Northern Constellations

Summary: Explore a year in the life of Joshua Matthews and Maya Hart as they discover the wonders and woes of young parenthood.

Chapter Fifteen

The moment Zay Babineaux walked into his best friend's apartment, he immediately knew something was wrong. It had been a windy, autumn morning, and his parents let him take the day off from school due to his annual check-up, dental cleaning and eye exam. His mom always liked to schedule them on the same day to avoid too many interruptions with his schooling, and Zay enjoyed having one day where he could skip school and not get in trouble for it. He didn't skip much because, for the first time, he actually loved going to school. Having classes with his goofball friends, especially history with Mr. Matthews, made his time at Abigail Adams High School one for the books. He knew that he was extraordinarily lucky to have his friends. They had been through a lot in the past year, from identity crises to love triangles, rodeos and teen pregnancy, but he knew that they would always be there for each other through thick and thin. Their freshman year had been a test, and somehow they all managed to stick together in spite of everything.

He planned on returning home after his final appointment of the morning to play video games for the rest of the day. Lucas had gotten him hooked on some gory, first-person shooter tactical game the previous weekend, and he wanted nothing more than to shoot zombies until his mother called him down for dinner. That was the plan, and it was perfect...until Maya called.

Zay loved Maya, but he didn't love Maya. Not really. He had learned over the past few months that the love that he shared for one of his dearest friends had been one of a brother. At first, he thought it was a crush. Maya Hart was a beautiful girl, and that was undeniably true, but she also had one of the kindest hearts on the planet. She was loyal, fierce and protective of her friends. She was exactly like Lucas, and that was one of the things that had drawn him to her the most. When Riley and Lucas got together, it seemed natural for them to fall together in the background. Maya was Riley's best friend, and Lucas was Zay's, and those two were idiots when it came to love, so Maya and Zay always tagged along to make things less awkward. It didn't last long because Riley and Lucas started to get the hang of everything, but in those weeks, Zay had grown much closer with Maya. He knew that he would do anything for her.

Then, she got pregnant, and he had to think long and hard about his feelings. Eventually, he came to realize that he never really had feelings for her at all. Maya was special to him, like Lucas, Riley, Farkle and Smackle. He loved them all equally, and if it came down to it, he would sacrifice one of his kidneys for any of them, but the protectiveness that he felt for Maya was different. During one of their talks, Zay learned that Maya had younger siblings on her father's side. She had expressed to him that she always wished that she had an older brother growing up, someone that would really look out for her in the way that Cory and Eric look out for Josh. It was then that it became clear that he wanted to be there and protect her like an older brother would. Yes, he thought she was beautiful and cared deeply for her, but a relationship had never been in their future. After seeing her with Josh, Zay knew that there wasn't anyone on Earth better fit for Maya than Joshua Gabriel Matthews. He still thought their age difference was a little weird because of his own siblings in college, but he knew that Josh's intentions with Maya were true. Zay was really happy for his best friend because she had someone that truly loved her. Now, if only Zay could find someone special. He had joked around with Maya saying that he would use Aurora as chick bait whenever the responsibility of babysitting was bestowed upon him.

His friendship with Maya had gotten better since then. All of their friendships had. So, when Maya called Zay about taking an off day from school too, Zay sighed and knew that he would have to save the game for another day. In the end, friendship came first, and he had been meaning to give her a zip loc bag of homemade cookies that his grandma sent specially for her. It had her name written on the bag and everything to ward off Riley.

"You okay in here, Maya?" Zay called out uncertainly, swinging open the front door of the apartment. He had knocked and texted first but was met with silence. Maya was probably the fastest texter he knew, and she was always glued to her phone whenever she was alone. "The door was unlocked. That's kinda dangerous. Anyone could have walked in. Hell, I did."

Zay furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. There were no signs of life in the apartment. The television was off and everything looked neat and tidy. He could see that there weren't any dishes in the sink and the kitchen lacked its usual aroma of donut shop blend coffee. The last bit was weird to him because the entire family could not go without their coffee, even Maya. They made the decision to switch to decaf when Maya discovered that she was expecting. He texted her again. Whoosh. Sent. Delivered. Nothing. No three dots. Nothing.

