Shadows

"Riles, please slow down! What have I even done?!"

Riley Matthews stopped suddenly, her face going from angry to pure stone, Maya tried not to wince.

"Don't give me that bullshit Maya, I saw how she looked at you!"
"Riles, please!"
"No, I shouldn't have started this, I have a boyfriend, a boyfriend who I love! What am I -"

All the breath left Riley's body as she realised Maya had pressed her up against the lockers. She tried to ignore how cold the metal felt against her back against her exposed skin (thanks to Maya convincing her to wear a crop top for the fifth time this week) and how warm Maya's breath on her neck was. She could see the bruises on Maya's neck that the shorter girl would tell everyone else she got from fighting, idiot. And her busted lip, why did she have to be so short tempered?

"Listen, Riles..."
"Please don't call me that." Riley was close to crying at how angry she felt.

"Fine, listen, baby. I don't know what the fuck or who the fuck you're talking about, but I'm the crazy ass possessive one in this bullshit, even if you do have a bread ass boyfriend, okay? And, baby, you don't love him, or we wouldn't still be hooking up six days after he proposed." Maya practically growled in Riley's ear, and the taller girl tried not to whimper at how much she loved the feel of Maya's tiny, soft hands on her skin.
How were they so soft?! The girl was ALWAYS in some kind of fight.

Riley sighed, "I know, I'm sorry, okay?! I do need you, I just -"
"You just nothing, Riles, I'm here for you, okay? No one else." Maya tried to reach eye contact regularly with Riley but the stupid adorable dork was too fuckin' tall.

Stupid cute teacher's daughter with stupid ass endless legs.

She stood up on her tippy toes to try and maintain eye contact, which proved useless as Riley found the sight so cute she couldn't help but peck Maya's lips quickly. They were lucky class had started five minutes ago.

Speaking of which, "c'mon princess, we're gonna be late." Maya muttered, grabbing Riley's hand and leading them to Cory - Mr Matthew's class. Only Cory at Riley's house.

~

"You!"
"Me!" Maya snarled at Cory in the same exaggerated tone. As per Maya's request the girl was still a hardcore rebel (who got straight As in history) at school, and a perfect angel at the Matthews house - and anywhere else that didn't really know her reputation - aka Farkle's house and her house.

Cory couldn't help but smile slightly at how terrified Riley looked at being late to class. The first few times it had happened, the girls had been given detention - in separate rooms - and Maya had been strictly banned from the Matthew's house for a week. Now Cory had grown to accept what the Matthew's family now described as 'Riley and Maya's lesbian drama' thanks to Auggie (or asshole as Maya lovingly called him) and even though he wasn't the biggest fan of Maya 'Rebel without a care' Hart, "at least they can't get pregnant"

- Asshole, 2016,

he was happy Maya made Riley happy, even though she really needed to break things off with Lucas.

"You know the drill, detention for three days Hart."
"Pleasure doin' business with ya Matthews." Maya grinned as she slid into her desk, inching it closer to Riley's with every passing second.

"I can see you!" Cory groaned at Maya's obvious needs to be touching Riley 24/7, and even though she blushed, Riley was swooning on the inside as Maya's thumb massaged her thigh.

They were so lucky Lucas wasn't in this class anymore.

"So, Belgium in 1831..."

~

Riley giggled as Maya groaned into her shoulder, arms wrapping around her sort-of-but-not-really girlfriend's waist.
"It's a place and a time, Farkle, not that deep." Maya sighed.

"Not that deep!" Farkle gasped.
The boy genius fainted onto his four poster bed, arm raising dramatically to his forehead. Riley laughed, pulling Maya onto her lap and whispering into her ear.
"Play nice."

She felt the goosebumps rise on Maya's skin from where her leather jacket had ridden up and she mentally high-fived herself, Riley 1, Maya 0.

Who was she kidding, it was like Maya 15-1 Riley.

"Right, dates and times, second most important thing on the planet, after this little sunflower." Maya grinned, bopping Riley's nose gently. Riley felt the usual scarlet cover her cheeks. Dammit, Maya.

"Ugh, you're so whipped." Farkle groaned, tipping the contents of his bag onto his desk and organising it into his study guide and alphabetically ordered stationery drawer.

