It was one of those rare moments when Riley was interested in talking about something other than her fast-approaching wedding, and Maya was taking full advantage of it.
"I've been planning non-stop since my proposal got approved," Maya was saying. She'd gotten the entire sentence out before realizing her poor choice of words. Riley would usually latch onto anything at all that was wedding-related. Maya assumed that the word "proposal" was too tempting to ignore, but Riley surprised her by making only an appreciative "hmm" sound in response. Feeling more than just a little relieved, Maya clutched the phone tighter in her grip, and hopped off of her bed, narrowly avoiding stepping on Lenny's tail. Her roommate's cat gave her a startled hiss in response before scurrying off. "I can't wait to get started."
Maya could hear Riley moving around, and could just picture her best friend prancing around her New York apartment, carelessly skipping from room to room. Same old Riles.
"That sounds great, Maya!"
If Riley had her back, Maya's plan couldn't be too crazy, right?
She paced around her room, side-stepping piles of clothes and discarded sketches. "I'm not crazy, am I?" Maya couldn't help but voice her concerns, and bit her lip while waiting for Riley's response.
Her friend didn't even hesitate. "No! No, Maya, it's a great idea."
She breathed out a laugh. "It's kind of an expensive one though, don't you think?"
Maya could practically hear Riley considering this. "Well, yeah. But it'll be worth it. Besides, you have a budget, remember? Not a dime over your credit card limit."
Maya hopped across her room and onto the tiny balcony that overlooked Seattle. Well — it overlooked the Belltown area and Blanchard Street, but it was enough. She sat down on the floor, looping her free arm through the metal rails, and let her bare feet swing contently over the edge. "Okay. Yeah, fine. But my credit card limit is three thousand dollars. That's a lot of money."
"So don't spend that much. I still say you're looking at over a thousand dollars for sure."
Maya smiled. "Canadian dollars?"
There was a pause. "Would that be better or worse? I can never remember."
"It would be better." Maya watched the pedestrians walking about below her and suddenly got the urge to paint the scene. Bare feet in motion (she would blur the edges), stories above the city streets below, with the sunset glow illuminating everything. She was getting ahead of herself. "I'll be frugal."
"I'm smiling right now." Riley loved when Maya used big words.
"I figured that you would be."
"I'm glad that you're going to be thrifty, but the most important thing is that you paint, and that you get here on time." Riley's voice increased in volume slightly, and Maya exhaled knowingly. "Seeing as you are going to be the most important person at my wedding. Apart from me, that is."
Maya laughed, and squished her phone in between her ear and her shoulder in order to free both hands and tap them lightly on the metal bar that encircled the balcony. "What about James?"
"Ah, yes. Right. Him too."
"You didn't forget about the groom again, did you?" Maya was teasing of course. Riley couldn't forget James.
"Definitely not. It's just clear that I already consider us to be...er...of one body and soul. Like, you know, I am him, and he is me. So, you know, when I said 'apart from me' earlier, I really meant — "
Maya's laugh interrupted the rest of Riley's rambles, and her friend giggled along with her.
If she closed her eyes, Maya could pretend that they were back in New York, at the Matthews' apartment, in Riley's childhood bedroom. With her best friend's voice in her ear, Maya could transport herself to practically any given time in her history. They'd made some good memories in elementary and high school, but their time at NYU was probably her favourite.
Riley — having been obsessed with the camera Shawn gave her — chose to major in photography. Maya seemed to remember her friend carrying the DSLR everywhere with her, capturing candids of their friends and strangers on the crowded streets.
Over the course of their four years attending NYU, Riley had gone vegan six separate times, dyed her hair once (or twice, if you count dyeing it back to its original colour after getting sick of it two weeks later), pulled 63 all-nighters, and administered a following of over 700 000 people on Instagram. Oh, and she had fallen in love.
Riley had met James during their second year at NYU. She'd forgotten about the copy of The Negative by Ansel Adams that she had borrowed from the campus library. James had needed it for an assignment and had tracked her down in hopes of retrieving it. By the end of the day he had paid her late fees for her. A beautiful story, really.
After earning her degree in photojournalism, Riley had realized that she much preferred taking photographs of people in love. She'd taken her Instagram following and had used them as a platform to build a reputation as a freelance wedding photographer. Riley liked to describe her job as "watching people fall in love over and over again".
Maya had fallen in love too. However, it had not been with James, or any guy for that matter. Maya had fallen even more in love with art and painting. So much so, that when her work at NYU had earned her a spot in one of Seattle's most prestigious Art Academy workshops, she'd jumped at the chance even though it meant being away from home (and from Riley) for almost an entire year. Her time in Washington was almost over, but she was going to be heading back to New York a few weeks early for the wedding. And to build her final portfolio.
She had the whole thing planned out. Sort of. It was summer — there were no more classes to attend, no more nude models, no more waking up early, and definitely no more relaxing until she got her portfolio done. The students got the months of June, July, and half of August to map out their ideas, choose a painting style, buy supplies for, and paint sixteen works of art for their final portfolios.
It was near the end of June now, and Riley's wedding was on July 26th. Maya would continue mapping out her plan, and then had allotted herself two weeks to hightail it from Seattle to New York for her best friend's special day.
Maya had realized long ago that she loved landscapes. Loved them. There was so much information to pull from nature's colours and patterns and skylines and textures. Truly amazing. But she also loved to paint portraits. You could learn so much from a person by painting them up close and personal. Maya got shivers just thinking about it.
She'd had the brilliant idea of painting eight beautiful landscapes and eight portraits of her favourite people. She was hoping to pair them off somehow (in a sort of contrast/comparison), although she hadn't planned that far ahead yet.
Riley had been all for this plan until Maya had told her that she would be taking the Canadian route.
"You know Canada is a larger country than the United States, right?" Riley had asked, only mildly irritatingly.
"Yes," Maya had huffed. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Riley had chewed thoughtfully in Maya's ear. "I'm just saying that you're adding countless hours onto your trip, and that you probably won't run into...anybody."
"You're saying that I won't come across anyone during my adventures in Canada?" Maya had demanded teasingly. "I'm pretty sure that Canada's population isn't zero."
"Whatever. You know what I mean. Besides, what's wrong with painting American landscapes?"
"Boring. I've researched cool places to paint in the northern states. Let's just say that Canada's got us beat."
Eventually she'd gotten Riley on board, and now her friend was even more enthusiastic about it than she was, but that was to be expected with Riley.
"I'm excited to see you," Maya said now, watching the sun dip further and further into the horizon.
"Me too!" Maya could hear the smile in Riley's words, and her own lips twitched in response. There was a rustling noise on Riley's end of the phone. "My mom just got here so I have to go. I'm so sorry, Maya. I'll call you tomorrow?"
"Sure. Say hi to Topanga for me?"
Riley was distracted now, and Maya could hear more than one voice in the background, but her friend answered her with a small laugh. "Of course. She's just as excited about you bussing across Canada as I am."