It's About Time (GMW - Joshaya)

Chapter 34

Maya's POV

"Holy fuck Farkle!" Lucas laughed.

"How is it possible that such a little guy could eat that much pizza? Where does it go? Is your stomach a bottomless pit?" Zay added. 

"What can I say? The only thing bigger than my brain is my stomach." Farkle shoved the last piece of Hawaiian pizza in his mouth.

"Not gonna lie, that was pretty impressive," I nodded my head.

Smackle draped an arm around Farkle and squeezed him tight, "That's my man."

Everything seemed normal between Farkle and Smackle. For a moment, I actually forgot that just yesterday, she told Riley and me that she thought Farkle was cheating on her. It didn't seem like something Farkle would do, but to be honest, I guess nothing is ever a sure thing in this world. Hopefully, whatever it was that was causing Farkle to be weird wasn't anything bad, and it passed. 

Plus, I really wanted tonight to be about the six of us. A little reminder of our friendship and the days where things were simpler. It was always gonna be there, out friendship that is, but like I said to Riley earlier, life tends to get in the way sometimes and tonight was purely about that fun and friendship that can't be broken.

"Okay, so I'm thinking that we pick teams out of a hat. We'll let the odds be in out favor tonight," Smackle grabbed Zay's beat up old hat from his head. "Do you guys need this flier?" Smackle picked up the light pink piece of paper from the table that advertised some sort of festival this weekend. 

"Nope," Riley and I said in unison.

"Here," Farkle handed her a pen.

She scribbled names on to the back of the paper, ripped it up so that each name was separate, and put the pieces of folded paper into the hat. "Okay, who wants to pick a name first?" Smackle asked.

"I will!" Riley gasped in excitement. She dug her hand into the hat and delicately selected a piece of paper. "And the first member of Team 1 is..."

"Drumroll please..." Lucas echoed. Everyone battered their hands on the granite countertop. Zay even added his infamous beat boxing for suspense.

"Smackle!" she shouted.

"Okay Smackle. Why don't you pick out the first member of Team 2?" I took the hat from her hands.

"Okay. And the first member of Team 2 is..." she paused and waited for the drumroll. "Farkle!"

"Farkle you pick now for Team 1," I leaned the hat in his direction. He furrowed his hand and mixed around the papers, "Lucas!" 

"Hey hot stuff," Smackle winked. 

"Smackle!" Everyone shouted, but laughed off her silliness.

Lucas took hint of the pattern and grabbed a name from the hat. "Riley for Team 2! And by the way babe, don't think I'm gonna take it easy on you just because you're so damn cute," he kinked an eyebrow and gave a crooked grin the way he only does with Riley. 

She stuck her tongue out at Lucas like a child. "I'll let someone else pick since I already did."

"Go ahead Maya," Zay took the hat from her hands.

"Okay, so...for Team 1 we have..." I separated the last two pieces of paper that were stuck together. "...we have," I repeated. "The one, the only, the indescribable, irresistible...Maya Hart," I finished in third person. 

"Alright so that leaves me with rainbow and turtleneck over there," Zay dumped the last piece of paper on the table and wiggled his hat back on his head. "And just because we don't sound like the most terrifying team, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't beware...we don't have any mercy on our enemies."

"Yea, but even Farkle's merciless competition, he has yet to beat Ms. Isadora Smackle," she blew Farkle a kiss.

"Bring it on Peaches," cocked her head to the side and gave a devious smile.

"Alright, alright," Lucas intervened. "Where is the paper with our tasks?"

"Right here!" I retrieved two folded pieces of paper from my pocket. One for Team 1 and one for Team 2. "Rules we have until 11:00 to complete as many of these tasks as you can...some are worth more points than other based on skill and guts required. By 11:00, both teams must meet back here. I'm on one team and Riley is on the other so each team has a key. We'll probably be running into each other throughout the night, but a picture, video, or tangible proof of each completed task is required...because ya know, pics or it didn't happen. All is fair in love and war. Yada. Yada. Yada. There is one bonus task that is all about friendship, and with that one. We will go by the honor code that it is completed. There are about three minutes until 7, until then...talk strategy with your team. At 7...it's game time. Other than that...may the odds be in your favor."

Everyone huddled together and put their drinks to the middle. "To friendship?" Riley looked at me. 

"To friendship," everyone bellowed.

***Author's Note: I was thinking about also adding a chapter or so with Josh and his family or friends or maybe just Riley. What do you guys think? Yes or no? It's not the main focus of the story, but I was thinking of adding some fun or serious scenes with Josh to satisfy that dynamic and get a better look into Josh's mind.