Girl Meets 23

6 (Maya)

-New York City, USA-

Maya instantly regretted coming to New York early, Caleb was being difficult from the moment they stepped off the plane. Apparently he hated New York city especially during the colder months. Caleb had grown up in southern California and had strongly disliked anywhere that had more than just the summer season. Growing up Maya hated the cold only because she didn't have the best winter coats and snow shoes. But since moving to the heat she missed the crisp cold nights and the smell of fresh snow in the mornings, even though nothing really stays fresh in NYC. Maya decided to pull out her phone to let Riley know that they had survived the plane ride and where now on their way to the hotel.

  "I can't believe you grew up here," Caleb said scrolling on his phone. "Its the most miserable city in the United States" This declaration made Maya roll her eyes, sometimes Caleb said the dumbest things

  "Really? I loved living here," Maya countered not trying to argue too much with her boyfriend knowing that a fight based on opinion would never be won and they hadn't even made it to the hotel yet.

  "Well, I'm very happy we live in LA, I would never live here" This made Maya really annoyed but instead of saying anything she just kept texting Riley.

In the future Maya did want to move back to New York. She wanted to settle here and start a family in the same city where she grew up; near Riley and her family who were her support system. She had thought she might one day even work in a gallery in Manhattan, that was her dream. But she knew that in life you have to make compromises for love and maybe staying in LA was a compromise she was willing to make. Maya didn't think necessarily that she would ever marry Caleb and start a family with him but as time went on she felt more and more comfortable with the life she had set up for herself with him back in LA. They had a nice apartment on a street that didn't have too much traffic on it and she worked for a art distribution center. Yes it wasn't her dream life but it was livable and that was what mattered to Maya.

The only real issue that she struggled with was the distance from Riley. Every now and then she felt like she was missing out on making important life moments with her best friend and it saddened her. She didn't have too many friends outside of Caleb and her job back in LA and she got lonely when Caleb was away at night playing at gigs which lately was almost every night. When she and Caleb had first started going out he would take her to his gigs and she would have a blast listening to his music and she found that the club scene for a time even inspired to create more of her own art. But now Caleb is gone when she gets home from work and comes home extremely early in the morning, normally with a lingering smell of whiskey and unfamiliar perfume. She did suspected there might be other women but when she confronted him he got angry and tried to explain to her that there were of course lot of girls at his gigs and by accident he probably walked past one putting on perfume. It was defiantly a lie but Maya decided to just agree with him. Sometimes when Caleb was mad he scared her and she couldn't handle him when he boiled over. She never told Riley about how Caleb could be sometimes. She knew that her best friend would try and rescue her when she didn't need rescuing. Maya had even asked that Caleb try to distance himself while Riley was visiting which of course Caleb was more than happy to do. He thought Riley was annoying and overly chatty, that in itself made Maya sad. How could she even consider spending the rest of her life with someone who didn't love Riley as much as her.

     "Maya, I think we're here," Caleb said poking her in the arm waking her up from her own thoughts. He was right they had made it to their hotel. They paid the cab driver and got out of the car. "Go check us in, I'll deal with the bags" Caleb told her and marched his way to the back of the taxi to get their luggage out of the trunk. The hotel was nice, not the most expensive in New York that's for sure but it was affordable and pretty conveniently located. It was only a few blocks away from the Matthew's house. Maya walked up to the front desk and was checked in by a pretty young lady. She had ivory skin and dark almond shaped eyes. Maya tried to take a mental image of the girl in her mind, she thought she might try and sketch her later on.

  "You guys are on the eighth floor, room eight one seven. The elevators are down the hall to your left," She pointed towards where the elevators seemed to be and handed Maya the room keys. Maya checked to make sure there were two, she had specifically asked when she book the room for two keys. This way both her and Caleb could access the room even when they aren't together and he couldn't lock her out. Maya slipped out one of the keys and dropped it into her purse.

  "Thank you," Maya said to the front desk lady and turned to see her boyfriend leaned up against the wall by one of the elevators laughing at something he was looking at on his phone. He did have a really nice smile, it was moments when he look like this that she remembered why she fell in love with him in the first place.  "Ready to go up?" She asked quietly as she made her way over to him and grabbed the luggage he'd set aside on the floor next to him. Caleb mumbled some kind of yes, still looking down at his phone and the two made their way up to their home for the next two weeks.