the only exception, a maya hart story

e i g h t e e n

I had bags the size of Jupiter beneath my eyes the following morning.

Apart from about one hour of sleep, I had absolutely no rest at any point last night.

I stumbled down to breakfast like an idiot and could barely walk with my newfound weakness. Zay sat across the table from me, but Lucas and Farkle were nowhere to be seen. I was about to ask but Zay answered my question for me.

"They're upstairs," he replied, clearly disgusted with something. "Farkle is probably giving him hell for what Lucas did last night."

The way Zay said the words it sounded like he wished he could beat the crap out of Lucas alongside Farkle.

"Listen, Zay. You and Farkle have been amazing and I love that you care this much, but I'm fine. Lucas is just an idiot and I was stupid enough to think he'd be different," I said as my voice cracked. "Anyway, I'll be okay."

"But that's the thing, Maya. You won't be. You won't be okay. I know you, and it kills me to see someone break your heart. You don't deserve that. No one deserves that. We've been friends for years. Will you at least be honest with me after all this time?" Zay spoke softly with deep concern in his eyes.

My heart swelled with love for my friend. God knows I've screwed up in my life, but somehow I was lucky enough to end up with the best friends in the world. I didn't deserve them. I didn't deserve him.

I contemplated an answer before finally responding to his heartfelt concerns for my wellbeing.

"You're right. This will be really hard for me. But I have the greatest two guy friends in the world, and I think you guys being here will be all I need to heal. It's just going to take a little while."

His smiled beamed at me from across the table until he finally stood up and walked over to my seat. He plucked me out of my seat and wrapped me up in the biggest and best hug I'd ever received. While he was still shorter than Lucas, he towered over me and my nose only went to his chest. He held me close to him as happiness encircled my head as I wondered how on Earth I had managed to wind up with such an amazing friend.

He picked me off the ground and started to tickle my neck like he always used to when I was mad at him in freshmen or sophomore year. I squealed and laughed uncontrollably in hysterics, attempting to beg him to put me down but the words couldn't come out through all the laughing. Squirming and kicking, I tried to escape his torturous giggling but failed.

A loud cough sounded from behind us and Zay slowly put me down as we turned in sync to see who it was.

Please be Farkle please be Farkle please be Farkle.

I just didn't think I was ready to face Lucas yet. I needed time to calm down after my rage burned in my heart towards the idiot.

Please be Farkle please be Farkle please be Farkle.

The good news was that I was right. It was Farkle standing on the staircase.

The bad news was that he wasn't alone. Lucas stood right behind him, with a death stare pointed directly at Zay standing beside me who still had his arm around my back.

I immediately realized what he thought was going on, and thought about shaking Zay's arm off of my shoulder. But I remembered that 1.) there was nothing going on between Zay and me and 2.) I had no reason to shake Zay's arm off with Lucas's non-investment and how distant he'd seemed lately. His jealousy pulsed through the room, and there wasn't a person in the room that couldn't feel it, but no one made a move on it.