A/N: New chapter, yay :-). It's hard to write with school, but I'm doing my best. I can't exactly promise a chapter in the next three days, but Saturday night I will be free and most likely writing a couple of chapters. Anywho, enjoy this (very intense) chapter, and let me know what you think of it!

Chapter 6

12 Hours Earlier

Lucas POV

"Lucas? Lucas, you gotta wake up"

Groggy, irritated, and extremely tired, I opened my eyes just enough to see a blonde standing before me. She was wearing a black sweatshirt with jeans, complemented by the bags under her eyes and stench of desperation.

She started shaking me.

"Get up Friar, I'm not playing."

I rolled over.

"What do you want?"

"I need you to help me with something."

It was 6:22 a.m. at the time, the sun had barely come up yet and I'm pretty sure Starbucks wasn't even open this early.

"I don't have any money, I can't take you to-"

"It's not about that, asshole!"

She grabbed my arm, and pulled me upright, slapping my cheek lightly to make sure I was conscious.

"I need your car."

"And I need a few more hours of sleep."

Going to lie back down, Maya slapped me, again, and not as lightly as before.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"Get dressed. I'll start the car."

Following her orders, as I really had no other choice, I dressed myself (poorly, now that I look back on it awake and fully-functioning) and went into my garage.

She sat in the passenger's side, tears pooled in her eyes, and took a deep breath after noticing I was staring.

"Drive."

"Excuse me?"

"Just go. I'll tell you the way once you get going."

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on. Maya, you don't have to be afraid to talk to me."

She bit her lip, anger filling her insides, and dangerously laughed, which intimidated me.

"I'm not talking about it because I don't want to cry. And it's not just a you thing, so don't go thinking you're all special- I hate crying. In front of anyone."

She turned sharply, her head facing the front, and took a deep breath again.
"Drive."

I hit my hand on the steering wheel, agitated, and she jumped up, alarmed.

"You had me wake up at the crack of dawn wanting me to drive you someplace without my mother's permission and you won't even have the decency of telling me where in the blue hell we're going? I'm not doing this. Find another chauffeur, Maya."

I opened the driver's side door, about to go back into my house, until I heard Maya meekly call out, "Wait."

Slowly, I turned around, and she rested her head on the dashboard. Her fists were clenched, her breathing was irregular, and she looked up at me, extremely exhausted with red, swollen eyes and blotchy skin.

With a stuffy, broken voice, she whispered, "Josh cheated on me."

My stomach sunk.

I never liked Josh. At all, ever, really. But he was Maya's first love, so I accepted that.

Maya was absolutely taken by him one day on the bus. As she would always say, "Gorgeous brown hair, charming eyes, and total eye candy in a suit."

When he noticed Maya staring at him, he (very intentionally) bit his lip, grinned, and tucked a piece of hair back behind his ear, causing Maya to swoon and I to barf up in my own mouth. 16 year old Maya kept repeatedly asking me, "Should I go for it? Should I go over there and ask for his number?" and I, still obliviously in love with her, of course said no.

"He's a bit old, wouldn't you agree?"

She would roll her eyes at me, saying something along the lines of, "Love has no age," returning her glance to Josh, who couldn't take his eyes off her either.

Long story short, she went for it. And the two remained lovebirds for the following three years.

"That's- that's terrible, Maya. I'm so sorry."

Maya smiled, weakly, wiping the tears from under her eyes and managing to smile.

"It's okay," she said, with a little laugh, trying to get her breathing steady again.

My heart broke watching her cry. Slowly, I continued,

"How did you find out?"

She sniffled, and replied, "Let's just say a certain colleague of his posted a certain photo on a certain social media platform of the two of them getting... well, intimate."

I nodded, while Maya very uncomfortably repositioned herself in the passenger's seat.

"Noted."

A silence followed, as Maya struggled to clean herself up in my mirror with the one napkin I had in my glove box.

"So, may I ask where exactly we're going?"

"Georgia. Well, Atlanta specifically."

"That's like 600 miles away. Why would we go there?"

She smiled deviously, despite her mascara smeared under her tears and tears on her cheeks.

"Revenge."

The Florida Turnpike, much like it's name, was dull. It was a long, never-ending road of occasional accidents, construction worksites, and dull conversations. Especially when you have to listen to Maya talk about how "if she were a better girlfriend, she wouldn't have lost Josh."

Approaching Atlanta, Maya had me stop at a Lowes to pick up a "few things", and disappointingly, one of those things was not a candy bar. Or at least a form of sustainable energy. Instead, Maya threw a large bag of junk in my backseat, making sure I wouldn't see it, as she double-bagged it, and continued on with degrading herself in all ways possible.

"I never called Josh, only checked in on him once in awhile, hardly showed him any affection when I did see him-"

"Listen, if we drove 9 hours to Atlanta just for you to convince yourself you're the sucky one in the relationship and not want to get revenge on this bastard, then you're a real shit person, and I'll turn around if you want me to."

