Maya's POV
"Hey Farkle" I mumble when a visibly sleep deprived Farkle answers his front door.
"Hey, come on in" he says tiredly.
"Were you seriously asleep" I ask, noticing the disheveled state his hair is in.
"Well until you texted yeah I was" he replies with a yawn, as we navigate through the maze of hallways to get to his bedroom.
I stop to look at him with a look questioning why he slept in so late.
"I was texting Smackle until one and then couldn't sleep until four" he shrugs.
I follow him into his room and sit down in a chair near the windows.
"What reason do you have for waking up at noon?" he asks as he grabs two sprites from a mini fridge, a new addition to his room.
"How do you know I didn't wake up earlier" I say as he tosses a can to me and sits down in the chair beside me.
"Because I know you" he says confidently.
"Yeah whatever"
"So what is your excuse for staying up late enough to wake up mid-afternoon?" he continues.
"It's uh actually the reason I asked to talk with you" I rub the back of my neck nervously.
"I'm listening, you can tell me anything" he says quietly.
"I kinda sorta maybe kissed Riley last night and I don't know how to ever face her again" I reply quickly.
"Oh thank god it's about time" he says casually as his face breaks into a grin.
"Wait you're not at all shocked? You expected this?" I say, genuinely confused.
"Yeah Maya you two are the worst at being secretive. Lucas, Zay, even Smackle we've been waiting for this ship to sail forever."
"But Lucas dated Riley, he's still into her" I point out.
"Doesn't mean he's blind to what's happening right in front of him"
"How can you possibly be convinced that there's something real between us, I'm just hopelessly into her. End of story" I tell him.
Riley doesn't feel the same way she's just overly friendly, we're close friends there's no feelings on her side of this there can't be.
"Best friends don't just look at each other the way you two do."
"Oh I see what the problem is here, you're delusional" I roll my eyes and look up at the space decals on his ceiling.
"Here let me elaborate. You know that vine 'two bros chillin in a hot tub five feet apart cuz they're not gay'?"
"Yeah?" I raise my eyebrow and look back at him wondering how that could possibly be relevant.
"You two are the polar opposite of that vine and I wouldn't be surprised if the whole grade could see the tension there" he says.
"Are you really using a vine to explain this to me Minkus?"
"Well how else are you going to realize how terrible you are at the concept of subtlety?" he says.
"I'm not that obvious about it" I reply, halfheartedly trying to be defensive.
"Congratulations Maya you take the grand prize for the least believable lie I've heard all year" he slow claps.
"C'mon this is serious Farkle, just tell me how you already pieced everything together that day of the field trip" I reply pleadingly.
"Oh I've always known"
He pauses to take a sip of his sprite nonchalantly.
"That's not possible I only realized that I like her mere weeks ago, I didn't even tell you I liked girls even though somehow you seemed to figure it out" I reply.
"Oh it's possible. You've been watching her in class all stupid and dreamingly for years. You look at her like she's the physical embodiment of light and happiness and you're always biting your lip and if that's not love then-"
"Alright alright that's enough" I say.
"Oh you're totally blushing now, see I was right as usual" he points at my face with a hint of a smirk.
I swat at his arm but I know he speaks the truth.
"Great now that you've called me out on being a wreck will you please give me good advice that I specifically came to you for" I sigh and try to save myself from further embarrassment.
"You're not going to like it but the best thing you can do is talk about everything that went down with her" he replies with a sympathetic shrug.
"That's what I was afraid you'd say" I say as I play with the hem of my shirt, already anxious.
"There's not a 100% chance of it ending badly you know. She could take it way better than you expect. Talk to her okay, and real soon because I'm sure you've avoided any contact with her out of fear of rejection. She's probably worried at this point. Just be you Maya, no one else can and you're important to her" he puts a hand on my shoulder and stands up.
"I guess you're right" I say slowly.
He offers me a hand up and I take it, engulfing him in a sincere hug.
"Thank you Farkle"
"Anytime" he says.
~~~
After getting back to my room at home I keep telling myself I need to go over to Riley's but instead watch as the hours tick by. Farkle is absolutely right that I need to talk this through and I'm eternally grateful with how gracefully he handled the way I poured all my feelings out to him. His advice is what I needed but I can't find the courage to follow through with it. I know deep down that she won't just leave me in the dust and stop being friends with me but that doesn't mean she won't change. She'd stop being as touchy to spare my feelings and the thought of that only adds to the pain and guilt my heart feels.
I pick up my phone hesitantly and scroll back through my notifications to the calls and texts from Riley.
Nine missed calls and twelve texts from her most from last night some from this morning.
The words start to become a blur halfway through the fifth notification preview of her messages because it shows how genuinely confused and worried about me being unresponsive she is. I wipe away the tears furiously and shakily put the phone down.
I hear footsteps approach the door and the handle turning to no avail.
