I've never given much thought to what having my first boyfriend would be like. Keye always seemed to be in and out of relationships, but she said it felt like stepping out of an overly air conditioned grocery store out into the hot summer sun—a welcomed shock. And the first time you know they like you back that way it's like a pang of sour patch hitting your tongue, acid and sweet. I wonder if it would be like that for me too.
After the dinner with Paul and her family, Maya resigned herself to another night of restless sleep, but surprisingly, when her head hit the pillow shortly after 11 p.m., she dozed off and didn't wake until her alarm went off that morning.
The gloom of Monday was exaggerated by the low hanging clouds, rolling fog across the beach, and the spit of rain that turned off and on like a faucet. Maya got ready for school quickly wanting to get there early to read over her paper before her first period English class.
She fluffed her hair with some dry shampoo and rubbed in some oil to the ends. Not wanting to look too overzealous on a Monday, she pulled on some dark skinny jeans, a black v-neck t-shirt and her loose fitted green flannel, paired with her black doc marten boots. She wound a trio of gold necklaces her mother had gifted her for her 15th birthday around her neck and dotted some tinted chapstick over her pouted lips.
Down in the kitchen, her mother was still in her nightgown and robe scrolling through her phone and reading the news.
"You're up early," Rish noted sipping her coffee. Maya pulled her lunch out of the fridge and stuffed it into her backpack before grabbing a banana and walking over to the kitchen table. She took the mug of coffee from her mother's hand and took a swig.
"Need to proofread this morning," Maya said.
"Okay, well have a good day. And consider getting in touch with Paul this week," her mother said as Maya walked down the hall.
"I don't have his number, but thanks!" Maya called out, ripping over the front door and donning her dark blue rain jacket.
"Love you!" her mom called.
"Try not to marry me off as a child bride while I'm at school," Maya called back before closing the door a little too hard. She bolted up the driveway, not wanting to hang around for her mother to come after her and scold her for slamming the door so early in the morning.
Maya enjoyed the 15 minute walk to school, the light drizzle felt like mist on her face. After mulling over what her mom said to her this morning for far too long, Maya came to the conclusion that her mother most likely had acquired Paul's phone number herself, either by asking him or asking one of the council members. Rish was always resourceful, but still, Maya was thrown off a little by how quickly her mom flipped from "Not my baby!" to "Oh yes, take my baby." Did she really want the community clout that bad? Having Maya be in a relationship with a member of Sam's group was definitely considered a "respectable" thing but she didn't see other mothers on the rez throwing their daughters or son in Sam's member's path to see if they could be imprinted on. Maybe they just didn't know the extent at which the legends might be true…
Keye and Becks found Maya tucked away in the corner of the library pouring over her paper.
"Hey!" Becks said to get Maya's attention. She looked up and gave them a warm smile. "You never called me back last night."
"Oh yeah…" Maya paused. She hadn't even had time to tell them what had happened the night before, "So get this...Paul shows up for dinner at my place last night."
"WHAT!" Keye says a little too loud. The librarian looks in their direction and Keye's eyes go wide as she listens. She lowers her voice to a whisper, "Are you fucking kidding me?! He just shows up?"
"Oh god, you know Rish organized it, she just failed to tell me. I should have known when I saw her prepping the steaks that afternoon that something was happening. We never have steak," Maya muttered slipping her paper into her English folder. "Anyway, I barely got in a word all night and my parents are basically in love with him." She let out a sigh.
"Are you okay?" Becks said gently, putting a hand on her arm. Maya considered that for a moment.
"I mean, yes? And no? I have no idea what to do here. He said 'I'll see you soon'. Like what the hell does that mean?"
"That...that he might see you soon?" Keye muttered. Maya rolled her eyes.
"And then, this morning, my mom was like 'Oh you should get in touch with Paul this week, teehee have a good day!'" Maya let out a groan.
"Jesus, your mother is literally ready to sell you to this dude." Keye said. Becks made a face.
"She is a bit eager," Becks conceded after Maya probed her with a look.
"She just wants to stay in good graces with the council. And my pairing with Paul is a big boost to our status. Ugh, can we just..not talk about this for awhile? I need to feel normal," Maya complained.
"Absolutely!" Becks said.
"Yeah fuck that dude!" Keye said a little too loudly.
"Keye Mesoon!" Ms. Tolly, the librarian was at their table now. "If I hear another foul word come out of your mouth, I'm sending you to the office." Keye shrunk in her chair and Ms. Tolly left them.
"Fuuuuuck," Keye mouthed and Maya and Becks descended into a fit of giggles.
Maya's first three classes passed without incident but during her passing period between third and fourth, while she was switching out books in her locker, Jeremy appeared.
