Maya doesn't have insurance. It's not a thing, really, and she hates the look of surprise on Lucas's face when she tells him that. Because of course he wouldn't have thought of that.
But she knows a free clinic, one she's gone to since she was a kid. The staff is nice there, and the wait isn't too long, and they gave her lollipops when she was a kid and condoms ever since the first time she went in to get birth control. So that's where they end up.
"It's been a while." Lucas glances at the clock on the wall. "Are you sure you're okay?"
She rolls her eyes.
"It's been bleeding for like a day already. Another forty minutes isn't going to kill me. Besides, you don't have to wait." She reminds him. He frowns.
"I'm not going to leave you-"
"Maya Hart."
They both swivel their heads to see a nurse waving her over. Lucas helps her up, and she limps toward the exam room.
"Your friend can wait outside." The woman suggests, nodding at the chairs they just vacated. Lucas looks over at her.
"No." Maya shakes her head. "It's fine, he can come."
So the nurse steps out of their way and they shuffle inside. An older woman with jet black hair cut into a harsh bob holds up a finger. Lucas grabs Maya by the hips and lifts her onto the table, then settles in the chair next to it. They wait for a few seconds, the doctor scribbling furiously on a clipboard in her lap before setting down her pen and looking up.
"Maya." She smiles. "It's been a while."
"Yeah." Maya shrugs. "I've had a surprising lack of accidents lately."
The doctor looks at her bandaged foot with a raised eyebrow.
"Well," Maya concedes. "Except for that."
The doctor turns to Lucas.
"And this is…" She prompts.
Maya hesitates.
"This is Lucas."
He holds out his hand, because he's from Texas and painfully polite.
"Hi."
"Dr. Curtis." She says, taking his hand. "Now," she turns back to Maya, "what's going on with your foot?"
Maya does end up needing stitches, wincing but keeping her mouth shut as the needle loops through her skin. Lucas watches with a look of disgust.
"What's wrong, Huckleberry?" Maya asks through clenched teeth. "Not a fan of needles?"
He just shrugs and looks away.
"You're going to have to get over that if you want to be a vet." She points out, hissing as Dr. Curtis gives the thread a last tug before snipping it off above the knot.
"It's not my favourite thing," he admits, watching the doctor swipe something across Maya's foot before securing a pad of gauze. "Seeing you in pain."
Her heart gives a kick and she decides she's getting much too soft.
"Alright." Doctor Curtis finishes up, peeling off her gloves. "You're going to need to leave that bandage on until tomorrow, you can change it after that but don't get it wet for 48 hours. Those aren't dissolving stitches, so you'll have to come back in a week to get them taken out."
Maya nods, frowning down at her foot.
"I have a few other questions, maybe Lucas should wait outside?" Dr. Curtis suggests, eyes flitting between the two teenagers.
Maya shakes her head.
"It's fine. Whatever it is, he can stay."
She's just used to having him there now, by her side. Dr. Curtis nods.
"Okay. It's been a few months since you got a refill of Alesse, do you need more?"
Maya can't help the way her eyes flick toward Lucas, or the slight tug at the corner of her lips.
"Mhmm." She confirms, and Dr. Curtis reaches into the cupboard behind her, pulling out a couple plain white boxes. She hands them over to Maya.
"You know the deal, I'll do an exam when you come in next week to get your stitches out."
It's the one condition to free birth control, a full exam every time she comes in for a refill.
"Thanks." She takes the boxes, slipping them into her purse. Dr. Curtis stands, and so does Lucas. He reaches down to slide an arm around Maya's waist and pulls her to her feet. She doesn't need to lean into him quite as much as she does, but she can't help herself. They show themselves out, a nurse passing them a wad of bandages as they pass through the door.
"I'm not going to ask about that." Lucas tells her, as they hobble toward the truck like unfortunate contestants in a three-legged race.
"Of course not." Maya says, leaning against the truck as he pulls the door open. He would never ask, he's too polite to pry. But, apparently, not too polite to not-so-subtly hint at it. "It's just birth control. I'm not dying, that I know of."
Lucas pauses in the middle of reaching down to lift her into the truck. His eyes are on hers for a second, questioning, and then he looks away. She hops up into the cab by herself, because he seems to be having a moment. He just closes the door behind her and walks around to the other side.
"Lucas." Maya says, about ten minutes into the drive home. It's been silent for just as long, and she tires of silence pretty quickly.
