It was quiet, almost unnoticeable, just a passing moment. Something clicked and everything changed.
It came on a spring day like any other, when the sun was shining and the birds were chirping and everyone was feeling free. Maya crawled through the bay window, her hair blowing in the breeze behind her.
“Hey, honey,” she said, getting comfortable in her usual spot. Riley turned around from where she was sitting at her desk, putting down her book and smiling over at Maya.
She froze. Something was different.
Maya was gold.
It wasn’t just her golden hair or the golden heart that surrounded Riley every day. There was a new aura about Maya, a light that exploded out of her and reflected off of every surface. It brightened the room and made the fading glow of the New York City sun even more intense. Maya was the sunset, the 5:30 mess of colors that created an impossible, inimitable beauty.
Riley stood up and walked over to Maya, sitting down beside her and immediately tangling their fingers together.
“Peaches,” she murmured. “What’s up?”
Maya launched into the story of her day helping Shawn with a photography project in SoHo, her free hand gesturing around wildly as her eyes burned with a newfound passion for photography.
“I think I’m going to start saving up for a real camera, Riles,” she said breathlessly. “And the first thing I’m going to do with it is take pictures with you in the park.”
Riley’s breath caught in her chest, slowing down time and shattering her world. She removed her hand from Maya’s grasp to wrap her arms around the girl’s shoulders instead. Almost instinctively, Maya’s head went straight to the crook of Riley’s neck, a small smile gracing her features.
“I’d like that very much, Peaches,” Riley whispered, her mind already flooded with images of Maya glowing behind the lens of a camera, the two of them running through the park as Maya caught Riley flying on the breeze.
And it happened.
She knew.