Maya paused as if she was thinking about it.

"Maya."

"I'm not making you turn around. God, chill out."

"I'll chill out when I haven't gone over my leased mileage from this ridiculous road trip and haven't wasted over $100 in gas."

She sighed.

"I'm sorry, you're right. He's a jerk and he deserves what's coming."

"Not only that, but you need to stop putting yourself down so much. You did nothing wrong. When will you finally get that?"

She paused again, bit her lip as if she were contemplating again, and took another deep breath.

"Well, Atlanta is gorgeous, so if I'm blowing your entire day then I suck and I'm sorry. But we can go sightseeing or something, if you'd like?"

"I'd prefer just getting home without being arrested for vandalization first."

She kicked her feet up on the dashboard, crossing her arms.

"You know what I don't like about you? You're no fun. You never take risks, and you never do something that's merely out of line with the rules. Live a little, would you?"

I rolled my eyes.

"I took time out of my day to take you to Atlanta, didn't I?"

"Listen, if you didn't want to come with me to Atlanta so badly, why did you? I could have taken a million other people with me but I chose you Lucas, so stop playing victim all the time and accept that you make some flaws in your judgements and you have no one to blame but yourself."

The remainder of the ride was silent.

"The lot is on your left. Just turn in there and stay in the car. I'll be back in ten minutes."

"Maya, wait, I-"

She opened the door, slammed it, and searched the parking lot of Josh's real estate agency for his car. From afar, I could hear spray paint cans being emptied and then thrown on the cement, a baseball bat slamming into the car side door, and the air from tires rapidly leaking out.

Maya walked back, as if business were done, and returned to my car without a word. I looked at her, expecting something, anything, but she was clearly upset with me, and only willing to tolerate me because I was her ride back.

"I don't understand why you're upset with me."

"Just drive, Lucas. God, do you have to make everything a sentimental moment?"

I turned off the car.

"I'm not going to drive home until we're on good terms. Maya, you're important to me. I can't sit through a 9 hour car ride knowing that you hate me, for whatever the hell I did. I understand you're going through a rough time, but-"

"When will you understand that I don't hate you? I hate myself. I hate my decision-making, I hate how nothing ever goes right for me, I hate that on your first try at love you get lucky, and I hate that I'm such a goddamn idiot. I hate myself, Lucas, and none of your lovey-dovey talks are going to make my life any better, so just drive me home."

Her eyes became glossy again, and she frantically searched around the car for an escape route, but it didn't take long for her to break. She clenched her fists, bit the inside of her cheek, tried to take deep breaths, but to no relief. Maya's life was spiraling, and unlike her family problems or her father abandoning her, she couldn't hide from this or ignore it. It was all right here, all right in front of her, and it was as if she'd never confronted her emotions until this very moment.

"How could he cheat on me? Who else could there be? Why wasn't I enough?" she whimpered, tears flowing from her eyes and her insides shaking. I took her hand in mine, although she was resistant at first, and lifted her chin with my hand.

"Maya, none of this is your fault. People cheat because they're inconsiderate douchebags who pay no mind to other's feelings. Josh didn't care about you when he cheated. Hell, he didn't even care about you this entire time if he ultimately did this. And Maya, none of this is your fault. It's not your fault that Josh never cared about you. Josh never got to see how beautiful you are. Sure, he saw that physically, you were attractive, but your beauty on the inside is worth so much more value than that. You are not cheap, Maya. You're a woman worth respect, importance, gratitude, and so much more."

And suddenly I couldn't catch my breath.

It all happened so fast. Maya Hart's lips danced across mine, her tangerine lip balm tingling my mouth and leaving me with butterflies all over. Her cheeks, soft and damp, brushed across my own, making me yearn for more- yearn for more of Maya. She was so fragile and innocent at the moment, it was as if her feelings had momentarily taken over as pilot and acted upon her heart, when she pulled back with an expression of fear and regret. Her mouth gaped and her eyes widened, like secret of life had fallen upon her, leaving only her to bestow this glorious information to the rest of the world. She quickly turned back to the front, throwing her face in her hands and rubbing her eyes.

"Riley."

Riley.

Riley was at home, while she was subconsciously being cheated on by her best friend and boyfriend. Riley was at home, while I, so dumbfounded by my still underlying love for Maya, unknowingly cheated on her, forgetting of Riley's existence. Riley was at home, waiting for me at the Valentine's Dance, while I completely forgot of not only the dance but also her. Riley was at home, while I was being unfaithful to her. The passion Maya and I shared in that split second had vanished with the sound of Riley's name, her beautiful name, leaving the two of us with an overwhelming guilt that put an immense pressure on the car. I looked at Maya, she looked at me, and then I drove. Drove back home for seven hours, without a word said.

At 9:54 Maya took my phone. She typed something out, sent it, and then whispered,

"It's never going to be the same, is it?"

I shook my head.

The Florida Turnpike, like it's name, was dull. It was a dull, never ending road of car accidents, construction, and misery.