A/N: Thank you to everyone who showed interest in this story! Just a couple things to clear up: flashbacks will take place over their sophomore/junior years in high school and the present day started halfway through their junior year. A couple people asked if this was a Lucas x Maya story and the answer is yes, however, I have no issues with Lucas x Riley which is why you'll see a bit of them for a while. And just a warning, I prefer writing angst over romance, so if that isn't your thing, I won't be offended if you stop reading!
As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm not one to beg for reviews or to hold out chapters until I get a certain amount, but I can say that I tend to write faster if I know people are reading on the other side, so I really appreciate everyone who left their thoughts on the last chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Girl Meets World.
January 14, 2020
It had been two weeks since Maya had felt at all normal. It had also been two weeks since she had seen or talked to any of her friends, which would have bothered her in any other circumstance except for the one she was in.
She had left Riley's party after five minutes of sitting on the bathroom floor willing herself not to cry and she provided little explanation to her friends about her quick exit other than a short group text saying she felt "sick". When her mom found her crying in her room the next morning, she held her tightly and let her cry until the tears stopped coming. Then, Katy Hart pulled her daughter up and helped her pack a suitcase—she decided to allow Maya to stay with Shawn until her heart stopped hurting a little less.
It was easy to live with Shawn. After all, he practically lived with them when he was in town, so it wasn't like this was anything new. In fact, ever since Shawn had proposed to her mom six months ago, Maya doubted he had spent a single night in his own bed, but his apartment was nice. It was small, but it had a lot of light and she spent most of those two weeks sketching whatever came to mind. She mostly drew places they had been together or things they had done, all the while trying to figure out if she had misinterpreted an entire year spent together as something more than it was. Maya didn't think she was that stupid, but then again, Lucas had kissed her best friend up on the rooftop, not her.
Maya was sitting in the kitchen, her mind racing with all the same thoughts, when her mom walked in carrying two coffee cups. Katy smiled at her daughter and handed her the smaller of the two cups and asked, "Feeling better?"
"No."
"Maya, baby…it's time for you to get out of this funk and come home with me. You've had two weeks to be sad and now it's time to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and face the world."
Maya placed her latte on the counter and continued drawing, this time she was thinking about the homecoming dance where Lucas had first held her close. She refused to look at her mom, who was waiting for an answer expectantly. "I just don't want to go back yet."
"Okay, I was hoping you would say you were ready to come back so I wouldn't have to say this next part. The semester started yesterday, and as much as I love you, and as much as I wish I could make everything okay for you, you have to go back to school. I'll give you one more day, but you have to be back at school on Thursday."
"Mom-,"
Katy was quick to cut her off, "No. Maya Hart, your "flu" will better by Thursday, are we clear?"
Maya sighed, but knew it was pointless to argue. She knew she wasn't going to get away with missing school for long. And considering her full voicemail box and the seemingly hundreds of texts she was getting from her friends, she knew it was only a matter of time before they tracked her down. She looked up at her mom and nodded in agreement.
Katy looked relieved, she never liked being the parent when it meant hurting her kid. She took a sip of her coffee as she watched her daughter sketch in her notebook. She gently squeezed Maya's shoulder. "Oh, and please call Riley and tell her you're coming back soon. She's in the café every single day, constantly asking where you are. Please, you would be doing me such a big favor. I may actually go home without a headache if you can get her to stop asking me questions."
"I'll call her today, I promise."
"Okay. I have to get going to work, are you going to be okay here alone? Shawn is cooking dinner tonight, but he said he won't be home until this evening and I won't be here until after my shift."
"Mom, I'll be fine. Thank you for worrying, but I'm good here." Maya offered her mom and smile Katy leaned in to kiss her cheek.
"I love you, baby. Call me if you need anything!"
"I love you too, mom," she replied, as her mom gave her a small wave and closed the door to the apartment behind her.
And then the apartment was quiet again.
