And Then She Stopped

chapter fourteen

It was a Friday. Friday's were already whimsical on their own but this Friday was exceptionally exciting. Maya woke up with a smile on her face, this is slightly stretching the truth considering it'd be rather strange to see anyone just open their eyes with a grin spread across their face, however she was particularly less-aggressive when she slammed the top of her alarm to make it shut up. She walked over to her calendar and checked off a couple of weeks - honestly anyone who can actually keep up with marking off every day deserves an award – until she reached December 17th.

One of the things that made Friday December 17th so exceptional was the fact that it was the very last Friday before winter break. After that they'd all be free to roam like wild animals until the end of the year which always led to their inevitable return to High School – the jerks. Just 7 hours. Maya thought, picking up that same old empty lunchbox and smiling at the cans of spray paint huddled in the corner before racing off to Riley's house.

"WAKE UP SUNSHINE THE DAY ISN'T WAITING FOR YOU TO START!" Maya yelled crashing onto the bed next to Riley. Remember what I said earlier about people just waking up with a grin? Yeah, I take that back because that is exactly what Riley Matthews did. Before Maya even slid through the window to wake her up she was smiling. Riley sat straight up, not in the fast way that makes you feel dizzy and like you need to go back down again, but in the true Riley Matthews 'one week til' Christmas' style.

"It's a real exciting day for you peaches." She said leaning into her best friend.

"It's a real exciting day for all of us." Maya rest her head on Riley's shoulder for a moment, "Alright, get up! We've got big things ahead of us!" Maya leapt off the bed, grabbed Riley's arms, and pulled her up out of bed.

"What would I do without you?"

"Be late to school every morning."

The pair then went about their typical daily morning routines until they were standing in front of the doors of their High School. 7 more hours. 7 whole hours until she could run out of the school with Lucas to celebrate their month together as a couple.

As expected Maya was excited and twitchy all day. Her anticipation gradually built up throughout the day. In first hour she was just a little fidgety and impatient, in second hour her mindset became just 40 minutes until 3rd hour, 40 minutes is just 20 minutes twice, which means I just have to get through 10 minutes 4 times, by 5th hour her leg was shaking so vigorously her teacher excused her from class assuming she just really had to use the bathroom, until finally came 7th hour – the last 10 minutes four times of the day. The bus ride both to and from Abigail Adams felt even longer than usual so when they pulled back into the parking lot at the end of the day Maya nearly sprinted up the hill to the parking lot with Lucas following close behind.

Near the top of the hill Lucas caught up to Maya and grabbed her hand, pulling her back and into his arms, they were both grinning, and Maya was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"You know it's going to be really difficult to kiss you if you keep bopping around like that." Lucas said before carefully kissing her on the forehead.

"No time for that." She grinned grabbing hold of his hand and running, they sprinted straight past his car and started heading down the streets of New York.

They ran 16 blocks, their feet pressing so hard into the ground Maya thought they may just fly away. Finally they stopped in front of an old building that looked like it might just fall apart. The paint on the outside was crumbling off revealing uneven-discolored stones. Vines grew up one side of the building and weeds decorated the front. Maya cautiously tugged Lucas' hand and brought him inside where their eyes started watering from the heavy volumes of dust swirling around. She walked over to the light switch and turned it on. Slowly the lights flickered on revealing an old abandoned warehouse with one wall completely covered in intricate art. What Maya had done was she took all of their completed Wandering drawings and mashed them together... full scale.

"I'm not even going to ask how my little short stack of pancakes managed to reach all the way up there." Lucas said in amazement, pointing to the areas where the painting touched the ceiling.

Maya rocked back and forth on her heels, biting her lower lip. "Do you like it?"

"Are you kidding?" Lucas scooped Maya up under her arms and twirled her around. "It's perfect." He set her down and then pulled something out of his pocket.

"You got me somethin' didn't chya?" Maya asked hopping around him and playfully punching his arm.

"Well it's definitely not better than this." He motioned towards the painting, "but I put a little thought into yeah." He opened a little black jewelry box with a set of two rings inside, one was bigger than the other and there wasn't much to them. They were just thin gold bands, the smaller of which had a chain looped through it, and inside each band was a little infinity symbol etched in. It was cheesy, but it was perfect.

"I know you're not a ring person," he said pulling out the smaller ring with the chain through it, "but I wanted us to have promise rings."

Maya smiled and held her hair up as he fastened the necklace/ring hybrid around her neck. "It's perfect." She stood on her toes and kissed him on the forehead.

They stayed in the warehouse for hours. There was a hole in the ceiling so by the time the sun went down they were able to lay under the stars without even moving. All they did was talk and laugh, Maya was constantly twirling the ring around on the chain biting the inside of her lip. Lucas could see that she had a smile on her face but her eyes were sunken in and sad. He tried to find casual ways to bring it into conversation but every time he did she merely persisted that she was fine.

"I'm okay Lucas I promise." She said for the hundredth time standing up and dusting herself off, not sure if she was trying to convince herself or Lucas. She reached out her hand and helped him up. "I'll see you tomorrow okay? We've got a full day of wandering ahead of us." She smiled and kissed him on the cheek before starting the short trek back home.