#can we start getting au's where the pizza place went different and mike was never pushed off track

[whynotimtired]

Thinking about how there was like half a day where mike knew it was requited....

[totaltozier]

Just Another Day: Chapter 1 - Stranger Things/IT Richie& Mike Twins AU

Here it is! The Stranger Things/IT (2017) crossover you’ve all been waiting for! In this fic all of the events regarding the Upside Down and the Shadow Monster HAVE happened but everything involving Pennywise? Never did. (Pennywise? I don’t know her!). All of the losers club live in Hawkins with the rest of the party and most importantly, Mike and Richie are twins!

WORD COUNT: 1.5k

SUMMARY: Stranger Things/IT crossover in which Richie and Mike are twins, Mileven is real, and even though Hawkins Lab was shut down what lies beneath the Upside Down is still up to no good!

“Richie hurry up you’re going to be late for school and I am not driving you two again this morning, I swear!” Karen Wheeler shouted up the stairs towards the bedrooms of the house.

Richie came running down the stairs as he quickly threw his hoodie over his head.

“I’m not Richie, I’m Mike! Geez woman, and you call yourself our mother!” Richie called back. He often pretended to be his twin brother Mike, but thanks to Richie’s horrible eyesight and his need to wear glasses, Mrs. Wheeler often figured it out.

“Richie, we are not playing this game again today! Now hurry up, and get out that door!” His mother demanded.

“I’m goin’, I’m goin’!” Richie whined as he slipped into his running shoes and grabbed his backpack from the floor, slinging it over his shoulder. “See ya’ mom!” he called out before shuffling out the door.

“God, you take forever” Mike greeted his brother as he joined him outside. Mike was the organized twin. The one who was always on time, his shirt neatly ironed, and his lunch packed the night before. He had been on the porch for ten minutes waiting for his brother to join him so they could walk to the bus stop together as they always did in the morning. “And your sweater is hideous, go back to wearing those Hawaiian shirts.”

Richie laughed from beside him as they headed down the street. Richie pulled up his hoodie slightly while holding down the bright yellow and grey flowered shirt underneath. “What, you mean this old thing under here?” Mike rolled his eyes. “I’ll be dead before I stop wearing these!” Richie proclaimed.

“When you die can you take those light up sketchers with you too?” Mike chirped back causing Richie to nudge him with his shoulder.

The two boys approached the street corner where their bus picked up them up and Eddie was standing by the stop sign waiting for them like always.

“Morning Eds!” Richie greeted as he came to a stop next to the smaller boy, sliding his arm around Eddie’s shoulders.

“Don’t call me that!” Eddie responded and shrugged Richie off of him. “Good morning Mike.”

“Hey Eddie.” Mike replied.

The three boys chatted with each other in the few minutes before the bus pulled up to take them to school. Normally they would all ride their bikes together to school, but the other week Eddie had gotten a scrape on his thigh from toppling over his bike when he and Bill were racing around town so naturally his mother banned him from riding his bike for the next month until he got “better”. Out of solidarity, Richie and Mike offered to ride the bus with him each day until Eddie got his bike back.

Once inside the hallways of Hawkins High School, the three boys made their way through the crowded space and to their lockers before homeroom started.

“Morning losers!” Richie greeted the group of friends congregated in front of their lockers.

“God that sweater is ugly!” Max stated right off the bat.

“Yeah Richard, where the hell did you get that ugly thing?” Beverly added.

Richie looked down at his sweater before grabbing the bottom and pulling it off over his head. He tossed the bright blue and purple hoodie onto the top shelf inside his locker.

“Gee guys, I’m sensing this one wasn’t much of a crowd pleaser! Eds, why didn’t you say anything when I bought it?” Richie asked.

Eddie shrugged from beside him at his locker. “Dunno, I thought it was cool.”

Richie glanced at Eddie quickly and grinned. He quickly grabbed the books he needed for class and threw them into his bag.

The bell rang signalling the remaining three minute everyone had to get to their homeroom classes and everyone in the halls started to disperse. The group of friends spread out, muttering about how they’d see each other at lunch and headed off down different hallways. Richie and Mike were still walking with each other though. Being twins, they were always paired together in classes throughout middle school. Once they reached high school they thought they would finally be separated by their classes and have different schedules, but somehow, they were still stuck by one another for home room every morning, as well as a few other classes too.

“Did Eddie actually think your sweater was cool?” Mike asked as they climbed upstairs to the second floor of the school.

Richie shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess so.”

