Lucayaabb: When are you going to make an account so I can thank you personally? :3
In fact, when are all of you guests/anons going to make an account so I can thank you personally :) You guys are all so sweet.
A/N: Alright! I'm getting back into the groove of this story now! Don't forget this is an AU.
Thank you for all the reviews everyone! I love them all and I really appreciate the time you all take to review this story! Thanks to you, I can have the courage to write more each day! I hope you all have wonderful days :)
Disclaimer: I do not own GMW, but Lucaya is bae.
Lucas stumbled backwards drunkenly towards her room, laughing and trying to kiss Maya at the same time. She walked him backwards down the hall towards the entrance to her room, and he caught her wrists, dipping his head down again and capturing her lips in a mind-numbing kiss.
He tripped on her carpet and then ran into her lamp, knocking it over with a clatter before it rolled across the ground. Maya giggled before hooking an arm around his neck and kissing him again. She fumbled with the button of his pants as he tugged on her belt loops, yanking her closer to him. As she tried to tug them down, Lucas lost his balance. He tumbled back and landed on her bed with a grunt, bringing her down on top of him.
"Shit…" Lucas said, chuckling lightly when they landed haphazardly, their motions somewhat lagging from the alcohol coursing through their veins.
Maya straddled him and settled on his groin, bending down and sucking on his neck as she slowly unbuttoned his shirt, eliciting a groan from him. She ground against him as he gripped her hips, sighing at the intense heat she felt from his arousal pressing against her.
She sat up and tugged her top up and over her head, snorting slightly when her hair got caught in the tangled shirt. Her lack of coordination made it really hard to figure out how to get it off, but when she finally succeeded, she tossed it carelessly behind her and set her hands on his chest, rolling her hips slowly forward against him. She glanced down at Lucas, who had fallen silent and was watching her in wonder, his gaze holding something that made Maya's pulse quicken.
"You're beautiful…" he murmured, looking up at her in amazement.
Maya could feel her face flush at his unwavering gaze. He was making her feel like she was laid entirely bare before him.
"Lucas…"
He rolled them over, hovering above her, his thumb softly caressing her waist. Lucas lowered his head and kissed her slowly, and Maya almost whimpered, taken aback by how tender and sweet it was. He pulled away and cradled her face in his hand. Maya met his gaze, her breath catching when his eyes took on that expression that always scared Maya whenever she would see it. That look of longing like she was his whole world.
"Maya…" he said, watching her seriously, "I like–"
And Maya quickly placed a finger against his lips, a bit frightened by the words that she was sure were about to escape his mouth. Because whatever he was about to say, she was sure, wasn't going to be true when he woke up. When they were no longer in their drunken haze and his mind was no longer clouded by lust, he would regret his words. And she didn't want to hear or see that regret.
"Shhh…" she breathed out, hooking her legs around his waist. "Just kiss me…"
Lucas searched her eyes for a moment before finally nodding.
He kissed her again, slow and deep and intoxicating. Maya slid her arms up around his neck, losing herself in his warmth.
Maya closed her locker shut after grabbing her sketchbook and her special set of paint brushes and stuffing inside her notebooks and her textbooks for classes. It had been a while since she worked on some of her pieces. She planned to take these several after school hours to stay behind in the art room to work on some of her bigger pieces to get at least one more done. She was behind on her schedule. Farkle sauntered up to her on his way to robotics club, waving in greeting.
"So. How was your appointment yesterday? Everything good?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Who's asking? You or Ranger Rick?"
Farkle put his hands up, grinning sheepishly. "Okay, so it's Lucas. But only because you won't let him come to your appointments."
Lucas had insisted on coming with her, but Maya had refused to let him. She honestly didn't know if she would feel comfortable with him in the room as they went through the ultrasound. She just felt weird about anyone being there overall since each visit got her so emotional. The only person Maya ever allowed to come with her was Riley.
"Tell him everything is fine."
"Well I'm going to need more details than that otherwise he'll stay on my tail." Farkle smiled, pointing to the slight protrusion of her abdomen, seen easily through her shirt. "Your baby bump is coming in pretty early though. You just about started your second trimester, didn't you?"
"Have you been charting my pregnancy?" Maya said, unsure if she was angry, impressed, or kind of scared. Maybe all three.
"Since October."
"You're one scary kid…" Maya snorted, "And yeah. Dr. Torres told me it's because I'm petite. But my weight gain is pretty normal."
