An infinite thank you to boymeetsgmw for the title.

Prologue:

"Sometimes people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them."

The Fault in Our Stars_

"You know it wasn't meant to be."

Maya looked at Josh with sadness brimming in her blue eyes and sighed. "Why does everybody keep saying that? Okay, so Riley and Lucas are perfect for each other. It doesn't mean that they were meant to be. Because sometimes the guy ends up with the imperfect, messy best friend."

Josh sighed. "Maya. . ."

"Well. It's true!"

"Maya, you're only going to be in the 11th grade. You don't always end up with the person you're supposed to be with in the 11th grade."

Maya's eyes brightened for a second. "You think they might break up again?"

"Nope. I'm sure they're together for the rest of their lives," Josh answered. "Maybe they'll break up a couple more times before they actually get together forever and ever but they are most certainly meant to be."

"So, I was just a distraction for Lucas then?" Maya asked.

Josh knew it was a trap, so he wasn't going to fall into it. He shook his head. "Nope. You weren't just a distraction for Lucas. Maybe you were a victim of Riley's confusion but you were most certainly not a distraction for Lucas. . . I think he liked her the whole entire time."

"But. . ." Maya trailed off. "Sometimes it seemed so real. I thought. . . but. . . you know I always knew that he still liked her too? Most of the time when he was supposed to be looking at me, he was looking at her. When he was supposed to be talking about me, he was really talking about her."

"I was always rooting for them to get together," Josh told her. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah. The thing is, I don't think I ever really wanted him," Maya admitted. "I liked the person he was before he came to New York. Sometimes it would still come out and I dunno. . . but you know it was always for Riley. How could I not see that it was always Riley? You know, I bet we're the ones who had the sibling relationship this whole time?"

"You and Lucas?" Josh asked.

"Who else?" Maya answered. "It most certainly isn't Lucas and Riley! Why are you even here? Aren't you supposed to be on Riley's side? She is your family after all, I'm just the friend."

"I am on Riley's side," Josh replied. "But that doesn't mean I can't be a friend to you. She asked me to talk to you."

"Oh? To smooth things over or to be my consolation prize?"

"Hey! I will have you know that I am nobody's consolation prize! I'm the actual prize!" Josh said. "And as for smoothing things over, well, I don't think I have to do that. You two aren't actually having a for real fight."

"No," Maya agreed. "Not really. I mean, I know Riley didn't do anything sneaky to get Lucas back, that she wasn't even thinking about getting him back. It was all him. You know, he told me that he never really liked me, liked me? Why did he spend so much time dating with me if he didn't like me?"

Josh shrugged. "I can't pretend to know why anybody would do things like that. Maybe he was just trying to make Riley happy. Or maybe he was just confused because of the things Riley was saying to him. Besides, it would be very hard not to be attracted to you. You are a very pretty girl, Maya."

Maya waved him off. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

Josh didn't reply, instead he took a sip of his Coke before clearing his throat and continuing on. "You liked me once. Can't you like me again?"

"Like a crush?" Maya asked.

"Maybe we can be friends," Josh answered. "We won't complicate things with crushes or things like that."

"Good. I've had enough complications to last me a lifetime," Maya said. "Let's set up some ground rules."

"Ground rules?" Josh repeated. "I think you might be reading too many young adult novels there, Hart."

"Seriously, ground rules are a good idea," Maya argued. "It'll give us a safety net."

"A safety net for what exactly!?" Josh asked.

"Not ruining our friendship," Maya said.

"Maya. . . we don't need rules. I can promise you that I won't let anything happen to ruin the friendship," Josh answered.

"Well, we need to have one rule."

"What rule?" Josh asked, indulging her.

"No falling in love."

"Excuse me!?"

"With each other," Maya clarified.

Josh laughed. "What happened to the long game, Maya?"

"I'm done with crushes and with falling in love," Maya answered flatly. "I've only ever been disappointed by love."

"You're barely even 15 yet! You can't be over love yet!"

"Just agree that we won't fall in love!" Maya begged.

"Fine! I won't fall in love with you!" Josh said. "Are you happy now?"

"No," Maya answered, scooping up some ice cream and putting it in her mouth. "Not really."

"I'm going to fix it," Josh said, smiling at her.

And true to his word, he did fix it and as time went on, they became as close as two friends could be. None of the old feelings Maya had long buried for Josh came back to complicate things even though he was her very favorite date for school functions or any given Friday night when she didn't want to feel left out when she tagged along with Farkle, Smackle, Riley and Lucas on their dates.

Things were going so well between them that she was so sure that Josh would be in her life forever. Until everything changed the summer after she graduated from high school. That's when things started to get complicated.

TBC. . .

.

Author's Note:

Have I captured your interest? I truly hope so! I've been reading a lot of YA novels these days, they partially inspired some of this story even though other parts have been in my mind since early autumn. I hope you'll stick around for more and that you will tell me what you think.

A few notes, I will not be posting January 22nd because a.) We're going out of town for the weekend and b.) It is my birthday. Although, if we were here I would probably still post the next chapter. We are not going out of town because it is my birthday though. Secondly, I am going to be working on a tag to Girl Meets Home for the Holidays because we never got to see the trip to Upstate NY. And lastly, I am going to be posting bi-weekly updates of Sabrina.

I'll be back with more soon!

Lots of love,

Holly, 1/10/2016_