#zacaya

[marieeelllly]

Golden hour yern? ♥️ @zacaya.04 https://www.instagram.com/p/CQoOyC_h0eAAFLAVa4Bv_PuzcL0iWV15gJfCJk0/?utm_medium=tumblr

[zac-maya]

untitled.

some domestic zm for you from zay’s (??) pov

decrip: the group goes to a music festival and zay notices their domestic ways. also the first zm with nb zac.

as always no proof reading bc a bitch is lazy

word count: 2126

“Road trip! Road trip! Road trip!” Zay chanted loudly from the back of the VW, knocking his shoulders into both Friars to join in. And of course they did.

Until Maya whipped around from the seat in front of them, eyes in slits. The chant died down, Zay smiling wide at the blonde in front of him. He didn’t have to look at the brother’s sitting on either side of him to know that they shrugged in response, he’s known the Friars long enough to know basic responses to things.

He also likes to think of himself as observant. Noticing the small details, notices them in a way no one else does. It’s how he knew about Zac and Maya before even Zac and Maya did. Truthfully he likes to take credit for getting the two together - though he doesn’t admit it out loud. But being the one that they went to to talk about about their feelings for the other and the fact he wouldn’t stop purposely sending them snaps and making disagreeing comment about their other significant others of past times.

Zay Babineaux, real life Cupid for “Zacaya”. Yeah, he even gave them a ship name - another thing that he doesn’t admit out loud.

He felt the seat shift as Zac leaned forward, placing a kiss on Maya’s cheek. “Oh, don’t try to suck up to me, Zac. It’s too early for y’all to be annoying.”

“Awe, you say y’all,” was the other’s only response. Zay could see the sides of their lips tilt up, amusement written in the crinkles of his eyes.

She lets out a grown, “You’re ruining me.”

Ah, yes, the flirting never ends with those two.

The rest of the drive ended up being quick - Maya feel asleep, head on Riley’s shoulder, Zac went to playing their game, Lucas was asleep on his shoulder, and Riley was reading a book. Music from the bands that the group was going to go see at the festival playing quietly in the background. Josh, Riley’s uncle, and a friend of Maya’s from her art class were sitting up front. When Zay first heard that Josh was going to join them he thought it might be awkward, the guy being Maya’s old Big Crush but it turned out to be just fine, whatever hatchet was there was buried. Very deep, deep down.

Arriving at the festival, many cars already packed in the dirt parking lot, Josh ushered them all out before leaving them behind to find his own friends. (Riley’s dad convinced his little brother to take the group to the festival so he would know that they arrived their safely, on time, and all the other things Mr. Matthews worried about. Mr. Matthews thinks the group doesn’t know and they let him think that, but of course they know.)

They barely even made it three steps before Maya jumped on Zac’s back. “You’re so lazy.” But their hands went to her thighs and held her there, moving along with the rest of the group. 

That’s the thing Zay thinks got her to like them so much. Their humor was a lot like Lucas’s, able to give back what they get, but the difference between the brothers is that she has no problem when they give back what they get. Lucas called her a short stack of pancakes one time and she blew up, Zac mentioned her height and she crinkled her nose, lips twitching trying to fight giving them any sort of satisfaction. The smile that played across Zac’s mouth told Zay all he needed to know and that was they got all the satisfaction they needed. Maya jumps on Lucas’s back to stop him from doing something stupid, Maya jumps on Zac’s back because she’s flirting with their anxious induced ass.

As they walked, Zay could see from the corner of his eye as Riley took out her phone and snapped a picture of them, eyes glued to her phone as she her lips turned upward. He already knows that she’s sending that to Zacaya with a shit ton of heart emojis. 

“That booty though!” The voice came beside him, a laugh bursting out of Maya. It was another short girl, a little taller than Maya, named Frankie. She was introduced into the group after she hit it off with Maya in art class, which for a short while caused a riff between Maya and Riley because “You’re replacing me!” “I’m not! We can have another best friend!” “I’m your best friend!” and so on and so forth until everyone told them to get over it and Riley actually got to know Frankie.

“Stop hitting on my girlfriend, Frankie!” Zac yelled back, but all of them could hear the amusement in their voice.

“Okay,” Lucas’s voice rang out, authoritative in a sense. “The first band is supposed to play in about an hour. We should have enough time to get some water before we need to get a good spot.”

“Should being the key word,” Zac replied but they and all the others followed Lucas as they went off. Standing in line, Zac and Maya stood there hands intertwined. Zay watched, like he always did, as Maya would talk to Frankie and Zac talked to their brother, and he would notice that they would occasionally bump into each other, occasionally tug at each other’s hands. Going this and that. It was cute. Zay always loved a good love story.

And no offense to Lucas and Riley, Zacaya got them beat.

Zacaya sometimes he hated that’s how he thought of them. Not that they weren’t one unit or anything, it was just a faster thought to cross his mind. Who knew you could even be lazy with thinking.

-

The first band that played was lovelytheband which was one of the ones Zac was most excited about, Maya was excited too but not in the way her boyfriend was. She was really on excited about two of the songs. The first song played was These Were My Friends (one of two she was excited about), both of them singing along the loudest than the rest. Maya jumped around and danced with Frankie and Riley, the boys and Zac also jumped and danced but not so much as the girls. It wasn’t particularly a high energy song but the kids didn’t care. They were just having fun.

Their Instagram and Snapchat stories showed it.

By the time the second song Maya was waiting for came around, she returned to Zac’s side, body pressed against theirs. As soon as the music started she started to sway, pulling on Zac’s hand, singing to them as she made them dance with her. Even though from first glance people would assume Zac would be leading, it was all Maya. Pulling and directing how to move, making the decision on when they were meant to spin her. And Zac was great at following along.

As the last note rang out, Maya was on her tippy toes, her lips meeting Zac’s. It was quick, natural and cute. Unfortunately the cute moment was ruined by Frankie and Zay as they groaned, loudly, out of “disgust”. The blonde glanced over at them, flashing them her most passive aggressive smile and a middle finger. Frankie blew her a kiss, Zay gave her a 1000 watt smile.

-

The group had ran into another group of friends they made at school, some of Zac’s friends from his photography club, Josh and his friends, some of Frankie’s other friends. Pictures galore were taken, Instagram and Snap stories filled to the tens. A lot of water was purchased, some merchandise from the bands, by the time they decided to settle down in a spot and just relax, night was drawing in.

Blankets were spread out, jackets thrown on, and a certain couple was cuddled up. Zay was farther back by Lucas and Riley so he couldn’t really hear anything they were saying - not that he was sure he would be able to if he was closer anyways with how loud the music was - but he could tell they were talking to each other. They would lean over to Maya, whisper something. Sometimes she laughed, sometimes she nod, most of the times she’d lean back into them and reply. Whatever conversation they were having seemed to have lasted the whole set and well into the next one. It was almost like they forgot that they paid large amounts of money to get tickets to a music festival.

It was cute in an obnoxious way. Sort of the reasons why Zay wasn’t particularly interested into relationships himself. Watching it develop and all that was interesting but really having to do it never anything he wanted to do. Not that he was ever interested, even when he tried to be. But if he was going to spend his money on something, he really would very much like to enjoy it. He guesses it didn’t make it any less cute though.

-

“Oh! Speaking of the Illuminati!” Zac sat straight up, their eyes lighting up with excitement.

“No! No, no.” The blonde next to him laughed, leaning on the table and placing a hand on their chest. “Babe, I’m sorry but it is too late for that.”

“It’s never to late to talk about the Illuminati, Maya. Don’t let the government ever make you think otherwise. They control that too.”

“Baby,” her voice whined but anyone looking at her could see how happy listening to them talk about their stupid government conspiracies made her.

Their finger jammed into the table, “The Illuminati runs the government, the facts are all there. America is run by socialism? Wrong! We’re a capitalist state filled with moles everywhere.” At the last word, their voice dropped. As they opened their mouth to start speaking again a fry smacked they in the chest. “Well... that’s just rude.”

Frankie was leaning forward, an annoyed expression plastered on her face. Her eyes were in slits - at lot like Maya’s early in the morning - before looking over at Maya. “Tell your boyfriend that he’s a fucking idiot.”

“They.” Maya and Zac’s voices came in unison, neither having a vindictive undertone. Frankie still wasn’t entirely used to the whole “non-binary” thing and though she tries, she’ll slip up every now and again.

Zay always thought Zac handled introducing people to their pronouns with such elegance was remarkable. And they never seemed bothered when someone slips up or assumes their gender, at least to their face. But what he thought was kind of even more remarkable was how well Maya accepted it even at the age of 12. Zac and Lucas told him almost immediately after because it took them both by surprise.

Frankie’s face fell, she always hated slipping up. “Sorry.” And every time the apology was so genuine. It’s one of the reasons the group liked her so much.

“Man, you gotta stop feeling so badly about.” Zay cut in, tapping his foot against Zac’s, “I’ve known the guy for basically my whole life and sometimes I still slip up. It happens.” He rubbed her back, looking directly at his friend wondering if what he said was actually okay. Zac nodded, giving a small smile.

“Anyways,” Maya continued, as if Zay and the slip up never happened, “the only person who’s allowed to call them a fucking idiot is me. Thank you.” And she finished it by throwing a fry back at Frankie.

It might have started a food fight.

They might have gotten kicked out of the dinner.

Josh may have made them sleep in the van before driving them home for it.

And Josh may have gotten in trouble with his brother and the rest of the parents for it.

Maya and Zac weren’t bothered by any of it. That night they took up the far back seat, cuddled up, and would whisper well into the night before they went to sleep. Zay was laying in the trunk area, his coat as a pillow, and could hear it all. It was all nonsense, just about possible future dates, movie theories, simple life things. It was moments like this that Zay thought maybe being in a relationship wouldn’t be to bad.

They held back laughs as they watched Josh get in trouble, arms around each other.

Later that day, when the rest of the group met up again for coffee at Topenga’s, Zac wasn’t there. Of course the question was brought up on where they were and she replied simply with “They had enough social interactions for a bit,” like it was nothing and moving the conversation on to something else.

