They take a moment, and acknowledge what they have shared, and mutually finish their journey to the library.
Coming upon it, Riley took notice of the huge seemingly windowless building. It was almost red, and quite square. The stonework seemed to be not purposely patterned, but within the long rectangle sides coming towards the ground, there were squares of lighter and darker shades that could be picked out. The building stood out to the eye when looking down the street, and Riley drifted for a moment thinking about what trips there would be like as a student.
Josh was sitting out on a bench outside, and shot up when he heard someone call out his name.
"Josh!" Charlotte yelled, and took a moment to pull Riley aside one last time.
"Take care of yourself, okay? Message me if you need to, and please be safe."
She hugged Riley, and Riley reciprocated. As they separated, Josh approached them.
"Hey, you alright?"
Charlotte interrupts,
"Make sure she gets something to eat, and keep her safe. I have to get back to my dorm,"
She looked directly at Riley,
"Take care of yourself. See you around."
With that Riley watched Charlotte walk back in the direction of the dorm building. Josh asked her,
"So you need to eat? There is a vending machine inside, let's grab you something quick. You doing okay?"
"Honestly Josh I wish I didn't have to explain myself to everyone."
"Riley, I don't think it's unreasonable for me and everyone else not to be concerned." He stopped himself, thought for a moment, and got back to the task at hand. Maya told him what to do, and he decided to pivot and refocus them, regardless that he was interested in knowing what was going on.
"Come on, let's go." He insists, and Riley follows into the lobby. Walking in, the space took her breath away. There is a large open space with, at this time of day, a smaller number of students coming and going, and a vastness that could not be ignored. Looking up, each of the sides exposed the upper levels, were cased in this yellowish pattern. It was rectangles and squares, randomly filling a long space, and endless spaces/columns next to each other. It almost felt like they were books latticed along the exposed walls. Riley found she couldn't take her eyes off how beautiful it was. That this was a space she wished she could get lost in, and spend all day leaving her life and its stressors outside the red exterior of this sacred place. She took notice of how there was noise, yet stillness existing at the same time, as if trying not to disrespect the space itself. Josh broke the silence around the two of them,
"I know, it's specialness fades after enough all nighters."
"I don't believe that for a moment." She curtly said to him.
"The machines over here." He gestures over to a room a bit aways, by a little café area with some chairs and seats nearby to supply students with much needed refreshments. After he asked what she wanted, she said a ginger ale and he insisted she try to eat a muffin. She went to sit down, feeling all the students in the vicinity acknowledge her, leaving her feeling worried she was too young or unwelcome by them. As she scanned the area across the room, which had several more seats and lounge type seating, she took notice of someone sitting in a chair, facing towards a wall, so she could only see the back of the person. What caught her eye was the blonde hair that was down, hanging off the side of the chair. The girl had her elbow resting on the arm of the chair, holding her face, and the hair blocking her face. Riley's heart just dropped into her stomach, realizing she hadn't asked if anyone was waiting for them. Deciding to be brave, Riley walked towards the girl slowly. Reality was creeping in, to Riley's dismay. The girl in the chair tucked her blonde hair behind her hair, reached into her bag to grab something. Surprisingly, she quickly took notice of Riley's staring and approach. She turned slightly to get a better look and blinked confused, and smiled slightly.
"Hi." The girl said- Riley quickly acknowledged this was not Maya. Something about that saddened Riley, making her realize to at least some extent, she missed everyone. Even her parents.
"Oh, sorry. Thought you were someone else."
"Riley." Josh called out, as much as he could without being too loud. The girl looks past Riley seeing the guy call out for her. The girl looked back at Riley, presumably noticing she was significantly younger than the guy, and she asked perplexed,
"Are you alright?"
Riley stayed quiet for a moment, shocked the girl was talking to her. She took notice that she seemed to be almost clammy, a bit nervous.
"Oh, um, yeah I think." She noticed the girl saw Josh calling for her.
"That's my Uncle."
Now the girl was even more confused,
"What?"
By that time Josh had come over to grab her.
"Please excuse us," He said to the girl, and pulled Riley away,
"Riley let's go."
Walking away, she looked back at the girl one last time, who had gone back to her work.
"Hey let's not make any trips to say hi to strangers, okay?"
"Fine." Walking back out, Riley saw an official looking area, that was museum like, and inquired to Josh about what it was.
"Yeah it's a little area with portraits and old books preserved on display. It's not open right now, otherwise we could get a closer look. Here, let's go sit."
He brings her to one of the seats not quite in the center of the lobby area, and upon him sitting down, she walks over toward the roped off area, looking curiously in at it. Josh sighs, and paused, taking the moment to text Maya about where they were.
Hey, she's with me at the Library, trying to get her to eat something at the moment.
Maya immediately responded.
Okay, I am passing Little Owl on Bedford, about 10min away. Shawn is with me. See you soon, get over to the park.
Riley after gazing off for a while came back over to Josh, taking out the water bottle Charlotte had given her and had some. Josh reached out his hand, holding out the muffin.
"So, you ran off huh?"
Riley grabbed the muffin, glaring at him, and considered answering the question. She took a small bite, and answered him.
"Yep. You call my parents?"
"I haven't, but do you trust me?"
Hmm. She thought about it, and answered honestly.
"I guess I kind of have to."
"Well, take a sec, breathe, then we need to go."
She became bitter for a moment,
"You are going to drag me back to them."
"No, Riley, you can't hide forever. Plus I promised her. What's going on between you two?"
Riley opted not to answer that. Josh knew better than to get into drama he had no bandwidth to understand.
"Listen, I don't know how you guys left things, but she is your best friend, and no matter what you do, you owe it to yourself and all of us to not make this harder than it already is."
He leaves her be to rest and recoup for a bit, as she eats and somewhat people watches. She sees that the blonde girl from before is leaving, and Riley could swear from behind, she is Maya for certain.
"Where is Maya?"
Josh stood up, and stepped away from their spot.
"Want to find out? Come on, it's a short trip."
Riley feels a wave of anxiety, and some excitement in a way, to see Maya.
"Have you heard from anyone else?"
"Don't worry about that, just come with me, okay?"
"Okay."
They exit the subtly stunning lobby, and Riley, wishing of the adventures she could have there, leaves them at the doorway.
