Zay POV as requested. Apologies if this is not what you expected. The words stopped making sense to me after a while, and I was just writing to write and uh, I couldn't think of how to end it properly hehehehe...
Enjoy! Thanks for the reviews and support! More one-shots to come this week! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own GMW.
Title: Let There Be Cake! (lol wut?)
Pairings&Characters: Lucaya, Zay, Riley (mentioned)
Genre: Romance, Humor, Angst(maybe?), AU
Rating: T for Truce. Undeniably.
Summary: Where making a cake for Riley's birthday goes horribly, horribly wrong. (Or horribly, horribly right?)
Same universe as Here We Go Again.
Inspired by Ollie, who is really oblivious and ends up in awkward ass situations all the time.
Riley's birthday was tomorrow.
And as a gift, Maya wanted to make a cake for her. A little vanilla cake with rainbow coloured frosting and unicorns made of jellybeans. Zay honestly thought it sounded horrifying, but he didn't want to offend Maya and incur her wrath. So when she called him up asking for his help, he had agreed. She had cited since she didn't know how to bake, clearly she had been in over her head and needed some help to figure out the convoluted text in the cookbook. He'd been all on board for the plan to make the adorable brunette that special cake.
Except there was one problem:
Zay didn't know shit about baking, much less what all the ingredients for a cake were. The only thing that he knew about cake, was how to stuff his face with it.
But since he knew Lucas' mom was all big on forcing Lucas to learn how to cook and bake and do laundry and be independent and all that shit to prepare for college next year (so that he wouldn't be one of those kids who had to travel all the way back every time they needed something and couldn't take care of themselves), Zay figured if anyone knew about this whole baking crap, it would be his best friend.
So he'd called Lucas asking if he could accompany him to Maya's home to help with the cake baking.
Of course, he should have picked up on the weirdness from the start.
Namely two things:
One. Why Maya hadn't just called Lucas in the first place, especially since she knew he could cook.
And two. Why Lucas had hesitated when Zay had originally asked him to come along.
Those two comprised the first strike.
In any case, Zay had continued to badger Lucas and bug him until the boy had finally relented and reluctantly joined him.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Riley's my friend too. You're not the only one who wants her to have a good birthday. Plus, Zay asked me for help."
The second strike was their cold demeanor towards each other.
By that point, Zay probably should have picked up on the heightened animosity and the fact that they didn't kiss each other hello, but since they started dating in mid high school, Zay had become quite accustomed to their random, sudden inexplicable irritation with each other, and he'd ignored it. He was sure whatever was going on would blow over eventually anyway, and they'd be back to their kissy kissy, lovey dovey, bickering and bantering annoying teen couple world in a moment.
So Zay had started to search for a quick and easy recipe they could follow with the meager ingredients Maya had in her cupboards and fridge. All the while, Lucas and Maya continued to growl and snap at each other every other minute, yet Zay assumed it was just the typical banter and didn't focus on it. They would get over it any second now.
"I don't want to talk to you about this right now."
"Well we're going to have to eventually, Maya. You can't ignore me forever."
"Watch me."
He was wrong.
"What do you guys think about this recipe?"
Zay pointed out a cake that had applesauce in the center. It looked good. And it was random and fun and easy seemed like something Riley would enjoy.
"Yeah. That's fine."
"Sure. Whatever."
Both continued to glare at each other, not even peering once at the recipe. Zay shrugged and got the stuff out, deciding it didn't really matter to him whether they wanted to make that particular cake or not.
The whole time they had all worked, putting the ingredients together and working on that cake, Lucas and Maya had been shooting each other dirty looks and glares and were standing as far apart as they possibly could. When Maya had trouble grabbing a bowl from the upper cabinets, Lucas "pretended" like he couldn't see her struggling. And when Maya went to grab milk from the fridge she "accidentally" stomped on Lucas' foot with her heel (and she was wearing sharp heeled boots. Lucas deserved mega props for not physically reacting after that, because damn. That had looked like it hurt. A lot).
Zay hadn't taken much heed to that and continued to make amicable conversation and crack jokes even though Lucas was gritting his teeth, and Maya was growling at him.
Until the third strike.
Because the third strike? Was literally a strike.
As in, Maya threw an egg at Lucas after some comment Zay hadn't heard and it broke after it struck his face. And even then, Zay for some stupid reason, had thought they were joking around and playing. Even as Lucas' eyes narrowed dangerously, and he walked right up to her and cracked a handful of eggs on top of her head. They were both seething and glaring at each other in challenge as egg gunk dripped down their faces.
"You know what Lucas? If you want to be an ass, that's your problem. You're not going to get any sympathy from me."
Only then did Zay finally realized they weren't kidding. They were legitimately angry at each other.
Maya had used Lucas' actual name. Which was a clear sign she was either A) furious with him or B) was being lovey dovey with him or C) comforting him. And judging by the fact that she was glaring at him angrily, he reckoned it was definitely A.
