KING LUCAS

CHAPTER 12

Lucas and Zay were stuck on traffic on Monday morning, after Zay had taken too long applying the lotions he used for his hair. Zay had stayed over the entire weekend at his house after the party.

Zay pointed at the drawings on his dashboard and giggled.

"Is that a llama?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think so." He said, quickly glancing at the new decoration of his car.

"Boy, was Maya drunk." Zay replied.

"You are one to talk, you wouldn't get in the fucking car, you passed out in the cargo area." Lucas responded.

"In my defense, I was watching the stars. At least I didn't draw in your dashboard, like she did." He said, smiling. "Ha, I will never get over the Huckleberry."

Lucas saw the drawing once more, he didn't know when or where she had gotten the sharpie, but the next thing he knew was that she was concentrated, supporting herself on the dashboard. He couldn't stop her, after trying to take the sharpie from her, she bit his arm and he surrendered. The drawing was a stick figure with a cowboy hat and a lasso, riding a llama, with an arrow that pointed out and said 'Huckleberry', she had even signed the drawing with her initials.

"Do you like her?" Zay asked, smooth as always, Lucas thought sarcastically.

"It was just a kiss, I'm not going to grab my boom box and stand outside her building just for a kiss." Lucas answered, Zay rolled his eyes.

"Did you know that you're the first guy I've ever seen her hook up with from our class?" Zay asked, seriously.

"I'm that good." Lucas said with a smirk.

"Or the other guy is that bad." He replied quickly, Lucas gave him a look.

"Look Zay, if you are offered pie you never say no, you smile and politely take the plate, if it's a good pie then you ask for another slice." He said pulling inside the parking lot.

"And was Maya a good slice?" Zay asked frowning.

Lucas smiled at him, but didn't respond to his question. They got down and walked towards the school, a lot of people were waiting outside for the bell to ring, but they entered and separated, each to find their respective locker. He didn't find Riley in hers, as he usually did, she was still upset with him about the kiss with Gabbie, he sighed, Riley was complicated.

"Are you blind?" He heard someone scream down the hallway.

"I... I'm... I'm sorry." Was the reply, when he looked down, what appeared to be a freshman was putting together some books from the floor, standing next to him was the menacing blonde that stood at 5 feet.

"Your sorry's won't bring me back the minute I lost because of you." She said, taking the books from his hand. "What are you looking at?" She spat at some sophomore girls that passed next to them.

"Next time you decide to come to school, save people their time and stay out of their way!" She barked once more and walked away, everyone avoiding her glance.

What was wrong with her? He couldn't tell, had she been in a fight with Riley? Was that the reason why she wasn't on her locker this morning? Maybe Maya told her about the kiss, no, she would never destroy her friendship like this. It had to be something else, maybe something happened at home, but he didn't know anything about her home life. The bell brought him back from his thoughts and he picked up his backpack and left to class.

Inside the class Zay and him were sitting, waiting for their teacher to come, he was late as he always was. Mr. Sagan was a very old man, who each year said it would be his last, but every year he returned, probably because he forgot about the promise he had made. He always took the longest time to come from the teacher lounge to their class.

He was talking to Zay when he saw Maya pass across the small window on the door, he frowned and looked at his watch. He quickly grabbed his backpack and stood up.

"Sorry, man, I'm leaving." He said to his friend, interrupting whatever he was saying.

"What?" Zay asked, surprised. "Where?"

"Pass me whatever you write today, thanks!" He had no time to explain what he was going to do and he wasn't going to bring him along. Everyone watched him leave, Zay had his mouth open, Lucas thought of how this was probably the first time he didn't have anything to say.

"Maya! Wait up!" He caught up to her, when she was pushing the front doors of the school open, she ignored him and he ran after her.

"Hey Maya, can we talk?" He said, as they walked down the stairs.

"What do you want to talk about?" She said, impatiently, not even glancing his way, she kept on walking.

"You know." He said, stopping her.

"It was a kiss, not an engagement ring, I don't see what you need to talk about." She said, no softness in her voice.

"Why did you do it?" He asked, serious.

"I was drunk, it was a drunken mistake and it won't happen again." She turned around again to leave but he stopped her, grabbing her arm.

"Why not?" He asked, she snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Hmm, let's see..." She began sarcastically. "I'm with Josh, who actually cares a lot about me, then there's the fact that Riley, my best friend, likes you for some reason and I probably risked our friendship for a stupid kiss. Oh, and you're an asshole, what else do you need?" She said, annoyed.

"The truth." He simply said.

"You want the truth? Well, we're just friends, Huckleberry. Nothing more, we will never be anything else." She said, firmly.

"I never said I wanted a relationship." He came closer to her, as if to speak so only she could hear him. "I'm trying to... how was it that you put it? Satisfy my hormonal needs or was it my teenage cravings?"

