Girl Meets 23

13 (Riley)

-New York City, USA-

Last night was unexpected. After getting home from dropping Maya off she was surprised to find Maya on her door step, only twenty or so minutes later, asking if she could spend the night. She'd told Riley that Caleb was really sick and she didn't want to catch anything or miss out on some much needed sleep. Riley wasn't taking Maya's story at face value. She wanted to believe her best friend but she could have sworn she heard Maya crying while she'd been in the shower the night before. She wasn't quite sure how to approach it with Maya, should she just come right out and ask what's going on? That's what she wanted to do but she also didn't want Maya to take it the wrong way and retreat from her. She looked over at her friend who was laying in the bed beside her. Even though Riley had made up the spare room already it felt wrong for them to not sleep together in true sleepover fashion. Maya basically looked like a clump of blond hair from where she was, Riley was glad she seemed sound asleep. If she knew one thing about her best friend it was that she needed her sleep. Silently Riley managed to sneak out of her bed and into her bathroom down the hall. There she changed into a pair of purple sweats and a grey sweatshirt that had been left on the floor from a couple days prior. In order to butter Maya up for a heart to heart she decided to go and get them some pastries and coffee from a local bakery down the street from her apartment building.  As quietly and quickly as she could she brushed her teeth, threw her hair up in a bun, and put on her shoes and coat before leaving Maya alone in the apartment.
The bakery down the street was only a short walk which was convenient because it was partially chilly this morning. It was owned by a Dutch man named Otto and Riley would often stop in on her way to work when she was in a hurry. As she turned the corner on her usual route she spotted a familiar figure. It was Josh. This happened a lot with them living so close to each other but it always cracked her up when it did.

   "Oh my goodness!" Riley laughed waving at her uncle "good morning Josh," it was clear he had been on a run. Along with his sneakers he was wearing shorts and NYU sweatshirt.

   "Oh hey Riley," Josh said pulling out his headphones "it's too early on a Saturday for you to be up" he looked at the clock on his smart watch with surprise. Riley was known for enjoying a sleep in on the weekends.

   "Maya decided to stay at my place last night after all," she explained leaving out as many details as possible. It was unclear how much information Maya wanted Josh to know. That was if there was anything to even know. "So I thought I'd surprise her with breakfast from Atcherberg's Bakery,"

   "Yeah I knew she was there, I unlocked the apartment buildings door for her," he said knowingly as if he assumed Riley would have already known this. It did surprise her that Maya hadn't mentioned seeing Josh in front of the apartment building. She'd been so excited about seeing her she hadn't even thought to question how she'd managed to get into the building. This played into Riley's theory that something was clearly going on with Maya.

   "Oh, well that was nice of you," she couldn't hide her surprise on her face. Her mind was racing with different things to ask Maya when she returned home.

   "Let me walk you to Atcherberg's," Josh said ignoring Riley's last comment and shifting the conversation. She was getting the feeling he didn't want to talk about Maya anymore with her. "I need a coffee anyway," and without another word the two walked off to the bakery not talking another word about her best friend.

-

Riley returned with danishes, apple tarts, and lattes, luckily Maya was already awake when she returned. She was sitting at the kitchen table looking through her phone.

   "Good morning Maya," Riley rushed into the apartment setting the treats she'd just purchased on the counter. "Sorry to have left you this morning but I got us breakfast!" She got to work arranging the pastries onto a place to bring over for them to share.

   "Thanks Riles," Maya said her voice still lacking it's usual spunk to it. "You could have woken me, I would have come with you,"

   "Yeah I know, but you looked so peaceful," Riley set down their coffees and treats onto the table. "Plus I ran into Josh so he ended up coming with" she toed around mentioning Josh as casually as she could.

"Oh," she said sheepishly and took a sip from her coffee "this is really good," Maya moaned into her latte.

"Not as good as Topanaga's but still really yummy," Riley said loyally to her mother's cafe. As the two began to dig into their breakfast, Riley could stop her mind from bouncing back and forth on whether or not to bring up Caleb. "Maya, what's really going on with Caleb? Your mood seems super down since you got into town. I wasn't going to say anything because I've been anxious about it and don't want to overstep but you're my best friend. If there is something I can do I want to help you feel better," the words poured out of Riley's mouth before she could stop them. Maya, with a mouthful of one of the pastries, looked at her with a dazed expression as she took in everything. Even though that she hadn't planned on coming right out and confronting Maya about this, Riley felt a rush of relief once it was all off her chest.

   "Woah." Maya mumbled simply as she finished chewing her food.

   "Look, I know things might be slightly different between us now that you live so far away," Riley continued to anxiously ramble "but I haven't moved on from or outgrown our friendship. We are grown ups now and live in the real world but in my heart I know we can work through anything," she wasn't even sure if she was even making sense anymore. It felt like her anxious faucet had been turned on and the words were running straight out of her.

   "You think things are different between us," Maya's eyes glossed over with tears and her voice slightly shaky. Riley had absolutely not anticipated this reaction, it wasn't like her to get emotional like this.

   "I don't!" Riley said backtracking as quickly as she could, "I just thought maybe you thought the dynamic was different theses days" tears where full on streaming down Maya's face at this point "but you know me! I need to get out of my own head"

   "Oh my god I've made you feel like things had changes between us," Maya managed to sniffle out. Clearly Riley's attempt to defuse the situation hadn't worked. In another effort to calm her now hysterical best friend, she got up out of her chair and shuffled Maya out of hers and on to the couch.

   "Maya! What! No!" Riley reassured her quickly "what is really going on here, my feelings aren't hurt I promise," she grabbed the lavender blanket that had been hanging off the edge of the couch and wrapped Maya up.

   "I don't know," she started "it's everything. I'm not sure what to do about Caleb, I'm homesick, I miss you and how simple things used to be," Maya began taking some deep breaths and her breathing started to settle a little, which relaxed Riley a little.

   "Peaches you're stressed," she pulled her fragile friend into her arms. Maya continued to cry into her shoulder "I'm sorry I didn't know,"

   "I should have told you," Maya sobbed.

   "What can I do to make you feel better right now," Riley asked sweetly "and then we can work on the big stuff ok?"

   "Ok." She almost missed Maya's reply in between sniffles. "I'm sorry this is so silly," Maya hated to be a burden, Riley knew this. Whenever Maya needed to take up space emotionally you could tell it made her uncomfortable.

   "Peaches, it's not silly," Riley said brushing off the unnecessary apology "plus it's just us so be as sad, mad, depressed, or stressed as you want,"  there was a moment a silence and then suddenly the door handle jiggled forcing Riley to whip her attention to the door. Of course she hadn't locked it behind her when she came back from the bakery. And she couldn't of planned it worse herself, Josh came waltzing into her living room and then stalled at the sight of a now even more hysterical Maya, who was hiding her face in Riley's hair.
"JOSH. OUT. NOW." Riley shouted. He'd visibly paled at the sight and retreated out of the apartment silently.

   "Oh my god," Maya said stuttering as soon as the door shut behind Josh. She peeled herself off Riley and buried herself into one of the couch pillows and proceeded to bawl her eyes out.