KING LUCAS
CHAPTER 21
He sat in his truck, holding the steering wheel tightly, looking at the dices that hung from the mirror of the car in front.
Lucas had convinced Missy to enter school first while he parked his truck, he couldn't afford any bad image issues anymore, although he knew that she would tell her friends and in a few hours the news would be on everyone's ears, but all he needed was a couple of hours.
But he could afford another minute there, he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach and it wasn't his hangover anymore. He was still angry about the dream he had that morning and he knew that it would bother him for the rest of the day, but that wasn't it either. He looked at the drawing of him in his dashboard one more time, before getting down.
When he crossed those doors, it felt like everyone stopped to look at him and his new purple stained bruise.
For the first time in a long while he didn't find Zay next to his locker, or Farkle on the science lab, or Maya with her best friend, the pain in his abdomen just grew, his palms were sweaty but he ignored all of that, to avoid thinking of a conclusion.
Fortunually, he did find Maya's other half sitting alone in the library, where he knew she would be, her head stuck in a book. He immediately noticed the red eyes, the tired face, her natural glow had disappeared overnight.
He felt angry with himself, he was going to comfort one of his victims, he was trying to bring back a glow in her eyes, but that wasn't supposed to be the purpose of the game. Yet, Lucas knew that without Riley he could never hope to get Maya.
"Hey, Riles." He said softly, standing in front of her. She looked up knowingly, her eyes drifted to his cheek and she frowned. "Can we talk?" He asked, after the long silence.
She was hurt just by looking at him, her eyes turned teary again, a soft gloss covered them.
"I don't think that's a good idea," she said softly. "I want to be alone."
"And I understand that, but I don't want to be the reason you and Maya are fighting." She flinched at the mention of her name, but kept her eyes on the book, she was reading Sense and Sensibility.
"It's a little too late for that." Riley answered almost in a whisper.
"Please, I'm trying to make this right, but I need a chance to do so." He tried to explain, but she closed her eyes and didn't move. Against her wishes he sat in the chair across from her, she looked at him and then around the room. To the rest of the students in the library it was clear that the pair was fighting. "Fine, if you won't talk to me, then you'll listen, even if it means that I'll have to tell you here in front of everyone in this room."
She opened her mouth, taken aback by his passive aggressive threat, but she closed it quickly along with her book. She stood up, putting her bag on the shoulder. "Fine, let's go."
Lucas followed close behind until they were outside over the bleachers in front of the baseball field.
"Riley..." He began, after she didn't say anything for a minute. "What happened between Maya and I... you have to understand..."
"I understand Lucas, I understand perfectly." She said, taking the hair out of her face. "You don't even have to apologize, it has always been this way." He frowned, he didn't understand what her point was. "She is the pretty one, she's the funny one, the wild one, it has been like that our whole lives and I've always tried to deny it, but then you came along... And she warned me, you know?" She laughed, tears rolling down her face.
"She warned me about you and then she..." Her lip quivered, he clenched his jaw and looked at the kids who were playing in the field. "But I thought you were different, I mean... I fell on your lap on the subway, what are the odds of that." She lifted her hands to the sky as if she was waiting for a divine answer.
"Riley, I was never that guy on the subway." He finally interrupted. "I wanted to be, believe me, I did... It was a new city, I could be someone new, y'know? And you let me be that guy who, honestly, I've always dreamed of being." He took a deep breath, the memories of his dream flooding his mind.
"I'm not the western hero you think I am and Maya knew that from the start." He could see that the tears had stopped, who could've known that honesty came such a long way.
"Is that why you picked her?" She asked, in a low voice, as if the kids in the field could hear her.
"Riley, this was never a choosing game, and we made a mistake by lying to you, but don't put all the blame on her, it was me who chased after her." He said, looking down at his shoes, to show a little shame. "I couldn't be that guy for you, Riley. I couldn't fall for you."
"Why not?" She asked, with a hurt expression.
"Because of Farkle." She frowned, confused.
"What does Farkle have to do with any of this?" She asked, Lucas looked at her with pity, she really didn't know.
"You say that every guy you've ever met always wanted Maya over you, but the one guy you've known forever, the one that promised to love you both the same, that guy is madly in love with you." Her eyes widened at the sound of the statement, it seemed like all they had talked about before this moment was, for now, forgotten. "I couldn't hurt him."
"No, he's not." She moved her head from side to side. "I would've known, I mean, he's my best friend, I see him everyday."
"Riley his eyes sparkle every time he sees you, even at the mention of your name." Lucas narrowed his eyes, because he swore he saw her flush.
"Why wouldn't he tell me?" She asked after processing her thoughts a bit, Lucas could hear the bells of victory ringing in his head.
