All The Love She Can Get
A Josh & Maya Story
By Brown Eyes Parker
Rated: K+
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
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"You will fall in love with a beautiful girl with golden hair and sad eyes. She already loves you, you know. You should be more open to her, more kind. True love knows no age. Stop keeping her at arm's length. She could use all the love she can get."
Josh Matthews' date for the evening, a redhead with a cute button nose and a lilting southern accent, laughed a little bit and tugged on his sleeve.
"Come on," she demanded. "I want to go and ride the roller coaster before the fair closes down."
Josh nodded but he couldn't take his eyes off the gypsy fortuneteller. He wondered how she knew about Maya, admittedly, her feelings for him were not the best kept secret but the only people who knew about them were the ones closest to them. There was no way a sideshow at the fair would know about her.
Unless she really had the uncanny ability to see things other people didn't know.
He didn't believe it though. He'd been raised in church and all his Sunday school classes had taught there was no such thing as witchcraft or soothsayers.
But he hadn't been the one getting his fortune read; it had been Hallie's idea. The fortuneteller had turned her attention on him out of nowhere; spewing off stuff about a girl he kept securely in the way back of his heart. There was no way this woman sitting in front of him could know about her.
Josh got to his feet and was almost out of the tent when her words stopped him again.
"You better tell her before its too late, Joshua."
Hallie frowned as she pawed through her purse for tickets to ride the roller coaster. "What was that all about Joshua?" she demanded, suddenly not looking as pretty as she had when he had first asked her out. She was furious, the color in her cheeks clashed with her hair.
"I dunno. . ." Josh fibbed. "She's probably making stuff up."
"Ha! The look on your face suggests differently!" Hallie answered, stamping her foot. "Who is she, Josh? This beautiful blonde girl with the sad eyes who's captured your heart."
"You don't know her," Josh said. "She doesn't live here in Philly. She lives in New York and she hasn't captured my heart. She's. . . she's. . ."
He trailed off because he had to stop saying she was too young for him, it was a bad habit that he was trying to get out of.
Hallie narrowed her eyes at him, a jealous girlfriend without the right to be one. "What's her name? This magical girl who has you so flustered?"
"Maya." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, it warmed him from head-to-toe and he was pretty sure that his cheeks were turning red under the flashy fair lights.
Hallie sighed; disappointment took place of her ire with him. "I don't know her, Josh but I can tell from the way you look right now that I could never compete with her. The fortuneteller was wrong, you know."
Josh frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You're not going to fall for the beautiful girl with the sad eyes, you already have."
"No, I don't! She's my niece's best friend. She's a lot younger than me. . ."
"I've been to your house Josh; I know how old your niece is. Three years is nothing! Our friend the fortuneteller just said as much. True love knows no age."
Josh shook his head. "So, this is love now? We have to be too young to know what true love looks like."
"I think you do," Hallie answered. "I think it looks like the girl you're protesting too much about. You better stop before you lose her."
With that, Hallie walked away from him, disappearing into the crush of fairgoers. Josh's first instinct was to run after her but he got the distinct feeling that it wouldn't matter if he did. Every girl who had come into his life was on Maya's side, even if they didn't know her.
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He talked to his mom later that night, keeping her up later than he should have. It all came out in a garbled mess and the tea that she had made him grew ice cold in front of him, long forgotten by the conversation they were having.
Morning was starting to dawn cotton candy pink when Amy smiled at him and stretched her arms above her head.
"Maybe she has captured your heart," she said.
"Mom! You too?" Josh looked at her incredulously. "I was hoping you'd be my voice of reason."
Amy laughed. "Oh Joshua, it isn't like I'm telling you to move to New York and marry her tonight! You don't even have a way to support yourself yet, never mind somebody else. But the way you talk about her, the way you look when you talk about her. . . it reminds me of how Cory was with Topanga."
"I don't. . ."
"You, my dear, are protesting way too much. Like I said, you don't have to marry her right now. You don't even have to date her. Just allow her to love you, there's no harm in that." Amy paused and got up from the table to dump their tea in the sink. "Better yet allow yourself to love her, she can use all the love she can get from what Topanga tells me."
