A/N: Part two of the previous chapter!

Man I had so much trouble writing this. Use your imagination because I sure as hell have no idea what I was writing… Do you know how difficult it is to write any kind of dance scene?!

All of you guys are beautiful people and don't you dare ever forget that. (Just wanted to say that because sometimes we all need a reminder). Thank you for all your support guys! I appreciate the sweet comments and the lovely words you have for me! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but Cynical!Maya is my heart and soul ❀(*´◡`*)❀

If someone had told Maya she would end up dancing a tango with the same guy she currently would prefer not being in his presence, she would have laughed. Lucas should have counted himself lucky that this wasn't happening earlier that week when she had been furious with him. He would definitely have suffered some bodily harm by now.

"Why are you trying to lead?" Lucas said in annoyance, cutting off her very deliberate motions by taking a wider step.

Maya's eyes narrowed as she was basically forced to match him.

"Because I'm a better lead than you."

"Seriously?"

"Defini—"

He spun her sharply without prelude and Maya nearly yelped as she cascaded out from his arms, her skirt rising from the speed of her twirl before he pulled her back to him. He was smirking in amusement when she met his gaze.

"Sorry, what was it you were saying?"

He wanted to play, huh? Fine, Maya would take the bait.

She switched up their easy quick-slow step strides, curling her legs around his as she forced him to follow her or trip. Lucas' eyes narrowed as she complicated the footwork, twisting and turning with quick succession. He kept up with her fairly easily, anticipating her decisions and reacting accordingly. She knew it was a fight. They both were trying to make the other fail in their own ways.

"So what's up with the sudden 'I hate Lucas' thing again?" Lucas said. "I thought we were on the road to becoming friends."

Of course he would ask that. Maya said nothing, staring at his Adam's apple and trying not to think about the scent of his cologne.

"Maintain eye contact!" Margeaux barked angrily.

"You heard her," he said cheekily.

Maya could just make out his smug smirk in her peripheral vision. She lifted her gaze, glowering at him in annoyance.

"Missy told me earlier that you have something to tell me about why you're mad at me."

Damn her. Maya should have known she would take matters into her own hands anyway.

"I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Then when?" Lucas asked sincerely. "Look, I don't know if I did something to you again, but I thought we were making progress before the whole mud bath thing. And I don't know, but it was kind of nice to have at least one conversation with you without fighting."

Maya sighed, hooking her leg around his waist, and leaned against his side, letting him trail her a short distance across the floor before she let go and they continued their simple steps and pivots, only punctuated by Maya changing up the rhythm of her twists with her feet.

"Tell me the problem. I promise I'll listen and won't judge."

"Okay. The truth is, I'm scared of losing Riley. It's been her and me for the past who knows how many years. And now you're in the picture and suddenly it's you, me, and Riley. And I didn't like that. I still don't like that. Because I don't know what that means for my relationship with Riley. She won't need me anymore. And I don't want to lose her. That's why I'm still mad at you. Stupid. I know."

"It's not stupid. I understand what you're saying. It's kind of like a parent remarrying or dating someone new when they'd been single for so many years. All of a sudden there's someone new in the family and it's hard to adjust when you've lived your life one way for so long."

"Right. Like that."

"In any case, you won't lose her, Maya. Do you know how many times she talks about you?" Lucas said with a small smile. "Our first date, she was so nervous. I asked her about her friends hoping she would loosen up and then she spent a good ten minutes just talking about you and your interests."

Maya frowned. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah. She brings you up at least once in every conversation. By the end of our date, I knew more about you than Riley to be honest."

"I didn't know."

"Look, she cares about you way more than she cares about me even if we're about to get married. I don't think that will never change. She'll put you first no matter what, Maya. I have no doubt if she had the choice to save only me or only you, she'd save you. Every time. There's no reason for you to feel threatened. I'm not trying to break up your friendship. I just want to be part of your family too."

Maya stared at him, not sure how to respond. She'd been absolutely antagonistic towards him. And she really did feel bad now. He was actually pretty nice in some ways. And what he said had honestly helped alleviate her fears.

"I always thought from what Riley had said about you that we would get along. You seemed pretty interesting." Lucas continued. "And then I found out you were Chihuahua."

Maya rose a menacing brow, and he laughed. At least until she kicked her leg purposely high, a little too close to comfort between his legs. Lucas took a small step back, well disguised as an actual step, though Maya knew he had been trying to evade possible pain.

"I didn't expect you to be the same person. Since then, you consistently made it clear you hated me."

"I guess I was kind of petty." Maya admitted. "But I'm just really protective."

"And there's nothing wrong with that. But I'm also protective. And we both want to protect the same person. Instead of fighting each other, why not work together?"

Maya's eyebrows furrowed in surprise from his comment. He was right.

"…Never thought of it that way."

"Because you're stubborn." Lucas said matter of factly.

Her eyes narrowed. "You're stubborn too."

"Not as bad as you though."

"Really?" Maya scoffed.

"You were so much worse." Lucas said. "You wouldn't let the mistake go."

"Because it was a bad mistake! You flirted with your fiancée's best friend. Hell, you flirted with someone else period."

He rolled his eyes in exasperation, guiding Maya backwards before she pivoted and twisted her legs around his, forcing him to stop otherwise he'd trip on her leg. Lucas' gaze darkened in annoyance, from their argument or her decision to lead, she didn't know.

"Bringing this argument back again I see. What happened to the truce we made?"

"Okay, hell no. You started it when you brought it up in the first place! I'm not just going to sit here and let you have the last word when you're wrong."

"You know what? Fine. Let's do this." Lucas said with a sneer on his face. "You keep playing the victim card as if you're bugged by me flirting but it's not because of Riley. You know what Zay told me? You were mad because you were interested in me."

Maya's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"No I was not."

Lucas eyed her as she turned on her heel, stubbornly stepping in the opposite direction from him and refusing to make it easy for him to guide her. He tugged her hand a bit hard, yanking her body back to his and stopping her attempts to lead again by anchoring her with his arm around her back.

"Yes you were," he said through grit teeth. "You told Zay while you were drunk off your ass. And that's why you were mad. Admit it."

Maya made a mental note to kick Zay's stupid ass for not knowing how to keep secrets.

"Okay then. So what? The bubble burst and I realized you're just like every other guy."

"Cut me some slack, I'm not perfect."

He steered them in smooth, easy quick-slow steps, barely giving Maya any chances to try to break free from his tight hold and switch things up a bit. She let him lead, biding her time for when he would slip.

"Well Riley sure seems to think so. You ever plan on telling her the truth?"

"The truth about what?"

"Your temper, your not so perfect Mr. Perfectness. Your façade. Your villainy—"

"It's not like I'm some story book villain." He rolled his eyes. "I'm a normal guy."

"—the truth that you're putting on airs and acting sweet and charming when you're nothing like that. And yes, in my world you're a villain."

"Oh really," he said dryly. "A bad guy, huh? Even though I haven't really done anything."

"You're the big bad wolf. A misleader. You're like those glass slippers from Cinderella."

Lucas stepped far back, sliding his leg behind him into a lunge and pulling Maya with him. She gasped as she fell forward, having no choice but to nearly slide into a split, wrapping her arm quickly around his neck. Her other hand tightly gripped the hand holding her on instinct, and she briefly contemplated sinking her nails into his hand.

"You sound like you're drunk, you know?" Lucas muttered. "And how are the glass slippers misleading?"

The asshole. He had an amused gleam in his eyes, as if he thought he had the upper hand from his little stunt. Did he think that was funny?

"How? They gave Cinderella false hope and created an illusion of a princess for the prince. Their relationship is based on lies."

Lucas straightened, pulling Maya up slowly with him, and she inhaled sharply when they ended up almost completely pressed against each other, gazes locked. He stared down at her for a moment like she was nuts, and Maya took the chance to take control again. She stepped forward, planting her leg between his and forcing him to step back if he didn't want to lose his balance. They carried on with their steps, even paced, slightly challenging, their motions punctuated by their argument.

"Except that he realized she was his true love after he found her in rags and she had the other slipper. He still wanted her."

"Because he was looking for a girl who could fit the shoe. Not her specifically. She just happened to fit the bill. He only wanted her originally because she was hot. Nothing more, nothing less. The guy was a horny fuck. Why else would he have tried to kiss an unmarried maiden in some secluded location in the middle of the night without any supervision?"

Lucas gave her an incredulous look. "He fell for her because of how charming and kind she was when they were promenading, not just because she was beautiful. There were lots of other pretty girls at the ball he could have also danced with, but he had no interest. Cinderella held his interest because of her personality."