At this point, he started to feel a little nervous. The house was seemingly empty but the door was left unlocked. What if something happened in the twenty minutes he took to walk over? That was highly unlikely, but he still worried. He wanted to look around but it didn't feel right to snoop around in someone else's home. It was already weird enough to come in through the fire escape at Riley's house. As a young, African-American male in the city, he knew how stuff like that looked in the unfair eyes of society. Farkle Minkus could sneak in through Riley's bedroom and none of their neighbors would bat an eye, but when it came to Zay, things were different. He had already experienced skepticism from strangers firsthand.

Zay called out for Maya again, this time a little louder, and leaned against the doorframe as he opened up the Find My Friends application on his smartphone. Their entire group of friends had the feature on in case of emergencies, given that they often walked and took the metro alone to go from place to place and waited for all of his friends' locations to pop up on his phone. As expected, Lucas, Riley, Farkle and Smackle were grouped together at Abigail Adams High School. Maya's picture icon, on the other hand, was right next to his. So she was home.

Now he was really worried, so he walked to her bedroom, passing by the delicately decorated nursery on the way, and opened the door.

"Hey," Zay began, trying to find the right words as the door swung open. "You fall asleep or something? I was getting a little worried."

His eyes trailed upward from the floor and settled on the empty bed. It wasn't neatly made like the rest of the house. Her covers were pushed toward the foot of her bed and clothes were wrinkled and strewed out everywhere. Zay scratched his head. He was still trying to wrap his head around everything but couldn't quite make sense of the circumstance. He noticed a half empty glass of orange juice and an open bottle of ibuprofen on her night stand before turning on his heels to check another room. The nursery was empty, and so was the guest bathroom, so that left the opposite wing. Whenever they were around, the gang liked to joke that Shawn and Katy's wing of the apartment was forbidden territory. It wasn't actually forbidden because Riley and Farkle preferred to use their huge en suite bathroom with the double sinks, but everyone still tried to limit their time near the room. Shawn and Katy were still newlyweds, after all.

He opened their bedroom door, half expecting to see his friend sprawled out on their comfy bed, but was welcomed by another empty bed. Zay didn't know exactly how far along she was, but he knew that Maya had reached a point where everything was uncomfortable. This week was supposed to be her last full week of in-person classes before transitioning into hybrid modality for the rest of the semester, so he found it odd that she would miss out on classes in the first place, but one of her texts mentioned that she wasn't really feeling up to class today. Her parents were away and Josh was in class until early evening, so he knew she had free reign over the apartment. It would have made sense if he found her sleeping on their tempurpedic bed.

"I hope you're in here, Maya," Zay said, briefly feeling like the protagonist in a thriller. His heart was beating a little too fast for comfort and his palms were sweaty. He hated having sweaty palms because they always reminded him of how nervous he used to be around his old crush, Vanessa, and wiped them against the sides of his jeans until they were dry. "Cuz I'm feeling like a creep coming into your parents room like this."

Zay looked uncomfortably around the room, taking note of all the personal touches and beautiful framed photographs. In a matter of seconds, he noticed that the door to the en suite bathroom was cracked open a little bit and that the light was on. He walked closer, knocked and called her name again. Nothing. He took in a deep breath and softly pushed open the door. Zay let out a sigh of relief. There she was, sitting on the floor with her body leaned over the toilet seat. From the back, he could see her body rise and fall with each breath. She was alive at least. Crisis averted. Mission complete. He was still very much concerned though.

"Hey buddy," Zay said softly, kneeling down beside her. He frowned, realizing that she didn't even flinch. His investigative skills kicked in, and his eyes scanned the room. The bathroom was hot and humid, the mirror still cloudy and the tub full. Maya's phone was placed haphazardly on the counter of the sink on top of a small pink towel. Maya was fully dressed in Josh's NYU Stern School of Business hoodie and a pair of little spandex shorts. When Maya didn't respond, Zay gave her a little shake. Panic arose in his chest. "What's going on? You alright?"

"I don't know," Maya said, readjusting herself. Her voice was quiet and weak, and it was obvious that she wasn't okay at all. "I was fine when we were talking earlier, but I've had this headache that won't go away for almost a week. Then, my vision went to shit and I fell."

