A/N: Got a wonderful friend assisting me with proof-reading/editing now so those errors that have started creeping in more and more now that I don't have as much time to final-read myself will disappear so, yay! I'll be re-uploading previous chapters on a phased basis so those will slowly be surely be addressed.
Maybe it was the guilt that her conversation/fight with Liam had caused, or else, maybe the signs of love in the air was a bit more infectious than she had anticipated and something got to her reminding her that, for the first time in her life, she had an actual boyfriend in the month of February and so technically could do more than gorge herself on the chocolate that Riley inevitably bought (although why she would never just wait till the 15th when everything would be on sale was beyond her) or roll her eyes at the flowers Farkle would give to her (even though she secretly loved the fact that he did so regardless of her reaction). Whatever the reason was, although it was technically the 13th, Maya had gotten up early that morning and had sat, thinking long and hard about what she could do for Shane. And boy didn't it say something that the activity had turned out to be such a chore and had ultimately left her with no good ideas, save for one. What was the one thing Shane always complained about, whether directly or indirectly? The lack of time they spent together. Now that was something she could do, and so she did.
Which was why Maya found herself where she was now, seated in the back of the school's auditorium watching what was supposed to be one of the last dry runs of the play before the big performance. Shane didn't even know she was here, something which she was fine with, because the real surprise would come in at the end when she whisked him off for lunch and a bit of alone time before bringing him back for glee practice. It would put them on a bit of a tight schedule, but it would be workable and she knew that he would not mind. Besides, it wasn't as if they were leaving the building. Knowing that Mr. J wouldn't mind, she had put together a small spread for them in the art room, nothing too fancy, but enough that she knew that Shane would be happy.
That would show Liam.
Pulling her thoughts back to the present, Maya took note of Kira standing to the left of the stage. She started to sing, Shane joining her after the first three lines. There was something oddly familiar watching them like that, Shane slowly starting to circle her. It touched on some sort of emotion within her, one she couldn't quite put her finger on to explain. So, with a huff, she settled for the most sensible explanation for the feeling. The play was a musical, and the fact that he had wanted her to be a part of one was irksome. She was already in show choir, and according to Liam, the drama in her life was better than half the plotlines in what had quickly become her guilty pleasure to watch - Glee. The last thing she needed was to be in an actual musical. Neither Liam, nor her pride would have ever let her live that down. She had been the derisive one all of her school career thus far, had never performed in anything that wasn't mandatory, and half-heartedly at best even then. She might have changed a bit since then, but there was just some things old-Maya would never have forgiven her for, and this was definitely one of them.
She had to admit though that Kira had a decent voice, nothing outstanding or mind blowing by any means, but still... decent. She had the sort of voice that could blend in to just about anything, which meant, with Shane joining her, their brief duet was actually pretty good, though if the way they had to stare at each other all googly-eyed was anything to go by, and how he put his hand oh so gently against the small of her back before leading her off-stage was anything to go by, she could actually see why Shane had wanted her to go after that role.
Huh, interesting, she thought as they emerged to the front of the auditorium and went to claim a seats in the front row. Kira had had both of her hands wrapped around one of Shane's as they had walked, and, though she could not have reasonably seen their expressions from her vantage point, she had no doubt that there would have been that look of excitement on her face that only took route on a girl's face when they were talking to someone they liked, someone they really really liked. Well that made it clear that no matter what the conversation the two of them had had towards the end of the last year, Kira's feelings for Shane's remained, something that Shane had never mentioned to her. The way she had been clinging to him? There was no other explanation. And truthfully, there was nothing she really wanted to do about it.
Regardless, when the drama teacher called an end to the practice, Maya decided against simply sneaking out before they were aware of her presence. But, she knew that she would only get flack from Liam if he ever heard about this (and somehow she always ended up telling him these sort of things), and also she did not want to rescind on her original plans. And so, with a sigh, and wishing she had remembered to factor Kira into all of this, which meant she should have just made plans for the end of the day instead to avoid the awkwardness that was to come, she went outside and waited for Shane to exit. And, of course, the universe would decide not to be kind to her and somehow have preoccupied Kira inside so that Shane exited on his own.
Indeed, she came out before him, that tinkering laugh of hers preceding them. Biting back a sigh again, Maya straightened, plastering a smile on her face as she caught sight of Shane, ignoring Kira for now.