"Hey," he said, leaning on the lockers and giving her that crushing smile that could make any girl melt—well almost any girl.
"Hey," Maya said, giving him a short smile before slamming her locker shut and turning away from him up the hallway. She wasn't interested in small talk, considering Jeremy had dropped too many bombs on her this weekend.
For a minute, she was relieved thinking he got the hint and wouldn't follow her, but he jogged to catch up and slung his arm around her shoulder as if he'd been doing it for years. Startled, Maya tried to dip out of his embrace.
"What do you think you're doing?" she said, very annoyed. Her eyes flashed and Jeremy couldn't help but look a little amused. Cute, he thought.
"Come on, it's a favor for Paul."
"Another favor? Look, no offense, but I've had enough of you doing things on his behalf. So, if you'll excuse me," she turned on her heel and headed in the direction of her AP World history classroom. He jogged after her, but this time didn't try to touch her.
"I get it, we don't know each other that well and this is kind of weird. But really, I'm just doing what's asked of me and I kind of don't have a choice," he said, still grinning.
"So Paul asked you to...what? Stalk me at school?" Maya's irritation was growing.
"Not really, he just doesn't want people bothering you." Jeremy seemed totally unaffected by Maya's heat. He was enjoying it.
"By people, you mean guys right?" she looked at him with a sideways glance. One that was laced with pure venom. Jeremy shrugged.
"Don't tell me you wouldn't appreciate not being hassled everyday. Since the second grade, all I've seen are dudes trying to ask you on a date or make you their girlfriend nonstop. That's gotta get old." He retorted and gave her a knowing smile.
"Yourself included." She spat back before turning the corner and reaching her class. Before she opened the door, he grabbed the handle and said:
"Look, I'll try to keep us low on the radar, just...please work with me. You'd be doing me a favor," he pulled open the door for her and before she walked through it, she said with a sickly sweet smile on her face:
"If you had a nickel for all the favors you give and get, you'd be rich, Jer." He brightened at the shortened nickname she gave him. Maya didn't notice and beelined it for her desk. He hung around in the doorway for a minute, giving her a twinkling smile before the bell rang, alerting him to his next class.
As soon as the bell rang dismissing her for lunch, Maya shot up out of her chair and hustled for the door hoping to avoid Jeremy. But he was quick and knew she'd try to bolt. He called her name as he jogged after her down the hallway:
"Maya! Wait up!" Once he caught up with her, he slung his arm around her shoulder again and Maya outwardly groaned. She knew it was pointless though. The new Jeremy was very persistent and under very specific orders from her imprinter and Maya just did not have it in her to fight it right now.
"Walk you to lunch?" he said conspiratorially. Maya let out a huff of air and nodded.
"I need to grab my lunch from my locker first." They made their way back to Maya's locker and she couldn't help but notice the stares they were pulling from everyone in the hallways. Whispers were sprouting up behind them and she pretended not to hear them. Jeremy seemed unphased and waved to a friend of his as they walked past, his large, bulky arm still resting across her shoulders.
Once they enter the lunchroom, things really started to escalate. Maya had a sickening moment where she felt the eyes of the entire lunchroom on her. Becks and Keye stared at her from their table by the window filled with shock and confusion. Jeremy was relishing in the moment, but Maya successfully slipped out from under his hold and quickly made her way across the cafeteria to her friends. Once slumped down in a seat, the hum of the cafeteria returned and she felt a little more at ease..
"What….the…" Keye started by Maya shushed her. Jeremy tucked in next to her, turning out to talk to his friends at another table. After a cool 15 minutes of Becks and Keye talking hurriedly under their breath and Maya shaking her head and giving them warning looks, Jeremy finally turned to face the table and greeted Becks and Keye properly.
"Ladies." Keye was about to burst into laughter and Becks sat there speechless. Jeremy bumped his shoulder into Maya who gave him wide eyed look. To this he said softly. "Hey, give me your phone really quick."
"What why?"
"Do you notice how things go a lot smoother if you just kind of play along?" he challenged. Maya sat up straighter.
"Actually no, if you haven't noticed Jeremy, everyone here is looking at us. It's like I have a fucking raging cat on my head, so no, going with your flow is not really working out for me."
Jeremy paused while watching her, that same amused twinkle in his eye. It's infuriating, Maya wants to pinch him or slap him or dump her water cup over his head.
"Please?" he said again. Maya let out a frustrated noise hidden under her breath and dug in her bag to hand him the phone. "Can you unlock it?" Maya gave him another venomous smile and typed in her code before handing it back to him. Keye and Becks were absolutely floored by the exchange.
