Hello and welcome to Love's A Game!
A/N: this story will be a rewrite of the original Love's A Game. There are some things I want to switch up, and maybe make it a little longer, so without further ado, here is your host, LucayaRiarkleaf, with a new addition of Love's A Game!
"Do you have what it takes to be one of the lucky women casted in the new season of "Love's A Game?" Well you'd better hurry, because online submissions end tomorrow at midnight, and your window for love may be closing soo-"
Maya turns the television off before the commercial can finish. With a roll of her eyes she turns around to her mother, who is eating some popcorn on the couch.
"Honestly mom, what kind of woman signs up to date a guy along with 9 other women? It's a little sickening if you ask me."
"But honey, did you hear who the guy is this year? It's Lucas Friar, that little cutie that plays shortstop for the Mets! It could be quite the experience."
"Are you trying to convince me to audition? Because it probably won't happen."
"Not exactly."
Katy's eyes flutter down, almost like she is shy. Katy is never shy.
"Mom. What did you do?"
Maya sits down cautiously on the couch. Katy reaches under the seat cushion of the couch and pulls out a manilla folder with large block letters:
Love's A Game
We Want You To Play!
"And honey, you don't even have to audition, it's all sorted out already! All you have to do is pack your things and get ready to leave, they will come get you on Monday!"
"And if I don't?"
"Then you will have to get your own apartment. How are you ever going to meet anyone if you live with your mother? I can take care of myself, and I want you to go and have fun. Oh, and I've already googled the house you will be in, it's amazing! It has a pool, and a huge balcony, you will love it."
Maya stands up and faces her mother.
"So you're saying that this is an ultimatum. I either go on a reality dating show, or you kick me out. Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth? This is insane."
"Drastic times, sweetie. Besides, I think you will really like this Lucas fellow."
"You know what, I will go, and when I come back, you have to give me your room. It's bigger and has the balcony."
"Done. Go pack."
This has got to be one of the most ridiculous things she's ever done, Maya thought. And she's done some crazy things. She lives in New York City for crying out loud! She is an artist who works at the Museum of Modern Art. Hell, she even broke into the NYC Zoo once, on a whim. But none of that holds a candle to a dating reality show.
"Embrace it. Maybe some of the girls will be nice, and you'll make a couple of friends."
She whispers to herself, falsely trying to reassure her doubt, and that ever-present urge to yell at her mother for signing her up against her will.
Monday comes soon enough, and when she hears a knock at the door, she hugs her mom a little harder than she should, and it's not out of love.
"Have a good time honey, see you when you get back."
"Yeah, bye mom."
Maya walks outside with her suitcase, and when she get to the curb she sees a dark skin man, who looks about the same age as her.
"You can put your bag in the back, it won't take too long to get to the house."
"Thanks, I'm Maya by the way."
She closes the back door and reaches her hand out to shake his. He accepts it with a smile.
"Zay. Nice to meet you, Maya."
They get into the car and almost make it through the city before they hit traffic.
"Damn, every time."
Say says, frustrated.
"Yeah, it's like all the tourists leave Times Square at exactly the same time every day."
Zay chuckles a little and looks over.
"Your apartment wasn't too far from here, how long have you lived in New York?"
"Born and raised, believe it or not. I havent' always lived this far out of town though, I used to live over on Bleeker."
"No way?"
He says, eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, I went to Franklin High."
"I went to Adams!"
Zay says, excitedly.
"No! That's crazy, I actually missed the school zone for Adams by two buildings."
"Damn, small world."
"Oh my god, and they have this coffee place on bleacher too, what's the name, I practically lived there my junior year."
"If you're talking about Topanga's I swear."
"That's the place! The scones there are the best in the City."
Zay laughs, and maya looks confused.
"What?"
She asks.
"I have a feeling you will do just fine Maya, just fine."
The conversation lulls as traffic finally lessens. Within 15 minutes they arrive at the house.
"Okay," Zay says, "You are the 10th and final girl to enter the house. When you get in, Smackle should be-"
"What on earth is a Smackle?"
"Oh, she's one of Lucas's friends, like me. She's actually my girlfriend. Her real name is Isadora, and Smackle is her last name. But when you meet Farkle, that really is his first name, just go with it. Anyway, when you get inside, Smackle should be in the first room on the right, with a clipboard to tell you who you will be rooming with. After you put your things away, come back downstairs, and production will explain how the show works and everything."
"Is it weird to be nervous?"
She asked, hoping he would think its a hypothetical question.
"Not at all, Maya. Be yourself, and you will do great, I promise. If you thought I was cool, just wait until you meet Riley. I have a feeling she will love you."
"Ok, yeah, I can do this, let's go."