[zacayas]

slowly than all at once

a fic dump of some one shots (all posted on here) about zm

fic one: the beginning (2,935 words)

fic two: you’re a dumbass (2,978 words)

fic three: fathers (2,414 words) 

fic one

"Oh shit, sorry." The last thing Zac was expecting when he walked into the bathroom was a blonde sitting on the sink, on her phone, acting like there was some raging party on the other side of the door with music blasting so loud he was surprised they haven't had a noise complaint yet.

The girl, a very hot girl once he had an opportunity to really get a look at her, completely unfazed that he just walked in. "It's cool," she turned back to her phone, making no attempt to move.

If it wasn't for the fact that this was the only bathroom in the house that wasn't occupied by couples trying to have sex or snorting coke, this is the only place he could go to piss. "Um..." she looked back up at him, an eyebrow raised in question. "I gotta..." he pointed to the toilet. She nodded like that's what she expected. "Do you mind?" He gestured to the door, feeling extremely awkward all of a sudden. This is not something that usually happened to him, he'd be honest.

And he's been to plenty of parties, surprisingly enough.

(It's surprising because he's got a mad case of social anxiety and anxiety in general and with how high school parties are, it's not exactly a place a person with high social anxiety would be found. Usually.)

"Okay. Go ahead." She turned back to her phone and suddenly a vibe that it was like he wasn't even there passed over him.

"Right..." it took him a few seconds, debating whether or not he really wanted to pee in front of this complete stranger. Eventually the pressure on his bladder won and he just went, his heart pounding the whole time and he knew this was going to sit on the back of his mind for the next six to seven months.

After washing his hands, he left to return to his friends, the girl in the back of his mind until he laid down later that night.

Zac didn't see the girl again till he walked into his art class and there she was, head down full concentration on her project and he felt his heart pic up again. Since that moment in the bathroom, he would randomly think about her. Thinking if she saw his junk, if she was talking crap about him to her friends about how he actually went to pee in front of her, that he didn't leave her be and just barged in, that he asked her to leave to begin with when she was there first, so on and so forth. Rationally it was more likely that she didn't even care or mention it to anyone, not with how she was acting, but his mind loved to make him think of the worst scenarios that could possibly have happened.

It wasn't until someone walked into him, getting pissed that he was just standing there, that he moved. Taking a seat at the table behind her after grabbing his project, but he couldn't stop staring at the girl. Did she see him, what was she thinking, was she thinking about how stupid he was, think he was weird, freaked out that he was in the art class as her, really a lot of things flew through his mind during that 45 minute class. At the end of the period she didn't even glance at him, just putting her stuff away and leaving the class as quickly as possible. He held his breath the whole time as he watched her leave, but as she never even gave any indication that she noticed he was there, he let out his breath and moved to leave as well.

That went on for a couple of weeks. He'd walk in, be hyper aware of everything that blonde girl did which resulted in him barely doing any work - Mr. Dalvin wasn't too happy about that bit. Ever couple of days he'd think of walking up and talking to her, playing whole conversations in his head, how everything would go, every possibility, but in the end he stayed routed in his seat slightly working on his project and mostly thinking about the blonde sitting in the table in front of his.

(He's dubbed his mystery girl Blonde Beauty, never hearing her name because it never gets called on. Ever. And when she does talk to Dalvin, it's either by his desk or when he walks over to her.)

During his time watching her, he noticed things, well as much as he could for a few quick glances of her front when he walked in and what he can see from sitting from behind. Outside of the obviously (short, blonde hair, torn jeans and band tees) she always listened to her music when she was working, never mattered what the project, as soon as she started her headset was in. If she was - and this was a guess - pondering something, or stumped, she would lean back to get a different perspective of her work and she'd stay like that for a couple minutes before diving back in. Once when he went to go get some supply that he probably didn't need, he glanced over at her and saw that her tongue was slightly visible between her lips. It reminded him of those cats that the internet loved so much.

He thought it was adorable.

It took about month before Zac's anxiety died down and he no longer was worried about that night at the house party. (It helped that no one came up to him asking about it, that she never acknowledged his existence - which hurt a little - and he, himself, forgot about the incident all together.)

It was also around that time that he got a text from this kid he shared a class with when he was a freshman -last year - that his college dorm floor was throwing a party and he was welcome to come if he wanted too. The two of them weren't the best of friends but they did share a class and ran into each other at parties that they became good acquaintances, enough so that he would apparently get invites to college parties.

He gets to NYU and the first thing he sees as he walks the parking lot is two dudes running through the night butt ass naked. There was nothing he wanted to erase from his mind.

Making his way to his destination he ended up running into someone, it's what he gets he supposes for looking at his phone instead of paying attention.

"Hey! Watch it!" The voice says, giving him a slight shoved to put more distance between them.

"I'm sor-" he stops short as his eyes land on who he ran into. Blonde Beauty. "Oh." She narrows her eyes, staring him down, before pivoting and walking away. "I'm sorry!" But at this point he knows calling out to her was pointless.

Zac stood there for a few more seconds, eyes closed, not sure if he was annoyed at himself, annoyed that he had another awkward and stupid interaction with the hot blonde, or because the beginning of this party was turning out to be a total drag.

Eventually he continued his trek to the party looking around for the booze. As his eyes scanned the area, they landed on the girl from his art class, talking to the one that invited him here, Josh. He thinks that maybe he should be surprised that she knows Josh but honestly, he's not. They seemed pretty chummy too which, really, also wasn't a surprised. He forced his eyes to continue to scan the room for drinks before making his way to them.

He was three cups in when Josh finally came around to talk to him, Blonde Beauty by his side. "Hey Z-Man!" Zac will never know why out of all the nicknames to come up with, that's the one the older boy decided to use. "Have you met Maya? She goes to Abigail High School too." They shared a look, Zac grimacing as he noticed the look he was getting from Maya.

"We might have," he cleared his throat, looking back at Josh, "ran into each other a couple times." Literally and figuratively. Though he wasn't even sure if Maya remembered the first time.

"We have art class together," the words were said behind her cup as she was about to take a sip and he almost dropped his own. She notices him? Now he was wondering if she noticed this whole time that he's been staring at her, watching her instead of doing his work. Did she think he was a creep?

He could feel his heart picking up speed as his mind traveled through all the things she could be thinking of him. Has thought of him. Will think of him.

"Really?" Josh seemed more excited then one actually should be about two people sharing a class. Zac and Maya both gave him a look, not that the other noticed.

Josh noticed.

"What? I like happy coincidences! Happy coincidences can turn into great friendships!"

"You're drunk and high, shut the fuck up," but Blonde Beauty didn't seem annoyed at all, her tone was amused and she had this sparkle in her eye when she looked up at the older boy, all of a sudden Zac felt like a third wheel.

The night continued on, Zac taking his exit shortly after that interaction and went to talk to different people he didn't know after a few more sips of liquid courage. By the end of the night he ended up hooking up with some college freshman and he never felt better with a night that started off awkward and uncomfortable.

"Hi." He looked up from his book to see Maya Hart (after learning her first name, her last name soon followed.)

"Um. Hi?" It's been about two weeks since the party, he was prepared to go back to completely ignoring him. He was still riling in the shock that she even noticed they shared a class together.

There was a pause between us, all of a sudden he was aware of every student clicking away on keyboards, the clock ticking, every page that go turned in the library before she spoke. "Can you help me with something?"

He raised an eyebrow, shutting his book. "With what?" He was wary but his curiosity was getting the best of him.

That curiosity was what got him back at that school courtyard in midnight, holding spray paint and staring at a stencil tapped on the brick wall that was mocked up early by himself and Maya. When she first filled him in on what she was thinking of doing, he was hesitant but it didn't take a lot of convincing.

Once they were done, they sat in the yard, just looking at their work.

Zac turned to her, taking a deep breath before letting out, "So why me?" Turning to him, her eyebrows were raised in question silently asking him to explain further. "Why did you ask me to help you with -" he gestured at the wall.

Turning back to their piece, a large faceless girl covering her face with her hands with the words 'Don't kill the art' graffitied around, she didn't say anything for a long while. Zac was almost afraid that he didn't actually say anything and it was all in his head. He started to open his mouth to ask again when she spoke finally. "Mr. Dalvin." There was a pause, enough for him to almost ask what that had to do with anything. "He says out of everyone in the class, you're the best after me." With a sentence like that, you'd think she was being smug but that's not what it was, her voice seemed so unsure even uttering the sentence. "And what I got from Josh, getting in trouble with authority figures isn't a thing that really worries you."

There's a few stories that he could think of that Josh could have shared, if he did share, and he wondered which ones it was.

"True. Except Santa." When she looked at him, he smirked, "Gotta say on that nice list."

"He did also mention you were a Hee Haa."

He couldn't help but laugh at that. "A Hee Haa?" She shrugs, but stays silent.

They sit in silence after that, just staring at their work in the dark school court yard for about another hour or so before Maya decided it was time to leave. Honestly, Zac could have stayed sitting with her in silence forever. He wasn't sure what it was but he had a very comforting feeling being there with her like that, the silence didn't make him frigate and feel like he needed to have to entertain her, he doesn't know many people who make him feel that way. He didn't even feel this way with his parents, there was only really his brother, Lucas, and their childhood friend, Zay.

After that, a small friendship between them seemed to have formed. He walked into art class the next day and before he could even walk a foot into the class she called him over. They didn't talk at all the whole period, but for the first time he actually finished a drawing and was able to turn it in the same day, Dalvin was so happy about that one fact that he let him stay there as his permeant new spot. They started talking before class started and they later found they shared a free period together and would talk then too. They didn't hang out a lot outside of school, but Zac took what he could get.

Maya Hart became one of the most interesting people he's ever had the opportunity to meet.

The next party he went too wasn't really a party, he arrived at the Matthews residence, the house of Maya's best friend and, apparently, Josh's brother (the whole thing threw him at first until it was really explained). He dragged his brother and Zay along because, according to Maya, it wasn't really a party but a small get together because her friend Riley's definition of a party is playing monopoly past ten o'clock and getting a sugar high.

He could tell by the way she said it, it wasn't an insult or her mocking her friend, she told him in a very loving tone. It wasn't hard to tell that was a quality of Riley Matthews that Maya seemed to really enjoy.

They arrived a little late, Zay taking longer than one person would need too to get ready, and when they buzzed to get let in, they automatically started getting shit from Maya because they already started and they were going to have to just jump in where they were at.

