typical | rilaya au

t w e n t y o n e

I hunched over on the cracked sidewalk, breathing heavily. The light downpour wasn't enough to keep me from running today. In fact, I don't think anything has been able to keep me from running all month.

Not even Maya.

I took off the light blue windbreaker I 'borrowed' from Maya and wrapped it tightly around my waist.

The quirky blonde had been accompanying me on a lot of my runs lately. Except for runs during lunch, she claims it's something about "not wanting to miss out on the caf food."

Yikes. What were they feeding her at Washington High?

She also never failed to mention how cute we looked in our running attire and matching headbands.

Stretching my arms over my head, I walked in small circles as I waited for Maya to catch up with me.

"There you are!" Maya exclaimed, knocking me out of my thoughts. "Sorry I stayed behind back there, that dog was the cutest thing I've ever seen."

She grinned and openly checked me out, looking up and down my body but stopping at my eyes. "After you, of course."

I giggled at her cheesy excuse for flirting and grabbed her hand. "Come on, we're almost at my place." I started running again but felt a dead weight pull my hand back.

"Babbyyy" she whined, giving me puppy dog eyes and a pout. "There's only 100 metres left. Can we walk? I'm tired."

I raised and eyebrow at her, "You? Tired?" I questioned.

She nodded eagerly and walked alongside me, hands connected.

"Fine." I muttered, feeling defeated at how convincing her facade was. "You probably just didn't want to let go of my hand." I joked, squeezing her palm lightly.

Maya smirked "Mhm, you know me so well."

~

Maya sat silently on my bed. She watched me struggle with my math homework. "Are you sure you don't want help honey?" She offered.

"No I don't." I frowned, feeling beyond frustrated. I've relied on Maya for almost every single question so far and I wanted to be independent for once.

"I don't get how you do it Maya." I sighed. "You never put any effort in yet you know just about everything."

She walked up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. Maya rested her chin on my left shoulder and whispered soothingly in my ear. "It's only easy for me now because I used to work my ass off everyday Riles." She explained. "It just makes everything I do today a lot easier."

She turned to kiss my earlobe before playfully pushing me out of my chair to explain the problem.

"Listen, all you have to do is solve everything in the brackets first. Now you turn this fraction over a fraction into multiplication. Then, you-"

Each word she spoke went through one ear and out the other. I tried to focus on her, I really did. But then my head got light and the world seemed to be spinning.

"-are you listening?" She asked, slightly annoyed as she gestured to the answer written on the page.

"No."

Maya stood up, kneeling down in front of me as she set me down on my bed. "Riley, what's wrong?"

"It's just-" I took rapid breaths, attempting to focus on what I was trying to say. "There's so much going on- and school- and running- I'm-"

Hot tears streamed down my face before I attacked her into a hug. "I-It's too much Peaches"

"I know honey, I know." She consoled me by rubbing my back repeatedly . I almost shivered when her fingers glided up and down my spine to calm me down.

"There's something I'm not telling you." I admitted.

"You're not cheating on my with Lucas are you?" She joked, pulling back slightly to wipe the tears off my cheek with her thumb.

"It breaks my heart when you cry." She whispered.

I tried my best to smile for her. It only faltered for a second when I grabbed the collar of her black dress to pull her in to kiss me.

I melted into the kiss, feeling any distress I had leave my body. Maya kept her hand on the small of my back while the other tangled itself in my brown hair.

I opened my mouth when she started nibbling on my bottom lip. Her tongue met mine and it took every inch of self control I had to keep myself from moaning.

I pulled away first, remembering that I had a confession to make to her.

She looked at me slightly upset but grabbed my hands and raised them to her lips. Maya looked at me while kissing each of the knuckles individually. "I love you." She whispered, as if she was scared that someone else would hear.

"I have anxiety."

I closed my eyes and awaited her response, silently praying that it wouldn't be negative.

I felt myself being knocked over when Maya pushed me backwards onto the bed. She pressed, light gentle kisses up and down my neck and stopped at my forehead.

Resting our foreheads together, she closed her eyes and didn't say anything for a few moments. "I love every single thing about you Riley. I promise you, that will never change."

I smiled back up at her and pulled her down to lay beside me. My head found its way to Maya's neck as I nuzzled myself in there, enjoying the warmth she emitted. "Thank you, I love you too."

We laid in silence for a couple minutes, staring up at the peeling glow in the dark stars I had stuck there since fifth grade.

"How long?" She asked.

I sat up, causing her to do so as well. "What do you mean?"

"How long did you know that you had- you know." She questioned.

I laughed, intertwining out hands together.

"You know, you can say the word anxiety Maya. It won't cause a panic attack I promise." I teased.

"Since last month, when you found me in the washroom after Lucas- you know." I mocked her previous phrase but was nevertheless slightly grateful that I didn't have to repeat the events.

I looked down at the blonde who appeared to be emotionally hurt. "A month?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Listen," I pleaded, "I'm sorry, but I didn't know how you would react and I just don't want any more secrets between us. Please."

I watched Maya hesitate for a moment, twisting the promise ring on my finger as she played with it mindlessly. Her lips curved upwards momentarily.

"Okay."