Chapter Text
If you told Maya Hart that in 5 years she’d be ready to move out of her parents crappy house and the only people who came to see her off was Farkle and her parents she would have laughed in your face. But that’s the reality of this situation.
Maya dragged a giant pink luggage filled with all your basic essentials. Clothes, tooth brush, shampoo, jewellery. Whilst Farkle offered to hall an even bigger purple luggage which was overflowing with art supplies.
After high school Maya took a year off from school (which ended way too soon) and then went on to art school. She never thought of herself as a professional artist but here she is. She survived college from the help of her parents and the art commissions she started doing. But Maya struggled her whole life with only having a waitress mother and the whole “starving artist” vibe is something she’d like to avoid. But then an opportunity popped up.
A job offer in California Institute For The Arts. As an art teachers assistant. Thanks to her old English teacher Harper, Maya always kept the idea of being a teacher as her plan B. Sure she hates school and it would be ironic if she became someone who has to go to school everyday but the opportunity was too good to pass up. Working in one of the best art schools as an assistant? If she ends up hating being a teacher she can easily quit and no one will break their backs trying to keep her trapped since she’s only an assistant, but if she ends up loving the job she could get promoted.
“You nervous kiddo?” Shawn, Mayas step dad, placed his hand on her shoulder. He had this fatherly sense that tells him when something is off. Maya looked over at her step dad and smiled nervously which completely went against what she said “No. Just excited. Thank you for seeing me off”
Mayas mom, Katy, stepped in. Giving her baby girl a tight hug which would’ve definitely snapped Mayas back if it was any tighter “Oh of course we’d see you off baby girl! You’re finally leaving the nest and flying off to the big city!” Farkle and Maya exchanged a glance and without words decided to simply not tell Katy that New York was usually the definition of “the big city”
“Thanks mom” Shawn couldn’t help but join in on the hug as well “Thanks Shawn” Maya whispered as she enjoyed the hug. She wished it could last forever but like everything it had to come to an end. Her parents backed away from her as the train arrived
“Ready to go?” Maya turned to face Farkle who nodded in response “Always ready. I’ll help you settle in and I’ll come right back to New York” they both slowly walked over to the train and Farkle being a gentleman let Maya board it first. “Kinda weird to see that everyone moved somewhere except for me and Smackle”
It was weird. Riley was the first to move and she moved to Washington to study history. She wanted to become just like her dad Corry. A year later Lucas also moved to Washington. He said that a long distance relationship was extremely difficult to manage so he moved to be closer to her. And just like with Riley they lost contact with Lucas.
Zay moved not because of school or anything. He left because his family wanted to go back to Texas. They found the city life too loud and preferred staying close together with their extended family. Unlike with the other two Maya actually kept talking to Zay long after the move. He even offered his help with the move. Actually he forced his way to help. They agreed that Zay would meet them in the train station since Texas is a lot closer to California than New York.
“Yeah it is. But hey once you’ve taken over the world you can come and visit me anytime” Maya joked as she found her seat and sat down sliding the luggage underneath the seat. Farkle chuckled and sat down besides her “Yeah or once I finish my studies. Whatever comes first” they smiled at each other and fell into a comfortable silence. Farkle started reading a book and Maya blasted music through her headphones. She was extremely anxious yet excited about all the new emotions she’ll feel in California.
“AYY Maya!” Zay yelled out once he saw Maya and Farkle exit the train. Maya left the pink luggage with Farkle as she ran up to Zay and hugged him tightly “Zay! God I missed you so much” Zay hugged back tightly lifting her into the air a bit “Wow wow WOW. This ain’t the rational, tough girl I knew back in New York! Who lost a blonde munchkin!”
Maya scoffed acting as if she was offended. She released Zay from the hug and punched his arm. He jumped back a bit and held his arm “OUCH- okay never mind there’s the Maya I know!” They both laughed as Farkle struggled to bring over both of the luggage’s top them.
After Lucas left Maya became Zays best friend. They did everything together people even thought they’d be the next major couple but that just wasn’t the case. Maya was the first to come out to Zay as a lesbian and immediately he came out to Maya as being gay. They finally managed to forget all the love triangle and have a genuine friendship with someone.
