***
No need to blow your cover
I'm wanting your love
Your love
***
Maya walks around her room scrambling through her clothes. "You could show up in sweats. Timothée wouldn't even care, he just wants to meet you." Alex groans and throws herself back onto Maya's bed.
She has been pacing around her room for the past hour trying to find an outfit to wear. But to her luck, Maya has found nothing.
"How does this look?" Maya twirls around in front of her mirror dramatically. "Amazing, like the other hundred times I've told you."
"What if I trip when I walk towards him?" Maya shakes her head. Shes just overthinking the entire situation.
"Maya this is Timmy. Forget who Timothée is, you're seeing your best friend for the first time." Alex rubs Maya's shoulders in a comforting manner.
"You're right. Okay, now help me with my hair. I can barely do a ponytail." Maya groans as she tries to style her hair.
"Only if you let me borrow your blacktop." Alex waves the shirt in front of Maya. "Yes, just remember to return it this time." Maya rolls her eyes playfully.
"Why would I do that?" Alex walks towards the bathroom with Maya following behind.
***
"You look beautiful," Alex tells Maya as her head rests on Maya's shoulder. "Thank you." she smiles and kisses Alex's cheek before running off to grab her bag.
Alex walks Maya to the door, "Be yourself, and most importantly don't forget to have fun."
"You sound like a mother." Maya scrunches her nose. "Well, I'm yours then." Alex motions for Maya to leave.
"I'm going, I promise." She yelps.
Maya exits her building and begins walking to the nearest subway station. This is the moment that she's been waiting for after finally going to see one of her best friends.
She walks into the subway station and gets on the first train that approaches the station.
The closer she gets to see Timothée the more nervous Maya becomes about what could possibly happen.
A million thoughts are racing through her head now, what if Timothée hates her.
Before her thoughts could get any wilder she pushes the thought of Timothée aside.
Maya gets off the train and takes her phone out of her purse quickly to look for the directions for the restaurant they're meeting at.
Once she arrives at the entrance of the restaurant it would be nearly impossible to ignore the brunette boy with curly hair standing in front. He's waiting for her, Maya must have been late.
But she couldn't have been, she made sure of it. Maya wipes her sweaty palms onto her pants and clears her throat before taping his shoulder gently.
"Hey," she squeaks out. He turns around quickly yet smoothly. a smile grows on his face once he realizes it was really her.
"May, is that you?" Timothée smiles and hugs her tight.
Maya is taken by surprise but quickly she melts into his arms and buries her head into his chest.
"You're a lot shorter than I thought you were." He teases, Maya slaps his arm playfully. "Be quiet before I leave and go back home." Maya points towards the streets.
"You wouldn't." Timothée challenges her, he pulls Maya closer to his body. "I already made reservations, we can just walk in." He tells her.
Timothée holds the door open, allowing Maya to walk into the Italian restaurant.
Maya walks inside the restaurant and immediately notices the smell, it makes her even more hungry.
A worker greets both Maya and Timothée at the front desk. "Hello, welcome to Marea." She smiles and leads Timothée and Maya towards their seats.
Once they sit down, the women hand them their menu's before walking away.
"This is so pretty but I don't know what to order. There are no many options and everything sounds so good." Maya sighs, Italian food is her favorite and has been since she was a child.
"Have you eaten here before?" She squeaks out, it took everything in her to stop herself from yelling at her comment. Maya is struggling to believe that she actually said that to him.
"Yes, I have. I don't know if you're planning on doing something for the holidays." He pauses before continuing "but my family is doing a dinner. You can come over if you would like to."
"I wouldn't mind but I need to text my family before, my moms not here yet. shes in California with my dad."
"Hello my name is Theresa and I'm your waitress today. Can I start you guys with some drinks?"
"I'll take a sprite please," Maya tells the waitress softly. "Make that two sprites." Timothée smiles politely at the worker.
"Would you like to order now?" The waitress asks.
"I'm having the Tuscan shrimp penne." He hands the waitress his menu. "I'll be getting penne ala vodka." Maya hands the waitress her menu as well.'
"I hate the holidays." Maya blurts out randomly. She used to love them but now she can't help but hate everything that comes along with them. Ever since the accident, it's been rough on her family.
Maya distracts her wandering thoughts and looks around the restaurant and outside the window. The snow was sticking, Christmas lights are on, and people are walking around holding their coffees close for warmth. It brings her back towards that night.
"What? I find that hard to believe," Timothée interrupts her thoughts.
"I just had something really life-changing happen during this time of the year. It's hard to not associate it with the holidays." She's have been trying to move on. But it's not easy when you find yourself being forced into adjusting to things quickly.
"Here's the two sprites." The waitress interrupts Maya. She places both drinks onto the table before walking away again.
"How about this, you spend the holidays with my family, if you want to of course." He fiddles with the rings on his fingers.
Maya looks down at his hands and back up at his face, he was nervous and not doing a good job at hiding it.
"I'm in," Maya smiles.
***
"Alex told me that your favorite food was Italian. Which is why I brought you to that restaurant," He tells her as he continues to swing around the bag of pasta.
"Is that why you're carrying around an order of chicken alfredo?" Maya furrows her eyebrows.
"Yea, she kind of told me to bring her some food if I actually wanted advice from her." He shrugs his shoulders.
"Yup, that sounds exactly like Alex." Maya knows that her best friend is probably watching Netflix thinking all about her food.
"We should get some hot chocolate." Maya grabs timothées hand, dragging him towards the small café. He doesn't argue or question her as she pulls them into the café.
"What are you getting? I want the banana bread with the hot chocolate." Maya looks at the menu.
"I'll order for us," Timothée tells Maya.
"I'm going to use the bathroom real quick." Maya points towards the restrooms and hands Timothée her money.
He smiles and shakes his head, "It's fine."
"No, you paid for dinner." Maya attempts to hand Timothée her money.
Timothée rolls his eyes dramatically before accepting the money.
***
alex🧡:
how is it going? give me
all the details
maya💘:
it's going fine, I overthought this
completely. we got your pasta.
want anything else? we're at a café.
alex🧡:
a blueberry muffin please,
I love you. see i told you to
not worry, also im still in your
house and laying in your bed.
maya💘:
not surprised .
alex🧡:
your sweatpants are amazing
maya💘:
don't forget to RETURN them.
alex🧡:
has sorry can't read right
now, i'm too busy
watching netflix right now.
***
"You know, its kind of creepy being in here at night." Maya looks around the park.
"Now that you mention it, it is creepy. You can't see anything past the trees and bushes." Timothée nods his head.
They continue walking along the road, with nothing but the street lights to guide them. Maya really hopes she can see him again soon. He makes her feel at peace and comfortable. Which is something she has a hard time with, new people always make her nervous?
Letting them in would mean that they could possibly leave her and she's not sure she can handle that again.
But Maya knows with their busy schedules that things might get a little complicated. "We should stop by my apartment and drop off the cold pasta. That way you can also meet Alex, she's been dying to meet you." Maya holds out her hand towards Timothée to grab onto. He looks down at her hand and backs up at her, he smiles and takes her hand.
Maya leads them outside the park and they begin to head towards Maya's apartment.