complicated [lucaya]

23

Riley

"I'm home!" I announced as I walked through the front door of my apartment. My parents were sitting on the couch, seemingly upset. "What's going on?"

My mom looked at me and patted the seat between her and my father. "We need to talk to you about something."

Growing worried, I tossed my backpack in the empty chair and sat on the couch. "Am I in trouble?"

"Shawn and Katy came over earlier." My dad paused, looking to see how I'd react

I tried not to roll my eyes. "Is this about the fight again?"

My parents looked at each other, and tried to find the words, "Not directly," my mom started, "But it is about Josh. Maya and her parents have decided to press charges."

I stared at my mother, "Seriously? Is she trying to ruin his life?"

"Riley, why are you defending him? I know you don't actually believe that Maya is lying."

My dad put his arm around my shoulders, "You're the one that told us exactly what was going on after what happened at game night."

Looking up at the ceiling, I relaxed into the couch and sighed. "I was just trying to hurt her." My voice cracked, and a tear ran down my cheek. "I know she's not lying, I've seen the videos, I've gone to parties with her and Josh." I rested my head on my daddy's shoulder. "She's lied to me so much, and I just don't know who she is anymore. Like, I don't know what to believe anymore."

My mother sighed and comforted me, "I know, baby. But you really can't accuse Maya of lying in front of the whole school, just to make her mad. It doesn't help anything."

"Yeah, I know. And to top it all off, Farkle isn't even talking to me at the moment, and Lucas gives me nothing but attitude."

My parents shared a look with each other, "Do you know if Lucas and Maya still hang out?"

I shrugged, and tried to dry my tears. "Not that I know of, he hasn't really made a habit of talking to me about her since the fight." I sighed. "I'm starting to think that maybe I'm the real problem."

"Why would you say that?" My dad asked.

"I don't know. Things were fine before I basically forced Maya to tell me about her and Lucas. Mom, do I even have the right to be mad? I wasn't even dating him at the time. "

My mom looked at my dad and shrugged, "I think that way your generation does relationships is very confusing, and there is a lot of room for grey areas."

"Yeah, what was that word you used to describe you and Lucas for a while? You weren't dating but you were more than friends." My dad questioned me.

Sighing, I felt a bit defeated. "A situationship. I guess I'm the one that needs to stop acting like a brat and apologize to everyone."

"Why don't you go see Maya?"

-

Shawn answered the door, and was clearly surprised to see me. "Riley, what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry for how I've been treating Maya lately. I was just upset."

He pulled me in for a hug. "It's okay kiddo. But I think the person you should apologize to is in her room. You know, unless she sneaked out."

I gave him a small smile and went upstairs to Maya's room. I hadn't realized how long it's actually been since I've been here, it's such a familiar feeling. Knocking on her door, I waited for a response.

"Come in."

I opened the door and saw Maya sketching. When she saw me, she took a deep breath. "What brings you here?"

"I heard you were pressing charges..."

Closing her sketchbook, Maya set it to the side and shrugged. "I've thought really hard about it, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind."

I sat next to her. "I think it's a great idea."

She looked at me in disbelief. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I was just trying to hurt you after what you did with Lucas. I had no right to be upset. We weren't together at the time."

Maya sighed. "Do you have any idea how humiliating it was for my best friend to publicly pull my skeletons out of the closet."

"I'm really sorry that I put you through that. It wasn't my secret to share, and I shouldn't have shamed you."

She looked at me. "I'm sorry for all of the lies and secrets. It wasn't fair to you."

"When was the last time you hung out with Lucas, like... alone."

Maya licked her lips and looked around, "Not since the day of the fight. Why?"

"I'm really sorry if I've caused even more problems or complications with your friendship. I know that you guys are trying to get back to normal." I sighed. "I'm just jealous of your relationship."

My best friend looked at me like she was confused. "Why would you be jealous of me? He chose you. You're the one he wants to be with. Always have been"

"He just seems so much more comfortable around you. And you guys have such a playful friendship. Everyone always thinks that you guys are the couple."

Maya

"I'm really sorry that we made you feel that way. That was never our intention. It's just how we are I guess."

As surprised as I am that Riley was the first one to apologize, I'm not surprised at the reason for why she was acting so crazy. We've been dealing with the logistics of this complicated love triangle since we were 13. It was bound to catch up with us at some point.

"You really care about Lucas, don't you?"

Riley smiled and nodded. "I do, he just seems so distant lately and I know it's my fault. I wouldn't want to be around me either."

"Do you love him?"

She thought about it for a moment. I'm guessing they haven't had that talk yet, and she hasn't really thought about her herself. "I don't know. Things have been really complicated since we got together. I guess he's just not 100 percent the guy I was hoping for."

"What do you mean?" I was thinking about the conversation I had with Missy. While I'm not crazy or stupid enough to intentionally try to break them up, I am curious of where Riley's headspace is about Lucas at this point.

"Well," she paused to gather her thoughts, "it's like his head is somewhere else when we're together. And I never really realize how much of a jerk he can be sometimes."

I laughed "Really? We pretended to hate each other for like two years and you didn't notice how much of a dick he was to me."

Riley shook her head and laughed. "I was a bit too focused on how sweet he was to me. And upon learning that it was all an act, I started taking his past actions with a grain of salt."

"Do you think he loves you?"

She shrugged. "Honestly? I don't even know if he likes me anymore."

"Have you tried talking to him? Seeing where his heads at?"

Riley looked out my window, and looked into at Lucas'. "I would if he was actually talking to me. He kinda just tunes me out at this point."

"Make him listen. Okay?" I tried to reassure her. "Apologize to him, get his attention. He has a hard time staying away from you. It's only a matter of time."

A/N: two chapters? In one day? It's a miracle. But seriously I've been at the library since 1pm downloading the Sims 4 onto my new laptop. It's 6:30 right now. I've had nothing but time today. [the sims 4 is also part of why I never update... it's addicting.]