Upstairs (gmw/Lucaya)

Chapter one

Maya Hart lives in the apartment directly above me. I'm a friend of hers. A good friend of her, I'd say, but I don't know what she really thinks of me as. Sometimes I forget that I've known her since seventh grade. At one point during high school, she just drifted. I'm not sure how we didn't even notice but suddenly one day I just realized that we weren't her first priority when it came to people. She had knew friends, a new boyfriend, new hobbies. She never lost touch with us but emotionally there seemed to be nothing from her.
Bam!
I turned to see her on the fire escape, wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and the usual seven bracelets on her right wrist. She always wore to cover up a scar from the year before on a night that she got dumped because some peice of shit said she wasn't curvy enough. That was mostly what pulled the trigger to force her to do it. She told me vaguely about it when I pulled the bracelets away one day.
"I told you not to jump down from the ladder, Maya."
"Ya, ya, danger, danger."
"We're you going?"
"Going bowling with Emile, Cris, and Alexa. Remember, you said no cause you had a date with Jenna?"
"She cancelled."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did she say why?"
"Her dads In town. I didn't really wanna go anyways. She wasn't special."
"You and always looking for the perfect sign." Since I started to explore more girls in high school, I have always believed that there would be something telling me if it was the right girl. Maya made fun of it. She didn't really care. She could have two boyfriends in a week sometimes. She never ran out, everyone liked her.
"Your welcome to come with us if you would like."
"Nah, I'll pass for tonight."
"Okay, well, invite Riley over or something to cheer you up. I'll be back by 3." Yes she meant 3 am. Somehow that hurt. She seems to think that I'm so much closer to Riley than I am to her.
"Be carful."
"Nope." I heard her say as she climbed down. She always said no but I know she listened to some degree when I tried to tame that little fierce ball of fire. Riley was probably working on her essay as well as Farkle. We had all gotten into and gone to the same college so we could stay together. Riley lived in a dorm on campus because her dad felt that the security would be better. The rest of us lived in apartments extremely close by, Farkle in the building next to us, and as I mentioned, Maya above me. I sat down on the couch and flipped on the tv. Eventually, I fell asleep.
----
The next evening, I climbed up to her window. And knocked. I watched as she opened it.
"Hey, Maya?"
"Ya, huckleberry?"
"Are you going home for break."
"No."
"Don't you think you should see your mom."
"Nope."
"Look, I know you are still mad at her about Bill but she hasn't seen you in a year. Come on, she's paying you to go to college."
"Bills a dickhead." She said. Bill was her mothers new husband. I never understood why she hates him so much.
"Your mother probably misses you like crazy." There was a knock on her door. "It's open." She called out. The door swung open, reveling Cris and Emile. They shared an apartment on the same floor as Maya so they were there a lot.
"You coming tonight?" She asked me.
"Where to?"
"Beach."
"Who else is coming?"
"Riley,Cris, Emile, Alexa, and Liz."
"No boyfriend?"
"Unless I get one in two hours."
"I wouldn't doubt that."
"You coming or not?"
"Sure."