Missy wakes up before Maya does, tenderly slipping from their tangled limbs and changing into her own clothes before tossing a pair of Maya's shorts onto the bed. The rest of their things get packed up, and when she leaves the room to toss them into the car, she returns to find Maya stretching out with a long yawn, her shorts and shoes already on so that they can leave.

She twists when Missy opens the door, their eyes locking when a smile plays on her lips. "Hey," Maya says quietly, rising to her feet and impulsively closing the gap between them. She wraps her arms around the taller girl's waist, her head tucking right under her chin. "Thanks," she states simply, "For understanding, and for wanting me to be happy. I forgot to thank you, and I just… God, Lucas texted me that he made reservations at some hotel for the night before he leaves and for the first time since we planned the fucking thing, I didn't feel like throwing up all my internal organs."

Missy sighs into Maya's hair, pressing her lips lightly against it. "Of course," she replies meekly, "I'm glad you're happy."

They part enough for Maya to nod, her eyes a twinkling blue so pure that Missy doesn't think she's seen it since they were children. "I am," she promises. "I'm very happy, and I know that things are going to be weird again once we get home and everything settles and we have to pretend this didn't happen, but, right in this second, I'm so happy."

It's enough to make Missy snatch a quick kiss, muttering out that they really need to get on the road to make it home at a reasonable time, and Maya steals one right back because it dazes the brunette enough to give her the advantage she needs to win the race back to the car.

xxxx

"Charlie, I slept with Missy."

"I told you that you wanted to do the do with Missy! And you can't even punch me this time because I was right!"

"Do you really wanna take that chance?"

"You're right. Forget I bragged at all, fuck."

xxxx

When Maya runs out of paper while at Lucas's house, she likes to use him as a canvas. Felt tip markers are used to doodle little cartoons of her boyfriend as the rodeo clown she insists he's going to be once back in the south, and he just sits there with an adoring smile and let's her mock him.

She decides to sketch a bouquet of dicks across his bicep, using the darkest Sharpies at her disposal so that it won't wash off by the time they're in crowded hallways filled with their peers, and she blends them into bundles of hydrangeas that he laughs so hard at that he gets the crinkles by his eyes that she loves.

When she sets her pen down to switch colors, he works quickly to steal the red and before she can blink twice he's pressing a lopsided heart into the inside of her wrist and sealing it with a kiss.

"You big idiot, you smudged it all over your lips. Now you look like you're wearing cherry red lipstick because you can't help being a sap," she scoffs, chuckling a bit at his appearance.

He gains a mischievous smirk before tapping his chin with his forefinger. "So, what you're saying is that anything I kiss right now will be covered in red ink?"

"Yeah, dumba...wait! No, no, no, Lucas Friar, I swear to-"

But it's already too late. He's got her pinned to his bed, smacking his lips all over her squirming face as she giggles. By the time he pulls away, his red is a pale, faded pink and she can just tell she looks ridiculous.

"You look like you have the chicken pox," he beams proudly.

"It's not the chicken pox," she scoffs. "It's an allergic reaction."

"Oh yeah? To what?"

"Stupid boys."

She leaves out that she's not allergic to stupid girls, but that's okay because it's not relevant, and he doesn't need to know that.

xxxx

Sandy doesn't know much of Lucas. She's met him a few times- of course, at birthday parties, holidays, joint school functions- but she hardly actually knows him, and so she invites him to dinner. Katy and Maya are spending the evening over at their table anyways, she insists that they take him along, and so they do and Maya doesn't think she's ever been so uncomfortable in her life.

It's nearly unbearable, and, usually, she can make it through dinner by calling Missy names or poking fun at her clothes or cheer routines or school colors or anything- but she can't even do that to escape because Missy is eyeing her plate with a clenched jaw, stabbing at her meal and tugging her pouting lip between her teeth each time Lucas charms the table with a story. She's ignoring the entire scene, and Maya can't even blame her because she doesn't even want him there herself. She feels like he's intruding on some sacred ritual that the women of their families have shared since she was practically a toddler, and Lucas is laughing with their mothers like it's exactly where he belongs.

"Maya, why don't you go and get the cake in the fridge now that the table is cleared? Let us talk to Mr. Hotshot Quarterback for a while longer," Sandy grins, oblivious of the teen girls sulking at the end of her table for the better half of dinner. Maya eagerly accepts the chance to slip away, ripping her hand from his own under the table and standing up before he could feel the cool air reach his palm.

"Missy?" she impulsively blurts, her eyes trained on Missy's anxious deposition.

"Yeah?" the girl in question answers, her body perking at Maya's call to her.

"I, uh- do you want to help me go get dessert?" Maya asks nervously, not even wanting to see Lucas's concerned gaze at her fumbled words. Missy nods, standing and wandering into the kitchen with Maya before anyone else could point out their tension.

"I wanted to check on you," Maya whispers, catching Missy's arm and pulling her out of the line of sight to the dining room. "You look upset, and I just… I wanted to make sure you were okay." She was obviously hurting in some way, and Maya could easily infer that it had something to do with that night in the motel room.

"Maya…" Missy practically whimpers, her throat a bit rough, "I didn't… Maya, we messed up…"

"No, no, no," Maya hushes her, reaching out to cup Missy's cheek and brush her thumb across the soft skin. "No, Missy, please don't cry."

"I just… He's such a good guy." It sounds almost helpless falling from her lips."I always heard the stories, but I figured the tales of Mr. Perfect couldn't all be true," she bitterly chuckles, "I thought that he wouldn't reach the expectations, but… well, holy shit, Maya, he did. He's incredible. He loves you so fucking much, and he's an amazing student, and he's the star quarterback, and he-"

"He's leaving me," Maya finishes, her lips pressed firmly into a straight line as Missy's rambling halts. "He's moving away, and he's leaving me, and he doesn't know things that he should because if he did, he wouldn't be here right now." Her eyebrows knit together, guilt coursing through her as she realizes that she hadn't told him anything. Even now, she's facing the girl that held her first kiss, her first time, everything that was promised to him. "He doesn't know, and it's not fair for me to ask you to just pretend like it's okay, but, Missy, please, just ignore him for like twenty more minutes and I'll convince him that it's time to go, and I'll make it up to you, okay? I'll do anything that you need me to do so that I can make it up to you, but I just need you not to cry and to carry out slices of this stupid cake so that I can get him out of here." She stares up with wide eyes, pleading the other girl with all she has to just suck it up for a tiny bit longer.

"You'll do anything?" Missy stares, already knowing that she'd do it whether or not a bribe was brought up.

"Anything."

Missy nods slightly, stepping and brushing Maya's shoulder to reach the plates and silverware. She intricately stacks it that o carry out for the table before she locks eyes with Maya once more, and then she makes a demand that makes Maya's heart sink to the deepest depths of hell so that she may wallow in her infidelity for as long as she lives.

"Tell him. He deserves to know."

xxxx

"Charlie, why are you best friends with a dirty, rotten, inconsiderately selfish monster of a girl?" Maya sighs from his chest, cuddled to him on his couch, ignoring the movie playing on his tv.

"Because you're my dirty, rotten, inconsiderately selfish monster of a girl who's trying her best to handle her feelings without hurting anyone in the process," he answers simply, his arm around her giving a quick squeeze before she lets out a defeated sigh.

"...I have to hurt someone, don't I?"

"You're going to hurt them both," he tells her honestly, "but that's just how it works out sometimes. Everyone is gonna get hurt. Don't beat yourself up too much about it, though. We're teenagers. What do we do that isn't stupid?"

Maya forms a sad smile, leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek and wrapping her arms around him to the best of her ability for a hug. "We pick the absolute best best friends in the entire universe."

He smirks down, popping a cheeto into her mouth before she can say anything else too sappy. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I'm the greatest."

"Don't get too cocky, I'm still not above murder," Maya warns, the corner of her lips tugging up to match his expression before he feeds her another snack. "Tearing limbs and all that cute stuff."

"Aw, there's my little homicidal freak out to play. For a second, I thought I'd never see her again."

"Shut up, dumbass."

xxxx

The only thing he asks when she comes clean about Missy is if she loves him. She reveals every kiss, every touch, every moment too close to someone else, and all he fucking asks is if she loves him.

"Of course, I do, Lucas. Why would you even ask me that?"

