KING LUCAS
CHAPTER 31
The last couple of days had been weird between Maya and Lucas, ever since they met at the batting cages he couldn't stop thinking of her, the way she had held him, like she wouldn't let go. He had finally learned the truth about her father and he told her about his, maybe he gave her too much information, but it came all out in the moment.
He was still angry with his father, and how he had decided to let go of Lucas with some money, like that could fix anything.
Now, that issue had been replaced by the blonde beauty. He knew the risk of opening up, unboxing all those canned issues had taken a toll on him, he was having panick attacks more often, his nightmares had increased, he knew that if he didn't find a way of dealing with this it would eat him alive.
But he couldn't talk with Maya about it, not since the weekend, he felt ill just by looking at her; the thing was that he couldn't stop staring. He would steal a glance every chance he had, in the hallways, at lunch, when they were at Topanga's. And the group was beginning to notice, because it wasn't just him, more often than not, Lucas found Maya staring back.
He was looking at the crease in her forehead as she drew in her book, she was seated diagonally to them. Her blonde mane fell to the other side, facing a sleeping Riley, her head resting on Farkle's shoulder. Maya bit her lip when she erased, her hand moving carefully on the paper.
"Stop staring." Zay nudged his ribcage.
"Ouch." Lucas said, frowning, Maya had turned to see the pair, their eyes connected but she returned quickly to her drawing. "Why did you do that?" He whispered.
"Because you two are killing me," he said back. "I don't know what happened between you, but we are all tired of the staring and the tension and the weird silence." The woman next to them looked at them and went back to her nap. "You have to put an end to this, fix your problems with her."
"We don't have any problems." He replied.
Zay rolled his eyes and put his headphones on, knowing that it was impossible to get him to admit anything of the sort.
Lucas went back to staring at the bald head of the man in front of him, watching at Maya every now and then.
When the plane was landing, the flight attendant had to wake Maya who had fallen asleep in the table, her hair covered her face like a curtain.
"Ladies and gentlemen we have reached our destination, the time in Austin is 9:45 a.m. and the temperature is 69 degrees. In behalf of American Airlines we'd like to thank you for choosing us." When the seatbelt sign turned off everyone stood up and began taking their carry on luggage out.
Maya was struggling to get hers.
"Let me." Lucas said, she gasped when she felt him behind her, his breath in her ear. He took it out without breaking a sweat.
"Thanks," she told him. As they were walking out the plane, Lucas grabbed her arm. "What's wrong?"
"C'mon," he pulled her to a side, their friends kept walking ahead.
"Tell me already, Huckleberry." She said, breaking her grip.
"I don't want to spend these days unable to speak to you, so can we just go back... To being us, you calling me names and me being annoyed by it." He explained, lowly, not taking his eyes off of her.
"Luc– Yes, I think we can do that." She replied.
"Good." He said.
They joined the others again, Zay had taken out his cowboy hat and Farkle was looking at some in one of the stores.
"I like this one. Don't you, Riles?" He said, modeling in front of the mirror.
Lucas saw this and laughed, Maya frowned.
"That's a kid's hat." He took another hat from the stand and changed the one Farkle had in his head for it. "This is a real hat."
They boy seemed very pleased with his new look. Lucas grabbed a hat for his own too.
"What do you think?" He asked Maya, who he saw through the mirror, looking at him from behind. Her face was like she had just won the lottery.
"Do you really want to know?" She asked, lifting one eyebrow.
His eyes widened. "No, I don' think it's necessary." He told her, turning around to see her.
"I'm going to do it anyway." She walked towards him, until they were face to face. "Ha- huurr." She said, with a smug face, Lucas closed his eyes until she was done.
"This one gottcha good, boy." They heard a deep voice said behind them. They all turned around to see a big man, dressed in a complete cowboy outfit.
"Who are you?" Riley asked, giving step forward.
"That's Pappy Joe!" Maya said, overly excited, Lucas walked towards him and shaked his hand.
"Hello, sir." He told his grandfather, next to him Lucas was a few inches taller. "These are my friends: Riley, Maya, Zay and Farkle."
"Bless you." He said. "And who is the skinny boy, I knew they not feed you right in the city." He slappeed his belly with both hands.
"That's Farkle." This time Lucas said his name slowly so he could understand.
"I see, are y'all hungry?" He asked, fixing his hat on his head. "Your Ma made y'all some lunch, c'mon."
They all followed Pappy Joe to the parking lot, where a big pick up truck was waiting for them. This one was a much newer model. Unlike Lucas', it wasn't falling apart and it didn't make weird noises as it started.
The ride to the Friar property from the airport was very long, they passed through the city as Lucas and Zay and Pappy Joe gave them a tour of the city. Then, as the buildings disappeared and they continued farther out, trees began to come together, they reached a long and tight road that ended in a huge gate, in the wall on the right side it read: Friar Farm. Lucas got down from the car and pushed the gates open.
Inside there was more road, apple tress stretched to each side until they got to a roundabout, then the trees were gone. The house stood on a side, to its right there was a large prairie that seemed to have no end, a red barn stood in the middle of it, they could see a man pulling in a horse; then to its left were the fields, they explained that they had pumpkins and corn this season.
