Disclaimer: I do not own Girl Meets World or any of the characters

Chapter 10

"Cheese burgers?" Sophia asked.

"I feel like that's all we have been eating lately," Riley sighed before pulling the comforter up to her chin and running her fingers through her hair.

"We have had a lot of pizza lately too," Sophia said as she curled up in her own bed.

"How about tacos?" Riley asked, eyes wide in excitement at the thought.

"Oh yeah!" Sophia exclaimed.

"You know that requires us to get up and go get the tacos right?" Riley asked and the two girls started laughing uncontrollably. Riley heard her phone ring and reached over to grab it before she missed the call. "Hello?" Riley answered as she tried to control some of the laughter.

"Hey Riles," Maya greeted. "Is everything okay?"

"What?" Riley asked. "Of course. Sophia and I were talking about something and we were in a laughing fit."

"Oh," Maya said. "Sorry, I didn't meant to bother you."

"You're not bothering me," Riley insisted. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Maya said. "I just called to see how everything is going with you."

"Really good actually. I'm finally feeling relaxed and happy again. Sophia and I are having a roommate night tonight to celebrate the start of the weekend," Riley said.

"That's great to hear," Maya said. "Oh, I have to run real fast. Call you later?"

"Yeah sure," Riley said. She noticed how short her best friend had gotten and was confused by the sudden abruptness.

"Bye Riles," Maya said.

"Bye Peaches," Riley said and then heard the line disconnect. She looked at her phone in confusion and scrunched her eyebrows together.

"Is everything okay?" Sophia asked, noticing the confused look on her roommate's face.

"I don't know," Riley admitted. "Something was very off about Maya. It's like she couldn't get off the phone fast enough."

"That's weird," Sophia said.

"I'll call her back later," Riley shrugged. "She probably had something to do."

"I'm sure she's okay," Sophia promised.

"So tacos?" Riley asked, moving back to their previous conversation.

"And we can get a movie!" Sophia exclaimed.

"On the count of three?" Riley asked, noticing that neither made any indication to move out of their beds. They slowly counted to three and then neither moved.

"The laziness is real," Sophia laughed. Riley laughed along with her and she finally felt stress free. She was worried about Maya but it felt nice to just laugh and not feel so stressed out.

GirlMeetWorldRucas. GirlMeetsWorldRucas. .

"And then she just hung up abruptly?" Lucas asked. The two were having a quick lunch together before Riley had to head off to class.

"Yeah," Riley nodded. "She said that she had to run really fast."

"Did she sound mad?" Lucas asked, taking a sip of water.

"She sounded kind of defeated," Riley admitted.

"That's odd," Lucas raised an eyebrow. "You two haven't had a fight recently, have you?"

"Unless I completely missed it, no," Riley shook her head and then tossed a fry into her mouth.

"Maybe she's just stressed with school or something is going on with Josh," Lucas suggested.

"Maybe," Riley nodded.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Lucas insisted. "You're Riley and Maya, there is nothing in the world that can tear the two of you apart."

"Oh yeah?" Riley asked, a teasing smile on her face.

"She's always been my biggest competition for your attention," Lucas smirked.

"You can't forget Charlie Gardner," Riley teased and saw her boyfriend roll his eyes.

"I try to forget that guy," Lucas groaned.

"You were so jealous," Riley scrunched her nose and laughed.

"I was not jealous," Lucas denied but knew that he absolutely was.

"Whatever you say honey," Riley smiled. "You've never needed to fight for my attention, by the way."

"What?" Lucas asked, a smile on his face.

"You have had my complete attention since I fell into your lap on the subway," Riley promised. Lucas smiled at his girlfriend and then leaned forward to kiss the brunette.

"I love you princess," Lucas said.

"I love you too Lucas," Riley whispered and then leaned forward to kiss him once more.

GirlMeetWorldRucas. GirlMeetsWorldRucas. .

