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Riley’s room is freezing.
There’s no makeshift bed. And Maya shouldn’t be nervous about that, girls sleep with her friends and that’s okay. Right?
But when they lay down, Riley is really cold and shivers, even with the three blankets on top of them. So Maya does the thing she wasn’t supposed to: “Wanna cuddle?”
“I thought you’d never say.” And adjusts her body next to Maya’s, so the blonde is the big spoon.
Thing is, Maya is too comfortable and not cold at all. Impossible, with Riley’s back on her chest and her hands cautiously surrounding Riley’s middle. She tries to slow down her heartbeat, which she knows is racing and she’s surprised Riley doesn’t notice, but then she’s dead asleep.
To be honest, Maya doesn’t think she is going to sleep tonight, which makes the sweating and heart rate even worse.
Her mind goes RileyRileyRiley once again and she knows she has to stop.
She starts internally enumerating reasons why she shouldn’t be nervous about cuddling her friend, which apparently works, because she stops being so self-aware of every part of her body that’s touching Riley’s and eventually, falls asleep.
Maya’s not a morning person, but what can she do when she’s woken up with tender kisses all over her face and neck. Wait- what?
She snaps her eyes open to find Riley, whom she is still holding (and very tight), all over her.
“Morning sleepyhead,” She says with a lazy smile on her face, one Maya thinks she could die for. “Slept well?”
“Hi, yeah.” Maya breathes, suddenly feeling too hot and too close to Riley for it to be safe.
“Hey! I was comfortable” Riley complains when Maya takes her hands off of her, increasing the distance between them and letting in the morning cold. When Maya doesn’t answer in any way, Riley sits up on the bed and looks at her quite concerned. “What’s wrong, peaches?”
And that’s it. The nickname, the cuddling, the kisses. She can't do this. “I can't do this.” Maya complains, burying her head on the pillow.
“What do you mean?” Riley asks, laying her hand on Maya’s shoulder, to what she flinches. Maya sits up as well and finds a confused and hurt Riley. She hates herself. She focuses on her chipped nails and starts.
“I can't do this. I can't with all the touching, and cuddling and the kisses. I can't be your friend like this. I can’t do it.” She's aware she's rambling, but now that she’s started nothing’s letting her stop. “Not without thinking about kissing you properly, or about waking up with you everyday. I can’t. And I can't because… Because I like you. I really really like you.” She finally breathes. And it wasn’t that bad. So there’s the thing about not wanting to look at Riley in the eyes ever again. But besides that, it feels like a huge weight off of her shoulders.
“You...really like me?” Riley mutters after the longest thirty seconds of Maya’s life.
“Yeah, of course I do.” Maya whispers, more to herself than to Riley. Because, of course she likes her. How not to?
Riley doesn’t hear her though, so she gently touches Maya’s chin and makes her look at her. She has a blank expression on Maya can't figure out. Her brown eyes are huge and glassy, her hair is messy and her lips are too pink for this time in the morning. She’s so beautiful Maya thinks she's going to die. How can she not know? “Do you really like me?” Riley repeats, searching for something in Maya’s eyes.
“Yeah.” Maya admits once again, this time louder and looking straight into Riley’s eyes.
The brunette softly sighs and gives her a small smile.
Maya frowns, because she doesn’t understand. She thought Riley was going to kick her out or worse, hug her out of pity but- Oh.
There are lips moving on her lips and warm hands caressing her neck. And wow, she wasn't expecting this .
Riley breaks the kiss and looks at her. A huge smile grows on her face. “Well, I might as well like you a bit. Or maybe a whole lot, to be honest.” Then, she freaking giggles.
Maya’s not religious, but she thinks maybe she did die and is now on heaven. This person can't be real, this beautiful amazing person liking her back definitely can't be real.
“Can I kiss you? Again? Like, properly?” Maya asks timidly.
“That's the whole point, isn't it?” Riley answers and Maya thinks she might burst. She mimics her smile and goes for it.
They certainly have a lot to discuss, but Riley has just straddled Maya and she won’t dare to complain. Her mouth is actually busy.
Feelings talk will happen, but later. Maybe when Maya’s hormones aren’t freaking the hell out because RileyRileyRiley.
It’s always been RileyRileyRiley.