Nostalgia || Joshaya

chapter 3

"There's no fucking way!" Shawn was stunned as they exited the forest road and the ski center where they had been back in their high school days appeared in front of their car. It was bigger and more modern now but still held its charm.

"What??" Katie chuckled and smiled. "They were here in their senior class on a ski trip," Maya explained. "Oh really? Nostalgia is winning today."

Yeah, nostalgia... It was slowly catching up to Josh and Maya as well, as they both began to realize what had happened in that place three years ago. They were both starting to realize that they could now make it come true, but they weren't sure if the other one still wanted "someday". Especially right now, because they had all of their lives to accomplish it.

It was something they both wanted so much a few years ago, that now when they could finally have "someday", they were too busy doubting themselves. Both Josh and Maya were sure the other person no longer wanted the deal to become real, so they didn't confront each other about it. At all...

They parked both cars behind the building and everyone immediately got out. Shawn locked the car and went with Cory inside the building. Josh and Maya joined them with Riley, while Katie stayed with Topanga to watch the sleeping Auggie. Maya grabbed Riley's arm and Josh grabbed her from the other side.

The Mount Sun Lodge.

No one from the trio believed it was real. Maya and Josh made their deal here. Lucas chose Riley. "Something" happened to Cory. This place was cursed for the Matthews people.

"BAY WINDOW. Bay window, RIGHT NOW." Riley pulled Maya and Josh to sit down. Still, all three of them were holding hands and the squeezes weren't letting up. All of them were thinking about the events that happened here years ago so intensely, that they didn't even notice Shawn and Cory looking at them fully confused.

Suddenly Riley's phone rang, which got all three of them out of a trance. They stopped holding hands and Riley answered the call.

"Hey, Huckleberry!" Maya was the first one to speak up, even before Riley could say hi. "Well as you can hear there's Maya. And also Josh." She waited for Lucas to speak. "Yeah, we already arrived, but I'll call you later because the signal is terrible. Bye, love you."

"Love you more." Maya overheard Lucas. By the time Maya realized, Josh was already standing and walking out of the door. Riley, however, waited for her friend.

"So," Cory seized on the word as he handed out the keys, "Shawn and Katie," he put the key in his best friend's hand. "Me and Topanga. Maya and Riley," he handed the key to his daughter. "And lastly Josh with Auggie." He handed the key to Josh. "All done, and we can go to the rooms now." They all went to find their rooms. While still in the hallway they agreed on meeting in half an hour and then going to late lunch together. Then they would go skiing until the closing time of the slope.

~

Traditions must be followed. The Matthews family obviously understood the assignment. Josh took his turn this year, having sprained his knee right on the first day of the trip. Cory and Shawn immediately took him to the infirmary. Katy and Topanga were teaching Auggie to ski, so they were in a different part of the ski park and therefore didn't know about Josh's injury. Maya and Riley had given up skiing for the day. They preferred to wait with Josh in the infirmary and then didn't plan to return to the slope.

"Medium ankle spray," Josh announced annoyedly as they dismissed him from the infirmary. "The pain will go away in a few days," Riley assured him. She knew he liked skiing. It wasn't his favorite activity, but given the chance right now, he'd definitely ski if he could. Maya and Riley somehow made it to the reception with Josh. They tried different ways to carry him, but none of them worked for long. So they gave up and sat him down in one of the seats at the reception.

"I'm going to go call Lucas." Riley made her way to the room.

Maya sat down a short distance from Josh and leaned her head back. "Does it hurt you much?" "Not at all, I just can't step on it," Josh grinned. "Yeah sorry, that was a dumb question."

Silence remained, at least between Maya and Josh, because there was certainly no silence in the reception area. There were quite a few people, different voices echoing, and the receptionist had music playing in the middle of it all.

"Would you bring me some hot chocolate, please?" Josh turned to Maya. "Of course." As if on cue, Maya stood up and went to get the drink. Of course, she took some for herself as well. Who wouldn't refuse hot chocolate, in this cold? Even though the building was heated, hot chocolate was simply a tradition.

"Aaaah, take it. Take it. NOW!" Maya said as her hands were almost burning. Josh quickly took the paper cups from her hands and put them down on the table in front of him. Maya walked around the table and sat where she had been sitting before. "Thanks, by the way." Josh smiled. Maya returned his smile gently. "Enjoy."

"Have you picked a college yet?" "NYU is the dream, but I'd need a full scholarship, at least. Otherwise, I don't know where I'd go... Probably some random free college, or nothing at all."

"I hope you get accepted when you apply... You know, when I got my acceptance letter, they were only accepting married students. I'm not sure if that still works, but I can ask up for you..." Josh made a joke about something Maya did years ago. He turned to Maya with his hand resting on the back of the seat to support his head.

"We wanted to get somewhere as a friend group, but we haven't heard from NYU yet. Farkle and Smackle also applied to other colleges. They're genius, they could both afford and nail Harvard or even better." Maya sighed.

"Farkle is uhh-" Josh was stuck in mid-sentence, trying to remember the boy's nickname.

"Turtleneck!" "Turtleneck." He and Maya finished at the same time. "Yeah, the smart one." They both laughed.

After a while, they started drinking their chocolates, chatting away in the meantime. They asked all sorts of questions, ranging from utter bullshit to quite debatable conspiracy theories. Maya cursed herself for being so stressed out that morning because of Josh. She thought they were going to be ignoring each other the whole time they were there or it would be just utterly awkward. Maybe even worse than Christmas, but she couldn't be more wrong.