"You fell?"

"I tripped...and I dropped my phone in the tub," Maya elaborated with a pout. She pointed in the direction of her phone. "My screen froze. I think it's broken."

"And they say Riley is a super klutz, but look at you," Zay mused. "But you don't look so good, man. I know I'm not a doctor, but I can tell that something ain't right."

"My head just hurts so bad now," Maya groaned, her head still down. "I can feel my heart beating out of my chest and that hurts too. This sucks. I just wanted cookies."

"Yeah, yeah," Zay said absentmindedly, trying to gather his thoughts. Maya was strong, and he knew that she would likely try to shrug this off like nothing happened, but Zay knew that things weren't okay. He's heard all about pregnancy from his older sisters. This wasn't normal. "I think you really need to see a doctor, dude. I'm serious. I'm gonna call Josh, alright?"

"He's in class."

"Doesn't matter."

He dialed Josh and was redirected to his voice mail. He tried and tried again, and then sent a flurry of urgent texts. Maya tried to remind him that Josh put his phone on silent during class time, but he kept trying to reach him anyways. Next, he sent messages to his friends, both individually and in their group chat. And finally, he called Maya's parents, putting the phone on speaker just in case they answered. They didn't, and Maya told him that they were meeting with realtors upstate and didn't have the best reception near the cabin.

"Today is really not my day, huh," Zay shook his head, trying to help Maya up from the floor. Her body was weak, and he could tell that she was in pain. Fatigued, she leaned up against him and they walked together. "We're goin' to the emergency room, Maya. If not for you, then for your baby. Man, your boyfriend and our best friends are gonna kill me if anything happens to either of you. Come on, we'll grab the cookies on the way out."

Meanwhile, at Abigail Adams High School, Cory Matthews held up a clear container full of cellphones to the class. Kids these days, he silently judged, paying close attention to how his students lit up at the mention of getting their phones back ten minutes before the ball. Their lesson today was supposed to be on the advancement of technology leading up to the present day, but the entire class seemed to be preoccupied with their own personal technology. Cory Matthews didn't mind phone in the class as long as they were put away during lecture, but it seemed as though they lost that privilege moving forward.

"I don't get this generation at all," Cory Matthews shook his head, taking his own phone out of the bucket before passing it around the classroom. "Don't get me wrong, I saw the video. Missy Bradford's meltdown wasn't that interesting. Technology has provided you with so many opportunities to communicate with the world around you, and I really love that, but there's a time and place for everything. I need you guys to remember that when we're in the classroom, we're here to learn."

"Dad, we need to go," Riley shot up, her eyes wide with fear as she quickly skimmed through the spam of messages that she received from Zay. She stood up and gathered all of her belongings. Lucas and Farkle did the same. Isadora, albeit hesitant at first, started packing up her items early too.

"What are you talking about, Riley? We have eight minutes until the bell, and I gave you guys free time. Sit down and enjoy it."

"But dad, we really need to go," Riley said frantically. "It's Maya."

This caught Cory's attention immediately. He loved Maya Hart like a daughter, and she was bound to give birth to his first niece at the end of the month. He knew that she took the day off because she wasn't feeling well, so his heart sank. He asked: "What's wrong with Maya? Is it the baby?"

"Zay went to see her after his appointment and said he found her really sick," Riley explained, her voice shaking. "Something about her head, or her heart, and she started having trouble breathing in the waiting room. I'm worried about Maya, daddy."

"They're at the hospital now, sir," Farkle said calmly. He had faith in the doctors. He knew that they would do their job, but he also had faith in Maya. She was a healthy girl. Always a fighter. "That's why we need to go."

Cory was at a loss for words, but he sobered up and nodded.

"Well, okay. Family emergency," Cory sighed, running a hand through his short curls. "I'll let the office know that something came up and hopefully they can find someone to cover my next class. What about Josh? Is he there too?"

"Yeah," Riley answered, walking up to her father's desk with Lucas, Farkle and Smackle. It was against school regulation to let the kids walk off campus without parental consent, but he wasn't going to stop them. "He said that he just got there now. They're trying to figure everything out, but it's been an hour and no one can get in contact with Maya's mom or Uncle Shawn."

