Lucaya: Just The Beginning
By: TheAuthor44
"Okay, let's go over the plan one more time." Riley said as she and Lucas sat in the bay window at her parent's house. After revealing to Riley that he planned to propose to her best friend, she and Lucas had been planning the ultimate Maya Hart proposal and they finally had it right.
"First I take her on a tour of all of our favorite places where we've shared our best memories, starting with the bakery and ending at the gallery where you will have set up rose petals and candles and the canvas that reads 'Will you marry me?' that Maya will see as soon as I tell her to pull the sheet. As she is doing that I will kneel behind her and hold the ring box open like so." He said getting down on one knee next to Riley who had the whole plan written out on the chalkboard behind her.
"Perfect. Do it just like that and Maya won't know what hit her." Riley exclaimed.
Just then Riley's father Cory entered the room and saw Lucas on one knee in front of his daughter.
"You!"
"Dad."
"Why is he in my house?"
"Oh come on, it's been years sir. I'm not trying to steal your daughter." Lucas said standing up.
"Yeah, he wants the other one." Riley replied.
"You're planning on proposing to Maya?" Cory asked in a much more normal tone.
"Yes sir."
"Well it's about time. Congratulations Lucas."
"Thank you, sir."
"So tell me, how did Shawn and Katy take it when you asked for their daughter's hand?" Cory asked causing Riley and Lucas to share a look.
"We forgot a step in the plan." They both said simultaneously.
Lucas took a deep breath as he knocked on the very familiar apartment door. It hadn't been too long ago that he had been knocking on this door to take Maya on their very first date, but this visit was almost just as important.
"Lucas! What a nice surprise, come on in." Katy said as she opened the door.
"Thank you Ms. Hunter. Is your husband here … I need to talk to you, both of you."
"Shawn!" she called before turning back to Lucas. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything's great, that's actually why I'm here."
"Hey, the cowboy's here. Howdy." Shawn said as he entered the living room.
"You hush up. Go on Lucas." Katy said as she pulled her husband to sit down next to her on the couch.
"What's happening?" Shawn asked very confused.
"Lucas needs to talk to us about something." Katy said before giving Lucas a nod to begin.
"I want to preface this by saying that I love your daughter very much. I have nothing but respect, admiration and adoration in my heart for her and the past five years we've spent together have been the best years of my life. With your blessing I'd like to ask Maya to marry me."
The room suddenly went silent. Lucas couldn't tell what was going on in the minds of, hopefully, his future in-laws and he began to panic as Katy stood up. Without a word she wrapped her arms around Lucas and squeezed tight.
"Of course you have our blessing! Lucas, I've been impressed with you for years and I have no doubt in my mind that you make my daughter very happy and will continue to do that for the rest of your lives. Shawn? Don't you have something you'd like to say." Katy said taking a step back to make way for him. Shawn walked up to Lucas, real close, before speaking.
"When I met Maya she was a broken little girl who just needed someone to be there for her. To believe in her and show her the way to the person she was always meant to be. To the beautiful, amazing person that she is. And I feel like a lot of that is because of you. Just keep doing that for her and you won't just have my blessing, but you'll continue to have my respect." Shawn finished, extending his hand.
"Thank you, both of you. It means a lot." Lucas said gladly accepting the handshake.
Step one complete. Now onto step two.
Maya had no idea what awaited her when she woke up one fine Saturday morning. She had woken up to a cold empty bed severely lacking a certain Huckleberry. She found him soon after in the kitchen making pancakes.
"Order up. Short-stacks for my short-stack." Lucas said sliding a hot plate in front of Maya as she sat down at their kitchen counter.
"You seem awfully chipper this morning. What's wrong with you?" she asked taking a sip of her coffee.
"Nothing's wrong with me. I just wanted to get an early start to my day."
"If you say so … but I usually like waking up a whole lot more when it's you I see next to me." Maya said walking over and snaking her arms around his waist as he flipped the last pancake onto his plate.
"So, I was thinking we could spend the whole day together. Going places and doing things. Are you interested?"
"I would be if I didn't have to work." Maya said taking a bite of her short-stack.
"What?" Lucas asked nervously. His one job was to keep Maya away from the art gallery so Riley could set up.
"My curator is up my ass for the final piece for the collection I'm showing next week and if I don't finish it today I could lose my residence at the gallery. I'm sorry babe, maybe another Saturday." Maya said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek before heading to her studio.
As soon as she left the room Lucas whipped out his cell. Obstacles or not, he wasn't admitting defeat.
"Riley, change of plans."
Hours later Lucas was sitting on the couch in his living room waiting for Riley to call him so they could set everything up in there. It would be perfect, they would lay out all the rose petals and candles and instead of words on a canvas he would just speak from the heart. It would be perfect, that is if Riley would show up. As he was sitting, leg bouncing impatiently for his phone to ring, Maya came out of the studio in her paint covered overalls with her hair up in a messy bun, and Lucas didn't think she could look more beautiful.
"Hey, you been sitting here the whole time?" She asked.
"Yeah, just relaxing. How's it going in there."
"I think my curator will be very pleased. I feel bad for spoiling your plans for a day together though, so how about this. I'll go get all dolled up and you can take me to dinner, someplace fancy."
"Sounds perfect." Lucas replied. If Riley wasn't going to come through, he now had a plan B. Go to the restaurant, get the band to play a special song and get on one knee right then and there. He was going to propose to Maya today even if it killed him.
Once they were both properly dolled up, Lucas grabbed the ring box from his sock drawer and threw it in his coat pocket as Maya was in the bathroom putting the final touches on her make-up. When she came out, she looked so incredible it took his breath away.
"Wow."
"That good huh."
"I almost want to miss our reservations. Almost." He said reminding himself that he would have the rest of their lives for that. But only one proposal night.
"Let's go Bucky McBoing Boing." Maya said slipping her arm through his as they made their way out of the door and to the subway.
"Get in the last car." Maya ordered as the train approached. And the minute Lucas stepped inside he was greeted by rose petals and candles.
"What the?" he said in awe and amazement.
"Lucas Huckleberry Friar." He heard Maya say behind him. He turned to see Maya down on one knee surrounded by the glow of the candles, she looked like an angel.
"You … were trouble ever since I first looked at you right over there. But turns out trouble was exactly what I needed. You became my best friend, my confidant, my muse, my lover, and everything in between. You took the broken girl and helped her to find all the pieces she already had inside her, shine them up and make them beautiful again. I never thought I'd ever have any of this, my art career, the apartment, and most importantly someone to share it all with. And I know when a good thing comes into your life you need to appreciate it forever so that's just what I'm going to do." Maya said as she took Lucas' hand in her own. "Will you marry me?" She said pulling out the ring he had bought for her from her coat pocket. Lucas quickly fumbled through his own pockets searching for the ring box which when he opened it, discovered that it was empty.
"You really should've picked a better hiding spot than your sock drawer. I snoop through your stuff all the time."
"So what? You want me to wear it?" Lucas said smiling as he joined Maya and got down on his knees.
"No. I want you to slide that ring on my finger and answer my question." She replied, her tear filled eyes brimming with hope.
"Yes Maya Penelope Hart. I will marry you." Lucas said as he took the ring from Maya and slid it on her small, delicate finger. After the ring was firmly in place Maya launched herself into Lucas' arms and captured his lips in a sweet and satisfying kiss. Their kissing was soon interrupted by a tapping on the window coming from the next car.
"What did he say?" They heard Riley's muffled voice say from behind the door.
"He said yes." Maya called out to her.
"YAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!" She hollered as Maya and Lucas shared another kiss.
They may have been at the end of the line, but it was just the beginning.
THE END