Maya's POV
It's my birthday! I'm 14! I hop off my bed and get dressed! Mom said that today she'd take a free day to spend with me and I couldn't be happier. We haven't hung out lately so this makes me really exited for today. I fix my hair and walk to the living area.
"Mom?" I don't see her. She must be in the bathroom so I check there, nothing. Maybe she's hiding to surprise
"Come on mom! Where are you?" I notice a cupcake on the table and a note under it.
"Sorry, had to take an extra shift today. I won't be back for the day. Enjoy your cupcake tho. Love you, mom XOXO" I sigh. How could I be such a fool? I should've expected this. I'm not even hungry. I head to Riley's. Hope she won't ask many questions. I climb the bay window and I'm happily greeted by my best friend who gives me the box that contains...another one?
"Happy 14, Maya! How's 14? Tell me what it's like to be 14, but don't leave anything out" Another box? How many are in there?
"So far it is a lot of work"
"Because you know I'll be there soon, and I want to know what I have to look forward to" I fake a smile
"Well, if you're like me, you can look forward to your mother forgetting your birthday"
"Oh, no she did not!" she tries to sneak out of the window but I stop her... another box?!
"Where you goin', honey?"
"Must talk to your mom"
"Must not get involved"
"Why do you tell me these things if you don't expect me to fix them?" I sigh
"When you're 14, you'll understand" that's just an excuse, she will never understand it
"How could your mother forget your birthday, Maya?"
"I've stopped trying to figure it out. She was already gone when I woke up this morning. She probably just took an early shift at the diner"
"Rather than be there for your birthday? Uh-uh" woah, rings?
"Riles, a friendship ring"
"Yeah"
"Two of them"
"Yeah!"
"In case I lose one"
"No"
"Well, anybody else would have just gotten me one"
"No"
"Oh, I get it"
"Yeah"
"One for each hand"
"No" I put one on my left ring finger
"I'll never take this off until I die"
"You'll probably die before me since you're older. Should I tell the people not to take it off your dead corpse body?" that was...pretty morbid
"Yeah, would you do that for me?"
"And, Maya, the other ring..." I take it and slide it to her ring finger as well
"...is for you."
"Yeah. Oh, no. If you're not there, who's going to tell the people not to take it off my dead corpse body? Happy Birthday, Maya" We hug
"Thanks for not forgetting" Elliot calls us
"Girls! Look who came!" she sounded pretty happy. Maybe it's my mom! She was just messing with me this morning! We run to the living room and- Shawn..."Are you really here?"
"Yep, I'm here." Elliot and him hug
"Uncle Shawn!"
"Hey there. Hey" he might not be my mom but happy that he's here
"Hey" I say before we hug
"It's her birthday. Squeeze her good"
"Oh, Happy Birthday, kiddo. You doing something special?" I shrug
"This is it" Ms. and Mr. Matthews comes in holding a cake, how sweet of them
"Honey, hide the cake before Maya gets here"
"I know, but you know what we should do? We should bring this cake to Maya's mother just in case she forgot to get her own kid a cake" my smile falls
"Oh, you think that could actually happen?" his wife asks after she notices that everyone is seeing them
"Honey, I grew up with Shawn Hunter. Remember his mother? She forgot where she lived. See, my biggest worry is that forgetting to give your kid a cake is the first step to forgetting where you live"
"Oh, that's not your biggest worry anymore" he takes a deep breath
"Maya's behind me, isn't she? Why is everybody always behind me? Okay, Maya, I'm not going to turn around because I'm all embarrassed, but you know how much I like your mother"
"I know you do. You always defend her"
"Because at least she's not-"
"No, everything's fine! Stop talking"
"Shawn's mother! What a cuckoo. 'Ah, it's Tuesday! I better run away!'" he laughs, yeah, that wasn't funny
"You have to laugh, huh, Topanga? Nice face"
"You want to turn around or you want me to turn you around?"
"How you doin', Shawn?"
"Well, it ain't Tuesday, so pretty good" Mr. Matthews throws the cake in the air and hugs Shawn. Luckily Elliot grabs it
"Shawny! Ah! How you doin', buddy?"
