Maya's POV
None of us have talked since the party, nobody wanting to send the first text. I assume someone told Smackle about what we all got ourselves into. That means everyone has to acknowledge Lucas and what went down Friday night.
As 10 a.m. hits the next morning my phone chimes with a text from Zay in the group chat.
Isaiah The Idiotic: guys I'm not starting off summer vacation with this, all of us meet at Topanga's at 3 we're talking whether it's awkward or not
Well someone said it.
I take a deep breath before opening the door to Topangas. Smackle is ordering at the counter and I spot Zay and Riley talking at a table in the corner. She's tapping her fingers anxiously as I reach the two of them.
"What am I gonna say to him. He's going to be apologizing and I still don't know what to respond with" she turns to me, nervously rambling.
"Breathe Riles you're going to be alright, you can both find a way to handle it maturely okay" I try to reassure her.
Riley turns her head to the left and catches sight of Lucas and Farkle walking in. Lucas shoves his hands in his pockets and goes to stand next to us ducking his head slightly.
"I already talked everything over with Zay. I know I owe you both an explanation, especially you Riley" he says and lifts his head.
Now I'm able to see that he has a slight black eye forming. No wonder he's trying to hide from people. I should feel worse but it's not as awful as it could be. He meets my eyes first.
"Listen Maya I was way out of line. You were just trying to protect your best friend, I'm truly sorry for fighting back. Getting too drunk was my own reckless mistake that I have to take responsibility for and I'm sorry" he says and scratches the back of his head.
I nod, a tiny bit of the anger I have towards him subsiding since he really did drink too much and that's why he fucked up. It must be a wreck to be on his side of things.
"I'm sorry too, I let my anger get the best of me" I tell him.
I start to get sick of the absence of conversation with only Riley and Lucas staring at one another.
"We'll um let you two talk" I say and give Riley as reassuring of a smile as I can.
"This is between them she'll be okay" I tell to myself as I grab Zay's arm and go to sit elsewhere with Farkle and Smackle not far behind.
The four of us just make small talk about the summer ahead while Riley and Lucas have their talk and after what feels like hours Riley comes over to us.
"So what did he say?" I ask preparing myself for all the various outcomes.
"He said he regrets it more than he's ever regretted anything. He feels really bad that he let himself drink so much. He apologized more times than I could count. I'm sure we're going to be alright" she responds shakily and sits down next to us.
"Well um that's good, I'm glad he was responsible about this" I say as the boy in question joins the group.
I think she's going to be okay, at least he owned up to it. I, for one, can't completely forgive him though. I've heard the saying that drunk actions are sober thoughts and regardless of how much I actually buy into that, he doesn't hide his feelings for Riley. He's not the one who has to and it's driving me insane.
"This is awkward, I'm getting a donut" Zay says and stands up.
"Hey can you buy me a coffee?" Farkle asks, trying to clear the air.
"Absolutely not I'm not made of cash, get your own" Zay says and turns on his heel.
Their bickering makes everything feel refreshingly normal. All of us except Smackle, who already had a cookie, buy some food and we go back to the normal order of things.
Zay steals a piece of Farkle's croissant when he isn't looking, Lucas is playfully bragging about how many people he got to sign his yearbook by the end of finals, and Smackle is glaring at Farkle for teasing her about already starting her summer homework.
I'm sure everyone wants to brush this under the carpet and move on with their lives. And I couldn't agree more.
~~~
Riley's POV
"Did you just blue shell me?!?" Maya yells as she watches her character drop down to 4th place.
"Yep, sucks for you" I reply back smiling happily from 3rd.
"Your success, as amusing as it is, will not last" she says determinedly.
"We'll see about that" I tell her and turn the corner for the final lap. She nudges me in the side and I almost crash into the wall.
"Interference!" I yell and she just shrugs innocently.
Suddenly my car is hit by a banana peel thrown by no other than Maya herself as she speeds by.
"You can't just...I can't believe you!" I exclaim watching Maya pass me and somehow speed her way to first.
"What's that? I can't hear you from the top of the board" she sing songs.
"Now I'm in 5th" I reply bitterly.
"Told you it wouldn't last sweetheart" she says, smirking, which only makes me more distracted and I end up finishing in 6th.
"Fine, congratulations you've beaten me again" I surrender, and roll my eyes when she stands up and bows.
"You have to accept that Mario Kart just isn't your speciality Riles" she says.
"Girls?" Topanga's voice calls from the hallway.
"In the living room" Maya shouts back.
Topanga walks over to us on the couch, clad in a fancy red dress and fixing her hair.
"Oooh mom what's the occasion?"
"Your father and I are going out to dinner tonight. I mentioned it last night but we'll be gone until maybe eleven. As you know, Auggie is over at Dewey's house and I trust you two can take care of each other" she says.
"Of course we can" Maya offers a lopsided grin and wraps an arm around my shoulder.
"Alright, Riley a big storm is supposed to roll in within the next two hours so Maya can sleep over if the weather is too bad" she tells us as Cory emerges and wraps his arm around her waist.
