A.N.- Thank you so much for the support you all provide. I'm so thankful for everything you all do. Here's the next chapter!
Love, or something ignites in my veins,
and I pray it never fades in white houses
"Maya I think it's only appropriate that we address the elephant in the room." Isadora was never one for subtle, so it shouldn't have surprised Maya that she didn't start with any small talk.
"Smackle I don't know"-
"Maya, I know you're hiding your feelings for someone." There was no way that she could know about her feelings for Farkle, she had been so careful.
"I don't know what you're talking about." The best move that she could do was deny anything, that was one of her first lessons that she learned when she was younger
"Maya even though I'm not as connected with other's emotions as much as I should be, I'm not an incompetent. If I can be bold enough to speak"- This conversation was going in a different direction that Maya was anticipating.
"Don't make the same mistake that I did." Maya's brow furrowed just listening to the raven hair girl, Farkle make it seem like everything was mutual or if anything Isadora was the one who broke up with him.
"What happened Smackle?" Farkle would tell her that she would need to gather all the evidence before concluding and that's what she was doing, she just hoped that she would talk to her.
"We started out strong at the beginning of our freshman year despite the difference." Her eyes fell to the bay window seat before continuing.
"Then slowly we started to drift a part little by little, not all at once after all he had his projects that he was working on at mine. We started to talk less and tried to rationalize it away instead of seeing the cracks in our foundation. I then met a guy named Theo, he was helping me with my project for my freshman year that was worth big portion of my final grade." Maya was trying to grasp what she was saying, the name Theo made her start to question that what was his role on this. Isadora loved Farkle, there was no way that she would chat on him.
"Smackle, tell me you didn't"-
"No, not while we were dating anyway, Theo and I had a professional relationship. Then one day Farkle and I had a fight, I can't even remember what it was about, but he sat and listened to me." Guilt was dripping off her body and the blonde knew that this wasn't easy for her to share.
"He revealed that he had feelings for me, and I told him that I was in a relationship which he respected. I couldn't switch out him as my partner but we continued the work. I found myself wanting to spend more time with Theo and my thoughts Farkle fade more than it should of. I got to a point where I concluded that I needed to attempt another relationship without Farkle to know if it was the right choice, so I ended things." Tears started to stream down her face.
"I waited a couple months before I accepted his proposal to take me out and then I started to court Theo." Her words left Maya to wonder why she would give a good guy like Farkle to look elsewhere?
"We dated for a year, and then I ended things. I came back here to patch things with Farkle, but something is different about him." Her fingers started to fidget with her skirt.
"So, don't give up on Josh just yet." The blonde's eyes widened at just the boy's name, how could Smackle know anything about what happened with her former flame.
"Josh?" she stuttered. If Smackle could see that there were still lingering feelings, there then it was a pretty good bet that the house did as well.
"Maya?" Isadora's voice interrupted her from her own thoughts.
"Yeah, Josh." It provided the raven-haired girl the assurance that she needed. Before she was willing to talk to Josh, she had to talk to Farkle. The fact that Farkle had just told her a glimpse of what happened between the two of them worried her. It wasn't because she potentially had feelings for the genius because he was first and foremost her friend.
Maya took a deep breath the courage but she felt that feeling start to dwindle the second that her eyes laid on the genius. Farkle looked up from his video games for a mere second before his eyes returned to the screen. He was still mad at the blonde, she had given up on her friendship with Riley in a manner of speaking, he was partly angry on Riley's behalf.
Maya leaned against the doorway trying to keep her cool demeanor on the outside. The contact that they had shared was brief but it told her everything that she needed to know. Sure, they had fights every now and then, but this fight was different from anything that they had fought about.
"Where's Zay?" All intimidation was stripped from her voice just leaving a vulnerable girl standing in front of her best friend.
"He's on his date with Casey." His thumbs violently tapped the controller trying to kill everything in his path to get to the next check point.
"Oh." The blue eyes hit the ground, she was really hoping for Zay to be there to help cushion something; ever since they had been in the close quarters with each other it seemed like that they had devolved as friends and couldn't even speak to each other without it being awkward. She had Farkle in her life since they were in first grade; he had been her husband twice, if anything their relationship should be stronger. The silence grew unbearable and the blonde let out a huge sigh.
"Farkle, we need to talk." He didn't want to have this conversation, especially with her. If she could give up on Riley that easily what was to say that she would give up on him. She was his moon, the mystery was still there, he feared he would never truly understand the blonde, but he knew that a lifetime would pass before he would even begin to understand. Yes, she hurt Riley, and he hated to see the effects that lingered with the brunette but what his mind irrationally converted her statement was that she gave up on him. He couldn't ignore the fact that everything was different since Smackle had arrived. The genius knew that right now when their emotions were at a high was not the time to clear the air between them.
"Why, you have made your point very clear." The hostility in his voice was projected, but she wasn't sure how much of that was from frustration from the game.
"That's what you're mad about?" She walked towards him and in the process walked in front of the screen.
