Riley sat there, staring at her best friend of nearly two decades—the one person she had always expected to walk hand in hand through life with forever. Her thoughts were all over the place, but she knew that the longer she took to get her words out, the more she was upsetting Maya. "I don't know…Maya, I just don't know. I mean what else am I supposed to do? Lucas is really excited about this, and we've been together for so long, it just seems like the most logical next step, right?"

"Logical?" The blonde stood up, pinching the bridge of her nose as her head shook from side to side. Her thick brows were tightly furrowed towards their center, leaving creases between them. "Riley, what part of this is logical? You would be moving to TEXAS. Leaving your family, your friends, your career…me. You'll be giving up your whole life."

Riley let out a deep breath. "Please just sit back down with me. We are just talking, Maya." Her voice was weak and barely above a whisper. She wanted more than anything for Maya to stay calm, but she already knew that calm wasn't the other girl's normal disposition when it came to the possibility of any change at all. Quickly realizing that her request to be joined back on the bay window would be denied, Riley stood up to match her friend's level. "Look, I haven't decided on anything yet, this is all so new and literally just became a reality today.But I know that everyone always says as we grow up, we are supposed to build our lives with the person we choose to be our companion and move forward. We are supposed to leave the nest and create our ownfamily. Maybe that takes sacrifice? Maybe that takes leaving what's familiar to find out how well you can stand on your own feet with that person?" She sighed. "How can I deny him of his dream?" The taller girl stepped a tad closer to Maya, praying to be met with some kind of understanding.

This was definitely not how she had hoped this would go. Her nerves had gotten the better of her all day, ever since her lunch date with Lucas, but she was hoping that once she had the opportunity to discuss everything with her usual voice of reason, things would just fall into place—make sense. But really, what response was she expecting? She had been Maya's rock for most of their lives—her safe place. And Maya had certainly been hers. They'd built this perfect little life together, survived all of the ups and downs of adolescence, all of the loss that came along with growing older, as well as the accomplishments that came with finding their passions and carving their own marks into the world. Each had been the other's most sturdy shoulder to cry on, and just as much, each other's first hug anytime there was something to celebrate. Moving wouldchange things—it would change everything.

"What about your dreams?" Maya walked a few steps into the living area and dropped to the couch. Her head was hurting now, but more than that, her heart was. Her friend had worked so hard to get recognized for her talent, and now she was about to throw all of that away over a boy. All of those late nights the girl had spent writing, and editing, and then rewriting. All of the times she was about to throw in the towel after each rejection letter came from yet another publisher. All of the tears that stained Maya's clothes and she embraced the girl, begging her to just keep going, to keep trying. Assuring her that the universe would be insane not to see the gift that Riley had to offer. Until finally, an opportunity came and it was hard to say which one of them was the happiest about it when it did. How could Riley be so willing to discard all of that effort at the first drop of a cowboy hat?

It wasn't long before the brunette made her way over to the couch and found her usual spot beside Maya. She reached over and snatched one of the many cozy throw blankets that inhabited their home. Pulling it over both sets of their legs, she laid her back deep into the cushions behind. "Sweetie, I can write children's books anywhere. One of the perks of being a writer is that I all need to do my job is a computer and a big glass of chocolate milk."

"Have you forgotten that you live in New York? This is the absolute best place you could live in to get your stories out, Riles. This is where your dreams come true." Maya leaned into her friend and rolled her eyes. "I mean fuck, why can't Huckleberry just find a school here?"

Riley couldn't help but smile at how defensive the girl was being. Her protector. She knew Maya was doing everything she could not to blow her lid right now, but it still warmed her heart so much to see her so concerned for her success. When it came to Riley, Maya would do anything to see her succeed. "Well, there arevet schools here, but he wants to practice large animal. Maya, he wants to save horses." She sounded enamored when mentioning one of her favorite animals. "His best opportunity for that is in the south. He needs to go there. Don't you understand that?"

Maya knew that Riley was right. The boy had yammered on and on about horses for as long as she'd known him. Just when she'd think he had stopped, he'd start right back up again, going on about whatever the hell horses do. She took those moments as her opportunity to zone out and think of literally anything else. "I get it. I do. But Riley, while he goes there to get everything he's ever wanted, what will you do? Sit back and watch him?"

