"Did you tell Lucas?" Riley asked. I shook my head and looked down at my hands, picking my finger nails.
"You need to tell him, Maya."
"No I don't, I don't need to tell anyone. I wasn't going to tell anyone, you just found out!" I stood up off of her bed and crossed my arms over my chest.
"He really cares about you, he needs to know!"
"He already knows enough!" I shouted. "I gotta go, Riles... I'm going to Lunch with Lucas." I left out her window and walked to where Lucas told me to meet him.
It was holiday at school and we had this whole week off of school, thank goodness!
"Hey, Lucas." I smiled, hugging him.
"Hey babe." He leaned down to give me a kiss, which I gladly accepted and we walked into the restaurant.
"Babe?" I laughed at him.
"Yeah, I hope you don't have a problem with it, because I kinda like it." He winked. He was starting to get more confident with me, and I really liked that. He was breaking out of his little Huckleberry shell.
"No, I like it too."
We sat down at a table and I ordered a water and Lucas ordered a root beer. When we got our drinks, Lucas ordered for himself and me. He ordered me a fruit bowl and a sandwich.
"What if that's not what I wanted?" I laughed.
"You're going to eat it and like it. You've done well the past few days, Maya. I'm proud of you."
"Thanks." I looked down at my drink and moved my straw around. I hated talking about this because it's weird... It's not something I had to talk about with people before, I kept it to myself.
"Don't feel weird or embarrassed, Maya. You can't help that this happened to you, but you were strong enough to ask someone for help, and be accepting of the help." Lucas grabbed my hand across the table and rubbed the back of it.
"I know... Thank you for helping me, but I'm really not that strong." I laughed nervously.
"You don't give you self enough credit. You've been through hell and back and still manage to smile, I say that's strength."
Our food came, and I ate the little bowl of fruit first, because fruit doesn't have many calories... I drank some of my water and looked at Lucas, pouting my lip out.
"Eat." He demanded. "Any other time that face would work, but this isn't one of those times."
"But Lucas!" I whined. "I'm... I can't."
"Yes you can. Whatever is going on in your head, you need to learn to ignore it, over power it, and block it out. Days like this are when you need to try even harder than before. Please?"
"Lucas..."
"Please, Maya? For me?" He pleaded.
I rested my elbows on the table and slammed my head into my hands, looking down at the sandwich Lucas had ordered me.
Bread, lettuce, tomato, turkey...
"What if I take the bread off?" I tried.
"No. Please try your hardest."
I looked down at the sandwich, then back to Lucas, who was sipping his drink.
My eyes started to burn, but I wasn't going to cry in the middle of a restaurant. There's too many people and I'm not going to look like a giant cry baby.
Slowely, I picked up half of the sandwich, and took a deep breath. I took a bite, covering my mouth as I chewed. All I wanted to do was spit it out, but I couldn't.
I looked up at Lucas and he was smiling. I hung my head down into my hands again and sniffled.
"Maya, you're doing great." Lucas said, he got up out of his side of the booth and sat next to me, giving me a hug.
"No I'm not."
"Look at me." Lucas said. I looked up at him, letting a breath out and sniffling again. No tears had fallen from my eyes, and they were starting to go away.
"You don't have to eat anymore if you don't want to. I know that, that one bite took a lot of strength, and I'm very happy that you did that." He kissed my forehead and I looked up at him.
"Why you stick around is a mystery to me." I laughed.
"I could say the same about you, short stack." He laughed back.
Leaving the restaurant, we walked along the sidewalks, snow falling, and just talked. For the most part it was complete honesty between us, and I liked that.
"Hey, Friar!" Someone called from behind us. Lucas sighed and I looked up at him, confused.
"Billy." Lucas and I turned around to see Billy coming our way and I smiled, to be nice.
"You and Maya?" He laughed in disbelief.
"It would seem so." Lucas tried to smile, but since the whole Farkle incident, Lucas didn't like Billy all too much, and I didn't either.
"I figured you'd end up with the teachers daughter." Billy said. I looked down at my feet and started messing with the snow with my feet.
"Her name is Riley." Lucas spat.
"Whatever." He shrugged. "Call me when you decide he's too perfect." Billy said to me. I raised an eyebrow and chuckled.
"Excuse me?"
"Mr. Perfect seems to not be able to keep a girls interest, take Riley for example."
I looked up at Lucas and his jaw was clenched. I looked down and his fists were balled. What could I do to keep him from murdering Billy?
Quickly, I grabbed his bicep, causing his hand to unclench for a few seconds. I slid my hand into his and locked our fingers together.
"Billy I think you need to go." I said, looking between him and Lucas.
"Remember what I said." He winked. Then he walked away.
"Lucas?" I asked hesitantly.
"He's right." Lucas mumbled through grinding teeth.
"About?"
"Me not being able to keep a girl. I don't know how long you're gonna stay, Maya, bu-"
"Stop! If I'm not allowed to be sad and upset neither are you!"
"Maya I'm serious, you're amazing. Something this great can only last so long."
I pushed Lucas up against a wall of a building we were infront of, not caring who was passing by or watching. I stood on my tip toes and grabbed his face in my hands, pulling him into a kiss. After a few seconds Lucas' hands found their was to my waist and he pulled me closer to him.
When we pulled away I rested my cheek on his chest and wrapped arms around him. I didn't even look into his eyes, I kept my eyes closed from the kiss and smiled into his jacket.
"Lucas, I promise you Billy will not come between us in anyway, he will not break us up, or change how much I care about you." I hugged him a bit tighter and I felt him inhale deeply.
"I love you, Maya."
I looked up at him, my arms still wrapped around him, and smiled.
"I love you too."
