Think, Lucas. Does anyone die in Frozen?
Lucas stared at the DVD cover, trying to recall the plot.
Idiot. Both parents die in like the first scene.
He replaced the DVD. He wanted to find something lighthearted, something that would get Maya's mind off her mother's death.
No. Definitely not the Lion King. He paused. Although it is the father who dies…Never mind. She wouldn't want to be reminded of losing a father either. Children's movies should really come with trigger warnings.
After much internal dialogue, he made his selection and returned to the living room. "What'd you pick?" Maya asked, sounding like she didn't care at all.
"Shrek," he said, holding up the case. "The classic story of an ogre who falls for a princess and the only movie where the ugly people stay ugly and the pretty people turn ugly. Groundbreaking."
Maya nodded.
Lucas popped the DVD into the player, then sat down next to her. "I should be doing homework," Maya said.
"Shhh," Lucas said. "It's starting."
About a half-hour into the movie, Maya fell asleep.
Lucas smiled smugly, pleased that he had tricked her into taking care of herself. He settled back and watched, and sometimes his eyes glazed over and he just listened to the sound of her rhythmic, peaceful breathing.
Once, she woke up long enough lay her head down on the couch and curl herself into a nugget. Nugget. He'd have to use that one sometime. He turned the sound down on the movie and dimmed the lights. They kept blankets in a basket near the TV. He got one and laid it over her, then sat down carefully. Her blond hair lay centimeters from his leg.
The movie ended and Lucas shut down the screen. As soon as it went dark, he was struck by a quiet but powerful thought.
He was so much more than in love with Maya.
Being in love was something that happened to you, like getting sick. That's why it was so often called falling in love. Falling people didn't have any control over their falling. They had to wait until they hit something. Being in love was a chemical high. Most times, it was one of the most painful things on earth. Of course he was in love with Maya. How could anyone not be?
But it was more than that. It was choosing her.
He'd taken care of her even when he wasn't in love with her. He'd choose her over his independence, over his career, over his dreams. Not that she'd ever ask him too, or that it would even be necessary to give up those things…
She was his family. And not in the way that Riley and Farkle and his parents were his family. He wasn't in love with them. He was in love with her, and he would always choose her. Every day. Every year.
He wasn't stupid. He knew there were plenty of other girls out there that he could fall in love with. He knew he could've chosen someone else. Maya wasn't special in that sense.
He knew how many couples didn't make it. But that was because they didn't choose each other, because they didn't really get that once you married someone, they were your family.
Maya was the one, simply because she was the one he had chosen.
And he was all in.