"Because I love you, too. I'm going to be gone in a little less than two weeks, and I love you so much that I don't want to be upset."

Jesus Christ, she doesn't deserve him.

xxxx

His lips are rougher against her collarbone than Missy's were, his hands much larger than what made her cry out before, and she really tries to say his name when she finally reaches her high, but she knows it won't happen so she calls out for the lord instead.

Maybe that'll keep her out of hell.

xxxx

They break up officially the second he boards his plane, but it goes without saying. He promises to visit, but they both know it isn't going to happen. She says she'll call, but they both know that she won't. When he kisses her the morning after and they share one last 'I love you', it's done.

The promise ring that he bought her for her last birthday gets shoved into the back of her jewelry box, and she climbs into bed wondering when Charlie will be over to rub her back while she cries.

xxxx

"I love him so much, Charlie. I love him so much, and now he's gone."

"I know, M. It's going to be okay."

"Do you promise?"

"With everything I have."

xxxx

It takes Maya two weeks to leave the house for more than school, even malingering her way out of a few cheer practices, but she doesn't really have a choice when Sandy's birthday rolls around. She begrudgingly emerges from beneath her covers, showers for roughly an hour, and makes her first public appearance since the breaking of her heart at Cassie's Diner for the party.

They don't typically spend a lot of time there, seeing as Sandy has a general manager to handle the day to day business, but when they do, Maya is usually equipped with Charlie on her arm so that she doesn't sit and drink away her self pity in milkshake after milkshake.

He can't make it, though- spending the weekend in California with his dad for some reunion- and so Missy adopts the role in order to prevent a chocolate-banana overdose.

(It happened in the seventh grade, and it wasn't pretty.)

"Y'know, if I were to call Charlie right now to tell him that you're doing this, he'd yell at you," Missy speaks, coyly sliding herself onto the barstool beside the sulking blonde.

"Isn't Isadora here? Shouldn't you be bothering her?" Maya asks, searching the room to find Missy's own best friend tucked away in a corner booth, laughing playfully at a boy who is staring at her like she's the sun in his sky.

"Izzy's a bit distracted," Missy shrugs before snatching Maya's glass to steal a sip. "Plus, I never could resist having a taste of your regular order, silly little habit from when we were kids, I guess."

Maya rolls her eyes and looks up to see Shawn giving her a questioning thumbs up from across the counter, her mother bantering away with Sandy and a few other friends they'd picked up around town over the years. She returns it with a small smile, returning her gaze to Missy who seems just as concerned.

"So, how're you holding up since…" she trails, not exactly sure how to cover the topic.

"I'm okay," Maya assures, frowning slightly and staring into her cup as she swirls her melting treat with her straw. "Sorry I've missed dinner lately. I haven't really been feeling up for much. Tonight's helping, though. I desperately needed to get out of the house."

Missy hesitantly cups her hand to Maya's knee, squeezing it before standing up. "Well, my place is always available. If you need to get out or anything, I mean. Or not. It's just there for you if you want it or need it- but don't feel obligated because I'm offering- I won't be offended if you don't come over, I just…" Her cheeks tint crimson when she realizes how badly she's babbling on. "Do you wanna help me get my mom's cake from the freezer in back?"

Maya can't help but laugh, bearing her teeth in a grin when she nods. "I'd love to."

xxxx

Their fourth (Or fifth? Or sixth? She doesn't know.) kiss happens after they've cleaned up the clutter around the diner and the sun is peeking out to begin rising, the girls tucked securely into Missy's bed after a long night with their parents, friends, and family. They're in a loopy sort of hypnagogic state when one of them leans in- they're not exactly sure who- and closes the gap between them, no hushed apologies needed now that Lucas is miles away.

They whisper goodnight, and, within seconds, they're softly snoring. Their limbs intertwined, they curl as much into each other as possible, and Maya doesn't dream about her ex for the first time in nearly fifteen days.

xxxx

For Maya's birthday, Charlie gives her four new phone cords, three cheesy scrapbooks of all the adventures they've had since her last celebration, two shirts to match with him when he follows her to Disney in order to assist in loading and unloading the buses come February (because they're definitely going to make it into the National High School Cheerleading Championship), and one smug ass look that she flicks off his lips when he sees just how closely her and Missy sit during dinner.

xxxx

"Did you have a nice birthday?" Missy asks, plopping down onto Maya's mattress that night and rolling to lay beside her.

"Yeah," Maya beams, softly sighing when Missy tucks her head under her chin.

"Good because I have one more present to give you," Missy teases, tilting her neck so that she starts to whisper against Maya's pulse. "And I feel like you'll really like it."

"Hm?" Maya asks, but a smirk draws to her lips when she feels Missy working languid kisses against her collarbone, tugging at the neckline of her shirt to expose more skin. They hadn't exactly slept together after that night following the party at Cassie's, but they'd definitely become more handsy and it wasn't exactly surprising for their lips to find each other when secluded. "If I didn't know any better, Ms. Bradford, I'd say you're trying to seduce me."

Missy pulls away, sliding her knee up Maya's inner thigh until she's met with a gasp. "And do you know any better?" She quirks a brow, challenging Maya to speak from beneath her as her fingers carefully slide the hem of her own top above her head, discarding it before she starts to work her touch against Maya's ribcage.

The blonde shakes her head, laughing sweetly as she weaves her hands into Missy's hair to pull her closer.

"Let's find out."

xxxx

It's sex, and it's only sex. Maya tells herself the first night it happens.

It doesn't mean anything more. And the second.

It's to eliminate stress. And the third.

It's because we were both lonely and it's convenient. And the fourth.

Feelings aren't going to be an issue. And each time after that.

xxxx

"So, you're telling me that you didn't only do the do with Princess Bradford, but it's also happening regularly because you've formed this weird friends with benefits thing since you kissed again?"

"Charlie, I swear to god if you say something annoying, I will hang up."

"I fucking told you so! God, you're such a cliché, I can't believe you're actually-" Click. "Wait… M? You weren't actually serious. C'mon, Hart, lighten up. Are you there? ...Goddamn it, Maya."

xxxx

On a Saturday morning, Shawn Patrick Hunter takes Maya Penelope Hart to a jewelry shop in the center of the city and, together, they pick out a ring.

Exactly twenty eight hours later, he gets down on one knee and Katy Hart promises her hand in a marriage to bind the three of them together as a family once and for all.

Maya wonders if love really is as hopeless as she once thought.

xxxx

They make it to the NHSCC at Disney, and that is where Charlie meets Madeline Acosta, the very first love of his life. She lives in Pennsylvania, which isn't exactly close, but it's close enough that after he takes pictures with Maya and her squad giggling with their trophy, he's immediately sprinting across the park to find Maddie and her own team celebrating their third place title against Abigail South's Eagles.

Charlie takes her to a little restaurant that Maya didn't pay much attention to the name of, she only really knows that he's ditching dinner with her, and so the abandoned blonde mopes in her hotel room for exactly two hours and seventeen minutes before she receives a call from Missy.

"Okay, so I refused to check anything online before you told me what happened- so just lay it on me, Hart- Did you win or did you win?" Missy eagerly bursts from the other line as soon as Maya picks up.

"We won," Maya brags meekly, a pout on her lips as she looks around at her vacant space. The rest of her squad was off swimming, but she'd only made plans with Charlie, so she didn't bother leaving with them. It wasn't until everyone was gone and he stopped in before changing for his date that she realized she would be spending the night alone. "First in our division, isn't that great?"

"Why don't you sound excited?" Missy inquires curiously, "Why do you sound all broody? Where's Charlie, shouldn't you be partying? Obnoxiously posing with your trophy all around Disney? You're only there for so long, Maya, why isn't he taking you out?"

"Because he's taking Madeline out," Maya spits much bitterly than she attended, "We had plans, but he cancelled them after everyone else had already left so that he could go out with this girl- which I don't even mind all that much because he really seems to like her and she's actually cool- but I just… He was supposed to spend the night with me and he didn't tell me he wasn't until it was too late and I'm the loser stuck in the room with a cup of ramen and no one to do anything with because her best friend decided to fall in love with the prettiest girl on a rival team."

It's all let out in one huff, a breath let out long enough for Missy to conjure up a plan to cheer the other girl up. "Okay, give me like two minutes," she declares, disconnecting before Maya let's out another sigh.