The only person he wasn't expecting to see there was Josh.

He also wasn't expecting to see to see how "couple like" Josh and Maya were being. He was ready to leave then and there.

Zay literally pushed him through the threshold, spotting - who he could assume was - Riley and was off to flirt like a mad man. Zac wish he had that confidence.

It was half way through the night, they've gone around the board more times then he could count - he also got stuck in jail more times than he could count - and he was the quickest person there. He thought maybe bringing Zay and Lucas there would help him, even with knowing Maya was there, but in the end he just felt more uncomfortable. He'd rather be at a party getting smashed, crowded by a bunch of strangers he probably wouldn't see ever again then be sitting the Matthews living room. Zay and Lucas seemed to hit it off with the rest of the group that was there who, as a whole, consisted of Riley, Maya, Josh, this girl named Isadora, and some girl named Jaime (who turned out to be Riley's girlfriend). If it wasn't for the three new comers of the group, Josh would have been "out numbered" and he was glad to have some "bros finally".

At this point, Zac would have rather smash his head against the concrete after biffing an epic trick skating then be Josh's bro at the moment.

He had no idea why he was so bothered by seeing Josh and Maya, but the more he saw them, the smaller he got. His brother only being the one to really notice, shooting him concerned and confused looks but bringing no attention to it. After 15 years of living with each other, it's easy to pick up on queues about each other.

Nothing made him happier than when they finally were able to leave the premises, but before they were down the stairs, Maya called out to them - well, to him. He turned around, raising an eyebrow. "You're more fun when you talk. Next time I expect one of you dumb, lame jokes." He blinked at her, but she didn't say anything else, going back inside.

The next day in class, he didn't say anything as he sat down next her, pulling his piece of paper in front of him and setting his pencil up to start drawing. As he started to sketch a light line, he spoke, "My jokes are lame." Which got a snort as a response but she didn't say anything, the only sound that followed that for the next 45 minutes was the scratching of pencils against paper.

fic two

Eyes flicking back and forth, slowly, following the pacing girl as she yelled and accused and cursed. Not a single flinch came from the boy she was talking too, directing all her insults and gabs at. From an outside, it'd seem like the girl was extremely pissed at the boy, that the boy didn't care as he sat there just staring with a blank expression as he continued to let every harsh word come at him.

In reality, this was all directed to the girl's ex something. The two were never dating, never kissed or went out alone together, but it was obvious the two had something that was there. She once called it "The Long Game." Recently something happened between the two that the boy wasn't sure of but never questioned, letting the girl get all her anger out.

It went on a couple of minutes before a voice broke his gaze on the girl, "Zac, the fuck did you do bro?" He turned to Zay, who's appearance did not seem to falter the girls aggressive use of every word she knew. "Maya looks and sounds pissed."

"Yeah, this isn't really directed to me," he let out a chuckle when he got a look of disbelief. "It's about Josh."

"Don't say his name!" The voice came from Maya and she stopped in her tracks and looked at them with a glare.

Zac knows Riley that she cried for some time the night before and then she saw a couple at school today. Next thing he knew she was attacking him with words and uses of those words he didn't know where capable of being used in the ways she managed. He wasn't told what happened, he knew it was about Josh but after that it was a complete mystery to him. He didn't ask though, he figured if Maya wanted anyone besides Riley to know she'd let them know. Let him know.

It took a few short months since their first awkward run in the bathroom but since then they slowly became really good friends. To the point that Zac can even remember what his life was like before Maya - and Riley and Isadora (it was a package deal) - appeared into his life.

He watched her as they sat in Topanga's with the rest of the group, her group. Zac wasn't there often, he had his own group of friends, preferred to skate after school then sit and drink coffee, but after her creative rant earlier that day he decided he'd join them. He won't admit it out loud but he was worried about her.

"- and then he got bucked off the horse, landing ass first in a pile of shit." Zay finished his story about Lucas, having to block himself from Lucas trying to get him to shut up before he finished. The rest of the group laughed, the youngest Friar's face turning red.

"Don't forget to add that this was in front of his crush, what was her name?" Zac added in, turning away from Maya.

"Mia I think? Or it could have Mary Sue, it was the country, the list of M names in endless." The younger boy threw his hands up in exaggeration. "Not just M names, M names with two first names! Why do we country folk do that?"

"Why are you asking me, bro? I got lucky with one name that's popular everywhere around the world."

The rest of the afternoon filled with them joking around, giving each other crap and just enjoying each other's company. There was definitely a lot of roasting of Lucas Friar, occasionally they got Zay, filling in the group of their past back in Austin, Texas, though the three somehow all silently agreed to tell the funniest, dumbest stories. None of the serious stuff was allowed to be uttered, which Zac was grateful for because he knows most of those stories involved him.

It was after that Maya opened up to them, they were on the rooftop of her apartment, sketching the view together and, before she spoke, listening to the concrete jungle below.

"He has a girlfriend," she didn't look up from her easel, brush strokes continuing he wondered if he was imagining it all together. "We had this stupid promise for the long game, he'd wait until I was a more appropriate age and then we'd date, give us a try. Or at least, that's what I thought. We made it last year and I know it was unrealistic and dumb but I've had this crush on him for so long. No... not a crush," she paused, her hand stopped moving and even though he couldn't see her, he knew she had tears in her eyes. Maya Hart might be a badass but she felt more than anyone he ever had the privilege of meeting, he knew that's why she was so amazing at art. "It was more than that, I know it was... is?" Shaking her head, she went back to her painting and he knew at this point she was admitting this all out loud more to herself than to him.

He was just happy she felt comfortable doing that. It didn't take him long to figure out that she was textbook definition of someone with their guard up, having a lot of stuff happen in her past that he has yet to know. Stuff he couldn't even imagine.

"And then we were getting coffee with Riley and one of his friends and that friend turned out to be his girlfriend. There wasn't even a warning, she just appeared." Her strokes became angry as the words left her mouth. "He didn't even have the dignity to look me in the eyes that whole time, every time I'd try to catch his eye he'd purposely look somewhere else. Bastard!" She threw the brush on the easel and that's when he finally noticed what she was painting. Him. Maya took a couple of steps back, wiping her eyes before the tears dropped.

He feels there was even more to the story but he didn't ask. He just kept his eyes on her as she sat down on the ground, running a hand threw her hair. He didn't say anything as he moved to sit next to her, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her body into his. Even if it wasn't the time to notice it, he noticed how well she fit into his side, like she belonged there.

The next couple of hours, they didn't say anything, just sat there.

"You think DJs feel guilt for using vinyl, scratching them all up and what not?" He was staring at a Smallpools vinyl, looking at the list of songs that were on it, when he had that thought. The black discs coast so much, he couldn't imagine spending that money and then destroy it, especially when they use the new albums because that's a decent amount of money.

"What? No. You're dumb."

He put the vinyl back, pulling a face, "Oh." He wasn't actually offended, it doesn't take long to learn how she shows affection, the only person she wouldn't say that too is her best friend from the moment they spotted each other. He's fine with it. "Anyways..." they feel back into silence as they browsed the albums. She wanted to find a new one for paint too and she dragged him along because Riley never "brought the right vibe".

She woke him early on a Saturday to this with her, showing up at his window and knocking on it until he woke up. His first reaction was to toss a pillow at his window, which just prompt her to laugh. She gestured for him to let her in and that's when he got the invite. She was kind enough to give him a short amount of time to wake up and dress, but not his usual hour.

(She gave him 15 minutes.)

He let his dad know, the only one up at the time, before leaving with her. It was somewhat concerning and hilarious that his dad didn't even question Maya leaving his room with him when his parents never saw her come in.

They walked to every store, always where she wanted to go, except when Zac dragged her to a coffee shop so he could get something to drink to help him wake up more and a small breakfast. Before walking into their current location, they hit plenty of stores that Zac lost count, the whole time talking about nonsense. Talked about how obvious Zay's crush on Riley was, roasted Lucas for never being able to get a date, she listened to him talk about skateboarding, about this trick he just landed, his friends, she told him about how her mom is seeing Riley's uncle and how she likes the guy but she's wary about the situation - not going into depth why but he knew it had to do with her father. They went back and forth from English to Spanish and having someone to finally speak Spanish to besides his mom in New York was exhilarating to him.

He misses his conversations with his abuela back in Austin, sitting in a room full of people who only speak English and talking smack about them. It was some of his fondest memories.

Their happy little bubble that they created couldn't stay of course, it's just not how it happens. Shortly after her shooting down his question, the door opened sending the chimes throughout the building and in walked Josh and his girlfriend. Neither of them noticed the two right away, they were busy looking for some album for Maya, Zac occasionally "accidentally" bumping into her.

"Maya?" The voice broke, sounded strained and pained. A voice filled with guilt. Zac felt clenched his jaw but his eyes gravitated to Maya, watching her posture to see how she was taking hearing the voice. Tense was the best way he could describe it.

He watched as she took a deep breath, closing her eyes as if she was trying regain her composer and walked away, not even acting like she heard her name being called again.

"Zac... what's up with her? She's been ignoring me, I don't get it." The younger boy blinked, not sure if Josh was playing innocent of was actually that naive to what he did. Eyes flicked to the girl standing next to Josh, sizing her up deciding she wasn't even worth a second glance and turned back to Josh.

"You're a dick," now Zac wasn't usually one for confrontation, it made his anxiety spike and he shook and his mind would reply the moment for days later. But he cared a lot about Maya, more than he'd ever admit out loud - though he had a feeling that Zay and Riley already knew - and when he cared about someone he was able to overcome that and do something when he needed too.

The insult took the older boy by surprise, "What?"

"I said you're a dick." He blinked, staring Zac down with a dumbfound look. It was obvious that was the last thing he thought would be said. "The long game? Ringing any bells?" He watched as Josh's face slowly transformed, it dawning on him what this was all about.

"Oh." There was a pause, Josh looking over to where Maya walked away too before turning back to Zac. "Listen, Zac, it's not what you think. That long game thing... it's more complicated and Maya she -" but all of a sudden whatever he was about to say, was lost to Zac and everyone else. He doesn't remember wanting to do it, remember balling up his hand and swinging, but next thing he knew his fist connected with Josh's face.

