Fast Times // Girl Meets World

Girl Talk

May 2, 2018; Evening

Maya and Turner walked back to the car carrying the pizza as Riley arrived with her bags in hand.

"Find everything?" Maya asked, as if her tongue wasn't just in Uncle Jonathan's mouth.

Riley just nodded curtly, "Did you get everything?"

Maya gave her friend a confused look, "Yeah?" She held up the pizzas. "Are you good?"

"I'm fine," she clipped back before sitting silently the rest of the ride back.

Maya noticed Riley continuing to act strange through dinner and the rest of the evening. She seemed antsier than usual.

"Did you buy condoms at the store or something? You're acting weird," Maya asked as she cleared the plates from the table. They were alone, the guys out back attempting to start a bonfire. "You know Lucas probably brought some."

Riley whipped her head toward Maya, "Did you?"

"No?" Maya stared at her confused. "You don't have to be nervous, you know. Lucas loves you and I'm sure he's gonna make sure everything is perfect."

Riley sighed. Maya was just trying to be a good friend and calm her nerves and she was being so snippy with her. She didn't deserve it. "How come you've never told me about your first time?" Her voice was small, avoiding eye contact when she asked.

"Oh? Uhm, I guess because," Maya thought for a moment, "my first time was nothing like yours is gonna be. It wasn't really romantic, so I just figured I'd let you keep the nice, romantic version you have in Rileytown."

"I'm not that naive, Maya," Riley twisted a dish towel in her hands. "I know it's going to be awkward and uncomfortable."

Maya frowned. "No, it won't because Lucas will be right there with you. It will feel right and safe, and hopefully really really good," she nudged her with an elbow.

"It didn't feel good your first time?"

"Uhm, yeah, it did. But I guess I didn't really know how good it was supposed to feel, if that makes sense." Maya bit at her bottom lip. "It got better though, every time," she reassured her.

Riley smiled a little, "It was Josh, wasn't it? That's why you haven't told me."

Maya's cheeks turned bright red. "Are you mad?"

She shook her head, "No, you really like him and he's a good guy. I'm glad it was with someone good, Maya. You deserve that."

Maya threw her arms out, hugging her best friend, "Thank you for saying that."

"Maybe I don't need to know all the details though, yeah? He is my uncle." Riley cringed inside with the realization that Maya has probably now slept with two of her uncles. But at least, Josh made more sense. Maya had liked him forever and even though he was older, it was by a normal few years. Riley tried to shake it off and just laughed with her friend, as if it was perfectly normal girl talk.

A relief swept over Maya now that she had one less secret to keep from Riley. It had gone better than she could've hoped. There were no dramatics, just an honest conversation, girl-to-girl.

"Wait, you said every time? How long were you seeing him?!" Riley gasped.

Maya shrugged, "A while, until he met his girlfriend. I thought you didn't want details?"

She put her hands up, "Nope you're right, that's all I want to know. I just can't believe you kept that from me for so long." Riley frowned again, realizing her friend was capable of keeping a lot of things from her. It hurt her heart knowing her friend was still keeping secrets from her.

"It was so hard not to tell you," Admittedly it was out of self-preservation. Riley was always a bit of a loose cannon when it came to things like this. "I just didn't want you to hate me for it and make it a whole big thing and cause a scene at family dinner or something. So, I thought it was best to leave it a mystery."

A pit formed in Riley's stomach, as she realized she was about to make the scene Maya was so worried about. She realized why her best friend in the world couldn't trust her and that maybe she was right not to... because she couldn't take back what she'd done, even if she felt it was the right thing to do, she didn't know if Maya was ever going to forgive her for it. She sat in her panic while they cleaned up the kitchen and joined the boys outside sitting around their perfectly respectable campfire.

Turner stood up as they approached, "I'm gonna head inside and catch up on some reading and ignore whatever y'all are gonna get up to out here." He smirked, eyeing the cooler next to Farkle's tent that was likely filled with contraband. "Just make sure you put the fire out all the way before you go to bed."

Maya watched him disappear inside and the soft light of the reading lamp flip on in his room. She wished she could follow him, but she'd come on this trip to spend time with her friends. So she cracked open a wine cooler from Farkle's cooler and laughed with them until her stomach hurt.