Hello guys! Thanks so much for sticking to the story! I hope you enjoy this epilogue.

Thanks to Sandy for all her help!

There is a sequel of sorts in the work, but it takes place far enough in the future that I thought it was better to just let it be its own thing.

Enjoy.

Walk Me Home

Epilogue: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life, Part 2

Three years later, Spring of Senior Year

The break up shook the foundations of Abigail Adam's High.

For the last three years, Lucas and Maya had been a couple, a pair, always together cheering each other on. They still argued and bickered but it was done without malice; it was just their way. But it was easy to see that there also was an inherent gentleness to the way they treated each other.

Maya learned the things that made her truly happy: walking home with Lucas after school, studying together at Topanga's, reading comics in the Park on Saturday mornings after having pancakes for breakfast, chili night at his place, pizza at hers, and even game night at Riley's.

As the months and years piled on, Maya always said dating Lucas was easy. He showed up when he said he would, he was always happy to see her and if he said he would do something, he did. Plus, he understood all the things that made relationships scary for her.

When Maya freaked out because Katy and Shawn broke up, Lucas talked her off the ledge and got her to talk to her mom about it. When Lucas' own parents went through a rocky patch, he said clearly: "It's about them, not us."

In the end, Shawn took a job as editor for a photo-journal newspaper in the city, and he and Katy gave it another, more successful shot. Mr. and Mrs. Friar did counseling for a while and got back on track. Eventually Mr. F encouraged Mrs. F to go back to college for the Master's degree she had put on hold first to have Lucas and then because of the move to New York.

And all was happy in the realm again.

So, everyone was shocked when they broke up that spring. Sure, they had broken up once before – late in sophomore year when a few adults in their lives (mostly Lucas' coach and Maya's student counselor) began to harp on them on how they were too young to get too serious, and wondered if maybe they should see other people.

So they decided to break up to see what was out there.

It lasted all of 45 minutes while Lucas was in P.E. and Maya in English.

"So," Maya said when they met in the hallway afterward. "I saw other people in English."

"Me too," Lucas pointed in the general direction of the gym. "I didn't care for it."

"Me neither!" Maya smiled.

"Chimichangas for lunch?"

"You know it." She agreed, tiptoeing to kiss him before going to her next class.

.

That was not what happened the spring of senior year.

When the college acceptance letters arrived at the beginning of the second semester, there was the usual freak-out amongst seniors about who got where and what their options where. Farkle had gotten into every school he'd applied to, and he was leaning toward Columbia or Princeton - even if it meant breaking up with Smackle who was packing up to go to Oxford in the fall.

Riley had been set on NYU since the eighth grade so that part was easy. She wasn't even torn up about the fact that her current boyfriend was going to school out of state.

"Boyfriends come and go," she said. "It was fun while it lasted." Which pretty much had been her whole attitude about dating in high school. She had plenty to keep herself busy with cheerleading and becoming the first junior to be Student Body president and to repeat as a senior, so boyfriends were nice but not top priority for her.

Maya was considering a few art schools, but it all came down to how much financial aid she could get. In the end, staying in the city made the most sense and she said yes to NYU's Art Program, even applying to room with Riley.

Lucas, though, just couldn't make up his mind. He had gotten into every school he'd applied to – jock with good grades and just the right amount of padding from student government and volunteering? Of course he got in everywhere -which was exactly his problem.

Or, as Maya had said, "Oh, please. Cry me a river."

They were sitting in his room, his acceptance letters spread over the bed.

"Maya, this is serious!" he said. "How am I supposed to decide?"

"Think of the reasons why you applied in the first place and rank them?"

"That's all you're gonna say? You don't have any preference?"

"Lucas, it's your future, your decision. We'll deal with whatever you choose, even if it's 1000 miles away." Maya said, picking the letter from the University of Texas-Austin from the bunch.

"So you'd be okay with me going to school across the country?" He said, a little more heatedly than he meant to.

"If it's what you wanted. Sure."

"So we'd date long-distance?"

"If that's what you wanted."

"That's an enthusiastic response."

"You know what I mean,"

"No, I don't."

"Yes you do. I mean that I want you to have whatever you want. Just as I'm sure you want the same for me. If there are adjustments to be made, we'll figure it out. But I'm not going to be a factor in this decision, babe."

"You're a factor in all of my decisions."

"This one is all on you, Sundance."

Lucas hadn't appreciated the talk, and as the days passed and they got closer to signing day, Maya decided that Lucas needed a push. So she pushed him… to the shock of the entire school.

"What do you mean we're 'on a break'?"

"We are, until you make a choice."

"Maya."

"Lucas."

"I really don't need this right now," Lucas complained.

"Whatever's going to happen, Lucas, we need to know what it is to make plans. We can't make plans if you don't make up your mind. So, on a break we are."

