whumptober no.3 - sticks and stones may break my bones - who did this to you (romanogers part 2)

fandom: girl meets world

set: junior year

timeline: separate (romanogers series)

tw: alcohol, underage drinking, drug mention, toxic relationship

summary: drunk and alone and not knowing what else to do, maya calls lucas for help.

word count: 2,017

notes: it's been a year. i suck. i'm sorry. here's this. leave a comment and i might have part 3 out before halloween 2022.

Maya's mind wasn't working right, and even if it had been, she didn't think she would know what to do.

She had done everything she'd said she wouldn't. Josh had been everything she'd sworn he wasn't.

Sitting here wasn't safe, but walking and taking the Subway felt even less safe.

Riley would come with Cory or Topanga, but Riley would also kill her. And Josh was the golden boy uncle who could do no wrong, so it would be all her fault.

Shawn would be over here to murder Josh in a heartbeat, but Maya just couldn't handle the thought of the disappointment on his face. Besides, she was pretty sure he and her mom were going out, and she didn't want to ruin their evening.

The person whose contact she found herself staring at was the last person she should want to call, the first person she should expect to tell her what's for, and yet the only person she wanted right now for reasons she didn't want to explain.

She didn't regret pressing the name until the slightly accented voice reached her from the other side.

"Hey, Shortstack."

She opened her mouth, but nothing but a choked sob came out.

What was she supposed to say?

I'm drunk just like you were afraid of and the guys are acting just like you were afraid of and I'm too ashamed and stupid to call anyone else?

"Maya?" His tone had gone from casual to concerned. "Maya, are you there?"

"Yeah," she managed, "yeah, I'm here, Huckleberry, I just..." She squeezed her eyes shut against a fresh rush of tears.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Now, he'd gone from concerned to straight-up scared. "Maya, what happened?"

"I'm fine, Lucas, nothing happened, I just..." She told herself not to let it, but it all came out in a rush anyway. "I went to that party with Josh and he told me to drink, so I did, and then he told me to take shots, so I did, but now I'm, like, mostly drunk and he won't walk me home and these guys keep putting their hands all over me and I don't... I..."

He took a breath, but she cut him off before he could say anything.

"And I know you warned me about this, and I know I'm an idiot, but I... I just don't know what to do."

"Shortstack, listen." There was a softness in his voice that she hadn't been expecting. "Maybe you made some pretty bad decisions tonight, but I know you know that, and I'm not gonna sit here and berate you for them if that's what you think. Now where are you?"

She looked up at the street sign a few feet away and tried not to think about the fact that it was blurrier than it should be.

"Sixth and Houston."

"Okay." She could hear a door closing on his end of the line. "Stay there and stay on. I'm on my way."

Relief and guilt washed over her at once. "You don't have to..."

"Shut up, Hart, you're wasting your breath."

She exhaled tiredly, but didn't reply.

Silence stretched between them for a moment before he asked, "Exactly how much have you had?"

"Half a beer and two shots of tequila."

Or was it three? Why was her memory so fuzzy.

"Alright." He sighed. "That's not that bad."

"It feels bad."

"Yeah, I know it does, Kid."

Another minute of quiet.

Then, "Have you ever drank?" She didn't even really know why she was asking.

He hesitated. "Don't tell Riley?"

"Ditto?"

"Deal."

"Deal."

"Back in Texas," he began hesitantly. "I mean, God, I was young, but you know I was mixed up in a bad crowd."

"Yeah..."

He'd been what? Thirteen?

"Well, it was all about proving who was tough, you know? And this one night, I was hanging out with one of my older cousins and his friends, and they started playing drinking games. They bet I was too chicken to join in. So I beat them all."

Of course he did.

"Then I puked."

She actually managed a little laugh. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. For, like, eight hours, I puked."

"How much trouble were you in?"

He chuckled. "I mean, I got a lecture and the belt, but my parents kinda decided the alcohol taught me a better lesson than they could. My cousin, though..." She could see him grimacing in her mind's eye. "Yikes."

"First and last time, then?" she asked after a moment.

"At least for a good, long while."

What was it like to be someone who actually learned their lesson?

"You really did try to warn me, huh?" she asked softly. "I'm sorry I'm like this."

"Maya, you wanna try everything, even and especially when someone says you shouldn't," he told her seriously. "I love that about you. And you decided to trust someone. You know how happy that makes me?"

"Yeah, and look at where that got me," she replied miserably.

"But you did it," he reinforced. "That's progress. Don't let him take that away from you."

She didn't have it in her to tell him he already had, so she didn't say anything, and they fell back into a comfortable silence.

She was beginning to feel drowsy, and she knew that wasn't good, so she spoke up again. "Huckleberry?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for picking up."

She could hear the slight smile in his voice. "Sure thing, Shortstack. I'm almost there."

"Okay." A hesitation. "I'm a little tired."

And the protective worry was back full-force. "I know, Kid, but you gotta stay alert, okay? Keep talking if that helps."

"How about singing?"

A smile back in his voice. "Whatever makes you happy."

"I said I wanna touch the earth," she began in an exaggerated accent. "I wanna break it in my hands. I wanna grow something wild and unruly."

