Everyone Can See It (Discontinued)

Joshua Matthews

Josh has always felt a little... out of place. Always. It didn't matter what stage he was at in his life, he had never felt like he found a place to fit in.

It began at home, like most things do. He was born to Amy and Alan Matthews at a time when they thought having more children was impossible due to their climbing age. And it almost was: Josh was born prematurely with complications affecting his respiratory system and needed to have surgery if there was any chance that he was going to make it. Scary stuff, he assumes; it's not like he remembers. The only long-term consequence he deals with is his unpredictable asthma flare-ups. That, and the worried eyes he gets from his family members every time he has the slightest runny nose.

So home life was a little weird. And school life, though an improvement, still didn't give him the balanced feeling he desired. Sure, he was smart and handsome and got along with people but he'd always see or hear people talk about the one thing that had remained elusive to him: a best friend.

What did you do Saturday, Jerry? Oh, my best friend Sam and I went paintballing and it was fucking awesome!

Tanya, what are you up to tonight? Ugh, Maria really wants to see that stupid zombie movie that came out and I gotta go with her cuz she's my best friend.

He had friends, yeah. But he never had a best friend. Someone who would be automatically on his team when they played games or would be forced to see hilariously awful movies with just because one of them wanted to. Someone who he could connect to and have real deep conversations with.

He knew it sounded like he was describing his "dream girlfriend" but he's seen the strongest relationships come out of the strongest friendships so you know what, maybe he was.

Josh has a good family and had a good childhood. He's grateful for that. But growing up with parents that were constantly mistaken as his grandparents, siblings that instead looked like your aunt and uncles, and never having a friend that you felt comfortable talking about your feelings with made for a weird experience. Add that to being told that you were now an uncle when you're three years old and you get a kid whose hopes for being normal have been long dashed.

Josh wouldn't lie though; it was a relief to have someone in your family to grow up with, even if he and Riley lived in different states. Being only three years apart made it seem like they were brother and sister instead of uncle and niece: opposite to the relationship he had with his actual siblings. Riley and him would play together, nap together, and would always get along whenever they saw each other. Riley was the closest thing he had to a best friend when they were younger.

And then Riley met a girl named Maya Hart. And suddenly whenever Josh saw Riley in New York, Maya would be right there too.

Josh was an observant guy. Growing up on the sidelines, you didn't really get a say in the matter. And what he saw between his niece and her best friend –who giggled whenever she saw him but always went back to Riley- was definitely worth observing.

It was a lot of little things that added up. Like how Maya would always be there when Josh would spend weekends at Cory's place. He'd watch the two of them run around the apartment, trying to find things that only they could apparently see. And how if they would play hide and seek together, the two of them would always hide in the same spot even if it made it easier to find them.

And who were they kidding? Josh always found them in twenty seconds or less because they could not stop laughing. It made him laugh too. And then Maya would jump on his back and announce it was his turn to hide and he better get moving. And then Riley would have to pull Maya off of him because she wouldn't let go. Some things never changed.