"Move Maya," he barked.
"Not till we talk; Isadora told me what happened." The game was paused in seconds as Farkle now looked like a deer in headlights more than anything. He set down the controller and motioned for her to join him on the couch. Maya's hands ran down her pant leg trying to gather together her thoughts, all of which she could feel Farkle's eyes not leaving her and suddenly she wished he was busy with his video game again.
"What did she tell you?" Maya watched as Farkle wince as she asked the question. She didn't want to pry, but in situations like this it was important for them to have the truth between them.
"More than you did," she countered quickly. A silence settled between the two as their eyes did more of the talking than their words.
"Farkle she's here to win you back." A queasy feeling rushed in her stomach, even though her feelings for Farkle were relatively true, back in high school they were perfect for each other so she needed to give them a chance to work stuff out, he deserved happiness.
"I know." His words came as a surprised and made her eyes snap to his once more. No wonder they seemed buddy-buddy over the last week.
"When are you going to make your move?" She wanted to make an excuse out of the house, it would be better that way for everyone.
"I'm not." Anger started to boil up, he was taking the perfect opportunity to make amends with Isadora and it was almost as if he was throwing it away. Isadora was smart, kind, driven and she held lots of the same interests as Farkle, and he was choosing to ignore it.
"Why can't you be with someone else who's perfect for you?" She needed him to at least try with Smackle, despite her new feelings. She didn't even know what she was feeling for him, and all she had known was Farkle's fondness for Isadora. He was making no sense with the answers he was providing.
"Because no other girl in the world compares to you." His eyes widened when the words flew out of his mouth. Maya's mouth dropped slightly agape completely thrown off. She was not expecting him to say that; she was a mess. She was sure that most girls in the world would win a competition about who had their life together more than she did.
"Oh yeah?" It wasn't her usually menacing response.
"Kind of hard to believe huh." Farkle took her reply as a hopeful sign and rested his forehead against hers, both now fully aware of their proximity to each other.
Maya's eyes fell from his eyes to his lips as thoughts of what it would be like that if she leaned ever so close and closed the gap, their proximity would make it close enough. Her eyes fluttered close as Farkle's nose traced one side of her face and came down on the right side while maintaining their distance. She didn't know when they had crossed the line from friends to something more, but in the moment, she couldn't imagine a life without the genius in any capacity. She was losing some of her thoughts when she felt his hot breath radiating onto her skin. He closed the gap after he decided that he couldn't wait anymore, his lips were soft, the kiss was gentle maybe even fearful.
They separated for a split second as they were trying to process what had just happened between them. They had kissed on the hand, nose, cheek, but this was a different experience.
"Well at least you're not on the floor," she teased lightly. Her mind tried to make sense of what happened, it was a much different feeling than when she kissed Josh, but she couldn't put her finger on why. She leaned in again to see if it was just first kiss jitters. His hand started to run through her hair as they started to deepen the kiss.
The lips on hers were almost enough to forget what happened ten minutes ago, at the base of the stairs. Josh and she had never fought like that before, she didn't want to leave him like that but she had something to prove and her pride got in the way sometimes. She never thought that their relationship would be over; they were supposed to be playing the long game. Maya had never been the kind of girl that pulled random strangers into a room for a make out session, one of the ways she even got this far was the room was dark enough for her to pretend that it was Josh's hand that was slowly inching up her thigh. All she wanted was to be loved, was that so wrong?
The guy had moved to her neck and started to bit and suck as he started to get more aggressive, but Maya didn't seem to notice, her mind was elsewhere on Josh's words. If he thought that was a kid after all these years there wasn't much that she could do to change his mind, but going and making out with a random stranger would not strengthened anyway.
"I can't do this." Maya stood up from her spot on the bed leaving the guy wanting more.
"Wait-what?"
"I'm sure you're a good guy and all." She looked for anything that she left in the room. "But I'm not into good guys." She wasn't into good guys; she was interested in people that challenge her, like Josh. As soon as she stepped foot in the doorway the blaring sound of the music greeted her. How was she supposed to find Josh in this big of a crowd? At this point she would just settle for finding someone that even seemed familiar. The crowd seemed to part almost like it was guiding her to Andrew, Josh's roommate who was currently sucking face with his recently acquired girlfriend.
"Have you seen Josh?" She didn't know if he could hear over the loud music when she could barely hear herself. Instead of answering the blonde he seemed more fascinated with his girlfriend's lips and thoughts of what she would do to him when they were alone. Anger and frustration started to boil up and Maya grabbed him forcing the lovebirds to get air.
"Have you seen Josh?" She repeated for what seemed like the fifth time in five minutes
"He doesn't want to see you." The words gutted her. There wasn't a time that she could remember Josh never wanting to see her.
"Now, where were we?" He asked the girl and their mouths reconnected. Maya grabbed her phone out of her purse and hit the speed dial.
"Please answer." She didn't want anyone to love her she wanted Josh to. It clicked to voicemail and she felt her heart drop. It was better than nothing.
