48pm )
The music rings between her ears, capturing the rhythm of her heart as it beats in pace with the base of the song. It almost vibrates with frequency against her ribs and her head is spinning with each loud thought.
Maya knows that she should be more present. She should pay more attention to the conversation going on around her, yet somewhere between Jo’s effortlessly lame jokes or Sekou’s new teaching about their new urbex place, Maya felt herself drift off.
Every now and then she catches herself glance down at the phone in the palm of her hand. Because suddenly does the place that is filled with people, feel so empty with the lack of the one person she wanted to be there.
“ Oh no, someone is far gone. “ Jo says then, words that are enough to bring Maya back to the moment and turn her focus back to her friends in front of her.
They must have noticed her basically stare at her phone, because once Maya glances back up, everyone else is staring her way. Jo slightly giggly, Max as serious as usual and Sekou only quietly observing the situation. Chances are that he didn’t notice her absence at all.
Maya pushes the phone back in the pocket of her jacket then before she lightly shakes her head, “ Stop it, I just feel bad. “ , she sighs and Jo is quick to quirk a brow.
“ But why? “ Max asks then, and Maya’s focus is fast turned to him.
She sucks in a breath, she hasn’t told Max much about Lola. She is not even completely sure why. It has been over a year since they broke up, but maybe she still just holds too much care for him and does not want to do or say anything that will be even remotely uncomfortable for either.
“ The new girl at Maya’s Wednesdays work. “ Jo clarifies then.
“ Maya got called out by her the other day. “ She continues then in a teasing tone that makes it more than obvious that she takes pleasure out of this.
“ Jo . “ Maya tilts her head then, the name lingers in the serious tone of her voice as she turns her focus to the girl across from her.
“ What? I’m just saying. “
With the way Maya slightly shakes her head and almost glares at Jo with the loud statement in the depth of her eyes, Jo soon retracts. She must have understood the clear message Maya was trying to send, and soon enough gives up on the conversation.
“ I don’t get it. “ Sekou’s voice soon breaks the tension-filled silence, and they are all fast to turn their focus to him.
His eyes soon locks with Maya’s, genuine and kind.
“ If you feel bad then just talk to her and apologize. “
Maya can feel the words almost psychically settle around her heart. It heavens the ache in her chest and she has to exhale deeply to be able to breathe.
She has thought about it. She had found Lola’s phone number in the folder in the office before she left last Wednesday. It had been with the rest of the information about her. Maya hadn’t dared look, but the sight of her number still caught the attention of her eyes and in a moment of daze, Maya had let it slip into her phone.
Maya licks the dryness of her lips, swallowing through the lump in her throat once her heart only begins to beat faster. Her fingers trace over the material of the phone in the pocket of her jacket. The undeniable knowledge of being so close to Lola yet so far away, aches the more Maya thinks about it. Just text her. Just call. An act so simple yet so hard to set in motion.
She lets Sekou’s words spin on a loop with no end inside of her head. He is right. All she can do is apologize. It is either that or the possibility of never being able to speak to Lola again.
With a deep intake of breath, Maya pulls out her phone. Her fingers almost shivering as they trace over the letters of the keyboard. Just text her. The words screams in the back of her head, encouraging her, almost forcing her. Yet is seems like no words on Earth has ever been created to be enough to explain to Lola how sorry she is. How bad she feels. How incredibly and surprisingly much she wishes that she was here in this moment. With that, Maya lets her fingers work, creating one sentence after the other in a text that suddenly becomes longer than she first had expected. Yet just long enough to be correct.
@Maya;
Hey, it’s Maya. I found your number on the Community Service list. I wanted to apologize for Wednesday. It was stupid and clumsy. You’re right, I don’t know you.
Maya reads the text back and forth before she even dares to press send. Never has a text been able to make her feel like her heart is literally beating out of her chest and sucking her empty with oxygen to breathe.
“ See, that wasn’t so bad. “ Jo fills in then in the middle of nervous words that Maya is forcing to sentences. An hesitate and nervous laughter, bubbles from her mouth with the shakiness in her body.
“ Now ask her to come. “
Maya looks up. “ What? “
Jo smiles. Big and joyful.
“ Ask her to come. “ She repeats, the smile lingering upon her lips. A smile that nervously and carefully settles onto Maya’s own. Can she invite her? Or will Lola turn her down once again?
Maya sighs heavily, eyes returning to the phone in her hands before her fingers begin to tremble over the screen to create new words.
@Maya;
But if you want us to make up for it, I can send you the location of the party I told you about. If you’re up for it..
She reads the message, over and over. Yet before she has time to think about it, Maya forces herself to press send.