The two boys quickly took their seats in class as the final bell rang. Eleven and Stan were also in their homeroom too. Richie slid into the spot next to Stan and placed his backpack on the floor next to him. Across the room Mike was sat next to El, whispering something into her ear as she quietly giggled back.

Richie felt a weird feeling, one that was fuzzy in his chest. Similar to the feeling he had when El first came into their lives that dreary fall a few years ago. That feeling when he and Mike had to protect Eleven but he noticed her gravitating to his twin more than him. It was similar to the feeling he had when he saw Beverly cozying up to Ben when they were having their group movie nights. It was a weird feeling that he couldn’t quite explain.

Richie must have been zoned out for a while when Stand nudged his arm, pulling him out of his trance.

“Richie?” Stan said.

Richie shook his head, making his black curls bounce. “What Stan?”

“Did you finish your homework? Miss Williams is collecting them at the beginning of next period.” He whispered.

Richie quickly glanced at the clock, noting that there was only ten minutes until the end of homeroom but he hadn’t even started last night’s math homework. He was too busy watching the newest episode of The Walking Dead with Eddie, the two of them in his basement practically screaming of fright while hidden behind blankets.

“Shit Stan!” Richie mumbled and shook his head. “Can I copy yours?”

Stand rolled his eyes but slid his answers towards Richie. “One of these days I’m going to give you all the wrong answers, that’ll teach you a lesson.”

Richie was feverishly scribbling down numbers and symbols faster than he could think. “You’re the man, Stan!”

Richie had gotten away with the copied math homework and even talked his way through an English assignment too. Sure, he often procrastinated and forgot about deadlines, but Richie was actually smart and held a good grade average. Richie knew he had a way with words and liked to talk himself through situations, just because he could.

Richie made his way into the main cafeteria, scanning the rows of tables for his group of friends. Bill and Lucas were always the first ones to snag a place to sit, claiming all the seats for their friends. What caught his eye was actually Dustin’s classic red and blue hat, the same one he’s been wearing since seventh grade. Richie zig-zagged his way to the table and plopped himself down in between Eddie and Ben.

The whole group was talking amongst themselves, multiple conversations happening at once.

“What are we talking about?” Richie asked as he took a bite of the sandwich Mike made for him last night.

“Lucas was explaining the new game he got for his x-box last night. He got past level ten already!” Eddie explained.

Dustin chimed in from across the table. “We were talking about going over to his house after school to check it out!”

Richie nodded his head. “Awesome, sounds cool! Eds are you going?”

“Yep” Eddie answered and took a bite of his pizza which he bought from the cafeteria.

Lunch carried on like usual; the group discussing the movie they had all seen together last Friday. Richie was yelling at El over the thematic meaning of Channing Tatum’s character in the newest Kingsmen movie. Mike was trying to defend El, although he agreed with his twin, mostly just beeping Richie until he shut up.

Max was just about to stand up and tell the both of them to quit it when all of a sudden, the floor rumbled below them. The red-haired girl gripped the table in front of her, the rest of the group doing the same. Everything around them started to shake harder for five seconds before stopping as if it never happened.

“What the hell was that?” Dustin asked. The matching faces of confusion surrounding him signalled that no one knew the answer.

Suddenly the lights in the cafeteria blacked out, leaving only the light dim of sunlight stretching in from the windows above.

“What the fuck?” Richie and Mike said in unison.

Everyone looked around frantically in the dark, trying to make sense of what was happening. Before anyone else could speak their confusion, the fire alarm went off, beeping at the highest pitch possible, alerting the students to exit the building as fast as they could.

The group of friends quickly gathered their belongings, As Richie grabbed his backpack from the floor, he noticed as Mike grabbed El’s hand, gripping hers tightly in his as they started towards the exit. Richie looked over at Eddie, a look of panic and shock falling over his face.

And the fuzzy feeling was back in Richie’s chest.

Taglist:

@alwaysmebeforeyou @aburbules @88-shooting-stars @twostepsfromlou

[wantisamlindyla]

Your Ghost - Chapter 1

New York, 1999.

He wanted her to live again, even if she could only come back to him through the pages of a book. 

A/N: Hi all. I’ve been sitting on this for a while I finally decided to post the first chapter.  I have a rough outline but I don’t know how many chapters there are going to be, maybe 6? This is AU, Mileven, takes place 15 years after Eleven disappeared. Most of season 2 still happened, but there was no Mike/Eleven Reunion at the end of episode 8. Will eventually post on Ao3, but I dunno when I’m gonna get my invite to set up an account. Enjoy!

