Hey lovelies,

Sorry this is so ridiculously late. It's been crazy busy with school work, the holidays, and the Day In Six Weeks sequel (which is out if anyone is interested!). I'd like to apologize, it was never my intention to leave you guys hanging, and I will try my very best to avoid such long absences in the future!

I feel like I should probably clarify a few things about the last chapter, a lot of things happened after all :p Many of you were questioning why Maya is still playing the long game, and in all honesty, I agree with many of you in saying that at this point in time, the long game is likely over. I think this chapter will clarify that idea a bit more. In regards to Maya telling Josh to let her know if anything like this happens again, she essentially is stating that she does not want to be blindsided again. It is easy to say that she shouldn't even be affected if Josh ever falls in love again, but emotions are never black and white, and while she would likely be over him, a part of her would still sting to a degree. They've been through so much together by this point that it would be impossible not to, even if she is trying her best to let him go. There's also the concept that there isn't very much to let go of, they haven't really been in much contact these past few years, Maya was kind of just riding on residual feelings. And lastly (phew this is a long author's note, sorry!), Josh gave her up the minute he fell in love with Alina. He never sought her out, never initiated any contact, and even now, doesn't expect anything from her. I by no means am trying to rationalize Josh's terrible decisions, but I think it's important to clarify that he assumed her feeling may have lessened over time given that they didn't see one another all too often. In regards to Maya, she stays true to her strong character- she isn't going to let some guy fuck up her life. This is a slow burn story, remember guys! There is still so much more to come and events that may alter your perception of what's happening at the moment.

I love you all, just try and stick with me for a bit!

- SleepingStarlight

"Peaches," Riley said quietly, lifting herself out of the blankets surrounding her and resting her chin on Maya's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she whispered, mindful of the emptiness in the room.

"Sorry about what, Riles?" Maya asked, attempting to feign some sort of normalcy as she gathered her hair in a ponytail by the base of her neck. Her hands were shaking slightly though, so the brunette sitting by her side reached up to tie it for her, knowing that Maya wasn't entirely functional that morning.

"It's okay, Maya," Riley sighed, familiar with her best friend's tactics to avoid situations that caused her pain. "He was going to follow you, but I cornered him," Riley winced slightly as she proceeded. "You'd be proud of me, I shoved his sorry ass to the ground."

There was a whirl of blonde as Maya whipped her head around to face Riley's conflicted expression. She began to grin slightly, but allowed it to taper away when she saw Riley's pained smile. That sweet bird had defended her, but in a way that she never felt comfortable doing. It made Maya's heart swell, knowing that Riley stepped outside of her comfort zone for indignance on her behalf, but Riley wasn't meant for that. She wasn't meant to hurt others, and Maya could tell it was tearing her up inside. So she turned to something so familiar that it almost put her at ease, "Honey, you didn't have to do that. I know he's a massive dick, but he's your uncle. I don't expect you to end things with him just because he and I aren't happy with each other."

"Maya, he hurt you so much. He should have known that it would push me away, you're my other half," Riley persisted with a more honest smile.

Maya looked back to her and attempted to smile again, but everything was still too fresh. So she dropped her gaze to one of the cushions stranded on her carpet, suddenly fascinated with the tassels on its edges. "I guess he told you then?" She questioned without changing her gaze.

"There may have been a conversation before the ass-kicking," Riley admitted reluctantly. "You should have seen Mom though, she had to literally pull me away. She was pretty pissed; she thought he had told you by now. She probably would have kicked him out if he hadn't left soon after."

Maya chuckled slightly. She had learned long ago that Topanga was a force to be reckoned with. "Did I ever tell you that I love your mom?" Maya asked jokingly.

"I kinda just figured," Riley grinned, wrapping an arm around Maya's shoulder and pulling her in close. They lapsed into silence. Maya would never admit to it, but at times like these she needed this. The warmth across her back and the reassurance that someone would always be there for her. Maybe it was a result of her tumultuous childhood, but Maya liked to think that it was something that people needed innately. A presence, in whatever form, to love them unconditionally. She couldn't help but be glad that she had found hers so early.