"How much have you gained?" Farkle asked, pulling out a notepad from the side pocket of his bag and a pencil from behind his ear. He flipped open to a page and scribbled some notes it. "If my calculations are correct, you should have gained just about five to six pounds by now. Maybe seven since you lost some of your starting weight due to all the puking."
Oh yeah. She should definitely be scared.
"Farkle, that's creepy."
"Hey. I'm Lucas' informant. It's my job to keep all tabs on you. Including the nitty gritty stuff." He flipped to another page.
Maya sighed, turning on her heel.
"Your cravings seem to be the same. Still nasty ketchup." Farkle continued, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they walked towards the art room. "Do you make sure to drink plenty of fluids? Are you eating right? How much are you urinating on a day to day basis? Have you been doing exercises?"
"Farkle, we're done here."
He laughed out loud, and she playfully punched his side.
A couple of girls walked by the two of them, leaning into each other and whispering as they stared before starting to giggle. Maya rolled her eyes. It'd been a few weeks since the Homecoming vomit disaster. Farkle hadn't been wrong. By now, rumours of her pregnancy had completely circulated, and it was pretty much the only thing students would talk about. Pretty much everyone thought she was pregnant. Which honestly, was true. So it didn't bother her that much. There were some people who would whisper in the hallways as she walked by and a couple would throw her vengefully disgusted looks, but she would ignore them. Riley would glare back on occasion, but Maya had told her it wasn't worth it. But for the most part, people were tame or just didn't care. She wasn't the first girl to have gotten pregnant at their high school. She was the first one who hadn't gotten an abortion, but pregnancies weren't totally uncommon.
"Don't let it get to you." Farkle scoffed. "Those sophomores are just obnoxious."
"I'm not worried about it. The only opinions that matter to me are those of the people I actually give a shit about." She patted the hand dangling off her shoulder. "But they are obnoxious. I hope we weren't like that when we were sophomores."
"I know I wasn't." he said, as they stopped in front of the art room, "But I can't say the same for you and Riley."
She ducked out from under his arm with a roll of her eyes. That was such a lie. He had most definitely been the most obnoxious of them all.
"Bye, Farkle. Go to your club."
"Text me if you feel like you're going to puke." he called out as he raced on down the hall.
She chuckled in amusement before opening the room and walking to her station towards the back. There was one other senior in the room who waved at her as she was cleaning off her brushes and palette.
Maya loved the art room. Her home away from home and the only place she felt was a complete safe haven (aside from Riley's room). No one cared about anyone's personal business and lives and they were always chill. As long as you cared about art, you belonged. The paint fumes and smell of charcoal and graphite and other art materials were pretty strong in the air, but they weren't too rough or difficult on her nose. It was comforting.
"Have you started your end of the semester project?" Dana asked, taking out an earphone temporarily. "It's due by the end of next week."
"Shoot…" Maya groaned. "I forgot we usually have one of those."
"It's okay." She responded, "Ms. Kossal told us all the week you missed school. I think it was homecoming week?"
"Yeah." Maya flipped over the tarp on her half-finished piece and revealed her canvas. "What's the project? Are there any specific parameters for the piece?"
"It's to draw someone we care about. It's pretty easy. No restrictions to size. Oil pastel only." Dana put away her supplies and flipped her tarp back over her dried painting before gathering her stuff. "She knows most of us have senioritis so she didn't really want to assign anything too intense. And also because we're still focusing on our art show pieces."
"Thanks. I would have been so screwed." Maya said gratefully, pulling a stool over to her easel. "I'll start on it today."
Dana smiled as she left the room. "Good luck Maya."
Maya picked up her palette and squirted some blue to continue with the base layer of her background for the sunset. She would figure out who to paint after she got some of this done.
~.~.~
Maya carefully smudged the last bit of orange and purple with her sponge, before sitting back to scrutinize her work. It was really coming along nicely. She'd made it with the predominant colour being blue and had thrown in some orange and yellow to really get that sunset feel, but she'd been worried it would be overdone. The rest of the piece (once she figured out what it would be) wasn't supposed to be overtaken by the background, but from what it looked like, it didn't seem like it would be a problem.
With a pleased sigh and smile, she checked the clock behind her. It was almost seven. She'd been there for a pretty long time and hadn't realized how time had flown.
"I guess now I should work on the project."
She walked over to the window to get some fresh air. She pulled up the blinds and pushed open the window, taking a deep breath. She heard a whistle blowing and looked down at the football team practicing on the field. The art room faced the back of their high school in the direction of their track and football practice field.