28 October 1999

 “Ladies and gentlemen thank you for coming here today. There will be a book signing of this amazing book after this session. Now, the reason for why we are all here today, and why some of you have been lining up outside the venue all night, is currently backstage, waiting patiently for me to stop nerding out and pull myself together to introduce him!

 After publishing his first novel and topping the New York bestseller’s list at only the age of 23, he is here tonight to talk about his newest novel, titled the Ides of Winter, and the third book in the world famous Montauk series. Everybody, please join me in welcoming to the stage, Michael Wheeler!”

***

It was one month and 17 days into the book tour. Mike had one more stop in New York before he could call it a day and go home.

He was so goddamned tired, he still had several book signings, an interview with the New Yorker (with that pretentious prig, Howell), a TV appearance on the Today Show, and, a few radio interviews, before he can escape back to the Lake house in Lovell, Maine which he now called home.

It’s not all bad news though. New York means seeing Will again for the first time since Christmas.

Not that Mike has completely lost all touch with his old friends, quite on the contrary.  

After graduating from a fine arts course at his brother’s alma mater, NYU, Will had decided to stay in the city. He’d eventually landed an unpaid internship at a small start up animation studio. Now Will split his time travelling back and forth from California to New York as the head character designer on a number of superhero animated cartoons that Mike watched religiously on Saturday mornings.

It wasn’t hard to stay in touch with Will, it was just that this last year had been manic. Mike had barely fit in time for sleep what with working frantically to get his novel finished, having to attend stressful and tense meetings with his editor, forcing himself to return his lawyers’ phone calls about a copyright infringement litigation his publishers had commenced on his behalf, and having to deal with ideas about for the short story anthology he had been working on springing up at the most inconvenient times.

He and Will still managed to talk every other day though, either by telephone or AIM.

Ever since Nancy and Jonathan officially became a couple around Christmas of ‘84, Jonathan and Will became regular dinner guests at the Wheeler residence. He and Will had become almost inseparable, more than anybody in the party.

During his parents’ divorce, which took place during Mike’s sophomore year of high school, with Nancy and Jonathan away at college, Mike spent more and more time at the Byers’ residence, trying to escape the tensions at home, right up until he left for college in ‘89.

At college, Mike made new friends, attended dumb keg parties, dated girls, but he never lost touch with Dustin, Will, Lucas, or Max.

You didn’t help save the end of the world with your friends, twice, and then drift away from them over trivial things like distance and attending different colleges.

In fact, Mike had just met up with Dustin only a few months ago. Dustin had been in Maine for some reason connected with his annoyingly mysterious job.

After Dustin had graduated from MIT he had immediately been recruited by a secretive tech company in California. Dustin couldn’t talk about where he worked or what he did at his job. Whenever people asked him where he worked he’d tell them Cyberdyne Systems with a straight face.

He and Dustin had attended the Phantom Menace premiere together with Dustin’s then-girlfriend, Cindy. The boys had left the movie theatre deflated and heartsore while Cindy had tried valiantly to console them by saying all the wrong things.

Dustin called Mike a few weeks later to inform him that he and Cindy were no longer going out.

“I had to dump her Mike, she said she thought Jar Jar Binks was cute. Also she refused to share her food with me when we went out.”

“So?”

 “So? So? It’s weird. We go out for Italian and I end up having to eat an entire Pepperoni pizza on my own, which I don’t really mind, but then her ravioli looks good too, but she won’t let me have any because she likes us to have our own meals. And don’t even get me started on that time I took her to Wang’s Treasure Palace.” 

Besides those occasional and surprising visits during the year there was always Christmas and New Years at Lucas and Max’s place to look forward to.

Of all of them only Lucas and Max had opted to return to Hawkins. Lucas quit his mechanical engineering job and got a position as an assistant professor, teaching at the community college only after a few years in Chicago. Max got a job as a mechanic at a garage. They bought a house, got married, and got busy starting a family.

Mike smiled at the memory of last year’s Christmas.

He’d practically lived at Lucas and Max’s house the whole time he was there since the picture perfect Wheeler family Christmases that his mom had worked so hard to create during his childhood was now only a distant memory.

Nancy preferred to spend her Christmases in New York with Jonathan and Mrs Byers. The Wheeler home had been sold a few years ago when Holly had left to go to college. Holly preferred to spend her holidays in Chicago with her boyfriend’s family.