"Surprise," she said, injecting the right amount of cheer in her voice.
"Maya?" Shane said, his tone slightly incredulous but still happy. "What are you doing here?" he asked even as he came over to her for a quick hug, Maya deciding to do him one better by reaching up to kiss his cheek.
"Well I know you have an hour's break," she said, smiling up at him, "and I figured that actually doing something tomorrow wouldn't be that creative so I have a little picnic for us set up. That is, if you're interested?" she tacked on out of defence to Kira who was fighting against letting disdain show on her face.
"Of course I would be," he said, in that same tone and Maya found herself feeling bad. This wasn't just Shane being excited for them doing something together, he was actually surprised, if not stunned by the fact that she had made plans for the two of them to do something together. Yeah, despite her resolution to do better for Shane, she really hadn't so far. She couldn't help but remember what her mother had said. Shane deserved better, and she deserved better than trying to force moments like these, because, frankly, even though she knew that Shane was happy, him wrapping his arm around her like this did not make her happy. Watching Kira's angry eyes as she led Shane past her did not make her happy, and, while spending an hour with him turned out to be quite the pleasant experience, it was no better than a regular old session with a friend. Yeah she enjoyed spending the time with him, but she would have felt the same thing spending time with anyone else. There wasn't anything special there, at least not for her, and as she reached over to pour him some juice to drink, she finally agreed with her mom. Things needed to change. No matter what she felt, Shane deserved better than what she was doing, or rather, what she was not doing. Shane was good, perhaps too good. So far he had not breathed a word about considering a breakup. Yeah he had complained about Lucas, yeah he had made some off-comments about her friends and their supposed influence on her giving her a bad impression of how relationships should be, but, in the end, despite his frustration he had kept hanging in there, he kept pushing for change, for her to do better so that their relationship could be better. She could not see him saying enough is enough, not without something earth-shattering happening, and she knew that it was wrong to just keep dragging things out until it got to that point.
Being in a relationship with Shane was safer for her than her being single on so many levels, but to do that would be selfish and Shane, at the end of the day, was a decent person, a good person, and deserved a lot more than what she was doing to him, especially when it was clear that he wouldn't be alone. He would have his friends, and he would have Kira, a girl who was just waiting in the wings for the opportunity to do for him the things she could not. Keeping Shane chained to her was not hurting just her, and she couldn't keep holding on to him out of convenience.
She would have to bite the bullet and do the right thing... but after Valentine's Day and this upcoming week. Once Shane's schedule was clear she'd deal with the matter. At the very least, he deserved more than her adding extra stress to his life during this intense period.
Yeah, this was definitely a conversation that needed to happen, Lucas acknowledged as he watched Farkle all but fidget as he sat across from him. He had not seen his friend so uncomfortable in his presence since their first few weeks of friendship, back when, ironically, he had been the taller of the two (at least he could comfort himself with the fact that he was, and probably would always be the brawny one of the two of them).
He had come here directly from Riley's. Now that had been a good afternoon, he reflected. It wasn't until that moment, when, burdens released and labels discarded, that he had realised exactly how uncomfortable things had gotten between him and Riley. It was strange. Before today he would have thought that they were fine, normal even, but now he could acknowledge that there had been a barely there tension between them, governing how they spoke and acted with each other. But with it gone? He had found himself at her house for two movies and had even helped her mother with a bit of the heavy work that needed to be done. It was just like before, the Riley-Lucas dynamic that he was familiar with, easy, teasing, and flowing conversations, easy grins and his lazy amusement at her... Riley-ness because there truly was no other way to describe it.
And that was exactly why he had left her to come to Farkle, because if clearing the air with Riley removed a tension he had not been aware of, exactly how much would his friendship with Farkle improve once the two of them had done the same? That thought had brought him here to Farkle's place. And though he had been obviously unnerved, his friend had let him in without question.
"I was at Riley's before I came here," he said, deciding to take control of the conversation for now.
He could have done the whole back and forth routine, giving Farkle the space to question his presence, deny that there was anything going on between them before he succumbed to Lucas' questioning and answered truthfully. That would have led them to that awkward moment of Farkle bracing himself for his anger, disgust, or whatever other emotion the genius would think he would react with. There wasn't the need for any of that. Lucas knew what the issue was, and even if Farkle did not yet know it, he had already solved the issue.
