A/N: Happy Belated New Year guys!
Hey Lilly! I honestly was surprised it took the show so long to give Maya the "Maya Papaya" nickname; it seemed like an obvious choice given her name.
Gosh I missed you guys so much. I love you guys a lot! You're all so wonderful; I know I can come back on the site after being super busy and I'll always de-stress thanks to you guy! Thanks for your patience while the end of 2016 kicked my butt. Here's to 2017 being the year I finish every story I started! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Girl Meets World, but… eh I got nothing…
"Maya, what a pleasant surprise. We finally get a chance to talk again," Lucas said with a smile, a little out of breath, readjusting the pirate hat on his head as he came to a stop at second base. Maya shifted back to her placement between second and third as Coach Morris got the ball back for the next batter. "I'd been hoping I would get stuck on second one of these times."
She cracked a bubble from her gum, turning and raising a sarcastic brow at him. "Did you miss me that much?"
"Is it that obvious?" he returned in the same playful tone.
Tina started chuckling from third, and Maya felt her cheeks rouge, spinning around to face the front and wait for the pitch. Lucas had thrown playful barbs every time she got on first, and she would be lying if she said she hadn't enjoyed playing along a little. It wasn't like she was flirting back, but softball brought out a part of her that had been buried long ago, and she'd gotten sucked into the fake trash-talking, teasing fun of the game. It didn't help that the parents had gone with a pirate theme for their theme and all looked ridiculous from the fake parrots on their shoulders to the striped pants, eyepatches, and thick buckles. Not that the teachers looked any better. They had gone with the 50s look, and Maya wasn't so sure it was a great idea to play in a poodle skirt anymore. She was sure her skirt had flown up about a million times, but at least she had on tights to prevent this game from turning into an X rated flick.
But she had to focus.
The next batter up was Sandra Moore. She wasn't a particular powerhouse, but her precision with her batting and her direction was second to none and she could definitely get the bases loaded if she hit successfully. They had two outs, but thanks to the previous hit, had two men on base. Billy was batting after Sandra, and he'd consistently gotten great hits the entire game. Maya couldn't find any weaknesses in his skill, so she knew if he got at bat, he would definitely do his job as clean-up, which would crawl into everyone's psyche. Maya's team would feel the heat and make errors from being anxious, and Lucas' team would have renewed morale and energy.
She had to get someone out before Billy if she wanted to turn the momentum of the game. And right now, the only person she could see herself getting out was Lucas. He was closest to her and probably the easiest to distract, but she'd have to be quick on her feet.
Maya glanced briefly over her left shoulder at Lucas. "You know I'm going to get you out, right? Just prepping you."
Lucas smirked, raising a brow. "How are you going to get me out?"
"Think about it. Sandra will try to load the bases. Billy's up next and does his thing." Coach Morris wound the pitch and tossed the ball. It was a strike, though Sandra hadn't made any real motions to hit it. She was testing the waters. There were cheers from some of the audience cheering on the teachers. "He'll hit anything as long as it gets you all home. Which means that I have to get you out in the next round."
"And if he gets walked? Don't you think your pitcher will sacrifice a run to make sure Billy doesn't get a chance to bring us home?"
"The guy going after Billy is still a pretty good batter though." Maya focused her gaze on Sandra's bat as Coach Morris pitched again. Ball. "We can't risk possible loaded bases again."
"Ah. So you're going after me." Lucas sounded amused.
"Precisely."
"What did I do to deserve making an enemy out of you?"
"What?" Maya said playfully, watching Sandra carefully as Coach Morris tossed the pitch. It was too far out of the range. Ball. "Are you scared that I'm going to get you out?"
"Yes," Lucas said, readjusting the fake eyepatch on his face. "I've seen the ruthless way you've been playing today. You're terrifying. Especially for being this pint sized human being."
She chewed on her lower lip to keep her smile at bay.