Her eyes found Lucas, and she leaned against the window sill, a small smile on her face as she watched him practice. The coach blew his whistle and another receiver ran out to the distance as Lucas set himself. He reared his hand back and threw the football towards his teammate. It sailed through the air, controlled and spiraling in a nice arch to the other guy who caught it. When the guy came jogging back, he and Lucas chest bumped, and Maya snickered to herself.
He was honestly just so cute, and she felt stupid for basically having become one of his "fangirls" now, but she couldn't deny that she felt like squealing every time he looked at her or held her hand or leaned over to whisper playfully in her ear during bio. Her crush on him was pretty intense, but there was no way she would ever tell him though. It was one thing for her to tie him down because of a baby, but it was another thing to burden him with her feelings.
Lucas was one of her best friends. She hadn't scared him away with her pregnancy, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let him get scared away by the fact that she had feelings for him. Besides, she'd already ended anything that might have been lingering between them. He probably felt nothing but friendship for her. And she wasn't going to jeopardize that. She could hold her feelings to herself.
But seeing him had given her inspiration, and she rushed back to her station and grabbed her sketchbook, mentally recalling Lucas' form and the lines of his body as he had thrown the football. She quickly sketched out what she intended to put to the canvas. Under normal circumstances, she would have been embarrassed drawing out the guy she had a crush on, but he wasn't going to be seeing this piece, so this would be her little secret. When she was satisfied with the sketch, she tore it out of the book and grabbed a new canvas from the box. She tacked the sketch onto the canvas and then stuck it in her in-progress cubby hole.
Technically, she knew she should have started on it at that day, but it was getting late and she was pretty hungry, if her grumbling stomach was any indication. It wouldn't do to stay the entire evening without getting something in her stomach. And even though Cory and Topanga hadn't imposed a curfew upon her, Maya knew they would get anxious if she was out pretty late, so she made an effort to try to come home by a certain time on days she stayed to paint.
Maya cleaned up her station and the mess she made, scrubbing paint off of her brushes and meticulously washing her hands to get it off her hands. Once she had made sure everything was cleaned up and her piece and all the materials she used were stored in their proper places, she shut the window and the blinds, grabbed her bag, and left the art room.
Her stomach growled in distress once again, and Maya rounded over toward the gym to stop by the vending machine. She would grab a snack to last for the walk home. It was the reason Riley had given her a bunch of money before she left the day before. Normally, Riley would buy Maya snacks that she would keep stored in her bag and walk with her home, but Riley was checking out her parents' alma mater with Cory in Pennsylvania that weekend, so she wasn't available. Occasionally, Lucas would join them to study for their upcoming exams, though he wasn't available that day either.
(Cory had finally come to terms with Lucas' involvement and gotten over the fact that she was pregnant. But Lucas was still wary coming to the Matthews' and only generally came over when Cory wasn't home. And even then, he kept one eye firmly on the door at all times.)
She spotted the vending machine—how could she not? It was obnoxiously decorated with red holiday streamers and snowman stickers—and quickly browsed the contents before settling on a pack of powdery donuts calling her name. And luckily, she had a whole brown bag in her bookbag filled with mini ketchup packets she had been storing for snacking emergencies. She slipped the dollar into the machine and pushed the button for the pack. It tumbled out of its ring and fell to the bottom. Maya crouched to pick it up and grab her change and then she heard footsteps behind her.
"Oh wow… You really have gained weight."
"So the rumours have been true. Little Miss Street Trash really is a knocked up little bitch."
Maya turned around with an eyebrow raised. She knew she'd put on some weight since Homecoming, and she had a small baby bump, but she was definitely not anywhere near a balloon.
It was two annoying girls, watching her with dirty looks. They looked like freshman, maybe sophomores, and Maya could just see the immaturity radiating off of them in waves. Man, she really hoped she wasn't like that when she was in early high school. She sighed and opened her pack of donuts before rummaging in her bag and pulling out a packet of ketchup.
"What, you jealous?" Maya snorted, already having expected some verbal abuse for her pregnancy like this eventually. Kids at her school were ridiculous. She was actually pretty surprised it had taken this long for someone to pounce.
"Look at you. You're so annoying." One of the girls spat.
"Okay. I don't really have time for this." Maya said, opening the ketchup and smearing some on a donut before popping it in her mouth, "So why don't you tell me what's really bothering you, and we can get this whole 'I hate Maya Hart' party out of the way."
"I'm talking about the way you cling to Lucas like a tick. Let him live his life and stop dragging him down to take care of your sorry pregnant ass."
