"Whoa. Gentlemen, look how lucky you are. You treat 'em right" Pappy Joe says to me and Riely as we reach them outside of his house.
"Thank you, pappy Joe" Riley approaches Lucas and rests her hand on his back, making me kind jealous.
"I see why you get homesick for Texas sometimes, Lucas. I never knew that the sky had this many stars. You know what else? I don't get nervous when I'm with you anymore. We're doing the right thing. Ah. Remember when we couldn't even say 'hi' to each other? Remember how we'd go, 'hi.' 'Howdy.' 'Hi.' Remember? Now watch this. Say 'hi to me"
"Hi"
"Hi, Lucas. What up, brah? What's up with you, man? You good? You cool?" he looks very confused
"Hi"
"Still got some catching up to do"
"Riley, I... I don't even know what's going on right now"
"What's going on is that we're gonna be the best of friends and care about what each of us has to say for the rest of our lives"
"Yeah, I sort of thought we had that. What does brother and sister mean?"
"It means... you know..." she punches his arm
"Poom! Hey! Ping!"
"Riley!"
"Ha, you said that just like a brother would"
"Well, can I hit you back?"
"No"
"Only you get to hit me?" Riley nods
"Mm-hmm. We're just like how you and Maya were" Were?! Excuse me?! Nothing is gonna change
"Ha-hee" Is she serious? What was that supposed to be? My ha-hurr? I can't take this anymore
"You don't even do it right"
"Oh! Maya, I thought you weren't talking to Lucas"
"I'm not talking to him. I'm talking to you" Lucas walks in front of me
"Maya, are you seriously not gonna talk to me?" I stutter a little before managing to say a full sentence
"You could've gotten hurt on that stupid bull. What do you think you getting hurt would have done to the people who..." I stop, I can't say it out loud. I can't, it would make it too real.
"Care about you? I think you were gonna say 'care about you'" Elliot says as he stands up from the bench he was sitting on with Farkle and Zay, taking me by surprise.
"I'm not talking about me. You think I'm talking about me?" he smirks. What in hell is he trying to prove?
Elliot's POV
I have to push Maya and Lucas together, I have to make it up to her for the flask somehow. Even if this means seeing her with someone else, but, at the end of the day her happiness is more important. She deserves to be with someone she likes.
And by the way, yes, Riley knows about my plan, we talked about it on our way to Texas after Maya fell asleep
"I heard you" I frown at my sister
"What?"
"I wasn't asleep. I heard you talking. The alcohol was yours!" I shush her
"Maya is asleep, she can't hear you"
"How do you know she's not pretending to be asleep like you did earlier?"
"I know Maya" I sigh
"Okay, fine, the flask was mine"
"What?!" I shush her again
"You might wake her up!"
"I just can't believe you drink!" I sigh
"Riley, in high school things change, trust me, it's totally normal to drink underage"
"And Maya took all the blame for you!"
"I know, I told her that I wanted to tell the truth but she won't let me!"
"I heard you two talking earlier... does she really like Lucas?" she looks down
"She refuses to admit it or to say it out loud but it's pretty clear. The way she communicates with him, makes fun of him. Riley, I'd even say that she's in love and I really wanna help her out with him"
"Why? I thought you didn't like Lucas"
"I wouldn't want him to date you or her but it's for her happiness. I have to make it up to her somehow. Don't you think she deserves to be finally happy?" she slowly nods
"Yeah, but how?"
"That's the point. She won't let herself go. We need to help her" my sister looks hesitant
"Riley. You don't like Lucas"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Or at least, not like that. It's pretty clear to me that you two are more like brother and sister"
"Does Maya think the same thing too?"
"I told her my opinion about you two but she refused to believe it until she became you when you turned into 'Morotia M. Black'. That's when she found out" Riley looks down
"I'm sorry-"
"Don't be. You guys are right, I don't like Lucas like that anymore, I guess I'm still having some trouble accepting that" I take her hand and smile warmly at her
"It's totally fine. He was your crush. It's normal to get confused with your feelings sometimes"
"So, what's the plan?" I frown
"What plan?"
"You said you wanted to push them together"
"Yeah"
"How?"