The Friar boys were known to have some angry issues.

Josh dropped, knocking into a shelf of vinyl as it happened.

Zac was told he wasn't allowed in that store ever again shortly before being dragged out, Maya shortly behind him. He had no idea what he was thinking but that wasn't what was really bothering him, what was worrying his mind is what Maya was thinking, did she now hate him because he punched Josh - for no real reason? Was she okay with it? Was she still gonna wanna be his friend?

As soon as they were outside, she grabbed onto his wrist, dragging him even further down the sidewalk, not saying a single word until they walked at least three blocks. She rounded on him and he saw this glint in her eye that made his heart skip. "You're a dumbass."

His brows frowned, confused. "Oh."

She let out a chuckle, shaking her head. "Josh may be a bastard, but you didn't need to punch him." She brought up her fist, smacking it lightly against his left bicep. "Nice hook though, Rocky would be proud."

"Bro... what?" His confusion furthered as she talked, not at all sure of what was happening. No one's even been okay (if that's what this was?) with him punching a person, fighting their battle, whatever it was that he did back there.

"Nice hook," she smiled at him, tucking her hands away in her jacket pockets.

"Um. Thanks?"

They didn't speak of that moment again until she brought her group to his skatepark. He was waiting her turn to drop into the pool when he heard her. He twisted to see her handing there, hair in a messy pony, hands tucked in her jacket, surrounded by her friends, his brother being one of them.

"How's the hand, Hee Haa?" He heard one of his friends question the name, muttering it to themselves.

All Zac did was shake his head, walked over to them board in hand with a questioning look. They've never came to the park before, not all together. He's gotten Maya to come once or twice, she used it as an opportunity to sketch well he skated, Zay and Lucas both joined him every now and again, but other than that it was just a place for him to hang with his friends. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Maya wanted to come see you," it was Isadora who spoke, never being one to be anything but blunt.

"Oh, really?" He smirked, looking down at the blonde standing in front of him.

She shrugged, "Just wanted to make sure my dumbass in sweaty clothes," her nose scrunched up as she looked at his shirt was sticking to his body, "was okay. Not getting into stupid fights are anything." The rest of the group watched on with confusion and mild curiosity.

"Nah, the fighting is behind me. We had to close up the Fight Club and turned our aggression to skating. As much pain but we get to feel like we're flying. So better."

"You're a dumbass."

"Love you too." Seconds later his name was called to let him know he could drop in the pool, he winked at Maya before skating off.

Not before he heard Riley ask "What was that?" in a very knowing tone and Maya respond, "I have no idea." But Blonde Beauty sounded more amused than confused.

The group stuck around, watched as he skated and talked to his friends as they waited for him to give someone else a turn. Watching his group of friends talk to his brother's group and get along well made him happy, he wasn't sure if a bunch of skater punks would get along with AHS's most popular group of freshmen. Not all of the skaters he hanged out with went to AHS, most of them went to Washington, and the ones that did go to school with him coincidentally where also on the soccer team with him, well will be on the soccer team with him as soon as the season started.

The one thing Zac wasn't anxious about was whether or not he was going to make it on the team, skating and soccer were the two things he had the most confidence in.

He also had confidence in his photography, but he never felt comfortable enough to show his work others. That's another story all together, however.

"Okay Hee Haa," the nickname getting a laugh out of his friends. He tossed a water bottle at them. "Teach me something." She grabbed the board from him, setting it on the ground and standing on it.

"What do you want to learn?" A bemused smile appearing on his face as he stared at her on his board.

"I don't know, something." She skated around a bit, so he knew that she could at least stand on it. For the next hour, he and Maya were in their own little bubble as he tried to teach her how to Ollie, which to him was personally the hardest thing to learn. Having to get the board into the air and high enough to be able to do tricks, it took him time. After that, everything else came easy to him.

Neither of them noticed it Zay was putting them on his Snap Story, Zac would later watch those a couple of times before he went to bed, screen capturing the picture of them Zay had. Riley was also recording them the whole time, making commentary with Zay and Lucas the whole time. Neither of them would see the video until a later date, hearing how the other three predicated Maya and Zac getting together, how annoying adorable they were. Zay threw in some commentary about how Zac had better accidental game than Lucas did having real game.

"She did all the work!" Lucas explained, huffing.

Both of them would have to wait until they were dating a couple of months before Riley would remember the video again and show them however.

fic three

Zac never knew his biological dad, he died before he was even two months old. His dad was in the army and died over seas, they never told him how exactly and he never asked. About a year later his mom met Lucas's dad and it start of all fell into place. HIs abuela approved, he was willing to adopt Zac without hesitation and never treated him anything but a son, he even start learning Spanish for Zac - he didn't do very well, he can mostly understand it then speak it, and he didn't treat Zac any different when Lucas was born.

He was Zac's dad, no matter what a blood test said. And both his parents and his abuela never let him forget his biological dad either, David Friar would sit there with a smile on his face as he'd listen to the stories of Alberto Mendoza, why he wanted to join the army, how he was as a kid, how Alberto and his mom, Lucy, met.

David was even the one to suggest changing Zac's name to a hyphen, Mendoza-Friar, instead of erasing that part of his father from him. David had a big respect for anyone who joined the military (he joined as well but ended up getting a head injury that ended up having him medically discharged) and even though he never really knew Alberto, he didn't want his name to die out with him. Abuela was especially happy with that, going on a long winded speech about how amazing he was in Spanish according to his mother.

The oldest Friar knows how lucky he got with his family, how everything worked out for him. He thanks God everyday for that.

He couldn't imagine finding out that your father left you because he could, because he didn't want to be there, and then find out that he got another family, one he stuck by.

Maya Hart had to deal with a lot of stuff he never had to imagine having to deal with.

He was walking into Topanga's with his friends, going to grab a quick bit before they went to play some video games at Trey's house. When they stepped in, they all sort of stopped short because of the scene playing out in front of them. They came in the middle of it, the middle of Maya holding back tears as she told some older man how her mom was there for her, how her mom was the one who helped her get over her fear of thunder storms, how her mom let her hater her so she'd think of good of a man that walked away, who didn't deserve it. He could feel his heart crumble watching the scene play out.

Zac locked eyes with Riley for a split second before he decided best that he and his friends left before Maya noticed them there. She already had enough witnesses to her personal drama at the moment, he didn't need to add to it. He redirected them out and he didn't even have to say a word for his friends to understand, none of them brought it up as they trekked their way to Trey's.

"Z, you better get an epic pic bro, I need some samples for pro teams." Zac rolled his eyes, but laid back bringing his camera up to his eye, ready to take the shot. Out of the hundreds of pictures he takes during these little sessions, he only ever feels comfortable showing one or two of them. To him, he could have gotten a better angle, a moment was blurry, it wasn't bright enough, the reasons why a picture wasn't good enough to be shown was endless.

"Z?" He pulled the camera down, looking over to see Maya had invited herself to the session. He had no idea how she even found them, he's pretty sure he's never showed her this area. "Hee Haa's better."

"Hee Haa's an insult," he shot back, shooting her a questioning look. His brow frowning more when his friend Trey wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey there, Shortie. Glad you could make it."

Trey invited her?

She smiled sweetly up at the taller guy, shrugging off his shoulder. "Call me Shortie one more time and you won't be having any children." The other guys collectively let out the sound one usually did when you witnessed someone getting told.

"I thought you liked it."

"I thought you had brains."

Zac watched the interaction, ignoring the sinking feeling in his stomach. It didn't take long for his group and Maya's group of friends to sort of form into one bigger group. They didn't always hang out but they all got along really well, so much so that Zac could walk down the hall of school and see Riley talking it up with Jake or Maya teasing Trey. Zay and Lucas already knew most of his friends, they'd join them during online game sessions and Lucas was his little brother.

He constantly tries his best to ignore Maya and Trey's interactions, forcing himself not to think too much into their banter and teasing, they glances they share and smiles. But the more it happens, the more he knows he won't be able to forever.

"What are you doing here?" His tone was a little harsher than he meant, his aggravation of watching them flirting boiling to the surface. Luckily, neither noticed.

"I thought we could go get a coffee when you were done, I needed to get out of the house." He nodded, automatically knowing that meant she didn't want to be home alone and Riley was busy.

He glanced between Trey and Maya, noticing how close they were, biting back a snarky comment about how she could just take Trey and leave. "Yeah, sure." She smiled at him before turning her attention back to the guy that brought that flirty smile on her lips, made her scrunch up her nose and tilt her head.

Sitting in the cafe, he stared at his coffee cup, tapping the lid, slowly turning it. He's never felt this awkward with Maya before and he knows this is all on him, he's the reason he's feeling this way. He knows that if she didn't want to be with him here, she never would have tracked him down, wouldn't have texted Trey because he wasn't answering his phone to ask where they were.

"Alright, Z, what's up?" He looked up at her and she was smirking, he knew she was mocking the nick name the guys gave him, not that he can blame her.

"Nothing, why would anything be up?"

She raised an eyebrow but didn't further question it. They continued to drink their coffee in silence and once they were he thought that would be the end of it, they'd part ways. He's sure he wasn't the company she was hoping for, but he was wrong. She grabbed his wrist and started dragging him toward a similar destination. When they reached her rooftop, she released him. She continued to make her way to the ledge.

She stood there for the longest time, not saying a single word. Something about how she moved, the way her shoulders tensed when she rooted herself in her spot, made Zac stop in his tracks, not being able to move a muscle.

"You know, my mom used to tell me a story about how she met my dad on a rooftop like this. They were at some party and both needed air at the same time. The next thing they knew, they ended up talking the whole night away."

He tucked his hands into his pockets, not sure what to say. It's been about a month since her whole incident with her dad in Topanga's. No one brought it up, and if an occasional sip up happened the others helped change the subject. He knew that she noticed but he wasn't sure if she was grateful or uncomfortable with the whole thing, with how they handled moving on. She never really looked them in the eye after the slip up and became very quite.

"Outside of painting, I always thought rooftops were tainted because of that. My parents met on a rooftop and now look at them." His brows frowned as he looked at her, her back turned to him. He had no idea where she was going with any of this, but he stayed silent. "I mean, I still thought they were tainted, but they gave me a good view and helped with my teen angst. As long as I was by myself it couldn't taint me too right?" The more she talks the more confused he was getting, for one they didn't have anything that lead up to this moment, her confessing about her dad and... whatever this was. And if she only came up to the rooftops to paint by herself, why did she bring him? Not once but multiple times.

