It's About Time (GMW - Joshaya)

Chapter 72

Josh's POV

"2 of your finest imported beers, please" I held up two fingers to ensure that the bartender understood me.

"Make it two shots, instead," Maya shoved her hand in my face to dismiss what I had said. "Surprise us."

I must've been so shocked that my jaw dropped because she used two fingers to guide my mouth shut. 

"What? We are toasting to friendship after all," she looked at me with a playful expression. "Well maybe more of an acquaintanceship. I'm not sure if we are at the friendship level yet."

"I'll take what I can get," I compromised, while taking the two shots from the bartender's hands. "Besides, that last part left me hopeful."

"What last part?" she retorted.

"The part where you said 'yet.' It means that there is a chance for friendship someday," I handed her one of the shots. "To someday!"

She struck the rim of her shot glass against mine spilling a little bit of the mysterious brown liquid in it, "To someday!"

Someday had kind of always been our thing, so it seemed fitting of the occasion.

We simultaneously downed the shots properly with one gulp. We came up form our swallows with identical faces of disgust. 

"Ughhh that was terrible," she grinned, revealing her dimples.

I will admit that apart of me was yearning for her, but the other part of me knew that friendship, or acquantanceship was gonna be the only way that she could be happy right now--and I wanted to at least give her that.

"It really was, ughhh," I wiped by my mouth. "I'm never leaving you in charge of drinks again."

"To be fair, it was the bartender that picked out the shots," she wagged a finger in my face with the hand that still held snuggly onto the shot glass. "Besides, I doubt you could do any better."

"Bet," I stuck my hand out to seal the deal. "We each pick out a shot and whichever one is better wins."

"What happens if I win?" she asked gingerly.

"Blind bet. Winner gets to make the loser do one thing that they want within reason," my hand awaited her approval. "Unless of course, you're afraid of a nice, FRIENDLY competition."

"Maya Hart does not run away from a challenge," she spoke in third person while firmly shaking my hand in accordance. 

"2 Bazooka Joe's please," she ordered when the bartender came back around to retrieve our empty shot glasses.

"And 2 Buttery Nipples," I added and slipped him a 5 dollar tip.

What was amusing to me about her choice of shot was that I knew Maya wasn't a big fan of Bazooka Joe shots, but she picked it knowing that I would because of the banana liqueur in it. But what was even funnier, was that I did the same thing. Maya has the biggest sweet tooth out of everyone I knew; so even though I probably would've picked about 7 other shots before the Buttery Nipple, I knew she was gonna love it.

"So how about we take the shots we picked first and then we will take the other shot second?" I suggested. 

"Fine with me! You'll remember the taste of the winning shot because you'll be drinking it last," she teased.

The bartender returned with all four shots. Two of each kind. One of each for both of us.

"On the count of three," Maya declared. "1."

"2," I proceeded.

"3!" we shouted together. 

We both downed our choice of shot and sat the empty glasses to the side. With our newly free hand, we both picked up the next shot, only giving ourselves about 20 seconds to recover.

"1," I began.

"2," she continued.

"3!" we exclaimed.

"Whew! Not bad Hart, but I think we can both agree there was a distinct winner here."

"Fine, Matthews, but it was a close race," she stuck her tongue out at me and then swapped it for a good game handshake.

Our hands lingered for a second too long, before we both quickly pulled away. But I didn't want to make anything out of it. We were just being friends or acquaintances as she put it. As far as I know, it could just be the alcohol catching up to us and slowing down our reaction time.

 "So what's my punishment?" she asked with what seemed like a flirtatious manner.

"Nothing so severe. It's not a punishment, just a request. I'm not that evil," I chuckled. "Just let me take a look at that finger of yours," I drummed my fingertips on the bar top before pointing to her finger with the cut from the picture frame.

"What?" she had a quizzical look on her face.

Maya's POV

I felt oddly unsatisfied and increasingly puzzled by Josh's winner's request. It's not that I necessarily wanted to kiss him, but a part of me selfishly wanted him to want to kiss me.

"Your finger. The one you told me about earlier. It's been bothering you all night. I could tell. You've been playing with it, and every time you make contact with it, you wince in pain," he said, explaining his thought process.

"It's not like it's broken Josh," I waved him off. "Don't you wanna ask for a different request?"

"I never said it was broken. I just asked you to let me look at it. And I was the one who won, so you don't get to judge my request. I used it how I wanted. So grant me my wish Genie," he rubbed his fingers against the shot glass that was still in my possession. 

"Fine," I folded his arms and did the silly Bewitched head bob before holding my hand out to him.

I watched him narrow his eyes in suspicion before getting up and silently guiding me into the hallway where there was better lighting.