After Maya and Josh made their someday deal they did what they said they were going to do. Live their lives. Maya and her friends went one way and Josh went another. They still stayed in occasional contact for a little while but never got the chanc...
"Hey weirdos." My best friend says into the house not looking up. I look over a my uncle and his eyes are blown wide. "Sorry it took me so long New York traffic is worse then London..." She starts saying as she lifts her head and stops when she sees Josh sitting on the couch beside me. She pulls her gaze away looking at everyone else. "New York traffic is worse then London traffic and the drive up here took a lot longer then I expected." She finishes with a sigh walking over to us leaving her bag at the door. She pulls me in for a hug whispering in my ear. "You are so dead my dear. We will talk upstairs." I nod hugging her tighter. She walks over to my mom hugging her while looking at my dad. "Hey Mr. Matthews." She says as he opens his arms for her to hug him and she does before moving onto our friends. Once she's done with all her hugs she looks at my uncle once again. "Josh." She says nodding her head at him. "Maya." He replies. She walks back over to me grabbing my hand and dragging me up to her room after snatching the handle of her bag that's at the door.
When we get up to her room she pulls me in and leans her back against the door after closing it. Her head drops back against it as she sighs.
Maya's P.O.V
When I lift my head I look at Riley who's standing in front of me. I look her straight in the eyes. "Riles?" I question her she cocks her head to the side. "Why didn't you tell me that Josh was going to be here too?" She looks down for a minute before looking back up at me. "Well for starters I didn't know mom and dad invited him until I got home from visiting you. And if I told you before would you have still come home?" She makes a good point but it would have been nice to know that the man I was in love with was going to be here. After six years of not see each other I get here and he's just sitting there.
I know we agreed to live our lives. We promised that we were both going to be out there and if the time was right we would make our way back to each other. But over the last four years I've been losing that hope I had when we made that promise. I finally answer her with a shake of my head. "Probably not." "And why is that Maya?" She asks and I walk over to my bed sitting down on the foot of it.
"After we made our someday deal I was finally filled with all this hope that we could be together one day. I started to believe that hope wasn't just for suckers. But after not talking to him or seeing him for four years I started to lose that hope. I had finally started to hope for good to happen in my life after Shawn presented the adoption papers. I mean so much was starting to go right for me. I got a dad who loved me, my amazing friends, I graduated high school (which as you know I didn't expect) and I had gotten into a great art school in Europe. So why couldn't I hope for the one person I truly had feelings for to want to be with me. At first I tried to contact him when I started college but when I wouldn't get a response I kind of stopped. Then I started my internship at the art gallery that I ended up running and all that hope for him and I just slowly washed away." I explain to her as she sits down beside me. "Do you still like him?" She asks me. I turn my head to look at her before giving her my answer.
Josh's P.O.V
After Maya dragged Riley off I turn towards their friends then to my brother and sister in law. "I thought you guys said she couldn't come. That she was going to be too busy with work to come back here." I state and they look at each other. "If we told you, would you still have driven all the way out here?" My brother asked me in return. "Yeah probably. I haven't seen her in six years. And everytime I called her this past week she's always had to end it early because of something at work." I answer him. "Josh, man, that's gonna happen. Maya runs an Art Gallery she's always busy. This is the first time Mr and Mrs Matthews have seen her since Christmas about three years ago when she video called them." Lucas explained to me. "I didn't even know she left New York let alone went to Europe for school. Now she's running an Art Gallery?" Everyone nods their heads almost like it's obvious. "That's kind of what happens when you don't put in the same amount of effort. You lose touch with what's happening with those people." Their friend Farkle says looking right at me and his girlfriend nods.
"So it's getting late. I'm going to make dinner then we'll go and have the bonfire." Topanga says trying to defuse the situation. "Okay thank you Mrs. Matthews. We're going to go check on Maya and Riley." Lucas says as him and his friends get up and walk away. "Okay sweetie. I'll call you guys when it's ready." She tells them as they finally leave the room.
Maya has really matured a lot since I last saw her. She also seems to have lost that spark in her eyes. I'm intrigued. I want to know more. I want to know what happened.
Maya's P.O.V
Riley and I are still sitting on my bed together. Her arm is around my shoulder as my head is on hers. I lift my head when I hear a knock on the door. "Come in." I say as it opens I see our friends standing in the doorway. "Hey? How are you?" Farkle asked sitting down on my other side. I turn my head towards him before looking at the other three I'm front of me. "I'm okay. Just was a little shocked and surprised that's all." I explain and he nods holding out his arm. I loop mine through his now resting my head on his shoulder. "That's completely understandable Maya. You haven't seen or spoken to him in a really long time. We all understand and we're here to help in anyway you need." Lucas said from his spot against the wall. "We're not going anywhere Honey Nugget." Zay said next. A small smile spreads across my face at the nickname I made him call me in Texas. "Thank you guys. You're all amazing. I feel like we're back in high school. Especially with all this Josh drama." They all laugh at my comment.
There's another knock on my door, as it opens I see it's Mrs. Matthews. "Hey kids. Dinner is almost ready then after we're going to go outside for the bonfire. So you should all change into something a little warmer." We nod before slipping into our separate rooms. I quickly grab a sweater Josh lent me once that I forgot to give back and a pair of jeans.
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After I change I run down to dinner to see everyone already there. I sit in the seat on the other side of my best friend where her boyfriend isn't sitting. All throughout dinner myself and Josh are the only two that aren't talking. Ever since he saw me earlier it's been so awkward. It could be for the obvious fact that we haven't had time to have an actual conversation since I got here.
After dinner I run upstairs to pull my shoes on before going out to the backyard. When I get there just about everyone is already sitting in their spots so the only seat not pre-taken is beside Josh. When I sit down I try to put as much space between us as I possibly can without seeming too rude.
"Maya?" I hear Smackle call out to me so I look at her as she's sitting beside Farkle. "What's up Smackle?" I ask her. "I think we're all wondering this. But what is it like living in Europe?" She asks me. I look around at everyone's expecting faces to see that they all want to know the answer. "Well. It's definitely loud and busy. There are some really nice people there. But there are also some real... Assholes, there too. It's nothing like New York. Most of the buildings are so old and yet so beautiful. The first day I was there I felt like I pretty much walked right into another dimension that's how different it is. But over the past couple years I haven't really been able to spend much time wondering the city. I've been so caught up with work. I'm either traveling to places like France for new Art to display, or I'm cooped up in my office trying to plan our next fundraising event or even just doing paper work." I explain as best as I can. I can see from the light of the flames that everyone has a smile on their faces. "How did you end up running the gallery?" Mrs. Matthews now asks me. "That took a good couple years. I started out as a college intern and slowly made my way up to manager. My internship only lasted for a semester but because of what they called my magic with art they wanted to hire me, so I stayed on as an associate for about a year and a half. Then for another six months I was an assistant manager after that they saw what I could really do with the gallery so they made me manager. Then lastly about two years ago they named me a co-owner of the gallery." I explain in depth. While everyone is processing this I take the time to glance at the man beside me.
