This one ended up being around 5k so I cut it in half, the next chapter will come out next week. Thanks for reading!

KING LUCAS

CHAPTER 8

Lucas couldn't believe he was sitting where he was, never in his 18 years had he imagine that he would have to sit through a prom committee meeting, especially one in which he had volunteered to help in anything they needed. Riley and some other girl Lucas didn't care to even remember her name, ran the committee, they were in charge of every detail. Lucas didn't care about getting closer to Riley romantically anymore, she wasn't his target, but he needed to get closer to her so he could get more information about Maya. He was already making progress with Farkle, who was sitting next to him, taking note to everything Riley said, but it was obvious he would be there, his eyes were shining like diamonds.

Maya was a closed book, he needed something to write on her blank pages, Farkle had helped a lot, but Riley was the key, there was no one in this world that knew Maya as well as Riley did. Things were beginning to get complicated and Lucas was finally getting the chill he had become addicted to. He had to get information out of Riley without raising suspicion, she was naive yes, but she was not dumb and she would start to think there was something going on between the pair, he couldn't let that happen for now.

His planning was interrupted by the sound of the door closing, to his surprise Maya had entered the meeting and sat next to Riley, he wasn't expecting her there but he was glad, he needed her to like him and that could only happen with continuous contact.

"Lucas!" Riley called for his attention, he lifted his eyes to meet hers. "You offered your house to make the cupcakes, right?"

"Oh, yeah." He said nodding.

"Good, unfortunately Jenny is sick so she can't help, but Maya will take her place."

"What?" Maya asked, looking angrily at her best friend. "I thought I was doing some sketches."

"You are", Riley said putting her hand in her shoulder, "But you also have to help with the cupcakes, everyone already has their assignments and this is for tomorrow."

The blonde girl rolled her eyes, Riley was doing her puppy face and she couldn't say no to that face. She wasn't happy about working with Ranger Rick but she would make it as fast as she could. It had been almost a week since Gabbie Anderson's party and he hadn't done anything yet and she didn't want to be alone in his house with him for a second longer than needed.

"Ok, then, let's end the meeting here." Everyone stood up to leave, Farkle headed to where Riley was packing her paperclip and Maya walked towards Lucas.

"I didn't think you'd be in the prom committee." Lucas said smirking.

"Riley made me." She said annoyed.

"What a coincidence, me too." He said smiling, but she didn't answer. "Got everything?"

She nodded, he lifted a heavy box filled with all the ingredients and things they would need for the cupcakes. Her eyes traveled to his flexed arms, since they had kissed a tension had settled between them, and she couldn't help herself to notice every little move he did. Sometimes her eyes drifted to his lips and if she tried really hard she could remember the taste they had, but his arms and his back had become her weakness, she could still picture them from the other day she saw him in the bathroom. She knew kissing him was risky, she trusted she could control herself enough to stop it, but she was definitely not expecting that he'd be so good.

Either way, she pushed all those thoughts away and blame them on her hormonal needs.

"Remember to be here early tomorrow!" Riley yelled as they walked out of the class, but they ignored her and continued their way.

In the trip Maya changed the radio station every time a commerical played, Lucas didn't mind he never focused on the music, he was always lost in his own thoughts. When the radio stopped in a country station, she turned to see him with a smile so big he could she the dimples in her cheeks.

"Ha hurr, ha hurr, ha huurr..." She sang along with the rithym, he tried not to laugh, but it amused him all the teasing and it made him happy how annoyed she got when he showed no reaction to them.

They finally reached the street he parked his car and got down, he took the big plastic box with him.

"Where is your place?"

"Two blocks that way", he said moving his head towards the pharmacy in the corner and lifting his brows.

He could see Cal sitting on his little chair, reading that day's paper.

"Lucas! Who is the lovely lady?" He said, standing up to greet them.

"Hey Cal, this is Maya, from school." Lucas said.

"Hello Maya from school." He said, taking his cap off and bowing his head.

"Hello Cal from the street, nice to meet you." Maya replied giggling.

"I'll see you around, alright? Take care!" Lucas said, they kept walking down, heading to his apartment building.

"Stay in school!" Cal yelled, he always did that, he would yell some advice when he'd leave, so it was the last thing he heard from him, just in case he moved and never saw Lucas again, he wanted to know that he helped someone in his life with good advice.

Lucas managed to open the door whilst holding the heavy box, he held it so Maya could enter the apartment. When they walked in Lucas placed the package in the kitchen counter, she looked around taking in everything.

His apartment was big, or what was considered big for a New Yorker, the walls had a beautiful color, it was like a beige grey, and the living space was decorated in a way that made Maya's artistic eye happy, it was a very pleasant place, something that she honestly didn't expect.

The furniture was of a darker grey adorned with different pillows all in the same pale pallet, a white carpet in the middle and over it a coffee table. There were still some opened boxes in the living room. His mother (who Maya obviously thought had decorated the apartment) had a great taste.

Maya's look fell over the beautiful library behind her, it was one of a kind was what she first thought, with squares of different sizes and placed unevenly, either way it was beautiful. She came closer to it, most of the books were about medical stuff, some pictures were also placed in a few of the squares, one of him with what appeared to be his mother, another one of him in a little cowboy outfit (she snapped a picture of the latter one for her own entertainment).