"Ooh, sorry M, I can't go with you, I'm a busy man, but I will see you later, I promise. You got this. ps, I picked up all the girls today, and you're easily my favorite. Don't tell anyone I said that."
She laughs, and her nerves fade.
"Alright, I'll see you later, then."
Maya takes a couple deep breaths before she pushes open the door to the house. She figures out that someone could probably fit 6 of her apartment inside the first floor of this house. As directed, she looks into the first room on the right, and sees a small brunette with a clipboard.
"Smackle?"
"Yeah, that's me, you must be Maya Hart."
"Yep."
"Your room is the second door to the left on the second floor. You are sharing with Kaitlyn, who seems pretty normal, or at least more normal than some of the others. After you put your things away, head back down here so that we can get you guys familiar with production and everything that's happening."
"Thank you!"
"Any time, good luck Maya Hart."
Maya smiles back at Smackle and begins her ascend up the staircase. When she finally reaches the second room on the left, she opens the door, and sees one bed that's already taken, and the other one isn't. Putting her things down, she heads back downstairs to the room where Smackle was.
Smackle is now sitting down next to a familiar darker skin boy, so Maya walks up.
"Hey Maya, I heard that you and Zay had some things in common."
'Yeah, I went to the next high school over!"
"How cool" Smackle says "I went to Einstein Academy until High school, then transferred to Adams."
"I had a couple of friends that went to Einstein! Do you know Charlie Daniels?"
"Oh my god yes! We were in the same class, you went to Franklin?"
"Yeah, and funny thing is that I missed the district to go to Adams by 2 buildings."
"That's insane, Maya. The odds that we've seen each other before are so high, and yet here you are."
Zay pipes in finally
"Smack, ask her what her favorite coffee shop is?"
Smackle turns from Zay to me with her eyebrows raised.
"Topanga's, the little place on Bleeker."
"No it isn't."
"Ok, first Zay and now you, why doesn't anyone believe me?"
"No it's not that. Riley's mom owns Topanga's, and thats where the lot of us hung out all through high school. Heck I think Lucas and Farkle accidentally slept there one night."
"No way! How crazy is that, we would've had to have seen each other before this, then."
"I know, how ins-"
"OKAY EVERYONE LISTEN UP."
They all turn to see a tall man, who has a crew shirt on.
"Everyone will be given Mic packs. Don't lose it. You will be required to do at least one confessional per week. No one is allowed into Lucas's room without permission. Lucas's friends will be staying on the first floor, and the contestants, on the second. Who ever gets the first rose will not compete for the first round of dates. Curfew is midnight on weekdays, 2 am on weekends, unless you are with Lucas or company. I can not stress your mic packs enough, wear them. That's all."
The sounds of breath being released is universal once the guy leaves. Maya turns back to Zay and Smackle. Zay says
"I'm not even a contestant and I am so afraid of that guy."
We both laugh at Zay, and when a tall brunette girl walks in, Zay waves her over.
"Hey Riles! Come meet Maya!"
Riley walks over.
"Hey I'm Riley, and woah ok this is going to sound weird but you look vaguely familiar."
"She frequents Topangas!"
Smackle says.
"Yeah, I just found out that your mom owns the place, I absolutely love it."
Maya says smiling.
Maya and Riley start talking and Maya thinks that they were probably best friends in another life.
Maya, Riley, Smackle, Zay talk for a while, and when Farkle comes, the conversation keeps rolling. They talk about New York and the legendary rivalry between Franklin and Adams high, and they talk about Topanga's and Maya gets asked a lot of questions about her job, her hobbies et cetera. Finally though, production comes and asks everyone who isn't a contestant to leave the room. Riley gets up and pulls Maya in for a hug.
"Good luck Maya! I don't think you'll need it, but it would be weird if I didn't say it."
"Thanks Riley! The next time we are let loose I will come find you guys!"
"Cool! We will more than likely be out by the pool."
With that and another wave, the majority of Maya's company was taken out of the room. She is sitting on one of the couches by herself when a tall brunette girl comes and sits beside her.
"Hey, you're Maya, right?"
"Yeah, that's me."
"I'm Kaitlyn, I think we're roommates!"
"Oh, yeah! Nice to meet you finally!"
"You too, this all seems pretty crazy, right?"
"Oh definitely, there are so many people here."
"And Lucas hasn't even come out yet, I don't think we will see him until tomorrow, at least that's what I overheard from production."
"Really?"
In all honesty, Maya forgot that shows here for Lucas. Sure she knew this was a dating show, but once she met Zay and Riley and all of their friends, she lost her nerves.
"Yeah, and it's already 11:30, so they are gonna make us go upstairs soon." Kaitlyn says.