Maya felt pinpricks of irritation. Although she wasn't particularly bothered by the pettiness of the students, if there was one thing that annoyed her, it was people acting as if she wasn't good enough to be Lucas' friend. It was, unfortunately, territory that came with being his friend and usually it didn't irritate her, but every once in a while there were moments when it really ticked her off.
Lucas had wanted to reveal he was the father so everyone would stop harassing her, since people generally listened to Lucas, but she'd firmly told him no and that she didn't want people to know he was the father. He'd gotten a little irritated with that, but it wasn't because she didn't want Lucas to be the father. As morbid as it sounded, if she could have gotten pregnant at seventeen with anyone, she would have always picked Lucas Friar. She wanted no one to know because Lucas had a reputation as a responsible leader at their school. She didn't want to jeopardize that.
"I suppose now you're going to threaten me to stay away from him and then if I don't comply, you'll gather your crony of girls and jump me after school one day?" Maya said with a smirk, licking her fingers of the delicious sugary powder. The ketchup added a really nice salty touch. "But you won't actually go through with it because you're too scared Lucas will be mad at you."
One girl's eyes narrowed. "You think we're afraid to kick your ass? I don't care if Lucas hates us, I just want you gone."
There was the sound of a door opening and closing and then Missy Bradford came out from around the corner, her heels clicking briskly on the tiles of the school. The girls fell quiet for a few moments, watching as Missy walked by them. For a second, her gaze connected with Maya's, but she continued right on by without an expression, ignoring the fact that Maya was very obviously getting harassed. Figured. Why the hell would Missy care? She'd never been Maya's friend.
"Really? So what are you going to do? Frame me for theft so I get suspended? Or what, bring a razor to school?" Maya popped another ketchup covered donut in her mouth. "You're so generic."
"No. But my mom's on the school board." One of the girls sneered. "And she donates a lot of money to this school. I can convince her to get the board of trustees to kick you out. After all, a pregnant student roaming the halls of our school can't be good for our school image."
And Maya's eyes narrowed, her irritation mounting. She had the really bad urge to attack the two of them. She may have been pregnant but she was not incapable of beating some ass if she needed to.
"And I'm sure you haven't done anything for this school that would make them want to keep you."
"And you think all of that and getting me kicked out will make Lucas stop talking to me?"
Joke was on them. He was the father of her baby.
"No, but at least we won't have to watch your disgusting clinging to him."
These girls were really starting to piss her off. What was it with people and acting like crazy nuts whenever Lucas was involved? And were they completely empty headed? Did they just choose not to see the fact that Lucas approached her. The fact that he asked her to Homecoming. The fact that he sought her out in the halls after his classes? They were mutual friends. It wasn't like she had brainwashed him to hang out with her.
"You both need to get a life." Maya said around a mouthful of donut.
"And you need to get away from Lucas." The other retorted.
"Is there a problem here?"
And Maya swung her head around in shock because standing at the end of the hall was Lucas in his full uniform, looking sweaty and out of breath. His hair was sticking up in some places as if he had ripped off his helmet and raced over as soon as possible.
"Lucas!" one of them tittered, "There's no problem at all."
"So why are you cornering Maya?" he asked, an eyebrow raised in annoyance. Maya could see the irritation rolling off of him in waves.
"We weren't. We were having a friendly chat."
"Maya?" he addressed her.
Maya averted her gaze, staring at the half eaten packet of donuts in her hand. This was her problem, not his.
"It's nothing, Sundance."
His face dropped, and he stalked over to them, his expression pretty unhappy. He stepped in between Maya and the two girls.
"You know, I've been impossibly patient with all of you giving Maya dirty looks and treating her like she's less than a human being since Homecoming."
"Lucas, we weren't doing anything. Just knocking her down a peg."
It was clearly the wrong thing to say. His expression turned cold.
"Knocking her down a peg?" he scoffed mirthlessly, "You girls will stop at nothing to make you feel better about yourselves."
They blinked, stupefied and a little put off by his words.
"You better tell all your friends to leave Maya the hell alone." Lucas said, his tone low and dangerous. "Because that's my kid in her. And I swear if anyone hurts her, I will hunt you down."
The two girls both gasped and their eyes widened not only at what he had just revealed but also because of the little threat he'd thrown in there. They turned on their heels and scampered off away from the two of them. Lucas watched them go before he turned around and faced Maya, concern in his gaze. It was almost a complete 180 from before that Maya grew surprised with how easily he was able to switch his anger on and off.
"Did they hurt you?" Lucas asked softly.
"You didn't have to go that far." Maya rolled her eyes, sticking the pack of donuts in her bag for later. "They were just being annoying."