Cory dismissed the class early to wander the halls and walked with his daughter to the parking lot after making a quick stop at the office. Their arms were linked and Riley considered herself to be so lucky to have Cory Matthews as her father. Cory turned around to speak with the group of kids trailing behind them: "It'll be a tight fit and I don't mind taking you guys to the hospital too, but I want you to know that there will be consequences for missing fourth period without parental consent. Might be a week of detention or the inability to make up today's assignments. Your next teacher may or may not decide to report your absence for disciplinary action. I wouldn't, but I'm biased."

"We accept these terms," Isadora said. She was the first to speak up since they left the classroom, and their friends were pleasantly surprised that she decided to stick around. She was the newest member of their group and they knew how much her grades meant to her. Farkle and Smackle were Princeton bound, so their grades had to be worthy of an ivy. "I, um, I have a test scheduled for fourth period, but being there for Maya is more important. I think we can all say the same."

"Friends don't leave," Lucas added, placing a strong hand on Farkle's shoulder as they caught up with Riley and her dad. "We stick together."

The first thing Josh did when he was released from accounting was turn on his phone. It boot up slowly, and he walked as he waited, paying more attention to the screen of his phone than the world around him. He planned on calling Maya to tell her that he would be over as soon as his last class ended, but before he could, a bunch of old notifications began to flood his screen. Six missed calls and twenty text messages from Zay Babineaux. Josh raised an eyebrow, waiting for the full messages to load as well. Josh and Zay were well on the road to being friends, but they weren't that close. Not yet. Then, a realization dawned upon him. Something was wrong. When they finally loaded, Josh paid close attention to the texts that were sent about Maya. His girlfriend. The mother of his child.

Headache. Chest pains. A panic attack.

Josh ran.

Thankfully, the hospital wasn't far.

Josh Matthews scanned the emergency room for Zay Babineaux as soon as he walked through the door and let out a sigh of relief when he saw the teenager sitting in a plastic seat near the front desk. There had been a time where they didn't get along, but Josh knew that he would be eternally grateful for his girlfriend's best friend. Even if this turned out to be a scare, Zay was there when everyone was disconnected from their phones. If Zay hadn't come over, she would have been alone in that bathroom for God knows how long.

After some time, a nurse came out to inform the two boys that Maya was now settled in a room of her own. Josh stood up, half expecting Zay to do the same and follow him to the elevator, but the younger boy shook his head, claiming that he would wait for their other friends who were on the way. In response, Josh nodded and continued his journey to the maternity ward of the hospital. He found her room, 201B, and opened the door.

"Hey gorgeous," Josh greeted softly, standing at the doorframe. He smiled, trying to mask his own concern, and took a good look at the blonde laying on the hospital bed. She looked normal, tired but normal, and Josh was glad to see her fully conscious. "What happened?"

Maya shrugged. "It's just been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, boing."

"I can see that," Josh laughed, pulling up a flimsy chair to the side of her bed. He knew that Maya hated hospitals with every inch of her being, but he agreed with Zay's decision to take her in. "If I knew you weren't feeling good, I would have stayed home too."

"I know that," Maya admitted, and part of her wanted to be selfish when they got out of bed. She wanted him to stay, but she knew he couldn't really afford to keep missing days. "I really thought that it was just a headache, but the doctors are saying that it might be something else."

"Something else?"

"Preeclampsia," Maya said, almost unsure. Josh held on to her hand tightly. "I think that's what it is. I was kinda out of it when they took my vitals, but um, my blood pressure is super high. That's not good for Aurora. The doctor said that he might have to induce labor if that's what this is. Who knows. I'm just really scared."

Josh frowned. He made a mental note to buy Zay a 'thank you lunch' sometime soon, and he needed to make a few phone calls. He needed to get in contact with his parents, and speaking of parents, he really hoped that Shawn and Katy would get their messages soon.

"Hey, everything's gonna be okay," Josh comforted the young woman. He pushed a few stray hairs out of her face and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I love you, and I'm here for you no matter what. I know it's a few weeks early, but she'll be fine. You'll be fine."