was until that Thursday.
Lucas had been texting her all morning about things that had nothing to do with the muffin project. They had been joking around, he told her about his life in Texas and she told him about growing up in the city. She knew that goofy grin that girls had when they talked to someone they liked was plastered all over her face when Riley walked up behind her.
Her and Lucas had been joking about the difference between Sheep and Goats when she heard her voice.
"Peaches! You're looking awful smiley today! That's the same look I get when I'm talking to Lucas! He is so nice, Maya. I know you don't like him very much but he is the greatest."
Riley flashed her the most genuine smile, a smile that Maya would kill to keep on her best friend's face. A smile that told Maya her feelings for Lucas were wrong and she was a crappy friend for having them in the first place.
"Listen, Huckleberry and I are never going to be friends. I would rather die than be friends with such a golden child." She laughed, shoving her phone in her pocket before Riley could grab it.
Riley pounced down beside her, leaning her head on Maya's shoulder.
"I really wish you two would be cordial. I mean, you've been to his house all week and still nothing!"
Maya flinched a little at those words, "It's not a big deal Riley."
Riley sighed, sitting up straight so that she could see her friend, "Do me a favor and give him a chance?"
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she felt like it was a tiny explosive device strapped to her leg. She wanted to punch Cory in the face for even getting her that thing. Her life was way simpler when she was just a loser girl with a flip phone in a world of smart phones. But now she had this thing at her hip that held secret conversations in it and she wanted to throw it out of the nearest window.
"Okay, I'll try. I have to go though now. Try not to let Farkle kill the entire school with a sugar overdose, okay?"
Maya rose to her feet and offered her friend a warm smile before darting out of the school like she was The Flash. Once she was far enough away from the school she reached in her pocket to see that Lucas had texted her three times.
All three times had been about when they were going to meet up at his house. She couldn't bring herself to even consider going back over there. Honestly, faking an illness would be easy to do since she felt like throwing up from guilt anyways. So that's exactly what she did.
M: "Ya, Not feelin great. had a farkle muffen. Can we skip tonite?"
L: "Oh. :( Ok. Hope u feel better."
Maya let out a breath of relief at his acceptance of her lie. She briefly thought about how the lies were just building up, but she didn't have the energy to go down that self loathing path tonight.
It was a few hours into laying in her room and looking up at the ceiling when she heard a knock on her door. When she opened it, a giant Huckleberry was standing on the opposite end with a paper bag in his hand.
"Huckleberry? Why are you here?" Maya narrowed her eyes and stepped back so that he could come through the door.
"I told my momma you didn't feel well and she gave me permission to come over here. You know, your house is in a cool neighborhood!"
She laughed, crossing her arms, "It's a true A plus kind of place" the sarcasm fell out of her mouth and she closed the door behind him. Maya couldn't believe that someone other than Riley had actually cared about her enough to even check on her, "Sorry it's kind of messy," she kicked at some trash that was on the floor and looked at him apologetically.
Lucas shook his head and walked around to the other side of her countertop. He sat down the bag of what she could only imagine was soup and smiled at her. "It's not messy. We're still partially living out of boxes, I mean.. You've seen my house." He laughed and opened up the bag, pulling out three togo bowls of soup. "I bought one for your mom too, I didn't know if she'd be home or not."
Maya laughed quietly, pulling out a bench. "Yeah. She's not. I haven't seen her since I left for school yesterday morning. I think she got in around 5 AM this morning but was back out the door before I got up." Maya opened up the soup, grabbing a plastic spoon from the bag.
"I'm sorry, Maya."
"It's not a big deal, Lucas. I'm used to it."
She took a bite of the soup and made a soft "mmm" sound. Lucas, who had kept his eyes on her the entire time, let out a soft chuckle.
"You make noises when you eat, It's super cute."
Her cheeks betrayed her, turning red when she received the compliment. She wanted to cover her face up with that brown sack he had brought in, but it was too late. She knew the damage was done.
"I never noticed it." She took another bite of the soup, another "mmm" trying to fight its way out of her mouth. Lucas laughed again, shaking his head.
"Now you're just trying not to do it! You're going to choke."