"What do you think the point of tonight was then? If we didn't even meet Lucas?"
"I don't know, but I bet it was deliberate."
Soon enough, Kaitlyn is right. The scary guy from earlier came back to tell us that we should all be heading upstairs, and that breakfast was at 7, and it would probably be a good idea to show up.
Kaitlyn and Maya walk together, and talk until well past curfew.
"So, let me get this straight-" Maya says "We've got you and me in here, two tall blondes named Hannah and Courtney across the hall, then Cheyenne and Macy to the left of them?"
"Exactly, and then to the right of us we have Aspen and Dakota, and to the left is Bailey and Shay."
"I have no clue how you kept up with all that. I know who you are, and that's about it as far as contestants go."
Maya says bewildered.
"Who was it that you were talking to all night?" Kaitlyn asks
"Oh, those were some of Lucas's friends, I grew up in the city and I went to their rival high school. It was weird that we've been so close all these years and never met."
"Yeah, that is weird. But not as weird as the fact that we haven't even seen Lucas yet."
"I have a feeling that he will make an appearance at breakfast."
"Yeah, me too. Did you hear that production guy? He was like 'Breakfast is at 7 o clock sharp, and you will probably want to be in attendance.' Totally freaky."
Maya laughs at her impression of the production guy.
"And on that note, we should probably get some sleep."
Morning comes all too soon for Maya, and by the time Kaitlyn is hitting her with pillows to wake her up, its already 6:52. Maya puts on some shorts and a band shirt from a local NYC band, and her docs. By the time she makes it down the stairs, she is the last one too arrive, and the last seat taken at the table. Fortunately though, the seat is by Riley. She sits down and grabs the coffee pot and pours some into the mug next to her. She goes to drink it, and that's when Riley notices her.
"Oh hey Maya, how'd you sleep?"
"Pretty well, although I think this coffee is gonna help more than sleeping does."
"You drink it black?" She makes a face.
"At this point, I have an image to protect. Drinking it black helps protect my broody artistic image."
Riley laughs, and points to her own mug.
"You see my cup? It's 99% creamer, and 1% coffee. Try it."
She hold out her mug, and Maya takes a drink.
"Sweet as peaches, but I think I'll keep mine the way it is."
"Sweet as peaches. I like that. I'm going to start calling you peaches."
"Whatever keeps your creamer away from my coffee cup."
"You say that now, peaches, but by the end of this show, you will be ordering Pumpkin Spice without me even being there."
Maya starts to laugh and spits out what little coffee had actually entered her mouth. Riley helps her wipe down the table, and in the midst, none other than Lucas Friar himself walks into the room.
"Hello everyone, I'm Lucas, and welcome to the show! I know this is weird, but I promise that you will have fun if you remain open to the process. I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you."
Lucas sits down, and starts to eat his breakfast. He is seated in between Farkle and Zay, and once he sits down, everyone starts eating. Maya and Riley laugh their way through breakfast, and when everyone is nearly done, Lucas stands up again.
"Okay, as you may have noticed, I was not there to greet you ladies last night. All of that was on purpose, you see, my friends are the most important people in the world to me, and after they left the living room last night, they came and told me about all of you."
Riley sends Maya and not so discreet wink.
"And because of their words, I have this."
He pulls out a yellow sunflower and lays it on the table. Some of the girls gasp, Maya isn't one of them.
"The person who receives this flower will be safe from elimination this week, but they will not be able to compete for the alone date, and they will have to help me clean up breakfast so that I can understand why my friends picked them."
Some of the girls start skating with excitement, Maya isn't one of them.
"So without further ado, Maya Hart, will you take this sunflower?"
All eyes go to Maya, and she's a little confused.
"Well, sure. And you're saying that now I have to help you clean the kitchen?"
"Yep." Lucas says with a smile.
"Well alright."
He walks over and hands her the flower, she takes it with a smile. A couple minutes later, when the others leave, she notices the nasty stares she receives from a couple of the girls. When it's just her and Lucas, she looks over to him. He starts talking
"So how should we start? I'll wash you dry?"
"How about you wash and dry and i will put them on this huge rack? I'm both parts a klutz and under caffeinated."
He chuckles a little.
"How do you take your coffee?" he asks.
"Black, although Riley is convinced that by the end of this I will be more creamer than coffee."
He walks over to the sink, where all the dishes have accumulated, and starts washing. Maya wits next to the big rack thing and sips her coffee and waits on him to hand her the dishes.
"So Maya Hart, where you from?"
"You'll laugh if I tell you."
he shoots her a questioning look.
"Im from the City, I went to Franklin High."
"No way!"
"Yes way, and Riley told me last night that her mom is Topanga of Topanga's coffee shop, and I almost passed out. I go there all the time."
