*DO NOT OWN Ariana Grande's "The Way"

Chapter Two: The Boy Who Cried "Sorry"

"I got a bad boy, I must admit it. You got my heart, don't how you did it. And I don't care who sees it babe. I don't wanna hide the way I feel when you're next to me. I love the wa—AHHHH!" Riley screamed before jumping into her bed and shying away under her covers.

Standing a couple feet from her was Lucas, laughing his ass off. It was not unusual for Lucas to catch either Riley or Maya in their own zone, but that doesn't mean it made it any less funnier each and every time.

"LUCAS, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Riley cried out. "I SWEAR!"

Lucas laughed out loud in response. "Riley, you have got to be one of the funniest people I have ever met." He exclaimed once he calmed down. "Whatever that is you call…dancing…Haha! That was really bad but adorable."

"Leave my room, please." Riley pleaded with her best friend. I wish my other best friend was here. Oh my god, Lucas is so annoying…Riley thought to herself.

Lucas threw his hands up in the air. "Fine." He said and slowly backed away. "I'll leave, but don't tell my dad that I didn't try to tell you."

Riley's head quickly emerged from underneath her bed covers. "Huh? Tell me what?" Riley asked, resulting in a smug look on his face.

"Well…" Lucas cleared his throat, trying to prolong the announcement as long as he could. The clenching of the teeth from Riley gave Lucas the satisfaction he wanted. Teasing was what Lucas knew best, and he took every opportunity to display his biggest achievement. "Dad has scored three tickets to go see Disney on Ice—"

"AHHHH!" Riley screamed to the top of her lungs then proceeded to jump up and down in her bed.

"—ANNNND…" Lucas stretched the word, while also holding up a finger. "Those tickets are box seats with unlimited refreshments."

Riley had only experienced Disney on Ice one time, and she loved it. However, that was about ten years ago, and any sort of memory of that concert was slowly vanishing from her mind. For her Uncle Shawn to get those tickets, knowing how much she'd been bugging to go for the last few years, made her love her uncle even more…not that she didn't already love him to pieces.

Riley began jumping too close to the edge, but by the time Lucas had noticed just that it was already too late. "Umph!" Riley groaned as soon as her body hit the floor.

Lucas rushed over to his friend's aid. "Are you ok?" He asked as he placed both of his hands on either sides of Riley's stomach. "Does your back ache? What about your head?" He was just concerned…VERY concerned, but that wasn't abnormal.

"Hey Riles, I just—OMG, what happened?!" Maya exclaimed as she dashed to her best friend's side.

Lucas turned to Maya. "She fell." He said then turned his attention back to Riley, who was holding her head. "Is your head hurting?" He asked once again.

Riley sighed, "Lucas, stop asking me that."

"Why are you being annoying?" Maya asked Lucas.

Lucas's mouth dropped open in shock. "What?" He was very confused. He didn't understand how asking the appropriate questions meant being annoying. "So, I'm annoying because I'm asking to see if my best friend is alright?"

Maya shook her head. "No, you're annoying whenever you talk." She told him then nudged Lucas over, almost bumping him out of his position next to Riley.

"You're annoying whenever you talk…" Lucas mimicked Maya's voice then rolled his eyes. "Anyways, seeing that your clumsy ass fell off the bed and most likely gained a concussion—"

"You're so dramatic." Riley interrupted then rolled her eyes.

Lucas smiled at her response before he continued. "—You're not going to Disney on Ice, today." He proclaimed.

Riley gently pushed Maya away and moved to stand. "Says who?" Riley asked.

"Says me." Lucas boldly answered.

Maya rolled her eyes. "Lucas, you're not our parents. You can't tell us what or what not to do." She argued.

"Well, I think…" Lucas spoke as he scratched his chin as if he had any facial hair present. "…I JUST DID." He exclaimed, putting his foot down.

When it came to health, Lucas was pretty much on it. He always made sure after every chocolate candy bar there were celery & carrots on standby. He made them drink plenty of water; sometimes, it came to the point where he would hide all of the sodas and sugary drinks in the house, therefore making them quench their thirst with bottled water. Being a basketball player, exercising is very important, so it shouldn't be too surprising that he makes them run with him on some mornings during the weekend.

"If I can't go because of you, I'm going to be so angry at you, Lucas." Riley stated a bit groggily, while continuing to hold the side of her head.

