Ethan sighed as he heard a knock on the door, he was going to kill this woman.
"Aunt Maria? Did you forget your keys again? I swear-" He opened the door and there was Maya, eyes red and mascara stained, drenched in rain.
"Oh my god, Maya. Get inside. What happened?" He asked, dragging her inside, seating her on the couch. She was stone faced as he wrapped her in a blanket, sitting beside her and rubbing her sides to keep her body heat up.
"I- uh. I left. I couldn't do it anymore. I didn't know where else to go. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I can just go, find someone who'd let me sleep on a couch or-"
"Hell no!" He cut off her ramblings, pulling her ever so closer. The thought of sending her out in that rain again, especially in her condition, wasn't even conceivable.
"Listen, Mai, you can stay here as long as you need. Just... what happened?"
"It's uh, it's my mum. We got in a fight, a, uh... a pretty nasty one. I'm not sure what came over me. I just... left. I mean, first I was going to Riley but... well, I'm pretty sure I burned that bridge." She heard her voice crack, and Ethan pulled her closer and pressed a kiss on the crown of her head. That broke her, that soft act of gentle care. She burrowed her face in his neck and sobbed, allowing him to rock her while shushing her quietly. It was nice to feel taken care of for once, to be allowed to be in pain, to be the one that needed picking up. He sat with her for a good thirty minutes, waiting until the tears dried before pulling back.
"Can you I get you anything?" He asked softly, brushing his fingers across her cheek.
"Something, anything, to get my mind off it. I just need to relax, forget, I don't know, I just can't keep dealing with this." She replied, chuckling in an off-colour tone. He hummed, glancing her over as if considering something.
"Alright, look, just... sit back. I- uh- I got something that might help. Just stay here, OK?" With that, she nodded, curling up on the couch as he hurried towards his bedroom. He came back with a grey backpack; unveiling Ziploc bag, a black grinder, a shallow dish, and a few brown rolling papers. He then set down a bottle of Smart Water, forcing her to take some sips to re-hydrate.
"You know that shit's illegal, right?" She finally said, the joking tone of her voice falling a bit flat.
"Yeah, but don't worry, I have a weed card for my anxiety. I just uh, I get where you're coming from. My parents weren't really around, and when they were... let's just say it wasn't pretty. I get mommy issues, daddy issues, I've got them too. Look, I'm not telling you smoking is the answer to your problems, but they help me take my mind off mine for a little while." She nodded, his vulnerability surprising her slightly.
"What about your aunt?"
"She doesn't really give a shit. She's a smart lady, and there's plenty of research about the benefits." He replied as he began to roll the blunt. It didn't take much longer that a couple minutes as he packed it tightly, pinching the end to work as a filter. He lit it, and took a short drag, hissing slightly as he inhaled. He held the smoke in his chest for a moment before slowly exhaling. She could tell he was trying to show her the ropes, before offering it to Maya. When he finally did, she paused for a moment, eyeing the blunt with some hesitation. He squeezed her free hand, turning her jaw so she was facing him, boring into her eyes.
"Hey, there's no pressure here. If you don't want to try it, you do not have to." He urged, and she smiled for the first time in a while. She nodded and took a drag, before bending over to cough up her lungs. He rubbed her back, as if he expected what was happening. She inhaled raggedly, allowing his slow stroking to soothe her. When she could finally breathe normally she glanced over at him, feeling a flush of embarrassment overtake her.
"Sorry, you must think I'm huge baby." He shook his head quickly, his hand never straying from its path.
"Of course not. Everyone coughs on their first time, I thought I was dying for a good minute with mine. Just take a short one, suck it in, and then slowly exhale. Just don't pull as hard as you would on a cigarette, you don't have that thick of a filter." She nodded at the information, trying again with the corrections. She still coughed a little, but it was much easier the second time around. They finished the rest of the blunt over the rest of the hour, and Maya soon let her head hang back, overcome with a floating sensation.
"You ok there, gorgeous?" She looked over at him, the cheeky grin on his face causing her to grin right back.
"Yeah. That's some good stuff... I think." She replied with a half grin at Ethan who in turn burst into laughter, causing her to giggle. The conversation flowed from there, and Maya opened up more to him in those few hours than she ever had to Riley her entire life. He just... listened. He didn't offer any advice, didn't interrupt, didn't tell her to start damn praying. They were lost in themselves when they heard the phone ring. Ethan reached over to answer it, glancing at the caller ID before picking up.
"Hey Auntie, what's up?"
"Hey darling, look, I'm sorry but there's been a pretty serious accident and it seems like an all nighter. I probably won't be home until tomorrow." He caught eyes with Maya who was watching him with some trepidation.
"Alright, be safe. Want me to bring some lunch by tomorrow?"
"I would love that Ethan, thank you. Everything go ok at school today?"
"Yep, same old same old. Oh, I have someone who needs a place to crash for a bit. Is that ok?" Maya held her breath at the question, expecting the woman to kick her out.
"Sure, any friend of yours is a friend of mine. There's some food in the freezer, make sure they help themselves. Talk to you tomorrow."
"Thank you Auntie, see you then." He then hung up the phone and turned to see Maya staring at him. He chuckled when she reached out to touch his face, making her laugh as well.
"Bed time." He told her, taking her hand and leading her to the bedroom. He helped her out of her clothes, handing her an old pair of sweats and a t-shirt that swallowed her small stature. They burrowed under the covers, and Maya pressed her back against his chest, relaxing as a strong arm pulled her close into a firm chest. She slept better that night than she ever had in her 18 years of life.
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"Mmmm, 5 more minutes."
