After they entered the NYU dorm. Maya froze. She had wanted to leave. She knew it was too late, but Riley had to push her into confronting them. There he was sitting down with two girls next to him on the bed and a guy on his side. He looked surprised when he saw them. " Maya?, Riley?". Josh exclaimed shocked. He knew that his brother would kill him if he knew they were here.
"Whoa, Josh, you know these girls?, How you doing?, said his friend Zeke. Josh was about to say that they weren't their age but in middle school. It's hard to tell anymore now a days.
May decided to let him know, since Riley was frozen. She looked at Zeke and said, "We're in middle school," she said in a sharp tone. That did it. Zeke then turned to Josh when he realized this. " Oh, um they can't be here, Josh". Now, Zeke felt awkward, it was one thing to hit on girls his age but to hit on girls in middle school is another thing.
" Yes, we were just leaving actually," said Maya . "Wait", said one of the girls to the side of the bed. She was a little bit taller than Maya, had long black hair and brown eyes. " I'm curious about this, What's your name?", the girl said to Maya. May was surprised she thought she was talking to Riley. For some reason she looked honest.
"Maya", she said. The girl then motioned to the other girl next to her. " Ok, so Maya I'm guessing that you have a crush on Josh, am i correct in assuming this?, by the way I'm Sarah and this is Grace.", said Sarah. "It's not a crush," Maya said quickly. It wasn't. Just then the door knocked and it was the sorority girls who took Riley in, while Josh went to go get her back. She though that would be the end but soon enough Lucas came in. " Thank god, i was looking everywhere for you," said Lucas. Sarah, Grace, and Zeke focused on the scene in front of them. " Huckleberry, I told Riley to text you in case we were going to be late, that didn't mean you had to come here", said Maya a little annoyed. Lucas was surprised. Of course he was going to come, it's dangerous at night especially for girls. " I got worried, it's not safe at this time", he said. " Don't worry we can handle ourselves, well I can, Riley not so much," Maya chuckled at that. "Good", he smiled at her then. That's when they were aware that they were being watched. " Oh, we're sorry, we didn't mean to stare at you guys,"said Grace. " It's just that we noticed how comfortable you guys are with each other, Maya, you were smiling when he said he was worried about you", said Sarah. What were they saying? She was not smiling at him.
" He implied it to both of us right?", said Maya as she looked to Lucas. He was on the spot. In a way yes he did mean both but mostly Maya. She puts up walls around her so people don't see her fragile.
" Um," he was about to answer when Josh came back in with Riley.
" Maya, I though you were going to leave", said Josh " Maya told you guys about her crush", said Riley.
" It's not a crush", she said again. She was getting tired of repeating herself. She sat down on the bed next to Sarah and Grace. Lucas was beside her. " I just thought that if I did something like this, Josh would take me seriously and we could reach some sort of understanding", she said softly. Josh then stood up and went near her, " We have an understanding, you're going home and I'm staying here", he said. Lucas wanted to punch him then. How dare he treat her like that?. It's one thing to not feel the same way but to just dismiss it as if it's nothing, he had a problem with that.
" Hey, you could at least be a little kinder to her, she's basically telling you her feelings and you're dismissing them," said Lucas with his arms crossed. Sarah, Grace and Zeke all crowded Maya. " He's right, dude" said Zeke. " "Guys, she's three years younger than me," said Josh crossing his arms.
" She's what 14 and you're 17 right?", said Grace
" Yup", said Josh." Ok, well right now for you, Maya that may seem like a lot but in 4 years you'll be 18 and Josh may look at you differently then. Lucas was not the type of person who said when someone was wrong. But, this girl gave bad advice. Wait 4 year like Maya is just going to wait around until Josh notices her.
He couldn't be silent anymore. " Well, I don't want that for Maya, I want Maya to be happy. I'm sorry but do you really think she's just going to wait just hoping that you like her in 4 years. If you do, then you don't know her. Maya is the most incredible person I have ever met. She's smart even when she tries to hide in class. She is loyal to her friends and family and is always there for them. She's a great artist, and I want her to get better because I know she has so much talent that she needs to share with people. Also, I have never known anyone that is selfless and compassionate as she is despite her home life. But, I also know that there are times where she gets insecure whether it's about her height or her dad leaving her and her mom. Her dad left her when she was 5 and every day she hoped that she would wake up and he would be there, but he never was. She stopped hoping because she learned that if you hope for things, you end up disappointed, So please, don't give her false hope. She's been through enough already".
By the time Lucas was done, Sarah, Grace, and Zeke all looked at Maya. Maya was surprised by Lucas's speech about her, she had expected it to come from Riley, never expected it would come from the cowboy. He was right the more she thought about it, she would probably date around in four years than stick hoping for one guy, She liked Josh, He was always there for his family. He wanted to see his brother proud of him and Auggie liked him too. He was also, she realized that most of what she liked about him had to do with his family. She couldn't think of one thing about him as a person besides his eyes and smile. It's how Riley described Lucas when she started to like him. She thought it was different when it came to her but they're actually the same thing. She looked at Josh then " I'm sorry for coming here and you're right I am a little girl with a stupid crush on you, but you're also to blame too. See, at least I knew I liked you, but you're the one who also flirted with me when it was the holidays,the family game night, and Riley's first date. I'm sorry for thinking that you maybe liked me a little bit even though you knew I was younger than you. Don't worry though, I won't ever bother you again so you can go stay here with your friends, I'm going home, it's bad enough i'm humiliated in front of strangers". Maya then walked towards Lucas, " So you're walking me home, Huckleberry or what?", she said as Lucas tipped his hat. " sure thing, ma'am". Maya pretended to be annoyed. Lucas and Maya walked out of the room talking, their voices being heard as they went further down.
"Wait, what about Riley?," Lucas said, Maya looked back towards the room where Riley was.
" She'll be fine, Josh can walk her home anyway", said Maya. Reassured that Riley was going to be ok, Maya went on talking to him. " Thanks for saying those things about me, it meant a lot to me" she said softly.
" Anytime", he said smiling.
"So, are you sure you're ok, you know with the whole Josh thing", Lucas said with his eyebrows raised.
" Yea, I mean, it was a crush and my second one at most. It did hurt, but it's not like we dated or anything like that. Crushes are complicated. One minute you like one guy, the next another guy."she said.
" So how was the other guy?", asked Lucas
" What?", she said
" You said this was your second crush so you had a first one then, who was the guy?", he said
This was not where she thought it was going, he can't know about her first crush. No one knows not even Riley, especially Riley. She'll tell him someday but no today.
" That's a story for another time, Sundance," she said smirking.
" Good, then I'm looking forward to it", said Lucas.
He wanted to know who it was. Part of him was curious about it while another part was anxious because he secretly hoped it was him. Knowing Maya Hart, It could be either one but that's what he liked about her the most.
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