After a few minutes more of sketching, Maya realized she should probably call Riley before her mom made it to work. Knowing her best friend, she would be waiting there to pester Katy with more questions.
She reached for her phone that was so full of unanswered messages, she was surprised it still worked. Maya dialed the number she knew by heart and waited for an answer.
It only took two rings for Riley to pick up and when she did, she sounded breathless. "Maya?"
"Hey Riley."
"Peaches! I was so worried!"
Maya couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for being unreachable. None of what happened was Riley's fault and she never deserved to be ignored. "I'm so sorry. I was just feeling really sick and it was much better for me to be alone. I promise it won't happen again."
"Well, can I come see you? Where are you? Your mom said you were at home but your light is never on so I don't really believe her. Unless you've been staying on the couch, which is entirely possible, but probably uncomfortable. I can be there in ten minutes if you just say the word, well five if I run, which I totally will. I missed you so much!"
Riley spoke so fast and without taking the time to take a breath that it made Maya laugh. Two weeks was definitely too long to go without talking to her best friend. "I'm staying at Shawn's, I didn't want to get my mom sick. And I'm still not totally better so you shouldn't come see me, but I'll be back at school on Thursday."
"Oh okay…but you shouldn't be contagious anymore, right? I mean, whatever you had, if you're coming back on Thursday, you should be fine."
"Yeah, I'm good. I'm just tired is all. I'll probably go to take a nap in a little bit."
"Okay, I can let you go. I just…" Riley was quiet for a moment before sighing, "Was this about Lucas? That's all I've been thinking about lately, that I haven't seen you since I told you I kissed him."
Maya froze with the phone to her ear as she scrambled for an answer. "No, Riley. It's all just a crazy coincidence. Lucas is only a friend to me and that's the only way I've seen him for a long time. I'm happy for you, really."
Riley seemed content with that answer. Maya could practically feel her happiness through the phone. "We're together, like, officially. He asked me last week, with flowers and everything. He said he'd been waiting to kiss me for so long and he was so happy I finally did."
"That's really great, it's about time! But, uh, Riles I have to go, someone is at the door," Maya lied, hoping to get out of talking about her best friend's relationship without seeming suspicious.
"Oh okay! I'll see you soon, peaches!" Riley said happily, trying to quickly get her last words in before Maya hung up her phone.
"Yeah, see you soon." Then she hung up the phone. She took a couple deep breaths as she stared down at her half-finished sketch.
Maya remembered the day as if it was yesterday. She was wearing a pink dress that her mom had picked out and she hated, and she was wearing heels for the first time that her mom had picked out and she hated. But she agreed to the outfit because her mom had cried when she stood in front of her to model it. She had gone to the dance with Carter Zane, a senior who had given her a corsage that clashed with her dress, but was a really good kisser.
September 28, 2018
Carter had just left to go drink with his friends in the parking lot and after he had whispered an invitation in her ear, which she politely declined, she was left standing alone at the homecoming dance, like something out of a clichéd John Hughes movie.
She felt a hand on her lower back and she turned to see Lucas smiling down at her. "What happened to Mr. Homecoming King?"
"He's in the parking lot with the rest of his homecoming court, they came prepared with water bottles full of vodka, just like true teenagers."
"And he left you all alone?"
"Yes, Ranger Rick. Believe it or not, but us northern gals don't need boys all the time." Maya gave him a soft punch in the arm as he laughed.
"Well, pretty girl, since your date is out of sight, could I have this dance?" Lucas extended his hand.
Maya accepted his offer and placed her hand in his. She found it hard to ignore the butterflies in her stomach and the spark of electricity that flowed through their hands. As he led her out to the dance floor, she found herself asking, "Where's Riley?"
"She went with Farkle to argue over constellations or something. She'll be back soon."
Lucas wrapped his arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around his neck. They started swaying to the slow song as Maya quietly asked, "So, what? We have like one song before we pretend this never happened?"
"Maya…"
"Please, let's just not talk."