"Josh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. I know I screw everything up but I don't want to give up on us. If you think you could ever forgive me, please call me." The beep prevented her from continuing. Her gut instinct was to call Riley only to remember that she was on a date. She had made great strides to get over Lucas and she was nothing but proud of her. The last thing she wanted was to drag her through the mud. Her arm dropped to her side as the reality of the evening hit her, it seemed like the long game got a whole lot shorter. She returned to her home and potentially drowned her night with what alcohol remained in her room.
Maya's eyes widened and then the kiss was shattered by the sound of the doorbell broke the two apart.
"Riley?" She didn't want to admit what just happened, but it did fill in the holes in her memory. Maya stood up leaving her best friend behind to go the door in hopes that it would be a certain brunette returning home. She swung open the door with full intentions to make up with Riley in the bay window and let her make sense of everything that happened between the boys. Behind the door was not the lovable sunshine that she knew and loved but rather a tall lean dark haired boy with eyes that made her knees go weak.
"Josh?"
She closed the door in a panic knowing full well that it would not cause Matthews to disappear on the other side of the door. This couldn't be happening, he couldn't be here, she wasn't ready to explain to the others what had occurred between them with the group. She knew that she couldn't hide it anymore, someone would come and ask who was at the door. She opened it again soberer and grounded with questions racing in her mind.
"What are you doing here?"
"Better question, why did you slam the door in my face?" He stepped right past her but in doing so set her body on high alert with his proximity. If she closed her eyes she was sure that she would re-live some of their time together from earlier.
"Josh, what are you doing here?" Someone had to tell him about Riley, that was the only thing that could possibly make sense.
"Is there a problem Maya," his face leaned close to her making her breath hitch. Anger was starting to bubble over because there was no way that he didn't know what he was doing to her and he seemed to enjoy it way too much.
"I said what are you doing here"
"Farkle told me about Riley, I came straight over." The blood rushed out of her face at his words. She had told Farkle very sternly she might add that she wanted Josh nowhere near this situation and he went behind her back.
"Josh, glad you came over, I was wondering if we can borrow your car and go out looking for Riley." Maya felt her body tense even more at the other male voice who had intruded on their conversation. Maya threw daggers at Farkle, she had a right to be mad, she felt betrayed by one of her best friend. Was this his plan all along?
"Wait, just stop." Both boys who were previously heading towards the door stopped and turned to meet her cold blue eyes.
"I'm so sorry Casey," this date had been anything but what he pictured. He had heard from Farkle that an excellent date place was the boardwalk, but ever since they got here everything had gone horribly wrong. At first, they had tried to go rollerblading, but as they were skating his blade caught a chunk of the sidewalk and he flew forwarded. Not only did he scrap some skin on his leg, when he tried to maneuver his body he landed on his leg wrong. It took a couple minutes for him to stand up and even then. he had to take off his skates and hobble to the desk to return his. Casey had tried not to laugh, but he could have sworn that he heard her snicker.
If that wasn't enough when he was part hobbled, but when he took a bite of his chili cheese dog, the topping fell down the front staining his shirt. He was the definition of uncool, this kind of stuff never happened to Lucas, or even if it did the girl he was with would fawn over him.
"You got something"-
"I know." Zay's eyes fell to his shirt, but was surprised when her hand graced the corner of his mouth. She offered a smile and in an instant, he was on top of the world.
"So where are you going to go after NYU?" He asked trying to make small talk, he had a habit of talking too much when he became nervous and a pretty girl was enough to set him off. He had just managed to get this date with her the last thing he wanted was not to blow it.
"I don't know," she nervously started to fidget with her hair, a habit that he had happened to pick up on. "Wherever the wind takes me I guess. "
"Aren't you going to miss your friends and family?" There was no way that he could live on the other side of the country when his family lived less than half an hour away from him; they depended on him.
"I would come and visit them." She laughed before she her eyes hit the ground. "I'm kind of the fan of thinking that if people are truly meant to be in each other's lives there's nothing that would stop them." Those few words gave Zay hope that there could be a possible future for the two of them, they hadn't talked about what would happen once summer ended and the two would return to the life they knew.
"Sorry this has been such a lame date, I'm not usually this clumsy."
"I think it's cute." She bumped his shoulder playfully flirting casually.
"Anything else you have planned for this date of ours?"
"Well I was thinking of hitting the bumper cars so I can show you my skill."
"Oh? You have skill?" She bantered back.
"I am the king of bumper cars, I'll have you know." He flashed a boyish grin that caused a giggle to escape her lips. She stood up and helped Zay stand to his feet. A smirk played her lips as the two walked in the direction of the attraction.
"Prepare to be dethroned." At her words rain began to fall from the heavens and the two went dashing towards the bumper cars as their own means of shelter.
A.N.- Told you there is more to the triangle. There's more to the to this story than meets the eye. I cant wait for you all to read the next chapter. Let me know what you think!