"Yeah the weather is supposed to be horrible you should stay inside, especially you Ms. Hart" he says and makes an 'I'm watching you' gesture.
She only offers an exaggerated thumbs up as we watch my parents grab umbrellas and wave until they're out the door.
"So how about a movie and popcorn?" Maya excitedly leaps up.
"Sounds good but you're making the popcorn" I respond as I unplug the game controllers.
She complains enough that we settle on a game of Rock Paper Scissors for it and I lose, as usual. She runs off to my room while I put the bag in the microwave and wait.
Within an hour we're halfway through the Disney movie that I picked out. Maya has jokingly scoffed her way through most of it but she played a horror movie when she got to choose last time.
"This is such a cheesy scene" she says under her breath.
It obviously wasn't as quiet as she expected because I hear it and throw a popcorn kernel at her.
"What was that for?"
"This is a great scene, don't mock Disney. Cheesy can be nice" I reply.
"You're such a dork" she looks at me.
"Yes but I'm your dork so you have to put up with it" I say and turn to meet her gaze.
"I wouldn't want it any other way" she says with a laugh and moves away from her spot by the headboard of my bed.
She puts her head in my lap instead, and as if the current physical contact wasn't enough, she grabs my hand and tugs it closer to her keeping hold of it. I tilt my head downwards but her attention is still focused on the movie, smiling softly at the actors onscreen who I know she isn't truly watching. And with her face softly illuminated in the darkness by the light of the laptop screen accompanied by the faint clangs of raindrops on the fire escape outside, I know that I've fallen completely in love with this girl.
A large crack of thunder outside breaks me out of the little daydream state I'm in. Maya jolts up out of my lap enough to the point where she falls off the bed's edge where we were sitting. I wanted the moment to last but at this point I can't help laughing at Maya who's cursing at the thunder for her fall. I turn on a lamp and see her sitting on the floor.
"Stop laughing you jerk" she says bitterly while rubbing the side of her head.
"Well it's not my fault you're afraid of a little thunder peaches"
"I'm not afraid of thunder it just took me by surprise" she stands up carefully.
"Uh huh sure" I say and put one of the pillows she knocked down back in place before leaning forward to pause the movie.
A pillow suddenly hits me right in the face and I can see Maya giggling standing next to the bed.
"Oh so that's how this is going to go, alright then take this" I throw a pillow directly at her but she ducks and dodges it.
"You need much better aim if you want to win, if I were you I wouldn't try me Riles" she taunts, a dangerous glint in her eyes.
"I have great aim! I only missed because you ducked!" I reply and hop off the bed to hit her in the side with another pillow.
"You and I both know that's a lie" is all I hear before all hell breaks loose and we're both using whatever pillows we can grab to hit each other.
She's pummeled me enough that I'm kneeling on my bed trying to combat the ridiculous amount of arm strength she has.
Within seconds I've fallen backwards on the bed and Maya sees this as an opportunity to get ahead.
"Okay okay I give up! Stop the violence!" I put my arms in front of my face drying to deflect her blows.
A devilish smirk plays at the corner of her lips as she pulls the pillow away.
"I told you not to test me Matthews" she says.
"Yeah we all know you're awful when it comes to tests" I tease her.
She just rolls her eyes and tries to fix her, now messy, blonde hair.
Being so preoccupied by defending myself I failed to realize the fact that Maya is literally laying on top of me. She's propped up with her elbows on either side of me and our faces are mere inches apart.
I watch Maya as her eyes flicker down to mine and widen, seemingly noticing our position for the first time too. She's blushing hard and I can feel the nervous tension radiating from both of us.
It seems like the world is holding its breath with me because she's not making any effort to move away. The only sound I can hear is my own heart hammering away at my ribcage and I'm getting hopelessly lost in the beautiful blue of her eyes.
And before I can even attempt to utter a single word her lips are on mine. My brain goes into overdrive trying to process the feeling. Everything is so gentle and slow and her lips are just as soft as I imagined. It doesn't feel like anything I've ever felt before, and yet the sensation is familiar enough to feel like it's all I've ever known.
I'm barely able to kiss her back like I desperately want to when she pulls away quickly.
"Oh god I'm sorry I didn't mean- I wasn't trying to-" she says visibly panicking.
She hops off the bed faster than I've ever seen her move and almost trips trying to grab her shoes.
I mange to snap myself out of being completely frozen enough call out her name. I only receive faint rumbles of thunder in response. She's already thrown open the window and fled into the night, leaving me with an abundance of unanswered questions and a slight taste of honey on my lips.
———
a/n: this chapter has so many words but I've wanted to write their first kiss for FOREVER so I hope it's alright. Thought I should write something lengthy anyway since I've been gone a month sorry about that, April has just been extra busy for me. I hope next update won't take that long but I had to be dramatic at the end of this chapter. Any comments or votes are appreciated I hope everyone enjoyed!