"Umm guys?" Zay said cautiously. "Chill out would you…"
But as he watched both their hands creep slowly to ingredients on the counter, he knew what was about to happen. And he wasn't about to get caught up in it. As soon as Zay dove behind the counter, Maya threw a handful of flour at Lucas while he scooped up some batter and smeared it all over her head. And that was really all it took for them to get into a ridiculous food fight, hurtling ingredients and insults at each other.
"Why the hell did you punch him? He didn't even do anything!"
"Why do you think I punched him?! He was all over you!"
"I don't know what you think you saw, but you're delusional, okay? Get help."
Zay peeked up from underneath the counter, and then zoomed back down when sugar catapulted past his head. This was going to be a real bitch to clean up if they didn't calm down.
"Dammit you guys!" Zay shouted from his crouch behind the counter, "You're fucking up the cake!"
This throwing of the only ingredients they frickin' had and yelling at the top of their lungs thing went on for several more minutes and eventually, Zay just sat there on the kitchen floor, playing Tetris on his phone for lack of anything better to do.
(And also because it was a war zone out there and he had no intention of getting accidentally clobbered in the head by a measuring cup. Maya had a very good arm).
"What, so it's my fault now?"
"Maybe if you stopped flirting with every guy you found attractive, we wouldn't have this problem!"
"Excuse me? I'm not even going to dignify that bullshit with a response. Since when have I flirted with any other guys?"
The food had stopped being thrown for a while by this point, as they continued their argument, and Zay finally stood up, stretching out his stiff limbs. Maya had her hands on her hips, and Lucas was leaning down with a glower. This part, Zay recognized. This was the part where their argument would die down. Neither would back down and Maya would storm off or Lucas would leave, and they would follow the other, but there would finally be peace and quiet.
"I'm not okay with it Maya! Why can't you understand that?"
Any second now.
"What? Are you jealous or something?"
Wait for it… Wait for it…
"Yes dammit!"
Well.
That was new.
It got quiet after that, and Zay watched as Maya and Lucas stared at each other, both pairs of eyes glinting and their breathing harsh. Her eyes were wide—shocked even—as she stared up at him, her arms slackened against her side. Her challenging pose was gone and instead replaced by alarm. Lucas almost looked defeated, and he spoke quietly through grit teeth.
"Who the hell wouldn't be jealous if their girlfriend was hanging out and having a good time with the guy she had a crush on for years…"
"Lucas…"
Neither of them said anything else.
And then Zay watched Maya bite her lip as she gazed up at Lucas.
He figured they were done with all that arguing crap now. So Zay took that as an opportunity to try to get supplies to wrangle them into cleaning up the mess. They were the cause of the mess. Now they had to clean it.
"Alright now that that mess is over and done with, while you guys start cleaning up the mess in here, I'll grab a broom."
Now. After not picking up on their earlier animosity, one would think Zay would recall what happened when he made assumptions and learn from his mistakes. They hadn't quite been finished yet with their argument. Not even close. There hadn't been any conclusion yet.
But Zay, of course, didn't pick up on that.
Not even when he heard a clatter of utensils hitting the floor coming from the kitchen.
So when he came back, his jaw dropped in shock. He was rendered speechless. And that had never happened before in his life.
And he was sure he was seeing things because when he'd gone to the hall closet to pick up the broom and dustpan to start cleaning the mess up, he was pretty sure Lucas and Maya had still been glaring at each other.
But that was clearly not the case now.
Lucas had Maya up on the counter, and they were really going at it. He was talking hands all over, legs wrapped around hips, intense frenching type of thing. So intensely, in fact, that Zay could feel the heat all the way from his position at the hallway entrance.
Now Zay was used to doing awkward things or saying things that made other people uncomfortable. He was that dude who had no inhibitions and no filter, and it wasn't usually a problem for him. He just didn't care. He never got embarrassed.
Until today.
There was just something about the way that Lucas was earnestly, almost brutally kissing Maya and she was clawing at the buttons of his shirt and yanking him closer with her legs that made Zay realize if he didn't get the hell out of there, he would probably be given a show he did not want to see.
And then Maya moaned heavily into Lucas' mouth when he shifted closer to her, and Zay dropped the broom and walked straight out of the apartment, not daring to look back.
Riley had warned him about hanging out with Lucas and Maya when they were pissed at each other. She'd told him to steer clear, to leave the room, to hide, anything to get away from them but Zay had ignored it, thinking it couldn't be a big deal.
Oh how wrong he'd been.
And he couldn't un-see what his eyes had just been assaulted with. It was definitely going to be awkward hanging out with them for a while.
"You know what? I think I should just buy a cake…"
He had a feeling Maya and Lucas would be unavailable to make any cake for a while. Although he was sure Lucas would be eating cake…
He grimaced and shook his head in disgust.
"Too soon."