Maya angrily stabs at her noodles, glaring down as she mutters something about Missy leaving her, too, and the ultimate fate that she's never going to pick up her phone ever again for the annoying shit that just hung up on her. She finishes about a quarter of her meal before Missy rings back, this time requesting to facetime.

"What do you want?" Maya pouts with furrowed brows, earning a chuckle from Missy and a demand to prop her phone up. She obliges reluctantly, her angry look faltering when she notices Missy's own cup of ramen she made to match.

Missy shrugs nonchalantly. "I figured that if Charlie could have dinner with the most beautiful girl on his rival team, why can't I?" she states as if it's the most obvious motive in the world. "Besides, I can screenshot plenty of your stupid poses with your damn trophy for the scrapbook he's bound to give you. We don't need him for a fun night."

Her entire demeanor cracks at Missy's successful plot to cheer her up, a small grin breaking out when the brunette obnoxiously slurps up her first noodle.

"God, you're such a nerd."

xxxx

"Charles...Marlie 2.0 won't be the end of the original Marlie, will it?"

"Maya, there's no Marlie 2.0. You're the only M to my -arlie that will ever be, okay?"

"But what about Madeline and her perfectly crafted M?"

"She'll simply have to be the -adeline to my Ch, I guess."

"Charlie… Chadeline is so ugly."

"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to preserve the sacred grounds of our friendiversary."

"Oh god, you really do love me, don't you?"

"Maybe a little too much."

xxxx

The first time that she and Lucas hold a proper conversation since their breakup, it spirals into an argument.

"God, Maya, I made time out of my day to call you and all you can give me is one worded answers?! Honestly, we dated for four years. You were my best friend, and you can't even talk to me?!"

"Oh," Maya scoffs, "Thank you, your highness, for gracing me with your call! If you're going to be an ass, you can just fuck off, Lucas."

"You know that's not what I- Jesus, Maya, I miss you. Why can't you just talk to me? Why do I feel like I'm holding a conversation with myself?" Lucas pleads for answers, his tone growing more desperate each second.

The thing is that her and Lucas has never particularly been in a fight before. After watching her parents go through what she did, she immediately shut down at the slightest tenseness between her and her ex boyfriend throughout their entire relationship; exactly her plan now as well.

"Look, I have to go," she mumbles, almost cringing as his sharp intake in response.

"Don't you ever get tired, Maya? Honestly, don't you ever get sick of this?" He begs again, this time for something Maya's not sure she can even help him figure out.

"Of what?"

He exhales deeply, and she can almost see the miserable look on his face when he utters out his next words. "Don't you ever get tired of hiding?"

Her breath hitches at his question, bottom lip carefully being tugged beneath her teeth as she battles to stay composed. "I… I hope you're having a good time back home or whatever. I'll talk to you soon."

"Maya, stop-"

The rush of oxygen with the dial tone reminds her that maybe some people just aren't meant to be firsts in the lifetime they're in, no matter how badly they wish for it.

xxxx

When summer rolls around, Charlie spends almost all of his time in Pennsylvania visiting with Maddie, and she gets it- really, she does- because they're about to be seniors and he swears he's in love, and he doesn't only visit her, she comes to their little suburb, too, so it's alright. She promises him that it's alright.

Consequently, she starts keeping herself in Missy's company when Charlie isn't around. Missy doesn't mind- Isadora graduated last year, at the top of the class preceding her own, and she's at a summer internship for pre-med students with this world renowned surgeon that Maya has never heard of- so she's pretty much open aside from the daily Skype calls they try to work into their routines, which only makes it that much easier for it to become habit to find the girls together.

Their instagrams slowly filled with one another, their snapchat stories full of dumb pranks or lazy mornings poking at each other's faces while they slept, any tagged post on facebook was by one of the girls' parents documenting every meal, movie, and night out they experienced; it was terrifying how well Maya found that she fit with Missy.

Hell, even previously sacred game nights became a battle over a makeshift Monopoly board disguised as Chutes and Ladders between Maya, Missy, Charlie, and Maddie on the weekends that her best friend's girlfriend was in town, and even when she wasn't, Shawn and Katy took their place in a pre-approved game.

Missy was swallowing her whole, and she honestly couldn't find a good enough reason to resist.

xxxx

Isadora visits for two weekends each month, always coincidentally alternating Charlie while he's wrapped up in Madeline, and every Saturday that she's around, Missy drags Maya bowling with her own best friend and Isadora's boyfriend, Samuel.

It's almost surprising how unlike he and Isadora are because he's the stereotypical definition of a jock- a potential frat leader, even- and she's… well, not. She's an awarded scholar in a teen's body, but apparently they've been in love for years so Maya doesn't question it, only grins when he insists that she call him Sam and sneaks off with her to find the arcade when their dates aren't watching.

(In the most of generic of terms because her nights out with Missy are absolutely, positively in no way on this fucking planet dates.)

xxxx

"Honey, I'm home," Missy grins as she climbs into Maya's window. She'd just bid Isadora goodbye on her journey back to school, breaking and entering into the familiar bedroom for a surprise visit as the tiny figure she's seeking is just tucking into bed.

"What are you doing here?" Maya's nose scrunches, a messy bun getting tied at the top of her head. "Aren't you dropping Smacklestein off at her fancy shmancy wherever she's going?"

"Pre-med internship," Missy corrects, quietly shutting the window before stepping over towards the bed. "Besides, I was just walking her to the car before she left. I told you that." She obnoxiously strides closer, the heels she'd struggled with up the fire escape finally catching Maya's attention when she pauses and tugs on the hem of her lengthy peacoat.

"Were we supposed to go out tonight?" Blue eyes trail from the ground up, catching Missy's sly smirk and clouding with even more confusion.

"No…" Missy shrugs innocently with a deep tone, scuffing the toe of her shoe on Maya's floor and unfastening the very top button on her jacket. "I just was thinking about how great tonight was with Izzy and her boyfriend, and how you worked so hard on getting along so, so well."

Maya stiffens, sitting up in her bed and swinging her legs off the edge to dangle at the questionable scene. As the neckline of Missy's cover slowly begins to dip lower and lower, Maya can't help but feel underdressed. She'd slipped on the first baggy shirt she found that seemed decently clean as soon as removing her makeup after walking through the door, quite the contrast to this show Missy had put together.

"And I wanted to…" The brunette lets the sleeve fall off her shoulder as she strips, revealing the lace stitching of a bra Maya had never seen before because she would surely fucking remember Missy in that. "...thank you."

Maya's breath catches in her throat when the coat finally bunches on the ground, exposing smooth olive skin beneath a matching maroon set that Missy had apparently put on entirely for her. "Y-you don't have to thank me. I mean-" In one swift motion, Missy climbs onto her lap, adjusting them so she can guide Maya onto her back. "-fuck, Missy, did you come here to kill me?" she snaps almost breathlessly, staring up at coyly grinning lips just as they release a soft giggle.

"Of course, I didn't," Missy coos, her hands placed on either side of Maya's head to balance her on her quest to hover above the other girl. "I just want to thank you. Do you not like your gift for behaving yourself?" She bats her eyelashes and Maya thinks for sure that she couldn't be any more wrapped around her damn finger.

(Well, right up until she feels Missy humming into a soft kiss at the base of her jaw because, fuck, is she a fucking goner for that fucking spot and those fucking lips and the fucking fingertips exploring her.)

She contemplates if she should even attempt to save her ass with a refusal, remaining idle under Missy's spell that was getting increasingly more difficult to resist at each nip made.

"You were just so, so good," Missy whispers against Maya's collarbone, one of her hands sliding down to roam against the pale skin hiding beneath one of Lucas's old shirts.

Maya fumbles for a response, her brain overloading at the thought she'd even consider rejecting a lingerie clad cheerleader touching her with a sultry smirk, clumsily nodding as a reply. She whimpers when contact is loss, Missy pausing her praise to lean back and pull Maya's face towards her own.

Once it turns into an actual kiss, a mess of tongues and teeth and Missy slipping her hand into golden locks to tug so she can assert her dominance when Maya tries to take control, the blonde ultimately decides that any idea besides submitting to her assertive partner would be a pathetic excuse of a lost cause, and her pride was not worth what she knew Missy could give her.

