Riley gave Maya one last shot of hairspray before setting the canister down to look at her masterpiece. Her eyes welled up as Maya gave her a little twirl, showing off her sparkly dress.

"You like?" Maya asked with a grin. She had never felt more like a princess in her entire life, and had never been happier. Maya's mother had worked extra shifts behind Maya's back to help pay for this dress, and Maya was not letting a second go by without giving it a little bit more love. It was honestly the most luxurious dress that Maya had ever seen, let alone worn.

"I love," Riley answered happily as she wiped away her tears. "You look beautiful, Maya. Any boy would be lucky to dance with you today," Riley stated as she smoothed down her own hair with her palms. "When am I going to look like you? Like 'wow'?" she asked Maya as she looked down at her own figure sadly. Tall and scrawny, Riley often envied Maya's blonde hair and curves. Her mousy brown hair and boyish figure didn't do wonders for her appearance-wise.

Maya hurried over and placed her hands on Riley's shoulders firmly, looking deeply into Riley's eyes. "You look so beautiful just the way you are! You never have to compare yourself to me to find your definition of 'wow'. Everyone has a different version of 'wow', and I personally think that you look mighty 'wow' today," Maya whispered as she pulled her best friend into a hug. "Even if we have different styles," Maya joked as she squeezed Riley.

"Thank you for that," Riley said as she hid her face in Maya's shoulders. "I really needed to hear it today." Riley pulled away from Maya with a small smile. "I've still been getting over the Lucas thing, even though I'm really happy for you two," Riley admitted. "It takes a long time to get over some things, I guess."

"I get it," Maya said as she placed a small flower into Riley's hair. She smiled softly. "We all need time with things. I'm still calling Shawn 'Shawn' and not Dad. It feels really weird," she confessed to Riley. "Having a guy in the house that is actually a father. I always want to talk back to him but then I remember that I have to respect my elders. Shawn's now become my elder. What a rip."

Riley laughed. "Hey, at least you're learning cultural norms and becoming acclimated to society's standards. I'm proud of you."

Maya rolled her eyes playfully. "Yeah, and I'm proud of you."

The girls smiled at each other as Topanga came in. "You guys look amazing!" she exclaimed as both Riley and Maya giggled. "Don't go getting a big head, though," Topanga commented as she looked at the girls. Topanga gave her own hair a little flip. "I'm still the most amazing one here."

"That you are," Maya said as she gave the mother a hug. "Tell me, do we have anything that we're missing?" The girls twirled around and strutted back and forth.

Topanga pondered this quizzically as she looked around the room. "Your dates?" she suggested with a little frown. "They should be coming here to pick you up soon, right?"

Riley nodded vigorously. "Yeah, they'll be here just about now. We're all heading to school together. It makes the whole dress and make-up thing seem a little less weird when everyone can tell that we're going to a school dance together. It's not just two weird kids on the subway, it's a bunch of weird kids on the subway!"

"You're right," Topanga said with a laugh as she drew the girls in for a hug. She looked at them fondly. "My girls! I can't believe that you guys are going to high school after this summer! You guys grow up so fast."

"Totally agree," Maya concurred. "I mean, I would much rather still be in pre-school and having naptime after lunch. Growing up is a total waste of time."

"You know," Riley commented, "I hear that a lot of Asian countries have 15-minute naps for their high school students after lunch. It's supposed to help with productivity and stuff."

"I want to move there," Maya marveled with this newfound information. "We should go together!"

"Okay!" Riley said with a large smile. "We can go there right after we graduate and take advantage of the food! I love food." Riley's eyes glazed over as she started thinking about her true love- mashed potatoes.

Maya nodded and was just about to agree when the doorbell rang. Her eyes widened. "That must be them," she said nervously.

The three hurried out of Riley's room and opened the door, expecting to see Lucas and perhaps Farkle. A sly Smackle greeted them instead. She gave them a little wink to their shocked faces.

"Hey, girls," she said as she sauntered into the room. "How are you guys doing?"

"Great," Maya said suspiciously as she followed Smackle. "Where are the guys?"

"Oh, you mean Lucas and Farkle?" Smackle asked with feigned innocence. "I have no idea."

"You tell me right now or you will find yourself locked in Riley's room for the remainder of the evening," Maya warned with a low, throaty voice.

"Okay, well that got me revved up," Lucas said with a smirk as he and Farkle waltzed into the living room. "Maya, you look… great," he gasped as Maya twirled around with a giant grin. Her blonde hair shone through the light, and the dress flared out beneath her. Her eyes shone with excitement and her smile had never been wider.

"Beautiful, actually," he said with a grin as he pulled her in for a hug.

"Thanks," Maya said as she returned his hug. "You don't look so bad yourself," she as she smoothed down Lucas's tux. "The blue tie matches the dress perfectly."

"Farkle looks way better," Smackle said as she shoved the couple onto the couch.

"You know, not everything has to be a competition, Smackle," Lucas said with a laugh.

Smackle stuck her tongue out at him. "That just makes everything less fun!"

