Girl Meets 23

4 (Josh)

-Washington DC, USA-

Josh was finally done in DC. He felt like he might be stuck there forever and the work was becoming tedious. He had officially decided he never wanted to leave New York again, he missed his family. The more and more he left town for work the more he was starting to realize that he wanted to settle down. He had always wanted a family of his own in the traditional sense, he wanted almost exactly what Cory had. When your siblings are so much older than you, like Josh's, you tend to idolise the grown ups in your life. Josh looked up to Cory, his older brother, more than anything, well maybe he looked up to Topanga more. She was partner at her law firm and had an amazing family. Not only was Josh included in that family he also worked at the same firm, Topanga had gotten him the interview after law school and lucky enough for him they gave him a shot. Maybe he had been single for too long. He spent so much time focused on furthering his career he never really got into serious relationships anymore.

He had found a last minute flight on a really cheap airline leaving for New York which was extremely convenient considering that he thought the earliest he thought he could get home was 9-9:30pm, and he didn't want to miss another family dinner. As soon as he got through security he had to sprint down to his terminal considering it had already started boarding. The plane smelt old and dusty. The chairs were a worn out navy blue leather. Because the plane wasn't exactly modern and there were no fancy TVs on the back of the seat in front of him. This was disappointing considering that the flight was the duration of a standard movie. He settled on listening to a book that he had downloaded onto his phone, it was an old book that his dad had recommended about a spy during the cold war. Josh enjoyed reading quite a bit, even though he felt like he never had the time for it with all the work he does. So instead of listening to music while working out he would download a new book. It was a good medium but sometimes he would get to into the story and lose track of time. But even still it was a good distraction from work and everyday stress.

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-New York City, USA-

Because the flight was pretty short the airline had hardly enough time to hand out drinks before it was time to land. Josh was longing to get out of his stupid slacks and button down shirt and put on some sweats. He missed his own bed the most though and rushed his way off the plan and through baggage claim. There was a girl there. She looked like a ghost of his past. She had blond wavy hair but that was on the longer side and came down to just below the middle of her back. It had to be Maya Hart, it looked just like her but he knew Riley's party wasn't until next week.

"Maya?" Josh called out in disbelief and the blond woman quickly turned her head to face him.

"Josh?" Maya's familiar voice called back walking over to him with a kid like grin. She was wearing a pair of light grey leggings and an over sized red sweater but her face looked exactly as he had remembered it. "What are you doing here?"

"I just got back from a work trip" He said laughing he seriously couldn't believe his eyes. He thought it wouldn't see her for a long time and they hadn't exactly left things on the best of terms. "What about you?"

"I got time off work so I figured why not be here sooner rather then later," She pulled him into a hug which was an act of affection that surprised Josh, he wasn't sure if any childhood feelings remained between them. All he knew was that seeing her made his heart feel full in a way that it hadn't in forever and when she'd smiled up at him his knees also buckled.

"What the hell, Maya!" an unfamiliar male voice spoke which broke the hug between them. It was a skinny guy who had buzzed hair and really sharp blue eyes.

"Oh Caleb," Maya sighed "This is Josh - Riley's uncle" She introduced us and I shot him a smile. Who was he to her?

"Her uncle?" he eyed Josh up and down trying to figure out how he could be so close to their age. This happened a lot when Riley was in college with him and he would introduce her to people as his niece; they would get a lot of weird stares because there's only a three year age difference.

"Yeah I was kind of an accident" Josh joked try to lighten the mood between the three of them.

"Oh and Josh this is Caleb," she did a quick pause, shot Josh a sad look and quietly said "my boyfriend" It was strange how these few words made his stomach sink into the depths of hell. Josh knew Maya would move on with her life but this feeling at knowing that's she's with someone else and seeing it for himself made it hurt even worse.

"Maya why aren't you even trying to help with the bags?" This Caleb guy asked her in a cool tone, Maya had two suitcases next to her. Josh didn't like the way he was talking to her but if he knew Maya at all he knew she wouldn't want him to get involved.

"Oh sorry my bad" she said anxiously pinching the sleeve cuffs of her hoodie while looking at the carousel "I guess we'll see you around Josh?" she had a hopeful look in her eyes which made Josh heart disobediently skip a beat.

"Yeah, definitely" Josh smiled at her ignoring the annoying shadow of a boyfriend that she had. There was something off about him, he could just tell. With that she turned and with Caleb she walked away. Josh decided then and there he was going straight to Riley house.