The Age Of Seventeen

Part 48

M A Y A

Farkle called me on FaceTime some hours after Josh and I arrived in Philadelphia. I walked out to the porch and sat at the front steps to get some privacy.

"Hey, guys!" I smile happily and wave at them through the screen. Farkle has a big smile on his face, and Evie giggled wen she saw my face appear on the screen. I missed my little baby girl so much already.

"Hey, momma!" Farkle says for Evie, holding up her small hand and pretending to wave. It was so cute how they looked together.

"You guys look so adorable." I point out, and I see Farkle blush a bit when I say that. I roll my eyes at him and bite back my smile. He's too cute...

"So, how are you holding up? Was daddy boot camp effective?" I tease.

"We are ...okay." Farkle answers sincerely. I can tell he's really tired by the constant rubbing of eyes and his small yawns in between sentences. "She's actually starting to really like me."

"Damn it!" I curse. "It won't be long before she starts to choose you over me.."

"Not going to happen. She loves you, in fact she looks around everywhere for you." Farkle assured which makes me a little giddy. My daughter was so cute, and I know wherever I go she will be the first to miss me.

"I miss her too," I pout. "I'm really hoping to get Riley to come home soon, maybe within the next day or two."

"I hope you get back soon, and that Riley comes home too. We miss you guys," Farkle pouts and Evie looks up and pouts as well. It's not soon before she begins to actually cry. She always does that, but I had completely forgotten because I was focusing on Farkle for a bit.

"Shh, it's okay." Farkle sets the phone down real quick and I see him rock her so she stops crying. He holds her tiny hand as he does that rubs tiny circles along her tiny fingers, which makes me smile. I remember when we were much younger I used to get nervous and bite my nails, but Farkle would hold my hand and do the same. It would calm me and often put me to sleep, just thinking about it now makes me sleepy.

"Shes down!" Farkle whisper exclaims. He picks up the camera and shows me a sleeping Evie. I coo and smile adoringly at both of them.

"Maya," Farkle interrupts my train of thought. "I really miss you. I'm sorry about everything."

"I'm sorry too," I say sadly. "I'm glad we're good again..you know for Evie." Damn, I was close to messing things up again with my big mouth, then remember the deal I made with myself about remaining friends with Farkle.. "um, I got to go. Riley's probably inside waiting for me."

"Okay, goodnight, May. Sweet dreams and lock your door!" Farkle instructs, I chuckle and tell him I will before ending the FaceTime call.

"Why did he tell you to look your door?" I gasp as I realize Josh was leaning against the door the whole time. He bit into his red apple as he waited for me to answer.

"Because uh...well, um..see you're the Uncle everyone has been warning him about, but he doesn't understand that this is just you know..friendship?" Josh quirks an eyebrow at the end of that sentence.

"Friendship, huh? Do you and Farkle have a friendship too?" He questions, stepping closer to me.

"It's complicated," I answer honestly and scratch the back of my neck.

"Do you have feelings for Farkle?" Josh asks, stepping closer towards me. He looks deep into my eyes, and I surprisingly don't look away.

"What's it to you?" I retort, my arms crossing naturally in front of me.

"I think you do have feelings for Farkle, stronger ones than you have me for me, clearly. But somehow those feelings seem to be shaken by me. Why is that?" As if we weren't close enough, Josh inches closer. I hated how he wanted all these answers after everything that happened between us. He was right about my feelings for Farkle but he was definitely not aware of my feelings for him.

"I think you're deceiving yourself." I let him know. "I love Farkle. The only thing standing between us is the responsibility of maintaining peace between us for our daughter's sake. If that weren't a problem I'd definitely be with him." Josh's face falls. "I don't want to give you mixed signals...You matter to me, and you always will. You're uncle Boing and little Maya will always have a thing for you. But older Maya loves the nerd who is jealous over her best friends uncle. And older Maya appreciates you, but needs you to understand that you can't be there for her how you want to. Only the way she allows you to...and that is as a friend."

"Say something, please?" I fiddle with my fingers as I wait for him to answer.

"I just want to have you, okay? If it's as a friend, consider yourself family and I'll have you that way forever." He tells me, then leans in to kiss my forehead.

"Thank you." I breathed out, and we clash in a hug. "Now if I may...your niece needs me." Josh lets go of me and I give him a small smile before I step back inside the house, feeling some relief on my shoulders for once all week.

•••

Hey, earthlings!

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and hopefully you all can see you are slowly getting your Markle back so stay tuned for more :))

Btw do you guys think Riley will ever take Lucas back? Comment yes or no.