"Because you were in love with the wrong guy." She opened her mouth, but no words came out of it. He had just pushed one tile of the game, now he could stand and watch the rest of the pieces fall into place.
She covered her face with her hands, while her legs held her arms up. She made a frustrated sound, Lucas smiled, she was confused. He remembered how one of his old history teachers use to say: confuse and conquer, Lucas had definitely learned how to use that on his favor.
"About Maya..." he began, that was the important part here. "She didn't want to hurt you, she loves you." Riley didn't answer. "I won't talk to her again if you don't want me to."
She finally lifted her head and looked at him. "Okay... No, wait... I don't know..." Good, because he didn't mean to.
"Look, I'll stay away for a while, okay?" He said, searching for approval in her eyes. "While you fix things with Maya."
She looked past behind him and nodded. "I just miss her."
"I know, c'mon." He said, standing up and offering a hand to help her, but she didn't take it.
"Thank you Lucas." She said, walking back to school, they still had a few minutes before their next period. When they walked in together, they had the poor luck of running into Farkle, his hand was bandaged but Riley didn't tie both of their injuries together.
"Hi Farkle..." She said awkwardly, then turned to Lucas. "I'm going to look for Maya." He smiled and nodded, before she said goodbye and left the two boys.
"Why were you with her?" Farkle asked the second Riley disappeared in a corner.
"I was apologizing." Lucas answered.
"I don't care whatever lies you told her, but I don't want you to talk to her again." He spoke quickly, like he hadn't heard what Lucas had said.
"Farkle relax, we just talked about what happened. She's going to talk to Maya." He said, while trying to figure out what his next step would be.
"So what? Are you in a triangle with both of them?" He asked, not interested if anyone else heard what they were talking about.
"What? No! Listen to me, I'm not with either one of them." Lucas exclaimed, pulling him to one side that was far away from the crowds.
"I thought you liked them." He said in a little voice, it seemed like Farkle had finally paid attention to what he was saying.
"No... you like Riley." Lucas said, hoping that this thing would work.
"What?" He asked nervously, Lucas couldn't help but smile.
"I know Farkle, I'm not so dumb, y'know." Lucas said with a pity smile. "And if I'm right I think she likes you too." His tall friend didn't say anything, he stood there gazing at Lucas incredulous.
"But she cried for you." He was trying to make sense to everything.
"No, she cried for Maya." The only way his plan would work was if they didn't ask the other how they felt, one of them had to confess it and it had to be Farkle, who would've guessed that Lucas Friar would be playing Cupid, when he was closer to being the devil.
"She can't like me, she likes you." They would have to work on his confidence, for sure.
"She only thought she did." Lucas tried to explain.
"What does that even mean?" Lucas chuckled, Farkle may be the genius of the class but when it came to feelings he knew as much as a five year old.
"It means that I'm not going to be around for a while, and Maya and Riley are going to fix things and Maya is probably going to fix things with Josh, so you better fix things with Riley." The bell rang and Lucas couldn't be late for another class. "This is your chance Farkle and you'll only get one, because Riley is great and it's only going to be some time before other guys realize it." Farkle was nodding, completely lost on his words.
They reached the class Lucas was heading into, so he stopped Farkle.
"Don't screw this up." For me, he thought. Lucas slapped him slightly to wake him from his trance, not painfully enough, Farkle winced and frowned, but he nodded by the end.
He left Farkle alone in the hallway and entered his geometry class, Zay was already there, looking at him, expectantly but not smiling. Lucas had already done much apologizing, he was sick of it, so he sat in the back of the class and he closed his eyes.
He woke up with the bell, half of the class gone, but Zay remained there, taking his time to put his books on his backpack. Lucas rolled his eyes and pushed himself through the crowd of rushing teens, leaving Zay behind.
He took a deep breath, it smelled like New York, but by then it was the best he would get. He couldn't believe how much he missed Texas, even after everything that had happened. He didn't know what to do, he knew how his plan would develop in the future, now that he had pushed the Riley/Farkle wagon, he just had to see it roll downhill, but he needed to get back in the gang to pursue Maya again, only then could he take down the biggest obstacle and Josh would be no piece of pie.
What he didn't know what to do was more present, he had never spent a Friday without plans in the city. He could call any girl he wanted but that was just an empty activity, he didn't have Zay or Maya to hang out, he was alone again.
It would only be temporary, he planned on staying away for a month or so, to let things cool off before...
"Psst, sleeping beauty!" He looked down to find Missy waiting for him at the end of the stairs. "Take me home?" She asked casually, Lucas lifted his brow, actually surprised to see her there.
He nodded, coming down to her, only then did he see the faint glimmer he grew to appreciate, it was brand new, a smile grew across his face, it seemed like his month was all scheduled.