chapter rating: pg-13
word count: 1,349
summary: After Lucas admits to Farkle he has feelings for Maya, she finds out, and there's no more hiding from the inevitable.

In retrospect, admitting to Farkle that he's in love with Maya may not have been the best idea. After all, his best friend has a habit of revealing people's feelings whenever he thinks it'll help or they deserve to know, and this time is no different. So, Lucas really shouldn't be surprised that Maya is confronting him. He's a little surprised she's doing it here, at school, but at least the halls are empty. Football practice let out a while ago and he's the only one left as he walks out of the locker room. But Maya is waiting. She's pacing a circle and fiddling with a ring on her finger, the same on Riley wore since middle school.

He doesn't get half way through her name before she turns on him, her eyes wide and a little wild.

"You're in love with me?"

She sounds angry, and he can already feel himself shaking his head, because that's not how this is supposed to go. Right? Love isn't supposed to be like this. This hard and painful and complicated. He's not supposed to fall in love with one of his best friends. His ex-girlfriends best friend too. But here he is, and there she is, and she looks like she's fighting tears, even as her hands ball up into fists. Like she can fight the obvious, the inevitable. But he's tried that, he's been trying that, and he knows there's no point. He fell in love -he doesn't even know when- but he's tired of pretending he didn't.

"Maya..." His voice is quiet. He hopes it's reassuring or soothing or something, and he takes a step toward her, like she's a horse that might spook if he pushes her limits.

She's quick to take a step back, her hand out as if to stop him, to warn him off. "You can't be in love with me!"

Lucas frowns then. "All due respect, I think I get to decide how I feel."

"No. Not if you're just throwing your feelings around like this." She tosses her hands up. "You don't fall in love with me, Sundance. You fall in love with Riley. That's how this story goes."

"You're acting like you wrote the story, like you know how it all ends, but you're wrong." He stares at her a moment, and he knows she's scared, but suddenly he's not, not anymore. "Maya, I love you. I'm in love with you."

"Lucas, stop!"

But he doesn't want to stop. He's been holding onto these woods for too long now, and they need to be said.

"I can't even remember a time that I wasn't in love with you," he admits. "And I don't know if it started the moment we met on that subway or if it was just this slow build from middle school. But I know that I love fighting with you and I love talking to you and I love how alive I feel when I'm with you. And I love the way you smile after you just ha-hurr'd in my face, and the way you protect your friends, no matter the cost, and how strong and smart and talented you are, even if you'll never admit you're any of those things. And I don't care if you think the story is supposed to go some other way. This is our story. You and me."

He takes another step forward, staring into her eyes, and he takes it as a good sign that she doesn't step back.

"Me and Riley, we were a really good chapter, three books ago. You and me are the whole damn series, and I don't know how it ends. I don't know where it's going. But I don't want to miss out on anymore of it." He shakes his head. "So no, I'm not gonna stand on the sidelines and pretend that I don't want to kiss you when that is all I-"

Maya crosses the short space left between them, and she doesn't stop, not until she's lifted up on the tips of her toes, her mouth slanting over his. Her hand slides across his shoulder and behind his neck and he can feel the blunt edges of her nails scrape against his skin, a shiver crawling down his back in the same instant, before her fingers ball up the back of his shirt and hold on tight. Her mouth is warm and soft, seemingly in contrast with the girl herself, except that's exactly what she is, under all the armor and behind all the walls.

His arm is out, not quite around her, the ends of her hair drifting over his open palm. And then he wakes up and he meets her, move for move. His duffle bag slips off his shoulder, falling to the floor at his feet, and then his arms around around her, pulling her in, and he's kissing her with the same intensity they put into their arguing. A build-up of more than three years of friendship and want and love. And he's imagined this moment, so many times, but it is so much better than anything he could've thought up. The feel of her other hand on his chest, atop his quick-beating heart, and the way her breath skitters over his lips in between kisses, he's never going to forget these moments. They'll be seared into his memory for a lifetime.

When she finally slips back, feet falling flat on the floor, her eyes are still closed and she's licking her lips, a little pinker and puffier than usual. She blows out a sigh. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

He grins. "That's not how it felt."

Cracking an eye open, she glares up at him. "I had a plan. And no part of it included kissing you."

"Then it was a bad plan, in my humble opinion." He reaches up to tip an invisible hat at her. "Ma'am."

Maya's head falls back as she makes a frustrated noise, reminiscent of their early days.

And he grins even wider, staring down at her searchingly. "What if we tried a new plan?"

"What kind of plan?" Her brow arches skeptically.

"One where I take you to a movie and we put our hands in the popcorn at the same time and we see what happens."

"Lucas..." She shakes her head. "We can't."

"Why? And don't say because of Riley." His hands squeeze her hips. "Maya, we're not fourteen anymore, okay? There is nothing and no one between us. There's just you. And I get that you're scared-"

"I'm not scared!"

He smiles knowingly. "I'm scared too. I am. Because I want this. I want it to work. I want you. And maybe it won't. Maybe it'll blow up in our faces. But you know what? I'm willing to try. I'm willing to have my heart broken and stomped on and tossed out like yesterday's trash. I just want a chance. That's all. I just need you to believe that maybe we can work, and then let us try."

She swallows tightly, her gaze falling for a moment, and then she looks back up at him. "One movie, and I'll buy my own ticket, and we better get an extra-large popcorn because afterwards, I'll end up at Riley's, telling her every lame, cheesy thing you said, and you know how she is about popcorn."

Lucas grins. "Yeah?"

And Maya doesn't bother to stifle her own, hopeful smile. "Yeah."

"Okay."

He doesn't let go of her as he reaches down to grab up his duffel bag. He doesn't let go of her for a good long while, in fact. They leave the school together and make their way down to the subway. They need to make a pit-stop at his place, but he plans on taking her out for that movie tonight. He's not wasting time, he's done enough of that.

And in a few hours, when the nights ends with a goodnight kiss (more than one, if he's being honest) outside the Matthews' building, he waits until she's climbed through Riley's window before he pulls out his phone and calls Farkle. In this particular case, his friend deserves a thank you.

{end}

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