"And when you're such a good girl, you get a reward," Missy taunts wickedly, her nails teasingly scraping against the inside of Maya's thigh. "Don't you like being good for me, baby?"

And with the moans Maya releases between the nods of her head at the demanding tone ringing through her ears, she's not even sure her pride exists anymore.

xxxx

"So, what you're telling me is that Maya Penelope Hart is a bottom?!" Charlie snorts, laughing so hard that tears are starting to form in his eyes. "Holy shit, you're totally whipped. You're totally-" His eyes snap down to his buzzing phone. "Oh fuck, that's Maddie."

"Right," Maya glares, "I'm totally whipped."

xxxx

"So, you and Missy have been getting awfully close, huh?" Katy works into their conversation, mixing together a dressing for the salad Maya held a knife to chop vegetables for.

"Yeah?" Maya questions casually, moving to the fridge to pull out a few tomatoes. "You've thrown us at each other since we could basically walk. I don't know why it's so surprising."

"Well," her mother persists coyly, "You just seem… I don't know? Extra close?"

"What're you getting at here?"

Katy is quick to shrug. "Oh nothing, Cass just mentioned that she saw you two… canoodling the other day, and I was wondering if you had anything to tell me."

"Canoodling?" Maya chortles, rolling her eyes. "Oh my god, Mom, enough. We've canoodled a handful of times. We're teenage girls and our best friends are MIA this summer."

"You just both seem so awfully invested in this canoodl-"

"Mom. Calm down."

xxxx

They plan for a movie weekend while Sandy is out of state for some convention involving the diner; a quiet event that wasn't too far off from their typical plans except they wouldn't be tucked away in the bedrooms making out, they could do it right out in the open when home alone, so, hauling all of the popcorn she could stuff into her purse from her cabinets, Maya wanders towards the kitchen that Friday night, the clatter of bowls rattling against the ground alerting her to where she needed to go.

She can't fight the grin tugging at her lips when she sees Missy fumbling around with ingredients for some type of treat- maybe a cake? Maya thinks she sees cocoa powder out- and she tiptoes towards the baker at work, her arms easily sliding around the taller girl's waist from behind as she presses her lips against Missy's shoulder blade.

Missy hums in response, a content smile breaking out while she drops what she's doing to rest her hands over Maya's so that she can hold them in place. "You weren't supposed to be here for another hour. I was making you brownies."

"I knew it was something chocolate," Maya brags, reaching forward and dipping her pointer finger into the bowl of batter. She swirls it around until she's satisfied with the amount that she's scooped, launching it into her mouth with a satisfied moan. "Y'know what, I think this batter is defective. It won't bake correctly. I better just eat it- we wouldn't want it to go to waste, would we?"

Missy smacks Maya's forearm when she tries to steal some more. "Stop it! You're gonna get sick, and I'm going to have to spend this entire weekend taking care of you when we could be doing far better things."

"Oh, shut up," Maya snorts, sliding to Missy's side to bump her hip, knocking her over enough to grab hold of the mixing spoon. "You're overreacting," she tells her between licks for emphasis. "I'll be fine."

xxxx

She eats over half of the bowl, and she is most definitely not fine.

Missy makes sure that Maya understands that she owes the fuck out of her for ruining their weekend all alone in her house as she nurses her annoying little dipshit back to health.

xxxx

Maya slips up on a Wednesday, and she calls Missy 'baby' after falling asleep during some cooking show they'd found on Netflix.

Affectionate names aren't a typical between them. Sure, Maya and Missy throw a few insulting cusses each other's way when they tease, but they're never as endearing as the ones you would hear in adoring relationships. Those are only really reserved for the bedroom, or things that should occur in the bedroom that they did in some public bathrooms from time to time, and so Missy is rightfully thrown when Maya uses the term. She has every reason to feel as high as the farthest galaxy when Maya sleepily mumbles, "Baby, turn down the TV," against her chest, cuddling closer into her hoodie while drifting in and out of consciousness. She swears that Maya has never fucking sounded so adorable in their almost thirteen years of friendship, and so she has no choice but to appease.

"What was that?" Missy asks in hopes to hear it repeated. She beams at the tiny grunt Maya comes out with.

"Baby, stop being mean to me," she grumbles childishly, her lips forming a pout that Missy dips down to kiss away.

"I'm so sorry," she whispers out, Maya's frown completely disappearing after their lips part, "go back to sleep." Maya is already practically out cold by the time she finishes her sentence, but it's so cute that Missy can't find it in herself to care.

"Mhm, nigh' nigh'," Maya mumbles almost inaudibly.

Missy strokes her hair in acknowledgment. "Sweet dreams, babe."

xxxx

The weekend before school is set to pick back up, Katy and Maya go shopping to select Katy's wedding dress. It's a big event, one Maya never thought she would take part in, and when she gets home that night, she cries harder than she ever has before because recovery makes you act in funny ways sometimes.

Shawn is the one that hears her, stumbling in to let her know he'd be in the living room while her mother runs out to grab dinner, and so he plants himself next to her on the edge of her worn mattress and he holds her until she settles enough to speak.

"You treat us well," she tells him, her head tucked into his shirt just enough to break his heart. "You're very good to us, and I don't want you to leave." She hasn't said much to him in weeks, preoccupied with cheer beginning again, and this is really the first time they've been alone practically the whole summer considering she's rarely without Charlie or Missy or whoever else is clinging to her every breath, and so he panics. He freezes up, and she can feel his back go straight and the air snatch from his lungs when she speaks without thought. "When my dad left, I never thought I would get another one. Yeah, Charlie's parents are great, and Missy's parents act as if I'm their own, but I never thought I would get another dad, and here you are."

There's a bite to the hopeful edge in her voice, crystal eyes steady on the ground when she confesses her feelings. "You fit perfectly with us, though. And you treat me and Mom better than my father ever did, and I love you for that, Patty. I love you for all that you are to my family and for all that you do for us."

"I love you, too, Penny," Shawn whispers, pressing a kiss to the top of her skull with a sincere smile she can practically hear.

"Please don't break us," she begs.

"I wouldn't dare."

xxxx

There's a field in the heart of town, right near the community center, that Maya and Missy both decide to hold their respective practices on; the Eagles taking Monday and Wednesday, the Raiders getting Tuesday and Thursday, and both squads sharing Friday afternoons before games for a little refresher.

"Y'know, this whole 'staying last to shower before meeting everyone at school in uniform' thing isn't our best cover," Maya teases, propped up against the lockers with Missy's hand pulling her leg around the taller girl's waist from beneath her right thigh.

"Shut up," Missy mutters against the blonde's lips, a soft groan she earns when moving towards her jawline echoing through the empty locker rooms. She smirks, biting down once she reaches her pulse point to hear her name against the walls. "We are in public, you've really got to watch your volume, babe, or you'll get us caught."

Maya gasps when she feels fingertips sliding lower and lower against her hipbones, spelling out strings of mindless letters towards the center of her thighs. "Well, maybe if you got your fucking hand out of my shorts, I'd be able to keep it a little quieter," she grits out, her head lulling back against the metal doors as she fights to keep her voice down.

"Oh, did you want me to stop?" Missy threatens smugly, slowly retracting her hand before Maya reaches out immediately to hold it in place.

"Don't you fucking dare."

xxxx

"I think you like her," Charlie shrugs over dinner, chomping away at the Chinese that Maya's mom had ordered them before heading to work.

"Like her?" Maya scoffs, looking from her phone to her best friend before busting into a fit of laughs. "Yeah, right, Charlie! Like I would ever like Bratford of all people."

Charlie rolls his eyes, shoveling another bite into his mouth before pointing to the device that she's already focused on again, grinning towards like an idiot. "Who are you texting?"

Maya glares back because he knows exactly who she's talking to. "Your mom," she retorts childishly, turning her attention to her untouched plate. "You're such a fucking dick, ya know that? I don't like her."

Charlie only chuckles, nodding just to ease her attitude. "Of course not, M."

xxxx

Lucas calls her every few weeks. She knows that it's practically only a courtesy, but it's still nice. She likes to close her eyes and focus in on his voice, clinging to her very first love like there's no one in the world that will get her like he did, even if he didn't really at all.