Coach Morris wound for the pitch again and Maya shifted a bit to the right, closer to third as he threw the ball. Sandra swung and it careened back towards them, shooting right past Coach Morris' legs before he could stop it. The line drive hit the ground and bounced on a patch of dirt, changing its direction to Maya. She had to be careful; those kind of balls tended to be unpredictable. Out of her peripheral, she could see Lucas running to third. Someone on her team was shouting to get Lucas out, and as soon as the ball was safely in her glove, she pivoted on her heel and spun around. He was already more than halfway to third base.
This was do or die.
In a split second, she launched herself at him, but by the time he noticed her, he reacted too late. In what seemed like slow motion, Maya collided with him, and with a grunt, they crashed to the ground. A bunch of dirt invaded Maya's mouth when her chin hit the ground, and she spat in disgust to clear her mouth of the taste.
There were gasps from some of the other players as the dust settled. Lucas coughed and cleared his throat as he sat up slowly in the aftermath of their crash. As Maya also pulled herself up to her knees, she noticed her glove—with the ball inside—was resting on his leg, and a smile grew on her face just as Lucas' expression turned into one of surprise.
"O-out!"
"You're out," Maya said smugly at the same time the umpire stated it.
"Through questionable methods," Lucas responded good-naturedly. "Tackling, Maya?"
"I tripped when I tried to tag you."
"Tripped?" he laughed, eyeing her in amusement. "You just dove to get me out like some rabid flying squirrel."
Well, her nickname in high school hadn't been Flying Squirrel for nothing.
"I told you I was going to get you out, didn't I? You should have prepared yourself for anything that could happen."
"Maya Hart… you never fail to surprise me…" he murmured, his voice quieting to a lull that made goosebumps rise on her neck.
She stared at him, her breathing still a little choppy from physical exertion. Adrenaline was pumping wildly through her veins, and she held his gaze, feeling emboldened for some reason.
"Hey, you guys alright?" Someone called out. "It's three outs, you know? We're switching sides!"
"We're fine!" Maya replied as she and Lucas rose to their feet. Her poodle skirt was torn at the bottom, and Lucas' hat had scattered quite a bit away. Maya cursed in her mind. She'd borrowed the skirt from Riley, and she was definitely going to kill her when she saw that she'd messed it up.
Lucas brushed the dirt out of his hair before putting the pointy pirate hat back on. "You know, I think you should be penalised for attacking another player."
She snorted and tossed the ball to Lucas. "You're just mad because you let yourself get distracted by an attractive, pint sized human being."
"Your words, not mine."
"Doesn't make them any less true, Huckleberry."
And just for fun, she tossed her hair haughtily over her shoulder as she turned to walk to her team's dugout. She high fived Suny as the other woman picked up her bat and left the dugout. The other teachers were lounging around, some laughing over the disarray of their costumes while others were guzzling down water and relaxing on the wooden bench.
Maya plopped down beside Tina with a sigh and stretched out her legs. "Think we have a shot at winning, T?"
"No chance in hell," Tina laughed in response, raising a brow at Maya. "But I'm glad someone on our team is doing their absolute best for us to win. You're an inspiration to us all, Maya."
"I'll say," Cindy chimed in with a chuckle. "That crazy tackle play was the morale boost I think I really needed."
"You know you could have just tossed the ball to me though, right? I could have gotten him out without all that crazy extra stuff." Tina poked Maya's side.
Honestly, Maya had forgotten about that. At the time, her only preoccupation had been to get Lucas out any way she could.
"I know," she lied, to try to mask her slight embarrassment. "I just like to play rough."
"You're a scary player." Tina wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Although I don't blame you for playing rough with a boyfriend who's pretty good."
"Not my boyfriend," Maya sighed with a roll of her eyes.
"According to Riley and Mrs. Carpenter, he is."
Damn you, Riley… Stop spreading rumours.
"He's a room parent and something of a friend."
"Mrs. Carpenter said that he's into you," she singsonged. "That you guys were flirting in the main office."
