“you just found out I keep a picture of you in my wallet and you started crying oh my god no stop please”

It’s not often that they’re both in the same city at the same time, what with how busy Maya is at this time of the year, and how Riley is practically living in the library now, churning out essays. 

The beginning of the semester had been better, especially since they were both just a short train ride away from each other, but when finals crept up on them, it’d slowly gotten harder to find days where the both of them were free and had the time to travel. 

Today, Maya’s back in New York. She’d gotten the weekend off because her director was afraid she’d work herself into exhaustion, and with an incredible stroke of luck, Riley’s in between deadlines, which gives her some time to herself. 

Right now, they’re just lounging in Riley’s room, curled up together on her bed and talking about nothing in particular.

Maya likes these moments the best, when they’re just existing in each other’s bubbles. It’s easy to be like this, to know that all that’s expected of her in the moment is to love Riley as much as she can, and that has never been difficult for her. 

The bed dips as Riley moves, and when she swims back into Maya’s vision, she’s holding something small, and vaguely familiar.

“Is this yours?”

Maya rolls over, laughing when she almost falls off the edge of the bed. “Whoop. Uhh, oh yeah, that’s my wallet, must’ve dropped it just now.”

“You’re lucky it’s in my room and not on the ground somewhere.” Riley turns it around in her hands before (and Maya had known this exact thing was going to happen) she flips it open and starts rifling through all the bits and pieces that are in there.

“Why don’t you ever throw your receipts out?”

“Because I’m lazy, and I can never find a bin.” Maya sighs, closing her eyes. “I’ll clear it out later, it’s fine.”

There’s no response, so Maya assumes Riley’s consumed with looking through every possible thing she can find in there, and doesn’t move to start another conversation. It’s only when the silence drags on a little too long when she looks up, startling when she sees that Riley’s started to cry.

“Woah, woah, hey. What’s wrong, honey? Everything okay?”

“I-” Riley lifts the wallet up, flipping it around. “You kept the picture.”

Maya glances down. Oh, yeah, the picture. The one they’d taken back in the summer of senior year when they visited the fair. Riley’s laughing, backlit in the setting sun, and Maya’s looking at her like she’s the most beautiful girl in the world. 

“I like it,” she says, “and I miss you a lot, and it helps. S’like you’re with me everywhere I go.” Maya reaches over to take her wallet back, smiling down at the photo. “Also, I always forget to charge my phone, so if someone asks if I have any pictures of the pretty girlfriend I keep talking about, I can pull this out.”

Riley laughs tearily, shoving at her shoulder. “You’re a real charmer, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but you picked me, so.” Maya leans in quickly, stealing a kiss. “Here we are.”

“We have to take another picture now so I have one, too.”

Maya huffs out a laugh. “Sure, whatever you want.”

send me a number + a ship!! / if you like my writing, please consider buying me a coffee!!