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“Knock knock!” A voice sang from outside the front door.
It was ironic because Maya never knocked, she always just walked right in. Maya sauntered in through the door and plopped onto the couch. “Whataya wanna do, Riles?”
“What do you wanna do?” I replied, sitting down beside her. My parents were out with Auggie for the night, and Maya and I were alone. I didn’t have any specific plans, but Maya and I always found something fun to do.
“Hm, know any good laws to break?”
“Ha ha,” I said sarcastically. I really hoped Maya was only joking. “What about a movie, Peaches?”
“I guess that works too,” she smiled.
I turned on the TV and setup Netflix, scrolling through our options. It was getting more and more difficult for Maya and I to find movies to watch, as we’d actually seen most of the content on Netflix thanks to our many sleepovers.
“Wait, stop.” Maya placed her hand on mine to stop the scrolling. “This one.” Her tone left no room for disagreement, so instead I just read the description.
“A romance?” I questioned, surprised. Maya was typically more into comedies.
Maya shrugged. “It’s not like we have that many options.”
“True,” I shrugged as well.
Maya and I sat side by side, hand in hand with the lights off and a blanket over both of our laps. This was our typical movie setup; the hand holding was a recent thing founded on the fact that I always had cold hands, and it felt nice when Maya’s warmed mine up. The movie played on, and everything seemed pretty cliché – boy gets the girl, boy loses the girl, boy tries to win back the girl. This time though, when the boy won back the girl, I guess you could say they were...celebrating? The movie ended with a very steamy love scene, something I was sure my parents would never let me watch, but I did watch it, my mouth agape and eyes wide. A minute in I turned to look at Maya, and she actually seemed to be enjoying it. She saw my face though, and when realization drew over her face, she placed a hand over my eyes, and I sighed in relief, “Thank you.”
I heard the ending credits song come on, and Maya removed her hand from in front of my eyes. I clicked off the TV and sunk further into the couch.
“Well,” was all I could think to say. As much as I didn’t want to think about what was on the screen, it made me curious, and I had to voice my questions.
“Maya?” I turned to her with troubled eyes.
“Honey?” I could tell that she knew what I wanted to talk about.
“People do that? They actually do that?”
“If they’re in love. Or sometimes even if they’re not,” she shrugged.
“I didn’t, I mean, it seemed so...aggressive,” I stammered.
“Yeah Riles, I’m not sure I really wanna have this talk with you,” Maya said, shifting uncomfortably.
“But Maya I just...I’m so confused. I mean, I know all the technical stuff from health class and all but...is it really like that?” I bit my lip, fearing her answer.
Maya sighed. “Riley,” she paused. “It can be, I suppose. Well, there’s different ways, different things you can do, depending on what you want to do –” She stopped. “Riley, why do you look so scared?”
“Am I going to have to do that someday?” I asked in a small voice.
Maya’s eyes widened. “No! I mean, not if you don’t want to. Riley, you’ll only do it when you want to, and when you feel ready. I promise.” She pulled me into her side and snuggled my head into the crook between her shoulder and neck. I really hoped she meant it. I had only had a kiss before – a sweet, innocent kiss. And I thought that was a big deal! I had no idea it could get so...intimate. I tried to imagine myself in that kind of position, but there was no way I was or ever could be sexy. Then, something horrifying occurred to me.
“Does that mean my parents –”
“Shh, don’t even go there,” Maya hushed me and pulled me in even closer.
We both sat like that for a couple minutes before I whispered, “Do we have to grow up?”
“Not if you don’t want to, honey. We’ll stay kids forever, you and me. Whatever you want.”
I smiled a little and kissed my best friend on the cheek, because I knew how hard she was trying to make me happy. I knew we couldn’t actually stay kids forever, but if I had Maya with me, I didn’t think it could be that bad.