"I highly doubt that. You know he probably still hasn't gotten over his ex-wife, right?" Maya said, just to trying to dissuade Tina's sudden interest in some false rumour about her relationship with Lucas.
"From what I heard, it sounds like he definitely has." Tina started snickering when Maya loosely wrapped her hands around her neck and pretended to choke her. When the umpire shouted 'Out', their attention returned to the game.
"It's too bad none of you veterans are up at bat." Tina sighed. "We could have tried to get in a few more points. We're probably going to lose badly now, especially since you'll be leaving in an inning or so. I don't see how we can win without a shortstop."
Tina was right. The teachers were probably about to get creamed, especially with only a few innings left. But at least she'd have the satisfaction of having gotten Lucas out.
Maya looked up from the dugout where Lucas was standing on first just as he glanced behind him. She stuck her tongue out at him, and he shook his head with a smile.
~.~.~
"Alright, sweetheart," Maya said as she finished off the last whisker of the cat on a boy's cheek. "You have yourself a nice kitty."
"Thank you!" he called out as he ran off.
Maya rinsed off her little brush in the mug with water as she waited for another kid to show up. She'd had to leave before the end of the game to take over for her shift at the face paint booth, but one of the parents who'd watched the last three innings of the game had told her about it when she stopped by. Even though the teachers played a good game, many of them weren't experienced enough and they'd ended up losing. From the first inning, the parents had already been ahead by two, but by the ninth, they were ahead by five. Her team had done the best they could and definitely prevented some major points the parents could have gotten, but the inexperience did them in.
As Maya finished cleaning off her paintbrush to line them up on the table, a woman walked by with a crying baby. Maya's head snapped up and her breath hitched in her chest at the sound.
For a moment, Maya was dragged back to the day she gave away her baby. Back to the stench of antiseptic in the hospital, though the lingering pain in her lower back and soreness in her pelvis from labour had been nowhere near the heartache from abandoning her baby. Nowhere near as heartwrenching as listening to her baby's cries reverberate around the room as Maya turned away, never getting the chance to even look at her tiny, newborn body. Never getting the chance to touch her plush warm skin or see her eyes open. She hadn't even had a real chance to pick a name. Maya had been thinking about going with Aria or Faye or even Freya, but in the end, none of the names she'd considered made a difference. Her heart squeezed hard in her chest as she stared wistfully at the woman pacifying her child.
"Miss Hart!"
The cheerful voice broke Maya out of her thoughts and she focused her attention on Anna who suddenly showed up, dragging Lucas by his arm behind her. He looked exasperated, and maybe a little tired, but he still allowed Anna to pull him to the chair in front of Maya. She tugged on his sleeve until he finally sat down. Like most parents and teachers, Lucas had also changed out of the ridiculous costume he'd been wearing, no doubt because of all the dust that had accumulated on it.
"I was waiting for you to paint faces!" she said excitedly, hopping up and down beside her father. "Daddy, you have to get a matching face tattoo too. Amber has one with her dad and we're trying to be twins. Stay here! I'll be right back, Daddy!"
She ran off somewhere before he could object, and Lucas only turned back to Maya with a brow raised as if apologising to Maya for Anna's hyperactivity.
"Tattoo twins." Maya was barely able to hold back her laugh at the horrified look that seemed to be lingering on his face. "She has a butterfly on her face, ya know?"
He groaned under his breath. "She won't stop until she gets what she wants."
"So you're letting Anna walk all over you? I always knew you would be that kind of spineless dad."
"Well damn, Maya." Lucas chuckled, turning his face to her when Maya dipped her brush in the pink paint. "I can't help it. It's hard to say no when she does her puppy dog eyes thing."
"Okay then. One pink and glittery butterfly with a trail of saccharine hearts for Mr. Perfect coming right up," she teased as she began the outline for the thing.
He was silent for a while and Maya thought he was going to stay quiet while he waited for her to finish. But then his mouth curved up into a sly smile and she found herself feeling some sort of trepidation at the expression on his face.