"C'mon Maya. You've already skipped the last two days. You gotta to go to school today. No choice. Not unless you want a social worker turning up." She groaned but rolled over to face Ethan.
"Can I leave if it gets too bad?" He nodded, pushing a stray hair behind her ear.
"Come on, I made waffles." She grinned shyly at him, and sat up slightly.
"You really do know the way to a woman's heart, don't you?" He chuckled, and helped pull her to her feet.
"Well, it sure as hell worked with you." She giggled and rose to peck him on the lips, scream laughing as he hefted her into the bridal position, rushing towards the awaiting waffles.
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"Where is she? She missed first period, and she wasn't here yesterday. Or the day before." Riley asked worriedly. She was still pissed about their fight, but even she had to admit this behaviour was becoming worrying.
"It's going to be ok, Riley. She'll show up eventually." Farkle tried, though she really wasn't listening. He was worried about Maya more than anyone; Riley had explained the argument to their group, and he was aware that he was the only one that wasn't siding with Riley. As long as he'd known Maya Hart, he'd known her to be a protector, the only one she couldn't defend was herself.
"C'mon Riles, it's your Dad's class. You know she loves his class, she'll be here sooner rather than later." Lucas comforted as they sat down, waiting for Corey's appearance. They all looked up when they heard a familiar giggle, Maya entering the classroom with the new guy, his arm slung around her shoulders. Riley screwed up her face in preparation for the imminent confrontation, but Maya merely brushed past her. Riley exchanged a shocked look with Lucas. He shrugged, turning to watch as she walked to the back. She feinted the kid sitting next to Ethan, causing him jump and to run up to take her normal seat. Almost as if on cue, Mr. Matthews walked into the room.
"Hello class- uh Maya? Why are you sitting back there?" All eyes turned to the girl and she narrowed her eyes, not appreciating the unwelcome attention.
"Uh, because I wanted to, thought that was pretty obvious. Problem?" Corey blinked, before narrowing his eyes back, crossing his arms over chest, mirroring her posture.
"Excuse me? Is that any way to talk to your teacher?" Maya felt her ears heat, annoyance surging up inside her.
"Do you think I give a flying fuck?" The whole class held their breath as Mr. Matthews gaped at Maya. She'd never spoken to him like that, no matter how mad she'd gotten. It took him a few seconds, but he got his act together. He drew back his shoulders to make himself seem bigger, gritting his teeth.
"Detention, Ms. Hart." She scoffed, leaning back in her char.
"Don't expect me to show up."
"I'm warning you Maya. Don't test me." At that the boy next to her grabbed her knee, leaning forward to whisper something in her ear. She exhaled before nodding at him, turning to glare at Corey once more.
"Whatever." He pursed his lips before turning to face the blackboard.
"Now, if there are no more interruptions, let's continue. Last class we went a little more in-depth about the battle of Yorktown. Can anyone sum it up? Smackle, Farkle?" Smackle nodded and she and Farkle both stood, the boy indicating his girlfriend to start.
"The Battle of Yorktown was a military conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in North America during the American Revolutionary War." She then looked at her boyfriend to continue.
"The significance of the conflict was that Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington as French and American forces trapped the British at Yorktown. The British surrender at the Battle of Yorktown ended the American Revolutionary War." He finished, smiling at girlfriend before they both sat down.
"Very good. Now, what can we lessons can we take away from this? Zay, Lucas? Want to take this?" They both stood, but there was a bit more hesitance on who should begin. After a moment Zay sighed, and turned to start.
"Even if the odds are stacked against you, you can win a war?" He seemed unsure, but was relieved when he received a thumbs up from Lucas.
"Especially with help of allies. That way you will always win and survive. With friends, you can do anything." Lucas finished with a high five from Zay, ignoring a sarcastic snort from Ethan. God, Lucas really didn't like that guy.
"Very good guys, you're learning already."
"But what if someone doesn't want the help of allies?" Riley asked quietly, trying not to look back at her best friend. Corey nodded sagely, spreading his hands as if drawing the class into his answer.
"What do you think would have happened to the patriots if they hadn't had the help of the French?" Riley cocked her head in thought, before answering slowly.
"They wouldn't have won the war?"
"We don't know that for certain. What we do know it definitely helped to have allies on their side. It's always important to have allies on our side." He saw a hand raise from the back of the class and felt his lips form back into that thin line once more.
"Mr Granes?"
"Yeah, uh, not to be disrespectful, but is this going to be on the test?" Maya cackled at that, and the bell ringing saved Corey from a response. He folded his arms as the boy grinned at Maya and began to pack their things.
"Ms. Hart? Can you stay behind? Maya? Maya!" He called after the girl who was completely ignoring him. In fact, she ignored most people that day, everyone but Ethan and his friends. Riley watched her best friend from their usual lunch table and did her best to resist walking over there and dragging Maya back.
"Look at her. She's hanging with the bad crowd. How do we get her back?"
"I don't know if we can Riley." Farkle sighed, suddenly not very hungry. The table seemed to be very gloomy as they watched their Maya sitting with other people.
"Was it something we did?" Riley asked rhetorically. Farkle sighed, exchanging heavy looks with his girlfriend. Yes and no, he wanted to say, but knew that it would fall on deaf ears.
"No Riles," Lucas said suddenly, "None of this happened until that new kid showed up. In fact," he continued while standing, "I'm going to go have a talk with him. Zay. With me." And with that, the two boys strode off towards the table. The rest of the group exchanged looks before hurrying after the boys.
A/N: Dun Dun DUUUUNNNN. Angst, drama, and more angst. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!
(UPDATED A/N) Sorry for the interruption, but I'm losing my mind at how younger me thought weed worked. Sweetheart, if only you knew where you'd be 4 years later...