Author's Note: Hi, I haven't written fanfiction in forever, but I started watching this show about a month ago and I couldn't help myself. Let me know what you think.

Maya hadn't shown up to get Riley at seven for nearly a month.

While Maya did still sit with her usual group of friends at the lunch table, an eerie silence took over where a snarky remark would have fit in perfectly. Lucas would even set her up for it, but when he looked at Maya expectantly, Maya would glance up from the table, a look of bewilderment gracing her delicate features.

After yet another failed attempt to bring her back from whatever world she was residing in inside her head, Lucas shook his head, giving the blonde girl a worried glance before turning his attention back to Riley.

With everyone else participating in the conversation but her, Maya got up and threw her barely eaten lunch away before walking out of the cafeteria to pace up and down the halls in the few precious minutes she could get alone before she was expected in class.

The lack of funds to buy music left Maya with only a few albums to listen to on her phone - something that normally upset her a little bit - but lately she hadn't felt a desire to discover new music, much less purchase new music. She put on one of her favorite classic rock songs and put her earbuds in. While the music was pleasant to her, what was even more pleasant was the fact that no one would speak to her her when they saw that she had earbuds in.

She'd only let Farkle try so hard to get her to laugh, Lucas to try so hard to get her to tease him, and Riley try so hard to get her to talk about what was wrong before she had to let them down.

Only a song and a half went by before it was time to go to class. With greater difficulty than usual, Maya brought her heavy textbook into the room. It felt pointless as she had no intention of reading it or learning from it. Keeping up appearances wasn't working among her friends, but she had to do it around adults that had more of an ability to step in.

At this point, her friends didn't ask if she was okay anymore. She wasn't sure if people were accepting this personality change as the new Maya, or if they'd just given up hope that she would ever talk. Either way, the question still lingered in the air, and maybe if someone had tried to ask her if she was okay now, she'd tell them. She'd say that she hasn't been okay for a while and it's only getting worse and she doesn't know what to do. She'd say the lines she's rehearsed in her head and wanted to say for so long. However, she'd never say it without the question being posed to her.

She wasn't that desperate for attention.

Maya took her spot in the class next to Riley, who gave her an overly enthusiastic smile. Maya gave a half-smile and turned her head to the front of the class, where she still couldn't find it in herself to pay attention.


"Do you want to come to my house?" Riley asked, out of breath from rushing to catch up with Maya before she'd left the building. Maya shook her head quickly, looking at the floor. If Riley had a disappointed look, Maya didn't want to know about it. "Okay..." The disappointment was evident in her voice anyway. "Well," Riley started in a higher pitch, "can I at least come with you to make sure you get home safe?"

"Yeah, I mean, I guess that would be alright," Maya said, finally looking up from the ground, Riley looked hopeful, and Maya didn't have the heart to dash that hope.

"Yay!" Riley exclaimed. Maya smiled in spite of herself. She didn't realize how much she'd missed being near the bright, vibrant person standing in front of her.

Riley linked arms with Maya, guiding her out of the school and into the cold air outside. The sky was blue and there were only a few clouds in the sky, so it really didn't feel so bad. Maya felt guilty for how thankful she was for the cool, autumn air. Inside the school it felt so warm that she'd almost absent-mindedly rolled up her long sleeves to her elbows a few times, managing to stop as soon as she got a grip on the fabric near her wrist.

"Do you want to get coffee or something before we get on the subway?" Riley asked. "I'll buy, just... please?"

Maya stared straight ahead. "Well, if you're paying for it," Maya said, a hint of her usual self appearing in her voice, giving Riley yet another ounce of hope that Maya wasn't totally lost to her.

"Yay," Riley said softly. It was more like a breath of relief than her usual enthusiastic delivery, but it was still as Riley as ever.

If only Maya could be as, well, Maya as ever.

Silence was normally uncommon between them. Usually they'd be laughing and joking together all while strutting down the New York City sidewalks, but this time Riley felt more like she was guiding a blind, mute person around the city. If she hadn't had a grip on Maya like she did, the blonde girl wouldn't hesitate to walk across the busy streets with little regard for the safety of the situation.

Riley was thankful when she finally saw the coffee shop they had discovered over the summer; she could relax and not worry about whether or not she could prevent Maya from walking out into traffic. She tried not to show her frustration, but the discomfort over the current situation was evident to Maya whether she liked it or not.

Riley rushed ahead and opened the door for Maya and smiled brightly, "Get whatever your little heart desires. You can get food if you want too, since I know you didn't eat much at lunch today," Riley's tone gained more seriousness as she talked.

"Thank you," Maya whispered politely. "I do eat, you know, I just haven't had much of an appetite lately..."

"It's okay. You don't have to explain."

Maya nodded, walked ahead and ordered a black coffee with cream, which wasn't normally her thing, and Riley knew it, but she didn't push it. Riley ordered Maya's favorite – a white chocolate mocha – and offered to share it, but Maya declined.

Maya was more than ready to leave after receiving her coffee and was holding the door open for Riley before Riley had even put the cardboard holder on her paper to-go cup. "What's the rush?" Riley said.

"I wanna go home," Maya said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Riley bit her lip. She had hoped somehow being around Maya would make her want to talk or at least spend time with her again.

Riley walked out the door Maya was holding open for her, before quickly thanking the cashier once again with a smile.

"How are you so nice and happy all the time?" Maya asked.

"I'm not happy all the time," Riley corrected her, "I'm just happy most of the time... and I'm nice because sometimes people need it. What if what I do is the only nice thing someone experiences all day?"

Maya seemed like she had been stunned into silence. "Thanks for walking me home... and buying me coffee."

"You're welcome. You deserve nice things."

"I really don't."

"It's not up for debate, Maya!"

The seriousness of Riley's tone kept Maya from arguing her case. Instead, Maya took Riley's arm and kept as close to her as possible for the rest of the walk to the subway station.

Even though they stayed quiet on the walk, and even on the subway itself, the mood had lightened somehow. Riley got off at Maya's stop with her and walked with her to the front door of her apartment. Maya didn't offer to let her in.

Riley wrapped her arms around Maya without thinking about it. "I love you," Riley whispered, letting Maya go after a few brief seconds that didn't feel long enough after how little time Riley had been able to spend with Maya lately.

Maya unlocked the door to her apartment and looked back towards Riley. "I love you too. Thank you," she said, before going in and leaving Riley outside.

Riley stared at the closed door for a while, before sighing and turning around to begin her own journey home.