It’s cold, that’s the first thing she notices when she struggles awake, confusion overtaking her for a second as she rubs blearily at her eyes. Riley fumbles around, blindly attempting to locate the source of the incessant buzzing that’s coming from between her sheets.

She finds it, finally, and, upon realizing that it’s her phone, swipes at the screen on instinct to pick up the call that’s coming through.

“H'llo?”

“Riles! Oh, did I wake you? Sorry, I’m sorry, you should go back to bed-”

“Peaches.” Riley sits up, instantly more awake than she was before. “Maya, it’s fine, is everything okay?”

Maya is quiet for a moment, and in the background Riley can hear the familiar rustle of traffic that she’s come to associate with New York in the nighttime. London is much quieter, the entire city falling asleep once the sun dips below the horizon, she’s not quite used to it yet, the deafening silence that blankets the quaint little neighborhood she’s found herself living in.

“Everything’s fine, I just missed you.”

And, oh, Riley can’t blame her for that. She misses Maya, too, more than words can say. It is, for lack of a better phrase, subtly disconcerting, to be away from someone that’s been apart of her life for so long that she can’t imagine living without them. Riley’s gotten used to being able to wake up in the middle of the night, stumble into the kitchen, and find Maya sketching in the dim light of the stove. Now, everything’s different, and she’s not going to lie to herself, it hasn’t been easy, trying to adjust.

Still, Maya’s voice crackling across the phone line is a small comfort in the icy coolness of an unfamiliar night.

“I miss you, too.” Riley presses the phone closer to her ear, knowing that there is so much more to that than she has said, but Maya can hear her, loud and clear, just like she always has.

“So, how’s school?”

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