"You were?" Farkle answered. "I'd have thought she'd be holed up with Maya for the whole day... weekend even."
"Yeah, well, she asked me to come first," he responded, noting the way something akin to pain flickered briefly in Farkle's eyes at that. Had Farkle always worn his heart on his sleeves like this or was it just him and his new awareness of the situation making things that were probably present before, more clear? Regardless, he was better off just taking the direct approach here. "She thought that us breaking up was something that needed handling before she told Maya. Kinda hard to have a girls' only weekend of recovery with the pesky task of ending things in between."
"Yeah that makes sense," Farkle began before he paused, if only now truly registering what he had said. "What?" he gaped, eyes almost impossibly wide.
Lucas nearly snickered at that. It really was hard to render Farkle stunned like this and he enjoyed that.
"Did you just say-"
"That Riley and I broke up?" he finished, slight amusement shining through, "that's what I said."
"Is she okay?" he blurted out there, and, in that moment, Lucas knew that Riley - and Farkle - would be fine. If Farkle's first reaction to the news was not the implications behind it - that the break-up meant that he was now free to pursue Riley – then he indeed loved her, and that was what Riley needed, what she deserved. And, when it came down to it, there was no-one else he could truly see himself trusting to be with Riley, to care for her in the way she deserved to be cared for. Farkle Minkus loved Riley Matthews and Riley Matthews loved Farkle Minkus. The world would definitely be better off for it.
"Riley is fine," he reassured him, "more than fine. We're both fine."
"Really?"
He could understand his hesitation. After all, both he and Smackle had been fine after their breakup, but he wasn't naive enough not to realise and accept that no matter how good the two of them were now, there had to be at least some sort of negative emotions felt at some point in time.
"If she isn't, then you and Maya will sort her out," he said softly. "It's something that needed to happen. For both of us."
"What happened?"
"Riley and I are good friends, great friends even, but I think we've more than proven that friends is all that we're meant to be."
"But she's always liked you."
"She did," he allowed, "in seventh grade definitely, and most of eighth grade even. But after that? Now? She likes me, but as a friend. Nothing more."
"You make her happy."
"And I'll still make her happy as her friend," he answered, once again fighting not to let his amusement show. He could tell that these weren't just questions Farkle was asking to suss out if Riley was truly okay, or if their break up was justified. This was also Farkle giving voice to an argument he'd probably had with himself since whenever he'd finally realised that he liked Riley. "People grow out of crushes, and Riley grew out of hers."
"You didn't like her?" Farkle asked, and this time there was a sharp edge to his tone, a defensive one even as if he was seconds from being riled up on Riley's behalf.
"I have never not liked Riley," he said smoothly, reassuring him. "How could I not? She's Riley," he said, and, despite his sudden defensiveness, the corners of Farkle's mouth quirked briefly, because there wasn't a truer statement in the world. Not like Riley was like hating puppies and kittens and warm hugs on the coldest of days. It was just weird. "But how I like Riley has changed."
"Please don't tell me she's your sister now."
Lucas laughed loudly at that. There was no resisting it. He remembered that awful, confusing time that had ended up with him getting told off by Riley's little brother of all people. "No, Farkle," he finally said, still chuckling. "I've still only got my only brother. What I mean is that I've grown to like Riley as a friend, a very very close friend yeah, but just a friend."
"And you're sure this time?" Farkle asked suspiciously.
"Positive," he confirmed, "and given the conversation I had with it, it's the same on her end."
"Wow." One word, one syllable, but it was enough for Lucas to know that Farkle's mind was racing right about now with a million and one things, things Lucas was pretty certain he could help him figure out, but at the same time he knew that probably this was something that his buddy needed to sort out for himself, at least in the initial stages.
"How about I go raid your fridge for drinks for us while you think?" Lucas said as he got to his feet easily. "That'll probably give you enough time to figure out how best to ask me if it'd be a problem if you act on your feelings for Riley now and if it'd cause friction between us."
"Yeah," Farkle answered absentmindedly, just as Lucas expected, and he snickered, mentally counting to ten as he walked out. And just as he reached eight Farkle let out a sound that was halfway between a squeak and a yelp as he said loudly, disbelievingly, as he had now processed exactly what he had said. "What did you say?" causing Lucas' snicker to erupt into all out laughter.
