College was on a break, Riley had urgently come home. She had sent a text to Maya, from miles away,

Bay window. Bay window right now.

So they must meet at the Matthews house.

Sitting in the sacred bay window, the girls had gotten slowly used to meeting lots of new people and being away from each other. Not that they loved it, but it was a natural part of their lives.

"I missed you." Maya said somberly to Riley, who echoed that feeling.

"I missed you."

"So what was so urgent?"

"Maya, I wanted to tell you something, and ask you something."

"Okay. Are you telling or asking first?"

Riley turns, holds Maya's hands, and looks directly into Maya's eyes. She was serious.

"You alright…?"

"I went out with someone. A couple times."

"Oh, um, okay. Someone you met in your agriculture class?" Maya always thought Riley would do something with animals. All those Bunny farming dreams had to get a start somewhere.

"Actually at the library. We were hunting for the same book. They had it checked out and I needed it, so I looked them up, massaged and we met up. Turns out they are taking the ag class, just a slightly different one that I am not in."

"...that's what you wanted to tell me? So you met up with this guy, is he cute? Do you like him?"

"Maya," Riley holding Mayas hands a bit harder now,

"I did find Yoko cute, yeah, I thought she was cute."

(Wednesday reference)

Maya followed along and then bam. So slightly, the energy between them shifted off its axis by a few degrees. Maya blinked a few times and shook her head ever slightly, processing what Riley just said.

"...She?"

Moments go by, no words spoken. Just those words dangling in the air between them.

"...she was cute."

"I went over to her dorm. We were just talking, and she kissed me."

Maya honestly was finding it hard to be excited for Riley.

"Okay, did you kiss her back?" Maya said before she realized she did not care to actually know the answer to that.

"Yeah, I did."

Maya stopped, first stunned that Riley didn't say anything sooner, and that she didn't really have a scope on Riley's sexuality besides her on and off eventual brother relationship with Lucas. She never thought of Riley as someone who was into girls. Maybe she felt that way to cope with her own feelings.

"That is what you have wanted to tell me this whole time?"

"I wasn't sure how to say it."

Maya could feel her face getting hot. Was she jealous, maybe more than anything just hurt. That Riley didn't say sooner that there was a new relationship in her life. It didn't matter if it was a girl or boy, it was that Riley left her out.

"How long have you been seeing her?"

"For the last month."

Devastated. Maya's heart sank wearily to a depth it had not known before. She could feel the hurt and sting of sadness showing on her face. Her jaw slightly clenching, she answered sharply-

"Seriously?!" Maya was seething,

"I don't even know what to say.."

She gave it a few more pauses, not looking at Riley, and walking away from the bay window.

"Being dishonest and not telling me you have been seeing someone, let alone that you felt you couldn't come to me about dating a girl, I am beyond upset right now." Thinking about it, Maya made her way back over to the window, sitting a bit further from Riley than before.

"It's you and me. If you don't feel that this friendship is a safe enough place for you to share what is going on, that is one thing. To not trust that I would love you, unconditionally, no matter who you were seeing, that is another thing entirely Riley."

Maya respected Riley's decision to date who she wants, yet on that same hand, felt hints of hurt knowing that Riley chose to date a girl, kiss that girl, and that she did so in spite of understanding the dynamic that the two of them share. That Riley hadn't been considerate to Maya. That she hadn't considered Maya.

"Remember at the campfire, when I told you there was nothing you could do to change us from being best friends?"

"Now is the asking part,"

"..." Maya had no clue where Riley was going with this. Riley was going in a complete and different direction than where Maya was.

Riley hopped closer to Maya, in turn causing Maya to lean away from Riley, clearly uncomfortable with her intention.

"...what if I did something that changed us from being best friends?"

Maya was utterly heartbroken, the possible things she believed Riley was about to say swirling around in her head.

I had sex with her. I got rid of our friendship ring. We are dating. She doesn't want me to see you.

There was no single notion of what was happening. Maya's scope of awareness was blinded by absolute confusion.

"Do you like me?"

(Everything sucks reference)

Silence for a moment, then Maya finally musters words to come out-

"What?! What do you mean?" Maya answers, almost angrily.

