Upstairs (gmw/Lucaya)

Chapter four

Our thanksgiving break starts on Sunday and we come back on the next Tuesday. I couldn't go home because my parents felt that the break was to short to go all the way to Texas. Riley is leaving tomorrow and Farkle is going with his friend, Marcus, across the hall from him, to spend thanksgiving with his family the second time. Emile is leaving on Wednesday and Cris is leaving tomorrow. Alyssa and Maya's ex boyfriend, Caleb, who actually stayed friends with her, already left. Liz is leaving tonight but I wont see her again until after thanksgiving. Zay has Mono but is finally getting better. That's why he could not come to the beach. I asked Maya if any of her other friends are staying but she said no.
Suddenly, as I think of Maya, I hear her on the fire escape and turn to see the blond with here hair in a messy ponytail. She looks younger than a lot of the kids in college because of her height and shapeless body type, which she hates, but no one would think of her as younger than her age. It was weird how you could still tell that she was her age. It has something to do with her eyes but I can never put my finger on it.
"I don't have any condems for you to borrow." I say, jokingly because there was a lot of noise upstairs.
"I need my broom back." She says.
"Okay." I grab the broom and hand it to her through the window. The cleaning probably caused the noise. You would think that Maya might be messy or clean not to well but actually, she was pretty good, especially considering her mom never taught her anything about cleaning when she was young because she worked so much. She didn't teach her how tie her shoes, make her bed, do her hair, cook, sew, wear makeup. By the time her mom began working at Topangas, Maya didn't need her help with that type of stuff, though she still needed her. One thing crosses my mind. How did she learn this stuff?
"Hey, how did you learn how to take care of yourself anyways, if your mom was never around?"
"I copied her bed to make my bed, I looked through a picture book a million times until I could tie my shoes. I read every bottle in the apartment and just followed instructions. I watched my mom do my hair quickly in the mornings when I was young and once I got that down, I would watch her, do her hair for things other than a ponytail, braid or just brushing it. Riley taught me a lot of other things."
"I never really knew much about how you took care of yourself."
"How about you?" I was confused. I didn't have to be independent when I was young.
"My mom taught me."
"Well, what stuff did you learn on your own?"
"Um... I learned how to tie a tie."
"How did you learn?"
"I watched a video online."
"What did your friends from Texas teach you about taking care of yourself?"
"I learned how to meet new people from them, I mean, don't we all learn how to do that from our first friends."
"I never did that right. I was just lucky to find Riley who wouldn't have changed a thing about when we meet."
"What about me?"
"I never thought that I would see you again. I'm glad I did, Lucas."
"You called me by my name?"
"Don't get used to it, huckleberry." She climbs back up the fire escape. She was glad she saw me again. I smile to myself. I mean something... To Maya Hart. Did she mean it as a friend or as more. No, she has to mean it as a friend. She's still Maya and Maya is an adventuress ball of fire, always ready to explore more, but never hesitate to hide something.