But as was her nature, Maya could not help but acknowledge the elephant in the room. "Uh… Alina seems nice," she swallowed, the words being more painful than she expected.

"I wonder if she knows she can do far better than that scumbag," Riley teased, attempting to swing the conversation away from that which would cause the blonde leaning on her shoulder more pain. And when she heard a small, but genuine laugh escape Maya's lips, she smiled, grateful that she had at least never lost that ability.

"I think most people can at the moment, Riles," Maya quipped with more of her usual tone apparent. Riley could have sighed in relief, but she held back… there were still many more milestones to reach on this road. "I'm… I'm happy for him," Maya said tightly and entirely unconvincingly.

"But you're not too keen on him right now," Riley finished, taking in the return of Maya's tight smile as a response. "I say we should just swear off boys," Riley threw out- trying to inject more of her bubbly personality back into the conversation, it had sadly lacked in it so far.

"Tbh," Maya began, her pained smile reverting to a genuine one, "let's just get married and call it a day. At least we'd never hurt each other. Besides, it's legal anyways!" she added as an afterthought.

"We don't need to be married to have that Peaches, you've already got me. One hundred percent."

Maya let out a sappy "Awe," loving the return of cheesy Riley. It had been a while. "You know I think you just broke a new cheese record there, Riles."

"I try," Riley shrugged adorably. "I'm surprised you haven't given up already, Peaches. Like everything with Lucas has got me thinking, and you… I mean Cam and Josh, you've gotten some rotten luck. I may have just given up by now."

Maya grimaced slightly. Cam, or Cameron, was a sore spot. He had been her first high school boyfriend. Still high on her ski lodge promises, Maya had avoided relationships essentially the entire year following it. She knew it was pointless, but she still felt emotionally raw and couldn't imagine being with anyone else after having but a few moments with a certain beanie-wearing Matthews. Until, that is, she met Cameron in her second. Tall, lanky, perfect hair, Maya was not the only one to fall for him and the sweet smiles he sent her in their geography class… the one class she didn't have with Riley. She had never been extraordinarily shy, so the next day, she kicked out the kid sitting next to him and took up her new residence. It was uphill from there. Their relationship evolved from sharing textbooks (each secretly smiling when their elbows knocked together), to study sessions (where very little of that nature ever really occurred), to coffee (which became a newfound essential after their first set of strenuous exams), and finally to their first kiss outside the Museum of Natural History on a school trip after Cory had unendingly recounted the Napoleonic Wars (despite the class being on a geography field trip).

The week after had been full of conflict in her mind. She hadn't expected things to work out that way. She was young and naive in more ways than one, expecting her first idea of romance to be her last and shocked on the realization that emotions were far more complex than she had anticipated. All throughout her life, she had lived in extremes. She loved Riley and her family. She loved her mother and her grandmother. She loved her friends… She hated her father. So was it possible for her emotions to not be stark and cold, differing opposites?

After dating for a year, she still hadn't made up her mind. He told her he loved her, but she hadn't been quite ready to say the same. He pulled a Lucas and gave her a promise ring- Maya could smell Riley's involvement in the entire thing, but was pleased nonetheless. That night she cried a little; there was an ache whose cause she couldn't quite dissect yet. She left it for another time.

By Christmas Break that same year, Cam's family decided to move to Australia after the death of his grandfather. They broke up painfully, but managed to not end up estranged. She thought it out- at that point a little more pain would likely not make a difference.

So in retrospect, she could acknowledge several different truths. When Cam had left, she spent the Christmas Break hurting, so this situation was not her first heartbreak. However, it was of a different calibre- she hadn't dated Josh, hadn't loved him (at least not to a degree which she could easily acknowledge), but everything he did seemed to affect her in a more minute way. She had seen him at the Matthews more than she expected that year with his roommate being an absolute ass and him essentially living in the apartment on weekends, but didn't say a word. It seemed like cruel irony that the year she could have spent with him was the year she was otherwise occupied, but it hadn't affected her extraordinarily at the time.