She finally turned around to him, "You're dad adopted didn't he?" He never remembered mentioning that to her. "Zay," she answered his silent question.

"Oh. Um, yeah. Why do you ask?" He rubbed the back of his neck. He was never ashamed of his father, ashamed that he was adopted, of his dad, of his heritage, but talking about it always gave him an anxious feeling.

"He wanted you, didn't he?"

His heart broke as soon as those words left her mouth. He wondered how long she's been having this feeling, he couldn't even imagine.

"From what I'm told, from the home movies I've seen, yeah. He seemed pretty stocked." From what he learned, her dad stuck around for the first couple of years. Even with that, doesn't mean he was excited to be expecting a kid. Zac wanted to be the optimist and say that Kermit Hart was very excited to welcome Maya Hart into the world, Maya Hart was the most amazing person he ever got to lay his eyes on. Flaws and all.

"Good." She turned back around, running a hand through her hair.

This whole sight destroyed him, he could literally feel his heart shattering for her. She deserved so much more than this. With that thought, courage surged through him. He started walking towards her, "When I was younger, I was always worried that David wasn't going to love me. At least not the way that he loved Lukey." Looking down at her, he watched her brow scrunch together in that cute way it did. He turned back to the view. "I was often proved wrong but the worry, the dread of that gave me nightmares at night. But never once did David make me feel like my fears were inadequate or unjustified." He paused, not sure where he was really going with this. As soon as he opened his mouth, the words just started flooding out. He thought about how David would go about this situation, trying his best to channel that. "I have no idea what it's like to have a father who ran away from me and had another family years later, sticking by them. I won't even say I could imagine what that's like. There's no way I could." He looked back down at her, "But I know what it's like to have a parent care so much about you, they put you above themselves. That's one of the luckiest feelings in the world."

She turned to him, her eyes slightly watery but no tears have fallen. He doesn't think she's gonna cry again for a while.

"Not only that but you got the Matthews, a second family that's willing to do anything for you and your mom. That's pretty unique." The Friars and Babineauxs were close, but not in the way the Harts were with the Matthews. If he was gonna be honest, he was slightly jealous of that. When his parents started suffering finically, when the lay offs happened, there was no one they knew that would help them out in a drop of a hat. The Matthews would do that for the Hart family, it's something you could tell right from the start, just from how the two families interacted.

She was quite for a while, just staring out to the view. It was a pretty stunning view, he gets why Maya comes up here and sketches it all the time. Watching her, he wondered if anything he said helped her, even a little bit.

"Thanks." That's all she said.

They reminded up on the rooftop for a while longer, not saying anything. Eventually they had to leave, Maya had to do something with Riley and her girlfriend and Zac was getting dragged by Zay to go see this romcom Lucas said no to at least four times.

He was playing a game on his phone when he felt someone sit down beside him on the library couch. "Hey Zac!" He knows that bubbly voice, but what was confusing him wasn't that she was talking to him, it was that he was pretty sure they didn't share free period together.

"Hey Riley," he paused his game, looking over at her, not unable to keep his curiosity from his tone.

"I heard what you did." He raised his eyebrows in silent question, not sure what she could be referring too. This has been a pretty chill week for him, he hasn't teased Lucas or Zay, hasn't gotten in trouble with any of his teachers, he never gets in trouble at home, there really shouldn't be anything that she would have heard. Unless it was a past story, but Riley usually doesn't talk to him about those. "With Maya," she elaborate, though that still didn't stiffen his confusion. "I think it's really sweet that you opened up to her, helped her out with how she was feeling about her dad." Honestly, Zac felt like he didn't do shit but whatever.

"Um, thank you?" A small part of him worries that Maya spilled everything he told her on that rooftop to her best friend, but a bigger part of him, the one that knows Maya, knew she wouldn't.

"Yup!" She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before taking off, leaving him feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"She's so weird," the words slipped out of his mouth as he turned back to his game, dying as soon as he resumed the game.

[zacayas]

a formal apology

part 3!!!

word count: 2036

um

idk bro this feels kinda weak but i hope you like it!!!

Ever since her talk to with her mom, every time Maya Hart saw Zac Friar all she could think about was going up to him and kissing him in front of the whole school. Just there, in the hallway. Grabbing him by the shirt like she always did when she was had that hunger for his lips on hers, pulling him down to her height, and feeding that hunger.

But she hasn’t.

It’s been another month and she hasn’t made a single move.

Because every time she sees him, he’s around his friends Janet and Jacob and he seems extremely too close to that Dony. His arms around her, more and more pictures of them have been popping up on Instagram the past month (month and half actually – not that Maya is creeping on Zac and his friend’s Instas or anything). It made her blood boil. All she saw was green. It may or may not contribute to Maya giving Jenny more hell than she usually did days prior.

None of the Bands of Misfits questioned it, getting a kick out of actually seeing Maya giving in a bit to what everyone assumed her gang was.

Every time he’d stop underneath the bleachers to give them what they pay for, she’d take a small step toward him after everyone else leaves before second guessing herself and following the rest of her gang back to the sunlight. She hated how all of a sudden any sort of confidence she had seemed to evaporate. She was worried that the one good thing she had in her life was gone for good, that she messed it up and even if she went to Zac, begging on her knees for him to give her just one more chance, she wouldn’t get it.

Maya Hart wasn’t a big fan of rejection.

It’s been exactly two months since Zac has spoken to Maya.

He missed her ever single day. He missed her teasing him about playing Pokemon, of knowing episodes of Avatar the Last Airbender by heart, always having a book on him (”and it’s not even one of the fun books!” “What’s a ‘fun book’?” “Porn.”), for his SnapChat stories  – that he knows she watches. He misses how late at night, she’d get serious, telling him about what happened with her dad, how she loves everything her mom is doing for her but how she’s misses her, her dreams and aspirations, how she feels when she runs into her dad.

But as much as he missed all of that, he didn’t dare let himself get sucked back into what they were before. He couldn’t. He deserves better, he knows it, and as much as he loves her, it was killing him being some secret.

All he wanted to do was hold her hand as they walked down the school halls – that’s if she’d let him do that. He just wanted people to know, Maya Hart liked him, wanted to be with him.

On the upside – for his friends anyways – he had more time for Dani and Jon. Dani seemed to be basking in it. (”Now Jon can stop making me play stupid video games with him.”) He’s pretty sure Jon was happy about it too, they’ve been battling each other in Pokemon for a week straight – of course only after they get all their work done.

He knew Maya missed him too. He knew there was times where she’d want to say something to him under the bleachers after her friends left, he could feel her eyes on him in art class – though every time he would look up at her, to catch her eye, they’d be trained again on whatever she was sketching. It also didn’t take him long to figure out Maya being “extra nasty” to Dani was all because of him and though it makes him a shit friend, Zac may have been purposely being a little more buddy-buddy with Dani because of it – gradually of course, as to not make his friend’s suspicious.

Though with all that, he did wish Maya would do something, make some sort of move to show him that he did mean something to her. At least a little.

Outside of torturing one of his friends.

But he also knows that he can’t hold his breath. She cared more about her reputation than she did him. Eventually he was going to have to move on.

It was starting to eat at Maya, the fact that she just couldn’t walk up to Zac and tell him that he did mean more – that he meant more to her than anything. Anytime her mom got to see Maya, she’d ask about how it was going toward trying to fix her mistake, all the small blonde could do was shake her head. But during those days, Katy Hart learned a lot about Zac Friar and her heart warmed hearing her daughter talk about this boy. She knew that what happened between her and Kermit really put a guard around Maya’s heart, how she would never let anyone. But at the same time, seeing how sad and distraught Maya was about what happened between them broke her heart.

Her daughter’s love life might cause her to have a heart attack before she’s 50.

And the longer Maya put off doing anything, the more she had resentment to every couple, happy person, and herself she got. And to top it all off, the school was throwing a winter formal as well, so everywhere she turned, she’d see someone asking another person to the dance, flyers plastered all over the walls.

The following weeks, people would part quickly, hiding in classrooms and ducking heads into lockers. The only person who didn’t was Zac, who seemed to oblivious to notice Maya at all.

Things didn’t seem to be looking up until just a week before the formal dance was supposed to happen. During one of the few moments Maya wasn’t surrounded by the whole gang, wondering the halls when just as she was about to turn the corner, she heard a familiar voice. One that made her heart skip a beat.

“Nah, I think I’m just gonna go stag.”

“Seriously?” It was a girl’s voice, she was assuming it belonged to Janet. She could just imagine Zac shrugging his shoulders. “Zac, there are people who’d love to go with you.”

“Eh.”

“Yeah dude, I’d go with you,” another voice said and Maya was guessing that belonged to the other friend Jacob. Zac laughed, causing Maya’s stomach to do a flip.

“Mary says that Cassie would love it if you asked,” Dony said, apparently not accepting the fact that Zac wanted to go alone.

“Dani, as much as I love your girlfriend,” girlfriend Maya mouthed, feeling her weight on her heart disappear, “I’m not trusting her to set me up with anyone.”

“Why not?!”

“Because she has horrible taste,” the other one said, getting another laugh out of Zac.

“Well, fuck you both then.” The reply only getting more of a laugh out of the other two.

Maya didn’t stick around much after, but a plan was formulating in her head with ever step she took. Originally she was planning on skipping the dance all together and than just hit up the after parties – she may not drink as much as she used too but she still enjoyed watching people make a grand fool of themselves – but now she knew she was going to have to show up. This was her moment, if she didn’t do something by the dance she might as well tattoo coward across her forehead and call it good.

Maya Hart wasn’t a coward.

Almost like all school functions, the formal dance was boring. He’s sure it would have been more entertaining if he got to spend the night with Maya – though if he was with Maya, neither of them would be at the dance.

The thought brought a frown to his face.

Jon brought him a cup of punch, laughing at the face he pulled. “Not even thirty minutes in and Oliver Grayson already spiked the punched,” they said, a wide grin on their face.