"Claire's mad at me," Zay groaned into the phone.

"What? Why?" Lucas asked, dropping onto his bed.

"She thinks I lied to her," Zay said.

"Well did you?" Lucas asked.

"Not technically," Zay said and then winced.

"What does that even mean?" Lucas asked, a chuckle in his voice.

"Well this weekend I went to a party and I didn't really tell her. I told her that I was going out with a few friends, which I was, and then we ended up at some party and I never mentioned it to her," Zay explained.

"How did she find out then?" Lucas asked.

"She saw pictures on Facebook," Zay sighed.

"Were they bad pictures?" Lucas asked. He felt bad because he knew that his best friend did not mean to omit a piece of information from his girlfriend and he could hear how upset he was by all of it.

"No," Zay said. "Just me with a few friends."

"Give her some time to cool off man," Lucas said. "She loves you and there is no way that she is going to stay mad at you for that long."

"Thanks man," Zay sighed.

"It's all going to be okay," Lucas promised.

"I sure hope so," Zay said. "I don't know what I would do if I lost her."

"I can't see that happening," Lucas insisted. "You two will work this out. Trust me."

GirlMeetWorldRucas. GirlMeetsWorldRucas. .

"Hey," Maya said as she hesitantly walked over towards Hannah in the student center. Hannah looked up from the textbook she was reading and widened her eyes. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Hannah shook her head and then diverted her eyes anywhere but the blonde.

"I wanted to apologize to you," Maya said. Hannah sighed and then gestured for her to sit in the chair across from her. "I should not have been running my mouth the way I was. I was just always really jealous of you because I know how much Josh cared about you."

"Do you know why Josh and I broke up?" Hannah asked.

"You went to study abroad and the distance was too much for you guys," Maya said.

"That's not why," Hannah shook her head.

"What? That's what Josh told me. He said you broke up with him," Maya said.

"I did break up with him but not because of the distance," Hannah said and then let out a sigh. "We broke up because of you."

"Me?" Maya asked, eyes wide in surprise.

"I'm not stupid, Maya. I could always see the way he looked at you. Whenever he talked about you, he was different. He would light up and you could hear it in his voice just how much you meant to him," Hannah explained. "I know he said he loved me, but he has always been in love with you. The two of us were never going to work out as long as you were in the picture. I never compared to you in his eyes. That's the real reason Josh and I broke up. I wasn't going to sit around and be someone's second choice."

"Hannah," Maya whispered.

"I'm not trying to steal him back from you. I'm not trying to break the two of you up," Hannah said. "I'm officially stepping back from him for good."

"What? No," Maya shook her head. "Don't end your friendship with him because of me."

"I'm doing it for me," Hannah said as she closed her textbook.

"You still love him," Maya said in a knowing tone.

"Take care of him, Maya. He's a really great guy and he deserves the best. I know that you are the one he's supposed to be with and I'm going to step back so I don't come between the two of you," Hannah explained. She stuffed her textbook into her backpack and then stood up. "I'll see you around."

"Bye Hannah," Maya said. She watched Josh's ex-girlfriend walk away and felt her heart start to race. She needed to find Josh.

GirlMeetWorldRucas. GirlMeetsWorldRucas. .

"Hey," Josh greeted as he stood up from his bed and started to walk in the direction of his girlfriend. "Sorry, I was just on my way to meet you." Maya wrapped her arms around his shoulder and kissed him before he could get another word out. Josh was surprised by the sudden kiss but kissed her back none the less. The two pulled back and Josh smirked at his girlfriend. "Well that was a nice greeting."

"I love you Josh," Maya whispered and then kissed him once more.

"I love you too," Josh smiled. "Now do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"I talked to Hannah," Maya said and then walked over to sit on his bed. Josh raised an eyebrow and walked over to sit with her.

"Uh oh," Josh widened his eyes. "That's never a good thing."

"It actually was this time," Maya admitted.