"Mr. Perfect?" he said absentmindedly.
Maya stopped painting and cursed in her mind when she realised what had slipped out of her mouth when she hadn't been paying attention.
"That's what most of the teachers call you," she lied, trying to act nonchalant.
"Most teachers, huh? Including you?"
Without a word, she took her brush and painted the tip of his nose with pink. Lucas turned to look at her slowly, his eyes flashing briefly with a promise of revenge before his face settled into an amused expression she couldn't quite read.
"Oops. Sorry," Maya deadpanned.
There was something a little obscene in his gaze as he wiped off the paint on his nose.
"I hit the nail right on the head, huh?" he said in low voice.
Maya averted her eyes for a moment, feeling the back of her neck go a little hot. "Do you really want to piss off the person currently painting your face, Huckleberry? That butterfly could easily end up becoming an appendage of the male anatomy."
Lucas laughed, turning his face again so Maya could finish the painting. "Wouldn't be the first time someone has drawn that on my face, to be honest."
Maya can't help but smile at that one. His dorkiness was oddly endearing.
They were quiet for a while as Maya continued to paint the butterfly. She made sure to make good on her promise and put more glitter than necessary on his face. When he'd finished most of it, she backed off a little to look at the shape and design. As she stared at him, she got somewhat distracted by his profile. She kind of got why Tina and some others were suspicious about their relationship. He was attractive, but honestly, she didn't get why people kept making such a big deal over the fact that she and Lucas talked a little bit. Sure, he was a hot dad, but it wasn't like she was salivating all over him or something. They talked a bit, and maybe flirted once or twice, but that was it. Although she did really like his eyes, especially the way the sun was reflecting off of them.
"Almost done?" He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and she quickly shifted her gaze back down, focusing on the butterfly on his cheek.
"Just a bit more."
He nodded his understanding. "You were great, you know?"
"What?" Maya frowned in confusion.
"Softball game. It's been a long time since anyone tagged me out. Especially the way you did."
She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Wow… conceited much."
He shrugged with a small laugh. "I'm just saying."
"Well thank you. I appreciate the compliment," Maya said sarcastically, jabbing him with the paintbrush harder than she needed to.
"We could use someone with your energy on our team. Every once in a while, some parents from school have scrimmages at the community park on the weekend. If you ever want to join us, play a real game, you should come out."
She hesitated, her brows furrowing uneasily. "…I'll think about it. There's a reason I hung up the cleats and put away the bat."
"Did something happen to you?"
She set down the paintbrush and thought about her words carefully. "My uh… my grandmother passed away in my senior year of college, and I kind of lost passion for the game."
And the joy of life.
"I loved my grandma. She was always my support system when I needed her." Especially when she'd gotten pregnant in her final year of high school. "Losing her… It just…"
"It wrecked you. You lost yourself too," he said sympathetically. "I can relate. It's always hard losing someone close."
Maya paused, fighting the stinging in the back of her eyes. "Everything changed for me. And that's why I quit softball. I wasn't in it anymore. I couldn't really find a real passion for painting anymore either. Everything I knew about myself just felt gone."
"I'm sorry…" Lucas apologised sincerely.
"It's fine. It was hard, but it did make me realise that all life is precious." Maya stared out at the distance, smiling wistfully. "All life is precious and important… I…"
She gave up her baby.
She listened to everyone around her. Listened to all the dissent and let their words scare her into giving up her child. Into losing her confidence. Into making that horrible decision of letting go of her baby without even getting a real chance to look at her. Despite the fact that things with her ex hadn't worked out during her pregnancy, they'd still made that baby with love, and Maya had loved her baby. Regardless of how difficult her future would have been, Maya had been fully prepared to drop everything and put her all into raising her child. She understood Katy's fears about Maya leading the same difficult life, but even with the possibility looming over her head, Maya had never been concerned.