“Oliver Grayson has terrible taste in alcohol,” Zac replied back before taking another sip and forcing the liquid down his throat. He looked out at the dance floor, smiling at Dani dancing with Mary. When she looked over at them, both he and Jon saluted her with a middle finger and large smiles. She returned the gesture before giving her girlfriend her full attention again. “I bet you $20 that Mary gets hammered before Dani.”

“You’re on.”

The bet didn’t seem to be going well, Mary and Dani stayed pretty clear from the punch bowl, however they did drag both Zac and Jon out onto the dance floor multiple times. (”You’re here! Might as well dance a little!”) And Zac even gave in and slow danced once with Cassie, though he regretted it shortly after because she wouldn’t leave him alone after.

An hour into the dance, it was like a scene from an old 80s teen comedy played on the gym floor. The doors open and slowly but surely everyone seemed to stop what they were doing because of who was walking through the crowd. Zac was near the snack table, forgoing anymore punch since the first cup, trying to find something to snack on when he heard a large gasp from beside him. He turned around to see everyone on the dance floor had stopped what they were doing, staring in his direction. But it wasn’t him who he was staring at, it was who was in front of him.

Standing their, in a simple red dress, was Maya Hart. He didn’t even really get to get a good look at her in it before she grabbed a hold of his tie, pulling him down to her height and kissing him, her other hand moved his head, tugging at the hair on the back of his head. If he wasn’t completely absorbed by kissing Maya, he would have heard a collective gasp ring throughout the school.

It didn’t dawn on him that the music stopped until they pulled apart, gasping for breath. He looked down at her, tilting his head.

“What?” She gave a nervous laugh, something he never thought he’d ever hear coming from Maya.

“I just didn’t know you owned anything that wasn’t black.”

Her reply was to shove his shoulder. It was quiet for a few seconds, her hand resting on his forearm. “I’m sorry it took so long.”

He shrugged, “You made up for it in presentation.” His eyes flicked over head to see the whole school still looking at him. He’s honestly not sure what they’re more surprised about, Maya Hart at the school formal wearing a dress or the fact that she just made out with Zac Friar. Possibly a mixture of both.

The silence broke with someone from the far back letting out a loud, “What the fuck!!?!” That got both Zac and Maya laughing. She leaned close to him, “I know I just arrived, and we could totally say and dance but I was thinking maybe...” she trailed off, looking at him with a smirk and raised eyebrows.

“Maybe you’re gonna show me how much you missed me?” He raised his own eyebrow, a small smirk forming across his own face.

But they didn’t get very far before Dani was standing in front of them with a hard look on her face. “What the fuck is this?” She gestured between the two of them. “What the fuc-” but before she could finish, both Jon and Mary appear dragging her away, Jon calling out “You owe us an explanation Friar! And you owe her an apology Hart!”

Zac watched his friends leave – the dance returning back to loud music and festivities behind them – before turning to Maya, “He’s right, you do owe her an apology.”

Maya crinkled her nose, looking up at him, “Later.” He raised an eyebrow, “I promise.” She tugged on his hand, starting to the front door again, “But I have an empty apartment calling our name at the moment.”

[zacayas]

Maya Opens Up

word count: 2926

tbh this is shorter than i wanted it to be but it ended on a nice spot

however, this means a part 3 so there’s that.

the titles dumb bye

Ever since that unfateful Friday, Maya has been a sour mood. She wasn’t sure what she could to make it better, Zac called her out and she couldn’t tell him yes. She couldn’t tell him that he did mean more to her than her reputation because honestly, she didn’t know. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Maya doesn’t like people, she doesn’t like them talking to her unless she gives them the okay. She doesn’t even like having them look at her. Sure, there was her band of misfits but it wasn’t exactly the same. They weren’t really her friends per say, they grew up like her so they bonded over their messed up childhood and neglectful parents. The first person who really made her feel a connection was Zac and it terrified her.

At first she just found him interesting. The way he played his nerdy ass Pokemon games and would quote Star Wars and was constantly reading books. The way that he let his mouth run sometimes without thinking, giving Johnson (or anyone in the Band of Misfits) a quick retort that shook them for a split second before they decided to put Zac back in his place. He was different. And she’d blind not to notice that he was also hot, with and without glasses.

That was something that really got her to notice him.

The first time she decided that he was worth her interest, he was walking down the hall with his two dorks of friends – they weren’t exactly horrible to look at either, just none of them had the confidence to be anything more than a group of dorks at the bottom of the high school food chain.

“Maya is staring at us,” the brunette girl said. Maya believes her name is Dony or Janet or something. They share an English class together. As soon as she caught Maya’s eye she looked away quickly, eyes dropping to the ground.

“Wha – “ Friar looked up from his Nintendo (3DS – she knows this because she heard him talking about it in art class and his stupid Pokemon game) over to where Maya was leaning against a pair of lockers, the rest of the Band of Misfits giving some kid a hassling. Maya didn’t take apart of that too much, she felt like it was below her ability to mess with freshmen. “Oh. Yeah, she’s probably just making sure no one messes with me.” His two friends looked up at him, it looked like the brunette girl was gonna get whiplash for how fast her neck shot up. “Y’know, because I’m her investment.” The two friends gave a small nod, looking over at Maya and her gang before dropping their eyes again.

The blonde smirked, always finding that she had that power over people amusing.

She flicked her eyes over to Zac who stared back at her, giving her a small, wary smile before turning back to his game. She found it cute, in an awkward sort of way. She tilted her head when she noticed for the first time he wasn’t wearing glasses, completely missing what his eyes looked like without being hidden away by lenses.

Something sparked inside of her at the moment, something that made her want to draw his jaw line, sketch out his features. It was a feeling she only got when someone caught her interest. It’s weird that after years of having Zac Friar doing her homework for her, she’d get that feeling now.

Sitting up from her bed, she reached into her drawer and pulled out her sketchbook. She hardly had to flip through the pages to find her first sketch of Zac. She drew it later that day, watching him from across the art classroom, ignoring whatever their assignment actually was. She was the best student, art being the only class she actually cared about, and so for the most part the teacher let her get away with doing whatever it was that she wanted. And that day, she wanted to feed her craving to draw Zac Friar’s jaw line.

When they started… being something, she drew him more, a lot more. And because of how close she was to him, she was able to get his freckles right. She loved his freckles, like little stars across the bridge of his nose. They were one of her favorite features of his, his eyes always coming first. They were so bright, the clearest blue she ever saw. His eyes reminded her of this picture of the waters off the shore of Fiji she saw once, you could look into that ocean and see everything you wanted too. That’s what it was like was looking into Zac’s eyes – he couldn’t hide anything because she could see everything in his eyes."

She flipped through her book, landing on a sketch she did after their first night out together. The first time she kissed him and finally understood what her mom was talking about when it came to romance and kissing someone, feeling a tingling all the way through your body. It was something that was different than anything she ever experienced and from that moment on she was addicted to it, she never thought that she’d have to give it up.

“Where are we going?” His voice was filled with caution, she didn’t need to look behind her to know that he was looking around him. “Are you going to take me somewhere to murder me?” She turned to him with a look on her face, he held up his free hand in defense. “Not that I don’t think you couldn’t get away with it, I just don’t want to die.” Zac was letting his mouth run but he didn’t seem to be regretting the words that came out of his mouth like he would when the whole Band of Misfits was around. His guard was down and her heart swelled – not that she’d ever admit that out loud.

She continued to pull him down the street, stopping just as they wound up in the middle of the bridge. She already stashed some beers and cigs here earlier before she showed up at his window, dragging him out in the middle of the night. He was shocked that she knew where he lived, but she made a comment about how he was her investment and he ducked his head blushing. He must not have known he heard her that day.

Letting go of his hand, she reached into her secret spot – “You have to hide the booze otherwise the hobos find it” – and handed him a beer. He held up his hands, shaking his head. “I don’t drink.” She gave him a look, holding her arm out straighter. Hesitantly, he took it from her bringing it to his lips to sip. She smirked, taking a sip of her own. “So, um, why did you drag me out here?” Her smirk only grew, but her only reply was a shrug. “Oh. Yeah, that definitely answers the question.” He rolled his eyes, taking another sip of his beer, cringing slightly.

Leaning against the car rail, she watched as head lights passed them, giving the driver the finger because she knew the owner was staring at them trying to figure out why two kids were out at a time like this on a highway. She turned to Zac as soon as the car was gone, raising her eyebrow. “You’re pretty ballsy right now, you know that? Talking to me in that tone.” He looked at her, she could see the slight concern appearing in his eyes making her laugh. “I like it.”

He narrowed his eyes at her, rolling them again. “I was about to piss myself, I thought you were going to shank me or something.”

“Shank you?”

“Yeah, y’know, knife to body.”

This time it was her who rolled her eyes, “I know what shanking is.”

“Oh.”

She stood up straighter, watching him as he looked out to the scene below them, city lights lighting up the night. Her eyes traveled up and down, landing finally on his lips, watching as he chewed on it. “You shouldn’t do that.” She said eventually, bringing her bottle to her lips.

He turned to her with a confused expression, “What?”

“Chew your lip.” His brows came together in confusion, something she found cute.

“Why?”

Her smirk came back, not wasting time to speak and she reached a hand up, bringing his mouth down to hers. He tasted of toothpaste and alcohol and she felt tingling all the way down her spine. It was a few seconds before he responded but when he did, the tingling became shocks, making her shiver. It was a feeling she couldn’t wait to experience time and again.

They pulled back, his confused expression still on his face making her chuckle. She gave his face a small slap, making him look away from her as she turned her attention back to the city lights. As he just stood there, probably from shock, she took his hand in her free one, tugging on it slightly.

She ran her fingers over the drawing, the drawing of two figures standing hand-n-hand in front of the New York city lights.

She heard the front door of the apartment open, making her bring her eyes toward her clock. 2 AM was flashing brightly at her, her mom was home after her last job of the night. Setting the sketchbook back in the drawer, she stood up and went to greet her mother.

As she sat down at the counter, he mother jumped. “Maya!” Katy Hart put a hand over heart, “What did I tell you about that?!” Maya shrugged, placing her head in her hand as her mom went back to herself a very late diner. As she started stacking condiments onto a slice of bread she looked up at her daughter, only slightly curious. “So why are you up this time?”