The three New Yorkers were in awe with the scenery, never before had they visited a farm this beautiful. The closest one of them had been of farm life was when Riley went with her parents to pick a pumpkin for Halloween.
Zay felt right at home, because in his mind this was the same thing he had left behind when he moved to New York. Lucas found it funny, the truth was thaat Zay lived in the suburbs, far away from any farm, but he didn't dare telling him that he was more a city boy than anything else.
Between Lucas and Zay they took down the luggage, at the same time they heard the door open.
"Where's my little Lukey?" A woman said from the porch, cleaning her hands on her apron. She was old, her hair as white as cotton. Maya noticed that all the Friars were very tall.
Lucas jumped all the stairs of the porch at once and gave his grandmother a big hug, she was laughing out loud, she had the same smile that Lucas and Elizabeth had.
After all the introductions they went inside to clean up for lunch. Lucas was in charge of the tour, he showed them the big living room, the kitchen, the dining room and upstairs were all three rooms, one for the girls and another one for the boys, each had its own bathroom.
They all unpacked and made their beds, in the boys room, there was a single bed and a bunk bed, Farkle took the lower level unable to see the ladder at night without his contacts, Zay picked the upper bed and Lucas remained in the single bed.
He took a few towels from the closet in the corridor and knocked on the girls door.
"Hey." Maya greeted him, she had changed into a different outfit, with shorts and a flannel shirt, the ends tied just over her hips, showing a little bit of skin. He was staring, again.
"Hey." He said, his mind silent for a minute.
"Are those for us?" She asked, pointing at the towels and bringing him back.
"Uh, yes. Yes, they are." He gave them to her, but they stayed at the door. "There are more in the closet that's in the hall, in case you need more."
"Thanks, Huckleberry." She said, smirking. She knew the effect that she had on him, how his eyes got lost studying her.
Before she could close the door, Lucas put his foot to stop it. She looked down at it.
"You look good–" he said, "It suits you." Her cheeks turned red, but she didn't move her eyes. "Lunch is ready." He finished.
Grandma Rose prepared a huge welcoming lunch, with three whole chickens, a fresh salad with home grown ingredients, mashed potatoes and her famous apple pie.
"Wow." Farkle said, with the rest of them coming right behind him. "This looks amazing."
"Thank you, sweetie." Rose replied, cutting the chickens in pieces, Pappy Joe was sitting down as Lucas served them drinks.
None of the kids had ever seen Farkle eat as much as he did that day, he had a double portion of everything until he had to unfasten his belt two spots. Pappy Joe did the same and he welcomed him to the family, Riley giggled.
Lucas was asked to bring a pit of ice cream for the pie, as he watched his friends eat and laugh in his dining room, he felt happy. He hadn't noticed that without trying he had found true friends in New York. He didn't keep them close because he could get a favor from them, and if any part of him still thought that they were just tools in his game, he would be lying to himself. Every person in that table would do anything for him, and it scared him a little to know that he would do the same. They had become his family and he wanted to protect him, Zay had said the same to him, but he refused to believe it. Now, he realized that he wasn't weak for having friends, if all it was them that made him stronger.
His eyes fell on Maya and his heart started beating fast. He left the ice cream on the table and went back to the kitchen and out of the door to the back. He breathed slowly, looking at the barn and the prairie. His heart rate went back to normal.
"You forgot your pie." A familiar voice said behind him.
"Thank you." He told Maya, grabbing the plate from her hands. He sat in the bench to eat while she took in the view.
"I saw the china cabinet in the dining room, I'm guessing you made it." She stated, turning around and leaning on a column.
"It was a birthday gift." She smiled.
"You look different here." Maya said, watching him carefully.
"What do you mean?" He frowned, taking another bite on the pie.
"Like you're not carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders." She tried to explain. "You seem more relaxed and happy."
"It's the air." He jested, that won him a smile. He set aside his plate and walked to her. "It's also the view." He said, looking at her. He put a lost strand of hair behind her ear, Maya was frozen in place.
Her eyes... He thought, why do they look like the eyes of the girl he saw on the hallway so long ago, but somehow they're not the same. When they met, he couldn't read her eyes, they showed no emotion, they were the eyes of a broken girl. Now, when he looks at those blue orbes, he can see a reflection, he sees himself. It has come to him that he is broken too, it wasn't their fault to grow up like that, always a little empty, their world was responsible for taking their gleam away.
Maybe that's the reason he broke so many people, he didn't like the idea of others enjoying life when he was miserable, it wasn't fair. Now he understood that he was right, it wasn't fair, but neither it was to decide who's gleam he stole. Instead of working on making other lives miserable he should've worked on making his enjoyable.
Maybe life had its own idea, because it was in the middle of his master plan that he learned what's truly important for him to be happy.
And he had realized all of this, staring at those broken blue eyes. He had found happiness in Maya and nothing had ever scared him as much.
Lucas stepped back. He could see the disappointment in her face. But she was still with Josh and he didn't want to do anything unless she had chosen to do it.
"So, Lucas, what's the plan for tonight?" Zay asked, joined by Riley and Farkle.
He looked briefly at Maya, knowing that they needed to figure this out.
"Oh, we're going out." He said, smiling mischievously.