"Yes I did! I don't know why I didn't just tell everyone from the start. It would have saved you the trouble."
"It's not like I'm bothered by it. It's not that big a deal."
"Maya." He said in exasperation. "It's a big deal to me, okay? They have no idea what you're dealing with and it's not right. You don't deserve any harassment."
"But you just made things worse for yourself. You know everyone's going to know that you're the father now?"
"I don't care. They should have known since they found out about your pregnancy. They wouldn't have messed with you if they knew."
Maya sighed and ran her hand through her hair in exasperation. "Look, they honestly wouldn't have done anything. Those girls are all bark and no bite. Why are you so fucked up over this?"
"Dammit Maya, I was scared! I thought you'd been hurt."
"I'm fine, as you can clearly see."
"I know. And I'm glad."
And Lucas pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her, his head pressed against her hair. Maya was a little shocked by the sudden act and blinked for a few seconds, looking at the wall over his shoulder. He was unbelievably warm. Then she smiled and rested her head against his shoulder, honestly so glad he was around because she didn't know how she would have gotten through this pregnancy on her own.
"Lucas, you smell like sweat…" she muttered, reaching up around his back and loosely holding onto him.
"I've been at practice all afternoon. What do you expect?"
They stayed in that embrace for a few moments, Maya just letting him hold her and trying to keep her blush down. Finally, he let go of her, looking relieved.
"How did you know what was going on?" Maya asked.
"Missy told me you were in trouble."
And that's when Maya finally noticed the girl leaning against the lockers at the end of the hall, pretending to text and politely giving them privacy during their moment.
"Missy? You brought Lucas?"
Missy nodded, walking over to the pair. "Saw them harassing you."
Maya's eyebrows skipped. That was unexpected.
"Thanks."
"You're dealing with a lot with this pregnancy. Those bitches were making it worse." Missy said with a nonchalant wave of her hand. "I knew he'd be the best one to get rid of them."
"That's… really nice of you. Why?"
Missy leaned over, whispered quietly in Maya's ear. "I had a pregnancy scare last year. It was literally the worst week of my life waiting for my period. I know it doesn't even begin to compare to what you're going through, but I totally get how intense it is. And you're keeping your baby. That's got to be stressful."
Missy backed away and pulled out a sticky note, scribbling on it quickly with a gel pen.
"Here's my number. Let me know if you need anything, Maya."
She turned on her heels and clicked away before Maya could respond, and Maya stood there, staring after her with a dumbfounded expression on her face and the sticky note in her hand. It was almost hard to believe that Missy had just been nice to her.
"That was so weird…" Maya muttered.
"Yeah, I know." Lucas said, "Hey. I'm walking you home. Let me shower and change real fast."
"What about your practice?"
"Coach let me go. It was almost over anyway."
"Okay…" She didn't see why not. Walking with Lucas would infinitely be more pleasant than walking by herself. "Where's your stuff?"
"Locker room. C'mon."
She followed him down the hall towards the locker room.
~.~.~
"How come when you saw those girls approach you didn't leave?" Lucas called out from behind the curtain, his voice slightly muffled by the sound of the cascading water.
"I couldn't." Maya said, texting Riley the events of the day as she kicked her legs back and forth, "They snuck up on me before I could avoid them."
He said nothing for a while as he showered, and Maya subtly inhaled deeply. She could smell his aftershave, and it was amazing. She leaned back against the mirror, closing her eyes and relishing in the comfort she felt from the scent.
"Are you shaving?"
"I have dinner with my dad tonight. He tends to nitpick about the stupidest things. I don't want some lecture for an hour about not being clean shaven."
"He's still here?"
"He's staying until break starts to take me back to Texas with him."
Maya nodded, letting the comfortable silence take over the conversation once again. She pulled out her pack of donuts and finished it off quietly, patiently answering Riley's concerned and frantic texts about the harassment. What was with everyone freaking out about it? It honestly hadn't been that big of a deal. Sure, annoying. But nothing worth crying over spilled milk about.
The water cut off and shortly after Lucas came out with his shower caddy clad in just a towel wrapped around his waist. Maya froze mid bite of her last donut, unable to tear her gaze away from him, her eyes taking him in in appreciation. He was still wet with beads of water clinging to his body and his hair sticking up at odd angles from his shampoo. Sometimes she forgot how attractive Lucas was and whenever she was reminded, it would always smack her in the face. He paused as he walked by her, a small knowing smirk forming on his face when he caught her ogling him.
Lucas rose an amused eyebrow. "You want a napkin for that drool?"
