Girl Meets 23

1 (Riley)

-New York City, USA-

Riley would describe the last five years as lonely. Her entire friend group was scattered around the northern hemisphere and the city she had lived in her whole life had suddenly become very unfamiliar now that she was on her own. She hadn't realized how much her happiness depended on them. Last June had marked the six year anniversary of her graduating high school and while she was proud of the things she had accomplished since then, the date was another reminder of how long it had been since she and her best friends had all been in the same place at the same time. They all did keep in touch and on the rare occasion that they near each other they would all have lunch or coffee together, but it was nothing that could ever compared to life before when they could see one another every single day.

After graduating high school Riley had attended New York university and majored in journalism and minored in English literature. Picking NYU had allowed her to stay close to her family which had been a priority for her when it came down to choosing where she wanted to apply. It also came with the perk of having an on call guide, her uncle Josh, for whenever she got lost or overwhelmed on campus. Josh had seriously helped Riley manage her classes and assignments while also helping her get into the best parties around. But unfortunately Josh graduated and moved on to law school after Riley's freshman year and she was then forced to brave college alone. She had made some friends who she was still friends with now but she could never find group of people who she shared the same bond with like she did with Maya, Lucas and Farkle. Riley really did thrive in college academically. She liked sitting and listening to lectures and found learning and applying her skills in the real world enjoyable. Finding a job after college was what truly scared Riley though, because while she knew she was smart she also knew that there was always going to be someone a little smarter. But she had found a job at a young adult magazine company editing articles and even on occasion she wrote a few articles, when her boss had a story no one else wanted to write about. She loved it, it was her passion and when she wrote she felt so much less lonely.

-

It was one week until her birthday and Riley, on a whim decided that she wanted to throw herself a party in order to celebrate. It was really just an excuse for her to reach out to her friends and attempt to get them to be in the same space at the same time. She had mailed out her invites and everyone had sent in their rsvp except for Farkle who had been living in London working for his father's company. She figured that asking Farkle to travel back was a long shot but she knew it was worth reaching out.

"So your parties next Saturday right?" Marcus who shared a cubical with Riley or as Marcus preferred to say, he was her cell mate. Marcus who was a few years older than Riley had warm brown skin, as his parents were from India, and he has dark chocolate eyes. He was quite well built and easy on the eyes. The other women in the office often joked that Riley had gotten lucky in getting to have her work space so close to his. But Riley had never really had too much romantic interest in him. She agreed that he was good looking but he was more of a player and tended to make jokes and tell her stories of his nights out on the town. As Riley was a much more stay in and relax kind of girl. Non the less the two got on well as work partners and she wasn't afraid to ask him for advise when she needed help on an assignment.

"Yeah its going to be great," Riley sung as she swung her chair around to face Marcus. "I have lot of friends of out of town coming in to celebrate so I'm ready for this next week hurry up and get done already" Her smile now took up her entire face and her eyes were sparkly confirming her excitement.

"So I guess I'll finally get to meet this famous Maya Hart that you never shut up about," He meant it as a joke and he chuckled while he said it but Riley hadn't realized how much time she spent talking about Maya. She missed her best friend more than even she could understand.

"I guess you will," Riley moved her chair back around to face her computer which had a photo of her and Maya as her screen saver. "Its about time too"

"She's coming alone right?" He asks and even though Riley couldn't see his face she knew he was smirking.

"Ha. ha. No she isn't" She said dryly as she typed away at her keyboard. "Her boyfriend Caleb is coming so get excited to meet him"

Riley didn't really know Caleb all that well. They had met once while she was staying with Maya out in California, which was where Maya was now living. Caleb had introduced himself and then backed off and left the two alone for the majority of her stay. She had thought it was kind of odd that he wouldn't be interested in spending time with the one person that Maya had grown up with the most but she had just assumed that he was shy. Maya also didn't really talk about him too much but she did claim that he made her happy which was all that Riley really needed to know. If Maya was happy then so was Riley.

"Hasn't stopped me before" Marcus quietly joked returning to his work. Riley hoped that Marcus would avoid making any advances at his party considering she was pretty close with almost every person who was attending.

-

After a few more hours had passed and her work day was over Riley had finally made her way back to her apartment. She lived in a two bedroom one bath that her parents had bought and leased out to her. It was her parents way of being in her adult life as much as possible and also was the card they pulled when they wanted her to watch Auggie over the weekend, even though he claimed he didn't need to be watched. The space was perfect for Riley, it was big enough to house guests but small enough to feel cozy. She loved it. She plonked herself down onto her cream colored couch and picked up her phone. She only had one message with was from her mother asking if Auggie could bring a friend to her party. She replied sure and decided to face-time Maya.

After pressing on Maya's contact the phone rang twice before Maya picked up.

"Peaches!" Riley squealed as Maya's face appeared. Maya looked almost exactly the same as she did when she graduated just slightly more mature.

"Riles!" Maya squeaked on the screen of the phone "I'd been meaning to call you, I think me and Caleb are going to come up early"

"Caleb and I, Peaches" She clarified for her friend. "Come early , come now! You can stay in my spare room. I'll wash some sheets" Riley stood up and walked to her small linen closet which housed her soft sheets.

"I'm looking for tickets right now, but I think we are going to just stay at a hotel," Maya frowned clearly this wasn't her idea. "I hope that's okay Riley"

"What?" Riley said moving back to her living room "But my room is free,"

"I know but Caleb is weird about these kind of things and I think it will just be better for everyone if we just stay at a hotel," She said while clicking on something on her computer.

"Fine, but I must see you the second you arrive so let me know when you pick a flight," Riley was now excited and sad at the same time. Was Caleb coming with Maya going to prevent them from seeing each other as much.

"Of course! As if you could keep me away," She was still mostly focused on her screen clearly determined to find the best deal on which ever website she was on. "Riles let me call you back when I find something good."

"Alright Peaches. Let me know" she smile before clicking the red end button on her phone. At least this meant more time with Maya. Riley then decided maybe it was time to take care of as much work as possible so that when her friend arrived she wouldn't have to worry about anything.