"You're such a dick." She pushed him away, rolling her eyes.

"Stop denying everything like you haven't enjoyed it." She denied it with her head, he snorted. "Please! I'd have you dripping in minutes."

"Leave!" Her eyes changed, they became darker, filled with rage, that was good, that was where he wanted to take her.

"Why? Because you know it's true?" He raised his voice to match hers.

"I said leave!" She pushed him once more, she was furious.

"No!" He answered loudly.

"What do you want from me?" She asked desperately.

"To admit you want me!" They were fighting in the sidewalk, people watching them carefully as they passed by.

"Oh my God! You're so arrogant!" She replied, throwing her hands to the air. "You should start thinking about the possibility that not everyone wants to fuck you! The fact that you think you are good at it doesn't make you likeable, it makes you a whore!" She said at once, screaming, he was actually wondering if anyone at school could listen to them.

She was panting, after all that yelling.

"Do you feel better?" He suddenly asked, changing his features completely, lowering his voice and stepping back.

"What?" She asked, frowning.

"I saw you this morning, you probably traumatized that freshman boy." He made a pause, to read her face, her eyes had calmed down a little, she didn't know what was going on. "Something was obviously bothering you and you needed a punching bag." He replied with a half smile.

"Wait..." She put a hand in the air and closed her eyes. "You wanted to make me angry?" She asked trying to understand what was happening.

"I wanted you to let everything out." He said softly. "I know how it feels to be consumed by anger, it's not healthy."

"I..." She was speechless, good, Lucas thought. Keep doing the unexpected, he told himself. The first rule of attraction was the physical aspect and he knew he had that, otherwise she wouldn't have kissed him, but he needed to start setting some ground on the second phase of his plan which was the emotional attachment.

"Forget it... I can take my punches." He checked his watch. "We missed the first period already, do you want to go and grab some food?"

"Uhh... okay." She answered, unsure.

"I'm sorry for drawing in your dashboard." She said when they were sitting on a table, she had recommended a diner that she and her mother loved. The whole car ride had been silent, besides Maya telling him the way.

"Zay thinks it's hilarious." He said, reading the menu.

"I have some thinner in my bag, I could clean it off for you." She was trying to compensate after yelling at him, he didn't care what she had said, this was a behavior that he didn't have unlike her or most people, he didn't try to make up for things he did that hurt others.

"That's fine, it's growing on me." He managed to say, before the waitress interrupted them.

"Are you ready?" She asked them.

"Yes, I'll have the chocolate chip pancakes and a strawberry milkshake." Maya said, returning the menu with a smile.

"And I'll have a breakfast number 4, with regular pancakes on the side and one black coffee." She wrote everything down and took their menus away.

"Thank you." They both said as she left.

"Can I ask you something personal?" He said, after a while.

"What?" She replied.

"Why were you so upset today?" He tried asking as gently as he could.

"I had a fight with my mom about her new boyfriend Steve." She said his name with disgust, her features hardened. The hardest part about winning somebody's heart was pretending to care, pretending to understand what they were feeling. He soon realized that he didn't have to pretend with Maya, he knew how she felt, hell, he had lived it and still did. This caused an uneasy feeling in Lucas' gut, it would make things easier for him, that was certain, but at what cost.

"Y'know, I've also had my share of Steves, coming and going just as quickly in my house." Lucas said, with a half smile. She bit her lip, nodding. Lucas narrowed his eyes, she was trying to decide whether or not to trust him with her problems.

"The thing is, this one has stayed longer than I thought." She did it, he contained his victory smile and clenched his jaw.

"I see." He said looking at her, before he could say anything else two waitresses brought their order to the table. One of them placed Maya's pancakes in front of her and the milkshake, while the other one gave Lucas his eggs with bacon, hash browns and toast, plus the pancakes on the side. She took a cup out of her apron and served the coffee.

He grabbed his fork and looked at Maya, who had her eyes wide open.

"You're going to eat all that?" She asked, a little concerned. He laughed and nodded, digging in, Zay had eaten all of his cereal that morning and he didn't feel like cooking himself breakfast, so he just left to school with a glass of orange juice in his stomach.

After they both had finished every bite of their food and Maya had expressed her serious concern of what all that salt could do to his arteries, Lucas insisted on paying the bill and all they left behind was a generous tip to their waitress. He drove her home, enjoying the silence in the ride, she hummed to whatever she played on the radio and even sang sometimes, he didn't know she could sing, he found her voice to be a welcomed distraction to his always busy head.

"Hey, Huckleberry..." She said from the street, through the window of his car. "Thanks."

"No problem." He said, smiling. "I had a nice time."

"Yeah, maybe... Just maybe, you're not an asshole all the time." She said, looking down, when she looked back at him she added, "But most of the time you are."

He rolled his eyes and smiled. Today had been a great step into his plan.