A/N: Next chapter! I hope you guys are still into this story lol

I don't own GMW, just the plot of this story.

Chapter 3: "I'd Like It If You'd Drop Dead"

As much as Maya considered Lucas insufferable, she found herself hanging out with his own best friend much more over the course of the couple weeks after meeting him. Zay had a genuine nature about him that Maya thought was refreshing. You couldn't find that much nowadays, especially in New York. She introduced him to Riley and Farkle and even went out with him on the weekend to show him some 'top secret' spots in the city. She claimed you only really knew about them if you've lived there your whole life. They became really fast friends.

Unfortunately for Maya, that also meant having to deal with Lucas a bit more. Zay didn't talk about him much, probably because he saw the way Maya's cringed whenever his name was brought up. Sometimes Maya thought about asking why Lucas is the way he is. But she thought that could be a little too personal. Plus she didn't want to be asking questions about that boy that could make it seem like she did have any interest in him. She did find it strange though. Zay was such a cool guy who was real and honest. Lucas was the complete opposite from what she could tell. Maya wondered why Zay didn't grab him by the shoulders and shake him, screaming at him to stop acting like some jerk, womanizing player. If Riley was the one acting like that, she would've put that to a stop a long time ago. But again Maya didn't ask, it didn't seem like her place. Although she was super curious to know, something inside of her told her to not waste more breath than necessary on Lucas Friar.

"Maya!" Riley's voice rang out. A wave of blonde hair came flying as Maya whipped her head around to look at Riley.

"Hm?"

"I've been asking you the same question for like 5 minutes trying to get your attention!" Riley laughed. Maya felt a rush of hot blush run into her cheeks.

"Sorry. I was-I-I, um, I was just-" Maya tried to explain, taking note of what page Riley was on in her bio book to catch up to her. Riley stuck her hand up, cutting off her best friend's stuttering words.

"I know what you were staring at," smirked the brunette.

Maya brought her gaze back over to the spot across Topanga's. Josh Matthews sat at a small table by the door. She watched as he lifted his arm up and fixed the grey beanie that hung off his head in the perfect way. The blonde felt hearts form in her eyes as she watched him sip his coffee and nibble at his chocolate croissant. She doesn't quite remember the exact day that she developed her crush on Josh Matthews, the kind and charming uncle of her own best friend. But she knows that day was a very long time ago. Maya can barely even remember a time when she was wasn't constantly thinking about Josh. Nothing in her brain could stop her from fantasizing and believing in a 'someday' for the two of them. A smile formed on Maya's lips, but she didn't even notice. She was only forced out of her fantasy by Riley's fingers snapping in her face.

"Why don't you just go talk to him?" Riley smiled.

"I never know what to say Riles! We've had the conversation about the two of us before, a hundred times. And I just don't know if I can live just being friends with him. What if that's too hard?" Maya voiced her concerns. Josh was a typical Matthews. He was too kind to turn her away, so they would always talk and laugh. But inside, Maya felt a little sting from their conversations because she knew he looked at her as just a friend. Admittedly, that title was a lot better than the title of 'little niece's best friend' that she held up until about 2 years ago. But she wanted more.

"And it's not too hard just staring at him from across a bakery? Just go say hi and talk to him!" Riley insisted. Before Maya could protest, Riley reached over and shut Maya's bio book, snatching the pen out of her hand. "Go!"

Maya smiled and slid out her seat. She didn't know if she loved or hated Riley for this. The object of her affection had his eyes glued on the laptop screen in front of him. He didn't notice Maya walk up to his tiny table until she was right in front of him.

"Hey Boing," she said. More words wanted to come out of her mouth, but she was suddenly rendered a little speechless by the smile that rested on his mouth.

"Hey Hart. I was wondering when you were going to come over and say hi," he smiled. He cleared off the seat next to him, as it had previously been riddled with more of his notes and textbooks that didn't fit on the table. As he moved them to the floor, Maya sat in the vacated seat and peaked at his computer screen.