He asks her about school, their sports, Charlie's well being, everything that they'd discuss on her bedroom floor before he left when he'd catch a virus and she'd fill him in on daily adventures. He brings up her mother and Shawn and even Charlie's girlfriend, but never Missy, and she wonders if that's on purpose.

"Have you been seeing anyone?" Maya wonders, twirling a piece of her hair between her thumb and forefinger.

"Uh, no. Not since you back in New York," he discloses. "I haven't really felt that connection with anyone yet." The line goes silent for a few seconds before he inhales sharply. "I've… um, I've noticed you've been spending a lot of time with Missy since I've been gone. You guys are practically the only thing on each other's, well… everything."

Maya lets out a nervous dismissal. "Oh, yeah. Well, Isadora was MIA most of the summer, and Charlie was all over his girl, so we just kind of gravitated towards each other, I guess. I didn't know that you kept up with her accounts and stuff."

"It's the only way I see your smile anymore," he mutters unintentionally, quickly shutting those thoughts down with an anxiously obnoxious cough. "I have to go help with dinner, though, so I'll catch you later?"

"Of course," Maya answers quickly. "Tell Mama Friar I say hello?"

"Always," Lucas promises solemnly. "I miss you, Shortstack."

"I miss you, too, Huckleberry," she whispers back, struggling to keep her voice composed. "I'm sorry… that things ended up how they did, that I hurt you before you left."

"Don't apologize. Just… look, I'm coming back. I talked to my family, and after graduation, I'm coming back for college, so just… I'm not asking you to wait for me, just…"

Her mind jolts when he fumbles for words, flashes of firsts and firsts and firsts in her head when she impulsively pipes out, "I'll wait. Don't be stupid, Lucas. I'll wait."

She can hear his smile when he lets the air out of his lungs, and it crushes her. "I love you, Maya."

"So much that you don't want to be upset?" She guesses, mimicking the words he'd told her when she confessed all of her mistakes to him before.

"Even more than that," he tells her. Her heart swells in her chest.

She says it back- she's always going to say it back- and she hangs up with tears slipping down her cheeks because they're not even together and she still doesn't fucking deserve him.

xxxx

"Maya, you would tell me if anything were going on with you and Missy, right?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Do you swear? Because I only gave you the safe sex talk for boys and I just need to-"

"Mom."

xxxx

Maya tells Missy that she thinks they should post less of each other on social media, that she thinks Lucas is being hurt by it, and Missy hesitates when she agrees.

What should she care if the cowboy is butthurt she spends time with Maya?

"Please, just try to make it a little less of me, Missy?"

Why is Lucas even relevant anymore? Of course, she's going to do it because Maya's asking her to, but why is he so important?

"It's just complicated."

Why does she matter less? Why are her feelings less valid? Are they supposed to stop sleeping together now? Stop sharing so much time with each other?

"I don't want things to become complicated between us for this."

When haven't things been complicated between her and Maya?

"I can't keep hurting him."

xxxx

"Jealousy isn't cute on you," Charlie sings from the other side of her mattress, absentmindedly strumming on her guitar while she furiously watches Isadora's snapchat story.

"She's on a date!" Maya cries out, tapping violently to skip through the videos of Missy laughing particularly loudly. "A fucking date, Charlie! With some stupid ass boy that Isadora said wanted to go bowling with Missy and her and fucking Samuel! It's his friend! God, I can't stand that asshole."

"M," her best friend chuckles, "You love that dude. You said that if you weren't my platonic soulmate, you'd swear you were his."

"Well, that was before he decided to make stupid friends named Chase who have things for gorgeous cheerleaders who they wanna take out. Especially mine," Maya growls, watching Missy celebrate her spare through her phone screen for the nth time that night.

"What did you just call her?" Charlie grins expectantly, knowing his victory is inevitable in the conversation.

"Mine. She's my gorgeous cheerleader, so why does he go around thinking he can just date whoever the fuck he wants to date! What a self entitled, egotistical dick! He can't just take whoever he wants bowling. Do you know why he can't, Charles?"

"Because she's yours?"

"Because she's mine!"

(It takes her roughly twenty minutes of yelling to realize that Missy isn't actually hers in any sort of way.)

xxxx

"Fuck. I like her, don't I, Gardner?"

"Oh yeah."

"I've got to go sit at her place until she gets home so that I can tell her that I like her, don't I?"

"I'll go get my keys."

xxxx

It takes exactly fourteen seconds for Missy to walk into her bedroom and for Maya to bolt from the bed and pin her against her door.

"What the fu-" she tries to scowl, hissing when the wood bites into her back and she's met with Maya's lips, her fingers threading into dark hair so she can hold Missy even closer.

"I don't want you to go on dates," Maya declares, parting their mouths seconds later to make her case. "I don't want you to see you with anyone else."

Missy's eyebrows bunch. "You were the one who told me that-"

"No," Maya persists, her eyes locking with Missy's before she continues. "I don't want you to be with anyone else."

Missy is practically breathless at the confession, her mind almost numb from everything she's processing. "Maya, I don't get what you're… You said that you didn't want it to be complicated, so I told Izzy that I'd-"

Maya shakes her head, tugging Missy by the fabric of her shirt into another kiss and leading her towards the bed. They tumble onto the comforter, Maya taking the lead by pressing Missy against her blankets. She lets it get as far as nearly all of their clothes piling on the floor before she speaks again.

"I don't want you with anybody else. No one else gets to see you like this, only I do," she orders, her hands meeting to unclasp Missy's bra. "No one gets to hear you like this...touch you like this," Maya instructs, more dominance in her tone than Missy had ever experienced before. "Only me. Do you understand?"

Missy nods shamelessly, eager to submit to the harsh delivery of words.

"Say my name," Maya demands, scraping her nails down Missy's sides and smirking at the sound of "Maya" struggling to make it out between whimpers. "You're mine, and I'm going to make sure that you and anyone that wants to come near you knows exactly who you belong to. Got that, princess?" Missy bites her lip to tone down her volume, trying to conceal their actions in some way while her mother sleeps only a few doors down the hall.

Maya comes to the conclusion that the stupid double date that Missy went on wasn't the worst thing that could've happened that night.

xxxx

"So, you told her that you like her?" Charlie asks from his end of the phone when Maya calls him.

"Well…" Maya mumbles, eyes locked on the bathroom's closed door as she waits for Missy.

"You're in her bed, aren't you?" Charlie asks incredulously. "You didn't even tell her, did you? I bet you just decided that you'd only fuck each other. I bet you just attacked her as soon as she walked in, not clearing up any actual issues." Her silence confirms his accusations. "What the hell am I going to do with you, M?"

Maya hears the turning of Missy's doorknob, grinning in a satisfied manner before tugging her bottom lip between her teeth when seeing Missy stepping her way back to bed. Her eyes rake over the large sweater that she'd pulled on her bare body before climbing to go and wash her face, and she wonders just how quickly she could manage to get the brunette out of it if she were to hang up the phone. "Pick me up at ten for a super Sunday breakfast?" she ponders innocently.

"Mm, breakfast?" Missy yawns, swiftly sliding to her side below her headboard.

"I mean us for breakfast?" Maya pleads.

Charlie groans. "You're so lucky I love you."

"I love you even more, Charles."

"Oh, tell him I love him, too."

"And Missy loves you the most! Text me when you're leaving in the AM," Maya beams, bidding him goodnight before ending the call and rolling over to work away the offending article of clothing, a content hum in her throat when she hears Missy's breathy giggles at her touch.

xxxx

Charlie insists and insists and insists that she and Missy should work out a label of some sort beyond exclusive fuck buddies, but Maya doesn't see the point when they're perfectly happy with the noncommittal commitment they have going on.

She thinks that being in love has turned him even softer, and he thinks that she's absolutely insane.

xxxx

"Maddie's homecoming is the twentieth," Charlie coyly slips into their conversation as Maya mindlessly doodles in her sketchbook. "Same as Abby North's, if you're looking for somewhere to be that weekend with a certain girl that you're obsessed with…"

Maya is quick to swing her arm at him, her palm slamming on the back of her dining room chair when he dodges her attack.

"I am not obsessed with her, you dick," she growls, pulling her knee towards her core to kick his side. It has enough force to knock him onto the ground and she laughs at the bruise he's going to have on his ass when he wakes up tomorrow.

