South ~ A Joshaya Story

Rest in Peace Pt. 1

Josh's POV

I walk into the Matthews' apartment on Wednesday night  to see Maya crying on the couch .

"Awww no , peaches , don't cry ." Riley says soothing Maya with tears in her eyes . " You're supposed to be the strong one . "

" Whoa , what's wrong ?" I ask sitting on the couch placing my hand on the small of Maya's back .

" We just found out Feeny passed away ." Riley says starting to sob .

Something inside me breaks . " What ? How ? When ? " I ask .

Maya sniffles , " Well , he died of old age . " Maya says wiping away her tears and standing up . " And he died in Philly last night in his sleep. Shawn went to Philly to visit him and .... well ... " Maya lightly smiles putting her hands in the back pockets of her black ripped jeans .

" Wow . " I say swallowing .

" Yeah . " Maya says pulling her phone out of her pocket . She looks at Riley, then says " I'm going to call Farkle , Lucas , and Zay and tell them the news . They'll all come over and cheer us up . " She sits down next to Riley and puts her arms around her , "Okay , Riley ?"

Riley just nods as Maya leaves the room with her phone against her ear .

I put my arm around Riley and open my mouth to say something but she stops me . " Josh , you need to help Maya . Maya is acting a lot stronger than she feels . "

" What am I supposed to do ? "

" Comfort her ." Riley says taking my arm off her . " I'm okay , really . "

" Why isn't Maya okay ?"

" When Shawn and Katy got together , Maya went to go see Feeny with them a lot . Maya and him got pretty close over the past few years . "

" Oh . You're right , then . I should go ... " I trail off . I go to Riley's door , knock , then open the door without waiting for an answer . I know kind of messed up , but if she would say anything , it would be a " no " .

I open the door to see her in the bay window looking down at her phone . I see tears fall down her face .

" Please just - " Maya cuts herself off by looking up to see me . " Josh ." She sighs with a small smile . Then she looks back down to her phone .

I go sit down next to her and put my arm around her . I don't know what I'm doing thinking I have a chance with this girl , I don't ... I'm too old . "Are you okay ?"

" Yeah , " She says looking back up to me and wiping tears off her face , " Of course I am ." Maya lies .

" No you aren't ." I say wiping a tear off her face with thumb .

" Okay , " Maya laughs hysterically , " Maybe I'm not ."

" That's Okay ." I say with a small laugh as tears start pouring down her face . " I know over the past few years you've gotten really close to him . When my parents died , it was awful . I felt like I had no one to talk to , even though I did ... " I sigh " I just wanted you to know ... you have me to talk to ."

" Josh ... " Maya starts , looking deeply into my eyes with her light blue , crystal looking ones .

" I know , " I say cutting her off , " I'm sorry . I shouldn't have said anything . " I get up and walk over to the door .

I'm opening the door as Maya says , " No ! Stay. "

I shut the door and look back to Maya . " Well , Maya-"