Maya felt a hand on her back and jumped. Small, beady eyes stared down at her and for a second Maya had no idea where she was.
"Time to get up, sweetheart," said the woman from behind the register.
Maya sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"What time is it?" Maya asked. She looked at the woman and for the first time she read her name tag. Her name was Evelyn. Good to know, Maya thought.
"It's 7. I'm headed home and it's Thursday so I'm guessing you have school," Evelyn said.
School. Maya had totally forgotten. School seemed so minuscule in the grand scheme of her problems. There was no way she was going today.
"I'm not going to school today," Maya told Evelyn as she stood up and straightened her wrinkled clothes.
"Well that doesn't seem like the best plan. You need an education if you wanna give that kid a decent future," Evelyn said, redirecting her eyes to Maya's little belly.
Maya was annoyed now. This woman had been enormously kind to her, but she wasn't the boss of her.
"Yeah, well I'll see," Maya said vaguely.
The woman raised an eyebrow. Maya walked past her and started towards the door.
"What's your name?" Evelyn called after her.
Maya stopped and turned around.
"Maya," she told her.
"You got somewhere to stay tonight, Maya?" she asked.
"I guess I'll know by tonight. Thanks, by the way. You really helped me out," Maya said. And with that, she left the drugstore and hoped she wouldn't be back there begging tonight.
Maya turned on her phone and it immediately blew up with alerts.
Mom: 3 missed calls
Riley: 9 missed calls
Lucas: 5 missed calls
Farkle: 2 missed calls
So they did notice, Maya thought. She knew they must be worried, but there was still no way she was going to school today. Everyone probably knew by now and after the night she had, she just couldn't face it. Her only problem was she had nowhere else to go. She couldn't go home in case her mother was there. None of the Matthews would be home.
Suddenly, her phone was ringing. It was Lucas. She'd told herself she wasn't talking to anyone, but she thought since she was most likely dubbed "missing" right now, and she was harboring Lucas's baby, it might be courteous to let him know she was okay.
M: Hello?
L: Maya? Is that you?
M: Yeah, it's me.
L: Oh my God, are you okay? Your mom said you never came home last night and you weren't with Riley and no one saw you...I was so worried.
M: Well, I'm telling you now that I'm fine.
L: Are you at school?
M: No, aren't you?
L: No, I'm out looking for you.
M: Oh, well you can stop. I'm fine.
L: Where are you? Maya, I'll find you eventually, just tell me where you are. I won't send the search party your way, I promise.
M: Fine, meet me outside the drugstore by my house.
Maya hung up. She did feel guilty for running off with a baby that's half someone else's inside her. And anyway, she wouldn't mind seeing a familiar face after the events of last night.
She waited on the step outside the store for about ten minuted before she saw Lucas running towards her.
"I can't believe you. Why would you take off like that?" he puffed.
"Sorry, but I didn't have much of a choice. My mom was clearly done with me, it's not like I could stay with Riley," Maya explained.
"You should've called me," Lucas said as he sat down beside her.
"Why? What could you have done?" Maya snapped.
"Well, I could've either talked you into going home or you could've stayed at my house," Lucas told her.
"I never even asked; do your parents know?" Maya asked.
"Yeah, I told them last night. They were pretty mad, but they were still worried when I told you disappeared. They really want to meet you," he said with a smile.
Maya couldn't believe his parents were semi-supportive of this.
"Well, I am sorry I ran off with your kid in me," Maya said.
"I'm just glad your safe. But...where did you sleep?" Lucas questioned.
Maya pointed to the store behind them.
"This is where I bought the pregnancy tests. It was the same woman in there. She let me stay there last night," Maya said.
"In the drugstore? You slept in the drugstore?" Lucas asked, baffled.
"Yeah, on the ground," Maya told him.
The look of sheer sympathy on Lucas's face made Maya cringe. This is why she didn't want to see him.
"Why don't we go have some breakfast?" he suggested.
"I don't have much m-" Maya started.
"I got it," Lucas told her.
They walked in silence to a diner two blocks away. The waitress gave them a disapproving look before seating them in a booth in the corner. Maya wasn't very hungry, so she just ordered some toast.
"When's that appointment?" Lucas asked as the waitress walked away with their order.
"Saturday," Maya told him before sipping her orange juice.
"I did some research and it said they can tell the gender at 14 weeks," Lucas hinted.
"That's nice," Maya said firmly.
"I take it you don't want to know?" Lucas said, disappointed.
"No, Lucas. I don't. I don't know why you would want to either," Maya said.
"Aren't you curious if you have a little girl or boy inside you?" Lucas persisted.
"No! I wish I didn't have anything inside me!" Maya snapped.
"That's the thing. You do," Lucas told her.
"What's the point if I'm not even keeping it anyway?" Maya asked.
"That's not set in stone. You haven't even looked at couples yet," Lucas replied.
"Well sorry if I was a too busy being a homeless, pregnant teenager to host interviews," Maya spat.
"Maya, I don't want to argue with you. We need to think this through. I want to know if there's any way we could raise this baby ourselves," Lucas said.
"I can answer that right now. There isn't," Maya said seriously.
"You don't know that," Lucas responded.
"Yes, Lucas. I do," Maya said, looking away from him now.
"Fine, you don't want to know the gender. But they can still tell me, right?" Lucas asked.
"I guess," Maya grunted.
Lucas reached across the table and took Maya's hand. Maya looked up and their eyes met.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"For what?" Maya asked.
"Everything. Having sex with you, not being there for you, not being what you need..." he trailed off.
"It's not all your fault. We screwed up. We really screwed up," Maya said. "We can talk about keeping the baby if that's what you really want. Talk about it," Maya continued.
"Thank you," Lucas smiled.
Their food arrived and Maya had more of an appetite than she thought. Lucas gave her some of his eggs and in return he took a sip of her orange juice.
"So have you talked to Riley?" Maya asked.
"Nope. Her parents called last night to see if you were with me, but they wouldn't let me talk to her. They sounded pretty mad, but I guess that's understandable," he explained.
"They weren't mad at me. At least Cory wasn't. He likes me more than Topanga does," Maya said.
"Yeah, but your practically their third child. I'm just the idiot who knocked up their daughter's best friend," he shrugged.
"True," Maya said with a laugh.
Lucas paid for the food and they left.
"Where to now?" Lucas asked as they walked in no particular direction.
"No idea," Maya answered.
"I think you should go home," Lucas told her.
"You think?" Maya asked.
"Yeah. If you go to school Mr. Matthews, and everyone else for that matter, will be all over you. And I don't want you wandering the streets and sleeping in drugstores. That's my kid too, remember," he laughed.
"I guess I have no other options," Maya said glumly.
Lucas offered to walk her home. He was going to go to school afterwards. His parents thought he was already there, and Maya told him to let Mr. Matthews know she was okay. Maya thought it might put him higher in Mr. Matthews' good books. They reached Maya's apartment and Lucas made her promise she wouldn't take off again.
"I promise. Thanks for breakfast," Maya said.
"Thank you for joining me for breakfast," Lucas replied.
Their eyes were locked on each other and before Maya could even see it coming, she felt Lucas's lips on hers. It lasted about 30 seconds before Lucas pulled away, smiled, and left.
Maya was relieved that her mother wasn't home. She put both hands on her belly and looked down at where she figured the baby was.
Your daddy and I just kissed...how 'bout that?
A/N: Much Lucaya. Let me know if you like ;)