"God, you are such a Huckleberry." She smirked, making eye contact with him. Their eyes locked and she felt that familiar electric feeling surge through her entire body. It was a feeling that made her want to kick herself in the face.
"I'm just looking out for ya! Don't tell anyone, but I actually enjoy your company. It would be pretty crappy for you to choke on some soup and die. That's not going to happen on my watch, Ms. Hart."
She rolled her eyes, a smile toying on the edge of her cheeks.
"You enjoy my company?"
"Don't let it go to your head."
"Oh, it already has."
They sat in her kitchen for two hours just talking about life. It was something that she had never done before with anyone aside from Riley. She felt like they were the only people on Earth in that moment. Once his momma called him home, Maya couldn't find it in herself to move to her room. She sat in the kitchen for another thirty minutes until she heard phone buzz in her bedroom. When she picked it up, she couldn't help but smile at what was on the screen.
L: "Had fun tonight. Thanks for inviting me in."
M: "Anytime, cowboy."
She was starting to realize that maybe some boys weren't so bad after all.
Fifteen:
She was fifteen when she decided that Lucas Friar was the absolute worst.
It had been two weeks into her fifteenth year and here she was in Texas getting ready to go to some stupid bull riding hoe down. Riley had insisted that they spend all of their money on "Southern" clothes, and Maya was never one to say no to her best friend. When she got a look at herself in the mirror, she was shocked. Maya had never really felt like the pretty girl when she stood next to her leggy friend. Riley was like a model with long brown hair, a dark complexion, and legs that went on for days. All of the guys wanted to be with Riley, and it was fine with Maya because her heart was a giant mess anyways.
Maya, on the other hand, was short, blonde, and unapproachable. To be totally honest, though, she didn't hate her reputation. It kept people from coming in and messing with her head.
So when Lucas Stupid Friar told her that she looked good, she wanted to punch him. Her heart tensed up and all of the air in her lungs decided that it didn't want to be trapped inside of her anymore. She was out of breath, and out of words. Lucas was interested in Riley. He was into Riley and she didn't understand WHY he continued to make her turn into an absolute ball of mush. It confused her. It made her question everything about all of the walls she had built up around her heart.
She had gone through most of her life accepting the fact that no one could ever love a Hart. That people would roll through her life and leave without owing her so much of an explanation. It was simpler that way... Without all of the complications that her feelings for Lucas brought on...
When he got on that bull she felt like her head was going to explode. Four seconds of her life felt like an absolute eternity. She couldn't even begin to imagine what she would do without him. If he had gotten hurt her entire world would've stopped. And honestly, she had never been more pissed off at a single person in her whole life.
She could have killed him, but she was pretty sure the bull was going to do it for her.
It was a terrifying four seconds, and when he fell off she had to fight the urge to run towards him. Instead she watched her best friend run to him. The best friend that had been googly eyed for him for almost two years. The best friend that she had been lying to for that same amount of time.
Maya wanted to throw up. She considered running to the bus station and getting a ticket back to NYC without so much of a "goodbye". Unfortunately for Maya, her legs had a mind of their own and she was forced to sit back down. When she made eye contact with Riley, she knew instantly that Riley had figured it out.
She could see the confusion turn to hurt in Riley's face. It made Maya hate Lucas even more. She would've been fine leaving him in Texas and trading him for another cute cowboy. There were plenty around, all she had to do was pick one...
Once they were back at Pappy Joe's and Maya had found herself a place on the farm to sit down alone at, she let the tears out. All of the pent up frustration over hurting Riley and liking Lucas came out in big ugly sobs. She was pretty sure that she hadn't cried that hard in her life. It was sloppy, embarrassing, and completely unlike her. But it was exactly what she needed. Especially since she knew the hard part had just started.
She was pretty sure Lucas Friar was the absolute worst, but at the same time... She was pretty sure no other stupid Cowboy would ever take his place.
Seventeen.
Maya was seventeen when she realized that maybe fairytales weren't so bad.
They were juniors in high school and Maya had convinced them all to go to some party that her and Zay had been invited to.
