Longing Hearts [Rilaya]

teenage delirium

Maya's POV

It's only when I get out of the car do I really see how big the Gardner house is.

"Woah" Riley says as she gets out and stands to my right.

I can hear the music blasting from here. I see Riley go to pay the driver in my peripheral vision and grab her wrist lightly.

"No it's on me, I'm the one who made you come" I say and hand the man the money before she can protest. He nods at us and drives off.

"I could've paid for it you know" she says.

"Yeah but I wanted to do it" I say as she pouts about it.

Only Riley would be pouting about not having to pay for something. I walk up to the door on the path surrounded by an elegant garden. This place is bigger than Farkle's house which is saying a lot. Riley jogs up next to me and knocks on the door.

A tall boy with brown hair that I recognize as Eli holds it open to greet us.

"Hey Zay invited you two right?" he shouts in order to be heard over the noise of the party behind him.

I wonder how he even heard the knock over all the commotion.

"Yeah" Riley replies just as loudly.

"Maya" he glances at me and smiles.

"Hey, this is Riley by the way" I say.

"Nice to meet you Riley. Zay is in the basement as far as I know. Charlie is out back. Parents are away for the weekend, so try not to trash the place although I doubt I need to worry about you two in particular" he says and motions us inside.

He points out the basement door before running off to a group of guys nearby.

"Well he was surprisingly polite" Riley says as she shuts the door behind us.

"Don't get used to it" I say as I open the door to go downstairs.

This is a high school party after all. If the guys here aren't drunk, then they're just naturally jerks.

We walk down the steps and see Zay observing a game of ping pong that's going on. I spot Lucas, Farkle, and another guy talking on the couch.

"Oh you made it!" Zay walks over happily.

"I see you managed to get Riley to come" he says with a nod of approval.

"It's about time" Lucas says as he joins the conversation

"You're acting like she's never come before, she just hasn't come to the last two" Farkle scoffs from the couch still in conversation with the boy I don't recognize.

"At least I'm dressed appropriately" Riley says.

It was casual like Zay said, most people were just dressed in everyday clothes with the exception of some girls we passed on the way down. They were wearing short dresses and were all hanging over some boys. I'm not really a partier in that sense, I don't see the point.

"Lucas do you know if they have water or where it is?" Riley speaks up.

"It's probably in the kitchen, I can get it" he replies.

"No I'll get it, I'll be back" I interrupt and head off before he can try to do it himself. Gotta be quicker than that Friar. I watch his face turn into a frown as I walk up to the foot of the stairs and I don't even care how passive aggressive I might seem.

I reach the top of the steps and brace myself for the chaos outside the door.

I step onto the main floor, taking in the atmosphere around me as I search for the kitchen. A bunch of people are standing around with red solo cups in hand talking in a room off to my left. Normal enough. As I continue walking down the main hallway the music gets obnoxiously loud and I pass what I assume is the living room. A large mass of people are dancing, some clearly drunk out of their minds.