Maya scoffed and went back to texting Riley, trying to pretend like she wasn't a little flustered.
"What? You're a piece of eye candy. And I'm pregnant. Not dead."
Lucas snorted and continued on his way around the corner to his locker to change. Maya considered sneaking around and snapping a secret pic of him to keep for her particularly charged nights, but she forced herself to stay put on the bathroom corner, literally sitting on her hands to make sure she didn't do something stupid.
"You know, you could have gotten really hurt today." Lucas said as he came back around the corner with his school bag, dressed and hair for the most part brushed. "Not just you, but also Jellybean."
Maya frowned. "Wait. Are you still going on about that?"
"Farkle's been telling me about all these risks you face now that you're pregnant." He shrugged, coming to stand in front of her. "I can't help but keep thinking about what would have happened if I hadn't gotten there fast enough."
"Nothing would have happened. Let it go." Maya said, rolling her eyes, "Why are you still so freaked out?"
"I just wish you would let me protect you."
Her heart skipped a beat. "I'm not a damsel in distress. I can take care of myself, Huckleberry."
"I know…" He took her hand, stepping closer to her with a smile. "And that's what scares me the most. You would probably be the type to try to deliver the baby on your own even."
Maya laughed, taking his other hand reassuringly. "If it makes you feel better, I'll let you get all Papa Bear on me one day a week. Deal?"
"That's fine." He grinned. "Then I pick today."
Before she could react, Lucas scooped her up from the counter bridal style, holding her gingerly in his arms. Maya let out a surprised squeal, quickly wrapping her arms around his neck when her center of gravity suddenly changed.
"Lucas!"
"You could easily hurt yourself walking." he said simply, his chest vibrating with laughter.
"That's Riley!"
"Still. Cracks in the tile could make you fall."
"What cracks? You just want to carry me."
"That's not a lie."
But Maya chuckled and rested her head against his shoulder. She couldn't lie and say she wasn't absolutely comfortable. And Lucas smelled like heaven. She could definitely get used to this.
"Did you drive?"
"Not today."
"I swear Huckleberry, I can walk."
"I know you can."
He didn't set her down until they had gotten out of the school building, but even then, he almost immediately took her hand, slipping his fingers in between her own. She loved how warm his hand always felt in hers.
As they walked down the sidewalk on the way to Riley's, Maya spotted a hot dog vendor advertising his two dollar dogs. She stared at it, her stomach suddenly crying out for food.
"You want me to buy you one?" Lucas asked, noticing the intense look she was giving the cart.
She nodded slowly, already tugging him in the direction of the street vendor with an excited twinkle in her eyes.
"Hi." The man said congenially, "What'll it be?"
"Can I have a hot dog, but without the meat and some ketchup please?"
A small frown appeared on his face for a second. "So… the bun and some ketchup?"
"Yes!" Maya said in excitement, "That's exactly it."
"No pickles? No relish? No nothing?"
"Nope. Just bun and a shit ton of ketchup."
Lucas and the vendor both stared at her with slightly horrified expressions on their faces. After a moment, the vendor shook his head in complete confusion, but he pulled out a bun and filled the space where the dog should have gone with ketchup. He wrapped it in aluminum and handed it to Maya, who smiled gleefully. It smelled absolutely amazing.
"You know what? This ones on me." the vendor said, waving off Lucas when he pulled out his wallet, "I've seen a lotta weird shit on these New York streets, but a dog without the dog and only ketchup? Never. You two have a nice day."
She and Lucas continued on their way and Maya took a huge, happy bite of it, moaning under her breath at the relief of her hunger from the ketchup. God, she loved ketchup. Lucas was watching her the whole time, his face looking quite appalled.
"What?" she asked, licking her lips of some of the ketchup.
"Do you, uh, always get these super weird cravings?"
"They're not weird." She muttered, taking another happy bite. "These are amazing."
"What do you normally eat at home?"
"Well. I like to make frozen ketchup bars. And Riley mixed some chocolate pudding and ketchup for me to dip pickles in." She shrugged, finishing off the ketchup dog and licking her fingertips to get off the excess condiment that had dripped. "Peanut butter and ketchup tastes really good on bread. Anything fried of course. And pineapples and ketchup are the best."
Lucas looked a little green by the end of her explanation. "Maya, your ketchup craving is all kinds of disgusting."
"That's rude." She shot him a dirty look. "I'll kick your butt, Ranger Rick. I don't care if your baby is in me."
"Sorry." he chuckled, turning her around so she was in front of him. "Hold on. You've got a little something here."