His mom was away on another cruise, and, his dad was busy with wife number two.

So, Mike spent his Christmas and News Years at the Sinclairs. He’d taught their three-year-old son, Robbie, how to build a snowman. He conducted a twelve-hour D & D Campaign, pelted Dustin with snowballs, watched a pregnant Max eat all the ice-cream and listened to her complain about how gassy pregnancy made her, watched a star wars marathon and gorged on pizza on Christmas day (just because Max was the only girl in the party did not mean that she would be cooking and cleaning for four man-child wastoids who liked to mooch off her and Lucas).  

Mike considered a detour to Hawkins for a visit after New York so he could meet the newest addition to the Sinclair family, baby Grace, who was about to turn 6 months old. He decided to bring it up with Will tonight at dinner.

Mike pulled himself back to the present and to the interviewer who was introducing him to her broadcast audience.  

“You’re listening to Terry Gross on Fresh Air. Joining us today is Michael Wheeler, author of the best selling book series, Montauk. The series is set in the 60s, in the small town of Montauk in upstate New York, the town is haunted by the misdeeds of its occupants.

The main protagonist is Millie, a brave young girl, with a few secrets of her own.

When Millie’s best friend, Noah, goes missing in mysterious and sinister circumstances, she sets out on a journey into the woods near the town to find him. The first two books in the series have already sold over 80 million copies worldwide and a movie adaptation of the first novel is currently in the works. The third book in the series, Ides of Winter, was released recently.

Michael was only 23 when the first novel in the series was published. He was awarded the Hugo Award for best new author in ‘95 and he has been named one of Time’s most influential people of the year. Michael thank you so much for joining us today.”

“Of course, thank you for having me.”

Terry was one of the best interviewers Mike had the pleasure of meeting. Her soft spoken and inquisitive questions put him immediately at ease, so much so that so he almost forgot he was being interviewed on radio.

He didn’t forget to lie though.

When Terry asked him about where he’d drawn inspiration from for his twelve-year-old girl protagonist, he told her Millie was a blend of himself and the two sisters whom he’d grown up with.

When Terry asked him what drew him to the supernatural and horror themes prevalent in his novels, he only talked about the books and authors he’d read growing up.

“Michael, my favourite chapter of your second novel is the Cave of Horrors. I’m sure you get that a lot. I just wanted to ask you about that chapter, because it’s pivotal, its when Millie comes to believe that she may have truly lost her friend forever, and you write so well about grief, and loss, and the trauma associated with that at such a young age. I guess what I wonder is, was this kind of loss something you had experience with?”

Mike pauses for a long moment.

He doesn’t know what it was, perhaps it’s the kindness in Terry’s voice.

Maybe it was the year he’d just had, it’d been especially difficult.  

Maybe it was the tour.

Maybe it was the thought of that big empty lake house waiting for him at the end of the tour.

Maybe he’s just so tired of the lies and the bullshit. He didn’t really even understand why he still did it; it’s as natural as breathing, but its been almost 15 years. All the men who could punish him or his friends for saying the wrong thing are long gone.

He doesn’t know why or what it is, but all of a sudden his chest feels as if it’s been cracked wide open and its like everyone can see the wound inside him, vulnerable and raw as the day it happened. He wants to tell the world about her, he wants to scream it from the top of the Empire State Building.

He’s twelve years old again, he can smell the tang of blood and the smoke of ashes that had never touched fire. He can hear the violent and desperate screams of a dying creature ringing in his ears and in between darkness and the flickering fluorescent lights, he sees her eyes, tired, resigned, and filled with pain.

Goodbye Mike.

He wanted her to live again, even if she could only come back to him through the pages of a book.

So he’d saved her the only way he knew how. She came back to life by people reading his book, by growing to love and adore Millie, the brave and wonderful girl that would face monsters and death in order to save her friends.

“I….I lost a friend when I was a kid Terry. I don’t really speak about it often. But the way that it happened….it was violent and sudden. I don’t think I was able to come to grips with it for many years. It’s hard to admit sometimes, I think I lie to myself about it, but so much of her is in my writing.”

Terry nodded thoughtfully even though though the gesture won’t be captured by the microphone.

“Did writing help you with dealing with that loss?”

Mike answered honestly, “I don’t know. Some days I think it’s made it worse, because she’s with me, everyday. I live and breathe the loss of her in work. But its just become inseparable from me, the pain. I think it’s just like an arm, or a leg. You heal, but you’re not ever the same. And you never really forget what you lost.” 

