****Maya's P.O.V.****
"Look who's staring now."
I watched as he pulled away with a smug smirk on his face, still looking at me.
"We should probably go. I mean, it's been a while and I've had enough time to think," I told him, breaking the stare by turning away as I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment.
"What happened to you being scared of heights?" He asked me, the same smirk stuck on his face.
"Well I'm more scared of where this conversation is going," I muttered under my breath, watching as he stood up from his spot and dusted his jeans off.
"What was that?" He asked, stepping down onto the first step of the ladder but still looking at me.
"Nothing, now wipe that smug little smirk of yours off your face and hurry up," I told him impatiently.
"Ouch. That hurt, Maya," he said, holding a hand to his heart sarcastically.
"Oh just shut up already."
He just smirked before climbing down the ladder.
"You coming?" He asked as he stepped down off the last step and looked up at me.
"Yeah, I was just waiting for you to get down," I told him, getting more nervous by the second. God, I really hate heights.
"You know what, I think I'm just going to stay up here," I told him.
"Oh no you don't. You are going to come down here right this second. "
"But I don't want to."
"Come on, Maya. You have to come down at some point. What's your deal?"
"I already told you what 'my deal' was. Not my fault if you weren't paying attention."
"Of course I was paying attention. You're scared of heights. But I didn't think you were this scared, considering you were laughing the whole way up there."
"Well you were distracting me. And now, here I am, not distracted and scared as hell."
"Why are you so scared of heights, anyways?"
"I'm not necessarily sacred of heights, I'm just scared of falling from heights."
"Well, would it help if I told you I would catch you if you fell?"
"Not really."
"Oh, come on, Maya. Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I trust you. But-"
"Then don't question it. Now come down," he interrupted, opening his arms wide. I let out a sigh and ran a shaky hand through my hair before walking forward, turning around, and bending over, my hands gripping the ladder until my knuckles turned white.
"Are you sure you're ready to catch me?" I asked, turning my head as I placed one foot on the first step.
"Of course."
"Okay," I replied, turning my head back around and putting my other foot on the first step. I continued slowly making my way down the ladder until I was halfway down. I tarted to become more confident and move a little faster down the ladder when the heel of my shoe slipped off the ladder, sending me falling down and down to the hard ground.
I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my fists, waiting for the contact of the ground to come, yet it never did. All I felt was a pair of arms wrapping around me and enveloping me in a tight embrace. I felt my heart rate quicken as I opened my eyes slightly, only to have my heart beat out of my chest when I saw how close my face was to Gabe's. We were centimeters apart and I felt his eyes staring into my own. I froze when I saw his gaze move to my lips. He looked back in my eyes and started leaning in when I spoke.
"We should probably head back now."
"Uh, yeah. Probably," he said, looking kind of taken aback. He set me down, and I instantly saw a look of sadness and anger plastered on his face. I decided to just ignore it so we could have a good time and I started walking forward, but he didn't move an inch.
I turned back to face him to see him frozen in the same spot.
"Is something wrong?" I asked him, stepping closer and placing my hand on his shoulder.
"Yes," he said, but I could tell he didn't mean it.
"Are you sure?"
"I said I'm fine," he snapped, his eyes turning an even darker shade of brown. I pulled my hand away from his shoulder quickly, startled by his sudden change in mood.
"Okay, sorry. I was just asking," I told him, raising my hands up in surrender. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his eyes lighting up a bit. They still weren't the normal shade of chocolatey brown, but they were getting there.
"I know, and I'm sorry. It's just.." He trailed off, and he looked unsure of something.
"It's just what?"
"It's just that.. Well, you know.."
"Actually, no I don't. If I knew, I wouldn't be asking."
"Okay. I'm just going to come out and say it."
"I believe that would be the best way to do it."
"Well, this is really hard for me to say.. Umm.. Well, you see.. Uh.. I l-like you.. Like a lot. Your sarcastic way of speaking, the way you roll your beautiful blue eyes whenever someone says something you don't agree with, or even how you're so stubborn when you have your mind set to something. Every time you smile, I can't help but smile, too. I realize that we have only known each other for a few days, but I just can't help what I'm feeling. And you have no idea how hard it is to stand here right now and be close to you and not kiss you."
"Well then why haven't you kissed me yet?" I asked, instantly regretting it afterwards. I felt the heat creep up my neck and onto my cheeks.
"Well, both times I've been interrupted."
"Well there's no one around to interrupt us now."
"I doubt that. Mr. Matthews is probably hiding behind a tree, waiting for me to make a move so he has a reason to take you away from me."
"You're probably right," I said, laughing lightly. The conversation fell silent after that, both of us staring at our feet and listening to the birds chirping.
"You know," Gabe said, me turning my attention to him and looking up at him. "There's no harm in trying. That is, if you want to." I blushed and smiled, our eyes instantly locking.
"I know I want to. But the question is, do you want to?" I asked him with a smirk as I stalked forward slowly.
"I definitely do. I just don't want you to do anything in the heat of the moment and then end up regretting it."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that happens, won't we?"
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Gabe asked with a smirk, stepping closer so our faces were now centimeters apart.