His half-amused, half-annoyed breath said he knew exactly what she was singing.

"I wanna sleep on the hard ground, in the comfort of your arms. On a pillow of bluebonnets, in a blanket made of stars. Oh, it sounds good to me."

"Here it comes," he sighed.

"I said... Cowboy, take me away!" she belted with every drop of Texas she had. "Fly this girl as high as you can, into the wild blue."

To her surprise and delight, he joined her, exaggerating his accent to match her fake one.

"Set me free, oh I pray. Closer to heaven above, and closer to you. Closer to you..."

She giggled a little. "That was good."

The voice that replied was both on the phone and in front of her, a smiling huckleberry walking up and looking down at where she sat.

"Right back at ya, cowgirl."

She ended the call and stood up on unsteady legs. "Hey."

"Hey." He looked around. "Where was the party?"

"Half a block back that way." She nodded over her shoulder.

"Oh, okay, then I passed it." He pursed his lips in displeasure. "Looked like a real hoedown."

Maya arched an eyebrow. "Hoedown?"

The breath he let out said he knew he was not living that one down anytime soon. "Shut up." His smile vanished as his eyes landed on the holes left in her sleeves by the first too-friendly stranger's nails. "Wait! Who did that to you, Maya?"

She looked away, crossing her arms over her body to hide them. "Just one of the guys I mentioned. It's nothing. I'm fine."

He was still frowning, but looked around and seemed to decide this wasn't the time or place to discuss it. "You ready to go home?"

"Yeah. Except..." She looked back in the direction of the party. "Will you come with me to talk to Josh? I should... let him know I'm leaving."

She knew she didn't owe him that, but she also thought he'd get concerned when she didn't come back, and she didn't want him calling Shawn or Cory.

"If that's what you wanna do," Lucas confirmed. "I'm right behind you."

She nodded, took a deep breath, and set her shoulders. The boy beside her offered her an encouraging smile, and together, the two of them made the trek back to the party house.

The smell was even more sickening than the first time. She didn't know if that was because she was drunk now, or because it had gotten worse. Maybe a bit of both.

But Lucas's presence beside her offered more comfort and reassurance than Josh's hand in hers ever had.

She checked the counter where they'd been taking shots, but his group had been replaced by another.

"Hey!" she flagged down a Superman who'd played Never Have I Ever with them. "Do you know where Josh is?"

"Oh, yeah." He'd obviously been taking shots with them, too. "He was over there a few minutes ago."

While it was hard to tell exactly where he was pointing, she thought it was towards the living room, so she went back that way squinting through smoke machine smoke and weed smoke alike to try to make out the people dancing and drinking there.

And found Josh, mouth locked with Elle's, his hands all over her exposed skin.

Maya's mouth fell open, but no words came out, only a choked gasp.

He was... So much for being worried about her.

So much for caring about her and her wellbeing whatsoever.

She felt a fresh rush of tears welling behind her eyes, and turned back in the direction of the door, desperate to get out before he saw her cry.

But Lucas caught her by the arm, holding his other hand up to ask her to wait. The look of utter fury on his face was one she'd only seen once or twice before.

"Josh!" Somehow, the single, shouted word cut about the music and conversation effortlessly.

Josh jolted upright, turning and standing with drunken confusion and unsteadiness. "Lucas?" His eyes widened when he saw who he was with. "Maya? I thought..."

"You thought..." Lucas cut him off, his voice low but still undeniably audible in the noise of the room. "That you could treat her like some kind of toy you could play with when you felt like it and throw away when you didn't."

The conversation around them was beginning to die down as more and more people stopped what they were doing to watch the confrontation.

"I..." Josh shook his head a little, obviously trying to clear it. "What're you..."

"Well you thought wrong!" Lucas continued like he hadn't spoken, taking a step closer with fists clenched at his sides. "And if you ever come knocking at her door again, you will have me to deal with. You understand?"

"Dude, what the..."

"Do you understand?" The Texan's voice rose back to a shout. The music cut out, every eye on the two of them.

Josh looked around frantically, obviously embarrassed by the attention. "I... Yes. Okay. Got it. Like I really want her anyway."

Lucas shoved him hard in the chest, hard enough to catapult him back down onto the couch he'd just risen from. Then, the younger boy turned away, obviously barely holding himself back from doing much worse.

His hand found Maya's shoulder, and the two of them wordlessly stormed from the now-silent house.

For the second time that night, she made it half a block before she burst into tears and her knees threatened to give out under her.

This time, though, Lucas was there to catch her before she could go down, his arms wrapping around her in a tight hug. She could still feel the anger in his body, but it translated to her in a fierce sort of comfort.

"Forget him, Shortstack," he told her as she sobbed into his hoodie. "He's an idiot. Always has been."

"I know." She did. It had become abundantly clear over the course of the evening. "I know, I just... i just hurts," she gasped, another sob wracking her small, unsteady body.

"I know, Kid," he murmured, for what she thought was the third time that night. "I know."

I know it was terribly late, but it felt good to get back to my og babies and my tumblr roots. There will be one more part, and hopefully it'll be here sometime soon. Comments really do mean the world. Love ya.

- Line