(She asks Missy- even though she is absolutely, positively not obsessed with her- and the brunette gleefully accepts, planning their color scheme for their dresses before Maya can even fully get the offer out.)

xxxx

The biggest football event in their personal suburgatory dot on the map is the crosstown classic of varsity games, pinning the rival schools against each other in one field. Fortunately, it's Missy's this year, which means the fact that Maya was already on that side of town when preparations began seems completely logical to all their peers.

(She sometimes thanks god their town isn't filled with the brightest youth.)

It goes fairly smoothly, a neck to neck competition that results in Abigail North taking the win by a single field goal- but that's not what the girls are focused on. They anxiously sit through each quarter, perform halftime, give the fucking show of a lifetime to their crowd; all of it so that they can sneak away afterwards into the school to finally get some fucking time alone because their usual afternoon quickie was painfully interrupted by the Eagles' football coach asking what they were doing near the field before the cheerleaders were required to report. Missy rambles something about double checking that routines weren't cross contaminating and Maya rolls her eyes when she agrees because 'That sounded fucking ridiculous, Bratford!' and 'Did you have anything better, asshole?!'.

Missy has keys because the locker rooms need to be open, but they're not fucking idiots, so they stealthily pad to the library that Missy knows will be vacant so that they can pick up where they left off hours ago.

"We only have like ten minutes until our parents are going to be searching," Maya warns, dipping her hand beneath the stitching of Missy's top when she's pressed firmly to a bookcase.

"You don't think I can get the job done in ten minutes?" Missy scoffs, quirking a brow.

"Ten? Maybe. The five you'd need to take in order for us to actually collect ourselves before looking our mothers in the eyes? Absolutely not," the blonde deadpans in response.

"Bet?" Missy dares, her eyes growing a shade darker when she sinks to her knees, blinking up innocently.

xxxx

"Fair enough," Maya pants exactly three minutes later, pinning her bow back into her freshly tied ponytail. She smirks devilishly when she roughly lunges in, capturing Missy's lips and wasting no time to unzip her skirt, letting it fall before her hands slide down everything keeping her from touching the skin below her rival's waist.

"I totally think I can do it in two, though," she laughs, swallowing the moan she receives in response.

(She's right, but Missy insists that it's only because she got worked up from the way Maya spoke her name between a flow of cuss words when she came.

Maya tells her not to be such a sore loser.)

xxxx

It takes the dynamic duo of Penny and Patty less than a week to assemble a master plan to get Katy to let them adopt a dog. Shawn finds a lost dog while in Rhode Island one weekend, and after exchanging photos with Maya every five minutes until the owner appeared to reclaim their lost pet, it's decided that the Hart-Hunter residence needs the touch of man's best friend.

"The Top Three Reasons (Only Three Because You'd Yell At Us If We Take Too Long) Why We Should Get a Dog by Maya Penelope Hart and Shawn Patrick Hunter," Maya reads from a stack of flashcards, standing beside Shawn (who holds his own script in his hands) as her mom stares from the couch with an amused look. Maya swiftly sets her laptop on the coffee table in Katy's line of sight, a loop of various puppy photos on full screen before Shawn clears his throat and steps forward.

"Reason number one: Penny, our very own little angel, is left to her own devices a lot." Maya nods with wide eyes for emphasis. "What kind of parents would we be if we did not offer companionship to our baby girl?" He purses his lips dramatically, shaking his head with a hopeless sigh. "It is our duty as her caregivers to shower her with support." He pats her back when she sniffles loudly, alternating places so that Maya is now closer to the couch.

"Reason number two: Sometimes this guy," she pauses to point at Shawn, "gets home from a job and comes home to an empty apartment. How does that make you feel, Patty?"

"Quite poorly," Shawn pouts, trailing his finger down his cheek to symbolize a tear.

"Ya hear that?" Maya cries, "Quite poorly!Unlucky fella. All he wants is love and a growing family of furry, adorable creatures. Mom," she deadpans, "as his caregivers, it is our duty to shower him with support."

"And finally," they announce in unison, eyes glancing up from the writing in their palms, "we need a third member to form our music group, P to the Third- P Cubed, for short."

"We can't be P to the Third without a third," Maya explains matter of factly, shrugging as if it's obviously.

"Penny and Patty are only two P's, Kates," Shawn adds convincingly, "Therefore, we have a list of pre-approved names beginning with P for you to look through if you agree to this- but we're partial to Percy."

"We have also thought out all arrangements. You would not care for our dog at all, it would be purely our responsibility to help us become more productive in society and to…" Maya falters with her cards to flip to the next line, "...understand the value of caring for another life, meaning that we would learn to appreciate you more for all that you do for us because we never want you to be taken for granted."

"We take ya for granted, babe," Shawn frowns, "and a puppy would teach us better. This is for you."

Satisfied with their well rehearsed pitch, Maya and Shawn link hands and bow, knowing that they have it in the bag by how adoringly Katy is looking up at them. They watch as she glances between her daughter, fiancé, and the dogs on Maya's laptop before giggling a little.

"I think we got this," Shawn whispers to Maya, as excited as can be.

"I know!" Maya squeaks, squeezing his hand and smiling wide. "I'm so glad we thought of the whole 'you wouldn't have to do a thing' addition, that's what hooked her."

Katy rises from her seat, approaching her family and pressing her lips to Shawn's cheek, then Maya's forehead. "Our building doesn't allow dogs," she chuckles, "but good show. You had me at the band, though, so good job. That was cute."

Maya and Shawn's faces fall simultaneously as Katy exits the room, Maya's hand flying to her forehead. "Oh god, we're idiots."

"How did we not check the building regulations?" Shawn mopes, plopping himself onto their loveseat and staring at the ceiling. "We were so close."

Maya drapes herself across her sofa, shoving her head into a pillow. "We already had him picked out."

xxxx

For such a talented cheerleader, Maya is most certainly not the most coordinated girl in the world, which is exactly why she ends up in the emergency room on a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon- but it's not her fault. No, it's Madeline's fault. It's entirely Madeline's fault because she was the one who decided to come to visit Charlie on her weekend free of extra curriculars and suggest rollerskating as the activity of the day.

Maya and Missy are already spending the day together, so when Charlie invites his best friend, it's assumed her plus one is going to tag along, and it's all fun and games until Charlie insists that he can make it around the rink quicker than Maya.

"Oh, no, no, no," Missy pleads, lunging forward as soon as she notices Maya's challenging look and announcement that she could do laps around anyone in the building- especially Charlie- and before anyone can blink twice, Maya is on the ground with a loud shriek, Charlie is tumbling over her, and Missy is grabbing her car keys.

xxxx

It's only two matching sprains at the ends of their arms, she'll be out of cheer for a week or two and Charlie can't play football for the same amount of time, and they can go home as soon as their paperwork is handed back. After the doctor announces the relieving news, the group of teens all let out a collective sigh of relief.

"This is what you get," Missy groans, watching the nurse begin to wrap Maya's wrist after finishing Charlie's. "What have I told you about how competitive you get?"

"What have I told you about how competitive you get?" Maya mocks in a funny voice. Charlie chuckles for a second, shutting up as soon as he's met with his girlfriend's hand to his bicep.

"Charlie, you guys got hurt," Maddie glares. "That's not funny."

Charlie purses his lips, glancing back to Maya being bandaged up. "No," he laughs, "it's pretty hilarious. Hey, M, remember that time when we were like twelve and we watched Billy fall off of that jungle gym?" He jumps up to his best friend's bedside, sitting next to her as they recall the day.

"And his arm turned green from how fucked up it got?!" Maya scoffs animatedly. "As if I could ever forget that! He had to get a rod put in there! His mom showed us the X-rays! What about when Yogi got that gnarly dog bite on his leg and we thought he had rabies?"

Missy plops herself beside Maddie in the plastic guest chairs, sighing softly as she glances up.

"What're we going to do with them?" Maddie says under her breath, watching the pair go on and on about all the gruesome injuries they'd witnessed growing up.

"Wrap them up and ship them somewhere too far away to give us heart attacks from their little stunts before eloping in the Bahamas?"

Maddie lets her head fall to Missy's shoulder, giggling softly. "Count me in."

xxxx

The dress that Missy wears to homecoming is the purest of white, backless with black floral accents cinching in only on her right side, and it clings to her skin tighter than anything Maya has ever seen her wear before from her chest to where it fans out when she twirls. Her hair is softly curled, and her lips are red, and, holy fuck, Maya likes her.

