A/N: This is the last chapter. Holy cow, finally. Hopefully the start of some of the other stories I have in my pocket will follow in not too much time. Well, thanks for reading this one, as long as it has taken me to finish it up. Enjoy! R&R! Thanks! ~Mac

Disclaimer: I don't own GMW.

Seven

Maya is in a bit of a daze when she returns to her dorm later that evening (she's got a dreamy smile on her face she knows she has no chance of wiping away. It's going to make what just happened between her and Lucas ridiculously obvious and Kendal is going to see through it five minutes before Maya even walks in the room, that's how strongly she's sure it's radiating off of her, but that's fine, that's perfectly okay. It's time for Kendall to know the truth anyway, now that Maya knows what this all is herself. And boy, did Lucas make it obvious to her what he felt about it all. That's all she'll say about that). She knows on some level that her feet are leading her the right direction, but she can't really say how she crossed the distance between Lucas's dorm and her own. It's all kind of blurry because most of her mental energy is focused on playing through the past few hours over and over again (she's not sure if there's a limit to how many times a person can cycle through the same memory, but she's certainly not going to stop anytime soon. It's not something she's ever going to forget). She can still feel Lucas all over her, so heavily that it's almost like he's still wrapped around her. She doesn't want to lose that feeling (at least, not unlike she has something even better to replace it with, if that's even possible). There's something delicious about being able to savor it so thoroughly without any outside interruption or distraction, even if it runs the risk of stumbling off the sidewalk or running into a wall. There are so many explanations awaiting her once she walks through her door into her dorm, reality is waiting patiently for her return, and until that exact second she is going to enjoy the last of her privacy on the matter.

All things come to an end.

Maya hesitates outside her dorm room door, which she somehow managed to arrive at without any clumsy incidents. She's certain that Kendall is on the other side of this door and she has yet to figure out how to describe was happening. And even if Kendall isn't there, and is off and her own indescribable escapades, there's still Riley and Farkle and a dozen other people that probably need to hear the things she's still not sure how to say. But if this little experiment of theirs has given her anything (besides Lucas, of course, she's not going to forget about that one, singular, amazing and beyond unexpected result) it is the permission to be brave enough to be exactly who she is and to have exactly what she wants. So, with only one last deep breath, Maya throws open the door and steps inside.

Kendall is casually curled up on her bed with unopened and ignored textbooks spread out before her when Maya enters. Her roommate palms her phone, which had been the sole focus of her attention before Maya's arrival, and sets it aside. All this is done with a wide grin entirely for Maya's benefit. She should feel appropriately nervous being the center of Kendall's attention, and maybe she does, but it's buried under the impenetrable layer of overwhelming contentment and joy she's still reeling from (if she didn't feel so damn good, she would be scared. A smile that mischievous only spells trouble, especially from a girl like Kendall).

"Hello," Maya says. All of her movements are slowed to a crawl as she tentatively anticipates what is coming next. She can feel it looming, the unknown, as she comes further into her room and puts aside her keys and her other things.

"Well, well, well, Maya Papaya, don't you look happy as a pig in slop," Kendall says as she slides into a more upright position to keep Maya in her sights.

Maya laughs despite herself, even though the intensity of Kendall's studying gaze makes her just the slightest bit nervous (and by slight, she meant excessively, but she's trying to be tough). "What do you know about pigs or slop?"

"Not a darn thing," Kendall admits. "Maybe your Cowboy would be able to clue us in. I take it from the smile on your face, the two of you have been getting to know each other very well. Looks like you've grown quite close. Haven't you?"

"About that…" Maya trails off as she makes the decision to be one hundred percent honest (because, what use will it be to finally be with Lucas completely as themselves if they can't be that in front of their new friends?). "The thing about Lucas is…"

"You've known him since middle school, he's basically your best friend already, and you've been putting on this elaborate ruse all this time?" Kendall hooks an eyebrow upward.

Maya is stunned silent. Her mouth wobbles like a fish a few times as she tries to find words to no avail (of all the crazy things that have left Kendall's mouth in the time she's known her, nothing has shocked Maya the way this simple statement of truth has).

"Is that the thing about Lucas that you were going to tell me? Or was that still supposed to be a secret?" Kendall continues. "Maybe there is something else you wanted to share with me?"