He leaned down and gently wiped the ketchup off of the corner of her mouth with his index finger. She stared up at him, her heart jumping in her chest when he pulled away with a warm look in his eyes.
"Do you have a napkin?"
"Don't waste the ketchup…" Maya murmured, taking his finger and sucking the ketchup off of the end.
Lucas' breath hitched at her action and he stiffened, his brows furrowed and eyes dancing with a fire that sent a thrill down Maya's back. She removed her mouth from his finger with a slight pop and then leaned up on the very tip of her toes, placing her hands on his shoulders and kissing him softly on the cheek. She didn't know exactly what had compelled her to do so, but she felt bubbly and giggly and she just wanted to. He had something of a blush on his face, and he gazed at her in awe when she pulled away.
"What was that for?"
"Because you're always sweet to me. Even when I'm not."
He fell silent and watched her with a look vaguely resembling longing. And there was something else very sincere and heart-warming hidden deep in his expression that made Maya's cheeks start to flush. It seemed like he had something he wanted to say to her, but he wasn't saying a word. He was clearly holding something back and it frightened her because part of her had a feeling she knew what it was and the other part of her was doing everything in her power to pretend like she didn't. She wanted… to kiss him.
But she knew that could be potentially stupid.
She broke eye contact and quickly took his hand, tugging him towards the Matthews' apartment.
"Let's go Heehaw. It's getting dark. I need help figuring out what to do for my surrealist piece requirement. And you still have to go to dinner with your dad."
Lucas laughed. "Okay, but I doubt I'll be of much help."
They entered the complex and climbed the flight of steps. Maya had to grip the railing to keep Lucas from trying to pick her up again.
"I swear if you try to pick me up again I'll run, Huckleberry!"
She was laughing as they got to the landing and as they got to the Matthews' apartment door. She slid her key in the hole and opened it, walking in with Lucas in tow.
And then she froze.
Because her mother was sitting on the couch staring at the coffee table.
Topanga was sitting nearby, wringing her hands together and looking a little uneasy. Maya's stomach flipped, part apprehensive and part excited. There could only be one reason why her mom was here, right?
She swallowed thickly, her throat dry. "M-mom?"
Katy lifted her gaze to Maya and then her eyes dropped down to her abdomen with a genuine look of distaste. Maya felt herself go rigid, and her hand protectively covered her abdomen.
"Hello Maya." She said civilly, her gaze indifferent and almost frigid.
"What is she doing here?" Maya asked Topanga, a little pissed off by not only the look Katy had given her, but the fact that they hadn't seen each other in a little more than three weeks, and she was treating her so coldly.
"She came to see you." Topanga said nervously.
"I came to drop off your paintings and the rest of your clothes and shoes." Katy corrected, shooting Topanga a scornful look. "You asked me to stay to see her. And now I've seen her."
Maya's spirits dropped once again, her heart tugging painfully in her chest. She felt so stupid. So, so stupid for thinking her mom had actually come to take her back. She had gotten excited for no reason only to get knocked down once again.
"So now that that's done, I have to go to work."
"Wait, Katy." Topanga pleaded, "Why don't you stay for dinner? At least talk to Maya."
"I'm not interested." She dismissed her sharply.
"Mom."
Katy glanced at Maya, her expression not particularly pleased. All Maya could feel from her was ice cold. There was no warmth in her gaze. No affection in her expression. Just cold, dark anger and disgust.
"Do you hate me or something?" Maya could feel her anger rising, along with something painful and heart-wrenching that was slowly climbing up her chest. "I don't understand why you're still so angry!"
"I don't hate you, Maya." Katy said simply, "I just can't stand to look at you right now."
"Katy. That's your daughter." Topanga responded, her voice distressed.
"While I appreciate you reminding me, Topanga, I'd rather not hear that coming from someone whose daughter isn't expecting a child." Katy gave Maya a dirty look once again, her eyes falling to the slight swell of her belly. "Whose daughter isn't a screw up."
Maya felt her throat tighten dangerously, and Lucas calmly slipped his hand into hers, squeezing it gently to give her support.
Topanga frowned. "Maya is not a screw up, Katy. She's been through hell and back these past few months, and she's pushed through it all to keep going on with each day. I don't appreciate that statement one bit. Maya is incredibly brave, and you need to recognize that!"
"Is that so?" Katy replied in boredom, "Well if you're so happy with her, why don't you keep her?"
"Mom…" Maya said shakily and appalled, her breathing starting to go jerky.