Maya really, really, really likes her, and she looks pathetic next to her unearthly breathtaking date in her dumb black dress that her mom bought her last weekend because there's lace stitching that matches the flowers on Missy's perfectly, and matching is a huge thing for the homecoming queen's date. She unsuccessfully tries to avoid thinking about the fact that she's nothing compared to Missy with her smile so radiant and her step so graceful, and it's almost enough to make her want to go home and hide for the rest of her life because she's a fucking ogre and Missy is an angel sent down-

"Jesus Christ, you're so beautiful," Missy whispers out, completely dazed with flushed cheeks.

Missy is an angel sent down to be the death of her, and this has got to be a dream.

(It's not a dream. Their moms take hundreds of photos to remind her that it's not, and, holy shit, she likes Missy so fucking much.)

xxxx

Isadora accompanies Sam to the event, and Maya calls her Izzy absentmindedly when begging her to dance because Missy is exhausted and Sam has no rhythm.

Isadora accepts, and Missy tells Maya in a hushed tone when they're ordering food from McDonalds afterwards that she's never seen her best friend accept that nickname from anyone besides herself and Sam before- not even her parents sometimes.

Missy is elated at how much Izzy must really like her, and that only makes Maya feel just the same.

Who wouldn't beam looking at that smile?

xxxx

They stumble into the Bradford residence at roughly two in the morning, greasy food discarded onto Missy's kitchen table before they become a stumbling mess of laughter, wandering hands, and giddy kisses, struggling to focus enough to make it down the hall and into their destination of Missy's mattress.

They don't notice Cassie watching them from the couch, completely oblivious to the adult that was supposed to be asleep as their PDA gets a little raunchy moving to the bedroom.

xxxx

Maya is awoken the next morning by the weight of her crush jumping onto her body frantically, shaking her violently so that she opens her eyes.

"Maya! Fuck, Maya! We have an emergency! I need you to get up right now like right this second because I really fucked up!"

Maya groggily peeks up with one eye, wanting to be soothed by Missy's adorable little panic but ultimately disliking the frown etched into her features. "What's wrong, babe?" she mumbles, rubbing her palms down her face and blinking a few times to adjust to the sunlight seeping through the curtains.

"I need you to be my girlfriend," Missy spits out, her eyes going wide when Maya chokes on her spit, completely alert now. "Not my real one, just my fake one for a little bit!"

"Um, explain please?"

"Okay, well, I woke up and I was going to go grab us some breakfast. Some, like, bacon or something easy to eat in bed while we like cuddled or something because I didn't want to fully get up yet, but my mom was already in there and at first I didn't think twice about it because she's an early riser- whatever!- but then she starts talking about how I haven't dated anyone in a while, and I was like yeah, okay, whatever, and she kept going on about how she really wishes I would settle down and get serious with someone considering everyone around me has a relationship going." Missy takes a sharp gasp before continuing her rambling. "I was like whatever about that, too, but then she just wouldn't stop, and then she was like well everyone is with someone except Maya…. and apparently she was like out here or something when we got home because she mentioned how she saw us kissing and stuff and she was like you're dating Maya, aren't you! and I just wanted her to shut up about me dating someone because she seriously had this huge speech and so I just said yes and now she's on the phone with your mom telling her that we're together, and I just need you to be my girlfriend for a little bit, okay?"

xxxx

"So, let me get this straight, you're fake dating Missy now?" Charlie gapes amusedly. "You realize that if anyone at our school finds out that you're not only sleeping with the enemy, but dating her, you'll never hear the end of it, right?"

"Shut up," Maya grits between her teeth, throwing her head into his pillow. "I couldn't say no, okay?!"

"Because you like he- Ow! Fuck, Maya, stop hitting me!"

xxxx

Missy thinks Maya has completely lost it when she trails thick lines of paint in the shape of her veins using multiple colors, and stamps the inside of her forearm against a clean sheet of paper that she'd stolen from her mom's printer. She won't even tell her why, insisting that it's a surprise and forcing her to go wash up before they leave on a very special trip for the weekend.

"You only turn eighteen once, y'know. I gotta make it memorable," Maya grins cheekily, her artwork in one hand and the other laced with Missy's own when she drags the birthday girl into the back of Shawn's car with a blindfold over her eyes.

Everything has gone unexpectedly smooth with the whole dating debacle, Shawn and Charlie being the only ones on Maya's end to know the truth (because her mom would totally blab to Sandy) and there being little to absolutely no adjustment from how things were a week before. It's harmless as long as it's just with their family, and the single major family crisis happening from it is the long talk Katy insists on having because she thinks Maya has been lying to her for weeks about her intentions with Missy, which she can't explain hasn't been happening, and even that wasn't totally awful. She got a decent hug out of it.

Plus, now being Missy's 'girlfriend', she had free reign over her birthday weekend. She planned an entire adventure with the assistance of Shawn and Charlie, even with Charlie's constant whining that Maya never worked so hard for his birthdays, and she was going to give Missy the time of her life.

Shawn drops them off at a corner in a safer part of the city, making sure that Maya's phone is charged before taking off- the girls were raised in the suburbs, after all- and Missy is tugged into the first subway station in sight, still blind to Maya paying for them to step foot on the train and not being allowed her vision back until after they're seating in the car.

"Okay, what the hell?" Missy asks, her brows scrunching together when she catches a glimpse of her surroundings. She turns to Maya expectantly, frowning when her only response is Maya inspecting that fucking paper with smeared paint all over it again. The blonde is completely silent the entire ride, her fingers intertwined with Missy's the whole time and their combined limbs keeping them connected when Maya leads them out of a random stop.

"Did you know," Maya finally speaks up, heading towards the stairs to the city above, "rumor has it that the man who designed the pattern for the tracks to lay in these subway tunnels got his blueprint from the most beautiful girl he knew." There's a coy smirk tugging at her lips, and Missy knows there's some dumb point to this whole kidnapping charade after all. "He painted along the transparent skin above her veins, he stamped it down on a blank sheet of paper, and suddenly every man in the city could get exactly where he was supposed to be all because of that girl."

Missy takes note of the unfamiliar buildings around them, already tempted to call Shawn to pick them up because they're definitely lost. "And where exactly are you supposed to be because I should be at home, where I am most certainly not."

Swiftly, Maya leans up on her tiptoes to steal a quick kiss. "I'm right next to the most beautiful girl I know," she lifts up her makeshift map and waves it a little, "ready to find my way home with her."

Missy can't fight her smile. "Holy shit, you're a total dork."

xxxx

They don't find their way home- nowhere close, actually- but they manage to plant themselves in a cute little coffee shop where they call Shawn to pick them up after sharing a cupcake (and a quickie in the bathroom because, according to Missy, Maya is unbelievably hot when she's being all romantic).

xxxx

As soon as Shawn drops them back off at Maya's apartment, they're immediately in the car again- only this time Maya is driving a loaded car for a night away. Her second part of Missy's big birthday weekend is a road trip to the Cherry Springs State Park, one of the very best stargazing spots in the country. While not living in the city, the light pollution became an issue to the surrounding counties unquestionably, leaving the girls' starry nights slightly less starry, and Maya heard from Shawn that it was one of the most beautiful places he'd ever been, so she jumps to take Missy there in celebration.

The conversation is light and fun, mostly Missy singing to the radio or feeding Maya snacks, and they end up crossing the borders into Pennsylvania just in time to find a room for the night, ending up choosing a motel just off the highway they're on.

"Did you know that we're already planning prom?" Maya asks, noticing the promposal written out in the fence of the overpass they were approaching, trying to play off how cute she thought it was. "Isn't that crazy? We just had homecoming, and people are already throwing hazards into highways for the next dance."

"Are you saying you wouldn't want a grand gesture?" Missy inquires, not fooled one bit by Maya's too cool for promposals act. She had caught her watching more than enough videos on Instagram for them last prom season to know that Maya adored them.

"Of course not," Maya shrugs, turning into the parking lot of the motel, "No one is gonna stop traffic for me, Missy. I don't even care about it, either. Who needs dumb, giant gestures?"