Fourty-five minutes into the party and Smackle had decided that it was too much for her so she left. Which meant that Zay would soon follow her because he had it bad for the girl. Ten minutes later, Riley and Farkle decided that they would rather just have a quiet night alone (which Maya honestly thought was gross) and they walked out the door too.
She had distanced herself from Lucas that entire night. Things had been kind of weird with him lately and she didn't have the patience to deal with it. She figured that if she got a head start on pushing him away then maybe she wouldn't get hurt as much when he decided do it instead.
The stale beer that the host of the party had set out for them was the worst thing that she had ever drank in her entire life. It smelt like dirty socks and she imagined it probably tasted like them too. As gross as it was, the beer was a good distraction from Lucas' eyes staring at her with every move that she made.
She could feel the moment that it entered her blood stream. Maya always noticed when she got drunk that her hands started to feel numb. It wasn't anything crucial, it was just her body's way of telling her that she had succeeded in her goals that night.
Maya had been going to parties since the end of ninth grade. Some of them had beer, others didn't. Her favorite ones were that of the alcoholic variety. It had been her secret escape from her friends.. A way for her to get away from whatever drama they had going on that day and just let loose. When she started running into Zay at the parties they had decided that it would be their little thing. A way for them to bond without having to abide by all of the squeaky clean rules that her friends had for them. Their friendship was one that came out of the left field but made perfect sense. They were, in a weird way, closer than Riley or Lucas had ever been to either of them. There was a certain bond that they shared being the two "rebels" in a group of the most vanilla people in NYC that meant something to them.
They could be whomever they wanted at these parties without the fear of being looked down at.
When people started making up rumors about her and the things that went down at these parties she just let them slide off of her back. Being called names wasn't the worst thing that had ever happened to her, and it sure as hell wouldn't effect her enough to stop going to the parties.
The names effected Riley though. Any time she would hear someone call Maya "loose" or "easy" she would flip out on them. Maya admired her best friend for sticking up for her even though she had no idea, and never asked, about what went down at these parties.
In all honesty Maya was still a virgin. Despite the rumors she had kept herself fairly innocent of all terrible things that people said about her. She was more of a tease if anything, and if having a little fun with the guys that used to torment her in elementary school was a bad thing then Maya didn't have any desire to be good.
This night was different though and she could feel it. She didn't know why her and Zay had opted on inviting their friends. Riley and Farkle had been in a relationship for over a year now. One where they spent most of their free time together watching old Disney films and baking cookies. Smackle, on the other hand, had been having a blast living the single life. She had told Zay about thirty times at that point that she didn't want to go out with him because being in a relationship was messy and "Smackle didn't do messy." It was funny for the rest of the group to watch Zay fall over every word that she said and still try to act like the cool playboy he tried to be.
Then there was Lucas Friar. The stupid cowboy that chose Riley and all but ripped Maya's heart out with his own hands. And sure, she had been the one to step back. She had been the one to tell Lucas that her feelings were him weren't real and that being with Riley was what was right for him... But it still didn't change the fact that he listened to her. Lucas Friar not fighting for her hurt worse than Lucas Friar dating her best friend.
Maya attempted to move on from him, but he was always there in the back of her head telling her that he liked her. It was the most ridiculous piece of crap that Maya had ever gone through. Once Lucas and Riley broke it off she thought that maybe just maybe he would try to at least talk to her about her feelings... But Lucas Friar wasn't one to bring up things that happened in the past and Maya Hart wasn't going to be the girl that hung around someone that didn't want her.
So she pushed. He'd text her and she'd respond with short answers, trying to avoid any conversation that could lead to her liking him any more than she already did. It was hard, harder than anything she had ever done.
For the last few months it had seemed like he had finally gotten the hint. He had stopped texting her completely and didn't say much to her when they hung out as a group.
The thing that was killing her that night though was that after everyone else had left, Lucas didn't. He was still at that disgusting party sitting on the couch and watching Maya down six cans of Natural Ice. Maya was doing just fine too, aside from the ground feeling like it was moving and her hands not making a connection with her brain anymore.
It was when the Jello shots came out that things really went down hill.