Lucas shrugged his shoulder as he casually leaned against Riley's door frame. "You can be mad at me all you want, but when you get older you'll thank me." He said with that annoying smirk the girls grew to hate.

To them, he did that on purpose to rile them up; and every single time, it did just that...

Maya aggressively stands in one quick motion. "YOU…" She yelled. "ARE...NOT...THE..." With every step she took, she said a new word. "BOSS...OF...US!" She was now standing directly in front of a daring Lucas as he looked down into her eyes, still showing that annoying smirk.

"You...are not...the boss...of...us!" He softly mimicked Maya. One thing he grew up knowing not to do is yell, especially at those two. His dad would have his head served at dinner if he found out that his son raised his voice at his little nieces.

Maya gritted her teeth together, almost letting out a full growl but catching herself. Knowing her guy best friend, she knew that he'd eat it up and tease her about it later. No matter how many times she teased him about where he came from and his accent, she could never upset him. However, he could say the slightest thing and it'd ruin her whole day; he would eventually apologize for hurting her feelings later, but that was something Lucas never was annoyed at doing because it always gave him joy to see her happy.

Maya looked down then up at Lucas's face. "I would kick you in the balls…" She started off saying. A smirk graced her lips as she finished, "…if you had any." She dramatically and slowly turned around as if she just roasted him in a rap battle.

Lucas's mouth twisted into a grimace. "Yikes! Then what was Cassandra feeling all on the other day?" He proposed that question, which in return caught the attention of both Riley and Maya.

At first, both of them were shock. Their mouths had dropped wide open in disbelief. The girls knew that Lucas would be the first to get any sort of sexual interaction out of the three, but they didn't expect it this early. What was Maya going to tease him about now? Anything she could say would be countered in favor of Lucas beating them to doing the Dirty Flirty (as they like to call it).

However, then, it wore off.

Riley closed her mouth and slowly leaned on Maya to stand up. "There's no way in H E double hockey sticks that Cassy did that." Riley exclaimed.

Cassandra was a cheerleader that attended the same grade as the other three. Lucas had heart eyes for the Latina since the first day they met, which was Freshmen year. It was a new city for her, and the three best friends casually spoke to her every day. And, for Lucas, it was a done deal since she shared a resemblance to Bianca Santos.

Lucas strengthened his annoying smirk. "Yup. 100%." He declared.

Maya scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right." She didn't believe it. "Come on, Riley. Let's go get your dad. He'll know what to do with your…um…" Maya used her hands to gesture to Riley's head. "…fiasco head trauma thing that's going on here."

Lucas laughed as the two squeezed pass him. "Ha! You just made that up." He exclaimed.

"Yeah, like your little fake semi-hand job..." Maya shot back without turning around.

Lucas let out a sarcastic laugh, "Ha Ha!" He exclaimed. "You're just hating Mr. Peaches hasn't given you access to his stem. I mean, let's face it Maya...you'd probably suck at sucking anyway."

Both Riley and Maya halt in their positions near the staircase.

Did he really just say that? Maya thought to herself.

What's gotten into him? Riley thought to herself.

Riley was the first to turn around and throw her hands in the air, inevitably flailing down and slapping her legs. "You're an asshole." Riley quietly yelled. Cory was downstairs, and it wouldn't be smart for her to let her Dad hear her curse.

Lucas's breath instantly hitched. "Oh, um…I'm sorry. Oh gosh. That sounded bad." Lucas quickly apologized. He meant no harm. "Seriously Maya, I didn't mean it. I promise. It's just…um…" It was as if he was trying to find the appropriate words. "…I don't know where I got that from." He finished.

Riley folded her arms. "I know where…" She claimed. "Gym talk…Lucas, we're your best friends. That was rude and disrespectful. We're not your boys in your locker room." Riley's voice was raising now.

"I'm sorry." Lucas said in a soft tone.

He meant it.

…But knowing Maya and Riley, he wasn't getting off that easy.

Maya's eyes began welling up. In one quick motion, Riley wrapped her arms around Maya and brought her into a hug. "It's alright." She whispered in her ear.

Lucas started to inch closer and closer to the girls, but Riley's sudden glare made him freeze. He knew what that look meant. "You're in troooouuuubbbblllle." That's what little Blue would've teased.