And a hard life sure beat out the gray, mundane life she'd been leading. She'd lost some part of herself a long time ago the minute she gave up her baby. Then her whole life shattered when she lost her Gammy. And she wasn't sure she'd be able to get it back until she found her child.
"Maya?" Lucas was watching her warily, an uneasy look on his face, and she knew her expression must have been concerning.
She smiled, snapping out of her daze and picking up the paintbrush again to finish putting the finishing touches on the butterfly's wing.
"I changed," she continued, her chipper voice fake and sounding grating to her ears. "And I just wanted to find a different passion in life. Things that I thought I knew so well just kind of weren't the same to me anymore. And then later, I became a teacher because I realised I loved children and loved working with them."
"At least it ended on a happy note, then?"
Not quite. Not until she found her baby.
"Sure. And on that note, time for you to go, Lucas," she chastised playfully. "There are actual kids who want to get their faces painted and you're blocking the line. Besides, Anna's been waiting for you too."
They both glanced at Anna who was standing behind a tree nearby staring in their direction. When she saw them looking at her, she quickly spun around with a gasp and hid behind the tree.
"What is she doing…?" Lucas laughed. "Well, thank you for the pink butterfly."
"No problem. Have fun."
Lucas stood and with a wave, walked over to Anna. She tried to run from him when she realised he'd found her hiding place, but he picked her up with ease, setting her on his shoulders as she squealed with laughter. Maya watched them, her heart squeezing briefly in her chest. Hopefully sometime soon, she'd be able to have precious moments like that with her own daughter.
"He's cute. Boyfriend?" Melissa asked beside her as she cleaned off her own brushes.
"Uh no… He's just a friend…" Maya turned, addressing the little boy who sat in front of her. "So what would you like painted on your face?"
"Can I have a dragon with scales like Godzilla and and and horns and a tail and spikes and claws?!"
Maya blinked, before laughing a bit. "How about I just draw you a mini Godzilla?"
"Okay!"
Maya started to paint the base for the green monster, though a slight frown formed on her face. Truth was, she'd partially lied. Yes, she did like working with children, but part of her reason for becoming a teacher was to always remind herself of what she could have had.
Every day hurt, but she knew it was what she deserved.
~.~.~
Maya was glad when the end of the fair day rolled around and she could finally go home. She'd gotten a short break around six to grab a quick dinner, but after that, it had been right back to the booth, this time as the only worker. Thankfully, only a few latecomers had come to get their face painted, and for the most part, things had been relatively quiet. But after that long day, Maya was exhausted out of her mind. She'd forgotten how much energy game days took out of her.
After she folded up the chairs and tables of the booth and moved the signs inside the little tent, she put all the paint supplies up.
"Now what to do…" Maya sighed, her hands resting on her hips a she surveyed the mess of items she would have to take with her.
Not only did she have to carry the huge box with materials, but there was also her softball bag with all of her equipment. Plus, Riley had dropped by earlier with some giant cake she'd won in the cake walk that she requested Maya take home since she'd had an appointment to go to. It would be a cantankerous walk home. Either that, or she'd have to make more than one trip if she didn't figure out a strategic way to get all her things in one go. And while the school wasn't too far from where she lived, she wasn't a fan of making multiple trip when her fingers were starting to get stiff from the cold. Not for the first time, she wondered why she'd never invested in a car.
Just as she'd made up her mind to put the cake in the paint box—if it toppled and got ruined, tough—and hold the softball bag like a purse, she saw Lucas walking by. There were only a handful of people left at the fair, most of them gathering their things to leave, but she'd thought he would have left a while ago. Most of the teachers were also already gone. He and Anna had been there since the morning, but Maya wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Hey! Lucas!" she called out. When he turned his attention to her, she gestured to all her things. "Could I please catch a ride with you to get home? I'm having a bit of trouble with all my stuff."
"Of course. I was actually about to head home soon too." Lucas pointed to the park bench close to the bean bag toss booth where Anna was curled up, about to fall asleep. "I'll bring the car closer. Do you mind watching Anna for a second? She's pretty tired."