If you asked her about what happened after that, she'd tell you that she didn't remember anything. What she wouldn't tell you is that she vaguely remembered pulling her top off and dancing on Madison Jones' kitchen table. She had a little bit of a recollection of two hands grabbing her off of the table and pulling her down to the ground. She also thinks that someone wrapped a jacket around her body because her shirt was no where to be found.
That's all that she remembered when she woke up the next morning in Lucas Friar's bed. When she sat up she could smell pancakes and bacon, so she knew it wasn't her house... unless she was dreaming that she suddenly had a mother who was home in the mornings to cook for her. She laughed internally at that thought and sat up at the edge of the foreign bed. She felt like she was going to puke or die, whichever one came first. A flashback of the night before ran through her mind and she panicked, looking down to see what shirt she had on.
It was a plaid button up straight out of the closet of the only cowboy in NYC that she knew. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized who's bed she was in.
Maya stood up and wrapped her arms around her body, taking in the warmth of the button up. She still had her shorts on, so that was definitely a good sign. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun and made her way out of Lucas' room.
A smile fell across her face when she saw him. He was in a plain red shirt, some grey sweat pants, and was diligently working on flipping the most perfect pancake Maya had ever seen. The floor under her feet let out a creak and she knew she had been noticed. When he turned to look at her his face lit up. She couldn't help but flash him a matching smile.
"How did I get here?" Her voice was hoarse and sounded foreign to her.
"Well, after your sixth jello shot you decided to put on a show." Lucas diverted his attention to the pancakes.
"Oh, shit. How bad was it?" Maya knew that she could get a little out of control sometimes, but she had never gone full blown Coyote Ugly. It was humiliating.
Lucas cleared his throat as he flipped the finished pancake on a plate and passed it her way. "The show itself wasn't bad, I just wish you hadn't been the one giving it?"
Maya looked down at the plate. "Am I that unattractive?" She laughed softly, the words coming out of her mouth before he brain told her to shut up.
"No! You're definitely hot. I just wish that every guy in the tenth grade didn't have that visual." He put a few pieces of bacon on her plate then poured her some juice.
"Maya?"
"Hm?"
"Why have you been avoiding me all year?"
A pain shot through her chest and the flight tendency in her had her eyes searching for the closest escape route. She couldn't have this conversation with him when she was hungover and probably had makeup smeared across her face.
"I haven't been. We see each other every day." She picked at the pancake with her fingers and took a small bite.
Lucas shook his head, frowning slightly. "No. It's different. We used to be closer than we are now. You've been pushing me away. I just want to know why."
Maya sighed, her eyes not looking up from the plate. "I can't have this conversation right now."
"Then when?"
Suddenly she looked up, her eyes meeting his for the first time since last night.
"Everyone leaves me." She frowned, her eyes falling back down to the plate on the table. "And I just wanted to give you the push that you needed to get away from me. I'm toxic, Lucas. I bring people down and I hold people back. You deserve someone in your life that's going to push you to be better. I'm just a mess with a paintbrush."
Maya started to get up from the table. She wasn't going to give him time to reply to her. She didn't need to hear about how he appreciated her giving him that chance, or how she was the one constantly holding the group back from being 'perfect'.
"Stop." Lucas grabbed her by the wrist and turned her around. He pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her. "You are the only person in this world who sees you as anything other than extraordinary. Maya, none of us want to leave you. I never want to leave you. Back in ninth grade YOU were the one that made the decision for us. You never gave me the chance to fight for you because you had decided to give up. But Maya, I've loved you ever since we sat in your kitchen at eight PM on a school night and ate crappy soup. You are not, nor will you ever be a mess with a paintbrush. I love you, don't you get that?"
Before she could respond he had pressed his lips to hers. Maya felt as though her entire body had caught on fire. It took her back to the campfire in eighth grade when she felt like her feelings were a betrayal. It took her back to that moment in the subway when their eyes met for the first time and she knew she would be hooked on him forever. It was a feeling that she had never felt before, and she honestly didn't think she could ever come back from it.
Lucas Friar had made her believe in Fairy Tales again, because honestly... Lucas Friar let her live in her own.