Maya blinks. "How?"

Kendall rolls her eyes with her usual dramatic flair. "Maya, Maya, Maya, my dear. Give me a little credit. I know these things—"

"Oh ho ho, no you don't," Maya shakes her head and waves her hands out in front of her. "That's not something you can just pluck out of thin air with your alleged freaky romantic intuition. Spill it. How did you know?"

"Your eyebrow has gone a little twitchy so I can tell you're getting annoyed with me, so in my defense, I didn't know that first night or even when I set you up at the coffee shop—I mean, I would have still done those things even if I had known, but, to be clear, my intentions were good and entirely the innocent actions of a girl looking out for her stubborn roommate's best interests—"

"Kendall."

"Right," Kendall says, a sheepish smile forming effortlessly. "My point, I had one. Remember when my laptop crapped out right in the middle of that critical thinking essay and you let me borrow yours?"

Maya's eyes widen. "You snooped on my laptop?"

"Hey, you know me. You left that door wide open and unguarded when you agreed to let me use it. You can't be mad at me without accepting your share of the responsibility," Kendall holds up a singled pointed finger and Maya sighs with a roll of her eyes. "It should have been expected and you should have known better. That's all I'm saying. Anyway. I took a break from my essay to go through your pictures and geez, Hart, he is all over your history. Like, just everywhere. It wasn't hard to put two and two together after that. Also, thinking back, that first night should have been a dead giveaway, because if I could get a stranger to look at me the way Lucas did at that party, my life would be five thousand percent set. Like walk me down the aisle and say I do set. Soulmate status. Locked down."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Maya asks.

"Why didn't you?" Kendall counters.

"I don't know," Maya blows out a huff of air and moves to flop down on the edge of her bed. Kendall shifts to drop her legs over the side of her bed so she's right across from Maya as she starts to explain. "It was like we hit a reset button I never knew I wanted to hit. It was like I finally understood why people get so obsessed with going back to their pasts in those time travel movies, when I never did before. I always thought I had no regrets. Only it turned out I did and didn't know it until you presented me with an opportunity to fix them. I got to change things, you know, without the complication of undoing everything we had already been through. I couldn't let go of that—at least not until I saw where it could lead."

"That's a good answer," Kendall says, wiping away an imaginary tear. "Really romantic. Now. The real question is: how did you possibly make it all these years without jumping Lucas before this? This sounds like a joke, but I'm being beyond serious, honest. I saw middle school Lucas, and, I mean, for like a thirteen year old he was pretty much the same delicious specimen. How the hell did you resist? If I was you, and had an affinity for nice, homegrown cowboys with faces like a Greek god and bodies that made literal drool leave girls' mouths, I would have caved in a hot second."

"That is wildly inappropriate," Maya blinks at her and shakes her head in disbelief even as she can't help the breathy laugh that leaves her. "You do hear the things that come out of your mouth, don't you?"

Kendall scrunches up her face, thinking, "Mostly." She holds up a pinched thumb and forefinger. "About sixty three percent."

"How do you even come up with that number?"

Maybe one day Maya will explain all the drama of middle school and the early years of high school, all about Riley, all the obstacles Maya never knew were obstacles, but not today. Today she's going to hold on to what she has now. There's nothing left to regret, nothing she needs to change or take back. There's only one direction she needs to go now and it's forward. It's time to see what the future has to teach her, but first there's this.

"So," Kendall says when their laughter over her clear eccentricities (that Maya realizes she's come to appreciate) subsides. "Care to tell me exactly what happened with Lucas just now? Play to your audience. Spare no gritty detail. I want to hear it all."

Maya smirks. "Why should I have to tell you? I thought you knew these things?"

(A girl has to have some secrets after all. This one is for her, she thinks).

…

(before)

"I think your bed is more comfortable than mine," Maya says as she curls in closer to Lucas's side, her body half flung over his as they cuddle beneath his blankets.

"Funny, since not that much of you is actually on my bed at the moment," Lucas replies.

"You complainin'?" Maya gently nips at his shoulder which happens to be advantageously located for her access. She nuzzles her face in closer to his neck and nips at the skin over his rapid pulse there too.