"What are you working on?" she asked, genuinely curious about what he was so focused on. Josh was in his last year at NYU and the entire Matthews clan was so proud. Maya was proud, too. She saw how hard he worked. Sometimes she would catch him at Topanga's just like right now, studying and drinking all the coffee the bakery had in stock. Once the year before, Maya had slept over at Riley's and got up in the middle of the night to get a drink. She caught Josh, who had been staying with his brother while his roommate at school had a pretty bad cold, sitting up in the living room. Studying hard as always for his finals, Maya offered to help. He let her for a bit, but smiled and told her to go back to bed when her yawns kept her from being able to ask him questions from his study guides.

"Working on my intro paper for my psychology class. It has to be 12 pages long," Josh said. Maya's eyes grew wide as she heard the length requirement.

"Jesus! Are you serious? 12 Pages?" she asked, her eyes forming huge wide circles in complete shock. Josh nodded. His face showed just how tired he was. The small table was riddled with books and large stacks of highlighted papers. It was hard for Maya to not lose her mind just staring at the materials. She couldn't imagine having to actually read and process all that information. It was incredibly overwhelming. "Well maybe I could help?"

"What do you know about psychology?" Josh smirked, knowing the small girl just wanted to be around him.

Maya reached up and grabbed one of the closet packets to her. There were large portions of highlighted text in small print. "Well…" she said, scanning the page to find something that made sense to her. "Yeah I don't know any of these words," she laughed. Josh's hand grabbed the thick packet out of Maya's with a smile.

"Thanks Maya but I think I'm on my own. Do you want a pastry?" Maya raised an eyebrow at the question.

"I wouldn't want to disrupt your hard work," she remarked. Of course inside she definitely didn't want to do anything else besides sit at this tiny table and eat a pastry while Josh talked to her. Even if he just went back to typing his paper, she would be content with just sitting there with him. It sounded lame but she was basking in the thought.

"I could use a break," Josh said with his dimpled smile. Just a head nod from Maya was all the answer Josh needed to get up from his seat and walk over to the counter. Without even realizing at first, she found herself combing her fingers through her long blond hair, trying to tame the slight frizz that had formed through the windy New York autumn day. She managed to catch herself doing it and stop just seconds before Josh came back to the table. One more chocolate croissant for him was in one hand, while a warmed up blueberry muffin was in the other hand. He set the muffin down in front of Maya and reclaimed his seat.

"So," Maya started, wanting to begin a new conversation with her crush, "besides this terrifying 12 page paper, what else is new with you?"

"Well I think I'll be getting my own place soon," Josh answered. An excited expression grew on Maya's face. She couldn't help but wonder if she would be invited over. "I'll probably have to get a roommate, or two or three, but it'll still be my own place!"

"Well I better be the first one invited over to see the place," Maya smirked. She never felt the need to flirt with Josh. The college age boy knew how she felt about him. But every so often she couldn't stop a little giggle or seductive tone of voice from coming out around him. She batted her eyelashes waiting for a response to her suggestion of being the first one at his new place. His face was unreadable and then when a little laugh came out of his mouth, she didn't know if it was for a good reason or bad reason.

"Consider this an official invite," he finally said. Maya could practically feel the blush rushing to her cheeks, making her face turn bright pink.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Josh returned with a smile. Their eyes connected and stayed glued to each other's for a minute. Maya didn't notice the silence. She was too busy picturing her and Josh being alone at his new place.

Josh's eyes suddenly pulled away from hers and ripped her from her quaint daydream of what could be. His eyes landed on his watch and then went wide.

"Oh hey I have to go. There's a guest speaker at school and we get extra credit to go and ask a question from the audience," he explained. Maya helped him gather up his scattered papers and place them in the correct folders and in between pages inside his books. Once all of his things were gathered, he looked back at Maya. "I'll see you later Hart."

Maya lowered back down into her seat as she watched the grinning boy rush out of Topanga's and onto the New York streets towards NYU. Her face seemed to beam with joy over the short conversation and the grin seemed to keep tugging at the corners of her mouth. She stayed at that little table for a bit longer, not quite ready to return to Riley. As her little fingers picked at the crumbs of her muffin from her plate in front of her, she heard a voice.

"Who was he?"

Maya looked up to find the source of the voice. Much to her dismay, the source of the voice was found leaning against the wall next to the little table she sat at.

"God why are you here?" she whined. "How do you even know about this place?" She had come to terms with the fact that avoiding him at school was probably not going to happen. He liked bugging her with his presence way too much. But Topanga's was supposed to be a refuge, a place where she didn't have to be harassed by Lucas Jerk-face Friar.

