Snapshots

3 Hours and 24 Minutes

(A/N: 8k?! You guys are insane! Thank you for constantly voting and commenting, y'all mean the world to me. I love each and every one of y'all. Summer starts Friday for me so you know what that means... More one shots! All ideas are welcome! As always, favorite, comment, and request! Much love. ❤️)
    It's been three hours. Three hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds actually. Three hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds since I talked to Lucas. Three hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds since we stopped being friends.
    Life hasn't had the best track record of treating me fairly. So when I felt the first fuzzies of hope bubbling inside of me, I tried so so so hard to push them back down. To no avail. Next best solution? Avoid it altogether. He was the one who got on the bull anyway. It's not like I pushed him into killing himself. Yeah, but you didn't stop him either.
-   
    "Lucas, if you do this, I will never speak to you again." I walked out of the front of the temporary tent and sat on the first place I could find.
    "Up next, Lucas Friar will be tangling with Tombstone!" I hear the announcer yell over the loudspeakers. I watch him walk to the pen and get on his mark. I see him nod his head. Once. Twice. Three times.
    The gate opens and the world slows to a screeching halt. There's no way that Lucas can make this. Of course I have faith in him, but that doesn't mean I think he's any less of an idiot. Who willingly puts themselves in a situation like this? I don't think I breathe the entire time he's on the beast. Then I blinked and he was on the ground. The stadium is silent. Riley runs to his limp body and I feel a tear roll down my cheek. I breathe in once and get up. I take a step towards the bull pen and then another. Screw it. I didn't care if I was going to break my promise to never speak to him again, I just needed to know he was okay. I watch him breath, wince, and get up too. I sit back down.
    "Freaking idiot," I mutter under my breath.
    "Ladies and gentlemen, Lucas Friar has done it!" the announcer screams. Everyone's cheering. Riley's smiling and Zay and Farkle are congratulating him with claps on the back.
    "Freaking idiot."
-
    "Come on Maya, you have to come out eventually," Riley says knocking on the door.
    "No, no I do not," I say rolling over on the twin bed and planting my face in my unicorn pillow pet.
    "At least let me in. This is my room too you know," she sighs. I unlock the door and flop back down on the bed. "Hi peaches," she sighs again.
    "Hey Riles."
    "Whats a matter baby?" she asks me in a baby voice.
    I lift my head. "You know what's the matter, Riley. I'm mad at Lucas." I has been two hours since we came home from the fair. I've been locked in my room in Pappy Joe's house ever since. Everyone's tried talking to me, even Lucas. But Riley was the only one who came back an hour later.
    "Maya, he did nothing wrong," she tells me sweetly.
    "He did everything wrong Riley. He could've gotten seriously hurt," I say sitting up and looking her in the eyes.
    "But he didn't. You of all people know you need to take chances and risks in life. Grab the bull by the horns," she pauses to laugh at her own joke. "Listen, there's going to be a fire pit tonight, please come down for it. Maybe you can talk and tell him why you're so mad. He's your friend Maya, and he loves you." I look up at her. "In what way, I don't know. But fix whatever's wrong. I'll step back for you. For both of you." She gets up and I watch her walk down the hallway.
    "I love you Riles."
    "I love you too peaches."
-
    It's another hour and a half before I finally venture downstairs to see what's going on. I look outside and see my friends all around the campfire laughing and watching the flame rise higher and higher to the dark sky. I take a picture on my phone through the window. Maybe I'll draw it later. I turn to sit at the bar table when a voice startles me.
    "Hi honey, I heard today was a bit of a rough one for you and Lucas."
    "Hi Grammy Friar. Yeah, it wasn't our best." I'd taken a real liking to Grammy Friar over the past couple of days. Riley has always been one to go to bed early; so are Zay and Farkle and even Pappy Joe as I've come to find out. But Lucas and Grammy Friar are my kinds of people. We stayed up into the early hours of the mornings talking about everything. Lucas and I are closer than ever, and we have Grammy Friar's homemade apple pie and hot cocoa to thank for that.
    "Well I'm sorry to hear that pumpkin. But I'm sure it'll all work out in the end." She comes around the edge of the island to start playing with my hair. "Lucas is very persistent and doesn't let his friends go easily. Especially the ones he likes. Especially you." She undoes one of the braids she just made.
    "What do you mean?"
    "I've known Lucas since he was a baby. I used to watch him while his parents were at work. And Maya Hart, that boy loves you. I'm not sure if even he knows in what way, but you're mighty special to him. So please just give him another chance. You won't regret it." She wraps me in a hug and then turns towards the pantry, only to come back out with three mugs and all the ingredients for apple pie and hot chocolate. She winks at me. "I'll be needing these tonight," she says and smiles. I smile back and look out the window.
    "Thanks Grammy Friar. You're right." We exchange one more smile and I get out of my stool. As I pull open the back door to join my friends, I notice there's a clock on the wall. Three hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds since I stopped talking to Lucas. Three hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds since we stopped being friends. 3 hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds until we'd be sitting at the kitchen table with Grammy Friar; friends again.