"You need to stop talking like that—as if staying here wouldn't mean giving him up. I love Lucas, I want to see him happy. But Maya, I do love you too. I told you that I hadn't made up my mind yet on if I was going to Texas. That's why I wanted to talk to you tonight in the first place—not to fight, not to have you belittle what he wants to do with his life, but just to talk to my best friend about something that affects the both of us." Riley found Maya's dainty hand and gave it a squeeze. "If you think that the idea of leaving you doesn't absolutely kill me inside, then you don't know me at all; If you think that I'd ever go without knowing that you and I would be okay, then you don't know me at all; and if you really have to question whether or not that you're the most deciding factor in all of this, then I promiseyou that you don't know me at all. So tell me, Maya, do you know me at all?" Riley wiped a tear from her cheek with her white shirtsleeve and then returned her grasp to Maya's. "You have been my everything since we were kids. You have always been the one to speak your mind and tell me when I was being crazy, or if I was in way over my head. When I was the SuperKlutz, you were always the first one reaching out to pick me back up."

"Was the SuperKlutz? Riley, you tripped on your way to eat breakfast this morning." Maya's mouth broke into a huge smile remembering the disaster, and how she had to spend thirty minutes scrubbing syrup off of their floor, making her very late for the art studio. But cleaning up Riley's messes was something she was used to, and actually she had grown quite fond of it.

Riley gave Maya a gentle shove. "Hey, I'm talking here!" The older girl apologized, but was doing everything she could not to let another laugh escape. "Can you control yourself, you animal?"

"Yes ma'am," Maya obliged, still grinning.

"Thank you." She exhaled and laid her head upon her roommate's shoulder—a spot that felt like home more than any measly four walls ever could. "I need you now more than ever. I need you to tell me if I'm just being crazy here, or if this is something that I should do, jump head first into this? Please, Peaches, tell me what to do."

Maya exhaled and raised her arm to wrap it around the younger girl's torso. She briefly wondered how many of these moments she would have left. And how many she had taken for granted up until this point, before there was ever a possibility of them reaching the endangered list. Gosh, she cherished that girl—this adorable and sweet, trophy of a human being. The best person she had ever met, by far. How lucky she was to have stumbled into the perfect window. Riley and Maya, it had always been Riley and Maya. But now seeing her so close to slipping through her fingers, she realized that somewhere along the line it had become Riley and Lucas. She should be happy for her friend, right? Happy that this beautiful ray of sunshine was on the brink of starting her real life…starting her own family…happy that she had found her Prince Charming. But happiness was the last emotion she could find, and Maya hated herself for that. Instead, she wanted to throw things. She wanted to punch something. She wanted to cry huge tears until she drowned in them. Taking Riley completely into her embrace, she gave her the tightest of hugs, and then let go. "I don't think I can help you with this one, Riles. I think this is that moment when you have to make the decision for yourself, and see where it leads you." Masking her disappointment was turning out to be a pretty difficult task, so Maya rose from the couch not wanting the other girl to notice her sorrow. She secured the blanket solely around Riley, before walking towards their door and grabbing her leather jacket off of that purple hook.

"Where are you going?" Riley began lifting up off the couch but the other girl waved her off, signaling for her not to bother. "Maya, you can't really be walking out right now."

Maya didn't look back at the couch even once. She couldn't. Those chocolate eyes were guaranteed to be irresistibly wide with sadness and fear—a brutal combination that would play tricks on even the strongest of wills. And Maya was quite frankly tired of being the one that was being left. There was no way that she was going to sit on that couch for a second longer, inevitably waiting to have the only person that she could always count on to be to be by her side tell her that it was all about to come to an end. This story was one the broken girl was way too familiar with, and as many times as she had lived it, it never worked out in her favor. "I'm going get some air."

"Will you be coming back?" Riley asked, "I can wait up until you get back."

"Just go to sleep, Riles. Go to bed."

A/N: Holidays are dwindling down a bit, so hopefully I can knock some more chapters out on a reasonable timeline. Hope everyone enjoys, as always reviews are encouraged and appreciated. Until the next update, have a good start to your 2020!

-Lauren