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Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.

They were definitely late getting to the art centre, and Maya's nerves were a complete wreck by the time they finally arrived. Charlie went off to go find Zay who was holding their seats so she could focus on consoling Maya. But even with Riley's comforting words, Maya was super nervous and shift eyed and just overall not acting like herself. She was out of it and barely paying attention to anything Riley said and above that, her eyes kept straying back to Lucas. But when he turned to glance at her, Maya would turn around. There was definitely something happening there that was ruining Maya's concentration.

"I'm gonna go outside and get a bit of air, Riley," she declared after this had happened for the umpteenth time and Riley started to get annoyed. Maya took off before Riley could get in a comment.

Shaking her head, she headed straight to Lucas where he was getting punch from the refreshments table.

"What are you doing?"

He almost spilled his drink in surprise from her sudden appearance. "I was just getting some punch…?"

"No! Wrong!" Riley poked him sharply and he winced when her nail dug into his arm. "You shouldn't be getting punch like some idiot."

Lucas looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "Hey now. What did I do to deserve this?"

"Maya is freaking out in the hallway and the competition is about to start in like five minutes. She's super worried about something and I don't know why and whatever it is I'm not able to help her so go reassure her."

He looked hesitant. "…Okay."

Feeling proud of her work, Riley traipsed over to where Charlie was looking at a painting on his way to the seating area.

"Whatcha looking at?" she asked.

"This is Maya's painting?"

"Yupp." It was a painting of a figure who fully resembled Riley, walking into a lake, her gaze up at the stars and fireflies dancing above her head. "She's amazing, right?"

"It looks like a photograph. It's beautiful."

"Hmm… The painting or me?" Riley said playfully, nudging him with her elbow.

"Ah. Trick question." He replied in the same tone. "The correct answer is both."

She knew he was just messing around, but it couldn't stop her from smiling goofily, feeling extremely giddy with his response. Technically, he'd called her beautiful and she was living.

"Shows probably going to start soon." Charlie said, jerking his head in the direction of Farkle and Zay where the chairs had been set up to watch the competition. "It's time for us to get our seats."

For the next three minutes, Riley kept checking her watch. She was really concerned that Maya still hadn't returned yet. A no show artist was an automatic disqualification and by this point, all the artists were already standing by their work in preparation for the judging. Even the judges and the announcer looked like they were gearing up to begin.

About a minute later and right on time, Lucas and Maya came back. She looked decidedly more energetic and less distracted and ran to her spot just as the announcer finally called to attention the beginning of the programme. Lucas trudged through the crowd to go to his seat between Riley and Zay.

"So is everything figured out?" Riley questioned once he had settled in his spot.

"Yeah, she's fine," Lucas responded as Maya waved at them from the floor, and they all returned the wave.

Riley rose a brow, lowering her voice as the announcer began to list names and names of paintings for the competition to induce appropriate applause from the crowd. "I'm asking about you two. I know you guys had some intense conversation about feelings on Friday night. She was fine today at school so what happened between then and now for her to get like that? You drove her here. What did you do?"

She had just been accusing him blindly, but when she saw the guilty look on his face, she was convinced she'd gotten it right.

"Oh spill it mister. What did you do to Maya?"

"It's not what you're probably thinking. Yes, we had an… interesting conversation about our relationship—"

"So are you guys going to date or what?"

He sighed. "Riley, Maya isn't interested in me anymore."

"Yes she is."

He shook his head. "Do you know why Maya was freaking out earlier? I told her I liked her on the way here."

"You confessed!" Riley said excitedly.

Lucas looked displeased though and he frowned. "Yeah, and it didn't go well. She got mad at me and said she's not going to fall for cheap tricks to get her in bed. I know she was talking out of her ass, but still, quite frankly, it was offensive that she thinks I would even try to do something like that. And when I tried to tell her me liking her was sincere, she got even more mad and said she's not going to sit around and get her heart broken by me again."

With each word he spoke, Riley's smile slipped, and she grew increasingly more dejected. "Wait. So what did you say to make her stop freaking out?"

"I told her that I know she doesn't have feelings for me and that even though I like her, I'm not going to try to pursue a relationship with her because I know she doesn't want that with me. I told her I just wanted her to know that I have feelings for her and that's enough for me. And then she told me that she wanted to be just friends. No more make outs. She wants this weird game we've been playing for years to stop."

Riley winced. "Lucas…"

"Honestly, it's okay. Riley." He smiled a bit wistfully, turning his attention back to the art show where the judges had begun to head to the paintings to critique. "I gave up a chance years ago and she closed that door, so that's the end of that. I'd rather be friends with her than not friends at all. So I'm giving up for now. Maybe one day she'll want to pursue something."

It broke Riley's heart to hear that and her face fell, disappointed that the very opposite of what she'd been hoping would happen had happened. Maya had already told Riley to drop it. And now it seemed like Lucas was saying the same thing.

Noticing her sour expression, Charlie took her hand and gave her a gentle squeeze. "You okay?"

She nodded slowly, staring at him wide eyed as her pulse quickened immeasurably. Goosebumps rose up on her arm. "Uh, I am now…"

It was a lie; she wasn't okay.

But now for an entirely other reason altogether.