"Just here doing a photo essay 'Weekends in New York for under $100.' It's impossible. Can I stay here?"
"We found him on the couch. Can we keep him?"
"Wait a minute. Who let you in?"
"I have a key"
"You gave him a key?"
"Fine, I'll give you a key"
"You love me!"
"I do love you. You have the key to my heart" What a smartass. That's how you get out of trouble
"So who has the key to your heart?" Riley asks her uncle
"Yeah, you ever been in love or what?"
"Angela time?" Who's Angela?
"Seems unavoidable"
"Angela. Spill it"
"Yeah, was she all tortured poet-wanderer-female-you type?"
"You guys want to know how they fell in love?"
"He went through her purse" Woah, seems fun.
"What?"
"I can explain that"
"Girls, trust us, it was very romantic in high school"
"So basically he fell in love with a concept?" I giggle
"It was doomed from the start"
"Never let me do that"
"I would kill it immediately. That's what best friends are supposed to do" The itersect our hands in the air
"Ring power!"
"Ring power!"
"Thunder!"
"Lightning!" Shawn puts our hands down, yeah, pretty embarrassing
"So, where's Angela now?"
"I don't know. I tried to make it work"
"But you couldn't commit?"
"No. You know, people have it all wrong about me. I was all in. She's the one who left. I got left"
"Yeah, I... I get a lot of that too. Who's on your list?"
"Mother, father, girlfriend" I look down
"Wow. What is it with us?" he chuckles sadly
"What is it with us?"
"Window! Window right now!" I start getting up but she pushes me back down
"Not you"
"But, it's my birthday"
"Yeah, I know" she points at her mother
"You"
"Really?" she then points at Elliot and her dad
"And you two!"
"Oh, boy!" and with that they walk away to her bedroom. What just happened?
"So? Who's on your list instead?" I sigh
"I never knew what happened between my mom and dad. She just tells me not to be upset with him and never wants to go into details"
"Why not?"
"Because she did something to make him leave. You and I are the ones that get left, not like her. That's why we understand each other, right?" Oh! They're back! Wait, why are Farkle and Lucas here too?
"Where have you been? It's my birthday. And when did you guys show up? You've all been in there talking for the past hour?"
"Actually, we said what we needed to say in 10 minutes. Looks like you two have been talking for the past hour, though"
"Yeah, well, you wouldn't let us in your room, so it's like you trapped us out here"
"Uh-huh. So of course we've been talking for the past hour"
"Actually, according to my watch, it's only been-" Farkle better shut up. I walk up to him
"Maya is within five feet of you" I frown. Why does that watch sound exactly like me>
"What the-"
"Danger danger" I take his watch and stomps on it but he pulls out a similar-looking watch
"I love you, Farkle"
"Yeah, okay"
"Riley, I thought we were doing something for my birthday"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure something's going to happen"
"Hey, Cor. Do you know Maya's mother missed her birthday?"
"I do. I do know. That's why I bought Maya a cake"
"What, that's it? That's all you did?"
"Well, you know me, Shawn. I don't like to meddle" He's definitely lying, he always meddles in our lives!
"What?! What's become of you?"
"I'm retired. I'm out"
"What? You two, window!"
"Us?"
"Whatever for?" yeah, I might do the same thing as well with Riley, Farkle, Lucas and Elliot
"You four"
"Us?"
"Window now" we walk back to her room and I sit on the bay window but nobody sits next to me, everyone is just standing while Huckleberry plays with his rope, wait, where did he get that?
"How are you feeling baby?" Elliot asks while getting close to my face. Is he crazy? What is he doing?
"Maya, it's important that you know that what we're about to do to you is for your own good" I look at Farkle, he know something and I know he's gonna tell me 'cause he can't keep any secrets
"Farkle"
"I'm the wonk!" I frown, what?
"Okay, I get it. Now what is so important?"
