Nothing Is More Articulate Than A Kiss
A Josh &Maya Story
By Brown Eyes Parker
Author's Note: The title comes from a quote by some author I never read, I just liked the way it matched the story.
Rated: T
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except the mistakes because I forgot to edit this.
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"The mouth was made for communication, and nothing is more articulate than a kiss."
The first time Josh kissed Maya was in the backyard at his house in Philadelphia. They were six and nine respectively and he wanted to see what the big deal with kiss was all about. She was wearing one of Riley's princess dresses, her hair a golden halo of curls, glittering in the summer sunset. He did it when she wasn't paying any attention to him, catching fireflies in a plastic Mayo container while Riley sat cross-legged in the grass at her feet, humming Disney songs and making crowns out of bright yellow dandelions.
He kissed her on the forehead.
He almost expected her to run away screaming cooties like Lindy Cooper had done when Jackson Cho had tried to kiss her on the playground between recess and lunchtime on the last day of school. But she didn't, she just looked at him and laughed merrily.
"If you wanted to kiss me all you had to do was ask!" