Fragile Heart

Chapter Twelve

I could feel the fierce blows of wind tickling my skin and leaving behind a present of tiny,colorless bumps which clustered onto my forearms. My golden, wavy hair styles itself upwards each time a strong wind surfaced leaving me looking like a troll doll. I pursed my lips and blew the air a small kiss to discover a thin cloud of my breath hanging. I tucked my numb. , shaky hands into my fur pockets and they slowly defrosted. Nevertheless, it was cold. We all waited in the parking lot impatiently with shaking knees, ready to collapse. My eyes kept blinking repeatedly but I fought back to not let sleep take over my body.
"So who's riding with Shawn and who's riding with us?" Cory said referring to himself and Topanga.
"I want to be with Maya!" Riley managed to say in between shivers.
"I want to be with Josh and Riley." Auggie pleaded.
"Auggie honey, we only have three seats in the back of our car. Shawn only has two in the back of his truck. You can't be with Josh and Riley if Riley and Maya want to be next to each other."
After a half of an hour of Auggie complaining and stomping his feet at the newest seating idea topanga produced, Cory finally had a solution.
"Okay, here's how it's going to go. I'm going to write all of your names on a piece of paper and cut them up. The first two I pull out are going in our car and the remaining two will go in shawns. Deal? No complaining, Riley you can't call for a redo if you don't get Maya and Auggie you can't throw a fit if you don't get your perfect arrangement. This is final, everyone agree?"
"Yeah." Everyone said in unison like an award winning chorus. We were all at our wits end of waiting in the frigid cold and standing for far too long.
Cory grabbed his teaching supplies in the back of his car and starts to create this stupid little game that proved we weren't intelligent enough to sort out our own seats. Everyone was selfish and no one wanted to make sacrifices. Cory dumped his pile of names into a tight pencil case and we all anxiously awaited our fates. Cory slowly placed his hand in the bag theatrically while making odd side effects.
"Come on Cor.." Topanga insisted.
I began to shake, not only due to the ferocious hugs the wind decided to devour me in, but the chance I'll be stuck in a car with ..
"Auggie and Riley." Cory smiled so wide that it was stretching out his skin.
"Those are our kids Topanga!" Cory said smiling while facing the obvious.
That left me and Joshua to ride with Shawn. My heart began to rattle in my chest and a huge cloud of discomfort choked its way down my stomach. I couldn't quite digest this. I didn't want to be squeezed into the back of shawns tight little pickup truck, uncontrollably sweating and counting down the minutes until I was free and could fall out the door.
"No, I don't want..."
Riley shot me a look of condolence but she was too cold to argue.
Before I could compete my sentence Shawn threw me over his shoulders gently and tossed me in the back of his charcoal black truck. Josh hesitantly crawled in after me and took his seat. I hugged the window as much as I could to give Josh and I distance between our seats. Shawn hopped in with a smile.
"I'm with the cool kids, huh?" Shawn joked.
I quivered my lips preparing to speak but nothing came out. I wasn't anywhere near cool when I was with Josh. At least I had Shawn with me in this time of utter confusion. I felt a light pressure poking the side of my stomach and I felt an ocean in my stomach when he touched me. The crashing waves surfed up the walls of my stomach. I kicked him with intent and he just smiled like an idiot. I loved that smile, there was no message attached to it. It was just him.
"Let's play a game!" Josh suggested pleading with me to say yes.
"What kind of game?" I asked raising an eyebrow.
"Hmmm. Dare to know me Maya hart?"
"I do know you Josh."
I knew that he was a charming jerk that kept deceiving me into believing he was some prince.
"But do you know my favorite color? My favorite movie?"
"And why are those relevant?" I asked.
"Well, Maya I want to know everything about you from your deepest darkest secrets to your favorite brand of tooth paste. It's important, every little thing about you is important."
I impulsively curved my lips revealing some dimples.
"Well ask me a question Matthews."
"What's your favorite show?"
We didn't have cable at home, most advanced technology was vacuumed from my life. I did manage to come over and let my brain be taken over by the screen with Riley several times a week.
"I don't know. I like Veronica Mars. It has a strong female lead and I admire that."
"At least you didn't say pretty little liars." He winked.
"And what's your favorite activity Josh? You know besides shattering the hearts of countless girls." I bit my lip and starred into his eyes awaiting a reaction.
"I like motorcycles. I'm getting my bike license soon. I've crashed and repaired countless amounts."
"Wow a bad boy." I teased.
"What's your favorite hobby Maya?" He challenged me back.
"I like drawing. Sketching it's just a release for me. I get consumed in my artwork."

JOSHs POV
The way she got lost into her words and went off about her passion was the most attractive thing, further attractive than anything I'd ever seen before. I just gazed at her and smiled uncontrollably, I looked like a starved animal hunting his prey. I wanted her. After going back forth with friendly questions she began to close her eyes. She leaned against her seat and looked like an angel. She was tranquil and peaceful like a fairy. She slowly started to migrate towards me until all at once she fell. Similar to how I fell for Maya, gradually and then all at once. Her beautiful head collapsed onto my lap and I was holding in my breath so that I didn't move and wake her. Her face was perfectly symmetrical and her hair was a gorgeous blond cascade rumpled with waves.
"We're here!" Shawn screamed.
Maya's bright blue eyes finally revealed themselves and she rubbed them vigorously.i smiled down at her and in her eyes I saw it. I saw the way I loved her, I saw the reflection of a monster in her beautiful eyes but I strives to change for her. She was worth it and that terrified me.

MAYAs POV
We reunited with the others but my mind was focused on Josh. He has this trance on me that I can't seem to snap out no matter how aggressively I try to. I wouldn't allow myself to admit it to him, because that's when it'll become real. That's when he wins.
"Let's go to the hotel and check in." Cory said.