"Are you saying you're abandoning your daughter?!" Topanga exclaimed in stupefaction, "Your own flesh and blood?"
"I'm not abandoning her. I want her to come home." Katy said and everyone stared at her in shock.
Maya felt that twinge of hope rise in her once again.
"You want me home?"
Katy met her eyes once again. "Are you keeping your child?"
"I'm planning to."
"I want you to come home, Maya." Katy shook her head in disdain. "But only if you promise to give the child up for adoption since you're clearly not going to abort."
"What." Maya near whispered. Her voice sounded weak and strained, even to her own ears.
"Now hold on Ms. Hart–" Lucas started.
She cut him off with a raise of her hand. "Maya is irresponsible, lazy, and unfit to raise a child, especially at seventeen. She doesn't even have a job, she has no prospects, no college degree. She can't cook, she barely cleans, she's too selfish. You think she's ready to raise any kids when she can barely handle herself? There's no way she would be capable of raising a child. I would know. I've been through it."
"How could you say that about her?" Lucas said, his jaw clenched in irritation.
"It would be better for everyone if she gave up the child."
And Maya's heart nearly stopped, the pounding in her ears rising and becoming a loud ringing until that was all she could hear.
"Katy!"
"Ms. Hart!"
Maya let go of Lucas' hand, stepping forward unsteadily.
"Is that what you thought?" Maya asked quietly, her voice quivering, unshed tears pooling in her eyes, "That life would have been better for you had you given me up?"
Katy's mouth snapped shut and she was silent, but all Maya needed to see was the momentary guilt and resentment in her mother's eyes to know the answer.
Without another word, Maya walked straight out of the living room and away from her mother. She went straight to Riley's room, throwing her notebooks and other random papers off the bed and trying to keep herself from crying. She could vaguely hear Lucas yelling at Katy somewhere in the back of her mind behind all the ringing.
"You don't get to make that decision about what should be good for Maya when you decided to throw away your daughter! Maya chose to keep our baby. If you were any kind of decent mother, you would respect her decisions and support her no matter what!"
She laid back on Riley's bed, her breathing growing choppy and coming out in short bursts. Maya closed her eyes, biting her lip to stop the violent quivering. Footsteps stormed down the hall and stopped at Riley's door. She glanced over and saw Lucas standing there, watching her in concern.
"Maya."
She sniffled and turned over, facing the window.
"I don't want to talk about it."
He obliged and sat on the edge of the bed, picking up a discarded notebook from the ground, skimming the page.
"What's this?"
She rolled back around and saw he was holding the end of the letter she was writing to her dad. Her eyes widened, and she pulled it from his fingers before stuffing it under her pillow.
"It's not important."
She stared up at the ceiling, trying to swallow down the thick lump in her throat. Trying not to think about the fact that her mother all but said that she should never have kept her. Trying not to think about the fact that from the start, neither her mother nor father had ever wanted her. Trying not to think about the fact that she was a mistake in every sense of the word.
Without warning, Lucas turned and laid down next to her stomach, his legs hanging off the edge of the bed. He slowly peeled up her shirt, and Maya yelped in surprise, thinking he was trying something funny.
"Lucas, what are you–"
And then her breath caught when he gently placed his warm hand on her abdomen, right below her belly button where the bump was growing.
"Hey Jellybean." He whispered softly to her belly, "I don't think we've formally been introduced. I'm Lucas Friar. Your daddy. I know I wasn't there for almost ten weeks of your life. And I'm sorry. But you can blame Mommy for that."
He glanced up at Maya mischievously with those words, and she knew tears were dropping uncontrollably from her eyes when her vision blurred. She let out a breathless laugh, at how ridiculous and comforting this was.
"But I'll be there for you every step of the way for the rest of your life, no matter what. I promise. Even if your mommy threatens to kick my ass, I'll be right there. Always."
And then he kissed the spot where his hand had been, and it was so much sweeter and so much more intimate than any kind of kiss she could have ever gotten that Maya's heart faltered a couple beats. With a slight whimper, Maya broke down into choked sobs, covering her face with her hands as her body shook with the cries.
Lucas shifted and climbed on the bed, taking her by the waist and gently pulling her to him. She went willingly, pressing her face into his chest and just letting it all go: the frustration with her situation, her grief and anguish from her mother's rejection, her anger at herself for never being good enough, her happiness with Lucas. Everything poured out at once and she clutched his shirt, wailing as he held her, rubbing her back softly as jerky hiccups wracked her body.
"I'm a mess…"
"You're not."
"What about your dad?"
"Doesn't matter. I'm not going anywhere…"