ooo

Riley waited a brief minute to respond, but then blurted out, "Maya, what's it like to have an absent father?"

By Maya's sudden wounded expression, it was evident that Riley's question hit her close to home. Shawn's expression morphed from excited to shocked; he wasn't expecting Riley to ask Maya a personal question in a time like this at all.

Deciding to leave the two girls alone to discuss everything, Shawn looked away from them and went back to having small, meaningless chats with Auggie. Maya inhaled heavily and quickly trailed her eyes away from Riley to stall a moment before answering her question. Maya, of course had discussed the topic with Riley before, and Riley wasn't clear with the reason she had asked her such a thing. Maybe she wanted to avoid her own personal thoughts and mourn over somebody else's.

As Riley watched Shawn turn away awkwardly, she immediately felt a pang of guilt in the pit of her stomach, realizing that she had hurt Maya slightly, and distributed or confused her Uncle Shawn. "No Maya...I'm sorry. Don't answer that," she muttered, shaking her head, and glancing away as well.

Maya didn't reply to Riley's self-response for a while, and everything formed into an awkward silence. Shawn glanced back at Maya again, protectively checking if she was alright. Riley tilted her head down, feeling ashamed of herself.

Out of nowhere, Maya replied in a loud, but calm tone, "It's kind of hard to explain. You see, I don't love my Clutterbucket of a father; he's like a stanger," she sighed heavily and paused for moment.

Shawn started walking slower so he could listen to Maya talk, as well. He had grown up with a similar living situation, which helped him understand Maya and slightly concerned him. The only difference between Maya's mess of a life and his own, was that his mother was the one who was "absent."

"But I kind of wish that he would've stuck around, so I could've loved him, you know..." Maya said in a tough voice that made her sound confident and strong, but Riley could tell that she was internally weak by the deprived look in her eyes. Riley didn't say anything back, just looked down. She wasn't excepting anyone to say anything after that, but ironically, Shawn stopped walking for a second and opened his mouth to speak.

Riley took a deep breath and paused her steps as well, along with everybody else. "Maya," Shawn started to say, catching her absent attention. Maya glanced up at him quietly, tilting her head in response.

Riley wasn't expecting Shawn to say anything back that would hurt Maya. Actually, she was figuring that he would tell her something that would make a slight impact on her feelings.

"You're not alone...don't be upset. I know how you feel," he explained to her, mentally referring to himself. Riley nodded and shot Shawn a thumbs up, which he returned immediately.

Maya's eyes widened with surprise and gratefulness, causing a sorrowful pit to form in Riley's stomach. Maya wasn't expecting anyone to care, thought Riley, feeling a blank and empty sort of emotion. Riley honestly didn't know what it was like to not hope for things; Riley was the most optimistic person you'd ever meet, especially when it came to Maya's personal problems.

Maya pursed her lips and gave Shawn a quick nod, appearing sturdy but still evidently amazed on the inside. If anybody could notice that feature of containment, it was Shawn Hunter. He felt the affect he held on Maya with the words he had previously said, and grinned proudly for himself at her. Maya beamed thankfully back, and with no words said, everyone went back to walking straight down the street.

The whole walk back to the car, Riley noticed that Shawn kept smiling. For a moment, she forgot about her problems because of the happiness she suddenly felt for Maya. Riley hoped that one day, her Uncle Shawn would be able to stay longer; long enough that he could become some what of a father to Maya. Also, Riley knew that her father missed hanging around Shawn often, even if he acted clueless about his bestfriend being away for so long.

The thoughts of Shawn and Cory reminded Riley of the current problems she was facing between her parents. The uneasy feeling resumed in her stomach as her mind split blank. She considered telling Maya about what was going on, but could't build up the words to describe how she felt at the moment.

Hurt.

Hurt, sad, scared