Lilith
SEND NUDES
Specifically that SWEET ASS
Papaya Maya has left the “My Girls” group chat
Hanna Banana Added Papaya Maya to the “My Girls” group chat
Hanna Banana
Nuh uh
Lilith
What were you going to do? Leave and then…what would you say when you got here?
Hanna Banana Changed the name of the chat to “A Fruit Basket for Lilith”
Hanna Banana
Happy?
Lilith
Niiiizzzeee
It’s time to hit the road, I have a sexy apartment to woo you both with!
Papaya Maya
…I was already wooed, but now that you’ve mentioned the digs…
Maya smiled to herself and slid her phone into her back pocket. This was it. Her mom was going to drop her off at Lily’s, and the three of them were going to make their way to Providence. To the “grand reveal,” as Lily put it.
“You ready?” Maggie’s voice came from the front doorway. Maya thought her mother looked more at ease, and she was grateful to her over the past couple of weeks. Especially afterseeing how Hanna’s mother had reacted. It broke Maya that Hanna had seemingly had all of her worst fears confirmed, especially how the conversation had gone yesterday during her ‘goodbye’ talk. Maya had held her for the rest of the night before coming home in the morning to have one last breakfast with her mom.
Over the last couple of weeks, Maya had thankfully had great conversations with her mom, helping her see the validity of her relationship. Maggie had initially worried that Maya was experimenting or latching onto the other two women as a means to soothe the pain of her own family being pulled apart by the divorce.
“I don’t think we are pulled apart Mom, I think we’ve just changed,” Maya had told her mother, who looked immensely relieved and grateful for that shift in perspective. “And even if it seems like I have acquired two lovers instead of one for the sake of a found family, would that be so bad? I love them and I am loved. They make me happy, they make me feel safe, they make me feel seen.” Maya had said these words in a serious tone, but her cheeks burned with how hard the truth in the words made her smile.
“It's just, it was so hard for you in Boston, being different, being Black.” Her mom had looked into Maya’s eyes with such sadness, but there was also an understanding she and Maya had never confirmed out loud before. “You’re my baby girl, and I love you more than anything, and I never want anything to hurt you, you know that? I felt like okay, so your life would be a bit more challenging for something as dumb as the color of your skin, but now–I just want you?—”
“You just want me to be ok.” Maggie had made this clear to Maya, unlike Hanna’s parents. Maggie smiled in confirmation. “I am okay, Mom,” Maya assured her. “Being different is ok. Sure it has been hard, but I love my brown skin, I love me, justwho I am. You and Dad always made sure of that. I’m okay. More than that–I’m happy.”
And then they’d hugged, and her mother had cried, and whispered “thank you” into Maya’s ear. That felt heavy, but there were no more words needed, all they had needed in that moment was each other, the feeling ofhome.
“Maya? Where are you right now? Let’s go!” Maggie said, moving back into the house and gently nudging Maya’s shoulder, bringing her back to the present.
“I was just thinking how funny it is that I’m kinda going to miss this house that I basically haven’t lived in. But more funny to me is that I have that feeling like I am going to miss home, like when I first moved out for school,” Maya said.
“Well, it's not like this is your last time here, you can come back whenever you want. Maplewood will be your home too.”
Maya looked into her mom’s topaz blue eyes, beaming.
“Playlist?”Lily said from the driver’s seat of her brand-new electric SUV. She’d insisted they needed something for the “whole family” that was good in the snow, and she flat out refused to ‘fulfill the Subaru stereotype’ since they were already U-Hauling.
“Got it,” Hanna said from the front seat.
