Zay was confused

Not that this was a very unusual occurence

But he was pretty sure Lucas had said the girl he had a crush on was Riley. So why had he just spent the last hour telling him in great detail how somebody names Maya had spent all of Sunday baking muffins with him for a school project ?

And how they had gotten into a food fight and he ended up with raw eggs in his hair and flour in places flour should not be. She had ended up with her entire body doused in flour after he'd promptly dumped the entire thing on her head.

That had spiraled into Lucas telling him how damn cute she looked with her teasingly furious grey eyes glaring at him and flour in her hair.

But….didn't Lucas tell him Riley's eyes were brown ?

"So Farkle mad me fire Riley and Maya, but before I could even get to Maya she quit because she wouldn't work without Riley. I swear she's the most loyal person I know. Then -" Zay had to cut Lucas off mid story because what.

"I thought Riley was the one you were into, and Maya was he feisty best friend who thinks you're some type of hillbilly." Lucas's reply was instant "Yeah, that's right. Why ?"

"Well dude you've been talking about Maya non stop since we started talking an hour ago"Zay could almost see his friend's confused and slightly defensive expression

"Well yeah. But that's only because I was telling you about the project and she was my partner. But that doesn't change my feelings for Riley, and that definitely doesn't mean I like Maya. " Lucas let out a slight scoff, as if the idea of him liking Maya was unbelievable

"mhm" Zay hummed rolling his eyes but not bothering to mention the fact that this wasn't the first time Lucas had spent an unusual amount of time talking about the blonde.

His first day there he'd called Zay after school and told him all about the cute blonde that he had a 10 second relationship with, then had proceeded to try and burn the school down.

Zay hadn't even found out who Riley was until almost two hours into the conversation.

Not to mention the way he talked about Riley and the way he talked about Maya were two very different things.

When explaining Riley in a story or just in general words like goofy, dorky, pretty, and passionate arose.

When explaining Maya words like, guarded, beautiful, unique,mesmerizing tended to come up.

Ok, so maybe he hadn't used that last one, but that was certainly the vibe Zay was was getting from his friend.

"Sorry to break it to you dude, but as your best friend I'm obligated to tell you, you've definitely got a thing for this blonde beauty as you call her." Zay looked at his shaggy haired friends face through his computer screen as they skyped.

"Shut up. Maya and I are barely friends, let alone a couple" Lucas glared at him

"But I bet you wouldn't mind if you were" Zay raised an eyebrow

"Dick." Was Lucas's short but snarky reply

Zay just chuckled and rolled his eyes at his fucking oblivious best friend.

Once again Zay was confused.

But this time he was confused because he was wondering how everyone else could be so stupid.

He'd been in New York less than a week, and seeing all the people Lucas had been describing im great detail the past year had been a fun experience.

But come on

Riley was supposed to be the one Lucas was into right ? Then why was he having a, admittedly fun, conversation with her and the weird one, Farkle, about one of his favorite shows the entire lunch period while Lucas and Maya had a competition to see who could build the biggest tower out of this slop called lunch.

It had been something of a similar situation the entire day, but when they finally left school Lucas had awkwardly grabbed Riley's hand as they went out on their first official "date"

come on

"So...you're sure Riley's the one you're into ?"

"Yes! Why do we keep having this conversation Zay !" Lucas groaned as he helped Zay unpack his boxes after his and Riley's "date"

"Because you keep giving me the same bullcrap answer!" Zay rolled his eyes throwing his clothes into random drawers without folding them.

"I thought you being here would make you see how wrong you are ! How could you possibly think there's something between me and Maya !" Lucas sighed as he tacked a picture of him and Zay on a horse ride when they were eight to a bulletin board full of similar pictures.

"Because there is something between you and Maya. But apparently I'm the only person in this city observant enough to see that!" Zay groaned from exhaustion flopping down onto his unmade bed.

He had been working for a full fifteen minutes now.

