And Then She Stopped

chapter three

"Maya, your life is literally the best. I wish my parents were more like your mom."

"Trust me sweetie," she started to lower her voice, ending her sentence in a mumble "you don't."

A few hours later everyone had to go their separate ways and do their school work for the weekend, Maya was coming back to Riley's house and she was going to help Riley babysit Auggie. Topanga drove them back to the apartment so they wouldn't have to walk and when they got up there Auggie was waiting for them on the couch. Maya went straight for the fridge, which was always a strange thing to Riley but she didn't mind, her parents were always okay with Maya eating as much as she wanted. Maya grabbed a box of Ritz crackers and a glass of apple juice before settling next to Riley on the couch.

"Maya?"

"Yeah, Riles?"

"Did you notice anything different about Lucas today?" Maya choked on the apple juice, she had to run to the sink to keep from coughing juice all over the living room. "Because I think there's a lot of tension between us." Maya came over with a towel and dried off the coffee table and re-settled next to Riley.

"I don't know Riles, I've never had a good relationship with anyone but you."

They clicked on the TV and were watching Disney Channel with Auggie, they would never tell anyone but they actually did enjoy some of the shows on there. During all the shows Maya was imagining life with the perfect TV family, where there are two parents and no one gets hurt, while Riley was fantasizing about living like Maya for a day. Leaving the house without being checked by what felt like airport security, getting home whenever she'd like, and above all not having to worry about anything. After all. The grass sure looks green over there.

Around eight Cory got home from the school, there was a teacher's workshop, and so Maya had to go home. It was family game night and everyone knows what happened the last time there was a friend at family game night. He used to be okay with Maya being there, but ever since the last incident he didn't want to make it look like he was willing to make exceptions, and Maya understood. There was nothing exceptional about her. Riley gave Maya a hug goodbye and watched her climb out the window and then she went back to the kitchen to grab a bowl of chips. I bet Maya doesn't even need to ask to eat chips, she can eat whatever she wants.

Riley sat down around the table and watched with a smile as her parents fought between what game to play and Auggie slid into her lap. For, not the first time, they all fell asleep before even playing a game because in reality choosing what to play was the game. There used to be a schedule, however that didn't really last since someone lost it.

The next day was Sunday and Riley got all dressed and ready for church. Church was great, during adult Bible study her and Lucas could just talk to each other with no one interrupting, which would be a nice change of pace considering all the tension from the week.

Inside the church it was lovely, there was colored glass paneling on the ceiling and sound proof walls so you couldn't hear the New York city street language in church. The Matthews always chose to sit in the front row, right in the wet zone- it was only really bad whenever the Pastor said Sabbath or Scripture. Typically Riley doodled in the pamphlet they give out when you walk in, she was listening but she was more focused on making her drawing of an eye look less like she was drawing a beetle.

When the service was over Cory and Topanga brought Auggie down into the daycare center while Riley went into the fellowship hall where she usually met up with Lucas. The pastry of the day today was jelly doughnuts and Riley happily grabbed one before standing next to Lucas at a table.

"Hi."

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Hi."

Silence. They both ate their doughnuts in silence, watching as people came through. Riley enjoyed to watch people, it freaked her out how every single person in the world has different thoughts and memories.

"We should try to bring Maya in here sometime." Riley said, trying to break the silence, while crumpling and smoothing out her napkin.

"I think if and when Maya wants to come she will, I don't want to force her into believing anything." Lucas was ripping his napkin into small pieces.

After what seemed like decades the adults finally came out from Bible study and collected their children to bring home. Riley and Lucas said a goodbye that was just as uncomfortable as their hello and they went their separate ways.

Upon arriving back at their apartment Riley went into her room and onto her phone. She wanted to text Lucas to figure out what was going on. Riley was best at communicating over text, it gave her time to figure out what she really wanted to say and it was much easier to leave a conversation then it was in person. This specific text conversation however was not as successful as they usually are for Riley, especially since it ended with her agreeing to "just talk in person tomorrow."

Riley got ready for bed and had her lights out by nine. She checked her phone for any new messages, there were only a few so she clicked it off and went to bed. Of course she had no idea what was going to happen tomorrow morning.