It's About Time (GMW - Joshaya)

Chapter 94

Maya's POV

"Shit." That was the only word I could seem to mutter under my breath. I was at a loss. 

Suddenly, I began to feel a bit lightheaded. The colorful lights and flashing lights beamed as music blared from the speakers. 

"We can't let him find out," I finally mustered up some words as I leaned in closely to Josh. 

"Maya. Don't be delusional. It's gonna come out eventually. We gotta tell him, he deserves to know," Josh's hands were nervously playing with his tie.

"No way. Not tonight. This is Cory and Topanga's night.  And besides, Huckleberry has gone 23 years without knowing the truth. He can wait one more day to be crushed by the truth," I felt a sharp pain in my chest for Lucas as I spoke the words. 

I was especially sad for him because I knew Josh was right. Most of the time he was, but I really couldn't bring myself to tell him.

"One more day wouldn't make a difference if his mom and sister weren't in the room. Look Maya, I know you care about him. I do too, but that is exactly why we gotta tell him. Because at the end of the day, like Feeny has always said...the truth has a way of coming out. And I'd rather Lucas not be blindsided."

Josh's tie was all sorts of discombobulated now from his nervous twirling and tugging on the gray tie.

"Don't you think he's gonna be blindsided either way?" I grabbed his hands gently off the tie and then straightened it out for him. 

"You're right, but we both know this is the right thing to do."

I nodded my head in accordance. 

He pursed his lips into a sorry smile and thanked me for fixing the tie.

Just as Josh and I broke from our aside, we looked up to see it happening right in front of us: Lucas, Zay, Peyton, Rachel, and Eric all were huddled in a circle.

"So this must be the beautiful Peyton that I heard about," Lucas tipped an imaginary cowboy hat and bowed before sticking his hand out for a shake.

"Lucas!" I shouted impassively without thinking.

Josh's eyes widened, and I gave him a look to let him know that I was just as shocked by my poor planning in this situation. To be fair though, there was no time for planning. We were in crisis mode. I was throwing my best Hail Mary here.

"One second Maya," he turned to me. 

Josh and I were now pushing ourselves into the circle nonchalantly. 

"No Lucas. It's important," I said sternly.

He looked confused now and slightly worried.

"It's Riley!" Josh spat out to help my inability to think of something.

"She's crying!" I finished.

Lucas stepped forward worriedly before dropping his tense shoulders in relief.

"No, she's not. She's in the corner over there dancing with her grandma and grandpa. Smiley Riley is in full effect," he dismissed. 

"She must've stopped," I tried to save myself from my horrible lie. "I guess it's just an emotional day."

"Probably," Lucas said turning back to greet Peyton. 

It was in this moment that Rachel and Eric realized what Josh and I were attempting to do. I could sense that their brains were racking up a million thoughts a minute trying to come up with a way to get out of this.