"Babygirl I know you're sulking about something you won't tell me but please unlock your door at least. We're ordering pizza and Shawn found a movie he really wants to see, you're welcome to join us" Katy's muffled voice sounds from the hallway.
"Thanks mom I'll think about it" I call back knowing full well that I don't care enough to unlock the door and won't go join them just yet.
"Alright I hope you know I'm here and you can talk to me if you need someone to talk to you" she offers.
"I do, thank you for the support" I reply, cringing at my own word choice and making a mental note to apologize to her and Shawn after I confront the Riley situation.
I listen to her footsteps fade and the faint noises of Shawn washing dishes in the kitchen.
I grab my laptop and put on Netflix to once again avoid dealing with my feelings.
Everything was fine for an hour, I watched a dorky teen drama and immersed myself in the overdramatic plot lines until I hear footsteps outside my door again.
I turn my volume down but ignore them assuming it's my mom here to ask me to come out of my room again but the subsequent knock isn't accompanied by her voice.
"Peaches?"
I freeze. It's Riley's voice. Oh no. Oh no no no she came to my house. I close my laptop as quietly as possible.
"Maya I know you're in there, your mom let me in"
Of course she did. I love my mom but she's clueless to what's going on and now things are going to get worse. I did refuse to tell her so she probably assumed this was just Riley coming over to comfort me.
"I'm not here you can't prove anything" I mumble.
"I know you're here, can we just talk? You wouldn't respond to my texts or answer my calls I had no other way to reach you other than showing up like this" she says as I hear her try the door handle.
There's an audible sigh as she says "please just open this door"
"No" I say apprehensively.
I want to talk to her I want to get this over with but seeing her face again is going to make everything harder.
"You have to let me in" she says in response.
"Go away" my voice cracks as I try to hold back all the emotions flooding in past the walls I'm desperately trying to keep up.
"Not until you talk to me" she says more loudly.
I know I'm being cowardly and selfish but I can't stop myself from trying to get her to just turn around and go back to her own home. I'm not ready for everything to come crumbling down and start to change.
"Just leave me alone Riley" I match her volume as I turn away from the door.
"Open the door!" her voice rises.
"No!" I yell right back.
"Ring power"
Dammit. I look down at the ring on my finger and know I have to go over and open that stupid door.
I drag my feet over to the only thing separating the two of us and unlock the lock.
She must hear it because she turns the handle immediately and as she takes a step into my room it starts to become way too real.
I take a few steps backwards as she closes the door behind her. Her eyes look tired but they still carry the familiar little sparkle she always has in them.
"I'm sorry" I say weakly.
"It's alright I knew you'd open the door eventually" she says.
"Not for that for kissing you" I cut her off quickly.
"You don't have to be but now I ask you again, can we please just address that?"
"I don't really want to" I say.
"We have to, why can't we just talk about this?" she asks as she moves to stand in front of me.
"Because!"
"Because what Maya!"
"Because...because I think I'm"
I pause, terrified and trying to collect my thoughts. It's now or never.
She's looking at me in anticipation, no doubt trying to read my emotions and why I'm acting like this.
With trembling hands I swallow my pride and finally admit it.
"I think I'm in love with you"
The blank expression she has only makes my nerves worse as I start rambling with the confession up in the air now.
"And I'm so sorry, I know your heart belongs to Lucas and I know he's the one you want to be with and we're just friends but—"
Then for the second time in the last insane twenty-four hours our lips meet. I couldn't help but kiss her, it was the only way to convey what I'm feeling without rambling into oblivion. I felt like my soul left my body when she met me halfway.
She puts her hands on my waist and gently pulls me in closer. I settle on closing my eyes and loosely wrapping my arms around her neck, losing myself in the feeling of properly kissing her.
Her lips are soft and taste like strawberries and summer and it's quite literally intoxicating. My brain can't process any coherent thoughts about Lucas or how she feels about me, only the fact that holy shit I'm kissing Riley Matthews and she's kissing me back.
She pulls away shyly, blushing hard. I can't help the smile that finds its way to my lips when she doesn't attempt to put any space between us afterwards.
"It's you who have my heart Maya, it's always been you" she whispers softly, running her thumb over my cheekbone gently.
Now we're both definitely blushing. I look away from her eyes, gaze lingering on her lips before glancing back into those bright brown eyes.
"C-can we do that again?"
She nods happily and just like that I'm back to tangling my hands in her hair and losing every one of my senses to the feeling of how right it feels to kiss her.
———
a/n: I was hoping to post this over the weekend but some stuff came up so I had to finish writing today. Anyway it's currently the 5th day of pride month and I'm so happy to post this chapter now because I've been planning to write it forever and finally all the angst is over. Happy pride month to everyone, no matter what sexuality or gender you are, whether you're able to be out or not, you're valid and this month is for all of us 🏳️🌈