Piece by Piece

Piece by piece he filled the holes (II)

Piece by Piece

Piece by piece he filled the holes (II)

"Piece by piece he filled the holes that you burned in me

Six years old and you know"

To say that the last few weeks had been an emotional rollercoaster would have to be the understatement of the year. Katy's accident had been a catalyst for many of her friends and family to reexamine their feelings. A lot of other things happened in all of their lives to further complicate matters. Now, it's gonna take a while to catch up with everybody. Where should we start? Well, let's do this all piece by piece, one step at a time.

First of all, Josh has been accepted to NYU and the brunette boy wasn't the only one thrilled by the this new development in his life. His parents couldn't be prouder and as for Josh's whole New-York-family, they were overjoyed that he would be in the same city as them and could stop by even more often than he already did. But the person who was probably most excited by the news – apart from Josh of course – was Maya Hart. Josh, however, was equally happy at the prospect of spending even more time with his favorite blonde. Katy's accident had somehow put things into perspective for him. The thought of something similar happening to Maya was almost too much to bear for the teenager. He was still determined to take things slow – to play the long game as Maya had once put it – and he wasn't sure if the two of them starting a relationship just now would be the best idea. But he was also not willing to stay away from her completely until their age difference was no longer such a big issue. He didn't know exactly how to handle it – hell, he didn't even know how exactly Maya felt about it all – but he knew he wanted things to change. Now, he just had to figure out how to let Maya know.

Maya, on the other hand, had also been in quite an emotional turmoil. With Riley and Lucas deciding to just be friends for now, after their awkward attempt at a first date, and the fact that her and Lucas had been voted as favorite couple in their yearbook, Maya had been given some food for thought and had started to examine her friendship with Huckleberry more closely. She had to admit that Lucas was an attractive guy and their witty banter could easily be mistaken for flirtation. However, she also knew that the feelings had for Lucas – whatever they might be exactly – could in no way compare with what she felt for a certain Uncle Boing. So actually, things should be pretty clear for our favorite blonde. Should being the operative word here, mainly because of the fact that her best friend's uncle kept sending her mixed signals and she didn't know where she stood. Sure, they kept flirting with each other any chance they got and had shared some moments over the past few months, but that was it. Nothing clear, nothing precise. And it was starting to get to Maya. Add in the fact that the girl was currently surrounded by her completely love-struck mother, the girl's emotional havoc was very understandable.

Katy and Shawn had gone on their first date as soon as Katy had been released from the hospital. The accident had been a wake-up call for Shawn and he didn't want to miss his opportunity. Life really was too short to be a coward. Now, since Katy's leg had still been in a cast, the two lovebirds had opted to stay home. While Maya had made herself scarce and gone to the Matthews, Shawn had cooked dinner for the him and Katy and afterwards, they had cuddled up together on the couch to watch a movie. Upon her return home, Maya had tried to walk into the apartment as carefully as possible, not knowing in what kind of state she would find the two adults – and not really wanting to be scarred for life. However, her worries had been completely unnecessary; instead, the blonde's heart had welled up at the sight of the two adults. They had obviously fallen asleep at some point during the movie. Katy's head was resting on Shawn's shoulder and he had his arm wrapped protectively around her shoulders, pulling the older blonde close to him. Not wanting to disturb the two of them, Maya had tip-toed into her room with a huge smile on her face. Only after she had closed her door, had she allowed herself to exclaim "Yay!" in true Riley Matthews fashion and had gone to bed, positively bubbly with excitement. Anyway, after that first successful date, Katy and Shawn had gone on a second ... and a third ... and a fourth ... and, well you get the gist. Still they had agreed to take things slow, both having been badly burned by previous relationships. They were together and they were happy. That was all that mattered to them.