"Just leave them alone for a few minutes, I'm sure sparks will happen between them"
"That's all we gotta do?" I nod
"Yeah"
"Okay then, I'm in"
"Really?" I ask in disbelief
"Yup, I want her to be happy as well"
"Yes, I do" I say as I reply to Maya
"I'm talking about everybody here"
"All right. Maya, Lucas is okay. He didn't get hurt. All of us are okay. And we're gonna go spend our first night in Texas... What should we do?" Farkle answers Riley's question
"I've been reading about Austin, and they call it a music city. They call it the live music capital of the world" Zay nods
"That's absolutely what we should do. Show them the town and listen to some music" Lucas agrees
"Yeah! Anyone good playing tonight?"
"If I was a young buck trying to impress my friends, I might suggest chubby's famous barbecue pit. Always good eats, always good music"
"But barbecued foods aren't good for you" Please tell me he did say that. Everyone steps away from Farkle and I push Maya a little bit more further from our friend.
"Let me tell you what ain't good for you"
"You're not gonna do anything to me because you know I'm a New York intellectual and you don't want to be a cliche"
"Lucas, fetch me my shotgun"
"Okay" he turns around to go inside the house
"Lucas!" Riley says in disbelief and he stops
"Okay"
"Okay, I'll go to chubby's, I'll eat your food, I'll listen to your music, but don't expect a changed Farkle, hombre" we walk away and follow Zay who leads us there and start eating. I'm not very hungry, unlike Farkle, who ate dozens of ribs, pretty impressive.
"While I understand barbecue is not your thing, Farkle, you do seem to have found a new appreciation for our hometown cuisine" Zays says, a little worried
"More"
"Easy, cowboy. You need to calm down"
"Oh, I have to calm down? They make a big deal out of you riding a bull for four seconds. Well, I ate him"
"Lucas, can we talk for a bit? Alone?" I ask as I stands up
"Sure" he follows me to the dance floor
"So, about you and my sister-"
"Don't hurt her, blah, blah, blah"
"I wasn't gonna say that?" he raises his eyebrows
"Then what were you gonna say?"
"I wanna open your eyes"
"What?"
"Listen, you think you like Riley but you don't"
"What are you talking about? Of course I like her" I glare at him
"Listen buddy. She was your crush, your first kiss, it's perfectly understandable to have mixed feelings about her, especially since you've stayed close friends"
"Did we ruin our relationship with that kiss?"
"No, if you don't let it. Look, Riley has already realized it, so, why can't you?" he smiles
"You know what? You're right. We're gonna stay friends" I pat his back
"Good cowboy. You know what I've noticed thought?"
"What?"
"You and Maya"
"What about us?" I roll my eyes
"Come on" he chuckles
"Seriously, what about us?"
"Man, the way she looks at you , the way you look at her, the way you tease each other..." he chuckles nervously
"It's just our way to communicate Elliot"
"I don't think so, there's something deeper"
"What are you trying to say?"
"I think Maya likes you" he smiles widely. Yes! I knew he liked her too!
"What-" we're soon joined but the rest of the group. Perfect, my plan is almost complete, now I gotta let these two alone and let magic happen
"Hey, everybody. Welcome to chubby's famous barbecue, home of the best ribs in Texas" the host says and we all clap
"Okay, well we're about to introduce two lovely ladies and one of them grew up here as well, about two hours down the road in sugar land. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome Maddie & Tae!" everyone applauds them as they walk on stage
"Well, it feels real good to be back home in Texas. This first one's a love song" I smirk as I see Maya and Lucas looking at each other with a shy smile
"And it's called no place like you" while they sing I notice that my two friends share some brief glances until they look deeply into each other's eyes but quickly look away when the song ends. I swear people should call me Cupid instead of Romeo.
"You've just been sitting here, pappy Joe?" Lucas asks as we come back to his porch
"Oh, after you run around enough, you'll find that a comfy chair on your own front porch is your favorite destination. Oh, by the way..." he stands up and taps the window a couple of times
"Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son"
"What?"
"Lord Chesterfield had a son who traveled the world"
"What is that?"
"What are you doing?"
"It's a blackboard" I roll my eyes
"My daddy made you do this"
"He's good people" I reply quickly
"No, he's not"
"Chesterfield writes him letters about how he should behave himself because a father knows... The only way for a kid to really learn anything is to go out into the world and find out who he is"
"My daddy is trying to teach us from beyond the grave" Maya smiles
"Matthews wrote us a letter, didn't he?"