"So why were all eyes on her at the ball the second she walked in? That just proves my point that he only wanted her when he saw her because she was the hottest chick there. Prince Charming was a douche. If they wanted to emphasize the point that it wasn't her beauty he fell for but her lovely personality, they shouldn't have given her the extreme makeover—"

"That defeats the purpose of the story."

"—It doesn't matter. Had the shoe not fit, she would still be a maid in her household and the prince would never have noticed her. The shoes were trickery, and he fell for it hook, line, and sinker. True love my ass. It was all based on a lie as love is prone to be."

Maya wondered how stupid they had to sound arguing about a damn fairy tale. Lucas spun her out and Maya's hair flew around her as she swung away until he snapped her back to him, her back to his chest.

"Here we go again. Your love doesn't exist bullshit. You know what I've noticed…" Lucas said, right beside her ear. Maya tried to pretend she didn't feel the goosebumps rising on her neck when she could feel the tufts of his breath on her shoulder. "I don't think Riley is the only one who believes in fairy tales and love."

She broke roughly away from him, swivelling on her heel and glaring at him as she stepped back into his arms.

"I don't believe in love."

"Yes you do."

She purposely tried to squash his toes. Lucas evaded it by stepping past her and forcing her to accept the plunge backwards. He dragged her up, and Maya growled under her breath.

"You really want to fight me on this, Huckleberry? You'll lose. And you'll get a knee to the crotch for it too. Might want to back down."

He swung her out again, twirling her back into his arms until they were pressed flush against each other. She curled a leg around his thigh and he dipped her slowly, leaning over her with an indecipherable look on his face.

"This guard and cynicism that you put up isn't because you really hate love. It's because you're scared of it. You're scared of what it could do to you and the people around you that you care about."

Maya clammed up, stiffening as she stared up at him, frozen in place from his declaration.

"…You don't know shit about me, Huckleberry." She snarled, hating the fact that he had a total upperhand and there was no way she could get out of his hold short of physical violence.

And even then, her back was arched too far, and he was keeping her in place with his arms.

"No doubt something in your past made you think and realize that love can hurt people if used the wrong way. So you're terrified of it. Not because you don't want it. But because you don't want to get hurt. And I'm willing to bet it probably has to do with your parents or something."

The music came to an end, but Maya could do nothing but stare up at him in shock, her heart suddenly pounding hard in her chest as her eyes widened. He looked down at her impassively, no particular expression on his face.

"We're the same, you know?" Lucas said, his lips curving up into a small smile.

"…What do you—"

They were suddenly interrupted by loud cheers and clapping. Maya and Lucas looked around in surprise, not having expected the entire group of people to have been watching them.

"Bravo! Bravo!" Margeaux said enthusiastically. "These two have it! That is a tango! The trust! The ferocity and the grace! The oomph and the raw passion! You could just see the fire burning between them! The energy! The power! She evaded, he chased! She defied, he drew her back in! You could see a story of a forbidden love! Spectacular! Excellent!"

Lucas pulled Maya back up slowly, his gaze entirely serious now. Maya stared up at him in shock, her eyes wide and cheeks a bit red from what he had said. Her heart was pounding in her chest, as she tried to catch her breath, searching his eyes. How the hell had he known it had something to do with her parents? Were they honestly more similar than she believed?

"It's okay to be scared, Maya," Lucas said softly.

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest.

"I am not scared of you." She broke out of his hold, letting go of his arms and taking a large step back away from him. "Shut up."

"…I was talking about your whole love doesn't exist thing," he said slowly, a brow quirked in amusement. "Wait, are you scared of me?"

"No." she said quickly.

The grin on his lips grew, and Maya knew he would never let her live it down.

Crap.

Maya turned to Riley with a smile that was really more of a grimace. "He's all yours, Riley."

She stormed away without another word, knowing her face was bright red. She decided to ignore the fact that she had briefly gotten butterflies in her stomach.

She marched over to where Zay was sitting, pretending she couldn't see the mischievous, knowing grin on his lips. Her head was spinning, and she knew of only one thing that could clear her mind of the ridiculous events of that night and the intense end to her conversation with Lucas.

"We're all heading to your bar to get drunk after this. No option to say no."

"Of course," Zay said playfully. "I know you definitely need it after whatever I just saw."

Truer words had never been spoken.