"Speaking of which, when are you going to break up with Luc-ass?"

Maya smirked, happy her nickname was finally getting used.

"He's right, Riles, even Zay knows,"
"What?!"
"Calm down!" Farkle yelped, "all he said was 'damn, Hart is so soft around Matthews, it's like they're fucking or something,' you know, sports-man talk."
"Okay sports-man," Maya grumbled, moving off Riley's lap.

Riley frowned, upset her sort-of-but-not-really girlfriend wasn't literally on top of her anymore. She reached for Maya's hand and nearly whined when Maya yanked it back.

"What gives?" Riley mumbled, trying her best to hit Maya with her famous puppy eyes. It was useless, she was too happy all the time to pull it off. Farkle described it as a 'post fuckboy glow' from all the 'action' she was getting from Hart. Maya simply claimed Riley was gorgeous, and that she'd brought Riley out of the bread ass shadow of 'Fuckboy Friar'.

"Look, Riley,"
"Riles," Riley pouted.
"Fine, Riles, I really don't care that I'm your dirty little secret or whatever,"
"Maya!"
"C'mon Maya, it's not like that," Farkle tried to reason with the blonde, who was growing increasingly angry.
"What?! It's true! And I'm fine with that, I know what I am. But am I gonna be fucking fingering you under the table at your wedding whilst Bread Boy toasts you?! I need some fucking assurance Riles."

Riley felt tears pricking at her eyes, damn Hart. She knew the whole hiding thing wasn't her forte, especially when they were just making out in the bathrooms during third period. She knew it wasn't fair on the shorter girl, she was actually an amazing sort-of-but-not-really girlfriend, and Riley was taking that for granted every time she snuck out out Lucas' bed to crawl into Maya's.

She knew at first it was a pride thing for Maya, she got to bang the head cheerleader right behind the back of the captain of the baseball team (cliche as fuck, right?) and literally everyone apart from the bonehead jocks could see that. But over time, the girls had accepted their relationship was more than physical, and they started going on secret dates and being even less secretive about the hickeys and displays of affection.

To Fuckboy Friar, they were just really close gals being pals, but everyone else could see they were the most sickening soon-to-be couple in the school.

The weird thing was Maya didn't even mind. At first, she'd beat up anyone that claimed she was 'soft' or 'pussy' around Riley, however after comforting Riley over too many teary eyed arguments and that "yeah Riles, I know violence isn't the answer, but it's the only one I'm any good at," Maya accepted that the queen bee had her wrapped around her little finger.

She secretly loved it.

"Hey, Maya, you there?" Riley whispered gently.

Woah, in the short space between agreeing to go to Zay's for some 'herbal remedy' and crawling through Riley's bay window, she'd completely lost track of time.

"Sorry, baby, too high with Zayeeee..." Maya mumbled tiredly, slipping off her shoes and climbing into Riley's bed. The brunette wrinkled her nose and looked for a spare pair of pyjamas - her parents were home after all - but kissed Maya's forehead to show she wasn't pissed.

~

"What'cha thinking 'bout?" Riley whispered, stroking Maya's cheek gently.

It was gone 4am but it was basically Saturday so neither girl minded having a duvet day.

"You. M'always thinkin' bout you. Or drinkin' bout you, heh, remember that?"

Riley grimaced, she remembered when Maya used to show up drunk at her door when she knew the younger girl was home alone, howling a mixture of profanities and pick up lines at Riley before she was dragged inside and shut up with a quick reality check and a lot of water.

"Yeah, baby. What about me."
"Thinks I loves you," Maya sighed, before rolling over and shimmying back so she was pressed against Riley's front, clearly not expecting an answer.

"Well maybe I -"
"No, you breaks up with Friar, then you can loves me," Maya mumbled, her voice already thick with sleep, she reached behind her and pulled Riley's left hand closer to her stomach, cradling it in between her hands.

"Loves you so much Riles... gonna save me..." Maya continued to mumble as she drifted off into sleep, caressing Riley's hand as if it were the most precious thing; in that moment, it very well could've been.

Riley waited until Maya's breathing had evened out completely before kissing the back of the girl's head, and nuzzling her face into her neck.

"I love you too Maya, and you've already saved me."