"Maya, what the fuck," Keye said but Maya just responded with a quick "Don't ask" and returned to eating her sandwich. Jeremy punched in something on her phone and then after a few seconds handed it back to her.
"Do I even want to know what you just did?" Maya asked as she looked at her phone warily.
"Probably turned on your location so he can stalk you properly," Becks said, spearing her broccoli.
"For your information, I just put Paul's number in your phone," he said. "Oh hey man!" a friend of his walked by and he high fived him. Maya's jaw dropped. She quickly opened her contacts and typed in his name. Paul Lahote was listed there now, casual, as if he'd always been a name in her phone. "I gave him your number already... so."
"You did? When?!" Maya asked.
"Uhhh, Saturday? Hope that's okay," he said, looking at her now with the least apologetic face Maya had ever seen.
"And if I said it wasn't okay, would you go back to him and delete my number from his phone?"
"Uhh, no probably not. He'd also probably rip my head off," Jeremy said nonchalantly. "Are you gonna finish that?" he motioned to Maya's bag of chips and she pushed them toward him, suddenly losing her appetite.
The rest of the day, Maya was sour. Jeremy was glued to her side during every passing period and Keye and Becks were frantically texting her to figure out what the hell was going on. But Maya didn't have an answer for them other than Paul asked Jeremy to keep an eye on her at school to make sure no one bothered her. But why would anyone bother her? He didn't even know her and if he did, he would know that Maya wasn't the type of girl to just let guys hassle her and hang all over her. Jeremy was the first one to do that, confident in his ability to do so because he was operating on special orders from Paul. What a mess, she thought.
Jeremy insisted on driving her home as they got out of school. Maya briefly thought about making a run for it, just to get some peace and quiet. She was really hoping the walk home would help her clear her head but instead she was being corralled into Jeremy's jeep. After realizing that she probably couldn't outrun him, she climbed into the passenger side ducking out of sight of the wandering eyes that had followed her and Jeremy down the halls all day.
When he dropped her off, she gave him a gentle wave.
He rolled down the passenger window and leaned over the center console, "Hey Maya." She turned around, her face pulled down in a tired grimace. "I really am sorry about this. I get that this is kind of annoying, but...I promise you I will do my best to make this as painless as possible," he had a sad smile fitted to his face and Maya suddenly felt guilty for being so rude to him today.
"I know Jer, I'm sorry. This is all just kind of weird. I get it. It really wasn't that bad, I just…" she trailed off not sure what to say. He nodded not needing her to finish and she was grateful. "Thanks for the ride," she said.
"I'll pick you up in the morning," he said confidently before backing out of her driveway. Maya stifled the sick, sinking feeling in her stomach. It wasn't that she didn't like Jeremy, it was just that she was used to a certain amount of independence and now...it felt like the walls were closing in.
As she entered her house her mom bustled down the hallway. "Who was that?" she said, clearly excited.
"Jeremy Treever," Maya answered in a monotone voice and hung her raincoat up.
"Oh," Rish's face dropped in disappointment. It took everything in Maya not to roll her eyes as she made her way up the stairs.
Tucked away in her room, Maya sat on her bed with her Physics textbook and notebook open in front of her. But instead of working on her massive amount of homework, she stared at the newly added contact in her phone.
Maya had half a mind to text him and drag him for all of these so called favors. But something in her kept that bubbling anger at bay and instead, she opened a blank text message to him, her fingers poised over the keypad. She didn't know how many times she wrote and rewrote a new message to him, but by midnight, she hadn't sent anything and Maya had passed out on top of her textbooks still open to the blank message.
The rest of the week went by excruciatingly slow. Maya was getting used to having Jeremy around a lot more, in fact, she was kind of starting to enjoy his company. He was funny and fit in well with her friends. Becks and Keye, now caught up to speed with the latest Paul incident, were quick to bring Jeremy into the fold, mostly to help Maya feel comfortable but also to weasel some information out of him if they could. Jeremy was pretty good at holding them off though.
"So do you guys like sit in a circle and cut open your wrists and make a blood pact over a dark flame?" Keye said in a mock spooky voice. Jeremy let out a laugh.
"No, that would be kind of sick. We do have these matching tattoos though," he pulled up his left sleeve to show off the intricate circular tattoo that covered most of his upper arm.
"Awww, we wanted to get matching tattoos too," Becks wore a sweet face. Maya laughed, poking her fork into her mashed potatoes. It was finally Friday and Maya was amazed at how quickly they'd all become fast friends. Jeremy was sitting close to her and would lean around the back of her to talk to his buddies at another table. When Maya told him it would be okay if he wanted to sit with his friends during lunch he leaned in and whispered low, "Can't, I'm working," before giving her a secret wink.