"You want to see a rope trick?" I don't even pay attention to a word he's saying, I'm focusing on his flexed muscles. Dang, I better stop looking at him before I actually start drooling
"Will you stop distracting me with that? It's not like I actually believed you're a real cowboy"
"Yeah, 'cause if I was, then I could do this..." he walks closer to me with a smirk, oh no-what? Elliot hugs me? Wait, no, he wants to keep me paralyzed so that Lucas can tie me.
"Why did you tie me up?" I glare at everyone
"Oh, Shawn's going to meet your mother" What?! No! Shawn is actually cool! I don't want him to leave because of my mom! I growl
"Why would you want him to meet my mother? My mother drives men away. This will end up just like my father, Riley! Shawn will run for the hills!"
"Run for the hills? Who says run for the hills?" I growl again
"Run for the hills!" Everybody climbs out of the window and I'm left here. Tied to a bed. I gotta do something! This can't happen! I try to set free but it's useless, I just break the part of the bed I was tied to but I still can't move. He tied the knot very tightly, where did he learn that?
For the rest of the day I'm left alone, thinking of what might've happened to mom and Shawn, he's probably in Mexico by now.
Oh! Riley is back! She sits next to me"Whoa. Maya, I tried. It didn't work"
"Riley, I told you, some things can't be fixed. She does this. She makes men leave. Shawn's probably in Mexico by now. Why did you do this?"
"You're angry at me"
"I am"
"How about now?" I sigh
"Right now I'm kind of, like, furious"
"Should I untie you then?"
"I wouldn't"
"If you want to give me back the friendship ring, I'll understand" I glare at her, how could she think that I'm giving it back?
"I am never giving this friendship ring back as long as I live"
"Wow. You said kind of a nice thing in a really mean voice" I groan
"Riley, people only get upset with each other when what they're talking about is important to them"
"Huh. Then maybe there's still hope" She unties me, freedom, at last.
"Thank you for untying me"
"Are you still angry at me?"
"I'll think about it. Yes!"
"So do you want to sleep over?"
"Whatever" we stand up and walk to the living where we find every Matthew family member"We just wanted to give you a birthday you'd never forget, Maya"
"I appreciate it Ms.Matthews. I do. Some things are just impossible"
"I used to not believe that. I still don't" Right then Shawn walks in with my mom behind him, what is happening?
"Happy Birthday. Everything you think is wrong"
"I asked you not to tell her. Why would you do this?"
"Because she deserves to love the parent who stayed" I frown
"What?"
"Your mother had nothing to do with your father leaving, Maya. All right? All this time she's just been protecting him for you" I look at her, I can't believe it
"Mom? You got left?"
"I'm sorry"
"She's one of us. Come here" I get closer to them
"I couldn't afford to get you what you wanted without working a couple extra shifts, but I got it, honey. Shawn helped me"
"A locket?" she knows I've been asking it for a very long time now she nods
"Yeah"
"Where is it?"
"It's in my purse"
"I'll get it" Shawn walks towards her purse
"You can't go through my purse" Riley and I share a look, we know what's happening
"Let him!" we shout in chorus. He gives it to my mom who puts it around my neck. It's simply beautiful. I turn around and hug her tightly. I feel like I'm about to cry but I don't wanna ruin this moment with my stupid emotions.
"Did you see what I did there, Cor? I got Maya and her mother together"
"Yeah. You did great, Shawn"
"Well, I'd be happy to include you in my next scheme"
"Sorry, buddy. I got me a new partner now" Mr. Matthews hugs his daughter
"So you're with her now, huh?"
"Me and her. You're on your own"
"Come on! What fun is pulling off schemes by yourself?" I pull away from my mom and head to where he is
"Oh, it's you and me now?"
"Well, hey, I'm in the market for a new partner in crime"
"Yeah, all right, I'll try you out and see how you do"
"Cake time" mom lights up the candles and I sit on the bench in the kitchen
"Happy Birthday, baby girl. Make a wish" I look at her and then I look at Shawn. Could they-? Nah-No. It's my birthday, I can't let my walls down a little bit and have a little bit of hope. I'm not asking much, just for both of them to find happiness in their lives, maybe together, who knows. I smile and blow the candles.