They would talk and laugh- it was impossible not to when being in each other's presence was so invigorating. They would chat on cold winter nights with mugs of hot chocolate, often playing some sort of board game with the Matthews. They would get into arguments… she assumed it was inevitable, they wouldn't always have compatible personalities. But never did they talk about love or relationships. She never understood how it was that they could talk for hours (if they let themselves) without discussing anything of real importance. She thought that perhaps it was their way of living in the moment- allowing the outside world to look into whatever kind of relationship they had would ruin it- at least, that was what she convinced herself. Her heart would race guiltily whenever they touched, usually by accident, but she couldn't honestly admit that some were not on purpose. It was amicable, she reasoned- she couldn't say it was anything more.

They were not stupid… they were both in stages of life where it was impossible to expect anything but relationships with other people, but their inability to communicate left a wedge that Maya could only acknowledge several years later. So Maya turned back to the concerned face searching hers and took a deep breath.

"Tell me about it," Maya groaned, stuffing her face back into her pillow.

"I don't know if this is going to cheer me up, Riles." Maya said skeptically, staring at the large carousel that stood on the grass in central park.

"My god Maya!" Riley said with an exasperated huff through a mouthful of frozen yogurt. "First we try fro-yo… nothing. Then we try painting… nothing. Then we try fro-yo again… well… I try fro-yo again because you dragged me away before I could get any last time (not cool by the way), and now you don't even want to do this?!" She moodily licked her spoon, "It's like I don't even know you anymore."

Maya rolled her eyes and took in the scene around her. Little kids were clustered around a small petting zoo, parents were talking near the benches, and the horses which had been sparsely painted when they were children were now elaborate works of art. It seemed as though their childhood hotspot had become rather popular.

"You need to lighten up, Peaches." Riley continued, "It's not like your problems are going to just disappear, you're going to have to learn to live with them."

Maya reached to grab Riley's hand, swinging it around when she did. "What if I don't want to?" She asked, scrunching up her nose playfully. It was easy reverting to herself in moments like these.

"If you don't, it's only going to hurt you in the long run," Riley said solemnly, but rather unconvincingly as she had a dollop of pink frozen yogurt on the tip of her nose. Maya chuckled, reaching over and wiping it off with the corner of her sleeve.

"You're a little more convincing without frozen yogurt on your face, Honey," she smiled.

"What can I say, it's part of my charm," Riley shrugged with a grin before tossing her cup in the nearby trashcan and dragging Maya towards the carousel. "It will make things better," she shrieked, struggling as Maya turned into dead weight, "I promise!"

"You can't fix everything, Riles," Maya sighed before giving in and allowing Riley to drag her towards the ride.

"But I can sure as hell try," Riley returned, finally reaching the first solitary horse and pushing her friend onto it. "Besides," she paused, gently patting the horse's nose, "maybe he can," before scampering off to find one of her own.

Maya looked down at the rainbow coloured monstrosity of a horse she sat on; they had abandoned tasteful colours after they redid the park in 09. Nevertheless, when the music started up again, she felt a sudden familiarity and smiled, recalling all the times her and Riles had ventured over there as children. They had even snuck out on the night of Maya's sweet sixteen, begging the park manager to let the ride go for another fifteen minutes past closing time. She could remember the sweetness of that age, she had just been with Cameron a few months at that point and had been flying on some sort of high. Now, she was flying on a different sentiment all together and severely lacking another. Joy- she knew it realistically should not depend on anyone. There was a healthiness to being happy with who you were alone, and that was something Maya had never let herself achieve before tumbling into her first relationship. There was so much more she had to learn about herself before she shared herself with others. But unfortunately, that realization didn't stop the sharp dread she felt when felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. He wouldn't, she thought with pained exasperation. He knew she needed space. But she sighed in relief when she saw the contact.

From Riles Smiles (2much):
To Maya:
You don't look like you're having fun :(

Maya turned around, searching for Riley as the ride continued to spin, eventually finding her sitting on a palomino amongst throngs of children. She had her brows furrowed in worry and her phone in her lap. Maya turned back to her own, typing carefully.

From Maya:
To Riles Smiles (2much):
I'm thinking things over, don't worry honey. I'm having oodles of fun.