[atlafan]

The Game: Part 6

Rucas au multi-fic. Lucas and Riley have been best friends for as long as they can remember. They finally tell each other how they feel, and are able to get together, but some friction occurs when Riley’s Uncle Shawn introduces everyone to his new wife and daughter.

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five

Lucas woke up around two in the morning and realized he fell asleep in Riley’s bed. They had some light kisses that night, and must’ve fallen asleep. He looked at his sleeping girlfriend. She looked so peaceful, he didn’t want to leave her, but he knew they’d get in trouble if he stayed. He kissed her on the forehead and headed out the bay window.

Riley woke up for school a few hours later, a little confused. Last night felt like a blur. When she thought of her little makeout session with Lucas she felt butterflies in her stomach. She still couldn’t believe how lucky she was that they felt the same way about each other.

She took a quick shower, put her hair up in the perfect messy bun, a pair of light blue jeans, and a black top. Something simple for her second half day of senior year. Riley went into the kitchen and saw Auggie sitting, eating some cereal.

“How come you’re already awake?” She asks, making herself a bowl of cereal.

“Couldn’t sleep...also I wanted to catch you before you left.”

“What’s up?”

“About the arcade-”

“Auggie, I’ll take you, it’ll be fun. Besides, I owe you one.”

“I actually don’t want to go. It was great coming home yesterday and being able to do whatever I wanted. I took a nap, made frozen pizza, and got to watch whatever I wanted on TV.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good thing.”

“Relax, I just mean I kind of liked not having to share. We both have full days tomorrow, so I was kind of hoping whatever you did yesterday that made it so you didn’t come home until five, could you do it again today?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, sometimes even I need some quiet time.”

“Okay, sure.”

“What were you doing, exactly?”

“Oh, I just went to the bakery with my friends. And then I went over to Lucas’ for a bit.”

“You’re not being scandalous are you?”

“Scandalous? Auggie I am not talking to you about that kind of stuff. You’re too young.”

“I just want to make sure you’re not doing something I’d regret covering for you for.”

“Oh, no, everything was totally PG.”

“Cool, so we have a deal.”

“Mhm, but you call me if you need anything.”

Riley puts her finished bowl in the sink, grabs her backpack, and heads out the door. She bumps into Maya on the subway, and they end up sitting together.

“Hey.” Maya says with a half smile.

“Good morning.” Riley replies.

“So, I uh sent you a friend request last night.”

“Oh you did? Must not have gotten the notification.”

“Right. So because you don’t like me, that means your friends can’t?”

“What?”

“Well, I sent them requests too, and no one responded.”

“Maybe no one wants to be your friend, did you think about that?” Riley took a deep breath. “Okay, that was really mean, and I’m sorry. I don’t want to become some bully, that’s not who I am. You’re just so abrasive, it’s unnecessary. I don’t think you’d fit in with my group of friends. Farkle and Smackle are brainiacs, Lucas is a jock, and I’m overly cheerful.”

“So don’t you think you could use someone like me? You’re missing the brooding, misunderstood asshole.”

“Nope, I really think we’re all set. Look, I don’t mind being some type of acquaintance to keep things civil, but as far as us being friends, I really don’t see it happening.”

The train stops where they need to get off, and Riley is practically the first one out the door, leaving Maya extremely confused.

Lucas is waiting near Riley’s locker when he sees his beautiful girlfriend walk down the hall. He notices that she’s not in a great mood.

“Morning beautiful. You just as tired as I am?”

“Nope, I slept great.” She says opening her locker door. “Of course, I didn’t have to get up at two in the morning to drive home.” She puts a few things in and closes it to face to him. “Try not to make a habit of that on school nights.” She gives him a light kiss on the cheek.

“How about on weekends then?”

“Lucas.”

“You just said school nights. It was so nice to fall asleep with you. You’re so cute when you’re sleeping.” Lucas takes a step forward to be a little closer.

“Careful, my dad could hear you. What if he walked by?”

“You’re right, sorry. So are we taking Auggie to the arcade today?”

“No, actually, he wants the alone time at our house. So we can do whatever we want again.”

“Great, I was thinking we could go out to lunch. That new Mexican place opened up a few weeks ago and we haven’t been yet.”

“Oh yeah, that would be great.”

Right as they’re about to kiss, the bell rings. Riley grabs Lucas’ arm and tugs him towards the classroom. A few people were already in homeroom waiting for everything to start. Cory was sitting at his desk shuffling through some papers.

