A/N: I've got over 1K reads and 100 votes now, which is awesome considering I only started writing this story cos I got bored on summer holiday. Seriously though, I can't believe people actually like it, thanks guys 👍🏼

~Lucas~

I walk out from an awkward detention and see her, she looks at me sympathetically and I smile. I smile at the fact that she waited for me, at the fact that she cared enough to wait for me. I smile at how beautiful she looks. Why haven't I asked her out yet?

"Hi." She practically whispers.

"Hey." I say still smiling.

"Will ya quit smiling, you're almost as bad as Riley."

"Sorry, I can't help it you're just-" I stop myself. She probably hates me. She probably sees me as the guy who makes her look 'weak'. "Why are you here?" I ask and she shrugs as she walks a little closer to me.

"I don't know. There's this guy that keeps stepping in to defend me and he recently got into trouble because of that. He doesn't even have to do it, he knows I can defend myself yet he's always there for me anyway." Oh, I see what she's doing. "Rumor has it he was sent to detention after school but I haven't seen him since no one as good looking as him has walked out yet. You see, I wanted to thank him instead of acting like a jerk like the last time he stood up for me." She finishes sincerely then played it cool, "Now here I am talking to you."

"So this guy...you think he's good looking?" I tease.

She scrunches her face and tilts her head to one side. "Hmmmmm. He's just meh" she shrugs and I act offended, dramatically gasping and putting my hand over my mouth. She laughs. She's adorable when she laughs, she squints her eyes almost shut and leans forward a bit. After she stops laughing we just stare into each other's eyes for a while then she frowns. "Why do you do it?" She asks seriously.

"Do what?"

"Save me. Even after I push you away. I mean, you beat up your best friend. Why?"

"Because I care about you. Way more than I care about that son of a gun." I simply state. "I hate seeing you hurt and it infuriates me when I witness someone hurt you. Why d'ya find it so hard to believe that I care?"

"What is this 20 questions?" I raise my eyebrows, waiting for her to answer seriously. She opens her mouth to say something but her phones goes off. "Saved by the cell." She looks down at the message and sighs heavily as she places her phone back in her pocket. I wonder what the text says. "Because no ones has ever cared about me enough to do what you do. That's why I find it hard to believe that you truly care." She looks up at me and smiles sadly. "I'm fine." She says knowing that I was going to ask her if everything was okay. "Thank you for standing up for me today Huckleberry, I owe you one." She starts walking off but I stop her.

"Where d'ya think your going?"

"Excuse me?" She turns around.

I knew whatever was on that text made her upset so I wanted to cheer her up. "You said you owe me one. Come over to my house."

"What? Why?" She asks, confused by my request.

"Well, duh? How else are we gonna finish this swell game of 20 questions?" I joke and she rolls her eyes in response as I lead her to my car.

For the entire journey we just sit in silence. It wasn't awkward, it was just, silent. We reach my house and I look at Maya and see her jaw drop. "Why do you looked so surprised? You've been here before, you know what my house looks like."

"Yeah I know, but it just- it looks a lot bigger when there isn't a sea of sweaty teenagers grinding against each other, you know?" I start laughing, which was a big mistake as I'm overcome with a shooting pain in my ribs and I double over, holding back a yelp. "Oh my god, are you okay?" She asks as she hurries over to me.

I look at her in disbelief. Is she serious? "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just resting my hand over my ribs with a hunched back because that's how I comfortably walk. Do I look okay to y-OWWW!" I glare at her as I watch the worry on her face be replaced by amusement at my pain.

"Ha. Karma. That's what you get for trying to be sarcastic and sassy to someone who just wants to help." She stands there all smug with her arms crossed.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Just, get me inside will ya? Before someone sees me looking like an old man with bad back issues." She raises her eyebrows. What, is she crazy? What does she want from me? "Please?" I beg her, hoping that's what she wanted to hear before she'd finally help me.

She sucks in her breath, scrunches her face and tilts her head to the side like she did before. "Ya see, I kinda wanna help you but I'm afraid that that would be seen as the 'right thing' to do and anyone who knows my name knows that I don't like to do th-"

"Maya. I'm in agony. Get me inside so I can finally sit down, for goodness sake!" I grow impatient with her and interrupt.

