She was showered and dressed and beautiful and appeared perfectly sober.
"You're here," he said.
"Marry me," she said.
Lucas laughed shortly. "Wow. I'm surprised you can remember anything from last night. You're hilarious."
She gave him a look. "I wasn't that drunk. And I'm not being funny." She stepped closer to him, tilting her face upward. "Marry me."
"Maya…" he said pleadingly.
"Do you love me?" she asked.
He was having trouble breathing, so he didn't answer. She smelled like home to him.
"Do you love me?" she asked again.
"I love you," he said.
"And I love you," she said. She crossed her arms. "So what's the problem? Would you rather just be domestic partners?"
No, he would not rather be domestic partners.
The problem was that he couldn't believe that she loved him back, not after everything that happened. She was experiencing heightened feelings of affection toward him because he had "saved" her in the bar, and because she hadn't seen anyone familiar to her in two months. She might very well believe that she loved him, but that belief would implode quickly.
"Give us time, Maya," he said. "We haven't even dated yet."
"Do you want to go on a date?" she asked eagerly.
He was a little shocked by her enthusiasm. "I do," he said. "But that's not exactly at the top of my priority list right now. I need to call the Matthews and Farkle, who have been freaking out over you the past few weeks, and I have to find a job here in town fast."
"A job? But what about college?"
He didn't answer.
Yeah…the whole not answering thing didn't work out so well. He should really know that by now.
She crossed her arms again. "Lucas. Answer me."
"I quit school because my parents kicked me out and I couldn't afford to stay," he admitted, praying that she wouldn't blame herself.
Oh. Maya remembered. The rules.
He chose me over his parents.
Her heart was so full of love for him that she was just waiting to explode. Why did he love her? Why her? "I'm sorry," she said. "You must've been through hell."
It didn't seem fair to him that she called what he had gone through hell, when compared to what she had gone through it sounded like a walk in Central Park.
To be honest, it had felt like hell to him.
But it had only felt like hell because she wasn't there.
They stood there, assessing each other.
Maya remembered the look on his face last night and swore that she would never put it there again.
Lucas wondered how she seemed so normal, whether this was just a phase or if this was the start of Maya being okay.
Then they both realized how hungry they were. "Let's get breakfast," he said.
Maya's shift wasn't till the afternoon, so after Lucas had called the Matthews and Farkle and they had all gotten to talk to Riley, Maya and Lucas went to the restaurant where Maya worked. Lucas ordered pancakes, and Maya had a breakfast sandwich.
Lucas talked about working as an electrician with his cousin, and how he was enjoying it a lot more than he thought he would. Maya didn't talk much; there was nothing about the past months that she considered worth talking about. She was happy just to watch him. He talked with his hands a lot, waving and gesturing as he described the jobs he had worked and the things he had learned. He wanted to ask her about what she'd been doing, but she directed the questions away from it, not because she was afraid he would think badly of her, but because she didn't think what she'd done was important.
Observing Lucas was important. His eyes lit up with pride in himself when he talked about something he'd fixed. His voice dropped when he told her that she looked beautiful that morning.
Neither of them realized it, perhaps because they gone out to eat together so often as friends, but this was their first date.