Lola was four when she met Maya.
She moved to Paris since her dad got a new job there and was absolutely terrified about her new surroundings. The apartement was new, the neighbours were new, the streets were new.
Lola didnt like change, it scared her.
So she spent the first week inside her apartement, mostly crying and playing with her toys while Daphne already made new friends in town and was outside playing all day in the snow with her new friends Baz, Lucas and Arthur.
The first day of kindergarden was the first time Lola actually left the house, clinging onto her dads hand and nervously looking around.
Lola didn`t find friends as quick as Daphne. She was more shy and mousy and not easy to talk to.
So she spent the first days in kindergarden alone on the swing, crying as soon as she got home.
Until one day a girl approached her, brown long hair and chocolate brown eyes and offered her the kindest smile ever.
„Hello. I`m Maya. Are you new?“, the girl asked.
Lola hesitated a few seconds but then answered:“I`m Lola. I just moved here“.
Maya just nodded at that and looked up to the sky.
„I like the swings. When you go high enough it feels like you are flying.“, she said not taking her eyes off the blue bright sky.
„I can`t swing that high.“, Lola confessed.
„Thats no problem, I can push you, if you want to.“
Lola chewed her bottom lip. What if the girl was just messing with her and was gonna push her off the swing? She had to deal with bullies before and it wasn`t fun.
But the genuine smile Maya had plastered on her face made Lola confident enough to nod.
So Maya gave the swing a push and it was scary at first but Lola soon relaxed and realized Maya was right. It did feel like flying.
Maya invited her over the same day and showed her a playground nearby.
They became close friends and met at the playground every day.
Lola was six when Maya first dyed her hair.
It was one strand of hair that was shining in a bright purple.
Lola noticed it immedeately and so did the other kids.
They were all staring at her, whispering but Maya didnt`t care.
Thats what Lola admired most about her, her confidence.
„Do you like it?“, Maya exclaimed, her eyes shining with excitement.
„Well...it`s different. But it suits you, it looks really good.“, Lola replied honestly, earning a smile from the other girl.
„One day I will dye my entire hair purple.“; Maya claimed, twisting the strand of purple her between her fingers.
„Thats really brave.“; Lola stated.
„Why?“
„Because it´s...different you know? It´s not the ordinary. Its takes a lot of bravery to be different.“; Lola explained her statement.
„The ordinary is boring.“, Maya simply shrugged and grabbed Lolas hand to pull her into the school.
When Lola was eight, Maya had her first kiss.
They were invited to Baz`s birthday party, simply because he had a massive crush on her sister Daphne and wanted to impress her.
So they sat in Baz`s basement with a bunch of older kids playing spin the bottle.
Maya didn`t want to play but somehow Lola ended up convincing her.
The bottle stopped at a guy named Paul first and then at Maya.
Lola felt a weird feeling creep up in her when her best friend leaned in and pressed her lips against the boy.
She decided to blame it on the massive amount of pizza she had eaten earlier.
Paul wasn`t only Mayas first kiss but also her first boyfriend.
They were sitting in Mayas room when she told Lola about him and Lola felt that weird feeling in her stomach again.
Lola was 10 and she still didn`t have her first kiss.
Maya already had kissed around 5 boys at that time wich made Lola very insecure.
So one day while they were playing in Lolas room she asked:“How do you do it?“
„How do I do what?“, Maya asked.
„Kiss so many boys.“, Lola explained.
Maya chuckled.
„It`s really not that hard. You ask a boy if he likes you and if he does you just kiss him.“
Lola bit her lip again. She always did that when she was thinking.
„And how does kissing work exactly?“.
Maya put the car down she was playing with and turned to Lola.
„It´s super easy. You just close your eyes and press your lips against the other persons lips.“
„How does it feel?“, Lola asked curious.
„Fuck, I don´t know how to describe that...wait let me show you.“, Maya said and shifted a little closer to Lola.
Lola felt her heartbeat quicken as she realized what was about to happen and squeezed her eyes shut.
What felt like ages but only was a few seconds later she felt soft lips on hers.
The kiss only lasted for a few seconds but it made Lolas head spin.
„So..how did it feel?“, Maya grinned at her when they broke apart.
Lola just akwardly gave her a thumbs up and croaked out a weak:“Good“.
They didn`t speak about the kiss ever again.
When Lola was eleven, Mayas parents died.
She didn`t know why and how but one day Maya showed up at her doorstep along with a stranger.
But Maya didnt look like Maya. She didn`t have that big kind smile on her face, instead had puffy
red eyes and dark circles undert them.
The stranger spoke to Lolas dad in the kitchen and since Maya was an orphan now, Thierry agreed to let her live with them for a few weeks until the child services found her a place to stay.
The following weeks were different.
Maya spent most of the time crying, she barely slept because she kept having nightmares.
Whenever Lola heard the other girl sob and squeal in her dreams , she joined her friend in bed and cuddled her, trying to calm her down.
They didnt speak about the death at all.
Shortly before Lola turned 12, Maya moved to her new foster family that luckily didn´t live too far away from her so the girls were still able to see each other but not on an everyday basis like before.
When Lola was 13, Maya came out to her as a lesbian.
They had started hanging out and sleeping over every weekend since Mayas timetable didn´t allow them to meet up at school days.
One night they were lying in Lolas bed, facing each other when Maya blurted out:“Do you hate gays?“
„No.“
„And if i was gay, would you hate me?“
„No“
„Good.“
„Are you gay?“
„Yes.“
„Okay.“.
Maya smiled at her and asked her to not tell her foster parents. Of course Lola agreed.
When they went to bed Lola mumbled:“I still love you“ and Maya gave her a kiss on the cheek.
