The Long Game (Joshaya)

Hard Rock Cafe

Song of the Chapter: We Come Running by Youngblood Hawke and Take on the World by Sabrina Carpenter and Rowan Blanchard

* Maya's POV *

Snap out of it! a voice in my head yells. He'll only hold you back.

I pull away from Josh and smile at him. "You're a terrible dancer."

"Maybe you can give me some pointers," he says, scratching the back of his neck.

"I could," I say picking up my sketchpad. "But it wouldn't work." I mess up his hair, like I do with Auggie. I'm glad Auggie looks up to him; he's a good guy. He smiles and I grab his hand.

"C'mon. Time for stop #2." I pull him off stage and run towards the theater exits. "Thank you!" I shout as we run past Robbie.

"No problem, Hart!" he says, waving back at me.

"Maya, slow down!"Josh says, laughing. "We have all day together."

Together. A word I've only heard from my closest friends and family. Josh didn't feel like family to me for a long time. I doubt that'll change. I pull him back out onto the streets of New York and take a deep breath.

"Ok, lazybones. We'll walk," I say looking back at Josh.

"Where are we going next?"

"When we get to 34th Street, we'll turn left," I reply. "That's all I'll tell you."

"You know I'm bad at riddles n' stuff, Maya."

"You trust me." I say, meaning it to be a question, but it sounded more like a statement.

"Yeah, I do."

We begin to walk down 7th Avenue, catching up and window shopping. The only person I could hold a conversation this long with was Riley, maybe Lucas. As we walk side by side, people glance at us. What are they thinking?

What a cute couple.

They're too young for love.

I wish I had that.

Or maybe they just see me as another face that you pass by and will most likely never see again.

"I'm hungry," Josh says, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"We can go to Hard Rock Café?" I say pointing at the restaurant. Josh turns around to face the restaurant, then turns back to face me.

"I'll pay," he says.

"No, we can go halfsies."

"Ok, let's go," he says, gesturing his arms towards the restaurant.

We walk in and the hostess seats us at a table next to the stage. A man was on the stage singing, and the hostess told us that they were having an open-mic today.

"You both should go up," she smirks, leaving us at our table. Josh and I look at each other and start laughing.

The waiter comes over and asks,"Welcome to the Hard Rock Café, NY! Are we celebrating anything today?"

"Um..." I begin to say.

"It's my birthday." Josh says quickly.

I stare at Josh and hope that he gets the message. When the waiter walks away, I laugh.

"Why did you say that?" I say, continuing to laugh.

"Cuz it's true. Today's my birthday."

"No, it's not," I smile at him. "You're birthday's next month."