Ghost

ch 7

It was, in fact, Boxing Day that Maya and Josh had to field some active drama.

Sometime over the summer, Nikki had apparently done some math and figured out that she had been born while Kermit was still married to Maya’s mom, and that Kermit had left Maya to raise her. Nikki had not taken this realization well. She had been all but refusing to speak to Kermit, and was constantly fighting with Rachel, but she had not told them why she was upset for a few months, so they had been trying to force things at first, thinking that it was normal pubescent rebellion fueling her attitude, which only made things worse. Maya, also unaware that Nikki had figured it out, had done her best to be peacemaker.

The situation had come to a head one Saturday evening a couple weeks before Halloween, as Nikki subsequently put together why Maya had been Cassie’s Halloween Party escort the previous year, and had blown up at her parents in the middle of costume shopping, before running out of the store. Maya had gotten a frantic phone call from Cassie on Rachel’s phone an indeterminate amount of time later, Rachel being occupied mostly with sobbing into Kermit’s shirt at her daughter calling her and Kermit a lot of rather unflattering things that Rachel had been trying not to think about for a very long time.

Maya had done her best to reassure Cassie over the phone, telling her that Maya didn’t blame either of the girls for the bad situation between her parents, and was trying to pull on sneakers one-handed while still on the phone to go start looking for Nikki, when there was a knock on the door. It was Nikki, and Maya let her in while telling a calming Cass that Nikki was with her, and she would call back later. Cassie relayed this to Kermit with Maya still on the phone, and told Maya as he was leading them towards home before they hung up.

That dealt with for the moment, Maya had sat her little sister down on the sofa, and Nikki had broken down sobbing in between a series of heart-wrenching apologies. Maya had held her and done her best to comfort her and promise that she didn’t blame Nikki for any of it, crying a bit herself at her sister’s obvious pain.

Once Nikki had cried herself out and calmed down a little, Maya sent her into the bathroom to wash her face and collect herself a little, quickly texting Josh to ask if he would mind crashing at Cory and Topanga’s that night, since he was there hanging out with Auggie anyway, giving a brief explanation. As soon as he confirmed in the affirmative, she followed it up with a text to both Kermit and Rachel’s phones that Nikki was going to stay with her tonight to calm down and talk things over with Maya, that Maya would let them know what time she was bringing Nikki home tomorrow. As she sent that, another idea occurred, and Maya also texted her mom to confirm that she wasn’t working tomorrow morning. The reply from Kermit came at almost the exact same moment as Katy’s. His said ok, to let them know if the girls needed anything. Her mother’s was a confirmation that she wasn’t working and a comment that Shawn’s trip had been pushed back and he would be home as well, asking if Maya wanted to do something. Maya gave the briefest summary possible of the current situation and asked if Katy would be ok with her bringing Nikki over for breakfast tomorrow to talk to her. Katy’s reply of a simple ‘ok’ took longer this time, not coming until Maya was heating up some leftovers for Nikki, as she hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

It was barely 9 when Nikki began yawning, emotionally exhausted from her day, and Maya said Josh was at his brother’s babysitting for the night as she handed her sister some of her own pajamas to change into, asking if Nikki minded sharing the bed, or if Maya should take the couch. Nikki didn’t mind sharing, and changed before crawling into bed and falling asleep shortly after Maya turned out the lights, to the sound of Maya’s quiet typing on her laptop as she worked on homework on the couch for a couple hours before she went to bed herself.

Maya didn’t tell Nikki the plan as she led her to her parent’s apartment the next morning. Nikki was confused right up to Maya pulling out her keys to open the door, and she realized where she probably was.