Rilaya Meets Goodbye
It was the night before Riley Matthew's left for London. She invited Maya over, but Maya hadn't showed up yet. Riley looked at her phone and tapped her foot impatiently. She sent Maya a text message,
Peaches, please. Come over. I need you.
Maya sat in her room, curled up in a tight ball wrapped up in her comforter, shaking. This couldn't be it. She refused to accept that this was the end of Riley and Maya. She felt her phone vibrate, and knew it was Riley begging her to come over. She couldn't bear to even acknowledge her phone, so she ignored it. Off in the distance, she heard a phone ringing, she assumed it was Shawn's. Moments later, Shawn went to open the door, but Maya had locked it.
"Maya open the door." Shawn asked, and Maya mumbled from underneath the covers,
"No."
"Yes, open it." Maya huffed and puffed, but got up and unlocked the door. Once it was opened, she just stood there as Shawn just looked at the heartbroken mess that was his daughter standing infront of him.
He stepped forward, and held Maya. She wrapped her arm's helplessly around Shawn and began to sob. They stood there like that for a few minutes, then Shawn gently pushed Maya away, moved past her, and grabbed Maya's favorite jacket, one Riley had bought for her. He held it out for her, and said-
"You will never forgive yourself for letting this opportunity go by. Go to her, she needs you the same as you need her right now. Don't hurt her like this Maya, you'll regret it."
Never looking him in the eye, she painfully nodded.
"Good. I'll walk you over."
Once in front of the Matthew's house, Shawn rested his hand on Maya's shoulder.
"Go ahead Maya." He said as he motioned for the fire escape. Without a word, she slowly walked toward the fire escape.
There came a knock at the Matthew's door, and Riley bolted for the door. She threw it open, and grabbed the person into a tight hug. Only to her surprise it was Shawn, and she backed away.
Confused, she said, "Shawn? Where's Maya?"
"She decided to come in the way she always has entered this house."
It took Riley a second to realize what he meant, when she did, she ran to her room.
Meanwhile, Maya took to the fire escape, and got to Riley's window. She looked in, and didn't see Riley there. She thought about how that was going to be her new normal, no Riley to greet her every morning, or in the hallway at school, or in the middle of the night. Maya began to hurt inside again, and she shut her eyes and tears of searing pain and loss came bursting out with every heavy breath. She turned away to go back to the apartment, only to hear the bay window be ripped open,
"Maya, hey." Riley said with urgency. Riley quickly grabbed Maya's hand and Maya stopped dead, not being able to move. This is what she feared. In all her life, she never allowed anyone in because she never wanted to be hurt. And now the person who she let in the furthest was going to be the one who ended up hurting her the most. Riley forcefully pulled her in her room, and sat her down at the bay window. Riley went and shut the door to her room. Maya continued to be a basket case just simply sitting there, no longer herself.
Riley brushed past Maya and shut the bay window as it started to drizzle outside. Riley took a deep breath, and looked at Maya's hair, and noticed the small raindrops in her hair. She started to stroke Maya's face and arms, brushing the blonde's hair behind her ear as she began talking to her.
"Maya, talk to me."
Maya said nothing, not even meeting the brunette's desperate gaze.
Now Riley started to get emotional.
"Maya, don't pretend this isn't hard for me too."
Riley choked on her words, and reached out to touch Maya's face, and Maya turned away from it, breaking Riley on the inside.
"You can't hate me, please. You can't, I love you so much Maya, please, -" now more desperately,
"You can't hate me, I love you." She rested her forehead on Maya's. Maya began to silently cry.
"This is it for us Maya, our last night, I refuse to spend it angry and arguing.
Please you can't hate me, this isn't what I ever wanted."
Finally, Maya spoke.
"Then don't go."
"That isn't up to me Maya, you know that." Maya angrily looked away, and tried to shove Riley's adorning touches off of her, but Riley persisted.
"Don't touch me."
Riley broke, bursting into sobs,
"No Maya, no, you can't hate me, no! You can't hate me, you can't hate me…" She kept repeating, forcing her hands onto Maya who was fighting her every second. Finally Riley reached behind Maya and grabbed fistfuls of blonde hair and forced Maya's forehead to hers. Maya twisted, putting her hands on Riley's to try to get them off of her, but just gave up as soon as their face's met. Maya still couldn't look at Riley, there was too much pain there.
"Please Maya!" Riley almost yelled.
"-look at me!" Riley pulled on Maya's hair roughly, Maya yelped a bit but was to weak to protest. She slowly brought her blue ocean eye's to meet Riley's. Riley saw the saddest expression she'd ever seen in Maya, her eye's were so bare and empty.
Riley just bore her stare into them in the hopes of bringing them back to life.
She pulled Maya closer yet, Maya looked away again. Riley looked at Maya's face as their noses barreled down each other.
"You can't hate me, Maya…" Riley whispered, taking a sharp breath as it hitched, speaking bittersweetly and soft,
"I love you…" Maya still refused to look, and Riley took it upon herself to act on her impulse. With one swift motion, she forced Maya's head up and leaned in, pressing her lips firmly on Maya's. Over taken with emotion, Riley's eye's remained shut. But Maya's burst open, in complete shock, now she couldn't take her eye's off of Riley. She let the warm feeling sink in for a few moments, noticing silent tears fall from Riley's eyes.
Maya realized if she allowed this to continue, leaving would hurt more. She pushed Riley off of her,
"No, Riley you have to stop." Maya begged as she got up and walked over to the closed door. Riley immediately shot up and struck her hand past Maya's face hitting the door in fury. Maya jumped at the action, and hit her back against the door as Riley practically squished her up against it. Riley again bore her gaze into Maya's, Maya avoiding it. Riley moved her hand and turned the lock on the door.