"He did" Pappy Joe takes it out
"Dear my favorite children... Take care of each other. Enjoy the world"
"I don't want this night to end" Me neither Farkle, I gotta pair those two before we leave
"What do you do around here when you just want to look at each other's faces a little longer?" I ask with a smirk
*At the campfire, Maya's POV*
Why? Why did they have to make me seat next to Lucas? Things are already pretty weird between us
"Please do me the great favor of dousing these embers real good when you're done. That house and me might be real old, but we ain't quite ready to burned down yet" I look at Pappy Joe, he's truly great
"Well, I never thought I'd say anything like this, but" I take a deep breath
"I'm real sad I don't have a pappy Joe of my own"
"Thank you, Maya. I wish you'd consider me yours till the time I... I... you know... bleh" he says to me before leaving
"You guys were lucky" Farkle blurts out
"How come?"
"To grow up out here... To have this sky... And the stars... This has been the best weekend of my life. Thank you"
"Promise we'll always be friends no matter what"
"Riley-"
"Promise" Elliot repeats
"No matter what happens, I am telling you that I will always be your best friend. No matter what" I take a deep breath
"Oh. There's nothing I could do-" she interrupts me
"No, there's nothing you could do, Maya. Do you understand? It's you and me until the time we... You know... Bleh" Elliot keeps looking me, observing my behavior
"Do you want me to buy you ice cream, Farkle, Riley?"
"What?"
"Do you want me to buy you ice cream?"
"Sure!"
"Let's go then" they stand up
"Riles, where are you going?"
"You need to feel whatever you feel, Maya. It's you and me forever. There is nothing that you could ever do to change that" Elliot rests a hands on Lucas' shoulder
"Maya likes you" he didn't! He's gonna die very soon! This is the end of me. I just wanna crawl into a hole and disappear
"Elliot!"
"She's been hiding it all this time. That's why she couldn't watch you at the rodeo"
"What are you doing?!"
"We saw you, Maya. We saw how much you cared. It's why she makes fun of you, I think" Riley looks at me
"You stepped back. I know that you stepped back" They leave us alone. Well, Elliot turns around and makes some smooching sounds before following his sister and Farkle
"What's going on?" Lucas asks me and I shrug
"I don't know"
"You like me?" I frown
"No"
"Maya, why didn't you want me to ride in the rodeo?" What do I say? Because I love you and didn't want you to get hurt because I care about you?
"Because I didn't want you to win and get all conceited"
"I don't think that's it" I don't know how to get out of this so I try to imitate his accent
"I don't think that's it" he rolls his eyes
"I don't talk like that. I just don't. Why do you see me like that?" I sit further away from him. I can't let myself go
"Of course I don't see you like that. Can we just... Can we just look at this fire, please?"
"Yes" I notice he keeps looking at me
"Stop" spoiler alert: he doesn't.
"Can we just stop? I just want everything to stop. It's been bad enough I've been keeping this secret from Riley all this time"
"What secret?" Do I really have to open up? No and there are millions of ways to avoid this argument but my stupid mouth has a mind of its own
"You guys are so much alike. I thought you were just like brother and sister, too"
"Why?"
"You're at your best when you're just talking to each other. Looking out for each other. That's what I believed, but I kept it a secret. And now the secret's out, so I don't have to carry it around with me anymore. I just don't want to have anymore secrets from her" he stands up
"So you don't make fun of me because you like me?" I sigh
"I'm just gonna watch this fire"
"Maya, why do you make fun of me?" that's it, I explode. I can't contain myself around him any longer. I stand up to face him
"Because you're easy to make fun of"
"Okay, then stop"
"Because you're a huckleberry. Because you're a ranger Rick"
"Would you stop?!" he looks kinda intimidating but I keep going, there's nothing stopping me now
"Look, if I had feelings for you, don't you think I'd just come right out and say it? Well, I don't. So what I do say is har-hurrr-" he cups my face and presses his lips against mine. The kiss is slow, sweet, delicate and yet, passionate, very passionate. So much that he moves his hands from my cheeks to my waist as I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. We only pull away when we're in need of oxygen and hug for a while
"Why did you do that?"
"I really like you... and I also wanted you to stop"
"You couldn't think of another way to stop me?" I ask and he smiles
"Not at the time. No. I'm sorry" I smile back
"You don't have to be sorry, Huckleberry. Of course I like you. You're a good guy. If you got hurt, I don't know what I would've done" he puts a strain of hair that was in front on my face behind my ear
"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me" I giggle
"I'm sorry if I never complimented you. I was trying to hide my feelings for you"
"And you thought that the best thing to do was calling me names and making fun of me?" he asks me, kinda amused
"Hey, don't judge me" we kiss again but a thought crosses my mind
"How are we gonna tell Riley?"