"Next time you want to keep a place secret," he started as he moved over and sat in the seat that previously was Josh's spot, "don't tell my best friend where it is." During the weekend, Maya brought Zay to the bakery shop owned by her own best friend's mom. Had she known bringing him there would mean having Lucas there too, then she wouldn't have brought him.

"Why can't I avoid you?" Maya wondered out loud.

"Maybe it's just fate," Lucas winked. Maya's eyes rolled over in her head, wanting so badly to get up and leave this meeting. But she was brought back down with the repeat of the boy's question. "So who was the guy?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said simply. Finally her butt left the seat and she carried her empty muffin plate to the counter. Lucas was right on her heels as he followed her over.

"I couldn't help but notice some college level books on the table. Maya are you flirting with a college guy?" As expected, his classic 'Lucas smirk' was held steady on his face. The small girl didn't feel the need or desire to give him the satisfaction of a response. It was none of his business; she was none of his business. Without eye contact, she turned away and started back towards the table Riley sat at. "Well," Lucas's voice rang out after her, "'trying' to flirt."

Maya turned on her heels when she heard the camouflaged insult. "Excuse me? I know how to flirt," she spoke, walking slowly back towards the boy she despised.

"Not from what I saw." He was really testing her patience. As much as Maya didn't want to engage, she felt this uncontrollable need to prove him wrong.

"What would you know?"

"I know how to get girls in bed," he said smugly, as if that was his proudest quality of himself.

Maya felt the need to detach herself from one of those girls Lucas spoke of. "I wouldn't know." Her smirk, she hoped, was a good shield at hiding that fact that she really was kind of attracted to him, especially when they argued for some reason.

"Oh trust me. You want to sleep with me, even if you don't realize it now," he promised.

"And what makes you so sure?"

"Because every girl wants to sleep with me," he said. And just like that, as if on cue, Maya was significantly less attracted to him.

Maya ducked her head down, concealing a laugh directed at his ego. "God, ok. You know just because you can get a lot of girls into bed with you, doesn't mean you're any good."

"Well every girl is different. Each one likes something a little different in bed," he said. His fingertips soon touched Maya's arms, lightly stroking. The touch only lasted for a moment before the girl's tiny hand swatted him away. "I bet you're one of those girls who likes to be controlled. Hair pulling. Letting the man take total control," he spoke slowly. The seductive tone of his slow, drawn out words, admittedly, lured Maya in a little bit to the fantasy he was trying to set. But it wasn't enough, it was still so easy for Maya to pull herself back from his words. It wasn't until he was done talking though that she realized she was right under the brim of his nose. Small foot-steps brought him so much closer to her. To correct the space, she took a couple steps back before letting out her next words.

"Really? That's what you think?"

Lucas nodded. "Yeah I bet you'd like that."

"I'd like it if you dropped dead," Maya spat out.

"I like it when you're feisty," Lucas smirked. Could he be serious right now? The more Maya talked to this guy, the more confused she was on how so many girls were into him.

"You are the most annoying human being on the planet," Maya said in a serious tone. Lucas leaned in close to her, the smirk never leaving his face.

"As long as I'm number one babe." Another wink from the annoying Texas was all she got before he turned to walk out of the bakery. Grumbles escaped from Maya's frowning mouth.

She sat back down at her table with Riley across from her. Steam was practically rising from the blonde's ears. Her best friend was rambling off words into her ear that no doubt had to do with her public encounter with Lucas. Maya recognized Riley's jealous eyes from across the table but she didn't look like she was speaking angry words, so Maya figured it was ok that she wasn't actually listening one bit.

Oddly enough, she was thinking about Lucas instead of listening to Riley's rambles. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why, but for some reason, she enjoyed their little game. Her and Lucas arguing had grown into some sort of weird, demented game between the two of them. It gave her a little rush. But he made her blood boil up! Her skin felt like it was hot red after even the tiniest and quickest conversation. She didn't understand this feeling and quite honestly, she didn't want to. Whatever kept her far away from Lucas, that's what she was do without question.

A/N: I'm trying to make Lucas as asshole-y as I can but it's hard because that's such a character change lol I really hope you guys are liking it!

Please let me know how you feel about this story in the comments! I'll try my very hardest to get the next chapter up soon! Love you guys!:)