"Make him work for it." Riley whispered in Maya's ear. A knowing smile appears on Maya's lips before she quickly wipes it off.

Remember when it was said that he wasn't getting off easy…

Well...

{•••••} 2 Hours Later {•••••}

"Alright, so, I don't think there's anything seriously wrong." Cory spoke to his daughter after he closed the front door. He had an old college buddy, who got his PHD to become a doctor, come and check out Riley. Topanga was working, and Cory didn't want to bug her about the car. "Not even a concussion. Just a simple fall. You're lucky, sweetie." Cory told Riley as he finally approached the kitchen table, then leaning over and kissing his daughter's forehead.

Riley let out a comforting sigh, "Thank God."

Maya had a big smile on her face.

Meanwhile, Lucas looked from afar on his seat from the couch.

"School is in a couple days." Maya sounded excited. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't wait."

Cory looked at Maya weirdly. "Um…are you sure I don't need to call my buddy back in here?" He asked before the three of them burst into a fit of laughter.

Lucas tried to join in from his position on the couch, but he was being drowned out by the others.

"I think being out for so long really makes you miss it." Riley added on.

Maya nodded. "Yeah, but then a week in you're ready for it to end." She and Riley laughed then high-fived each other.

Cory noticed Lucas sitting lonesome on the couch. "Um…Lucas, are you okay?" He asked. This question garnered a reaction from the girls as they silently rolled their eyes. "There's nothing going on that I need to know about, right?" He asked his play nephew.

Lucas shook his head. "No, sir." He said with a smile.

Cory's eyebrows twitched for a quick second. Something wasn't right and he knew it, but he didn't exactly know what. These kids kept things close to their chest, no mater how many times their parents told them not to.

"Oooookaaaay…" Cory dragged. He drummed his hands on the kitchen table. "Um…I'm going to go and take a nap. Wake me if anything happens, but sweetie please be careful." He told them before walking upstairs.

Once Cory was out of sight, Lucas let out probably the biggest and saddest sigh anybody could ever pull off. His best friends were hardcore ignoring him, and no matter how hard he apologized, it never worked. He needed another plan. Unfortunately for Lucas, he knew himself very well to know that a great plan required the assistance of one of the girls'.

…yeah, the same girls that won't pay him any attention.

"…and Charlie looked at her with the most on-point facial reaction ever!" Riley was telling Maya what happened on the last day of their previous school year. You'd think she'd already tell her about this, but apparently not…"Like, I love Charlie and his facial reactions. They're so on point and he's so freaking cute too." Riley gushed.

Maya dropped her mouth open. "Ooooh, does Riley Matthews have a thing for Charlie Gardner?"

Riley couldn't help the blush that appeared on her cheeks.

A blush that Lucas caught.

…and his protective brother instincts kicked right in.

But then, as soon as he stood to give his scolding, like a sad little puppy, he sat back down.

He didn't want to anger the girls any more than they already were. Part of him thought that maybe the girls could be amping their anger to make himself feel worse than he already did, but that suddenly went out his head once the girls wouldn't even look in his direction.

The feeling of his phone vibrating caused him to shuffle his eyes to his pocket.

"Hello?" He answered into the phone.

"Luke," the sound of his father's voice was a very familiar one. "Have you told Riley yet? I had already told Maya, since I ran into her and her mom at the Diner. How did Riley take the news?!" The excitement in his father's voice made him feel queasy. "She was excited, right?"

Lucas sighed, "I mean...yeah..."

"W-what do you mean by yeah?" He mimicked his son's pronunciation.

Shawn Hunter was not a stupid guy, no matter how hard he tried to garner that reputation back in middle-high school. Without even being in the same room, he could read a room, so to speak. No one ever got anything passed him, and his son certainly wasn't gonna be the first.

"I–"

"Luke, fix whatever situation you done created for yourself." Shawn cut off his son. He already knew what was going on: his son was being an ass and now the girls were mad at him. It happened too many times for Shawn not to catch on. "Disney On Ice is what my niece has wanted to attend for the longest time. Don't ruin it for her." That last little sentence struck hard in Lucas's chest.

Lucas sighed, "I know dad but she fell and hit her head."