"Woah there Ranger Rick, keep you're cowboy hat on. Yeeeesh. Learn to take a joke." Ohhh if looks could kill. She smirks when she sees me glowering at her. She puts my arm around her shoulder and her arm around my waist and helps me inside. Finally.

~Maya~

I help the injured cowboy inside and he grunts in pain when I help him sit down. "You sure you don't want me to call someone, or take you to the hospital?"

"Maya, I'm fine." He says sternly. "But uhh- an ice pack would do no harm. Would you mind?" I shake my head. "Turn right and it's the door that's straight ahead. There's a first aid kit under the sink and the ice- I'm assuming you know what a fridge looks like." He jokes and I give him a monotone fake laugh.

I walk in to the kitchen, grab the first aid kit and a few ice packs and walk back in to the room to see Lucas resting his head on the back of the couch with his eyes closed. I throw an ice pack at him, it lands on his ribs and he jolts forward due to the pain and sudden cold. "Ugh, what was that for?" He asks.

"I dunno. You're bound to say something that will tick me off later, so...just consider this punishment for your future actions in advance?" I ask rather than state and he narrows his eyes.

"You have no idea what you just said do you?" He asks as he places the ice pack on where it hurts the most.

"Nah. Are you kidding? I just threw it because I enjoy seeing you in pain." I laugh.

He frowns and shakes his head. "You're awful."

"So I'm told. Now, let's fix that perfect face of yours." I say as I sit next to him on the couch. I take his hand, his knuckles were bloody from punching Billy so hard. "Didn't they stitch you up or something after the fight?" I ask as I tend to his hand.

"Yeah, sure, they were really helpful, they gave us good ol' lukewarm ice packs which should actually just be called water packs." He says sarcastically. "I think it might have been part of the punishment." It's silent for a while and I finish with his hand and grab an ice pack for his eye. "I think I broke his nose ya know?" He says as he's staring at a spot on the wall. My eyes widen and he snickers. "Yeah, he was trying to act cool, like he wasn't in pain, he thought he was handling it 'like a man'. A real man shows his pain, in my opinion." He winces slightly when I dab the ice on his black eye. "I think pain is strength."

He frowns and pauses before he continues. "I don't think Billy should've tried to hide the fact that he was hurt. He needs to understand that it doesn't make him weak. No one would judge him if he cries, he doesn't have to act 'strong' all the time." I'm getting a little confused but I let him talk without any interruptions as I continue to apply ice on his eye. "He needs to start trusting people, he can't live his entire life being all alone. He needs to stop pushing away the people who care about him." He stops staring at the wall ahead and slowly turns towards me, our faces are so close I can feel his breath tickling me. I gaze into his emerald eyes. "He needs to open up to someone. He needs to let someone in."

There's a moment of silence where we're both just staring into each other's eyes, often glancing down at each other's lips but then flickering our eyes back up again. "Something tells me you're not actually talking about Billy." I whisper not wanting to disturb the tranquil silence. I don't feel right. Why am I breathing weird? Why is my heart beating so fast? What the hell is wrong with me?

"Ya think?" He whispers back and smiles, placing a stray strand of hair behind my ear. I see him glance at my lips one last time as he slowly starts to lean in and I find myself closing my eyes and doing the same.

I don't have to lean in far before his lips brush against mine, it feels like they're a perfect match. It's such a soft, gentle kiss, almost as if he's showing how much he cares about me in one action. It doesn't take me long to get lost in the kiss, in the explosion of fireworks, in his tender touch, in the rhythm of my heartbeat matching the rhythm of our lips moving in sync- no what am I thinking? I push him away and his eyes widen in shock.

"I-I-I can't." I shake my head vigorously as I grab my belongings and walk out before he can ask questions, leaving him there in confusion with only half of his injuries tended to.

I can't fall for him. It's not real, what he says, what he makes me feel, it's all just a lie. One big, elaborate lie to hurt me later on when I'm more vulnerable. It can't be real because people can't love me. I can't be loved and I can't fall for him. I just can't.

"What the hell happened to the strong, badass Maya I once was?" I think out loud as the summer rain starts pouring.