If there's one thing Riley Matthews has always been, it's a sucker for a cute girl. It's for this reason that Riley finds herself following Farkle to the auditorium, grinning like an idiot as her phone buzzes between her fingertips.
MAYA: thanks again, honey
MAYA: see you in a few ;)
Riley knows Maya through acquaintances - she's seen her in shows with Farkle and watched her dance with Lucas a few times at parties - so color her surprised when Maya asks her for a favor.
The newest show is right around the corner, and both Farkle - who offers Riley a wave as she settles into a seat in the front row - and Maya are spending long hours at rehearsals. Apparently, they're perfecting the show's "different take" on the world, or something of the sort. All Riley knows is that Maya had flashed her a smile and looked up at her from beneath her eyelashes, asking if she would be the prompter for this rehearsal - apparently the one they'd been using requested a break. Riley had immediately agreed, of course.
Farkle assures her it's no big deal - the show is raunchy, but he's sure the cast has most of their lines down pat. She'll mostly just be watching.
Fine with her, Riley thinks, curling her legs up on the seat with her as the lights go down.
The first few scenes fly by.
Farkle is right - everyone seems to know their lines.
Riley is chewing on the inside of her lip as dialogue slips between the actors - she has to keep her eyes down on her script to avoid their glances. It's raunchy, sure, but that's not the right word for it - it's... Riley places her pen on the crook of her lips and thinks. It's sort of obscene. The number of times she's heard Farkle say cunt in the past five minutes might exceed the number of times she's ever heard it, well - ever. Riley flips the script in her lap, landing on scene five. The bold heading at the top of the page reads:
SCENE FIVE- RACHEL, ANDY, AND KAYLEY.
It is the first time Maya's character is brought on stage, and Riley finds herself enraptured as she watches the actress strut across the little auditorium stage, popping a hand on her hip as she arrives on her place.
Farkle has some line that Riley barely hears, and the other actress on stage finds her line with ease, but Riley's eyes stay steadfastly on Maya.
Maya's lips part and she raises her eyebrows in surprise after a moment. "Oh, line?" She murmurs lowly. Even though Riley feels like Maya knows the line, she scans her finger down the page, tearing her gaze from Maya, and turns pink when she finds it. "Oh." She says quietly. "Uh - Fuck that, you wanna go somewhere?" Riley reads, and Maya grins and repeats the line, her voice scratchier than Riley's and her eyes scanning across her fingernails, then the other actors.
It takes exactly five lines before Maya has another line. "Oh," Maya says, eyes flicking down to Riley's chair, "line?" Riley finds the line, as promised, and her breath catches in her throat. "Um, I've got, uh," she pauses. "Do you mind if I just come show it to you?"
Maya laughs. "Alrightie."
Riley crosses to the front of the stage and holds up her script. She turns red as Maya executes the line flawlessly, sharp consonants on the words that made Riley stutter.
It's this over and over again, until the end of Act One, when someone calls break. "Five minutes till notes!" The stage manager shouts, and the whole cast, even Maya, who's dismounting the stage and making her way to Riley, reply, "Thank you five!"
"Hey, Honey." Maya says, taking the seat beside her, and Riley pretends her face isn't as red as a tomato. She sits on her hands. "Hi."
"Thanks for doing this for us," Maya tells her, giving her thigh a squeeze, and Riley squeaks. "Maya!"
"Mm?"
Instead of answering, Riley gives her a glare. There's a minute of silence that passes until Riley speaks up again. "Maya?"
"Mm."
"You know your lines." She says it like a fact, and Maya grins. "Yeah? But I need you to tell me them."
"Three minutes till notes!"
"Thank you three!" Rings out through the auditorium, and Maya joins in beside her.
"Maya, why do you want to embarrass me?"
"Maybe I don't want to embarrass you," Maya shoots back, "Maybe I just like to hear you say fuck." Riley bites her lip, and suddenly, Maya is much, much closer than before. "Yeah, maybe I like to watch you turn squirm, and maybe," one of her hands is on each of the arms of the seat Riley occupies, "maybe I wonder how far down that blush goes."
"Thirty seconds till notes!"
Maya murmurs "thank you thirty," into Riley's ear, and Riley takes a quiet breath.
"Hey, Matthews." She says, pulling away from Riley's personal bubble, "How'd you feel about a coffee after rehearsal?"
"I'd feel pretty good about that," Riley replies, and Maya grins. "Good." She tells her, and Riley watches her hips as she half-jogs away to the tune of "thank you notes."