Thunder and Lightning. Forever.
It was friendship at first sight. Riley was playing with her stuffed bear, she sat at the bay window and sang whatever came to mind. That was until a stranger came through her window.
The stranger had a nice smile, beautiful gold locks that went all the way to her waist, and even though Riley didn't know her yet she could tell that girl was fearless. At moments like these Riley would probably scream for her parents, I mean, it was a stranger coming through her window but something in that girl made her think otherwise.
Riley put her bear aside and made space for the stranger to come sit. The golden haired girl did so. Riley couldn't wait any longer. "What are you doing here?" A bit too straight-forward but she guessed that wouldn't scare the stranger away.
The other girl sat a bit more confortable on the bay window and crossed her arms. "What are you doing here?" She answered the question with another question. Well, that was new.
With furrowed brows Riley stated the obvious: "Well this is my room. You didn't answer me, what are you doing here?" Now she was getting nervous, why wouldn't the stranger answer her? Could a seven year old kidnap her? Was a seven year old dangerous? Riley was seven too and she wouldn't, couldn't do that.
"Okay honey, calm down." Riley liked that nickname even though the girl was clearly mocking her. "I was just passing by and heard someone singing and I thought why not" The girl answered with a confident smile.
"Why not what?" Riley was not following, or maybe she just wanted to hear the girl say it. The stranger waited a few seconds as if she was struggling to answer.
"Why not try and find a friend. My name is Maya." Maya gave in with an exhale. Maya. What a beautiful name, Riley thought. Riley repeated the girl's name and liked how it rolled off her tongue, she decided Maya was a great name for a best friend.
"I'm Riley. I'm happy you heard me singing. I feel like we're going to be best friends." Riley said smiling so much her heart hurt, she was just so happy , she felt so lonely sometimes sitting at the bay window alone, all she ever wanted was a friend.
Maya smiled, a genuine smile this time. "I feel it too." And from that day on they became best friends, inseparable, nothing could tear those two apart.
.
At the night of Riley's tenth birthday something happened. The climate changed so quickly they couldn't even get all the chairs out of the beach, the storm started and so they ran.
Riley was scared of storms. The issue was not the storm itself, Riley had always found lightning and thunder beautiful. It was a bit difficult to see the light and hear the thunder at the same time but when it happened, it was just completely beautiful. It reminded her of her friendship with Maya.
Maya would always say Riley was the light in her life, and that reminded her of the purple haze of the lightning in the sky. And Maya came into her life and everyone's life like a thunder, explosive, beautiful, sometimes a bit scary, but that was what Riley loved about Maya, she loved her fearless spirit.
But back to Riley's fear, what she was scared wasn't the storm itself but being outside in the open while it was happening. That scared her a lot. And they were at the beach so, they were completely out in the open. So Riley did the only thing she thought, she ran and ran and cried and ran. Maya was right there with her, holding her hand and running along with her friend.
They entered the small house that Riley's parents had rented for the night, right by the beach, and they sat on the front porch waiting for the others to get there. "Riles, you're shaking. It's okay. We are safe. Look, there is no rain where we are." Riley opened her eyes slowly but never let go of Maya's hand, Maya didn't mind, she liked that her best friend found confort in her, even if it was just with simple hand holding.
"Maya." Riley started, her eyes far away, still watching the storm take place at the beach. "Yes honey?" Maya couldn't take her eyes off of Riley, she just cared so much for that girl it hurt her.
"I've been thinking. We are similar to a storm, you and I." Riley gazed straight ahead lost in her thoughts. "Is that so?" Maya asked with a laugh.
"Yes." Riley turned towards Maya so she could see her reaction. "You always say I'm the light of your life, and that reminded me of the big streak of light a lightning leaves in the sky, just like the path I made in your life." Maya agreed nodding her head, she loved when her friend got all poetic, Riley's mind was too brilliant for a ten year old.
"And don't take this the wrong way but I feel like you're the thunder. You're loud and that's a good thing, you say what you want whenever you want and that can scare some people off sometimes. Just like a thunder. You came fearless and explosive into my life." Maya was tearing up at this moment, Riley was just too good for her.
"And if you put those two together, thunder and lightning they make a storm. And it's just so rare to see the lightning and hear the thunder at the same time, you have to be too close to the storm and that can hurt you. What I mean is that we together make a storm, a very strong and beautiful purple storm." Riley said passionately. "You had to put in purple..." Maya laughed thinkin about the purple cat her friend loved so much to paint. "Yes I had to." Riley laughed too.
They watched as the storm faded away and thought about their friendship. "We will never fade away right? Our friendship?" Maya said tentatively and scared.
"Never. Just like a storm we always come back, since the beggining of Earth to the end of it." Riley said with sureness. The only thing Riley was sure in her life was that they would never drift apart, their love for each other was too strong for that to ever happen.
"Okay." Maya had a sad smile on her face, as if she didn't believe. As if she thought Riley would get tired of her someday and leave her just like her father had.
"Thunder." Riley put her hand in the air as she called Maya her thunder. "Lightning." Maya put her hand on Riley's, intertwining her fingers and following the gesture.
"Forever." They smiled and hugged each other. And they kept that way until Topanga cleared her throath announcing the girls that they had arrived.
"Let's go inside girls. It's cold out here." Topanga said smiling at them, at her daughter and at her friend who was just like another daughter to her.
Maya and Riley got up from where they were sitting and still holding hands, they entered the small house.
Since that day Maya and Riley became also Thunder and Lightning.