'Scar Tissue' (Josh Mathews x OC)

Scar Tissue

Her nails are cut short and painted black. Her pale pink lip gloss leaves prints on her glass of iced tea. Her eyes flicker to you when you enter the apartment, greeting your family, but that's all; no smile, no wave, no other clue that she acknowledged you.

You've seen her before, heard her name mentioned by your family or Maya, but never once have you had a conversation with her. She became a close friend of Riley and Maya after moving from Pennsylvania to New York for her final year of high school, you were told.

Having been busy with school and your part time job, you hardly had any time to spend with your family. But, that night was family night, and you'd promised Auggie you'd be there - you couldn't break that promise. You were surprised to see the seventeen-year-old there, as she obviously wasn't family (Maya had been considered family since a young age, which was why she showed up every month). When you asked Topanga why, your sister-in-law just smiled sort of sadly and explained that the young girl's home life wasn't the greatest, and that she needed to spend some time with people who cared about her.

You walk back into the living room, where everyone was talking and laughing, and purposefully sit in the open space next to her on the loveseat. You give her a charming and kind smile, introduce yourself as Josh, Riley's uncle, and stick out your hand for her to shake. She smiles, her tiny hands enveloped in your larger, warm ones. Her long sleeve is lifted slightly, and you see them. The pale, fading scars disappearing up her forearm. You don't say a word, and neither does she. Her eyes speak thousands, though; she waits for you to make a comment, but you just smile. "It's nice to finally meet you. Riley & Maya definitely think highly of you," you say, and she smiles back. "It's nice to finally meet you, too."