"Did you tell Cory?!" Shawn exclaimed. "Luke, go and tell Cory. He has friends with PHDs. What are you d—"

"Dad, Uncle Cory already had someone check on Riley." Lucas calmed his father down. "But," he sighed, "I don't think it's healthy. You know, the brain is much more complexed than anyone ever th—"

"Luke, this is a night out to enjoy a magical production of some of her favorite characters." Shawn explained, "Let her have this one. It's only 3 hours."

"I know but–"

"Lucas Killian Hunter, these tickets WERE NOT cheap!" Shawn exclaimed, "Don't do me a disservice here, son."

Lucas sighed, "Okay fine. I'll take her…" A bunch of overly-excited yes's could be heard from the other end of the phone. "…if I can convince her and Maya to forgive me."

"See…" Lucas could hear the disappointment in his father's voice. "Lord, I don't know why you gave me such a hard headed son." Shawn said to himself. Lucas peeked to his right to see that the girls had left him alone in the living room. "Son," Shawn spoke. "Just get my nieces to the concert."

"But Dad—"

"LUCAS, FIGURE IT OUT!" Shawn yelled over the phone, causing Lucas to flinch. His dad rarely ever got like this, but if he did it had to be a very good reason; for Shawn, his nieces were very good reasons to start a yelling spree against his son.

Lucas let out a tired sigh. "Okay, fine. I'll try again."

"And you'll keep trying and trying and trying until you three are at that concert." Shawn said. "Love you, son. I'll call you later."

Lucas nodded his head, even though his father couldn't see it. "I love you too, Dad. Here goes nothing…" He said before pressing the red button on his phone, ending the phone call.

{•••••}

"…and sometimes, I feel like people hate on you, because they envy what you have or how you look. It's always crazy to me how Messica Sanchez and Lame-berly Splits always target us year after year." Riley ranted as her and Maya gossiped and moaned about how the girls in their grade hated them. Hate is a strong word; it was more like despised their presence.

"Tell me about it." Maya chipped in. "They aren't the only ones, but those two specifically…whew! There's something about us that gets to them. They've been after us for four years. Like, I'm sorry your boyfriends thought we were cute. We never talked to them. They came after us, and still we didn't entertain them. We stuck to girl code, but nooooooo you got to blame us for what your stupid boyfriends did…" She continued rambling on.

Lucas leaned against the wall inches away from the door frame, out of sight and out of mind. How do I approach this? Do I just walk in and force them to talk to me? Or do I just leave them alone? No, Dad said I gotta get them to come to that concert. He kept thinking about his next step, but nothing came easy.

"…How do you think Lucas is feeling?" One of the girls asked. Lucas knew for a fact that it was Riley. He knew both of their voices pretty well, even when he couldn't directly see them at the moment.

"Probably like crap, but…" Maya stated then trailed off.

From the way she ended that, Lucas imagined that she shrugged the answer off. This of course bothered him. It didn't make him mad; he felt a little sad. To him, he really did hurt their feelings and he didn't know how he was gonna 100% bounce back from this.

Riley let out a sad sigh. "Yeah…but he'll be alright though." The perkiness in her voice took over.

Lucas let a loud groan, which caused him to quickly cover his mouth.

Too late.

"Higglytown, we know you're listening!" Maya called out to the door.

Lucas sighed before revealing himself.

He stood in the doorway, looking as sad as ever. He wanted his friends back, but he didn't know exactly what to say.

"Aww, look at what the cat dragged in." Maya continued.

Lucas ran a hand through his light brown hair. "I'm sorry." He apologized. That came out a little harder than thought, seeing that he hated apologizing especially to Maya since she liked the throw it back in his face.

"For?" Riley asked.

Lucas let out another sigh. "For being stupid…"

"That's nothing new." Maya said.

Riley pat the bed. "Come here." She told him, and he complied. Within seconds, Lucas was sitting on Riley's side of the bed. His body in slouch form as he looked down at his hands.

"I didn't mean it," Lucas began. "Now that I look back at what I said, I know that I shouldn't have said that. That's stuff I picked up from the locker room, and I really shouldn't have said it."

Maya scoffed, "Sounds like an excuse to me—"

"Maya!" Riley gritted her teeth together, glaring directly into the soul of her technically oldest best friend before returning her attention to her boy best friend. "You were very mean today…to both of us."

Both? Lucas had the urge to fight what she had just said, but he ultimately chose differently. "Yeah, I'm sorry." He said softly. "I didn't mean to be such a pain in the butt today, and I'm sorry."