"Are you going to help?" He called from the kitchen, she took off her jacket and connected her phone to charge. While she washed her hands he had already taken all the ingredients out, he had also gotten his mixer ready and two large bowls.

The only thing that was left inside the plastic box was a piece of paper with the recipe, she grabbed it and recognized Topanga's handwriting on it.

"How many times are we going to do the recipe?" He asked, watching her.

"It says that this makes 24 and we need 350." She did the math on her head, looking at Lucas horrified when she got the answer.

"What?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"We have to do it 15 times!" She buried her head between her hands. "I'm going to be here forever." She complained.

"Wow", Lucas said, she lifted her head to look at him. "You really hate me that much?" She opened her mouth to say something, but the words never came. "Whatever, let's get this done."

He took a measuring cup out of a drawer and opened a bag of flour, reading from the instructions she had placed on the counter.

In a silent agreement, Lucas was on charge of the dry ingredients, which meant Maya was doing the wet ones. She lost count of how many eggs she had cracked, the trash bag filled with the empty shells. They had already made a batch that was baking in the oven, they had two molds that could bake 24 cupcakes at once, so they only had to do the whole process 7 times.

By the third time they were moving like a well oiled machine, each mixed their ingredients then Lucas placed his in the mixer while Maya poured slowly the liquids. Then each would grab one mold and start scooping the batter. They placed it on the oven and began again. Lucas' counter was filled with the finished cupcakes that were cooling, Maya had connected her phone to the speakers and she was playing her music, moving a little to the rithym singing some lyrics.

The slowest part was the baking and the mixing, fortunately they were working on the last mixture. Lucas placed his part on the mixer, Maya dropped a little of her part and in one quick motion she pulled the arm all the way back to the fastest setting, she immediately gasped but it was too late, she closed her eyes and hoped for the best, feeling how everything landed in her face, she looked up at him, the cocoa flour and milk with egg had covered his chest and face, she was in the same situation, her top and hair were dripping milk and she could only smell eggs.

Lucas opened his mouth taking the flour off his eyes, he didn't know what to say, this was so ridiculous. He looked down at her, the image was hilarious, her hair was dripping, he could see a yolk running down her cheek, he couldn't contain himself and bursted out laughing. She looked at him with an unbelieving face.

"It's not funny, look at me!" She yelled, hitting his arm with her palm, some flour was lifted in the air that made him laugh harder.

"That's why I'm laughing!" He said, gasping for air.

"Stop!" She said, but she was chuckling too, his laughter was very contagious and when he laughed it made him seem like a completely different person.

"Oh, that was fun!" He said, cleaning the tears in his eyes. "Here", he threw her a towel so she could clean her face, "let's finish this batch and then we can clean ourselves."

Luckily they had a cautious friend that had packed more ingredients in case something like this happened, when they were done Lucas placed the last cupcakes in the oven and then set an alarm.

"C'mon, you can wash in my bathroom." She followed him across a hallway, they passed a doorway and when she peaked inside it seemed to be an office with another one of those big libraries, but this one had a different shape, they were big triangles with shelves on them to accommodate all their books.

The other door was his room, it was blue, with his bed in one corner, a smaller bookshelf that had one of its shelves crooked and a desk of a light colored wood. He opened his closet door and took a towel out.

"Here, you can go first." She nodded and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her, the first thing that hit her was the smell, it smelled just like him it gave her goosebumps feeling surrounded by his essence.

Lucas knew that Maya would take longer so he grabbed one of his shirts and washed his face and hair in his mother's bathroom. He took the cupcakes out when the alarm went off and left them to cool over the stove.

When he came back she was still in the bathroom the water running, he entered and closed the door behind him. He layed on his bed until the door opened a little, enough so she could take her head out, she was holding the towel to her chest, he could see the laces of her black bra.

He lifted his eyebrows with a playful smirk, she rolled her eyes.

"Don't even think about it." But he did, he often found himself thinking about how to get her, she was undecipherable, but he would get her in time. "Can I borrow a shirt?"

"Sure", he headed to the closet, but instead of taking a random shirt from one his hangers, he smiled at himself and reached down to a box and took the one he was looking for.

He rested on the frame of the door looking down at her, they didn't say anything, they just exchanged looks thinking the same thing, but he handed her the shirt and she asked him to turn around.

He sat on his bed, waiting for her to come out, when the door creaked open a little, she probably didn't close it correctly. He looked away, but like magnets his eyes returned to her, she was turned on her back. He stared quietly, surfing the line of her column with his eyes, watching her bones fold when she raised her arms to put on his shirt.

He sat back when he knew that she was coming out.

"Really, Huckleberry?" She asked, a hand on her hip the other one pointing to the shirt he had given her. "Giddy up?"

He snorted at her, he had given her a grey shirt with a huge cowboy hat on it and the words 'Giddy up' written in rope. He loved that shirt, he had won it in a fair for hitting the hammer all the way up to the bell, but he knew it would drive Maya crazy.

"You couldn't have given me one your 20 blue shirts?" He smiled at the remark.

"Why? You look great in that one." She stood there awkwardly, his shirt almost reached her knees, so the shorts she was wearing underneath were invisible, the sleeves hanged over her elbows.