God, he loved his friends.
Maya wasn't doing much of anything right now, simply laying down on her floor, processing the thoughts that had come to her both before and during her date with Shane earlier on in the day. And she had a second date the next day, because, despite his hella busy schedule, Shane had put aside time for them to do something together on Valentine's Day, something that had left her with a guilty feeling coiling in her stomach. Yeah, he really needed someone who could give him 100% because right now, thinking about tomorrow brought her no joy but only a sense of dread. Spending time with Shane wasn't a bad thing necessarily, once everything was cool between them things were good, great even, and they had fun together. It was just when the romantic aspects started to crawl in that problems started. And given that tomorrow was the universal day of love, she had a fair idea of what Shane would want to happen, and the mere thought of that had her sighing and rolling over so that she could start pumping her legs idly behind her, while she dragged the nearest magazine to her over as she tried to distract herself from such thoughts with a heaping dose of commercialism. However a new, even better distraction showed up a few minutes later, much to her relief in the form of Liam struggling to get through her window.
As she watched him, she wondered what mood he was in, because she really was not sure she could take it if he was grumpy or combative right about now. Her relationship with Liam had become increasingly unstable, and while she knew the cause, she no longer knew how she could mitigate what was happening. Liam was lashing out, plain and simple, but, unlike with Riley, Maya was only capable of handling him to a certain point. After all, Liam could dish out way more than Riley could ever hope to, and, the more it happened the more fragile her defences against taking what he said and did personally. She wasn't shaking it off as easily as she could before, and Maya knew that it would only take a few more times before she herself cracked and started to lash out at Liam herself, and what the world most assuredly did not need was that happening. It had not happened yet and Maya already felt sympathy for anyone who would be caught up in that crossfire.
"Oh come on, why don't you just use the door?" she asked, shaking off her thoughts as she sat up, watching as he bumped his head getting into the room. "You know I can barely fit through there, why would you bother to try?"
"I'm taller not fatter," he replied, and though her eyes narrowed at the backhanded insult, she took pleasure in watching him wriggle his hips through before landing with a thud on the floor. Oh she could get Shawn to help her adjust the hinges so that the window could open wider, but, for all that the apartment had been spruced up, this neighbour wasn't Riley's. She was better off making entering her room as difficult as possible for people to enter.
"Sup?" he asked, as he sat up, pretending as if he had meant to land like that.
"Nothing much," she responded, her tone slightly wary because when, truthfully, had been the last time she had seen him with that particular gleam of mischief in his eye? Oh yeah, the day she'd ended up with her piercings, one of which still had a tendency to get itchy ever so often as the healing process continued. "What trouble are you trying to get me into?"
"I'm hurt, Blondie," he replied, and given the level of affront he tried to interject into his tone, Maya knew that she had hit the nail right on the head. "Here I am, after a long, torturous day of appointments and meetings and conversations with people I would rather run over with a bus, and all I wanted to do was spend some time with my bestest pal in the whole wide world, and all I get is an insult. My feelings are hurt," he finished with a long, overdrawn sniff that made her wish she had something to toss at him. "I'm going home."
Except he made absolutely no move to, which, after a moment, caused her to snort and sit up all the way. "I'll be a worthwhile human for a bit," she said, deciding that perhaps he was exactly the sort of distraction she needed. "Are you here to talk about all those garbage people and the atrocities they have done to you today? Because mom is pretty good at making the good kind of junk food for those sort of conversations."
"Nah," he said immediately, and for a second she caught a shadow of darkness in his eyes before it disappeared, "I'm not in the conversation sort of mood."
"Then what kind of mood are you in?" she asked with a hint of trepidation, because she was pretty certain she would not like where this was going.
"The kind of mood where you definitely cannot wear that," he remarked, eyes roving over the glorified pjs she wore, before he jumped to his feet and started to raid her wardrobe while she sat there and wondered if maybe, just maybe, she would have been better off if the two of them just fought instead.
"My mother is going to kill me," Maya hissed about an hour later as Liam tugged her down the street.
"Your mom's like the definition of chill," he scoffed. "This will be fine. And it's not like she'll find out."