When Lola was 14, Maya moved away. Her former foster parents weren`t able to take care of her anymore so she was sent to another family that lived across the city.
Lola cried when Maya told her. She now lived way too far away to set up regular meetings. She knew everything was going to change and she hated it. Maya was the only thing that kept her calm during change and now that she was the one leaving, she was alone and vulnerable.
She had a panic attack on their last day together and Maya was there, calming her down.
She didn`t know how she could ever live without Maya.
On their last evening together they went to the playground they used to go to as kids.
They sat on the swing for a while, talking about the past and the future.
„I am gonna miss you.“, Lola admitted.
„Me too. But I will write you every day and we will talk, okay?“, Maya smiled.
Lola looked at her and her beautiful long hair and her gorgeous brown eyes and her stunning smile.
That was the first time she realized that she was in love with Maya.
„Promise me you will not forget me.“, Lola almost demanded.
„I promise. I will never ever forget you, Lola Lecomte.“; Maya promised.
Then she got up from her swing and Lola did too.
„It`s getting dark. I need to go.“, Maya sighed, tears forming in her eyes.
Lola threw herself in the other girls arms and breathed in the familiar calming scent.
„Goodbye. I love you.“, she whispered.
Maya pulled away from the hug and smiled.
„I love you too.“
Then she kissed Lola.
Lola felt like her entire body was frozen when she felt Mayas lips on hers. When she finally realized what was happening, she quickly wrapped her arms around Mayas neck like she had always seen it in movies.
The kiss lasted longer than their first one.
On her 15th birthday she got a letter from Maya saying that she missed her a lot and that she had a girlfriend now. Lola cried. She wanted to be Mayas girlfriends and always did.
On new years eve she drank her first shots of alcohol and she liked it.
She didn`t really have any friends besides Maya who she hadnt heard from in 7 weeks and Elliot, a guy she met because she caught him stealing her neighbours dog.
She liked Elliot. Elliot was cool, he was older and he was different. But he wasn`t Maya.
When Lola turned 16, Elliot started going out with Daphnes friend Lucas and he had barely anymore time for Lola. She didn`t blame him, he was in love.
She felt lonely. Maya hadnt written her in 7 months and Lola was pretty sure the other girl just got tired of her.
So she started drinking alcohol and fell into a dark hole.
Thankfully, Daphne found out and Lola was hospitalized.
She met Maya again when she was 17.
She was out of the hospital for 3 weeks and was visiting Nico, an addict she met in the hospital.
Since he was already 19 they decided to buy alcohol and went to the nearest suprmarket.
„Fuck man take the vodka, that shit you got sucks ass.“; Lola yelled to her friend who agreed and took the vodka.
They arrived at the checkout and put the alcohol on the counter when Lola noticed the cashiers bright purple hair. She immedeately thought about Maya. She thought about her a lot, about how she was doing now, what she was doing.
The cashier turned her head and her face froze at the sight of Lola.
Lola met her gaze and her face went white when she looked in the familiar face.
Maya looked older. Her hair was shorter now. She looked...different...but she was still her Maya.
When Maya suddenly gave her the biggest smile she felt like crying.
Maya got up and hugged Lola.
„She still smells the same.“, Lola thought and closed her eyes, holding onto Maya like her life depended on it.
They exchanged numbers and decided to meet up at Lolas house to talk.
„Still the same flat, huh?“; Maya smiled when she stood at Lolas doorstep.
„Yup. Still same shithole.“; Lola scoffed.
„I like it here. It reminds me of my childhood. It reminds me of you.“; Maya said and looked around.
„You wanna come in?“; Lola offered.
„I thought we would go to our place.“; Maya suggested and Lola agreed.
They sat down on the swings on the playground.
„How have you been?“; Lola broke the silence.
„Well...my foster parents found out about me and my ex girlfriend and they weren`t happy with it. So they threw me out and I ended up with Jo and Sekou. I knew them from school and they offered me a room in their shared flat when they found me taking a shower in the school. Then my ex girlfriend who identifies as trans moved in too and now we are all living together. I study art and work at the supermarket because I need the money.“, Maya said.
Lola nodded.
„What about you?“
She looked up and scoffed.
„Well my life is kinda shit. I met this guy called Elliot and we were really good friends but now we barely talk anymore because he is in love now. I started drinking and hot hospitalized to fight my addiction. It kinda backfired because I met other addicts there and started taking drugs as well. So now I´m here, trying to fight my alcohol addiction but completely failing it and sleeping with random guys I meet at parties“.
Maya was silent after Lolas statement. She simply looked at her and nodded. Then she stood up and pulled her into a hug.
„I´m sorry.“; Maya whispered.
That was enough to break Lola.
She started sobbing into Mayas sweater and the other girl gently stroked her hair waiting patiently for her to calm down.
„Did you know I was in love with you?“, Maya suddenly blurted out.
„Really?“; Lola sniffed.
„Yeah. When we were 14.“.
Lola chuckled.
„I was in love with you too“, she admitted.
„For real?“
„Yup“
„Damn, Lecomte we could have been a super cute freshman lesbian couple.“; Maya joked.
And Lola kissed her.
She kissed her with all the passion and affection she felt torwards the other girl and Maya kissed her back with just as much passion.
They broke apart in the need of oxygen.
„Well, or a super cute cashier- senior couple“; Maya joked.
„I never stopped being in love with you.“, Lola said.
„Me neither“.
They went on two dates before they became official.
With Maya by her side, Lola managed to fight her addiction.
When she graduated, they moved in together.
When Lola was 20, Maya proposed. One year later they got married.
When Lola was 25 they adopted their first child, when she was 32 they adopted another one.
Lola was with Maya. She was happy.