Complicated People, Complicated Love

The Invite

Maya

I wake up to Lucas's music blasting from the open bathroom door. Lucas steps out bare chested with wet hair. He sees me glaring at him and holding a pillow over my ears. He spins in a circle and points finger guns at me and starts dancing over to me. I can smell his deodorant and my mood lifts a bit. That smell always makes me feel better, it smells like him.

I'm too tired to find it amusing so I scrunch my eyes shut and groan. I feel his hands grab my hand that's on top of the pillow. He pulls me out of bed and it's very tempting to just let my legs go limp. He holds my hands and sways them back and forth as he sings high pitched to the music. I close my eyes again and lay my head against his wet chest.

"You're playing a dangerous game Friar, you know I'm not a morning person," I can feel him slow down his rhythm.

"You know how much I love it when you're here, but is there a reason why you've been here four nights in a row? Is everything all right?" I sigh, not wanting to talk about it but knowing I should.

"It's Archie," that makes him stop moving completely. I lift my head to look at him.

"Did he do something to you?" He says this quietly, like he's afraid of the answer.

"No," I answer quickly, trying not to worry him. "He's staying at the apartment, and I just don't want to deal with him," he nods slowly.

"And you're okay with that?" He asks. I snort. He looks happy with that response. "Well, you know you can always stay here." I nod and rest my head on him again.

. . .

We sit at the lunch table and Lucas hands me the pizza slice he packed for my lunch. Out of the corner of my eye I see Archie looking at me skeptically. I ignore him and take a bite of my pizza. Lucas puts his arm around me and squeezes. I smile automatically and he smiles back.

It feels so right to be with him again. Of course, I still have the bad thoughts. Like what if we don't work out, what will I do? Or is it even worth trying? Am I bad for him? But I push these thoughts away, remembering all the things he said to me when I told him these doubts.

I nuzzle my nose on his neck and whisper in his ear, "I love you," he smiles and looks at me. He leans forward and gives me a quick kiss and takes a bite of his own pizza. I lay my head on his shoulder and want to sleep there, considering how tired I am from being woken up by his blasting music.

"So Archie," Riley says, "how's it going here in New York? Feeling at home yet?" The corners of his mouth lift up in a smile that seems a little too mischievous to mean anything good.

"Oh yeah, feeling right at home," he glances at me and his smile gets bigger. I cough and look down. I know it shouldn't be a big deal to have an old friend crash at your place but he always seems to make it feel like a big deal. Lucas's arm stiffens around me. I put my hand on his knee to tell him it's ok.

I see Missy come up behind Farkle and stands next to Archie. "So, Arch, you coming to my party tonight?" I roll my eyes, why should I be surprised that Missy would go after he new Australian student. Her eyes flicker up to all of us looking at her. Awkwardly, she says, "You should all come," I can hear the restraint in her voice and resist the urge to snicker.

"Oh, we'll be there," Archie says confidently. If he's going, I don't want to.

"Yay! A party!" Riley says giddily. She's so innocent and I love it. "Maya, come over after school and we can get ready together." I don't want to tell her no, that I don't want to go, we haven't been spending much time together lately and I want that to change.

"Sure," I say, why not. "I'd love to," she claps and Missy gives us her bitchiest face.

"I'll see you tonight," she says putting her hand on Archie's shoulder and letting it linger a bit too long. When she's gone, Archie breathes out. "She's quite a character isn't she," we all laugh because it's so true, but I can tell Lucas's laugh is forced. And to be honest, I think mine is a bit too.

With my history at parties, this is not a night to look forward to. I turn to Lucas. Maybe it might be after all, with this stud, what can go wrong?

. . .

"So things are good with you and Lucas?" Riley asks from the bathroom.

"More than good," I say back. Riley peaks out of the door with mascara on only one eye.

"Do you mean..." she asks making a sexual gesture with her hands. I give her a shocked look.

"Riley Matthews making a sex comment? I thought I would never see the day," she rolls her eye at me but comes and sits down. She looks at me intently. "No. We haven't done it," I say and for some reason I feel like it's the wrong answer.

She nods. When she doesn't say anything I get to thinking. "Wait, have you and Farkle?" I ask. She smiles at me and shrugs. "Oh my god!" I say smiling and her grin gets even bigger. "I shouldn't be surprised, you too have been dating for a long time, I always just assumed you would wait."

"Me too, but one night, it just seemed like it was time, I thought, what was really the point of waiting for marriage, if you love someone that much and you trust them with your life, why not express it? And I don't regret it for a second," she smiles at me.

"Lucas wants to wait for the right time," I say.

"Oh" she says. "That makes sense, I honestly just assumed you had done it already." I nod.

"If it was up to me we would have,"

"Well, maybe the wait makes it even better," I nod and let Riley curl my hair, thinking about her logic.