"You know what I mean."

(Higher learning reference)

"I like it that you understand me," Maya says to Riley, unashamedly.

"There are things that I don't have to say-" Maya notices Riley moving into her slowly and suddenly all at once,

"Because you just know how I feel." With that, Riley is so close to Maya's face, that they can feel each other's breath. Riley looks into Maya's eyes asking, with nothing beyond sheer love, and puts her hand on Maya's heart, causing Maya to look down and open her mouth in slight surprise. (Skam reference) That touch sent a shock through her, that something was different in the way Riley touched her. She could not escape Riley's intention. Both just stay steady together in this moment where the air itself hangs with a gentle predation, like a volcano building pressure.

"Right now, I can't wrap my head around why you felt you couldn't trust me to love you and be there for you."

"Peaches."

Maya just looks into Riley's eyes, then at her cheeks, but dares not to go further. Her eyes just flutter back and forth between, searching Riley's emotions between each of her eyes.

Maya stays quiet, not answering, too busy taking everything in and seeming to be beaming with emotions unable to speak another word.

Riley on seeing Maya's lack of speech, made up for the silence-

"I like you."

Still, no response from Maya.

"Maya, I love you."

Maya moved Rileys hands off of her. Feeling abandoned in one way, and hurt in all the ways she could. Maya had barely even heard those new three important words,

"I like you."

Maya, crying silent tears, listens not able to take her eyes off of Riley. Riley placed her hands on Maya's face.

Coming in closer, lips brushing at this point, tension so tight and breathing hitched,

"I'm in love with you,

Is that okay?"

Maya was rushed with sensations all over her, she paused. Was it? Before she could think the word bust from her mouth,

"Yes." She almost sobbed.

Riley couldn't take it, and with little space to go, gently closed the distance between them. That was it, Staying still for a good solid moment, both just let this feeling sink into them. Maya leaned in gently crying into this embrace, pressing her lips into Riley. Still hurt, yet unable to not react to this powerful and meaningful gesture.

Riley had done something that changed them from being best friends. She kissed Maya, and Maya kissed her back.

Like the change of a season, Riley and Maya slowly separate from their kiss.

"Whatever you want." Maya tells Riley, just as she always has. Every hurt was drowned by the love Maya has for Riley, whatever way that love looked like.

Riley pulls away, and just touches her face and lips for a moment, as if to ask if it had really happened, if it was actually real.

Maya puts a hand on Riley's upper arm and the other on top of Riley's hand that was resting on her lap as she checked in with her, and not even for a moment taking an eye off her. Maya grips her hand around Rileys.

"You don't have to do this, you don't have to feel obligated to explore this in our relationship. Riles I got yo-"

Before the words finished, Riley came back in and with confidence this time, kissed Maya in a way that firmly placed her feelings. Maya tightened and squeezed Riley's arm, in turn Riley pulled her into the kiss with her hand on Maya's chin. Though the touch was one Riley did often, this touch felt like a wave hitting, leaving no emotion hidden from the tide sweeping in.

Now with more almost desperate emotion, they both breathily separate their lips, and pull each other tight together and towards each other. Every I love you suddenly made sense. Every time they rested their heads on each other. This unexplainable magnetic pull, an unstoppable force. Embracing and holding one another, Maya feels Riley. They have hugged and snuggled for years, but never has Maya truly felt her hand around Riley's waist, or so lovingly traced her hand on her back and shoulder blades. It felt like the stomach drop of a rollercoaster, so impactful you cannot do anything but surrender to the feeling. Riley held on to Maya, her arms enveloping her. She turned her head into Maya's neck, breathed hard and each saturated in her affection. This electricity could not be broken. With every little adjustment and movement, they both sat in the bay window. Maya had always known that everything is fine as long as she stays close to Riley. This new terrain was nerve wracking in one sense, and felt like home in another. The same lungs had breathed every single I love you between them, yet now those words had new language.

Their grips waning, the two settled resting their foreheads against each other, Riley occasionally rubbing her nose into Maya, taking in her closeness. She thought of being in Yoko's dorm, and how leaving that room, she had a sense of clarity which she never quite experienced.