He wasn't mad when Farkle called Riley as his partner. He wasn't miffed, bothered, annoyed, upset, or agitated, which is confusing as hell because he's supposed to like the girl for goodness sakes.
But instead he got Maya.
"So," he said, approaching the blonde girl on the subway after school, "Wanna get together and work on the project today?"
"I think it's best if you take the reins on this one, Cowboy. I'm not big on school work, in case you haven't noticed," she laughed in his face, pun fully intended.
"Maybe that works on some people," the tall boy allowed allowed, "But I'm not going to do your part of the assignment for you. We're partners, we have to be a team."
"Fine, Ranger Rick," she said, huffily, "I'll work on the project with you. Anything to make you stop with that darn equality speech. You really like to complicate things; Riley and Farkle never make me do any work."
"Well you're not getting away with that with me," he laughed, "Where do you wanna go to work on it, your house or mine?"
"Yours," she answered curtly. Riley had mentioned once or twice that Maya lived in a bad neighborhood- to the point where the brunette was scared to spend the night there- and he wondered fleetingly if Maya was embarrassed for him to see where she lived. He doubted it though, Maya Hart does not embarrass easily.
Plus, she'd soon she she had nothing to be embarrassed about, because his apartment, he kept forgetting it wasn't a house, wasn't too hot either. The neighborhood was probably better than hers, sure, but not nearly as nice as Riley and Farkle's. Back when he'd lived in Texas they had a huge plot of land, but when his parents divorced and his mom headed for New York, taking him with her, they couldn't quite live to the standards they were used to. His dad had been the money maker in the family, but his mom was looking for jobs everyday, so that they wouldn't have to rely so much on the former "man of the house" to, you know, pay for the house. Apartment. Whatever.
"My place it is," he shrugged, "We can walk together from this stop."
"Yeah, okay," she said, before putting on her county voice and starting a jig, "Golly, I can't believe I'm going to Ranger Rick's- are we gonna have a hoedown?"
"Why yes ma'am," he said, hooking her arm in his, "Maybe we'll even get to tip a cow or two."
"Well, yeehaw, partner!" laughed the little blonde, skipping along with the taller boy, all the way to his apartment.
She tried to mask her surprise at the neighborhood they had entered, and again at the site of his apartment. It wasn't much bigger than hers, although it was a lot cleaner and more homey looking. She had assumed his apartment would be like the Mathews', or Farkle's; spacious, decorated, in a safe neighborhood in a building with a doorman, that sort of thing.
But it wasn't, and for some reason, that made the little blonde girl, well, not happy, per-say, but, yeah, okay, she was happy. His place wasn't as bad as her's, but it wasn't as great as she'd been expecting either. And this is the sort of neighborhood that Riley would be scared to spend the night at, not that she should be spending the night here any time soon, but she definitely wouldn't want to if she were. Either way, suddenly Maya didn't feel so bad about her own home. And that made her happy.
Lucas' mom was home, and Maya could tell right away that she was a Topanga, and not a Katy.
"Hi Luke," his mother called from the kitchen as soon as they walked into the apartment.
"Hi Mom," responded the tall boy, grabbing Maya's arm to pull her into the kitchen, out of the hallway she'd been hiding in, "This is Maya. We're working on a project together."
"So this is the girl you've told me so much about," replied Mrs. Friar, wiping her hands on her apron and heading over to shake the girl's hand.
"No, no," Maya shook her head, "You must be thinking of Riley."
"Nope," Mrs. Friar corrected, "Definitely you, Maya. I'm sure you're thrilled to be working with, what was it again? Hopalong?"
"Mom," moaned Lucas, blushing a little, "We don't need to bring that up, okay?"
"Okay, Hun," she laughed, and Maya thought that she had a nice, happy laugh. She seemed like a nice, happy person altogether, and she could tell where Luca got his looks from. She was tall like him- taller than her own mother, and much taller than herself- with long, chestnut brown hair and a sun-kissed complexion that seemed out of place in the city. She was dress casually in jeans and a light cardigan, a pair of pristine Keds on her feet and an apron to boot. She looked like something out of a magazine.
"So for the project we have to have a fake business. We're gonna sell muffins, do you have any recipes?" started Lucas, trying to change the direction of the conversation.
"That sounds like a wonderful assignment!" Mrs. Friar said, "I do have some recipes for some organic muffins, I can go pick up the ingredients for you guys, I was going to run to the store anyway."
"Are you sure?" Maya asked, "We wouldn't want to put you out or anything."
Lucas looked incredulously at the girl next to him. She was being so, so polite. It was a bit strange, but he appreciated the effort she was putting in with his mother. He didn't need either of them to embarrass him any further.
"Oh, well aren't you a darling!" Mrs. Friar gushed, "It won't be a thing, y'all could pay me back when you're done."
"That'd be great," Maya smiled graciously, "That's so nice of you."
"That's what moms are for!" Mrs. Friar gushed, not noticing her son's and the blonde girl's faces and reactions to her unintentional comment.
"If you say so," smiled the Hart girl, jaw clenched tightly.
"We're gonna go study in the living room, okay?" Lucas told his mother, gently pushing Maya in that direction. He knew she wouldn't like him drawing attention to the mom issue, so he just avoided it.
"Okay," she answered, "I'll be back in a bit, help yourself to anything in the kitchen, and Maya, it was just lovely to meet you, Sugar."
"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Friar," the blonde replied, "Thank you again for your help!"
"No problem, Sweetie," the hostess answered with a grin, "Lucas, I like this one, keep her around."
"Will do ma'am," the boy answered, blushing more and more as the visit went on.
"You're mom's really great," Maya said when the woman had left the apartment, "you're lucky."
"She likes you," came the response.
"She just doesn't know me yet," answered the girl with a wicked grin.
"You think you're so bad-" he started, signing deeply, but she cut him off.
"Let's do the math homework," she interrupted.
"I already did it," he replied.
"I know," she smirked, "I wanna copy your answers."
And just like that the friendly, polite girl was gone replaced by the one he knows and- oh, he'd been about to say loves, wasn't he. That's strange.
Instead of thinking about it, he silently hands her the math sheet, and she copies it equally wordlessly, her handwriting graceful and sure as she glides across the loose leaf.
Leave it to her to make copying homework look like a damn work of art.
And then before he'd even realized it, his mom was back and Nice-Maya was too, thanking his mother and helping her put away the groceries. It was crazy what being treated nicely could do to the girl.