When Riley and Lucas left the table, an awkward silence began to settle in between Maya and Farkle. She began to internally panic. This sort of thing had never happened before. Feeling weird and shy around boys, with a racing heartbeat, a fuzzy mind, sweaty palms and creepy a fluttering in the stomach. This wasn't normal. This kind of situation happened to Riley. Sweet, shy, girly girl Riley, not her.

And especially not with Farkle! Farkle out of all people! The guy she had known, and made fun of, her whole life! Why was it becoming different all of a sudden? She had noticed the rather bizarre attitude she had been having towards him since the beginning of the night. They were very clear signs. And they all pointed to a… That couldn't be…no please, …is it? ... It is! It's a…

-"Crush?" casually said Farkle. Maya literally bolted out of her seat and fell flat on the floor. She got up as quickly as she had fallen down and readjusted in what she hoped was a casual manner but looked more a like a desperate attempt at being cool and coy.

Farkle chuckled. Maya glared at him. Usually he would immediately back away in fear but this time he responded with a confident smile with a hint of cockiness. Not used to be challenged like that by a boy other than Lucas, although he didn't even really count, Maya stood back and her eyes widened in shock.

-"You're not playing this right!"

-" I know."

-"It's not fair."

-"I'm sorry it bothers you."

-"You sound like Lucas."

-"I know."

"Well aren't you just a know-it-all?"

-"Well aren't you a love-it-all?"

-"That doesn't make sense!"

-"I know!"

-"Houhouhou…" she did her infamous hand & voice angry tone. She slumped back in her chair, shooting a glance at her best friend and the cowboy. They were dancing around, happy to be in each other's embrace. Her soft smile and his shinning grin were proof of their genuine feelings towards each other. Maya was really glad Riley had found someone she cared about and who cared about her just as much. She had always known, deep inside, that Riley would be the first one to find true love. Quirky, sweet, pretty, adorable, loveable Riley. She was this shy little thing you wouldn't call a boy magnet, but when a guy approached her, it was always sincere and real. It was never just to joke around, but because he actually liked her.

Maya, on the other hand, was always at ease with boys, flirting around without a care in the world. But they never stayed. They just kid around and flirted and then they would move on to a girl they considered "worth" dating. It wasn't just something in her head it was a fact. How did that song go again?

"Bad girls get the night, Good girls get forever…"

Sure, they were only thirteen and "the night" at her age meant something more like a simple date at the movies or the roller skating ring. But nothing that was serious. Would she ever find love? What if it never happened? What if she died alone? What if no one ever loved her?

-"Trust me, love will come around." Said Farkle

-"You need to stop intervening in my thoughts!" she groaned

-"You need to stop saying your thoughts out loud if you don't want me to intervene then…" he replied. Maya rolled her eyes and shot another look at the lovebirds.

-" They're adorable, aren't they?" said Farkle,

-"Aren't you jealous?" asked Maya,

-"Why would I be jealous?" answered Farkle?

-"Aren't you in love with Riley?" she countered,

-"I love Riley, and I want her happy. But I'm not in love with her. He replied.

-"Wait… so all this time you've been lying to us?" Maya questioned, shocked,

-"I wasn't lying. You guys were just misinterpreting what I was saying." He explained. There was a short silence before Maya spoke again,

-"So that's what you feel about me too?" she asked cautiously;

-"Would it bother you if I did?" he smirked,

-"Nah…" she casually said, looking away. Farkle chuckled,

-"That was pretty convincing. If I didn't you better I would have believed you."

-" Why wouldn't you believe me?" she replied, a little anxious,

-"Like I said, I know you better than that."

-"Oh really?"

-"Yes, really."

-"Alright, what's my favorite color?"

-"Black."

-"What's my favorite food?"

-"Pizza."

-"My favorite drink?"

-"Very strong coffee."

-"My favorite subject?"

-"Art."

-"My favorite season?"

-"Autumn."

-My favorite holiday?"

-"Halloween."

-"My favorite artist?"

-"Pink Floyd."

-"My favorite actress?"

-"Greta Garbo."

-"My favorite person in the world?"

-"Riles. Duh."

-"My crush?"

-"Me." He says, looking straight into her eyes. She blushed, smiles and looked away. When she looked back at him, he was still staring at her with a noticeable grin on his face.

-"I didn't know you were so good at guessing games." She said,

-"There are a lot of things you don't know about me."

-"Puh-lease I know you like the back of my hand."

-"Really?"

-"Really."

-"Fine. What's my favorite song?"

-"Long Train Running by The Doobie Brothers."

-"My favorite movie?"

-"Back to the Future."

-"My favorite desert?"

-"Ice cream sundae."

-"My favorite TV show?"

-" Full House."

-"My favorite sport?"

-"Golf. Which is still not a sport by the way."

-"Yes it is. My favorite time of day?"

-"Lunch."

-"My favorite book?"`

-"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne."

-"My favorite fictional character?"

-"Sherlock Holmes."

-"Favorite adult in my life?"

-"Riley's dad."

"My crush?"

-"…Me?"

Now it was Farkle's turn to blush, smile and look away. She grinned, feeling giddy inside while they fell in a comfortable silence. She broke it a couple minutes later,

-"Sooo…what now?" she asked,

-"What do you mean?"

-"What are we now?"

-"I don't know, what do you want us to be?"

-"Well…you did just say you liked me." She smirked,

- "Hey, you told me you liked me first!" he replied.

-"Technically you said I liked you. I just didn't deny it." She corrected,

-"Same here."

-"Whatever." They laughed heartily. Suddenly he smiled softly at her,

-"Sooo…would it be okay if I took you out, sometime maybe?" he asked,

-"Yeah, I guess I don't have anything better to do so…sure." She joked,

-"Glad to hear it." He smiled again and she found herself giggling like Riley, but at that point she couldn't care less,

-"Well, this has been an interesting evening." She said,

-"I don't regret it."

-"Me neither."

Reference:

-Sigmund Freud is a well known psychologist who actually theorized the concept of psychology (took that right out of my history lesson ;) and Patty Smith is a musician, singer, poet, painter and photographer from the seventies. I associated them because Farkle is sort of the very deep thinker a little out of the ordinary ( and I already made a reference to Feud in chapter 3.) and Maya is more of this artsy, rebel chick with a heck of an attitude.