SS 99
Riley was discharged late the next day, but Maya hadn't been there to see it. While she had wanted to stay in Philadelphia to support her best friend, she needed to get back to the city. She has missed a number of classes already and didn't want to get any more behind then she already was. Shawn was staying in Philidephia with Cory to pack up Riley's dorm room and help move Riley back to the city.
Josh took the train back to the city with Maya that afternoon. He also had classes and a work placement that he had to get back to. The small slice of the countryside that separated Phelidephia and New York zoomed by as Maya looked out the slightly dingy train window. Josh's hand was rested on her knee but his attention was taken up by the case study he was reading intently. The past few days seemed like a lucid dream to Maya, and she had to remind herself periodically that it had really happened.
Maya also knew that her life was about to change once again. Having Riley back at home would add another spinning plate to her already full tray. Maya was determined to be there for her best friend in every way she knew how, but she had no idea what that might look like. For now, she decided she would focus on sitting on a train next to her boyfriend and watching the world go by.
…..
It was another week before Riley arrived back in New York, with a letter of pardon from Penns Dean of Students, and a whole lot of healing left to do, not only physically but emotionally. Topanga had insisted that in a few weeks, when Riley was a little stronger and her incision site was less of a concern, that Riley would begin attending counselling twice a week, once on her own and once with the rest of the family. It had become clear to everyone that Riley had been hiding a lot of troubles from the rest of the world.
" I can't believe I didn't see it" Topanga had mused to Maya on the second day of Riley's homecoming when Riley was asleep in her childhood room.
" So many kids struggle when they first leave home, and Riley is such a worrier. It's too much. Hell, it was too much for me at first. I should have talked to her more. I should have pushed harder rather than just accepting it when she told me everything was fine."
" Don't blame yourself" Maya urged
'You don't blame yourself" Topanga responded in earnest. Topanga was right. There was a part of Maya that blamed herself for not seeing that her best friend was stumbling a bit.
" It doesn't matter. She's home now"
…
"Does it look awful?" Riley asked. She was standing in front of a mirror in her bedroom, her sweatshirt lifted to display her still pink scar.
"It looks way better!" Maya promised from her spot on Riley's bed. It had been just over three weeks since Riley had been discharged from the hospital and had arrived home. While she was getting stronger again, she still had a lot of recovering to do. Lucus, who had been bombarding Maya with texts demanding updates for the past few weeks, was on a plane heading in their direction.
"What if he asks to see it?" Riley wondered allowed, running her fingers along the place where her skin had been sewn back together.
"You can tell him no if you don't want him too. It's still your body" Maya reminded. Riley dropped her sweatshirt back into place and turned to face Maya.
"I don't really want him to touch my" she gestured to her midsection.
"Like he would if there was still a baby in there or something" Riley got a faraway look in her eye and Maya could feel that she was about to lose her to the dark place. She quickly changed the subject.
"What time does Ranger's flight get in?" Riley glanced down at the time on her phone.
" My dad should be picking him up from the airport right about now"
Maya snorted, " That sounds like an awkward car ride" Riley rolled her eyes.
" I thought it was safer to send him than to send my mother"
Maya conceded that fact.
"She is a little scarier"
" A little?"
"Ok, a lot scarier"
Riley swept her hair all to one shoulder and ran her fingers through it absentmindedly.
"Are you ready for this?" Maya asked, watching Riley carefully, trying to gauge her reaction.
"Does it matter? Ready or not, here he comes."
Maya rose from the bed and walked over to her best friend. She wrapped Riley in a hug and tried to transfer some of her confidence over to her.
"Thanks" Riley muttered into Maya's shoulder before pulling away.
"You can get going now. I know you've got a million things to do today"
It was true.
Over the past few weeks, Maya had felt like every moment of her day was completely and utterly full. Between her classes, homework, her friends at school, spending time with Riley, dinners with her dad, and making time to see Josh, she was run off her feet.
She didn't want to let anything drop. She had achieved a 3.4 GPA last semester and she wanted to keep that up. She didn't want to neglect her relationship with her roommate Sasha or the other girls from her floor or her lectures that she'd gotten accustomed to hanging out with or going out at night with, a few times a week. She went over to the Matthews apartment at least three times a week to hang out in Riley's room, and watch movies on Riley's laptop. They hadn't talked much about what had happened. Maya knew that Riley would talk about it when she was ready, and she wasn't going to push her.
" I can stay" Maya offered, but Riley shook her off.
" Really, go. I should probably try to meditate or something before Lucas gets here"
" Ok, but call me tonight" Riley smiled warmly at her best friend
" I will. I promise"
The pair shared a quick hug, and then Maya gathered up her things and headed for the fire escape. Maya climbed up to her own level and slide up the window that led into her bedroom. Hudson was dancing around her heels when she landed on her bedroom floor.
"Calm down. We're going to go in a minute" Maya promised, knowing that the dog was waiting in great anticipation for his promised walk.
Her plan for the day was to take Hudson for a walk uptown, meet Sasha in a park near their apartment, gorge themselves on cinnamon sugar doughnuts from the street cart nearby, spend a couple of hours with Josh before coming back to the apartment doing a few hours of homework and hopefully, finally getting a good night sleep.
Thinking about the possibility of sleep that night, and looking at her bed in all its comfortable glory, Maya's head suddenly felt like her head weighed a thousand pounds. Maya knew that Shawn had walked Hudson that morning before he felt for his photography trip over to Virginia, so surely the dog wouldn't mind if she just took a quick nap before they went for a walk.
"Huddy, do you wanna take a nap?" Maya offered, making her voice sound animated and enthusiastic. Hudson, who spent most of his life snoozing on his various dog beds, jumped up on Maya's mattress eagerly and looked expectantly at her.
"Good boy" Maya muttered, kicking off her shoes and climbing beneath her covers. Hudson crawled up the bed and nuzzled under her arm.
"Alexa" she called " Wake me up in 20 minutes" She fell asleep before she could even hear Amazon reply.
Kind of a boring chapter but its a bridge for the next one! Stay tuned!