(Almost immediately after checking in, Missy mentions a Walgreens she saw down the road and steals the keys while Maya hops into the shower with the excuse of seeking a toothbrush because she'd forgotten hers. Maya buys it, saying she would leave her phone on the bathroom counter in case anything happens, and letting her leave without second thought, knowing nothing of the plan baking in Missy's mind.)

xxxx

"Hey, babe?" Missy grins, opening the door to their room and peeking in, her eyes sparkling at the blonde clad in her pajamas, ringing out her hair with a towel.

"Oh, hey, I found your toothbrush," Maya tells her, pointing to where she'd unpacked it on the dresser. "It was with your toothpaste, dumbass."

"Shh, just come here," Missy commands, quickly pulling on Maya's arm and leading her out to the parking lot impatiently. She watches Maya's reaction with her lip between her teeth, anxiously awaiting an answer to her question.

Maya's entire face goes red, her eyes trailing the letters of the cheap, plastic candles Missy had picked up that spelled out Prom? against the asphalt, a bundle of roses being picked up from the ground beside the word and held out by Missy. "You said you didn't want a grand gesture or stopped traffic, so, of course, I had to figure out how to give you just that. I mean, you went out of your way to do this whole stargazing trip for me when you really didn't have to, and, well, fuck, Maya, I like spending time with you, I guess, so I was just thinking that maybe you'd want to go to your prom. With me. As your date." Her words are sheepishly delivered, flustered at the sight of Maya completely awestruck. "Oh, and I have a lame sign if you try to tell me no that you absolutely can't refuse!"

She wanders to their car, tugging out a board that reads You're the brightest star in my sky, will you be my shining date to prom? with crappy doodles of planets all around it. Maya can't hold back her laughter.

"I had to steal a campaign poster for a congressman for this," Missy warns, flipping it to reveal the propaganda inked on the other side, "so if you say no, I could go to jail for theft."

"What's keeping you from jail if I say yes?" Maya giggles, stepping to close the gap between them.

"A gorgeous date to prom that an officer simply can't keep me from," Missy replies cockily, leaning down to share a soft kiss before Maya jumps back.

"Okay, but stay right there!" She places the roses into Missy's arms before pulling out her phone and jogging far enough to catch it all on her screen. "Your mom would kill me if I didn't get a picture of this."

"So... that's a yes?"

Maya rolls her eyes when the shutter of her camera echoes into the night. "Yeah, Bratford, it's a yes."

xxxx

Maya posts the picture while Missy takes her own time in the bathroom preparing for bed, captioning it, 'Only my girlfriend would be lame enough to prompose to me on her birthday trip,' with a few emojis to satisfy their parents, knowing that they follow both of them on social media.

She just so happens to apparently forget that all of her peers also follow her on social media, meaning that her fake relationship with Missy rapidly branched from calling each other 'babe' at family dinners to people she didn't even know the numbers of texting her, trying to find out all of the scoop on her relationship with the rival school's head cheerleader.

It's the biggest news of the entire weekend, and she contemplates shutting off her entire phone until it starts to vibrate, the photo and caller ID making her stomach churn.

"Hey, Lucas," she answer meekly, her lip quivering at his tone.

"How long?"

It occurs to her that she hasn't thought of him once in the past few weeks on her own, and the guilt travels from her core to form tears in her eyes. "Please... don't do this."

"How long, Maya?" he demands, his voice cold and distant. "God, did you ever love me?"

"Of course, I did, Lucas, don't talk like that-"

"How long has it been her? Was it when you promised to wait for me? Was it when I left? Fuck, was it before I even left?"

"Lucas…"

"You're unbelievable!" he snaps, her body wincing at his volume. "I was coming back for you. You were letting me come back for you. I told you I wasn't asking you to wait, and you insisted that you do, promising yourself to me like I mean something to you?"

Tears spill down her cheeks, her hands starting to shake from her impending sobs. "You do mean something to me."

"Do you love her?"

"Lucas, stop."

"Tell me the truth, Maya. Don't you dare fucking lie to me anymore."

Missy opens the bathroom door, completely unaware of Maya's state until she hears a broken voice. "I… I don't know."

The line goes dead, and Missy is wiping away her tears before she even registers it. "What's wrong?"

"Lucas wants nothing to do with me anymore," Maya laughs bitterly, staggering over her voice when Missy leans down and connects their lips.

"That's his loss, okay?" Missy warns, softly kissing her again and again until her tears are nonexistent, the best way she knows to rid of them. "This is our weekend," she says firmly, tucking a strand of Maya's hair behind her ear and shuffling to get their bodies beneath the blanket. "We're going to go to Cherry whatever tomorrow, and we can look at the stars, and then we'll find another motel to stay in so that we can get some type of sleep before we drive home, and it's only going to be us."

"Me and you?" Maya yawns, her head tucking under Missy's chin when they get settled, exhausted from the emotional toll of their night. She lets her eyes fall shut when Missy's fingers caress her cheek, her lips sighing sadly.

"Me and you."

xxxx

The stars are gorgeous, but they're nothing compared to Missy's eyes, and Maya tells her that when they're in bed the next night, fresh out of the forest where they devoured a container of mini cupcakes and Maya sang Happy Birthday very excitedly. It's hushed, almost a prayer when she insists how beautiful the girl posing as her girlfriend is, and it makes head spin when their hands begin to wander beneath the boundary of clothes.

She's wary, incredibly wary, and considering the circumstances of the last time they had sex in a rented room, rightfully cautious with every move she makes. She languidly kisses from Missy's lips to thighs, cherishing every inch of skin beneath her, and there's something hanging over them when she does this- an air surrounding them with the first swipe of her tongue- that informs them that this is different, this is special.

Each calculated touch, each painfully dragged gasp, every agonizing rock of Missy's hips; there's something new here, and how addictive Maya immediately finds it is absolutely terrifying.

xxxx

She is almost eighteen and she learns the difference between love and infatuation when stealing glimpses of a beautiful girl, the sun casting its glow over her as it rises and the soothing lift and fall of her chest as she sleeps forming the metronome steadily beating in the background of the the song humming in Maya's heart. They'd had a late night, running around the parking lot to scoop up the remnants of Missy's promposal after three cars had deformed it, but ultimately saving two plastic candles and a sign with a tire track through it.

(She kisses her sleeping beauty awake, and tells her that she's doing just that. Missy cracks a line about her prince being a bit of an asshole.)

She stares at the roses drying out on the bedside table, the idea of their night together nearly impalpable when she recalls it: breathless whimpers, promises of the future, countless repetitions of their names crying out between that. She can't wait to tell Charlie about it. It's going to be absolute hell because that fucking idiot was right, and she did fall in love, but she's never been so damn glad for his relentless teasing. She wonders if he'd prefer a sleepover or a night out to discuss it, her hands folded over her stomach as she lays on her back and stares at the ceiling.

"Maya…" Missy starts, twisting her torso closer to the opposite side of the bed, cuddling into the blonde's chest with a soothing exhale, "...thanks."

"For what?" Maya questions, body adjusting to form comfortably against Missy's subconsciously.

"For reminding me that I'm not alone, even when I think I am. For seeing my flaws and accepting them, accepting me. Just… thank you."

Maya's eyes fall shut, a blissful blush rushing to her cheeks when she realizes just how purely jovial she truly is. She nods, just enough that Missy can feel it, and let's her teeth bear in a grin.

She'd never felt the sense of being so whole before, not even with Lucas. Being with Missy is nothing like what it was being with Lucas. He didn't see her as a broken girl, but Missy does. She acknowledges her fraction of a mother and lack of a father, and she reads while Maya paints instead of having the artist take time from her schedule away from expressing herself, and Missy understands when movie nights are special for Charlie and Maya to share alone, and after that night with Sam's friend, Maya doesn't care where Missy stares in public because there's an unspoken vow that she belongs to her, and no one will ever make her question that faith, and that's what being in love is.

She has Missy's entire childhood already carved into her soul, the passion of the other cheerleader's entire existence provoking her to grow with the beauty she's known practically all her life, accepting every trait that gets picked up because she wants to constantly learn more about the amazing person Missy will become as they age, and that's what being in love is.

The only problem she faces is that Missy is only her temporary and fake girlfriend, a flimsy title with an impending death swinging over them like lurking presence of Maleficent during the duration of Sleeping Beauty, and Maya wishes with all of her heart that Aurora would've never woken up at all.