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When he sees her the next time, the words of his mother and Hallie and the long-gone fair fortuneteller were ringing in his ears. For the first time, he took a long hard look at himself and then allowed himself to get swept away by the hurricane that was Maya Hart.
She could tell the difference in him, if her smiles were anything to go by. She had a brilliant smile and he could tell when she flashed it towards him, it completely belonged to him.
His heart rammed against his chest and he felt a gentle blossoming of something in the pit of his heart. Somehow, she had found a key and escaped the deep closet he had kept her locked up in. And he loved her.
Because she could use all the love she could get.
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It was a few years later, Auggie, Riley and Maya had come up for a month during summer vacation. The fair was back in town and Auggie demanded that they go.
Josh, not one to deny his nephew anything, took them.
The fortuneteller's tent was at the front of the fair and she was standing on a worn tapestry, looking just as young as the first time he had seen her.
"Is that the beautiful girl with the sad eyes?" She called out, gesturing towards Maya with a nod of her head, her frizzy salt-and-pepper hair swishing around her face, her sparkly bangles clinking together as she put her hands on her hips.
"That's Maya!" Auggie answered loudly, he was still too young to get the subtleties of situations.
Maya blushed and looked at Josh with questions in her blue eyes. Josh rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. He still hadn't told her how he felt; they were still caught in limbo, caught between friends and something more. They both knew how they felt, it was the saying it aloud that had gotten them.
Finally, he nodded and captured her hand in his, bringing her over to the fortuneteller.
"Yes. This is the beautiful girl with the sad eyes."
"But you still haven't said anything!" She shook her head and clucked her tongue.
"Josh?" Maya asked.
"Later," Josh promised.
Much later, as they were driving away from the fair, with Auggie sound asleep in the back of the car (completely crashed from too much cotton candy) and Riley chatting quietly with Lucas on her phone, Josh snuck his hand across the console and laced his fingers through Maya's.
He could audibly hear her sharp intake of breath, could make out the way she was looking at him in the traffic lights, her face was shining brighter than the stars. This was the first time he had held her hand, it was small and warm and like coming home.
He didn't say anything though, Riley had big ears and that was the last thing he needed. His niece shrieking and cheering and telling the whole world how he felt about Maya Hart. He had waited to be able to tell her for years.
Forty-five more minutes wasn't going to kill either of them.
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Riley seemed to sense there was something big was going to happen because she helped Auggie out of the car and shuffled him into the house as she smiled encouragingly at Josh and bit her lip in excitement, barely containing a sequel from tumbling out of her mouth.
It was just the two of them, standing in between his house and Mr. Feeney's. Maya leaned against the fence and smiled at him like she knew what was coming next. He smiled in return and reached out to push a rogue strand of hair away from her face.
"Josh," Maya whispered, her voice sounding like a prayer.
It all came tumbling out, smooshed together and frantic. He couldn't stop himself, couldn't make himself go any slower even though she deserved slow and articulate. Maya laughed and put her hand over his mouth, shaking her head.
"Shhh," she said before removing her hand and replacing it with her own mouth.
He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissed her back. It only lasted a few seconds and it was the best first kiss that he had ever had. Like she was the one he had been supposed to be kissing all of his life.
He rested his forehead against her's and released a deep breath. "I love you," he said slower this time.
Maya laughed joyfully. "I love you too! I always have, I always will."
Josh had to smile.
Always.
He was going to love her always too.
Because she could use all the love she could get and he wanted to be the one to give it to her.
_End_
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Author's Note:
I confess I do not know what this is or where it came from. A couple of nights ago, I was up late because I wasn't feeling well and I was listening to film soundtracks and this was born thanks to a track from an old 90s movie (called Only You). It just snowballed into this wreck. My first Josh & Maya story. If you liked this one, I have ideas for a handful of one-shots with them.
Because we have a wealth of Lucas & Riley moments to get us through their ship but hardly enough Josh & Maya moments for anything. And there is a sad lack of Joshaya fanfiction Ao3 and FFN. So, they might be my summer project and beyond.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Until Next Time!
Holly, 6/25/2015_