"Sure, no problem."
Maya headed over to the little girl as Lucas left. Sure enough, her eyes were drooping with each second that passed and she looked like she was getting really comfortable in her curled up ball.
Maya crouched next to her, brushing some blonde curls off her face. "Anna, can you walk? You're daddy's bringing the car around soon so you can go home."
She grumbled something unintelligible in response, but shook her head and only curled up further into a ball. The girl was clearly not going to make any attempts to move. With a sigh, Maya scooped her up and put her on her hip, supporting her bottom with her forearm so she wouldn't slip down. She was so glad that Anna was particularly small for her age compared to the other girls, because Maya wasn't the tallest person either, and enough weight could easily tip her over.
Anna made a soft noise in her sleep and clung to Maya, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and nuzzling her face into Maya' neck. Maya chuckled to herself at Anna's adorable koala-like behaviour. She could understand why Lucas kept spoiling Anna; there was something undeniably difficult about doing something to displease this little girl. She rubbed the back of Anna's head, gently trailing her fingers through her hair, and feeling strange about it all. Her heart felt like it was swelling in her chest. It could have been nice to have a precious moment like this with her own baby too.
She headed back over to her belongings just as Lucas returned, tossing his keys up and down. When he noticed them, his eyes widened a fraction in surprise, and he missed catching his keys. They fell to the ground and Maya wondered if she'd way crossed boundaries by holding Anna.
"Sorry." Maya winced. "She was sleeping on the bench, and it looked really hard and stiff. Do you want to take her?"
"No. It's fine. She looks comfortable. Like that. I mean, it looks… uh normal," he hastened to explain as he retrieved his keys from the ground.
"Normal? What?"
"Sorry, poor word choice. I swear I wasn't trying to be sexist or something. I-I just…" he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I meant that she's probably more comfortable on you than me. I mean, she really hates people picking her up unless it's me or Zay."
"Oh. Well, she didn't seem to mind, I guess." Maya felt her cheeks rouge when Lucas kept staring at them with an odd expression on his face. "So, uh, did you want to get going? It's getting late."
"Right. Is this all your stuff?"
Maya nodded. "The cake and the box of paint stuff. I can hold my softball bag."
They gathered Maya's things before heading slowly over to the closest spot in the lot where he'd parked his car. From the corner of her eye, she could see Lucas glancing at her from time to time. It was a little bit unnerving. She didn't understand why he was giving her those looks. Btu before she could ask him what his deal was, an old couple strolling through the part of the park outside of the fair smiled at them as they passed.
"How old is your little one?" the old woman asked her.
The comment caught Maya off guard, and she floundered for words in her head, trying to figure out a way to explain that Anna wasn't her child, although she did know what it must have looked like from an outside view. She and Lucas were walking closely side by side and Maya was cradling Anna gingerly as one would hold their own child. She only hoped no one at her school noticed her because this situation would no doubt fuel the rumours that had already been floating around.
Lucas didn't seem phased at all by the question. "She's seven, and a major troublemaker."
"Well, she's adorable. And you have a lovely family. Have a good evening."
"Thank you. You too," he said congenially as the couple continued on.
Maya rose a brow at Lucas as they started heading over to his truck again.
"What? It was easier to just say thanks instead of explaining the truth." He gave her a sheepish smile.
She didn't say anything in response. She was starting to feel like maybe the assumptions other teachers had about her relationship with Lucas were justified. If random people were also seeing some kind of relationship looking thing between her and Lucas, maybe that was a sign that she really needed to put more space between them. Maybe set some boundaries in the future if their simple banter ever started to evolve further than what would be appropriate.
After they'd put all her items in the trunk, Maya walked over to the backseat to set Anna inside. It took quite a bit to get Anna to let go of her neck—especially since she kept making an annoyed whining noise anytime Maya tried to detangle her arms—but she finally let go. Maya locked in her seat belt, made sure Anna was comfortable before she took the cake from Lucas and climbed in the passenger seat.