"Riley is my girlfriend !" Lucas let out a breathless chuckle at his friends antics

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that buddy" Zay mumbled into his pillow

He wasn't really surprised when he felt one of his throw pillows being launched at the back of his head

Zay rolled his eyes again when he heard both Maya and Lucas's booming laughter from the other side of Topanga's.

What the hell was so funny anyway ?

Not for the first time he mildly wondered if everyone else simply ignored the spark between the two, fueled day in and day out by their constant heavy flirting, or if everyone was really this god damn oblivious.

I mean….come on

There was a line.

It wasn't discussed, it wasn't drawn. But it was there.

There was a line between being really close friends, and being a couple.

Maya and Lucas crossed that line so much he didn't understand why the hell they didn't just stay on the other side.

I mean...Come. on

They were sitting on the long couch together, and despite there being plenty of room for them both to have space, they were practically glued together.

Laughing while playing some game on Lucas's phone, legs and sides pressed tight together, though he gathered it had gotten hard to sit that close and play the game because at some point Lucas's arm had wrapped around her waist. Bringing back against his chest slightly as he draped his arm around her waist and under her elbow, his hands still holding the phone.

They were in their own little world as they giggled and made mocking quips at each other depending on who had won the most recent round of whatever they were playing.

It was actually kinda cute if he could stop himself from mentally gagging for a second. Lucas had his chin resting on Maya's shoulder, occasionally nuzzling his face into her neck to conceal a newfound fit of laughter. Maya had taken hold of the phone, but instead of releasing her Lucas simply wrapped his arm fully around her waist, latching on to the hip connected to his and softly stroking the slip of skin revealed.

He wouldn't have minded if they would just shut the hell up. He and Farkle were trying to have a conversation but were constantly turning to glare at the two as they let of bellows of laughter.

What the hell was so funny!

He didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse when the Matthews clan started piling in, led by an overly excited Auggie. As if put under a spell the couple stiffened, then immediately retracted from each other, leaving a Auggie sized gap between them just as Riley came bouncing in.

Though he was still with the ending of their constant chirping and giggling, Zay still let out a groan because not the bullshit again.

How the hell had this not come to an end already ?

The constant complimenting and jealousy and awkwardness was driving him insane. Especially when it was so damn obvious who Lucas was gonna pick.

Taking out his phone he shot a text to his royally screwed friend.

To: Freak

So…..are we still gonna pretend that there's any chance you're picking Riley. Because it's getting old.

Lucas glanced at the text before shooting Zay a heated glare and fiercely typing.

To:Flatbut

I do like Riley ! I still haven't decided. Shut up.

Zay groaned and rolled his eyes because

Come on

Two more weeks until the ski lodge. Lucas swore he would decide and tell them by the time they got back.

He saw Riley take a seat on the other side of Lucas, the three of them seated on the couch looking like the perfect little love triangle.

Lucas subtly scooted closer to Maya, in an effort to help Riley fit on the small couch he's sure. Lucas's pinky finger just barely grazed Maya's thigh before oh-so-subtly intertwining with hers.

Zay rolled his eyes and inwardly groaned as Maya's face became beet red but she didn't pull her hand away.

Come. On

"Hey Lucas, do you think you could set me up on a date with Riley, I know she's one of your best friends and she's all sweet and innocent, I promise I do generally like her." Jacob Stradoff, third basemen on Lucas and Zay's jv baseball team stood nervously in front of Lucas as the boy tied up his shoes.

Zay watched in amusement as Lucas slowly raised his head to look at Jacob, eyebrows raising in astonishment at the request.

"uh, is this a joke or something ? Because it's not very funny ? Kinda dumb actually." Zay had to hand it to him, Lucas was getting a lot better keeping his anger in check and letting small things slide.

"What? N-no ! I'm being serious. She's in my bio class and we were partners on this thing a few weeks ago, I started having feelings for her but I never asked her out. We still talk casually though, and I just thought you could talk to her ? See how she felt. Put in a good word for me ?" Jacob looked sincere and truthful as he stared down at Lucas in his slightly crouched position from when he was tying his shoes.