"Yeah?" He glances over at her, just for a second. He's an "eyes on the road" kind of guy, which she likes about him.
"Why are you being weird?" She wonders. His fingers tighten on the steering wheel, and she watches in fascination as the colour slowly drains from his knuckles.
"I didn't know I was." He mutters. She rolls her eyes.
"Bullshit. Are we going to talk about it? Is this a Texas thing? Have I offended your delicate Southern sensibilities by talking about my prophylactics?"
He lets out a long-suffering sigh.
"No! I just…I guess I hadn't really thought about it. You took me by surprise."
Maya stares at him.
"You hadn't thought about…what?" She's not entirely sure she won't be offended at what he's about to say.
"Us…uh…"
"Having sex." Maya provides. She discovers she is a little offended by that after all.
"I mean you…" He mumbles.
"Having sex." She repeats. Then squints at him. "With other people?" His cheeks flush. "Oh." She mutters. "Boy."
"Yeah." He coughs. "Sorry, I just…I don't know why it hadn't really occurred to me."
It's Maya's turn to sit silently for a few moments.
"Are you saying," she asks quietly, "that you didn't…you don't want-"
"No!" He cuts her off quickly enough that she finds it gratifying. He even looks a little panicked. "I just…I didn't even know you dated Josh, and I kind of always tried not to think about you and other guys in general."
Maya folds her arms across her chest.
"There weren't that many guys." She says, a little defensively. But she was raised by a devout feminist, and taught to be sex positive, so she isn't ashamed of it.
She thinks she can hear his teeth grinding.
"Can this wait until I'm not driving?" He asks. She shrugs, which he can't see, but she drops it anyways.
"When does your mom get back?" She decides to change the topic. His shoulders relax a little.
"Tomorrow night. I have to pick her up from the airport."
Maya can tell he's worried about his mother, he always worries when she's in Texas. Not that Maya can blame him.
Twenty minutes later they're sitting on his couch, Maya cross legged with a handful of French fries.
"I'm just saying, it's not that different from Monty Python, so-"
"It's called The Princess Bride. It's different." Lucas says, sneering. Maya resists the urge to shove one of her fries up his nose. She's too hungry to make the sacrifice.
"No, okay have you ever actually seen it?"
He opens his mouth but doesn't say anything.
"Oh my god I knew it. You are such a hypocrite. We're watching it later."
He groans, but can't stifle the grin.
Maya pops a fry into her mouth and watches him, cocking her head.
"What?" He asks, frowning at her.
She shrugs.
"I guess I thought everything would change. But it hasn't."
"Well," Lucas hooks a hand under her thigh, pulling her into his lap. "some things have changed." He brushes his lips against hers softly, the kind of lingering kiss they've never allowed themselves before. Maya deepens it, hands on his face, swinging her legs over his so that she's straddling him. He makes a noise that causes her to press herself into him, and just as she's reaching for the hem of his shirt, he pulls away.
She's pouting, she can feel it, and he runs his thumb across her bottom lip.
"What's wrong?" She asks, lip brushing against his finger as she speaks.
"Nothing." He smiles. "Just taking in the moment."
God it's so sappy. She feels like she should be cringing, but she grins instead.
"You are such a Huckleberry." When did that become a term of endearment? Always, she thinks, it always has been.
"You love it." He says, his smile turning into a smirk. She can't argue with that, as much as she'd like to.
"Maybe." She allows, leaning in for another kiss. He pulls back, just out of reach, and she freezes. "Can you take in the moment later? I have an agenda here, in case you hadn't noticed."
He sighs.
"I was just thinking…maybe we should have that talk."
Maya's eyebrows disappear into her hairline. She slides off his lap, anticipating a drastic change in mood, and raises her hands in the air.
"Okay. Go ahead." She says, crossing her arms and waiting for him to realize that he doesn't really want to go there.
"I mean you already know, I think you know…"
"About you and Riley." Maya guesses. "Yes, Lucas, I know."
He squirms uncomfortable in his seat.
"Okay well….that's it. For me, it was just Riley."
Maya suspected that, it's certainly possible that Lucas could have hooked up with someone else on one of his and Riley's numerous breaks, but she always figured he wasn't the type. Her hand drifts out to poke his cheek.
"Alright." She says. He rubs his face where her fingers were.
"I think," he says slowly, after a few seconds of silence, "that this is the part where you talk."
She makes a face.
