Chapter 4
MAYA
Maya didn’t know how she’d gotten here, but the atmosphere was surprisingly warm. Like the invisible mismatched parts of them clicked. There was an air of taking advantage of the fact that they didn’t know each other well, and may never, so why not lay themselves bare?
They were all sitting on the bed drinking cider, forced into a playdate like a group of six-year-olds, while Lily’s mom, Diana, and her mother caught up.
Maya made a mental note to ask her mom more about their friendship, but for now she was enjoying the present company.
It didn’t hurt that she was sitting with two absolutely gorgeous women, and her body took notice.
Maya’s busy school schedule didn’t leave much time for romantic run-ins and trysts.
Most people needed her to be someone she wasn’t, someone she either couldn’t be or wasn’t at the moment.
School was her focus, and after watching her parents’ marriage slowly implode, there had been no reason to make romantic relationships a priority.
It meant that she had to make events like this one count.
“Maya you’re from Boston, and Hanna goes to school in Boston” Lily asked.
Maya was thankful to not be diving directly into broken hearts and homes. Maya nodded along with Hanna.
“Hanna you ended up at Tufts” Lily continued.
“Yep,” Hanna said.
“Nice!” Maya exclaimed.
“And you?” Hanna asked.
“Cambridge, I—”
“Harvard? Wow, smarty pants here,” Lily said, taking a sip of her cider.
Maya didn’t detect anything other than genuine interest in her voice.
When Maya looked at her questioningly Lily rolled her eyes and said, “Please do not hit us with the ‘I go to a school in Cambridge’ spiel. God, why are women so humble? Own it girl, that’s badass! ”
Maya felt her face heat. She didn’t have an issue with saying she went to Harvard because she was afraid to tell people she was smart.
No, it was always what usually came next.
The daunted expression followed by, “Oh, really? How did you manage that?”, or the smile in understanding followed by a misinformed affirmative action joke.
Then she had to get into her credentials or uncomfortably laugh off the attention.
She dealt with it enough on campus; she didn’t always have the energy to deal with it off campus.
Fuck ’em, her mother would say. If only it were that easy.
Hanna turned to her and Maya braced herself, sure she was going to have a moment that outlined the different ways in which Maya experienced the world, versus someone like Hanna.
“That’s awesome, what are you studying?” Hanna asked.
Maya felt her gut unclench and then felt a little guilty at her assumption.
“I’m studying business for practical purposes, but double majoring in writing for sanity.. Also doing a minor in sociology and really love it.”
“No surprise, you’re an overachiever,” Lily teased, but again, Maya didn’t detect any malice in her voice.
“Well, maybe, but while I’d like to think I am brave enough to take a stab at being a writer, I also need to eat, so hoping business helps with that. And sociology was a happy accident. It’s challenging, but fascinating.”
“Yeah I'm taking a bunch of soc too, because of my minor. I’m majoring in public policy—and I’m premed.”
“Well shit, I am surrounded by some smart women. I love it.” The way Lily said it, Maya believed her and felt herself blush.
“Yeah I want to provide medical care for underserved communities, especially now, given everything,” Hanna said.
Maya and Lily nodded in understanding.
“Soulful, love it, and here I am using my brains to feed myself,” Maya said.
“I mean, being able to feed oneself is important, as my parents like to remind me all the time when I tell them about my plans,” Hanna laughed bitterly.
“They want you to…” Lily asked.
“Go to a top med school and become a top surgeon and make top dollar,” Hanna laughed. “Sometimes I think it's ironic I was adopted, Asian parent stereotypes and all.”
“Well good luck with that, has to be tough,” Maya said.
“Yeah, I mean, I feel like I owe them because they’re my parents but even more so because they’re my adoptive parents. Who knows what my life would look like without them?”
“That’s kinda true for all of us, no matter what,” Lily added, and Hanna momentarily looked lost in thought.
“Yeah well, maybe, I only know what it’s like to be me,” Hanna said eventually.
“I think Lily is just saying, that’s a lot of pressure on yourself,” Maya said, but because she didn’t want to make Hanna feel like she was on an afterschool special, she added, “Hope it goes well with your own clinic.”
“Thanks, maybe we could hang out some time,” Hanna smiled.
“Whoa, I’m jealous!” Lily mock-pouted.
“No you’re not,” Hanna said, rolling her eyes.
“You don’t know that?” Lily quipped.
“Wait, do you go to school?” Maya turned to Lily.
“Oh well,” Lily’s face flushed slightly, “I’m meant to take over the business, so I have a job waiting for me after graduation. And it is totally a privilege, but I got to study what I like–art. Ceramics mostly, though I do some design work for shits and giggles, and some extra cash.”
When they entered the treehouse, Maya had picked up on the standalone ceramic sculptures Hanna had deemed “highbrow art” situated around the space.
“Did you make everything in here?” Maya asked, impressed.
“Yep, though a lot of what’s in here is from high school. I give away a lot of my finished pieces to different organizations who engage youth with art and whatnot.”
“Okay philanthropist over here,” Maya said smiling, trying to throw some of Lily’s quips back at her.
“Oh no way, it’s so I get a good reaction on all my first dates,” Lily said smiling and then slightly biting her bottom lip.
“Oh yeah? And does it usually work?” Maya asked, glancing down at Lily’s lips and then back up to her navy blue eyes.
“It does! And if they’re lucky, I take them on a second date to my workshop and do the whole, let me hold you from behind Ghost thing.” Maya knew she was joking, leaning into the cheese.