Maya let out a laugh, “This time.” She rolled her eyes. For the past week... month... however long it’s been since her thing with Zac ended, she has been sleeping. Not really. And she knows damn well that her mother knows. Katy just has the curtsy not to say anything unless Maya makes an appearance, even though Katy worries about her daughter’s well being, she’s just happy that Maya can function and gets up to go to school every day.

It might not be the best parenting decision, letting her daughter not sleep, but Maya is tougher than anyone knows, even her wild group of so-called friends.

“I think I messed up.” Katy paused spreading mayo across the second slice of bread, looking up at her daughter with wide, curious eyes. She’s not sure when the last time she’s heard her daughter admit to a mistake she’s made.

Maya on the other hand knows exactly the last time she admitted to make a mistake – Zac Friar was more than just some secret.

“I made a mistake Zac! I’m sorry.” He just continued to stare at her, his eyes hard, glazed over with anger. “What do you want me to say?! I’m admitting I was wrong, I know that being shitfaced isn’t an excuse! What else is there to say?”

Seconds passed, her regret was starting to turn to anger the longer he didn’t speak. She was getting defensive even though rationally she had no right too.

“Why?” She looked at him, brows coming together. “Why did you do? Why’d you put yourself in that situation?”

She let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through her hair. She knows that it was a rhetorical question, Zac’s well aware of her social standings in the high school high archy as well as she enjoyment of consuming alcohol – his words. She went out to have a good time, she had a run in with her dead beat dad earlier that day and she wanted to forget all about that experience. She could have gone and done something with Zac but she knew his dumb ass would ask what was bothering her and she really, really didn’t want to talk about it.

And the asshole had a way of bringing it out of her.

She didn’t think anything would happen. She sure as hell didn’t expect to feel this fucking guilty about it when it did. Seeing the look on Zac’s face when he spotted them, it broke her heart. She has never sobered up so fast.

She’s never been more scared either.

“What do you want me to do?” Her voice was quiet as she looked up at him, meeting his angry eyes. He shrugged in response, something that caused the crack in her heart to further. She did this to herself.

Maya knows she was lucky after that – Zac didn’t toss her to the side, finally figuring out that Maya would be the worst thing to ever to happen to him. He did keep her at arms length for a while though, maybe waiting to see what she’d do. She stopped getting hammered for one, something that her small band of misfits seemed to notice. They questioned her about, haggled her, tried to peer pressure her into joining them getting shitfaced but she held her ground. What she had with Zac meant something to her, enough that she didn’t want to lose it over another stupid mistake.

She lost him anyways.

“Why do you think that, Honey?” her mother asked, placing her sandwich together, giving her daughter her full attention.

Maya opened her mouth, only to close it again. She wasn’t good with talking about feelings, it took Zac days of coaxing before she’d open up to him and he was special – the only one that could get away with it. Running a hand through her hair, she sat up straighter. “I think I fell in love.” She forced the words out, not allowing them to catch in her throat.

“Oh?” This was news to Katy, she didn’t even know her daughter was seeing anyone. Well, she had an inkling but she was hoping that it wasn’t anyone in that rowdy group she brings home. “It’s not that Johnson fella is it?” She couldn’t keep the distaste in her mouth.

Maya’s eyes flicked up, her nose crinkling in disgust. “No! God, no.” The thought of Johnson coming anywhere near her in that way made her what to throw up. “You haven’t...” she licked her lips, “you haven’t met him.” Every time Zac would come over, Katy was working double or had to work all three jobs. Maya sort of planned it so she’d never be home so she could have Zac all to herself – not having a parent around also made it easier to other things and Maya had a hard time keeping her hands off Zac once she got him all to herself.

“Oh.” Katy’s eyes disappeared behind her bangs. She can’t deny that she wasn’t a little hurt by the fact that her daughter hid a boy from her, but she can’t say she wasn’t surprised. “And why do you think you messed up?” She asked again.

Maya gulped. Is it always going to be your reputation first? The words rattled around in her head. Every time she saw him in the hall, every time he delivered their assignments, those words played in her head making it hard for her to even look at him.

“I think I... put the wrong thing first.”

“And what’s that?” Katy asked as she brought her sandwich to her mouth.

Maya dropped her head back into her hand, “My... reputation?”

Katy let out a chuckle but didn’t reply until she finished chewing. “Is that it?”

“I...” she didn’t want to say it out loud. She knows her mom is well aware that her daughter is a delinquent, causing mischief, graffitis walls, gets detention at least once a week. But she still thought highly of her mischievous daughter, Maya’s not sure what she’d think about her once she admits that she kept Zac a secret, treated him in a way he didn’t deserve. “We were a secret, I guess? I mean. You weren’t the only one who didn’t know about us. No one did.”

Her mom nodded, “Ah.” She placed her sandwich down and mimicked her daughter's pose. “Do you miss him?” Maya nodded, “Do you think he’s worth more than you reputation?” Maya paused, thinking back to how Zac makes her feel. Happy, worth something, special. She nodded again. “Do you think he feels the same?” She wasn’t sure, so a shrug was a response. Katy smiled, “Do you want him back?” Maya nodded again, licking her lips. She loves him. “Then do something about. Prove to him that he’s worth it.”

“What if it’s too late?”

Katy shook her head, “Sweetie, it’s never too late for love.” Maya rolled her eyes, she couldn’t help it with how cheesy the words that just came out of her mom’s voice where. But truthfully they made her heart feel lighter than it had in a long time. It always surprised her how much her mom still had faith in love when Katy fell in love with someone who walked out on them, someone that – if it was Maya – would have made her lose all hope on the idea of it.

Kermit Hart did actually made Maya lose hope for it.

Zac Friar – nerdy, dorky, Pokemon loving Zac Friar – made her believe again.

[zacayas]

The Delinquent and The Nerd

this turned out angsty lmao

i’ll probably make a part 2

word count: 3,334

“It should be at least worth a C+,” he said, handing over a small stack of papers. His eyes wondered around the small group that was surrounding him. The one purchasing the work – Tom Johnson - a guy about his height with dark brown hair, his leather jacket collar popped. He’d roll his eyes at the sight of it if he wasn’t afraid of being beaten to death for it. His eyes traveled over every one of them, most of them giving him a stern look except for the small blonde in the back. She stared at him with a smirk on her face as she watched the exchange. Zac had to stop himself from giving her a look back, something that would tell her to stop enjoying this as much as she was.

Johnson looked over the essay, reading it over, giving a nod every now and again. As he got to the last page, he looked back up at Zac with an approving look. “This’ll do.” He patted Zac in the chest with papers, “But next time I want at least a B.”

“Do you think they’d believe that?” the words slipped out of Zac’s mouth before he could stop them. As soon as they left he regretted them, flinching back into the metal pool behind him as Tom Johnson’s eyes narrowed. He took a small step forward but before he could do anything the blonde laughed.

“He’s right Johnson, no one would believe you could get a B,” they both turning to the voice.

Johnson huffed but stepped back, “Fine.” He tucked the papers into his back pocket and turned away, walking out from underneath the bleachers. The rest of the group followed along but the blonde remained behind.

“Wow Hee-Haa, saving our ass again.” Her smirk only grew larger.

Zac’s eyes looked over at her gang who stopped as soon as they hit the sidewalk heading both towards the field and the school once they noticed the blonde hasn’t followed them. “Yeah, well, who’d do y’alls homework?” And as he spoke he took out another small stack of paper and held it out to her. “It’s on Catcher in the Rye, you liked it enough and you kind of relate to Holden for feeling like he feels distanced from his parents. Not a lot of details are put into besides that but…” he trailed off giving a shrug. He knew how she felt about talking about anything personal, “If it wasn’t for the grammatical errors it’d be a solid B but you know how Mr. Jacobs is.” He gave a shrug, moving his eyes away from her gang. “You know if you stick around any longer they’ll think you like me.”

Her smirk came back, “No one would believe I liked you Friar.”

He shrugged again, “Who knows how the minds of people work, Hart.”

“That’s why no one would believe I’d like you.” She smacked him with the paper turning to leave. She got a few steps away when she turned back around. “Don’t be late, 6 PM.” She pointed at him before turning and leaving again to join the rest of her gang. He could hear her faintly tell them to stop hanging around like that if they wanted to be inconspicuous. He rolled his eyes, moving to the other side of the bleachers and leaving that way.

Pretty much since he started going to school in New York he’s been doing the homework for Maya Hart’s gang. They’d pay him money sometimes but mostly his payment was stopping other people from pushing him into lockers, throwing him into trashcans, using him as a punching bag – you get it. Maya Hart, the leader, was a year younger than him and was in the same class as his brother. Somehow they’d always have the same homeroom – at first he knew about it because his brother would complain about how disruptive she was but after he started learning about it from Maya herself. Maya his… secret girlfriend? He wasn’t really sure what they were, he just knew that whatever it was wasn’t public knowledge to the rest of the world.

Pushing up his glasses up as he felt sunlight beat down on the top of his head, he looked over at the football field. His brother’s practice should be starting ending soon. He scanned the field to find the bright white number nine that his brother Lucas wore so proudly. He stopped him behind the ten yard line, waiting for the quarterback to call the play so he can take off from the line. Slowly his eyes traveled away from them to the cheerleaders, to a specific cheerleader Riley Matthews. She was one of the nicest people Zac had ever met and she also somehow ended up being one of the most popular people he knew – outside of his brother that is. In all honestly, he was still waiting for his brother and Riley to get together, they’ve been walking around on eggshells around each other for years now and it was starting to drive him crazy.

The will-they-won’t-they game they have going needs to end one way or another before he graduates otherwise he’ll probably drop dead during the graduation ceremony from prolonged suspense.

He moved to sit in the first row, waving back at Riley when she spotted him. The other cheerleaders always wonder why Riley is always nice to me, even when Lucas isn’t around, for Zac was just a nerd who reads too much and always has his eyes on his Nintendo.

Truthfully, outside of Riley and Lucas, the only people Zac would really consider his friends were a girl named Dani Williams and Jon Turner, both of who he met through some book club his freshmen year.

