The Long Game (Joshaya)

She's Mine

* Maya's POV *

"Surprised?" he asks me.

I stand there for a few seconds and blink my eyes quickly to make sure I wasn't hallucinating anything. But there he stayed, looking handsome in his tuxedo.

"Josh?" I say, my throat tight. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to see you."

"Why?"

"I don't know," he says, his voice growing quieter. "I just wanted to see you."

"That was you dancing?" I ask him.

"Yeah, that was all me. I didn't even know I could dance like that."

I laugh, knowing that dancing doesn't just come naturally.

"It's great to see you again," he says.

"Nice to see you too." We stay silent for a few seconds, just watching each other.

"Ok, now close your eyes. I have a present for you."

I smile and close my eyes. I hear him walk to behind me, and I feel his warm breath on the back of my neck. I feel something cold touch my chest, so I feel around for it. A necklace.

"Happy Birthday," Josh whispers in my ear. I open my eyes and look down at the necklace. The charm is two gold hearts linked together. This must've cost a lot, so I turn around to face Josh.

"It's too much," I reply, moving my hands to the back of my neck to find the clasp. He reaches out and covers my hands, keeping them pinned to the back of my neck.

"You're worth way more than this to me," he says, grabbing both of my hands.

"Thank you," I say, looking down at the necklace again. I rub the charm between my thumb and pointer finger. I look back up at Josh, who's smiling watching me play with the necklace.

"I'm glad you like it," he tells me.

"I love it," I say looking down at the necklace again.

"One more dance for the night?" he asks, offering his hand.

"We don't have any music."

"Who needs music when we're amazing dancers?" 

He wraps his arms around my waist and I wrap mine around his neck. We sway back and forth, keeping each other close. I rest my forehead on his chest and look down at our feet, moving in perfect time with each other. It all felt like a dream; this couldn't really be happening. I feel Josh rest his head on mine, and I finally believe that all of him is real. I look up at him and smile.

"Oh, I have one more present for you," he says, returning my smile. "Close your eyes."

I give him a questioning smile and then close my eyes.

***

* Josh's POV *

"Oh, I have one more present for you. Close your eyes." I say to her.

She smiles at me, then closes her eyes. She looks so beautiful tonight; everything seemed to shine brighter when she was around. I want her, all of her. I want to get to know everything about her. I just want to talk to her every night, like we did before. I close my eyes and place my lips on hers. We stop dancing and hold on to each other tighter. I feel her smile against me, so I pick her up and spin her around. She laughs and buries her face in my neck; I can feel her lips brush against my skin, sending chills through my body.

"We should go back," she says as I place her back on her feet. "They're probably wondering about us."

"Of course." I lace my fingers through hers and walk with her back to the party. When we reach the party, people are still leaving. They see Maya and thank her for an amazing party. Maya's gang walks out last, along with Riley and the rest of the Matthews family. When I see Lucas, I hold Maya's hand tighter. He was a nice guy, but when I heard that he liked Maya, something inside me snapped.

"Hey guys," Maya says walking over to them, letting go of my hand.

"Hey Maya," Lucas says, giving her a hug. "I was looking for you all night. I didn't get to say Happy Birthday."

"Thanks, Ranger Rick." 

I quickly walk over to the group and put my arm around Maya's waist. "Hey guys."

"Why, hello there," a girl with glasses replies, placing her hands on her hips.

"Smackle, do you even know who this is?" Farkle asks her.

"He's Maya's 'boing,'" she replies. Hearing this makes me smile. Even her friends knew about me. If only it could be the same both ways.

"Josh," Lucas nods at me.

"Lucas." I replay the last time we spoke in my head.

"You know what they say: If  you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours to keep. If it doesn't, then it never really was." I said, trying to start the conversation.

"What?" Lucas asked.

"Look, this 'thing' you think you have for Maya. I can't do anything about that. But I care about her very much, so if you hurt her, you're gonna deal with me. Understand? "I told him.

"She really likes you, ya know? " Lucas told me.

"Of course I do," I replied. "But I think she'd be better off with someone else."

"You don't know that," Lucas said as he stood up and walked away.

After that conversation, Lucas asked Riley out at one of their homecoming dances. That was the last time I saw most of them, including Maya.

"Joshie!" Auggie yells, running towards me and Maya. I pick him up and barely get him to sit on my shoulders. 

"You're getting big buddy!"

"How was the party, Augs? Did you eat the candy bar while I was gone?" Maya asks, rubbing his leg.

"No," Auggie replies, then I feel something fall in my hair. Maya laughs and takes it out; it's a gummy bear, which she tosses in the trash.

"I would've eaten it if it was green," Maya says. The whole group laughs and everyone says their goodbyes. When we reach the girls' apartment building, Cory and Topanga give Maya and I hugs goodnight, something I haven't felt in a long time. Riley is the last one to say goodbye to us, leaving Maya and I alone in the hallway.

"So, you going back to NYU now? It's pretty late."

"Actually..."

"Ok," she says, unlocking the door to her apartment. I stand still in the hallway, not knowing if I should follow her in. "Are you gonna sleep in the hallway?" she asks, poking her head out of the door. I smile and follow her in, taking off my tuxedo jacket. I hear Maya yawn as she walks into her room.

"Josh, can you unzip my dress?" she asks, yawning.

I walk over to her and grab the zipper, slowly moving it down her back. I feel like this is something I shouldn't be doing, so I stop halfway down her back.

"What's wrong? Is it stuck?" she asks me.

"No, that's as far as it can go," I reply, covering my eyes with my hands. She yawns again and pulls a sweatshirt over her head. Once that's finished, she drops her dress to the floor. She had spandex shorts under her dress. Makes sense, for all of that dancing tonight. I hear her moan, and I feel like she'll just fall asleep right there on the floor. I pick her up bridal style and place her gently on the bed, where she curls up into a ball. I grab a blanket from the side of her bed and place it over her. I unbutton the first couple of buttons on my shirt, then join her under the blanket. Once I put my head back, she places her head on my chest.

"Thanks for tonight, Josh."

"Anything for you."

In a couple minutes, she's fast asleep. I remain awake, thinking about everything that happened tonight. Those dance moves were hard. I took a couple lessons the week before, but I didn't know she was that good at dancing. I run my hand along her body, her arms, waist, hips, and legs. 

She's perfect. I couldn't break her now.