"This is the outside of fine," she argued back. "Liam, we cannot do this."
"Oh will you relax!" he snapped. "We're just going out for dinner and a movie and since Riley wants you for something uber important you're going to spend the night there."
"And when in the morning I'm home in my bed?"
"You either changed your mind about spending the night at her place or you just came back home super early in the morning because of whatever. Dang, Blondie," he added, sounding irritated, "I didn't think I would have to teach you how to be my wingman."
"Hey, me skipping out like this isn't a new thing," she answered, feeling the need to defend herself. "But this is different."
"How so?" he asked.
"We're sneaking into a club, Liam! This is more than me deciding to stay out and dance it up in a street party. This is borderline illegal!"
"The only way we're going to get caught if if you keep talking that loud," he hissed, giving her hand a tug. "Besides, it's a gay club and I've been in there loads of times."
"Do they know you're sixteen?"
"They don't care as long as I stay away from the alcohol," he answered, "and apparently since you're a paragon of virtue tonight, they won't have to worry about you either."
"Why are we doing this?" she demanded next.
"Because papa gotta get his groove on and I figured a night on the town would do you good as well."
Which probably really meant that he planned on doing something stupid tonight and was hoping that her being there would dissuade him from it. That thought had her squaring her shoulders as she prepared for whatever it was that was to come.
She had to give it to Liam, she thought, about a half an hour later as she stood in a corner, back pressed against the wall as she just observed the other patrons in the club, he had taste. It was a small club, minute even, and there were only about forty people in it, if that, and most of them were off the dance floor, seated at tables with ridiculously high bar stools that she doubted she could climb onto without looking like an idiot. Getting in, as Liam had predicted, had been quite easy much to her dismay and she had almost found herself telling the guy at the door off for being that damn dismissive about his job that he'd let a pair of obvious teenagers in. But then again, this really did not seem like a place where they'd be able to get into much, if any problems. Everyone was pretty much in their own worlds, and the few people who were by themselves seemed content to remain in that state, either bopping around on the floor solo or nursing drinks at the bar.
"I thought they wouldn't give you alcohol," she snapped as Liam returned to her side, offering her a bottle of flavoured water. She hadn't even needed to smell his breath to know he had had something to drink. Unfortunately she had seen him in this state enough now that the slight glassiness of his eyes gave it away. Dammit, how had this even happened? They hadn't been apart for that long.
"They didn't," he replied with a hint of smugness. "I brought my own."
"Liam-"
"No bitching," he snapped, even as he reached over to pop open her bottle of water. "Here, drink up and let me see if being in show choir has given any moves you can use off the stage."
Maya glared at him, but after a moment, did just that, draining half the bottle before shoving it at him. "Finish it."
"And lose my high? Nice try, Blondie," he scoffed, tossing the bottle into nearby bin. "Rule number one, discard any drink you can't finish."
"I already know that," she muttered, even as she allowed him to pull her onto the dance floor. Yeah, she might be pissed off at him, but truthfully, she did like this song and because of that she was willing to ignore the alcohol on his breath as they danced, and for now, the vibration of her phone in her back pocket.
Maya didn't know how much time passed with them on the dance floor before she needed a break. Liam hadn't been ready to stop and so had waved her off. She hadn't taken offence and had willingly gone back to one of the corners of the room, hoping that the strobing lights hid the struggle as she clamoured up onto a stool, content to just watch the happenings of the room. There were a lot more people here than when they had first arrived, but then again, if the media was to be believed, most people tended to turn up at clubs closer to midnight, and she and Liam had arrived not too long after the club's opening. To be fair, glancing at some of the faces in the room she could discern in the rather poor lighting, she was pretty certain that she and Liam were not the only underaged people here. There was just something in their faces, in the way they moved, a barely there tension in their frames as they moved about which spoke of a hesitance, an uncertainty of truly belonging in this space. It was probably an aura she herself had held when she had first come in, but now she was a lot more relaxed, a lot more comfortable. No one had harassed either one of them, and the people who she suspected from the sameness of their clothing as working in the club did nothing more than glance at her assessingly, no doubt looking for any non-existent drinks she may have gotten to ensure that it truly was non-alcoholic. Yeah, she wasn't the one they needed to be worried about. After all, it was Liam who had a flask somewhere on him.
