the only exception, a maya hart story

t w e l v e

         

The journey back to the house was quite an adventure. The entire car played the license plate game, punch buggy, and I-Spy all at the same time. The smile lingered on Farkle's face the whole way, never fading.

    "I-Spy with my little eye... something.." Zay began to say.

    "PUNCH BUGGY BLUE!" I yelled as a beat up, old car slowly crept on the right side of our vision, and punched Zay.

    "HART!" he managed as he continued laughing. "Cut it out!"

    "NEVER, BABINEAUX!" I screeched with laughter.

    "Idiots," Lucas chuckled in the front seat.

    Farkle still hadn't spoken since the incident at the airport. No one had questioned it, not sure how to bring it up. But there was no rush. My insides swelled with love for two of my best friends. Riley and Farkle were both incredible and amazing in their own ways. Riley had always had the ability to walk into a room and brighten it with a simple smile. My gorgeous, brunette best friend had always been the sun. People were drawn to her and her incredibly soft spoken words. In the complete opposite way, Farkle had always gone under-appreciated, and he wasn't shown as much love as he truly deserved. Often, he reminded me of a teddy bear abandoned by its owner. He always was there at the first notion of need from others, but he was often a lone wolf in facing his own personal problems.

    "Maya?" Farkle asked me, never changing his gaze towards the window.

    "Yeah?" I asked nervously.

    I didn't know what to expect. He had every right to yell at me. Scream at me. For being insensitive. For almost giving away his biggest secret. For not being everything he deserved. But Farkle had always been different. He'd bottle up his true feelings at the strangest moments,when he had every right to be furious with his offender.

    "I know you didn't mean to-" he began.

    "Scream at me," I cut him off mid-sentence.

    "What?" he asked, in that low voice of his that I had always found unconventionally attractive.

    "Yell at me. You deserve to. I've done nothing but treat you as less than you deserve. Farkle, you're amazing. You don't deserve to be treated like shit. Which I guess is kind of what I've been doing. I'm so sorry," I said, never shifting my gaze up from my shoes.

    "Maya, look at me," Farkle said sternly.

    "I can't," I said solemnly and dejectedly.

    "Maya," he said, lifting my chin up so I had no chance to stare at him. "You are being ridiculous.."

    "No, I'm no-" I started sadly.

    "Maya! You need to stop! I had no right to be mad at you! You did barely anything wrong, and somehow everyone ended up mad at you. You actually think any of this is your fault? It's not. Maya, I was only mad because I was frustrated that even after you hinted that I had some huge secret, no one seemed to care, especially not Riley. Honestly, you and I have had our stupid arguments, and we tease each other constantly. But while your best friend is Riley, and I won't challenge that, you are my closest friend I have, and nothing you can do can EVER change that. Understood?" he said breathily with earnest.

    I took a huge breath in. A lump had formed in my throat, not budging and staying put. I bit my lip to keep my emotions in, not wanted my eyes to spill like Niagara Falls, for what felt like the thousandth time in the past 24 hours.

    "Maya?" he questioned, his eyes threatening to leak as well.

    I looked up at him trying to convey just how grateful I was for his words. He didn't get the message.

    "Sorry..." he began. "I shouldn't have said any-"

    Unbuckling my seat belt, I hopped over to his seat in the car and practically crushed him with a hug. He outranked me in size 3 to 1, but my happiness gave me the strength of ten bears.

    "Let go of me, stupid," he said jokingly. "You're squeezing me so hard, my tears are going to leak."

    I laughed through my tears and laid my head on his shoulder, buckling myself into the middle seat of our brown minivan rental car. He was something special. He was something special to me.

    "Hey Farkle?" I said, tilting my head up to face him.

    "Yeah?" he said, shifting his head to look down at me, since he towered over me and my short self.

    "I love you."

    "I love you too, Maya."

    And looking out the window, the world was ok. For the first time, there was hope. There was something to look forward to. God knows what it was, but the knowledge enough sufficed to show that the world may be a terrible place, but the right people make it alright. Farkle was right. And so was Riley. And so was Zay. And so was Lucas. Abandoned barns and rolling hills of emerald green lined the sides of the road, and at that moment, there was nothing better than sitting at the car window, looking out on what lives. Because it's good to know that life goes on. No matter what.

         

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yes MARKLE FRIENDSHIP YES YES YES YEXSYESYEs

im sorry to say theres going to be a whole hell lot of lucaya drama coming up..

its inevitable but no book would be good without a fairly good problem...

SO COMMENT WHAT YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND DONT FORGET TO VOTE :))))))

YALL ARE GREAT

- ZOEEEEEEE