the only exception, a maya hart story

t h i r t e e n

         

Needless to say, things were going to change without Riley there. A few days passed. We all kept ourselves busy somehow. The huge house had countless rooms to entertain us, but we all seemed to be isolated. Sure, there were the meals together where we all laughed and talked and were just friends. But we all needed a couple days to ourselves, to regroup and have some time off. I'm pretty sure I slept more than I ever did in my entire life those few days. Calling my mom was always difficult. I kept our daily conversations at the shortest length possible, normally consisting of "Miss you"s, "I'm fine"s, and "I love you"s. But every night I found my way back to the stargazing room. I was completely and totally captivated by the glowing lights always above us, but only visible at certain times of the day.

    Finally, the boredom of not being around each other seeped into each one of our heads and we needed to do something.

    "Guys, this is ridiculous.." Zay said, as we sat down to eat our lunch of sandwiches prepared by Mrs. Minkus.

    "Yeah, we need to do something together," Lucas said with a hint of awkwardness.

    He and I hadn't been alone since Riley left, and I wanted to bring something up, but was completely unsure about how to do it. What bothered me was that he didn't seem to be as affected by this as much as I was.

    "Let's go out and do something tonight.. We could go to a bar or something tonight?" Farkle said.

    "Farkle! No one here is even 18 except Lucas!" I said, in shock of the uncharacteristic Farkle response.

    "I don't mean like that. I never said anything about drinking. Plus, we all just want to have a good time, right? How bad could it be?" he responded, clearly offended about my interpretation of his words.

    We all murmured in response to his idea, and just like that, we had plans for that night. For whatever reason, I was a nervous wreck about what I was going to wear. I must've gone through 12 outfits before I finally landed on the one that was acceptable. Grabbing my leather jacket and slipping it on, I rushed out my bedroom door, realizing I was what was keeping our group from leaving. As I walked down the stairwell, all 3 boys looked up at me. It was a bit like a Cinderella moment, especially when Zay's mouth fell open. Apparently, my biker jacket over my black crop top with high waist skinny jeans were quite the hit.

    "Zay, close your mouth hun, you'll catch flies," I said, trying to dismiss the fact that my cheeks were flushing red at the attention.

    "Er.. sorry.. um... Can we go?" Zay asked, clearly embarrassed at my pointing out his awe.

    "Sure! Let's go!" Farkle said, yanking the car keys off the handle, and grabbing my hand to pull me away.

    Farkle hopped in the driver's seat, Zay at shotgun, and Lucas and I in the back. Sneaking looks at Lucas as the car was geared into motion, I ran my hands through my hair nervously. Am I making too big a deal of this? Lucas doesn't seem to be bothered with our lack of togetherness. Maybe I should let this go. It was probably just a mistake that he liked me, anyway. Crossing and uncrossing my legs, I tried to find a comfortable position, but there was none with my mind in this state of unrest. I began to tap my fingers in a rhythmic motion of the windowsill within the car, and tap my toe on the car floor. A sense of panic rushed over me. I have no idea what I'm doing. I hadn't dated anyone since Josh, and that had ended miserably. I'm going to screw up any chance I have with Lucas.

    I felt a tapping on my left shoulder. Turning cautiously, I saw that it was Lucas. Oh great, what now.

    "You okay?" he half-mouthed, half-whispered.