It was Christmas Eve and the Matthews' had hosted a small gathering at the bakery for family and friends and now everybody was piling back out into the snow and waving their goodbyes.
Maya and her mother were actually planning to spend the evening together now that Katy's shift was over. There were plans to bake cookies and listen to cheesy Christmas music. It was actually something Maya was looking forward to.
A loud voice calling her name stopped her in her tracks and she turned holding the box of fudge that they'd been given to take home. "You go on and I'll catch up in a few minutes," she said to her mother as she passed off the box and walked toward Lucas to see what he needed.
As far as Maya knew he'd shown up without his parents and late, probably for that very reason. "What's up," she asked as she got closer.
"I just wanted to give you this." Her hands her shoved in her pockets now so she had to extract one to take the gift he was holding out to her. It looked like he'd had it professionally wrapped.
"What's this? We did secret Santa. You weren't supposed to get people gifts on top of it," she told him confused.
He rocked on the balls of his feet, probably to keep warm, and she couldn't help but notice the way the flakes of snow covered his hair with each passing second.
"I didn't. You've taught me a lot in the past few months about you and about myself and I just wanted to get you something. It's not much or anything. Just a thank you." He sounded a bit panicked, as if he expected his gesture to be received with the vitriol that their old game held.
"You didn't have to do that," she insisted quietly, but began to pull the tape up on the gift none the less. It wasn't like she was going to turn down free stuff after all.
She tore the paper off carefully and handed it to him so that she could study the contents of the package. Her eyes widened as she turned it over and over in her hands, a small gasp leaving her lips. It was a leather bound sketchbook and it was probably the nicest thing she'd ever seen. It was thick and had a leather strap around it to keep it shut. The edges of the pages were coated in gold and her initials were embroidered into the front on the bottom corner in the same color.
She looked up at him and if you asked her she would tell you that her eyes were watering because of the bitter cold. He wasn't going to ask her though. Instead he just looked at them and smiled.
"This is too much," she insisted, although she knew it wouldn't get her anywhere.
"Well I don't think they want a journal with your initials back so at this rate you may as well just keep it." The joke was obvious but Maya didn't laugh. She was still too moved to snap out of the trance he'd managed to put her in.
She turned it over again in her hands and smiled at him. "Thank you. This is now probably the nicest thing I own. I might even have to start locking my door since I finally have something of value to protect." As lighthearted as the statement was Lucas knew that it was probably at least a little true. He laughed anyway.
They stood for a few minutes just there. Together. It wasn't until Riley came out of the bakery as her parents locked up that they snapped out of their trance.
They all said their goodbyes moments later and Maya turned to head to her home where her mother and a thousand questions about why that sweet southern boy had turned her daughter into a pile of goo were waiting for her.
it wasn't until she settled in for the night that she finally opened the sketchbook to find an envelope with her name on it. She set her pencil and the book down beside her and opened it to find a letter.
She wasn't sure how she'd missed this on the sidewalk but there hadn't been a reason to open the book and let the snow ruin the pages at the time she supposed.
The letter was scrawled in Lucas' handwriting, which wasn't really that horrible for a seventeen year old boy. Maya only had to strain to make out a few words.
Maya,
I know we've always gotten along best through playful jabs and carefully crafted insulting but non-offensive nicknames but this year has felt different. We've had conversations before but they never felt like this.
I find myself wanting to talk to you first no matter what happens. You've quickly become the person I want to show when I get a good grade and the person I want to complain to when I get put on second string because my back got jacked up from the couch.
I don't know how it happened or when but I'm not mad about it. You've been such a good friend to me and I'm sorry that it wasn't something I discovered sooner.
You've brought out things in me that I didn't know were there. I'm not the dopey kid who's okay with anything anymore. I think about things more and I question them more. I credit you for that.
You make me want to have more opinions. You make me want to stand for things instead of letting everyone else tell me how I should feel. I like that about myself now. I like that about you.
I made a decision on my own without anybody interfering or giving their input to sway me and I thought maybe you'd like to hear it.
You're my best friend.
Lucas
it only took Maya fifteen or twenty minutes to compose herself enough to pull out her phone and start typing a text to Lucas. She didn't care that it was two in the morning now. If it woke him up then he deserved it for making her cry.
You're such a sap and I hate you. You're my best friend too. Merry Christmas.
He didn't text her back until around nine am Christmas morning. It wasn't a surprise, all things considered, but she found herself a little too happy when she heard the text tone.
They sent a few messages back and forth sporadically over the next couple of hours, both reasonably preoccupied with the holiday and their families. And then Katy had to go to the diner, because in New York City it was unheard of for things to close down just because it was Christmas. Nobody got that lucky.
Lucas insisted that she come over to his house for their family dinner, saying that a turkey lean cuisine was not acceptable to his mother, who had taken to her immediately all those years ago.
Maya bundled herself up after changing into something a little more holiday dinner appropriate and began the short walk to Lucas' house. He definitely didn't live in a neighborhood as bad as hers but he didn't live in the better part of the borough either. It definitely wasn't far enough to require the subway.
A good fifteen minutes later Maya was inside with her jacket and scarf hung about to sit at an actual dinner table that didn't belong to Riley. It was a bit strange for her. She was sure that Lucas could tell, and she was thankful that he didn't tease her for sticking so close to him.
They ate what Maya was sure had to be a feast by definition happily. It didn't take her long to find her groove even though there were a few aunts and uncles that she'd never met before. It was nice to share the day with people that weren't on tv and she made a mental note to tell Lucas as much later.
When the herd thinned out the two found themselves on the living room couch still pressed up fairly close considering they'd been having to share the couch with two other people for the past thirty minutes. Still, neither made a move to put any space between them.
If anything, Maya curled into him even more as he stretched and visibly relaxed for the first time that day. He didn't seem to mind her closeness and even went as far as to pick off some of the fuzz from her sweater.
It was comfortable silence that turned into post holiday napping, still curled up on that couch only now with Maya's head on Lucas' chest and his arms wrapped comfortably around her. Of course, if you asked Maya she would assure you that it was a complete accident and that their exhaustion had prevented them from relocating to a more comfortable and separate place to rest.
Not that anybody was going to ask Maya because Maya didn't plan on anybody ever finding out in the first place. Especially not about how she pretended to stay sleeping much longer than she actually had just so that she could stay like that longer.