All To Well

7. "It was... rough"

I finally got off the plane in New York and checked the time on my phone, "3:07 PM" it read. I was about to turn my phone back off when I noticed a text from Maya saying she was at the airport to pick me up. I smiled at the text and locked my phone and looked around to see the familiar blonde walking towards me with her arms open, ready to give me a big bear hug. I put my suit case down and started walking towards her to be met with her comforting arms wrapped around my neck. I wrapped my hand around her waist and pecked her lips multiple time before pulling her into a proper hug and whispering "It's been one hell of a week, I missed you so much you have no idea." I felt her smile into my neck as she hugged me tighter and pulled me closer than we were before. We walked over to my mom and sister who were trying to remember where they parked the car.

"Hey mom, is it okay if Maya takes me to her house and I spend the night and come back home tomorrow?" I asked politely just to butter her up a little it to get her to say yes, "Okay, but you need to be home by three tomorrow, we have things we need to do." she said sternly pointing her finger at me. I smiled and pulled her into a hug saying thank you and walked away hand in hand with Maya. We went out to Katy's car, Maya had her licence but didn't have her own car yet.

"So, how was Texas?" she asked as she started the engine. "It was... rough" I hesitated, unsure of how else to describe it, "How was the funeral?" she continued, "Exactly how you'd expect a funeral to be. Sad, emotional and real." I said looking out of the car window as she drove. "I'm sorry, Luc." she said taking my hand in her's and holding it tight. I soon fell asleep, getting up at six a.m. to make sure you're all packed and then getting on a plane takes a toll on you. By the time I woke up we had just pulled into a parking space at Maya's apartment. Once we got inside we went to her room and lay down on the bed and cuddle, it was a long flight and she had also been up since early this morning because she was excited I was coming home. I knew I would have to tell her about moving back home to Texas eventually but at this moment in time, I didn't want to, things finally seemed at peace in my mind and with my emotions.

I woke up hours later alone in Maya's bed. I looked at the alarm clock on her bed side table, "6:37" it read. I got out of her bed and wandered around the house until I found her sitting on the couch scrolling through Instagram. I sat next to her, she looked up from her phone and smiled at me. She hit the home button and locked her phone setting it on the coffee table and then turning towards me. "How'd you sleep? You looked like you were about to pass out as soon as we got home." she said with a giggle that made me smile. "I slept like a rock" I replied with a slight smile that could pass off as a smirk. My grin faded when I realized that now was the time to tell her about Texas.

"Hey what's wrong?" she questioned when she noticed my smile fade away

"We need to talk about something, and you're not going to be happy but just know I'm not happy about it either. Not in the slightest bit." I sighed turning my body towards her's.

"Okay....?" she replied unsure of what I was going to say to her. "While I was in Texas..." I trailed off, she nodded at me, incouraging me to continue, "After the funeral my parents decided it would be best if I, uh, if I moved back to Texas to help come up the farm since the animals know me best and are most comfortable with me rather than anyone else." I said and looked down afriad of her reaction. When I didn't hear her say anything I looked up and saw her looking down at her shoes while picking her nails.

"Hey, look at me," I said and grabbed her hands in mine and lifted her chin to make her eyes meet mine, "I'm gonna make sure I come visit you and all our friends as often as I can and you can even come visit me too. Whenever you want. A-and we can facetime and text and call each other all hours of the day if you want." I stuttered. I didn't know if I was trying to comfort and reassure her or myself, either way it didn't work like I hoped it would. I was now on edge and Maya was crying even harder.

"So this is it? The end of us?" she eventually got out after a moment of silence. "What are you talking about?" I thought out loud.

"You know only about half of long distance relationships last, Lucas. We're going to be one of those couples, we're going to be 1,500 miles apart from each other."

"NO! I'm not going to let that happen to us, Maya! I care about you way too much to let that happen to us and you know that!"

"I know, Luc, it's just going to be so hard without you here. I'm gonna miss you so much." she said through tears. I pulled her close to me and hugged her tight and whispered that it was going to be alright. This was going to be hard, really hard but I am determined to make it work, to make us work. It sucked knowing I wouldn't be here to hold her during thunderstorms that she secretly hated but would never admit. It sucked that I wouldn't be here to kiss her goodnight or cuddle her. It all just sucks.

The next morning I woke up early and texted everyone to meet Maya and I at Topanga's at one because I needed to talk to them. Since Katy and Shawn were both out of town on a job, I got up and made Maya and I some pancakes. When they were done I got a tray and put two plates on it with pancakes, bacon and orange juice. I took the tray to Maya's room and set it on her desk, I kissed her on the cheek and her eyes fluttered open.

"Good morning, I made a short stack of pancakes for my short stack of pancakes." I said to her kissing her and handing the tray to her after she sat up, I climbed back into the bed with her and we ate our breakfast. "Hey, you need to go get dressed. I told everyone to meet us at Topanga's at one, aka in half an hour, so I can tell them about the Texas situation." I told her getting up from the bed and getting out a clean outfit from my suit case that was sitting in the corner of the room. I didn't hear her say anything but I heard the door shut so I assumed she went to brush her teeth. After I got dressed I took the dishes to the sink and washed them as Maya got dressed. Once we were both ready we headed to Topanga's. When we got there only Riley and Isadora were there. Of course we were waiting on the boys. It's typical for Zay to be late but not Farkle.

"Oh hey guys, Lucas you said you had news to tell us, right?" Riley said to us, looking up when she heard the bell on the door go off.

"Yeah but we need to wait for the boys, I wanna tell you all at once." I replied looking at her and then my lap, upset that I actually have to leave my best friends. After about ten minutes the two boys rushed in both out of breath knowing they were almost fifteen minutes late.

"Hey sorry we're late, Zay's car broke down and I had to go pick him up." Farkle explained out of breath.

"It's fine, just sit down because I have something to tell you all." I said, finally looking up from my lap for the first time since I arrived.

"Okay, so you guys know I went back to Texas on Monday for Pappy Joe and Cletis' funeral. Well on the way back home from the funeral my parents decided it would be best if I moved back home to Texas to help keep up the farm because the animals know me best and are most comfortable with my than anyone else." I sighed when I heard Riley stutter out "W-what? You're moving back to Texas? Lucas, you can't, you're the person who brought this entire group together and without we're going to fall apart." Everyone except Zay and Riley were looking down at their shoes, Riley was crying and Zay was just staring at me.

"You're really moving back home, Lucas?" Zay starred at me with disbelief written on his face, "Part of the reason I moved to New York was so I could be with my best friend again and now you're leaving? I can't just make my family pack up and move back to Texas!" Zay said raising his voice and standing up

"I can't do anything about it, man, and I didn't expect you to, Zay" I said calmly

Telling everyone went better than expected, although, as expected, everyone was upset. I knew they all would be.

"I'm sorry guys, I don't want to leave either." I said pulling Zay and Maya into a hug that soon the rest joined.