She felt her fatigue start catching up to her as Lucas drove her home. She'd been hoping to spend a few hours doing more research to look for her child once she returned, but with the hectic day she'd had, she wasn't sure she'd be able to muster up the energy. Maya relaxed in the seat, her own eyes drooping slightly as she started to dose off to Lucas humming softly to the country song in the background—slightly off key, she noted in amusement. She wasn't sure if she'd actually fallen asleep, but when she opened her eyes, he was parking in front of her complex.
"Do you need help carrying your stuff up?" he asked when she sat up straighter.
"Yeah, that'd be great."
He grabbed her softball bag from the back as Maya took the cake, and then locked the doors as they made their way into the complex. As they headed up, she really hoped she cleaned up a bit of the apartment, because that morning, Riley had been having one of her forgetful spells and had nearly torn apart their living room because couldn't find her keys when they were in her hand.
To her displeasure, when she opened it, the living room was a total mess and worse, she had forgotten that she'd had left her bras hanging up in the kitchen to dry. Lucas stared at the mess with a look of shock as he set her softball bag near the front door.
"Wow… At least I have an excuse for a messy apartment since I've got a kid and all, but this…?"
Maya snatched the bras down as soon as she set the cake on the counter, heat painting her cheeks red. "Ignore everything please."
But Lucas was grinning, taking in everything with this thinly veiled look of amusement that made Maya want to kick him. "You always look so put together. I guess I should have expected this though considering your personality."
"Just get out already." Maya stormed over to him and tried to force him out the door.
"Alright, alright. I'm going."
She didn't just want him out because she was embarrassed. Riley had been at her appointment for a while, and it was only a matter of time before she got home. If Riley saw Lucas in their apartment, she would think Maya invited him there. It was bad enough that damn Mrs. Carpenter had spread some rumours, but she didn't want Riley making any more assumptions about something that didn't exist.
He stopped in the doorway before he left though. "I meant to ask you earlier, but can I have your number?"
Maya frowned as she stared up at him suspiciously.
"For Anna," Lucas clarified, though she wondered if he was being sincere. "I feel like if Anna ends up having to wait longer than the time I was going to pick her up because of some emergency, wouldn't it be more convenient if I could call you directly to let you know? Just in case."
She narrowed her eyes. He did have a point, but there was some kind of playful spark in his eyes and again, she wondered how much Anna really factored in his desire for her number.
"This number comes with great responsibility, you know? If you abuse the privileges I'm giving you by giving you my highly coveted phone number, I'm blocking you for life."
A grin grew on his face. "Define 'abuse'. Is sending you a good morning and goodnight text every day an abuse of privileges?"
"Yes," Maya said. "Don't do that."
"Noted."
She still didn't like the mischievous look on his face as they exchanged numbers, but she figured he understood not to bug her about ridiculous things that had nothing to do with Anna. After all, they were something of friends maybe—but not close—and randomly texting her for no reason wouldn't really make sense.
Once they'd said their goodbyes and he'd left, Maya finally let out the yawn she'd been holding in for quite a while. She made an executive decision to take a bath and unwind from the long day with a cool glass of wine. It was a shame she wouldn't have the chance to do some more searching, but she supposed it was better to get an early start tomorrow when she was refreshed. As she stripped out of her dusty clothes and tossed them in the laundry bin, her phone rang. She read the text from the unknown number.
Hey, it's Mr. Perfect. You left the box of paint supplies in my car. You want me to bring them up?
That's not necessary. Are you coming to the fair tomorrow?
Yeah, I'll be there in the morning.
Bring them tomorrow, then.
Oh darn. I was hoping to get another glimpse into the messy, private life of Maya Hart.
Not happening again. Go home.
She rolled her eyes, tossing her phone on her bed, though she couldn't help the smile that tugged up the corners of her mouth.
"What a dork."