"Oh? Well what did you two talk about?" Josh asked.

"You," Maya said.

"What about me?" Josh asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

"She told me why you two broke up," Maya said.

"I told you why we broke up. She went to study abroad and the distance just didn't work for us," Josh said.

"Josh," Maya turned to full face him and crossed her legs underneath her. "She told me the real reason."

"Oh," Josh mumbled and then sighed.

"She broke up with you because of me?" Maya asked.

"Yeah," Josh nodded. "She said that she could see how much you meant to me and that my feelings were more than just friendship."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Maya asked.

"I don't know," Josh shook his head.

"I'm sorry I came between the two of you," Maya apologized.

"I'm not," Josh insisted.

"What?" Maya asked.

"Her breaking up with me was the best thing that ever happened to me. I may not have thought so at the time but over time I realized it. She helped me to finally realize what I wanted and the person that I really wanted to be with. She helped me to realize just how ridiculous I was being for trying to play that long game," Josh explained.

"We were kind of silly, weren't we?" Maya asked, a smile on her face.

"I think it helped us," Josh admitted. "We grew as people and went through all the craziness we needed to so that we were able to give our relationship the attention it deserved."

"So the long game played out the way we wanted it to?" Maya asked.

"I think so," Josh smiled.

"As long as I got you in the end, I call it a success," Maya smiled. The two leaned in and shared a kiss. "I love you, Josh."

"I love you too," Josh smiled and then kissed her again.

GirlMeetWorldRucas. GirlMeetsWorldRucas. .

"I swear she is mad at me," Riley insisted into the phone.

"I really don't think she is mad at you," Farkle promised.

"Have you talked to her?" Riley asked.

"We were texting the other day but no phone calls recently," Farkle said.

"I haven't talked to her in almost two days," Riley said.

"Maybe she's busy?" Farkle suggested.

"We never go this long without talking," Riley said.

"Have you called her?" Farkle asked.

"No," Riley mumbled.

"Well maybe you should call her," Farkle suggested.

"Maybe," Riley sighed.

"I wouldn't get too worked up over this, Riley. The two of you can never go that long without each other," Farkle said.

"You sound like Lucas now," Riley groaned.

"Well as two people who have spent a lot of time around the two of you, I think we know your friendship best," Farkle laughed.

"Maybe so," Riley laughed. "How's school going?"

"Good," Farkle said. "Smackle has officially started planning our wedding."

"I know! She called me yesterday with some plans!" Riley exclaimed.

"She is barely letting me help," Farkle said.

"Well duh," Riley laughed. "You'll just get in the way."

"Hey!" Farkle exclaimed. "It's my wedding too."

"Yes it is and you did your job already. You proposed to her," Riley teased. "Leave the planning to us ladies."

"Why am I friends with you again?" Farkle teased.

"Because your life would be so boring without me," Riley insisted and the two shared a laugh.

GirlMeetWorldRucas. GirlMeetsWorldRucas. .

"Hey Riles," Maya greeted into the phone.

"Peaches! I've been trying to reach you for hours," Riley said.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was at the art studio and my phone was on silent," Maya explained.

"Is everything okay, Maya?" Riley asked, cutting right to the point.

"What do you mean?" Maya asked, avoiding the topic.

"Something feels off between the two of us lately and I'm starting to worry," Riley explained. The line fell silent and Riley was worried that Maya had hung up. "Peaches?"

"I'm here," Maya's quiet voice answered.

"What is going on?" Riley asked, completely worried now.

"I feel like things are changing between the two of us," Maya admitted.

"What? What does that mean?" Riley asked, worry filling her stomach.

"I feel like you are building this brand new life at Yale and I'm not a part of it," Maya explained.

"Maya," Riley whispered.

"It almost feels like you don't need me anymore," Maya quietly admitted. Riley felt like her stomach had completely dropped to her feet and her heart was breaking at the vulnerability in her best friend's voice.