Speaking of the devil, she searched him out with her eyes, lips twitching as she caught the almost rapturous way he moved. It was strange, but Liam was a dancer. There was a fluidity to his movements that came only from practice and she stored it away for questioning at a later point though she was certain she already had her answer. He'd grown up surrounded by dancers in the form of his cousin and her boyfriend and his family. It suddenly seemed foolish of her to not have realised that they would have bamboozled him to hang out with them at some point. Liam had skill and it didn't seem all natural. Was dancing yet another thing he had had to give up come high school?
She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, pulling her away from her perusal of Liam. She took it out, sighing when she saw the ID before pocketing the phone once again even as she sent a silent apology out to Riley. There was no way in hell she could hear anything she wanted to say right now over this music, and if she messaged her instead Riley would demand to know where she was and ignorance was bliss in this sort of situation. Riley was not good enough of a side-kick to not blurt out where she was the second someone asked, and it would only take her mother or father making an idle inquiry into where she was for Riley to spill the beans. What she did not need right now was to be grounded because of Riley. If she was to get caught, at least it should be as a result of her own failure and not Riley's. She would make it up to her tomorrow, and truly she doubted it could be that important despite the lateness of the hour.
Still, ignoring Riley left her feeling guilty and so, to rid herself of that feeling, she swallowed down her lingering tiredness and, hopping back off her stool, went back to where Liam was, easily slipping in between him and the tall guy he was dancing with.
Riley sighed, tossing her phone aside with a hint of irritation as Maya, once again, did not answer. What the hell were she and Liam doing? Oh she had no doubt that he was the reason her best friend was soundly ignoring her right now. Everyone else was accounted for. She frowned, trying her best not to feel insulted. Maybe Maya just didn't have access to her phone right now. They could be painting and she knew that Maya went into strict do not disturb mode whenever she was engrossed in something. Yeah, her art took precedence, so if that is what they were busy doing she could not blame her. Even if it meant that she was left without her best friend on a night like this, a night where it was just setting in that she had indeed done it, she had broken up with Lucas.
It still felt a bit surreal despite the few hours they had spent together. Acknowledging her changed feelings for Lucas and actively letting that go, just as she had her childhood teddy-bear, was not an easy thing to do. It had caused her so much anxiety in the lead up, but, strictly speaking, things had not at all degenerated into the apocalypse she had expected. It had been almost embarrassingly easy to break up with Lucas, and now, alone with her thoughts, she couldn't help but wonder if it had been too easy. Wasn't at least one party in the relationship supposed to end up feeling some level of pain? At least for some stretch of time? She certainly had not, and unless Lucas was a way better actor than she'd ever given him credit, he had been fine as well.
The lack of animosity was almost disturbing, and it was why she had wanted Maya to help her sort everything out. That was what Maya had always done, sorted out her life for her when things were topsy-turvy. And yet she wasn't here for her now. She sighed again at that thought, and climbed out of her bed, deciding to spend some of her restless energy by rearranging some of the shelves in her closet. It was a long overdue task.
She had scarcely pulled the first drawer open though when she heard a sound coming from her bedroom and an instinctive grin formed on her face. Oh why had she doubted Maya? She was coming through the bay window!
"Peaches," she all but crowed as she skipped out of her closet only to stop in wide-eyed shock. The teenager pulling a bag through the window was definitely not Maya, not unless her best friend had gone brunette and acquired glasses in the past day.
"Smackle?" she asked, her shock colouring her tone.
"I still do not have the grace to get through here without injury," Smackle remarked, rubbing at a red spot on her forehead. That, Riley realised, was the dull thud she had heard moments before. "I shall make a note to wear less skirts when I come here so that I may have equal practice to everyone else."
"That's okay," Riley answered, slightly perturbed.
"It is not," Smackle contradicted, setting a gym bag down at her feet. "I wish to be equal and everyone else can enter here without issue."
"They've had more practice."
"You have just proven my point," Smackle answered pertly, adjusting her glasses even as she looked about her. "Where is Maya? Sleepovers require a minimum of two people. Otherwise it is just a regular night."
"I'm not sure what you mean?" Riley said, dropping down onto her bed. "And Maya isn't here. Did she mention a sleepover to you?"
"I had assumed there would be one," Smackle answered, before gesturing at the bag. "I even brought snacks to share."
