and he is gold, gold, gold

a shaky breath leaves maya’s lips, weaving between a bit of the ground in pursuit of her boyfriend. is being with lucas the right choice? she does like him, so fucking much, and she knows she wants to see where things go, but if she’s still at risk of run ins with josh that heavy is it fair to him for her to be his? is it fair when there is always part of her out of reach? she catches his eyes, hoping he doesn’t notice the red rim around hers, and her gaze falls to the girl beside him. marinette, she chuckles harshly to herself, why wouldn’t she be dancing with lucas right now. she’d just found out she’s the mystery girlfriend, after all. boys are going to be a topic for them to avoid, she’s already gotten the reasoning down. we’re too good for each other to let dumb boys get in the way, she’ll tell her. there’s no reason we can’t be friends and not talk about our boyfriends. she’d never admit it’s purely because she doesn’t want to hear about josh, there’s no good logic behind marinette not wanting to know about lucas, but she’ll play it off as a thing that girls just do sometimes. they don’t let boys interfere. it was something that her and riley just didn’t get the hang of too well, and she won’t make that mistake again. 

she follows the vibrance of marinette’s dress, her own feet still carrying her towards her cowboy, and she watches as she walks by her and right up to josh, a few paces behind. she pretends she can’t hear her heart cracking a little when they share a kiss, as boyfriends and girlfriends do, as josh and maya couldn’t do. it’s then that she assures herself she doesn’t belong anywhere but with lucas. why is she overthinking? why is she questioning her relationship when josh has his own he’s clearly invested in? why does josh always do this, always make her fear that she isn’t waiting for him in the right way? she’d stopped walking, she hadn’t noticed being so off in thought, and so she moves faster to get to him. as soon as they’re face to face, she yanks down on his tie, giving in to the urge she feels to tell lucas that she’s his, to show him how much she truly wants this, to enjoy the night as his girlfriend because that’s what she is now- she’s his girlfriend. they’re together and this was supposed to be the beginning of that, but it had been rudely interrupted by her past. when she pulls back from the kiss, she puts on a smile. “hey huckleberry, how would you feel about getting out of here and just having a movie night? it’s getting a little crowded here.” // @hopvlong

lucas was starting to get impatient — no, that was a lie.  he’d hit impatient a long time ago.  now, he was about five seconds from finding a fire alarm and pulling it.  well, if they hadn’t been in a barn, he would’ve.  whatever the hell was so important to josh that he had pulled maya away from lucas in the middle of a dance had gone on long enough.  he’d done everything he could think of to occupy his time and mind, up to and including giving out square dancing lessons.  he hadn’t worn his hat and boots for nothing, after all, especially considering this ball was in a barn.  it was like fate, or something, and he was trying not to dwell on the fact that he was pretty sure nobody he’d met had had anything to do with this ball happening.  it was weird, but whatever.  he was here with maya, and he was happy.  and then josh pulled her away.  

all this was running through his mind to the point where he hadn’t seen maya coming until she was almost right in front of him.  and before he had a chance to greet her, or ask her where she’d been, or anything of that nature, she was yanking him down into a kiss.  he really should’ve seen that coming when he’d picked out the bolo tie.  not that he minded.  “uh — ”  he cocked his head.  he wanted to ask if she was alright, or why she wanted to leave, but something in the back of his mind said that this wasn’t the time or place for that.  maybe it was his limited knowledge of her history with josh, but he couldn’t find it in him to tell her no.  “yeah, we can do that.”  his hand found its way to hers and snaked their fingers together.  he was thankful to have her back by his side.  “you sure?”

barbie  didn’t  necessarily  want  to  be  here,  but  she  wanted  any  excuse  to  get  dolled  up.  she  never  was  one  to  go  to  parties  alone,  she  always  had  dates  set  by  people  around  her;  they  were  usually  publicity  dates  and  with  Ken  typically.  but  she  didn’t  miss  Ken,  she  missed  the  way  he  would  admire  her;  but  not  the  way  he  tried  to  control  her.  looking  around,  everyone  seemed  set  off  in  pairs,  it  made  her  uncomfortable.  she  was  always  one  half  of  a  pair   always.  now,  she  was  just  barbie.  the  thought  made  her  tear  up,  quickly  she  got  up  and  wiped  her  eyes  and  made  a  quick  escape  to  the  bathroom;  bumping  into  someone  on  her  way.  "i-i’m  sorry,“  she  squeaked  out.

“we’ve gotta stop meeting like this.”  lucas smiled, though it softened when he saw she was crying.  he thought back to their last conversation, when she dropped the bomb that she really didn’t have friends ever.  he had assured her that he’d be her friend, and he was gonna follow through here and now.  “what’s going on?  i thought for sure that this would be your scene.”  he’d been walking around with an extra cup, assuming that maya would have returned already, so he held it out to her.  “do you want a drink?  or a dance, or . . . ?”  he trailed off, not sure what was going to make her feel better.