"So…..you want me to ask my girlfriend. ….if she wants to go on a date with you?" Zay held back a chuckle as Lucas's head querked and his eyebrows scrunched together, not even upset just generally confused.

Zay couldn't contain his laughter as Jacob's eyes almost bugged out of their sockets at the statement.

"Y-you-your what!?"

"Riley Matthews ? Short brown hair, super quirky, always smiling, Mr . Matthews daughter ? We're dating. Have been for months." Lucas said it slowly, as if Jacob was a child who couldn't retain information correctly.

Jacob's faced burst into that of a bright red cherry, Zay's laughter doing nothing to help his situation.

"B-but what about Maya ?" He stumbled out

"What about Maya?" Lucas finally straitened from his crouching position, coming up a few inches taller than Jacob, who took a few steps backward.

Zay was almost in tears

This was too good

"I thought she was your girlfriend !"

"Why would you think Maya was my girlfriend! I've been with Riley for almost five months !"

"Seriously ? Everyone thinks you're with Maya ! You're always around her, and you guys are always flirting, and she's the one who comes to your games ! Not Riley. We all just assumed" Jacob seemed both equally shocked at terrified because Holy shit, did he just hit on Lucas Friar's girlfriend, to Lucas Friar !

"Wait, what! !"

Riley isn't into PDA. Not even a peck on the lips or holding hands. It makes her feel uncomfortable, which he understand and is fine with. But he assumed some people knew they were together.

It had been five months.

It was true Maya was always the one at his games, she loved baseball amd Riley didn't really care for it.

But to find out everyone thought Lucas and Maya were dating !

"Dude, I'm so sorry. I had no idea, I swear!" Jacob was so shocked he couldn't even run away in fear

"But everyone thinks you and Maya are together. Just so you know" Jacob visually relaxed when he realized Lucas wasn't gonna kill him. Though he had yet to say anything.

Lucas turned to Zay, who simply raised an eyebrow in a told ya ! Stance.

He still couldn't believe Lucas had picked Riley

I mean..Come on

Lucas, still in a slight daze, simply walked out of the locker room towards the field to start the warm up before their game

Jacob turned towards Zay still confused.

Lucas and Maya weren't dating. Were they aware that everyone in school thought they were meant to be ?

Zay shrugged and rolled his eyes, an exasperated expression playing on his face

The two boys just silently walked off to the field, Zay coming up beside Lucas as Jacob went off to his friends the words you'll never believe and they aren't even together floating from his lips before he even reached them.

Zay smirked and turned to give a snarky comment to Lucas but found the boy to be preoccupied peering up at the crowd.

It didn't take long for Zay to realize who he was looking for, catching her eyes he gave Lucas a nudge and nodded up in the direction she was sitting

He watched as Lucas's eyes locked with hers, a happy gleam beaming to life as his face broke out in a huge smile.

come on

Zay groaned tugging Lucas out of the trance as they continued their lap.

By the end of halftime the guys on the team had had enough time to get their phones and text their even more gossiping girlfriends about the scandal they had discovered

Though Lucas was too busy laughing with Maya near the food stands about something that appeared to be hilarious

So by the time the game ended, it had spread like wildfire that everyone's favorite freshman couple were not, and had never been, a couple.

So when the game ended 4-9, and Maya came zooming through the gates, barely even glancing at Zay as she ran passed him into Lucas's waiting arms, jumping on him as he spun her around and held her tight to his body, both of them laughing gleefully until he brought her down, he feet still hovering slightly about the ground as he buried his face in her neck, nuzzling her hair with his arms wrapped tight around her waist, Zay watched both this scene and the crowd of onlookers, watching curiously with scrunched eyebrows.

So...they weren't together ?

And when Lucas finally set her down, letting her take half a step back, his arms still tight around her and her hands still at the nape of his neck,their bodies still firmly pressed against each other, for once Zay wasn't the only one inwardly groaning because

COME ON.