"Us too, one time we hid under the counters and stayed all night. It was a good idea until we realized that Topanga locks practically everything, and that we couldn't even get to the food."
Maya laughs.
"Ok i've got to ask, I know where you went to high school, but you're not from here originally, are you?"
"Caught me. I was born in Austin, Texas, and I moved here in 8th grade."
"Oh no." Maya says.
"What?"
"Well, it's just that now i'm not going to be able to not call you the most cowboy nicknames I can think of."
"Oh no."
"Oh no is right Sundance."
Lucas smiles and flicks her with water, she smiles back and drinks her coffee.
Once the dishes are all done, Maya says
"Gpd, that was a lot of work, I'm tired."
"You're tired?" Lucas says, laughing "You didn't do anything! I washed all the dishes and dryer them and put them away after they sat there."
"Yes, but I put them in the dryer rack."
"Touche"
Maya smiles. She's about to say something but he starts
"I know exactly why my friends picked you, Maya Hart, and I'm glad they did. Will I be seeing you later?"
"Probably not huckleberry, you have 5 dates today and 4 tomorrow, or did you forget?"
"Oh yeah, well in that case, I will definitely see you after the first flower ceremony, right?"
Maya holds her sunflower in between them.
"You made sure of that, didn't you Lucas?"
She raises an eyebrow, and turns to go back upstairs. She drank a lot of coffee, and if she doesn't brush her teeth soon, they will turn into coffee.
When she gets back in her room, Kaitlyn asks tons of questions, and Maya has no problems answering. And 10 minutes later when the date schedules are announced, Maya gets called by production to read them to the rest of the girls. Tonight, Lucas is going on a group date with Hannah, Cheyenne, Aspen, Dakota, and Shay. Then tomorrow he is going on another group date with Kaitlyn, Courtney, Macy, and Bailey. Then the day after that is the flower ceremony.
The next two days go by uneventfully for Maya, and she mainly spends her time either in the pool or in the living room with Riley. Riley bothered production enough to get a tv in the living room, and they've been watching netflix to pass the time. No one is allowed their cell phones during the show, and they barely got netflix.
Finally, after what feels like months of waiting, it's time for the flower ceremony. The way production stated it, one girl will be eliminated after every week. All the girl wait in the ballroom for Lucas, and more importantly, the sunflowers.
"Hello Ladies, everyone looks fantastic. As much as I have been trying to delay the inevitable, someone must be eliminated tonight. So, let's get this over with. I have 8 flowers here, and Maya is holding the 9th. When I call your name, please come and accept the flower. Hannah."
Hannah steps up, and she takes her sunflower and kisses him on the cheek. Maya pretends she's okay with it.
"Dakota"
Dakota steps up shyly and takes her flower, she smiles and turns to go back.
"Shay."
"Kaitlyn"
Maya breathes a sigh of relief for Kaitlyn.
"Macy."
"Courtney."
"Bailey."
"Aspen."
The last flower is given out, and everyone but one girl has one. Cheyenne hides her tears, and walks up to Lucas.
"Cheyenne, you seem like a great girl, but there just wasn't a connection between us, I'm so sorry."
She nods, and leaves the room. Maya tries to feel bad, but she can't for 2 reasons. 1. She didn't even talk to Cheyenne, and 2. One down 8 to go. She also thinks of how cryptic this all is, and makes a point to talk to Riley about it later. Lucas leaves the room, but not before he can give Maya a lopsided smile. When the Production guy comes back, he isn't as scary. Maya found out that is name is Nick, and he's only a year older than most of them.
"The rest of you are free for the night, as long as you are back before curfew, you can do whatever you'd like. You even get your phones back for the night. Congratulations."
Maya goes upstairs and changes out of the gown she had to wear, and into some jeans. Kaitlyn decides to go out with Hannah and Shay, so maya is alone in the room. Soon though, a knock interrupts her thoughts. She opens the door to reveal Riley.
"We're going out."
"Do I have to change clothes again?" Maya asks.
"No, you look great, let's go."
"So Lucas, what are your thoughts on the contestants that remain?"
"Well, I don't really know much about Hannah or Shay. Kaitlyn seems like a really nice person, and I like her, but I'm not sure if it's romantic. Macy and Courtney are definitely pretty, and I hope I can learn more about them. Aspen is definitely interesting, and I think we would get along well. Dakota is a little more shy, but I have a feeling she is great. Bailey is definitely confident, and I think thats great. And Maya, well, Maya definitely left an impression. I haven't talked to her in a few days, but that first day at breakfast was enough for me to know that I'm definitely attracted to her. I hope I get the chance to see her a little more this week."
He doesn't even notice that he's smiling.