"You're the one who's here with someone else. You're the one who didn't want us to turn into something real."
"And you're here with Riley! I'm here with someone else because of Riley."
"We're here as friends, you know that. She asked you if it was okay, I asked you if it was okay. You decided to come with the homecoming king, when you knew I would have gone with you."
Maya scoffed as she refused to look him in the eye. "This is ridiculous. I don't care that you came with Riley, it's fine. You can date her for all I care, I'm just tired of our friendship being an issue around Riley. I've moved on from you, but I don't want to feel guilty for being your friend when every second Riley asks me if I still like you."
Lucas sighed as Maya rested her head on his shoulder. He didn't quite know what to say in response. She was right—they were all "friends", whatever that meant, but Riley's voice still took on a high-pitched squeak whenever she thought for a second her best friend still liked him.
They stood there swaying to the music, wrapped in each other arms as Coldplay's "Fix You" was playing over the speakers.
"When you're too in love to let it go…but if you never try you'll never know…just what you're worth…lights will guide you home…and ignite your bones…and I will try to fix you…"
Lucas put a finger under her chin, to bring her eyes up to his. "Okay, let's be friends. Normal friends who do normal things and don't worry about it turning into anything else. We don't worry about Riley or anything else. I want to be your friend, Maya."
Maya smiled and nodded, "Okay. If you can do it, I can do it."
Lucas grinned back and before he knew what he was doing, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. She didn't even have time to be shocked before she saw Carter entering the dance out of the corner of her eye. She cleared her throat and quickly disentangled herself from Lucas's arms. She willed herself to look into his eyes, which were practically begging her to stay, but she shook her head slightly and gave his hand a tight squeeze before leaving to join Carter at their table.
If Maya had turned around, she would have seen Lucas's grin slip into a frown as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked back to his own table. Though if they both had turned around, they would have seen a very confused Riley on the other side of the dance floor.
January 15, 2020
Maya had one more day of freedom before she was going to be forced to face Riley with her new boyfriend. She had attempted to convince her mom one more time the night before that she needed another week in isolation, but Katy was having none of it.
Today she had spent the day binge watching Grey's Anatomy on the couch, so she was surprised to hear a knock on the door in the afternoon. She got up and opened the door, but her eyes went wide with surprise when she saw who was on the other side.
She quickly tried to slam the door, but she was too late, as Lucas quickly put his arm in the doorframe. "Maya. Give me five minutes to talk to you."
Maya knew there was no way he was going to leave without his five minutes, so she reluctantly released her grip on the door, but didn't invite him inside. "How did you find me?"
"Riley told me," Lucas said guiltily.
Maya's eyes narrowed. "Of course, I should have known your girlfriend would let it slip."
"You have to know, I never meant for any of it to happen. New Year's just…you weren't there and she caught me off guard and I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to say no to her."
"You have got to be kidding me. Do not blame this on Riley. She may have kissed you first, but she didn't know about us, she has no blame in any of this. It was my fault and your fault, but then it became totally your fault when you asked her to be your girlfriend. You didn't have to do that!" Maya's eyes were fiery as she crossed her arms across her chest.
"I was waiting for you to back me up, we would talk to her together, but you disappeared off the face of the earth, so yeah, I asked her out." Lucas was getting defensive too, as the electricity between the two was palpable. But Maya wasn't backing down.
"Get out, now," she said dangerously. "You don't get to blame me for this. It's pretty easy not to ask someone out, you just don't do it. Riley is my best friend in this whole word and I want her to be happy. She will never know anything that happened between us and you are going to be the best boyfriend ever."
"Maya-," Lucas tried to interject, but she cut him off.
"Get out, Lucas. And don't expect me to talk to you again."
Lucas had backed up enough for Maya to slam the door in his face, and she did so just as she saw hurt flash across his eyes.
Once again, Maya found herself sliding to the floor and burying her face in her hands, willing the tears to come.