          “  i kinda feel a bit out of my league here  .  ”    which is basically code for  BORED  .   she’s bored and doesn’t know how to  …     “  what’s this called again ?   western dancing ?  ”   blue eyes turn to the other  ,   he  seems confident in what’s going on on this  …   dance floor  .     (  @hopvlong  )  

“you want me to teach you how to square dance?”  lucas had to laugh.  he whipped his head around.  was he being punked?  did maya have a hidden camera somewhere?  he wouldn’t have put it past her, but — well, he hadn’t seen her in a while.  he was trying not to dwell on it too much, but it was getting harder and harder.  he turned his focus back to the girl in front of him.  “really?  i — yeah, yeah i can do that.”  honestly, dancing in a barn on a cool october night was the closest he’d felt to belonging since they’d come to walton.

Marnie felt that she had been in the store before but she felt it in the way someone feels that they’ve dreamed of a place. She thought, however, that living in a place like Walton Creek would be more of a nightmare than a real dream. Not entirely true but she was feeling a bit bitter that day because of how much she missed home. The girl stopped the first person that she could find, getting their attention with a wave of her hand. “Excuse me, do you work here? What exactly do you sell?” 

lucas perked his head up, surprised that anybody else had come in.  it was kind of his secret hideaway, especially given everything that had gone down in his friend group recently.  “no, i just — hang out here.  sometimes.  but hey, maybe i should.  i spend enough time here.”  lucas smirked and toyed with his croissant, pushing it around the plate instead of actually eating it.  “it’s just a little hole in the wall place.  coffee, muffins, that kinda stuff.”

typical humans, he’s come to think — they say and say and say but never actually do and if stitch wasn’t trained in what’s not appropriate to say out loud both in native tongue and english, he’d say it’s kind of pathetic. then again, 626 actually hadn’t done much himself —- hypocrisy, maybe?  he  pushes  the  thought  out  of  his  mind.  "of  course  not.  it’s  not  really  an  ideal  situation,  regardless.“  a  pause.  "well.  have  you  found  a  map?  surely  they  have  a  town  hall  with  pamphlets,  or  fliers  that  gives  you  a  general  idea.”

“i guess it couldn’t hurt.  i’ve just kind of been going from memory mostly, but it would probably help to know the actual layout of town.”  lucas looked at the guy in front of him, who had been . . .  surprisingly helpful.  “what are the odds it’ll actually tell me are, like, on a global scale?”  if they were even on earth.  he had no idea what they were dealing with.  what if they were on the freaking moon or something?  “say, what’s your name?  i’m lucas, by the way.  you’ve got some pretty good ideas.  wanna help me?”

she tries to hide her wince when he immediately asks about the kiss. “yeah, i kissed him, and then it was very clear that we’re not doing that, but i thought that we had enough of a moment that i should be like- hey, i’m doing something with lucas, and i want you to be aware from me, but i should’ve just let him see us together,” she groans, closing her eyes out of frustration and dropping her head against his shoulder dramatically. “i just wanted to stay ahead of that one, but he was all ‘in a new town surrounded by new interesting people and you still manage to date your best friend’s ex’ and ‘there’s a reason you only went on one date’ then zay was like ‘i just wonder how many more smoothies i’ll have to help mop up off of the bakery floor’ and what if i want to pour a smoothie on your head, huckleberry?” she leans back from him, looking up with a pout. “sometimes you get so annoying i just want to dump something on your head, but now if i do, it’s a whole thing!” she’s clearly whining about smoothies to deflect from the actual anxiety surrounding her that they’re doomed to fail. “i don’t know about that,” maya says quietly once focused on the riley half of the conversation. “i really messed that one up. i was going to tell her once we’d spent more than two consecutive minutes together since getting here- i just wanted the dust to settle, y’know?- but i had already texted benny and i was telling him about everything which includes sending him screenshots of josh’s texts defending her and me very bluntly stating that i wasn’t thinking about riley when we kissed, i was thinking about me and i didn’t care about what she thought.” she honestly just wants to crawl into a hole and curl up, fading from existence. “oh! after assuring benny that he’s also my best friend before riley even really knew that i made any new friends.” she flashes a bitter smile, desperately trying to hold back more tears. “it makes me wonder if everything i’ve done since getting here is some selfish mistake.” 

𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀      +      𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐒

     maybe  if  she  just  stretched  her  body  a  little  more — ohf .  her  outstretched  body  cried  in  realization  that  it  would  never  be  able  to  reach  it  ,  despite  the  heels  on  her  feel  adding  a  little  height  but  none  seem  to  get  her  fingers  to  wrap  around  the  item  at  hand  .  she  jumped  in  effort  ,  only  ending  with  the  click  of  her  heels  clanging  against  the  floor  .  another  hop  and  she  stumbling  into  a  taller  figure  ,  she  let  out  a  huff  of  frustration  .  she  could  probably  ask  the  other  for  help  ,  though  in  her  opinion  he  wasn’t  much  taller  than  herself  and  he  wasn’t  exactly  beating  benny’s  usual  towering  . “  hey  ,  dude  .  blondie  .  ”  she  says  with  ease  . “  could  you  help  a  girl  out  ?  ”          +          @hopvlong

lucas’s arms instinctively reached out to catch the girl, or at least break her fall a little whenever she stumbled right into him.  “careful there,”  and he totally wanted to smack himself in the face when a little bit of his drawl came out.  when she called him blondie, he glanced around.  there was nobody else nearby, let alone any other blondes  (besides the two of them)  so he supposed she had to be talking to him.  did she own a mirror?  “you know you can’t call me blondie when you’re also a blondie, right?  that’s not how that works, i don’t think.”