.0.

"Lucas is really mad," Riley told Maya a few days later when they were doing homework together.

"Tough."

"Did you really need to break up with him just now? Dude has a lot on his plate."

"We didn't break up. We're on a break. There's a difference."

"Not from where he's standing."

"Riles, I love the guy. I want him to make the best choice for himself. If that's here or back in Texas, we'll deal with it but it has to be what he wants. He's always encouraged me to pick the best option for myself. Now it's his turn."

"I get that." Riley agreed. "But you look sad too."

"I don't like not being with him. And I don't like the idea of him going back to Texas but-"

"Do you think he wants to go back to Austin?"

"I don't know what he wants exactly. But I know his dad and Pappy Joe are Longhorn fanatics and want him to go there. And Lucas would rather ride a bull than let either of them down. He's a pushover with the people he loves. It's one of the reasons why I love him."

Riley looked at Maya sadly. "I hope he comes to his senses soon." She paused and added in a lighter tone: "Everyone in our class is panicking. You guys were a shoe-in for prom king and queen; now they're scrambling to find another couple."

Maya laughed, but only a little. She missed her cowboy.

-0-

Lucas calmed down eventually. With two days left for final decisions, Zay and Farkle sat him down.

"We are going to fix this. And we are going to fix it now." Farkle said, grabbing all of Lucas' acceptance letters.

"How?" Lucas asked while Zay shoved him into his desk chair and turned him toward the window.

"Farkle and I analyzed all the relevant information about the schools you applied to, including course catalogues, campus life and prestige."

"We are going to read them to you, leaving out which is which and where they are so you can make a truly informed and impartial decision."

"How do I know you aren't biased?"

"Smackle checked them. She says they are impartial." Farkle said, mentioning his on-again-off-again girlfriend of the last four years. They had finally called it quits last week since Smackle was leaving for England upon graduation and saw no point in prolonging the inevitable.

.

For the next six hours they went back and forth, not letting up until Lucas came to a decision. He wavered between two schools, but in the end the prestige of the law school of one of the options won him over.

"How did you know to include law schools?" Lucas asked the guys as they left.

"Maya told us to." Farkle said, too tired to remember Maya told him not to say anything.

"She said you weren't as sure as you liked to think you were about being a horsey-doctor." Zay added.

"Maya?" He said, feeling a happy glow. She did care. Based on the conversation he had overheard in Topanga's between her and Riley, she actually cared a whole heck of a lot.

"Maya." Farkle confirmed.

"Well, I guess I just need to tell my parents now."

"And put your letter in the mail." Zay reminded him.

"Don't forget my party tomorrow." Farkle added.

-000-

The next day, Lucas arrived a little late to Farkle's signing day party – everyone was wearing the t-shirt or sweatshirt of the school they were attending in the fall – he had put off having The Talk with his parents to the last second but he needn't have worried.

His mom was supportive, his father was a little disappointed – his chosen school was okay at sports, but it still wasn't Longhorns – but agreed it was a great school and even walked with him to the post office to drop Lucas' acceptance of enrollment along with the tuition check.

By the time he got to Farkle's penthouse, the party was well on its way but all he wanted was to find Maya. But of course, Maya found him first.

"Nice shirt." She said, leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen.

"I thought you would like it." Lucas smiled. "I like yours too."

Maya looked down to her pink NYU shirt. "Riley was in charge of buying them."

"Can we make out now?" Lucas asked suddenly. He had made a choice, she was there and he was SO ready for their 'break' to be over.

"God, yes!" Maya said, jumping him.

-0-0-

Much later that night, when most of the guests had left, Zay, Farkle, Riley, Lucas and Maya wound up in the terrace of Farkle's apartment, sitting around a space heater and just talking.

Riley, Zay and Farkle told Maya and Lucas about the big Dave-Sarah-Wyatt drama that had gone down earlier while the newly reunited couple was 'suspiciously' missing (they had resurfaced after about an hour looking rather disheveled); Lucas was sitting on a lounge chair, with Maya between his legs, his arms around her and everything was all right in his world.

Then they moved to assignments, movies, the meaning of life and nothing at all. They sat out there all night, eating leftovers and drinking coffee, trying to make the night last as much as they possibly could.

"We should commemorate this moment for posterity!" Farkle said around 5:30 a.m. He was a little drunk due to lack of sleep and the small bottle of tequila they had found during a kitchen run at 3 a.m. They had been passing the bottle between them during an intense game of never have I ever.

"You're right!" Riley said enthusiastically, getting up to set her camera on a table before running to sit between Farkle and Zay before the timer ran out, while Lucas and Maya leaned into the frame.

Behind them, the sun was rising over the river and bathing them in golden light. There was nothing but bright things ahead.

The End.