She shoved her phone back into her pocket, deftly maneuvering on her horse and placing her head on it's ceramic mane when she was done. The ride seemed to be slowing down, but her thoughts were anything but.

The Long Game was over. She knew that and understood what it entailed. She felt raw, that was inevitable. She felt alone, but she knew that wasn't true. She felt tired, relationships were a lot of work. And… this scared her the most... she felt as though she didn't know herself… and that needed to be changed.

Her horse came to a stop, but Maya couldn't find it in herself to move. It was all a bit much for a Saturday morning. Riley walked over, hesitantly pausing by her side. "I know I want you to feel better right now, but I get that you need time. This doesn't have to be rushed, Peaches. Let everything run its course, I'll be right here for all of it."

Maya felt a few tears well in her eyes and gently slid off her horse, wrapping her arms around the brunette. "You know I love you, right?"

Riley smoothed her cheek on the blonde curls that she knew so well and squeezed her close. "Yeah, I do."

"I… I don't like that he can hurt me like this," Maya admitted softly. "I don't even know why I'm so attached, I mean it's not… it's not like anything ever even happened."

"Maya," Riley soothed, sitting her onto a nearby bench, "that's normal. You spent so much time with this idea in your head, I'd be worried if you weren't upset right now. You two… you were always difficult," Riley admitted, remembering what she had observed over the years. "You guys set yourselves up that day in the ski lodge… most promises like that end in a lot of pain and I wish I could make it go away, but I can't."

Maya let out a bitter laugh, that moment had always been among her highlights, she never knew the kind of turmoil it would cause her in the long run.

"He was… selfish in a way," Riley reflected. "I don't think he quite realized what your deal meant until things started changing for him."

"I don't like that he has that control over me," Maya whispered, slightly overcome as she began to fully comprehend the effect he had on her at times.

"I really hope you mean had, Peaches," Riley said cautiously.

"I'm done with this shit," Maya said bitterly, regretting how much time she had already spent on this that morning. "I don't need this right now. It's the beginning of university, he needs to stop messing with my fucking life. I don't need any more distractions."

"Yeah!" Riley encouraged from the sidelines.

"He is NOT going to mess with me anymore. I'm older, I'm more mature, he doesn't affect me that much!"

"YEAH!" Riley cheered, growing more excited by the minute. She knew this carousel park was magic.

"I'm going to be indifferent to Josh Matthews," Maya stood up with a confidence that may not have been entirely true. "At least, I'll try my very fucking best to."

"YAAAAY" Riley nearly screamed, attracting the attention of several concerned mothers in the process.

"But," Maya sank back onto the bench with a sigh, "I don't think I'm there yet Riles."

Riley curbed her excitement for the moment, she needed to match Maya's ebb and flow of emotions for however long this process lasted- her cheerleader in the high points, her source of comfort in the lows. "Maya, it's okay. This kind of stuff doesn't go away in a day. You spent years expecting something from him. You're allowed to be upset."

"Don't worry," Maya agreed glumly, "I'm pretty upset. But… I don't like being upset. I don't like being angry. I have too many daddy-issues to let another source of permanent pain into my life. I need to get over this-"

"Even if it's not right now," Riley finished.

"I guess the whole deal was a bit unrealistic, wasn't it?" Maya asked, beginning what would be a long and arduous process of healing. She had really clung to the idea of the Long Game after her first break up. The idea that someone was out there, that there was still another perfectly good relationship within reaching distance had been a source of comfort unlike any other. But now, she couldn't help but think of it negatively… it had been filled with lies anyways.

"It may have been," Riley accommodated, "but you two were just kids. I wouldn't have expected you guys to plan for this."

"Fair." Maya conceded, resting her head in her palm and staring at the flecks of pebbles in the concrete ground..

"You can do this Peaches." Riley said softly from her other side. It was entirely possible, Maya reflected. The Long Game was over, now it was time for her to get over it. So she looked hesitantly into the brown eyes staring gently at hers and managed to find a small smile. There was something in the nature of the sweet face staring back at her that would always make things easier. She had felt like a carousel for so many years now, swinging from one end to the other and hanging on without any sense of precariousness. It was time for things to slow down a bit.