"Riley, I think we need to put up applications to find a new friend—"

"Maya, I'm so so sorry!" Lucas exclaimed, finally looking up from his hands. "I didn't mean it! I promise, I didn't mean it! Don't stop being friends with me, please!" In that moment, something that the girls have never witnessed in their life began to happen. Lucas's voice was breaking, and he was on the verge of crying considering how watery his eyes started to get. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll say it a million times if I have to. I AM SORRY!" He cried.

Riley put a hand on Maya's arm. "Alright, Maya I think we can—"

"I don't believe it." Maya cut her best friend off.

Maya, as expected, wasn't going to let Lucas down so easy. Well, as easy as Maya thought, because the 16 year old boy was full blown crying right now and the blonde was not budging.

"Please…" Lucas pleaded.

One thing about Lucas that the girls knew growing up was that Lucas had a soft side. He didn't show it much, but it sometimes came out; and when it did, it was a for sure sight to see.

"Maya, maybe we should—"

"Lucas, earlier today I felt like you called me a slut. And I certainly did not appreciate those words." Maya said, dragging this along. In her mind, she was laughing her ass off.

Lucas nodded, "I understand that. I know that I'm wrong. I'm sorry. Please, you gotta believe me. This hurts me, Maya. Watching the two of you laugh and play and have fun, and I'm off to the side wondering if we'll ever get to that place." He poured out. Okay, Mr. Dramatic! Maya laughed in her head while Lucas continued. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! For real, like Maya I'm getting nervous. You know what happens when I get nervous." He said, fidgeting with his hoodie and throwing it off.

"Okay, Maya, he's getting nervous." Riley stepped in. "Let's not have him fainting. You know how he gets."

When Lucas was a little bit younger, the doctor diagnosed him with Vasovagal Syncope. He had unusual way of fainting whenever he got super nervous. Blood wouldn't flow properly and it'll lead to the boy fainting. It wasn't a very serious condition, but it was one that always freaked out Shawn. To cope with not fainting, Lucas would take off his clothes; for some reason, he felt cooler and it'd calm him down.

Lucas was already shirtless and unbuckling his pants.

"LUCAS!" Riley exclaimed then she turned to Maya. "Stop it! Call it off! Okay! Lucas we were dragging this whole thing out! We're not really mad at you!" Riley yelled, standing from her spot on the bed.

Lucas paused mid-pantsed, bended over. He slowly looked up from his pants to his blonde best friend. Anger starting to set in. "Are you kidding me?!" Lucas exclaimed.

Maya burst in a fit of laughter. "I'm sorry, but…" She snapped a picture of Lucas, now standing there shirtless with the top of his pants now at his kneecaps. He had on cadet gray boxers; his bulge just completely in view.

"I. Hate. You." Lucas growled through his teeth.

Maya laughed, "That's what you get."

"Don't show this to Cass." Lucas's voice replicated that of someone threatening somebody else.

Maya couldn't stop laughing, "Aw you know me so well."

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Hey kids, Shawn told me that–Oh My Word!" Topanga screamed before covering her mouth.

"Mom, it's not what it looks." Riley quickly went to the defense.

Realization dawned on Mrs. Matthews. "You guys had him nervous, didn't you?"

Riley let out a nervous laugh.

Maya eagerly nodded her head.

Topanga shook her head. "What am I going to do with you girls?"

Lucas grabbed his shirt and hoodie from off the floor and starting exiting the room. "Tell me about it." He said, passing his aunt.

"Are you girls going to get ready?" Topanga asked the girls.

Maya and Riley both wore confusing looks. "Why?" Both said simultaneously.

"Shawn said that Lucas came up here to apologize and that you'll be heading to Disney on Ice in about…" Topanga stopped to look at her phone. "…30 minutes."

"OH SHOOT!" Maya screamed and jumped off the bed.

"I GOTTA FIND SOMETHING TO WEAR!" Riley exclaimed.

I'm back! Yes, I know I've been gone for a LONG time. Mainly due to COVID and where the world was at the time, but I'm back! And I'm happy because I love writing about Riley-Lucas-Maya friendship. Again, this story will be solely about their adventures in friendship. None of them will be getting together, so no shipping wars…between them at least ;)

~STORMAI