"I believe I am, Mr. Duncan," I replied, slowly snaking my arms around his neck and still staring into his eyes. He wrapped his arms around my waist and moved his gaze to my lips, starting to lean in. I started to lean in too, although it was kind of hard since he was about 8 inches taller than me. I felt his breath fanning my face and saw that his eyes were now closed. I felt my eyes flutter shut as if it was an instinct, and our lips were about to touch when he pulled away just the slightest bit. I opened my eyes to see that his were already open and filled with doubt.
"Are you sure about this?" He asked, and I let out a small laugh.
"It's just a kiss, Gabe. And to answer your question, yes, I am sure about this. Now shut up and pucker up."
With that, I stood up on my tippy toes and placed my lips on his. Butterflies started fluttering around in my stomach and it felt as if fireworks were exploding all around us. I pulled away with a huge grin on my face, only to see Gabe completely frozen in front of me.
"Gabe?" I asked, waving a hand in front of his face. He just stood there, a shocked look still on his face.
"Gabe?" I tried again, but still no response. I groaned before standing on my tippy toes and once again placing my lips upon his. He almost instantly responded by moving his lips in sync with mine, but I pulled away as soon as he did.
"Wow. Two kisses in one day. That's a score for me."
"Indeed it is, Mr. Duncan. Especially since that was your first kiss."
"How did you know that was my first kiss?"
"I didn't, until just now."
"Well played, Ms. Hart. Well played. Too bad that I was informed that this was your first kiss, also." I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment and I looked down, trying to avoid him seeing me blush.
"How did you know that?" I asked him, lifting my head just the slightest bit.
"Because you just told me."
****Riley's P.O.V.****
"Lucas."
I couldn't help but continue standing there in shock as he smiled at me. I looked him up and down quickly and instantly smiling when I saw he had his varsity jacket on. I remember one time when we were walking from school to Topanga's, it started raining and I didn't have a jacket. Lucas, being the gentleman that he is, offered me his jacket and I obviously accepted. He actually let me keep it for my walk home, then ended up letting me keep it for good. He bought another one from the school, and I still have the one he game me in my closet at home.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, snapping out of my trance.
"What, I can't come visit my favorite girl while she's on vacation?"
I blushed and turned my head down, not wanting him to see it. He grabbed my chin with is soft fingers and tilted my head back up so I was looking at him.
"I love your blush. It makes you look even more beautiful," he whispered, my cheeks turning more red than a tomato.
"What is he doing here?" My dad asked in a low voice, glaring at Lucas. Lucas immediately tore his gaze away from me and pulled his hand away from my chin, smiling at my father. I stepped back slightly, not wanting my dad to realize how close we were standing to each other.
"Hello, Mr. Matthews."
"I don't like you."
"Oh, but you do."
"Get out of here."
"Oh, so I guess you want me to leave too, huh Cory," a new voice questioned. I turned my head to reveal my uncle Shawn standing in the doorway, causing my dad to let out an ear piercing scream.
"Shawny!"
"Let's take it down a few notches, Beyoncé," I told him, my ears still slightly ringing.
"You're just lucky I have someone to distract me, otherwise I would totally be throwing Lucas out of this house," he responded, and Lucas and I bursted out into laughter.
"What?" He asked, pulling his attention away from Shawn and looking at us quizzically.
"No offense, sir, but you chat throw me out."
"And why is that?"
"Because you've already tried that twice when I was trying to ask out Riley, and you failed both times."
"Well that was quite a while ago. I have grown since then."
"Sure you have."
With that, Lucas closed the gap between us and gave me a bear hug. I instantly hugged back, a grin spreading across my face and my eyes closing.
"What's all that about?" Shawn whispered to my dad.
"He likes her. She likes him. I said they could date."
"Ahh, I see. And why exactly did you do that?"
"I don't know."
I pulled away from Lucas when I realized we were still hugging, and he did the same. I looked up to see him already staring at me, his gaze on my lips. He started leaning in when the door opened, causing both of us to jump away.
I looked over to see who had interrupted our moment, and I couldn't help but let out a quiet excited squeal when I saw Gabe and Maya standing in the doorway, Gabe's arm wrapped securely around Maya's shoulders.
"Oh, hey guys. What's going on?" Maya asked, causing my dad and Shawn's attention to be turned to her. As soon as they saw their position, they both turned red and tensed up. Shawn, however, looked like he was about to kill someone. And I'm assuming that that 'someone' is Gabe.
"And who might you be?" Shawn questioned, rage illuminating off of his body.
"I'm Gabe Duncan. Who are you?"
"Maya's step-father."
Gabe immediately realized the situation he was in and pulled his arm away from Maya's shoulders, stepping further away from her.
"Nice to meet you."
"Oh, trust me, this visit is going to be anything but nice for you."
(A/N: Okay. So before you guys go all crazy on me, I need to explain something. I have been receiving many questions about why I haven't been updating, so I might as well tell you. If you have read either of my other books, you know that I am always pushing myself to be a better writer. But I can't do that, without your feedback. So please feel free to leave some ideas in the comment section so I know what you guys would like to happen in the story. Okay, so here's the reason I haven't been updating. I recently started school this week, and I was and still am super stressed about it. I have a lot of responsibilities this year. Also, my mom has been taking my phone away at night recently, which is when I do most of my writing. I still write, but it's for a different book I haven't published and it's on a notepad. That means that I have to copy everything down onto my phone after I've already written it on paper. It's really boring, so I usually stop doing it after about 500 words. So I apologize to those of you who like this story. Thanks for continuing to read this story, it means a lot to me.)