at this point they must have attracted some sort of attention, but dodger isn’t about to break eye contact to check. admit defeat like that? absolutely not. “stealing is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think? think of it as more of a reappropriation of goods.” he’s just buying time to work out his getaway now. this kid is definitely stronger than he is, there’s no doubt about that. it’s just a matter of getting his hand free… “see, i wound use that one, but my other pocket is just out of reach.” he tsks, shaking his head slowly. “too bad.”

lucas blinked.  “it’s not a stretch, and that’s just a fancy term for stealing,”  although, kudos for the quick thinking.  not that he would admit that out loud, this guy wasn’t worth it.  “well, if you reappropriated the goods to me, i’d be able to let your hand go.  then you could grab your wallet, pay for these, and be on your merry way.”  he gave a shrug, a gesture of his willingness to forget this ever happened.  “no hard feelings.”

“uh, fire, i think!” she said, her eyes immediately flying back up to the clock tower. phew, it was safe. for now. if somebody didn’t do something, that could change in a hurry. unfortunately, this wasn’t in kiki’s area of expertise. then again, she wouldn’t have thought chasing a runaway blimp through town was one of her specialties either. “if i knew that, i wouldn’t be here talking to you!” she could whack some fire wielder with her broom, right, maybe that would work? “i’m a witch,” she said, like it was obvious, and also so not the point.

“first of all — of course it was fire, why was it shooting through the sky?”  he scratched the back of his head and glanced around, like more was about to appear any second.  “witches don’t — ”  lucas nearly laughed, before he realized how stupid of a statement that was here.  of course witches existed, because everything else existed, and he had totally just seen proof of that fact with his own two eyes.  “witches actually fly on brooms?”  no kidding.

“Where have I been? I was back in New York! Then one day I woke up here. No idea why.” Zay let out a soft chuckle. He made his way to his usual seat right behind his friend. Things seemed to be working out already and he had only been here for less than a day. “Gotten yourself into any trouble yet?” he asked with a grin. Although the two hadn’t been apart for long, they always seemed to get into trouble when they were apart. It felt right being back with him. Things felt normal again. 

“how did you — do you know how you ended up here?  how long were we gone?”  if zay came later than everyone else  (surprise, surprise)  then maybe he had a clue about this place.  namely, how they got here, and/or how to return home.  pronto.  “define trouble,”  he replied, but it was a joke.  so far, lucas had just done a lot of wandering around.  “nah, i’ve just been putting on my farkle hat whenever possible, seeing if i can get us back home.”

maya lets out a deep sigh at his touch, leaning into it and ignoring the little voice in her head that she shouldn’t be indulging herself. “i tried to stay ahead of it,” she chuckles dryly. “i went to tell josh because we’d just had a whole long talk- fuck, we’d just kissed and we agreed it wasn’t the move, and i just didn’t feel right about starting something with you without telling him, y’know?” she doesn’t know exactly how lucas is going to take the news that she’d just had an intimate moment with the boy she’d promised someday to prior to their own kiss, but she has faith that it’s going to be better than the collective response of their getting together. it has to be better than that because that couldn’t have gone much worse. “so i told him so that he wouldn’t just see us together, and he jumped into ‘you’re not being fair to riley’ which made me mad so i snapped back and just…” she tries not to burst into tears at the sound of riley’s name. it’s still not really setting in that she truly fucked up enough to lose her best friend. “god, and riley? she’s never going to talk to me again.”

farkle: have you told anyone that? don't let any of us dictate how you should feel, i'm sorry i never asked. your happiness means just as much as riley and maya's to me.

farkle: i think everyone is scared for you guys because we're older and feelings are still as confusing to all of us but i've learnt that things happen for a reason and maybe its a test or my brain on overdrive.

farkle: but if your head and heart both agree in your feelings for maya, nothing else should matter. all of this is between you and maya, no one else.

farkle: your feelings matter lucas but you've got to tell people them even when they forget to ask, we care so much about you and we'd never want you feel as if you're anything less because you aren't.

farkle: now, vanilla or chocolate? i'm coming over with a copy of butch cassidy.

lucas: i get it, but i wish everyone would trust that we can handle whatever this is turning into. at least, i think we can. i guess we’ll have to wait and see, but it’s on us... now more than ever, my head and my heart both say maya. i think we owe it to ourselves and to each other to try.

lucas: i know, it’s just. ugh, it’s different for me. i’m not riley, i can’t go around talking about my feelings. you ride them, or they ride you, remember? i’m supposed to be the strong one here, i’m everyone’s rock. and if i can’t be that, what am i?