Josh Matthews's Female Roommate

Chapter Forty-Three: Forced

43) forces you to sleep, drink tea, and take meds when you're sick. Handcuffs you to bed if you protest

Cold season... Yay... My favorite... I took off from classes that dreary winter morning to attempt to recover from the minor sickness that was sweeping across campus. The teachers understood if we missed a class or two because of sickness. Honestly, they didn't care if we blew off class to be here. We were paying to be here so if we blew off class it was just a waste of money.

I heard the door click shut at around 7:45 am. Super weird because Josh wasn't supposed to be home until after noon.

"Maya... You in here?" Josh called softly.

"Yeah... Back here..." I rasped. My voice was hoarse from coughing so much.

I heard the crinkling of plastic bags as Josh came into my room, "I brought you soup, cough syrup, cough drops, and some movies." He sat on the edge of my bed and handed me a honey lemon flavored cough drop.

"I love you..." I popped it in my mouth and felt instant relief.

Josh leaned in a gave me a quick peck on the cheek, "What movie do you want to watch first?"

"Oh... I don't care. Heck, I don't even know what you got..." I laughed a little at the fact that he was asking me what I wanted to watch but I didn't even know my options.

"Come on... I picked some good ones." Josh grabbed the bag and took it out to the couch.

I stayed where I was. I didn't have the energy to walk. He can watch the movies without me. I don't care. I'd rather not move.

"Maya, you coming?" Josh asked.

"Meh..." I fell backward into the pillows and squeezed my eyes shut.

Suddenly I was being lifted bridal style from my comfortable bed and being carried towards the less comfortable couch. Josh was carrying me. Awe... That's so sweet of him. A little bit inside of me melted with joy that he was here taking care of me while I was sick.

"Thanks, Josh." Not only was I thanking him for carrying me to the couch, but I was thanking him for taking care of me, even though he's probably get sick too.

"It's no problem. It's what couples do, right?" He commented quite casually.

Honestly, sometimes I'm so used to him and the way we are around each other, I sorta kinda forget that we're actually dating now. And when I remember, it hits me like a tidal wave. My brain thinks "oh my gosh... this is actually happening right now..." All my childish fantasies are coming true. When I was younger, I had this huge crush on Josh. But he'd always been off-limits to me because I was like Riley's sister so in a way, he felt like my uncle too. As I got older and understood the concept of genetics more and realized that I wasn't actually related to him, I figured crushing on him was okay. But it went away for a while as he went through his series of middle school and high school girlfriends. Even now, it's still kind of awkward because he's so close to me and so much like family.

"Maya... Maya. Maya!" Josh was snapping his fingers in my face.

"Oh sorry, what?"

"You spaced. You sure you're feeling okay?"

"Absolutely. Just... thinking. That's all." As we were talking, I let my mind wander back to all those times we had together. Those times when every moment we spent together was special to me but he wasn't thinking much of it. Those times when I got older and analyzed everything, thinking is he flirting with me? how will I know if he's flirting with me? oh my gosh, that was a total flirty move? what if he likes another girl? no he definitely likes me? or does he? A lot of what I thought was a doubt about how Josh thought of me. Now I don't care. But then, I was completely different.

"Maya!" Josh snapped his fingers again, "You keep spacing. What are you thinking about?"

"Oh... Ya know... Us..." I blushed.

"Really?" Josh blushed too.

"Yeah... Like how we were when we were younger. How unreal this sometimes seems to me." I admitted.

"What do you mean unreal?"

"When I was younger and I had that huge crush on you, I always thought that is dating was just a fantasy. Now that it's actually happening, I'm reminded of that little girl and her big dreams. Sometimes I just can't believe that dreams can come true, especially when they hadn't for me for so long."

"Oh Maya..."

"Josh... I love you and I hope this never ends. I know it sounds cheesy. But this is one of the best things to happen to me. After everything that's happened, my parents splitting, having a hard time making friends at a young age, those girls picking on Riley when we were freshman... A lot of things felt like I was left out to drown in the pouring rain..."

"Maya, think of all the good things that happened though... You met Riley and you two have stuck together for the longest time. You're fortunate to have you're whole group of friends, Lucas and Farkle and Smackle and Zay and all those girls from your art class that you get along with. Your mom married Shawn. You're majoring in art, your favorite thing ever. There is so many good things to life that you're forgetting about." Josh reminded me.

Our conversations lasted us until it got dark. He's one of those people that I can just sit and talk to and never get bored. We never got around to watching our movie. But who cares. We had each other and that's all we'll ever really need. Because as long as I've got him, I won't need anything else. He's my everything. And I love him.

A/N: early chapter post 'cause I'm feeling good! And that one was long. I loved writing that one. Something about delving headfirst into emotions just makes writing that much better for me. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Au revior!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Maya and Josh or any of the other Girl Meets World characters that I mentioned above or the scene I was referring to with the girls picking on Riley. Which by the way is the girls from Maya's childhood that wanted her to abuse that statue in the park if you know what I'm talking about.

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