Riley wondered over to the snack bar and jammed a few pretzels into her mouth, washing it down with fruit punch. So far, only two guys had asked her to dance- one being Farkle, who apparently felt bad for her and abandoned Smackle for his long-time best friend. The other guy just so happened to be the school mascot who was scouring the dance looking for girls with no dates. It was better for her to have no partner than to dance with the school furbag.

"Hey," Gavin said nervously as he approached the sullen girl. "You okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Riley asked with a snort. "I've graduated, after all. I'm at this amazing dance with my amazing friends, who just happen to be with their significant others," Riley said as she turned towards Gavin. "I'm fine."

Gavin nodded. "Glad to hear it. I'm miserable. I don't know anybody and everybody is celebrating the last few years together. I really shouldn't even be here, I feel like a total outsider." Gavin admitted as he scratched his head. "I was actually just thinking about leaving but thought that I should come and check up on you since you were stuffing your face with cheese pretzels."

Riley blushed crimson. "Yeah, I eat when I'm nervous," she said with a little laugh. "You don't have to go just yet," Riley said, not wanting Gavin to leave. "You still owe me that dance," Riley pointed out as she pushed Gavin onto the dance floor.

"Too true," Gavin said with a grin as he clutched her waist and brought her close. Riley could feel her heartbeat leap out of her chest as his hands made contact with her skin. "This okay?" Gavin asked lowly. Riley could only nod with giddiness.

"Romance is overrated," Farkle commented as the pair circled around the school, avoiding the gym where the dance was being held. "These kids don't even have the emotional capacity to feel true love yet, even though their soulmate tattoos might tell them that they have found their one true love. All they're doing right now is grinding on each other and fooling around."

"Too true," Smackle agreed without much forethought.

Farkle snuck a quick glance at his girlfriend. What did that mean? Was this all just nothing to her? Did she not actually like him? Was he supposed to give her space? What did that mean, space? Girls were so confusing.

Smackle grinned to herself as she noticed Farkle muttering under his breath. "I know what you're thinking, Farkle," she said as they turned the corner. "And I don't claim to truly understand love yet. I don't think anybody our age does. They don't really need to, because they have their entire lives." She faced the poor boy. "And I do know that you are my soulmate, and that I would do anything to make you happy. And I think that we can work with that, even if it means just going out for fro-yo dates or... grinding in the gym.."

Farkle smiled with relief. It was true that he didn't quite understood love yet… but they had all the time in the world. Why rush it? Love was one thing that one should never hold to a standard- it was always unique.

"Yeah, we can work with that. I can always work with you, I know that for sure. Do you want to go groove with the lower class?" Farkle offered his arm to Smackle.

"I would have no greater joy," Smackle quipped as the two made their way down to the gym.

Maya and Lucas were dancing together, rocking back and forth in a circle around the dance floor.

"You having fun?" Lucas asked Maya with a twinkle in his eye.

"You?" Maya shot back without bothering to answer his question. "If you have to ask then it means that you're not doing your job."

"Feisty as ever, Miss Hart," Lucas laughed as he twirled the girl around and brought her back in. Maya's breath caught in her chest as the momentum forced her to collide with his chest. The pair stayed like that for a while, ignoring the heavy heartbeats and shallow breaths that accompanied their dancing.

"Hey, Lucas," Maya looked up at him slowly. "Do you ever feel trapped by me?"

Lucas's eyebrows raised up as he took Maya in. "Why would you ask that?"

Maya looked back down at the floor and shrugged. "You and Riley had a pretty good thing going. You're an attractive person- girls in high school would have gladly given you the opportunity to fool around for a bit. Finding out about your soulmate this early kind of locked you in, and I know that dating around is kind of important to boys."

"This kind of makes you sound like a downer," Lucas joked.

Maya rolled her eyes at him. "Exactly."

Lucas sobered as he realized that Maya was being serious. She really felt like she was hindering him and that she was holding him back. Or that she wasn't enough. And that was crazy.

"You're being absurd," Lucas said as he clutched Maya closer. His heart ached for the poor girl who never felt good enough. "You are my soulmate! And I love that I get to know you for so long. I'm not wasting any time. That dating around business is stupid."

"But wasting time is fun when you're so young," Maya argued as she pushed back against him.

"Well, that's not what I think," Lucas said. "And I hope that you get that idea out of your head." Lucas could see the blonde girl still thinking, gears in her head turning and turning. She was being insecure again, she was destroying herself and quite possibly all the relationships around her. That was a fatal flaw about Maya, not ever feeling enough. It brought her down and destroyed any motivation that she had to make life better. Riley was a good friend- she had helped Maya through dry spells, but even Riley couldn't even be there for her every second of the day. Lucas, being her soulmate, was the closest that anybody in the world could get to that. It was his job to remedy the problem.

No time to waste, then, thought Lucas, as he watched Maya look down at the floor, wringing her hands nervously. He bent down slowly and raised Maya's chin towards his. He detected just a shy smirk before finally pulling in and pressing his lips to hers.

It was destined to be.

The End.

See comments for this chapter for ending author notes