Maya blushed and then felt ridiculous. She flipped her phone over on the table checking it again for the tenth time during lunch.
"You waiting for a call?" Becks said. Maya snapped her eyes up, suddenly caught and then shoved her phone in her bag, shaking her head quickly.
"No, no..just watching the time. Don't want to be late for Econ." Becks didn't buy it and Jeremy was watching her carefully.
During their passing period, once Keye and Becks peeled off into their classrooms, Jeremy gently touched her lower back and said out of the blue:
"He'll reach out, don't worry." Shocked, Maya looked up at him and then tried to fix her face into an indifferent look.
"I don't know what you're talking about" she said, aloof. Jeremy let out a snort of air through his nose and gave her that same twinkling lopsided grin.
"Yeah, okay." he said as they walked down the hall toward Maya's econ class. He held the door open for her and as she walked through she gave him a small "thanks" and he nodded, as if to say 'Job well done.'
Saturday morning, Maya was up early helping her mom in the kitchen. Every week her mom tried to cook and extra meal for an elder or member on the reservation who needed it. Maya was helping her make an extra batch of vegetarian casserole when she felt her phone buzz in the back pocket of her jeans. She finished cutting up the peppers and rinsed her hands before pulling her phone open. She nearly dropped it in the sink when she saw the name flash across the screen.
Text Message from Paul Lahote.
Maya quickly opened the message, her heart thrumming.
P: Hey, Maya. It's Paul Lahote.
Groundbreaking. Maya almost laughed at this. Her fingers hovered over the keys but before she could type something, the familiar three dots popped up on the screen, indicating Paul was typing. She watched transfixed.
P: I was wondering if you might want to go on a hike with me today?
A hike? Interesting choice.
M: Hey Paul, I knew it was you. Jeremy stored your number in my phone. A hike sounds good. What time were you thinking?
Maya didn't know if she was excited or positively dreading going on this outing with him. Paul responded quickly, clearly not interested in leaving her hanging.
P: Great! I'll come by and pick you up around 1 if that's okay?
M: I'll be ready.
Maya closed her phone and shoved in her back pocket resuming her duties in the kitchen. Her mother hadn't noticed. She was watching the small television propped up on some old cookbooks on the counter as Julia Child folded a pastry carefully over some filling in a pie dish.
Maya cleared her throat and resumed her cutting. "Uh, mom?"
"Hmm?" she said in between her stirring and sauteeing in the pan at the stove.
"Paul asked if he could take me on a hike today around 1. Is that okay?" Maya kept her voice calm. She distinctly heard the clatter of the metal spoon on the stove and then a quick recovery.
"Of course!" her mother trilled, completely elated. Maya was annoyed at this. Her mother was far too eager for this imprinting thing to take hold. It made Maya even more determined to make sure that her and Paul remained friends.
She had made this decision one night after school this past week that no matter what, Maya would make it clear that the relationship she wanted to have with her imprinter was that of just friends. The decision was made partly because Maya couldn't fathom being in a relationship with someone she barely knew but also, she had big plans. She wasn't going to let any weird old bond get in the way of her chances of attending an ivy league school if she got in. Paul had told her dad that Maya getting what she wanted in terms of school was important to him too. She would make sure of that in her meeting with him and set the tone early on.
Maya Sunriviere and Paul Lahote were destined to be just friends if she had anything to say about it.
"I'm leaving!" Maya called from the front door as she laced up her hiking boots. She had braided her thick black hair into two french braids and pulled on some high waisted black leggings, a white long sleeved loose cotton blouse with light brown buttons up the front that she tied up around her waist. Over that she donned her trusty dark blue raincoat and grabbed some wool gloves. The rain had subsided and the sun peeked out among the clouds, promising a reprieve.
"Have fun! Be polite!" Her mother shouted her two most common requirements from the kitchen. Maya wrenched open the door and immediately saw Paul who was climbing out of his forerunner. She had seen him from the window and wasn't going to do the whole have him knock and answer the door and begrudge weird awkward conversation that her parents would try to insert themselves into.
He was dressed in some loose fitted jeans and a black short sleeve shirt, the tattoo on his left arm peeking out under the sleeve. She clattered down the porch steps and gave him a wave. He smiled and Maya wondered if the look he had in his eyes was nervousness. She felt a thrill run through her.
"Long time no see," she breathed. His eyes flitted around her face taking her in and then realizing what he was doing he gave her a warm smile and pulled open the passenger door for her.
"It's been a busy week. Hop in." Maya settled in the seat and whipped her seatbelt on. When he climbed into the driver's seat next to her, Maya immediately felt the heat wash over her face. He was sort of beautiful.
"Ready?" he said, starting up the truck.
"Ready." she nodded.