"Okay, well, there was Josh." She says, holding up one finger on her left hand. Lucas seems a little apprehensive that she needs that kind of system. She also realizes that she never told him exactly how close her and Josh had gotten. But he certainly knows now. "And Ryder, and Dylan and Ty. And I guess Amelia." She adds, remembering a particularly fuzzy night after her and Josh had broken up. Dropping the now open hand that she's holding up, she chances a look at Lucas, who seems to be taking it in as best he can.
"Ty from the party?" He finally manages, looking only mildly annoyed. She shrugs.
"It was before Josh."
"And that's it?" He asks. She nods.
He sighs, then drags her back into his lap.
"I can't say I regret the time we weren't together because I was dating your best friend." He says. She shoots him a look. "But I'm really glad we're here now. Have I said that yet?"
She shakes her head.
"Mmm, no. I don't think so."
He pinches her ass and she squeaks.
"Well, I am. Happy." He clarifies, lips pressed against her neck. She lets her head fall back, humming in pleasure.
"Me too. So happy." She grins as his hands tighten on her hips. She reaches down to resume her earlier efforts to rid him of his shirt, but he stops her. Again.
"We don't need to rush." He says softly, pulling back.
"Maybe you don't." She mumbles, sighing. He shoots her a look.
"Let's go out." He suggests, loosening his grip on her. She raises an eyebrow.
"We are going out. You finally won me over, Ranger Rick, this is one sheep you've wrangled. The rodeo's over. The broncos have bucked." She waggles her eyebrows suggestively at that.
"I mean let's go outside." He corrects, though his lips quirk at her joke. She makes a face.
"But we can't do this outside." She says, and with one swift move, pulls her own shirt above her head. She tosses it to the side, enjoying the way his eyes widen before trailing down her chest.
"Maya." He says, voice strangled.
"Lucas."
With what appears to be some effort, he raises his eyes to meet hers.
"I know you've, uh, gone out with some older guys," he says slowly, and Maya decides this line of thought will lead to a definite no on anything involving her being topless. So she leans over to pick up her shirt, tugging it back on.
"And?" She asks, annoyed despite herself.
"They probably had expectations. But I don't. We can just, you know, enjoy this for a while. It took a long time to get here, we don't have to move so fast." His voice is gentle, and she knows she should find it sweet, but instead it's rubbing her the wrong way. She can't put her finger on the reason why.
"I'm not worried about your expectations." Maya says, shifting off his lap. "I just wanted to be with you, I figured that's what you wanted, too." Rejection, she realizes. It's so illogical, but it feels like rejection. Her cheeks burn. "I don't do things I don't want to do, Lucas. With you, or with anyone."
He seems to realize that he's struck a nerve.
"I do want that, Maya, I just thought-"
"It's fine." She waves him off. It isn't fine, not really, but she doesn't want to talk about this anymore. Doesn't want to fight. She feels like he just called her easy, though she knows that's not what he meant.
"Okay." He sounds hesitant, like he knows her too well to think this is really over. "I think The Princess Bride might be on Netflix. You want to watch a movie?"
She nods, leaning back into the couch. He sets it up then drags her closer, throwing an arm around her shoulder.
"I love you." He whispers, lips brushing against her ear. She shivers.
"You can't use that when we fight." She tells him. It isn't fair. They both know she hears that from few enough people that it's a weapon against her.
He sighs.
"Are we fighting?"
Buttercup appears onscreen.
"We will be if you keep talking through the movie." She mutters. When she glances over at him, he's smiling again. She sticks out her tongue at him, and his eyes change, darken.
"I don't want you to think I don't want you." He says. She blinks. "Because that would be ridiculous."
"Well," she relents, "it's always nice to hear."
"I just don't want to pressure you." He continues. She rolls her eyes.
"Look, Sundance." She takes one of his hands, patting it. "No offense, but I don't think you're going to be the one who does the pressuring in this relationship." He accepts that with a resigned sigh. "But I also don't need you to protect me. You're going to need to know that, right from the start."
He's silent for a few seconds.
"I know you don't need me to protect you. I've been scared of you since seventh grade. But I'm always going to want to. You can't ask me to change that, I couldn't if I tried."
She frowns. It seems they're at an impasse. After a minute or so, she turns back to the TV.
"Rewind it." She mutters. "You missed the beginning."
She curls into his side as he reaches for the remote.
"As you wish." He mumbles, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.