Lucas and Riley go to their seats. Farkle and Smackle follow in, and go right to their seats to greet their friends.

“So, have you made a decision about the friend request?” Smackle asks.

“I don’t know. I had a conversation with her this morning, and it seems like she does want to be friends. I told her I wanted to be acquaintances at the most.”

“It’s just a stupid Facebook friend request. I feel like we’re spending too much energy on this.” Farkle says.

“Fine, then approve the request then.” Riley says. Farkle doesn't move. “Well, there you have it. I just don’t want her snooping through my profile, but at the same time, I don’t want her to feel like an outcast. Okay everyone, phone’s out, lets approve.”

The four friends take out their smart phones, and simultaneously accept Maya’s friend request. At that moment Maya walks in and sits in her seat. Her phone goes off, and she sees the Facebook notifications. She has four new friends. She looks over at them and smiles.

After Cory gives the second day spiel, the bell rings, and they all go to their separate classes. These would be the classes that they would normally have in the second half of the day.

They all had one elective together, and that would be the last block of the day with Cory. Technically now they were off to their fourth period class. Lucas had an English elective that was required. He walked in the class and saw Maya just sitting down. He sat in front of her.

“Is this an okay seating arrangement, I wouldn’t want your girlfriend to get mad.” She whispers to him.

“You know”, he turns around half way, “if you didn’t make remarks like that, she might actually want to be friends with you.”

“Well what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you have a grudge against me? I mean let’s be honest, she doesn’t like me because she feels threatened.”

“And why would she feel that way?”

“Because I openly made it clear that I was attracted to you, and she’s always gonna be scared that someone could take you away.”

“No offense, but short, blonde, and attitude isn’t exactly my type.” Lucas turns back to face the front.

“Then why did you sit in front of me when you could have sat anywhere else?”

“Because I was trying to be nice, but clearly that was a mistake.”

A few more people come in, some baseball players spot Lucas and they sit around him, which means they’re sitting around Maya.

“Dude, you and Riley are finally together?” A boy on the team named Mike asks.

“Yup.”

“You must be stoked, you’ve been waiting forever to get with her. Man, if you two hadn’t had that like unofficial thing I would have tried something with her a long time ago. She’s an absolute smoke.”

“Yeah, maybe not talk about her like that to me.”

“Right, my bad, what I’m trying to say is, way to go.”

“Thanks, it does feel pretty great to actually be dating her.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, a bunch of us were wondering, is she like a prude or has she been climbing you like a tree.”

“She’s definitely not a prude, but I can tell she wants to take things slow, which is fine with me.”

“How could you be fine with that? You’ve been dreaming of tapping that ass for two years.”

“Yeah I know, but I want her to feel comfortable. Plus I’m a guy, it’s different. If she said hey let’s go do it in a garbage can I wouldn’t even hesitate.”

“Friends to lovers. Hey, you should totally right about that in this class.”

“We’ll see. This class will probably get minimal effort from me.”

The bell rings and the teacher tells everyone to settle down. She explains that it’s a creative writing course, and what that will entail. They will do a lot of free form writing, and will need to pass in a portfolio by the end of the semester. Since the class period was only a half an hour long due to the half day, the teacher let the students chat amongst themselves for the last five minutes. Maya made sure to keep listening in to Lucas and Mike.

“So, what are you doing after school?” Mike asks.

“Oh, Riley and I are going to grab lunch.”

“Nice, then what?” He wiggles his eyebrows.

“Cut it out, that’s not gonna happen, at least not today. I don’t want her to think I only started going out with her is because I wanted to get into her pants.”

“But isn’t that basically why you finally decided to make the shift in your relationship? I mean, you were friends for so long, and you were fine with that, and then you see her in a pair of short shorts in Texas and now you’re obsessed with her.”

“I had just never really looked at her that way. That was the first time I really thought she was sexy. Then I had to go through all of junior year not knowing what to do. I just wanted to grab her and do stuff to her, but still only be friends, but I knew she’d never go for that.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Prom. When I saw her step out in her dress, all dolled up, that was when I knew I wanted her on my arm as my lady. Then she came to Texas again this summer for a few weeks. I thought I was going to lose my mind. I couldn’t do it anymore. So a week before school started I asked her to be my girlfriend, and I’m so glad I did because she’s amazing. She’s my best friend, and I don’t want anyone else to have her.”

The bell rings and the boys get up and leave. Little did they know Maya recorded the whole conversation. She sent it in a text to Riley.

“Let’s see how she deals with this.”