midnight. [lucaya]

With or Without You

Okay so this conversation takes place after Lucas calls Riley "too much" and never apologizes for it and when he doesn't show up at the hole the next day. Sort of a deleted scene from GMHS 1 & 2.

Rating: K

Word Count: 501

The halls are eerily empty as she searches for him. She knows he hasn't gone home yet, she can feel it. The rest of the group has and she would have walked Riley home, but right now she really needs to talk to him. In a way, that has nothing to do with their triangle. There was no way they would make it through high school if the group split up. She'd known high school would be hard, but she hadn't thought things would blow up this fast.

After turning random corners she spots him standing in front of a window. As she gets closer she can see a football field. The stadium is huge, it makes sense, the players are huge. It's devoid of people but he's staring at it intently and she doesn't need to be a genius like Smackle to know he's thinking of what Riley said. He's still angry, that much is obvious. She doesn't know what to say so she just stands next to him and watches some teenagers move equipment off the field.

"Do you really think I'll get killed on the football team?"

"Yes." She's always been blunt with him, why stop now?

He grits his teeth, still staring at the football field. "Thanks. I appreciate the vote of confidence."

"You're being dramatic Huckleberry."

"No Maya, I'm not." He turns to her, eyes blazing, "It's a hole, Maya. Not some big sign from the universe." He waves his hands dramatically. "You and Riley might believe in the universe, but I don't. Not this time. It's a hole and those seniors are jerks." He spits the last word at her.

"You think I don't know it's a hole?" She jabs him in the chest, his eyes flicker down to her finger before staring back at her. His jaw set. "I know they're jerks. And so does Riley. But she's a believer, she believes in people, in all of us. Especially us." She pokes his chest some more. "You know if you went out for the team she'd be the first one there cheering you on." Lucas looks away, he knows she's right. Dropping her hand, she stops trying to poke some sense into him. "She believed in me, so it's my turn to believe in her." So what if it was a hole. They'd get buried together or climb out together.

But she wasn't leaving.

"I'm not going back there." He says, "I'm not listening to those seniors, I'm going to do high school the normal way." He looks straight into her eyes, "With or without you."

He stalks off and she makes no move to go after him. She's not going to beg him for anything.

People leave. It's a lesson life has taught her. It's one she's reminded of when his polished shoes walk by the hole the next day and he doesn't even spare them a glance.

She grabs Riley's hand. People leave, but she's not one of them.