"Why did you think there would be one?" she asked, now thoroughly confused.
"Farkle told me that you and Lucas have ended your relationship. I assumed that Maya would be here to comfort you. I am your friend so I wanted to be part of the experience. This proves that," she finished, pulling form within her clothing the necklace Riley had given her for Christmas. "Friends help friends through break-ups so I am here to help you. But where is Maya?"
"I don't know," Riley answered honestly, even as she felt a rush of affection fill her towards Smackle. She still couldn't quite believe that she was here, but the reasoning behind it was more than enough to turn her heart to mush. Smackle liked her. Isadora Smackle liked her and boy did that make her feel quite special.
"Well I suppose that since you, like me, initiated the break-up, Maya perhaps feels that you are emotionally stable. It is feasible, though what shall I do with these snacks that I have bought?"
"Wow, you aren't thinking of leaving, are you?" Riley asked hurriedly, not allowing her emotions to distract her from what the teenager was saying.
"It is obvious that a sleepover is not required to help you with your emotional state," she answered, factually. "Therefore it is unlikely that you require my company."
Oh no, she didn't, Riley thought with a hint of chagrin as she swiftly moved from the bed to join Smackle at the bay window. She would have to rid her of a bit of her logical side. Just because she wasn't broken up didn't mean that this impromptu sleep-over had to end before it had truly begun!
"You are spending the night, Smackle," she declared with a bright smile. "You climbed through that window and that means you are mine until I choose to release you."
"I am yours?" she asked.
"Anyone who comes through that window becomes the captive of Riley Matthews until I choose to let them go and you climbed in here quite willingly," she joked.
Smackle tilted her head for a moment, obviously assessing her words before she smiled. "That proposition does not sound disturbing," she answered, "though if I am indeed to spend the night then I shall lay claim to your bed."
Riley agreed to that willingly. After all, Smackle's first sleepover had found her in Auggie's room. At least this time she was willing to actually sleep in the same room with her and that was well worth her spending the night on the bay window. It wouldn't be the first time anymore. As she led Smackle out to the main part of the apartment, just so her parents would not be startled in the morning to have a non-Maya presence, Riley decided that maybe the universe did indeed work in strange ways, indirectly giving her a chance to form a closer bond with Smackle as a result of Maya's absence. Maybe her not answering was a good thing.
This definitely was not a good thing, Maya thought as she helped Liam lean against a post in the station as they waited for their train to arrive. They'd missed the last one by less than five minutes which meant they had nearly twenty five minutes to wait for the next one which, in itself, would not be such a bad thing, if not for the fact that somewhere between their third and fourth hour in the club, Liam had gone all surly, something which had ultimately led her bullying them out of the club. What had triggered the change in his mood was beyond her. She had kept a hawk-like gaze on him and had ensured that he had not had a single sip of anything that was not water since that first time he had left her. They had been laughing and dancing one minute, then, a wave of new music and a rush of the crowd had separated them. She had relaxed and just gone with it, not at all disturbed when she'd ended up in the arms of what looked to be a college-aged girl. It had been a different experience, but not necessarily a bad one and she'd let go and enjoyed herself quite a bit. Eventually, while spinning with her she'd caught sight of Liam and had almost wolf-whistled when she saw just how cozy he had been with a decent looking guy on the floor. The guy had nothing on Alex of course, but still, he was worth a second glance. How that dance had translated to Liam eventually coming over with a scowl was beyond her, but now, with time to kill, she figured it was just about the time to ask.
His response stunned her.
"I can't turn off the gay even if I try."
"What?" she all but sputtered. That had been the last thing she'd expected out of him.
"I still ended up with a guy," he grumbled, thudding his fist against the wall. "I liked being with that guy. I didn't want to stop dancing with him."
"Hey, dancing ain't cheating if that's what you're worried about," she responded. "Unless something else happened that I didn't see?"
"Nothing happened," he scoffed, "but the thoughts were there."
"And that's a problem?" she inquired carefully. Hell they'd gone to a gay club. It would have been more ridiculous if neither of them had ended up with a same-sexed partner at some point that evening. Why did Liam seem as if he were bothered by it now?
"Do you know how much easier things would be if I was straight?"