“I could use some help here Maya!” Farkle scoffed in annoyance. Maya rolled her eyes and went over to grab her pink luggage again “Hey Zay” Farkle finally managed to say now that the luggage’s aren’t dragging him down “What up Farkle! How’s Smackle doin?” Zay and Farkle hugged tightly but it didn’t last long “She’s good. Doing good” the conversation derailed into nothing what so ever. Random topics and catching up as they all got into a cab.
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The three of them arrived at an apartment complex. The car ride over was quite interesting to say the least. Zays music carrier is doing surprisingly well and he couldn’t shut up about all the gigs he gets to do. Everyone was pleasantly surprised when he said he wanted to become a musician. Farkle thought he’d become a rodeo clown or something.
Zay and Farkle were nice enough (well more like forced into) to drag both of the luggage’s up the stairs whilst Maya lead them to her new and shitty apartment. If the hallway was anything to go off of Maya was confident she’d have to patch up some more leaky roofs. There were cracks in the walls and everything was painted in this ugly yellow colour. Was this an apartment complex or the back rooms?
But at least the room itself wasn’t so bad. The walls weren’t cracked and it was a pretty beige colour. Sure Maya didn’t enjoy the simplicity but she’ll take it. The kitchen was connected to the dinning area and it had two separate bed rooms. Maya won’t be rooming with anyone as far as she knows so she’s already making plans to make the spare bedroom her art studio. The bathroom wasn’t too shabby either. It was small but at least the water pressure was good.
“Damn Maya this place ain’t half bad” Zay pointed out and looked around the apartment in awe “Where do I put this?” He gestured to the purple luggage he was dragging around. Maya nodded to the spare bedroom “You can leave it there. I’ll unpack everything later”
Zay nodded and rolled the luggage to the room Maya gestured to. Farkle using context deducted she would want the other luggage to go to the other bedroom . Maya just flopped onto the sofa and exhaled. All the tiredness from travelling became noticeable now.“God moving is so hard- it doesn’t even feel real”
Farkle, after leaving the pink luggage in the room, walked over to his closest friend and sat down besides her. “Yeah I know but it is. Don’t worry you’ll get used to it and you’ll completely forget your life in New York. Because you’ll start a new one here”
Maya sat up straight and placed an arm around Farkle pulling him into a side hug “I know. Thanks Farkle. Don’t forget to call me often okay? I don’t want us to drift apart like me and Riley did” Farkles eyes shot wide up for a moment before he hugged her back “Don’t worry. I’ll call you every time something happens. No matter how small” Zay decided that he too wanted to be part of this gathering so he sat down next to Maya and also hugged her tightly “Yeah and I’ll do the same. We only have each other left and I don’t want to loose that”
Riley is a bit of a touchy subject to Maya now. It took all of her strength not to start crying right here and now. After Riley moved they called non stop but then the arguments started. They would argue over small things which usually never happened. Then one day whilst Riley was calling her Maya purposely didn’t answer the call. After a week of Riley calling she just stopped which wasn’t normal for Riley. She never gives up on anything. And when Maya tried to call her it said that Riley’s number didn’t exists.
She probably got a new number but what hurt Maya the most is that she didn’t tell her that her number had changed. She told Lucas but not her. I mean she did ignore her for a week so she shouldn’t be mad at Riley. She wasn’t. She was mad at herself. She hated herself for years because of this. She lost someone extremely close to her because she let the long distance get to her.
She never forgave herself for this but there’s no point dreading on the past. She doesn’t even remember exactly were Riley was staying all she knew that she was in Washington. Only thing she can recall is her love for Riley in a more than friends type of way
But she could never say that. Riley is and forever will be in love with Lucas. Maya doesn’t even know if Riley would be interested in girls. It was best to just repress everything and hope the feelings go away.
The three of them sat there hugging each other tightly, because they knew once one of them let go they’d have to go home. But then there was a knock on the door. Maya exhaled and got off the couch. She looked over at her friends and smiled weakly “Looks like I’m getting popular already huh?” Zay fought off a laugh as Farkle simply nodded.
Maya walked over to the door and swung it open. Her jaw immediately dropping when she sees who’s on the other side of it.
“Well hello there new neighbour!- oh…” Riley stood on there holding a fruit cake. She was just as schickes as Maya.