Long game

girl meets first date

Olivia heard some commotion going on in the front room so she naturally decided to find out what was going on. "Liv! Great. why don't you tell Riley and Lucas why they shouldn't go on a date" Cory says, grinning when he saw her appear in the room.  "He's only just now asking her out? good on you!" she high fives Lucas, smirking. "You're no help, Topanga, we really need to talk" Cory turns his attention from Olivia to his wife. "mr Matthews we really need to talk" Maya says. "Good help me" he says, sitting down at the kitchen table. "When a father turns a certain age, things will start happening to you that you don't understand" Maya starts. Olivia appears on his other side with a smirk. "It'll confuse you, but it's a magical time." she smirks. "Shut up!" Cory exclaims. "Look, don't worry. This is all normal and it's just your body's way of telling you that you are a woman" Maya pokes him and Cory just looks annoyed. " Look, If it makes you feel any better, don't think of it as a date. Think of it as a beautiful fantasy world that only includes the two of them and not you anymore" Olivia finishes. Both girls high five and take a mocking bow. "I appreciate both of you" Topanga smiles, "I think you're with pretty fierce"

Josh comes in through the door and Maya falls into Topanga arms. "Finally" Olivia had been waiting for him for a while. "My brotha!" Cory exclaims. "My brotha! Hey I come with good news" Josh says. "I'm joining the NYU pre-college program with Liv, i'll be here all summer" josh smiles. "okay i'm not okay" Maya says, falling back down slightly. Cory ignores what josh said and pushed him towards Riley, "Josh, would you do me a favour and explain to your niece that she is way too young to go out on her first date?" Josh just looks at her before smiling slightly. "Niece, what kept you so long? Welcome to the party, guys. Enjoy" he pushes Riley closer to Lucas. Olivia smirks slightly and waits at the door for him. "Get out of my house!" Cory exclaims, annoyed that nobody was on his side. "I'll go to the party with you josh" Maya smiles. "Still too old for you maya" Josh brushes her off. "Three years, what's three years in the history of love? They found some cavemen footprints, a man and a woman, they didn't know how old they were. All the scientists could tell was that they were holding hands. You now why? That was all that was important." Maya rambles. "You know what's important, we have to meet with our campus advisor downstairs, now" Olivia says. Josh turns on his heel and walks out with Olivia. Cory then shuts the door after them, glad two opinions that challenged his own were gone. 

The three sat together. "So that's it basically, I wish I could give you a tour of the area but I have some family matters to attend to" The campus advisor stood up and gave the two younger teens a smile. "it's okay, thanks for everything you did today Sophie" Olivia smiled. "It's my job, i'll see you around yeah?" she smiled. "Yeah" Josh and Olivia said in unison. 

Once she had left Olivia turned to josh. "Still set on NYU?" she asked. "Yeah, especially if you're coming with me" he smirks. "Still can't do anything without me can you" she laughs. "I told you, you're not getting rid of me" he smiles. "I'm stuck with you" she rolls her eyes. "Come on you know you love me" josh smirks. "Maybe, you're okay" she teases. 

Meanwhile, Riley and Maya walk in. Olivia and Josh were oblivious, but of course Maya and Riley noticed. They instantly thought the worst, for Maya, or the best, for Riley. Riley knew of Mayas crush and of course didn't want her best friend hurt but she also had shipped her uncle and Olivia since she could remember. She had tried to hide it from Maya,  but of course she didn't listen. 

"Hey, you know how she couldn't take us on a tour?" Josh says as they walk out. "Yeah?" Olivia looked at him in confusion. "Let's go on our own tour" he wanders into the city, not having much of a clue where he was going. "Do you know where we are going?" Olivia asked. "not a clue" josh shrugged. "Best kind of adventures" she giggled. Many of the adventures with her dad were clueless ones, and clueless ones were the ones she loved.

"And so we finish our tour of the NYU area on the subway where we can quite obviously see my nieces first date" Josh says in his "tour guide" voice. "Don't look at them" Olivia giggles. "Why not, you're telling me you don't want to be nosey?" josh smirks. "I do but I don't want to make it awkward" Olivia sighs. "Like our first date?" Josh asks. "The many a times they tried to force us to date as children, oh whichever shall I choose as the most awkward" Olivia says. They had been best friends as long as they can remember. Their families were always close, obviously, which meant they grew up together. They had been taken on many "dates" as young children, when they only saw each other as friends. But it made their friendship stronger, so they truly couldn't complain. "Don't even mention them" Josh rolls his eyes. The train stops and Olivia notices it was their stop. "Come on" she says, getting up. "Our stop already?" josh questions but walks off with her. "No, i'm just getting you off for the fun of it" Olivia rolls her eyes. As she takes a look back on the train she notices Maya looking at them. She looked hurt. "You okay?" josh asks. "Yeah, fine"

As Olivia sat on the bed, she couldnt not think about Maya. She cared about her, and didn't want to hurt her. So she got up and heard Maya in Rileys room. "Hey?" she knocked on the door. "Hi" Riley smiled whilst Mayas face remained monotone. "Can I speak to Maya?" Olivia asked softly. "Sure" Riley jumped up, she didn't know why she she wasnt going to stop her. "Hey" Olivia says down where Riley sat before. "Hi" Maya says. "Listen, I know you saw me with josh, but I don't want you to take it the wrong way, it wasn't a date" Olivia says. "Doesn't matter" Maya says. "What?" Olivia was confused. "I see the way he looks at you, I see the way you look at him, I can't compete with that, it's just a silly little crush, i'll get over it" Maya says. Olivia didn't really know what to say, she had never thought about the way she looked at him or the way he looked at her. "So we're good?" Olivia asks, choosing not to respond to what Maya said fully. "Yeah" Maya smiled. She knew she would get over her crush on Josh, she knew it wasn't going to be anything more. Olivia hugged her, happy she had sorted it out. Now the only thing that was on her mind was what Maya said. 

The long game is speeding up, the recognition of feelings card may have just been drawn.