And then it clicked to Maya, the link between his current mood and his meeting with his mother during the day. If Liam had been straight he would not have experienced a lot of the trauma he'd gone through. He would not have dealt with bullies this year and the last. He would not have had to move in with his uncle and aunt. He would not have had the scar on his arm. He would have had a mother who loved him unconditionally and would not have resorted to violence.
"The social worker left us be for a lot of today," he said, as if reading her thoughts. He stood a bit straighter against the post and surprised her by reaching out to finger a lock of her hair as he spoke, whirling it around his fingers. That was new. Liam was not one for open affection and would usually faster tug at her hair or braid than handle it gently as he was doing now. She just put it down to the strangeness of this all and let it be, stepping a tad closer to him to lessen the slight strain against her scalp. "She basically said it. That all of this is my fault because of the gay. We would be a happy family if only I could be normal. Why couldn't I just accept that I held a removable perversion, a curable one and that I'd be happy once I was rid of it, rid of Alex. I could be happy with a girl, and everything would be right."
"But that's not who you are," she pointed out.
"It'd be easier if I was at least bi like Alex," he said, as if she had not said anything. "He could pass. It's easier for him. If it wasn't for me he could just be with a girl and no-one would be the wiser. Why can't I do that?"
"Because your sexuality isn't his?"
"I could pretend though. Pretend to be normal."
"Why would you pretend for her?" she demanded, confusion mixing with anger. Liam hated his mother. He was angry with her. She had done irrevocable damage to him. Why the hell did he want to do something to please her? Why did he give a damn?
"I wonder if I could do it?" he asked, almost idly. "If I ended up with her and pretended to be straight maybe I would be okay."
"Hey," she snapped, glaring up at him. "You deserve better than living a lie, especially for her sake."
"It wouldn't be forever," he mused, "what's three years?"
"You cannot be giving up," she said, smacking his chest with her hand to get him to look down at her. "What the hell happened today? Why would you think she has a chance?"
"Doesn't matter," he muttered. "Three years isn't too bad of a time."
"It's a lifetime," she contradicted.
"You've been pretending to like Shane for months now? I could pretend to be straight."
"Those two things are in no way equivalent," she said tersely.
"Doesn't matter. Pretending isn't that hard. I mean, girls can't be one hundred percent bad, right? I mean you guys got all those squishy bits but inherently there isn't too much a difference. I could do it."
"You can't just convince yourself that you're straight," she said.
"Don't have to convince myself," he said, his tone lowering, taking on a different quality as he looked at her. "I just have to pretend for a bit. It can't be that hard."
As he said that, his hand went from twirling her hair to releasing it and moving up and through it, his fingers raking gently around her scalp, the other hand moving to do the same until they were both buried in her hair. Maya froze at the gesture, not out of fright, but just at the suddenness of it even as a light shudder went through her at the gesture. Yeah, head rubs were her kryptonite; didn't matter who did it, she would turn to goo.
"I like you," he said, in that same odd tone, "and you're a girl. It can't be too much of a stretch right?"
Maya didn't answer. She didn't know how to answer, and suddenly she was keenly aware of the position they were in. To thump on his chest she had had to move closer to him, and while they had been in even closer positions before - hell she had been all over him during wrestling matches - there was a difference now, a difference that she could not deny. It was in Liam's clouded eyes. Oh it wasn't alcohol because she knew that he had long since established that. There were a swirl of emotions there in her gaze, too many that coalesced to just make his eyes almost dazed. She stood still, but she wasn't afraid, wasn't concerned as those eyes started to flick around, taking in her features, as if he were assessing her, no, assessing her femininity.
She knew what was about to happen even before Liam moved, and she knew she could have stopped it, knew that all she would have to do was push her hand against his chest with the gentlest of pressures and he would relent, desist from this. But she didn't, and not only because she knew that this was something that Liam needed. She had to admit that she herself was a bit curious, curious to see if all physical affection was the same or if she would react to a display of affection from Liam in the same way she reacted to a touch from Shane, or Lucas.
And so, when Liam's head tilted down and his lips lowered towards hers she tilted her head up to grant him better access, her lips parting slightly as her eyes drifted close. Their lips met, tentative at first before growing curious as they started exploring the feeling that was evoked.
And here it was that Shane had thought it was Lucas that he had to be worried about.
