Bemusement (Lucaya)(Markle) (GMW)

New York mist.

Lucas

I leaned my head against the brick wall, looking up at the white sky , the clouds full of smoke and thoughts. Clouds and clouds of words.

I looked down when I noticed a crystal blue gaze on me.

"Maya," I said within taking a breath.

"Are you okay?" She said.

I sighed and stood looking at her...sometimes I wondered how things would've went if I'd chose her....would we have each other's back? Would we comfort each other?.....would we leave?

I shook my head with a smile,"I don't know."

"You know we don't need to go in there, if you just want to talk-."

"What about Farkle?"

"I don't think he'd mind," she shrugged,"I mean, he always does the right thing."

I stared at Maya for a moment, her fingers gently fiddling with each other nervously, her eyes a vulnerable little twilight, her skin delicate and soft...I trusted her.

"Could we...talk?"

She smiled and nodded, linking her arm in mine and taking careful, even steps down the sidewalk with me.

There was silence for a while, nothing happening except for Maya's curls twitching slightly as the small breeze hit against it.

"Lucas?"

I looked down at her , my arm becoming very stiff as her arm moved a little for comfort.

"Why did you have to go back to Texas?"

I swallowed, staring forward,"Family business."

"What sort of family business?"

"Maya."

She looked up at me,"I want to help you through whatever you're going through."

"Why?"

"Because we're friends."

"Even after what I did to Riley?" I arched my eyebrows.

"Especially after what you did to Riley," she mumbled.

"I don't understand, she's you're best friend."

"She obviously meant a lot to you too," she pursed her lips,"you had a hard time after the breakup, whilst she ran off to Charlie."

"So you pity me?"

"I relate to you," she looked down,"Josh promised me someday, I haven't saw him in months , and not once has he ever contacted me. Things start to hurt, I mean he obviously doesn't care if he hasn't tried."

I was silent watching people push past, run past and just walk in and out of crowds, like confused ants in a sea of expectations.

"So what is it?" Her voice spoke up.

"Difficulties."

"There's plenty of those, what makes this one unique?"

"Because it came from an unexpected place," I replied.

"Was that place home?"

I gulped,"yes."

She stopped walking, in the middle of New York, her eyes searched mine  and she frowned.

"Lucas, I'm sorry."

"Maya?"

"Who left you? Who left home?"

***

Farkle

"Hey Maya, I got-" I stared at the place we were supposed to meet at , it was empty and cold.

I shrugged and walked into the building making my way towards the desk.

"Hey ,did you happen to see a blonde short girl and a tall tanned guy come by?"

"I mean, there was two people outside, a blonde girl and a dirty blonde haired guy. But they left."

"Oh," I stared then looked down taking a breath,"oh."

"Hey kid? You okay?"

I looked up, "I'm not a kid."

I took off running , I didn't know where I was going exactly. But I made it to Central Park, maybe they'd be here.

I stopped at the entrance, Lucas' head was leaning on Maya's shoulder, her arms around him.... A few metres away from me in the frost bitten grass of New Yorks only nature exhibit.

My hand grabbed into my pocket, feeling the little bottle for comfort. My hands dropped the bag of t-shirts...placing it in the trash can and heading off into the mist.