Just A Kiss (Rilaya)

Forgiveness

Riley's POV:

"Hi, I'm not answering your call because I don't like you, I don't know the number, or I'm too lazy to pick up. Try again later, or don't. Either one is fine with me."

Beep.

I sigh with frustration after hearing Maya's voicemail for at least the fiftieth time in that past hour or more. Just as I'm about to press the call button again, I feel a cold breeze to my right.

I look and see Maya coming through the window.

"Peaches!" I yell as I throw my arms around her. "Where have you been?"

She gives me a cold look and says, "Maybe a better question is, where have those been?" She places a finger on my lips.

I try to look down at my lips but all I see is my nose. My eyes cross and immediately get dizzy. I blink my eyes a bunch of times and try my best to say in a believable voice, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean." Maya says.

My mouth starts to form a word but I can't get it out. "Llll-" I try to say.

"Llll, who?"

"Llluca..."

"Lllucas, yes, good job!" Maya says in fake appreciation.

"Maya, I'm sorry-"

"Oh, I'm sure you are, but the thing is, I don't care if you kissed Lucas before you decided to be with me. I care that you lied to me. You lied to me, Riley! How could you?"

"I know I did, and I'm sorry, but-"

"But you're not going to apologize?"

"No! I mean, yes! I am! I am right now! I'm sorry, but, I didn't kiss Lucas. He kissed me."

"That's not what I heard from Farkle." Maya says challengingly.

"Farkle?" I say in a very confused voice. "How does Farkle know about this?"

"He overheard you talking in the library at school yesterday. And he also saw you kissing Lucas. Now again, I don't care if you kissed because that was before we made up. What I do care about is that you never told me!"

"I'm sorry, Maya. How many times do I have to say it? I pulled away. I pulled away both times!"

Dead silence.

"Both times?" Maya asks quietly.

"Yes," I say, "both times. He came over last night to apologize. We made up, but I still haven't told him about us. He thought I sill wanted to be with him, so he kissed me. Again. But like I said, I pulled away. I made him leave. I don't want to be with him, Maya, I want to be with you. Now will you please forgive me?" I beg.

Maya stares at her hands for a long time.

"Yes, I forgive you. You didn't mean for any of this to happen. You did the right thing. But why didn't you tell me in the first place?"

"I didn't want to hurt you." I say.

"Riles," She says, "you are the best person I could ever have in my life. Nothing you ever do could permanently hurt me. Although I'm not quite sure that's true the other way around."

"What?" I ask. "Why?"

She doesn't respond.

"Where were you this morning?" I ask. "You weren't answering any of my calls."

Still no answer.

"Maya, where were you?" I demand.

"With Josh." She says so quietly I can barely hear her.

"Why?" I ask.

"If I tell you this," Maya says, "you aren't allowed to interrupt me. Don't talk until I finish. Okay?"

I nod.

"Okay. Last night," She starts, "after Farkle told me that you and Lucas kissed, I was super mad that you didn't tell me. So, when I got home, I texted Josh. You betrayed me, so I wanted to betray you. I went over to Josh's friend's house where he was staying to talk. But I couldn't tell him about us. It would break him. The night of the dance, when we talked in the Bay Window, he admitted to me that he liked me. So I knew I couldn't tell him. What I did tell him was that I felt like I couldn't tell you about him and me. He reassured me that everything would be fine, then we were kissing. I stopped once both of our shirts' were off. I told him that I couldn't...you know. So we just...made out until we fell asleep. That's where I was this morning. I woke up and got out of there as soon as I could when I saw all of those calls from you. He kissed me one more time and I left."

I thought about all of that.

"I'm gonna try not to get mad, because I know you were mad at me and that's the only reason why you did all of that, but...Lucas and I only kissed. Twice. And I pulled away both times. I know you didn't know that but, Maya, you slept with Josh." I say.

"Whoa, whoa, Riley." Maya says. "I didn't sleep with him. Well I did, but not like that."

"Yeah, I know, but it just seems a lot worse than what I did to you." I say, not trying to sound angry.

"But you understand, right? I was pissed at you, and I didn't know the real reason behind it."

"I know, I know, and I do understand. But there's still one more thing I need you to say for this to all be behind us."

"I'm sorry?" Maya says.

"I forgive you." I smile.

We embrace in happiness and before we can break apart Maya kisses me at full force. We pull apart with laughter, and it seems like the worse of this is behind us.