"Nope," Lucas says and the groan that punctuates his answer rumbles through her whole body as they are so intimately pressed together.

"Good," Maya grazes his skin with her teeth once more before she soothes the spot with soft open mouth kisses.

Lucas's hands tighten on her hips and he drags her over so she lays full atop him, legs on either side of his. Before she can protest the change in position, he's pulling her down to crush his lips against hers in a bruising, urgent kiss. She loses track of everything else as every atom of her focuses in on the meeting of their lips and tongues (they've settled easy into the rhythmic cycle of rest and physical affection. They've given new meaning to "can't keep their hands off of each other." Eventually, she will have to excavate herself from his arms, and his bed, and his room, and return to her own dorm for the night, but she would be dishonest if she were to say she didn't want to live right in this spot. How they had gone so long without this aspect of their relationship confounds her. She'll never be able to look at him again without wanting to be doing this and more, so much more, all of it). When she pulls away, she is breathless, dizzy and dreamy. She sits up, still astride him, just to put enough space between them to catch her breath. If she stays in reach of his lips, she'll only kiss him again until her lungs give out on her.

Lucas's fingers massage her hops, gently kneading, as if he's aching to bring her closer again. The same ache is in his eyes as he looks up at her. She's sure the same is reflected in her eyes and every move she makes (and people think they have nothing in common). For all the ways they are different they are the same in this one vital instance.

Maya smiles down at him. "Do you remember the yearbook?"

Of all the yearbooks they've collected over the years, she can really only mean one and it only takes a second for recognition to reach his eyes. He nods, short and brief, waiting for her to share what had brought that to her mind. She shrugs on shoulder to her cheek and takes a moment to really study Lucas's face.

"They saw this before we did," Maya says, "Even when we were so different."

"What was it they said about us?" Lucas asks. He looks at her expectantly and she can tell he already knows the answer himself. He just wants to hear her say it.

"Fi-yah!" Maya answers, complete with the appropriate hand gestures.

"They were right about us. About all of it. There was a spark between us that ignited long before we acknowledged it. And a lot of things have tried to put it out," Lucas says. He leans up to bring them face to face again. "I'm just glad nothing managed to."

Maya kisses him light and quick. "Me too."

Lucas runs his hands up her back, along her neck and up into her hair. He draws her into another deeper kiss. It's only been a moment since she agreed with him, but it's not until this second that she genuinely believes it, because this feeling is like a fire that has threatened to consume her since the first time they kissed. She can feel that passionate burning from her fingers to her toes. He sets her ablaze with a single touch and she has to believe she does the same to him. She has never experienced an attraction, a desire, a longing, so vibrant and intense, like this with anyone else before. She can't imagine anyone but Lucas could ever inspire such an all-encompassing sensation within her (and, honestly, that's a theory she doesn't need to test). The match has been struck and nothing stands a chance against it.

Farkle could expound on the components of the chemical reaction that creates fire and why it is an apt metaphor for an experience that has brought heat and light into their lives, but Maya is not Farkle and she has an entirely different chemical reaction in mind, that require far more hands on knowledge (and, so far, this is an experiment she will not hesitate to repeat over and over, and over again for good measure just to be extra certain that the results are replicable). Riley would find some way to make this sound like some dreamy, romantic fairytale, and while Maya is all for the storybook ending, she knows this is grounded deeply in reality (she knows, because it's something she feels in every nerve and cell that makes her up. It flows through her veins and warms her from the inside out. And maybe that's a little flowery and romantic when it's put into words, but it's more organic than it is fictitious). Kendall will just want to force all the little, intimate details out of a resistant Maya, and will likely succeed for reasons that are a mystery to her (she imagines a cartoon schoolyard bully version of Kendall picking up an exaggeratedly tiny Maya by her toes and hanging her upside down until all her secrets and lunch money spill out of her pockets). Clearly, right or wrong, there are a million ways the people in their lives are going to see this thing between them, but, at least for a little while longer, this is just between them.

"So, Huckleberry," Maya says, her hands stroking up and down his shoulders, once they come up for air again.

"Yes, Maya?" Lucas meets her eyes and holds her gaze.

Maya smiles. "What do we do now?"

…

-fin-