By the time 6 PM came around, Zac had dropped Lucas off at home, got interrogated by the whole family on where it was that he was going and arrived to Maya’s house late. But that didn’t seem to matter because when he got there, Tom Johnson and the rest of them where there, walking in through the apartment entry way and heading upstairs. Rubbing a hand over his face, he put his car back into drive and started back towards home. He got half way there when his phone started to ring, a ringtone he set up for his friend Dani.

“Hey Dani, what’s up?”

There was a second before his friend replied, he could hear a smile in her voice. “Me and Jon were thinking of binging Game of Thrones, he just got HBO through Hulu and we were wondering if you wanted to join.”

He let out a chuckle, “You? Binging a show on a school night?”

He heard her scruff on the other side, “Shut up.” There was a pause, he could hear some sort of shuffling around on her side, “Anyways we were thinking of maybe… skipping.”

That wasn’t something he would have expected to come out of his friends mouth. He felt his phone vibrate against his ear, letting him know a text was coming in. “Skipping? Are we rebel nerds now?”

“Shut up,” she laughed, “Do you wanna come over or not?”

He didn’t even give it a second thought, he made the correct turn and started toward Dani’s house. When he arrived the first thing he did once he parked in front of his friend’s house was check his phone to see it was a text from Maya, apologizing for the change of plans. He stared at the text before deciding against replying and heading inside. He didn’t know what he could say to her really, it’s not like it was the first time and it definitely wouldn’t be the first.

The first time it happened when they started to be… something, the gang showed up unannounced, barging in through her front door as if it was their own. They were making out on her bed when they heard them, jumping apart. He ended up having to climb out of her bedroom window on the fire place and leave that way. It was the first real moment that Zac noticed that being with Maya wasn’t going to be something public. He’d be lying if he said that it didn’t sting.

After that moment, they had a few more close encounters. Once they were on the couch, just watching TV when they showed up, Maya said the excuse was that they were going over some homework – he’s not sure anyone believed that excuse but they accepted it.

They were just finishing up the first season of Game of Thrones when Zac’s phone started to ring, Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You playing at full blast. “Seriously Zac?” He shrugged, standing up and leaving the room. He didn’t even need to check the caller ID to know who it was.

“What’s up?” He peered into the living room to see Jon and Dani have started the show up again, making him roll his eyes. Of course they would.

At least he’s seen it before.

“Am I not good enough for a reply back?” Came the first thing that came out of her mouth. He let out a huff. “I said I was sorry Zac.”

“I know.” He moved away from the living room, further down the hall. “It’s fine, I’ve gotten used to it.” He heard her give a sigh on the other side as he leaned against wall.

“What do you want me to say?”

“Nothing?” He wasn’t sure why she was all of a sudden annoyed with him, he didn’t do anything wrong really.

She let out another sigh. He’s hardly had to hear it but he’s already annoyed with the sound. Zac didn’t want to admit it but this was something that was building slowly as time went on. Being someone’s secret wasn’t exactly fun, even if the person you were with meant a great deal to you. He knows how much Maya cares about her reputation and her gang and Zac just didn’t fit into that. Nerdy, book reader Zac.  Their school had a high archy and Zac was at the bottom well Maya, Maya was at the top – not exactly popular but she was known and people feared her.

After he couldn’t take the silence anymore he spoke again. “Look, I’m actually hanging with Jon and Dani,” he heard her scoff at the names, which made him roll his eyes, “I’ll talk to you later.” Because he wasn’t really sure what to say and Maya wasn’t exactly continuing the conversation.

“Zac – ” but before he could rest of whatever she was going to say he hung up the phone. He knows he was going to hear about that later, Maya didn’t exactly like to be ignored or cut off or anything of the sort. Truthfully, however, Zac didn’t care at the moment

He returned to his friends as they started the next season. They both turned to him asking who it was but he gave a shrug not replying. His friends were pretty good about not prying when he didn’t go into further detail right away.

Half way through the second season he texted his mom to let her know he was staying over at Jon’s for the night. Another good thing about being nerdy, book loving Zac Friar is that his parents never worried about him doing anything reckless or stupid and he could actually spend the night at someone’s house on a school night without his parents even questioning it.

As long as they’ve met the person.

The finished all seven seasons by Sunday, thanks to skipping classes on Friday. Throughout the weekend he’d Snapchat the weekend – videos of Dani acting like Khaleesi (”We’re both named Dani for a reason!” “Except her name isn’t short of Danielle.” “Shup up Zac!”) and Jon gasping and yelling at the TV at all the right moments –  and he may have peaked to see that Maya had seen his whole story. She didn’t try to reach out to him after he hung up, not that he was surprised.

When Monday came around Maya’s gang stopped him in the hall to give him their homework assignments for the coming days – the essays and big projects that could keep them from flunking out – but there was not much chat after. Maya gave him her assignments last like always, but didn’t stick around to tease him or anything like she normally would after he spent a weekend watching anything she considered dorky.

Zac was grabbing his books for his next class out of his locker on a Thursday afternoon when Dani appeared at his locker, flanked by Jon. “Maya’s been extra nasty this week.”

He looked at them, pushing up his glasses as his eyebrows raised, “Oh?”

“I thought since you did their,” she looked around, dropping her voice, “homework they were supposed to be nicer to us.” He shrugged, knowing full well that was never really the deal that was made when they forced him to start doing their assignments, just something they did out of respect? Kindness of their heart? He wasn’t really sure.

He ignored that, “How’s she been “extra nasty” this week?” Zac asked instead, closing his locker and heading down the hall.

“She’s like, personally going out of her way to make Dani’s life hell currently.” He raised an eyebrow at that, that didn’t exactly sound like something Maya would do. She liked to mess with people, sure, and she didn’t particularly like it when people questioned her but going out of her way to make Dani’s life hell just seemed... unusual.

“How so?”

“Spit balls, rats in my bag, any class we have together my chair disappears before I sit down, she’s constantly insulting me  –”

“You are easy in insult.” Dani glared, making him put up his hands.

“I’m not even sure what I did to deserve this, I purposely keep out of her way.” Dani stopped, eyes widening at whatever it was that she saw in front of her.

Zac followed her sight to see Maya and her gang at the end of the hall, leaning against the wall casually. He rolled his eyes. “She won’t do anything, come on. It’s the only way to English.”

“I’d rather be late.”

Without thinking, Zac put his arm around her shoulders and directed her down the hall. As they passed the gang, he felt their eyes on him and his friends but he didn’t dare look. He kept his head straight ahead until they passed. As they rounded the corner, he dropped his arm and looked behind him to see Maya staring after them, a glare on her face.

It honestly just confused him more.

By Friday, the no communications between Zac and Maya was broken. He was in his room, playing Pokemon Sun, when he heard a knock on his window. The knock was then followed quickly by a rapid beat of knuckles when he didn’t seem to get up fast enough. He looked over to see bright blue eyes staring back at him, filled with annoyance.

Pausing his game, he got up and walked over to the window, unlocking it and letting her in. “What’re you doing here?”

His reply was her lips against his. She pulled his roughly by the front of his shirt until he was her height and aggressively attacked his lips. She pulled back only when they needed air, the annoyance in her eyes only slightly dampening.

“I don’t like being ignored.”

“I did your homework?” She tilted her head, eyes narrowed. “Oh. Yeah.” He moved his hand up to make her let go of his shirt and move back to his bed to return to his game.

“Seriously Zac?” She moved closer to him, taking his Nintendo out of his hands. “Will you talk to me?”

“We don’t really talk,” was his reply, reaching to take his game back. She moved it out of his way. She gave him a look, one he could only read as confusion and hurt. He let out a sigh, “Well, we don’t Maya.” He sat up, leaning against his back rest.

“We talk.”

“Oh yeah?” He didn’t mean to sound as condescending as he did.

It seemed like all the fire behind her eyes depleted. She sighed, sitting down on the edge of his bed. She looked down at her lap, her hands intertwined on her lap. They were silent for a long while, all the time Zac knowing that he was wrong. They do talk, it’s how he knows anything about her  – that she loves art, that he dad walked out on her when she was four, that her mom works three jobs just to keep a roof over their head, that because of that her mom isn’t really in the picture a lot. He even knows about her first kiss, her first time, the first person she fell in love with. If they didn’t talk, he wouldn’t know any of that.

He moved over to her, taking her hands into his.

He brought her hands up to his lips, kissing them softly. The action made her give a small laugh. It sounded slightly forced but he’d take it.

“I’m sorry.” She let out a scuff.

“For what?”

“Ignoring you.”

She rolled her eyes, turning to look up at him. “You’re an idiot.” He shrugged. “I’m sorry too.”

He faked a gasp, placing a hand over his heart. “Did the infamous Maya Hart just... apologize?” She gave him a shove.

The sat in silence again, Maya leaning against him. Even with the apologies there was still a heavy weight on his heart and he knew that he was going to have to bring it up, even if it could break them completely. “Are we...” he trailed off, not sure what the right words would be. He licked his lips as he felt her shift beside him. “Are you ever not going to be ashamed of me?”

“What?” The question took her completely surprise, enough for it to show through her voice.

“Just... am I ever gonna be worth it to you? To go public? Or is it always gonna be your reputation first?” He gulped already regretting opening the flood gates.

She leaned away from him, making him instantly miss her warmth, staring at him with an expression he couldn’t quite read. He only glanced at her for a second before turning his eyes down to his floor, inspecting the details of the wood panels.

He could practically hear his clock tick as the seconds passed and not a single word came out of her mouth.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Eventually he let go of her hand and stood up, gulping again. “Forget it.” Taking the silence as all the answer that he needed. All of a sudden the annoyance and anger and pettiness he’s been feeling for the past month of whatever they were started to boil inside him again. He was crazy about this girl – in love even! – and she couldn’t even give him a straight answer.

“Zac – “

“I actually have some reading to do. AP English, you know.”

“Zac  – “

“I’ll talk to you Monday. I’ll have your guys essays done in the morning.”

He felt her eyes on him as he wondered around his room, collecting things he needed to do all the homework given to him over the week. “Zachary.” That made him stop, looking over at her. Her eyes held all the sadness she’d never say out loud. Those eyes gave even more of an answer then her silence.

He felt his heart drop.

“I’ll see you Monday Maya.”

She took that as her queue to leave. She got up off his bed and headed toward the window. She gave him one last fleeting look before she was down the fire escape and off to wherever she wanted to go next.

She took his heart with her.