It made her even sexier.
Maya laughed, “Well for what it’s worth, if those are from high school I’d love to see what your work looks like now. Those look awesome.”
There was a pause before a blushing Hanna said, “Wait you seriously made all those pieces?”
“Yep, all the highbrow art in here was made by yours truly,” Lily said grinning, but Maya saw she was also blushing.
“Holy shit, Lily, they’re dope, I had no idea you were into art in high school,” Hanna said, looking at Lily like she was seeing her for the first time.
“Yeah they are really beautiful! I would love to see more.” Maya took another sip of her cider.
“Thanks, I’m more into the process of my work than the final product, but I do keep a portfolio of sorts on IG. You’ll have to follow me, maybe send a DM or two?” Lily winked.
“Rich kid, must be nice,” Hanna said, moving her body forward as if reminding them that she was there, as if Maya could forget.
Hanna may not have felt it, but based on body language alone, Lily was including Hanna in her flirtations, her body turning toward the pouty-lipped beauty.
Perhaps Lily was making sure not to put all of her eggs in one basket.
“It is,” Lily agreed. “Not going to sit here and act like it’s not. Can’t stand that. I mean, I go to Sarah Lawrence, tuition is over sixty grand a year. Come on.”
“Ah I toured Sara Lawrence,” Maya said. “For the writing,” she added when Lily looked surprised.
“Yeah well, it's great, just definitely has a fair share of folks who like to drive to the thrift store in a Beamer.”
“Doesn’t everywhere,” Hanna said, and Maya agreed.
“Yeah well, if you two play your cards right, maybe I’ll show you to the workshop.”
Maya took a sip of her beer, smiling as she watched Hanna’s face flush and her dark eyes go intense.
Interesting.
By their fourth round of ciders, a couple of hours later, both fair-skinned women were sporting flushes that Maya found adorable, and Hanna kept making lost puppy eyes at Lily, though Maya wasn’t sure if Lily noticed.
She hadn’t known what to think of both women, but the feeling of them clicking into place only seemed to grow as time went on.
Lily was funny, a bit crass, and assertive.
She seemed like the type of person who took the world for what it was, which Maya found to be refreshing for a self-proclaimed “rich kid,” though she supposed if she weren’t so down to earth, she’d never acknowledge that fact about herself.
Maya found her unbelievably sexy. No wonder Hanna couldn’t stop staring.
Hanna was sharp and had a bratty energy Maya appreciated.
She was sultry, and when she spoke, her eyes had an intensity that Maya never wanted to look away from.
Maya guessed that she was often underestimated, but had no problem ending up on top, in more ways than one.
Maya could see that while Lily was poking fun at Hanna, Hanna was biding her time.
It made for an entertaining and balanced dynamic, and the conversation flowed easily between them.
Lily let out an incredulous laugh, bringing Maya back to the present. “What? You dated Jeff for like two years! And you just what? Dumped him?”
Hanna’s flush deepened. “I mean it was like a high school thing, we went to college.”
“In the same city,” Lily chided, raising her eyebrow and dipping her head towards Maya, as if asking her to see her point.
Maya held her gaze for a beat, and Lily actually winked at her.
It should have been corny, but Maya was beginning to think Lily was one of those people who could make most things seem sexy and felt her cheeks burn.
“In the same very big city,” Hanna countered.
“God this is so good,” Maya said, taking another sip of cider, and relished the look she saw Lily make watching her swallow. Most ciders seemed syrupy, but this was sweet and refreshing all at the same time. Like each bottle contained a cold, fresh, crisp apple.
They were talking about their high school days, since Maya had asked how they knew each other and if they were friends. According to both, they’d orbited each other slightly, but otherwise ran with different crowds.
“Jeff was my boyfriend; he was nice, and then I decided to be single for college.”
“Jeff and Hanna were like, end-game,” Lily said as Hanna shook her head.
“I get that though. I broke up with my high school boyfriend too, before college. Though to be fair, he showed his true colors to be, well, dick, and not in the good way,” Maya said, shrugging her shoulders.
“Yikes, but that makes sense!” Lily said enthusiastically, like she’d won her point.
“It also makes sense to want to be single,” Maya said, glancing at Hanna. “I mean my boyfriend and I had a good time, but what with his use of the word “exotic” in describing me I couldn’t shake this feeling that while he was into me, he also was dating me to be…”
“...Edgy?” Hanna filled in, and Maya shook her head, understanding passing between them again.
“Yeah, edgy, I mean I don’t know that his parents loved that he was dating a Black girl. I think they were so afraid I was going to get preggers and ‘trap him’.”
“Gross,” Lily said, taking a hit off her cider.
“It’s fine, there are plenty of fish in the sea, and for a pan girl like me, I mean plenty,” Maya said.
“Pan, huh? I was wondering,” Lily said, a smug look on her face.
“Wondering?” Maya asked.
“Wondering, I always like to think I know a fellow queer when I see one.”
“Cheers to that,” Maya said.
“You don’t know everything, Lily,” Hanna mumbled, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Maya smiled to herself, no, she suspected that Lily didn’t.
But then again, she had caught a few glances Lily had been throwing Hanna’s way when the latter hadn’t been paying attention.
Maya, however, had caught every single one of the looks of appreciation Lily had thrown her, though she didn’t think Lily had been trying to hide them.
There was definitely a tension building in the air. Something.
“Well, since we are all getting to know each other, shall we play a drinking game?” Lily said, smiling.
Something indeed.