Ride Home To Me

Chapter 13

Once Tony and my ma make a big deal of our outfits and take plenty of photos, Dom, Letty, Mia, her date Josh, and I climb into Dom's car and head off to the school. I step out of the car to hear a voice call out my name from down the sidewalk.

"Gabi!" I turn to see Maya coming over and my voice catches in my throat. She's wearing this green dress that's fitted on the torso but flows out at the bottom, and her hair is pulled away from her face just like mine. I open my mouth to speak, but barely even a squeak passes my lips.

Mia pinches the back of my shoulder and snaps me out of my trance with an "ow!"

"Hey Maya," I say, rubbing my shoulder and shooting a look at Mia.

"You-you look beautiful," she stammers.

"You don't look so bad yourself," I smile at her and give her a hug.

Letty and Mia join in briefly, and we take off to the gym. Letty and Dom disappear into the crowd and Josh takes Mia to the dance floor. Maya and I decide to hang by the snack table.

"So," I speak up, leaning against the wall. "Why'd you ask me to come?"

She blushes and comes next to me.

"I don't really know. You just kinda give off that vibe. It's not super obvious don't worry," she adds when seeing my worried expression. I exhale in relief. "I think it's just easier to tell for people like us. Honestly my backup was just to play it off like I meant it as friends if you turned out to not be...well..."

"Gay?" I chuckle softly and shrug. "We are the chicks without dates, after all."

She bursts into laughter. "Touché."

"Careful there girl," I smirk. "Don't wanna look like you're having too much fun with another lady."

"Let's go dance with our friends then." She grabs my hand as an upbeat song starts to play. We join the crowd of cheering teenagers. Surprisingly, I find myself having fun. We do silly dances with our classmates and sing our hearts out to Eminem and Tupac. We even manage to find Letty, Dom, Mia, and Josh, who bring us into their little circle. I scream with Letty when our favorite Jay-Z song starts playing and Maya even starts singing along.

Suddenly I feel somebody grab my waist, pulling me roughly to the side.

"Aw hell nah," I say, turning and immediately shoving the dude that grabbed me. He pulls me towards him again.

"Come on, dance with me," he smirks. I scoff in disbelief and try unsuccessfully to wiggle out of his grasp.

"Hijo de tu puta madre-" I swing my fist at the dude, who dodges it just enough for me to escape from his grip. I move towards him again but find myself restricted by some very strong arms. I look behind me to see Dom.

"He ain't even worth it Gabi, come on," I hear him say. I send a look that could kill towards the guy, who just shrugs when he sees Dom and disappears into the crowd.

"Gabi if you told me you were gonna fight somebody today I would've just let you wear the jeans," Mia remarks, trying not to laugh.

"Damn, I guess I should've planned better," I say dryly. I can hear Maya laugh out of view when she suddenly hugs me from behind. I find myself feeling safe in her arms, which scares me. But I let myself smile a bit, and soon everyone is laughing.

The next hour flies by, but even though there's still half of the dance left I get over it pretty fast. I can tell Dom and Letty feel the same. They look like they're getting antsy. I stop dancing with Maya and wave at the two of them and Mia and Josh.

"Why don't we get outta here?" I suggest, grinning.

Not five minutes later we are in the car on our way to the beach. The city lights passing by, my head resting on Maya's shoulder, the music pumping through the speakers... I can honestly say I've never felt so content in any moment before. The beach is completely empty except for some cars that are parked far away. We go and sit on the sand, slightly separate but still close together. I close my eyes and take in the salty smell of the breeze.

Suddenly I feel a hand slide across my shoulder. I turn to see Maya looking sheepish, and I grin, shuffling over so I can lean against her.

"I was thinking," she says quietly. "Maybe we can go out sometime? Only if you want to, I just thought it might be fun to grab lunch together or something."

I find myself looking towards the couple in front of us. The one who I hit with my locker door, who gave me a home, who takes no shit and never fails to put a smile on my face. Maybe there's a part of me that wishes it could happen, but I know it's not meant to be. I turn to Maya. She's so far been the only other one who manages to take my mind off things and she makes me feel wanted, safe.

"Gabi?" she asks. "You okay?"

I sigh. "I'm a little afraid of taking you up on that," I admit. "Honestly... I was afraid of even coming tonight."

"Why?"

"I had a girlfriend over the summer. But it ended really badly."

"How bad is badly?"

"I mean I'm here instead of still out in Miami, right?"

Maya cringes. "I'm sorry."

I shrug. "I guess it was kind of a blessing in disguise." I look towards Mia and Dom and Letty. "That family is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I just don't want it to end up the same as it did before. I don't think I could take it if I had to move again."

"Hey," Maya takes my chin and turns my face towards her. "Look, I get it. If you don't want to, or if you're not ready, that's okay." She nudges me. "Just know that if you ever wanna try it out again you got a girl you know who just might be into you."

I grin. "Just might?"

"Yeah maybe," she giggles.

Before my better judgement stops me, I lean forward and give her a soft kiss.

"Thanks Maya," I say. She starts blushing furiously and stammers something about "no problem."

That night I climb into bed with butterflies in my stomach and this floating feeling in my chest. After tossing and turning around for a while I groan and finally just reach for my phone, sending a quick text.

Gabi:

Why don't we get lunch on Tuesday? I know a place ;)

I sigh and put the phone down. She's probably asleep at this point. I close my eyes, willing sleep to take me, when my phone suddenly buzzes.

Maya:

Sounds perfect. See you Tuesday :)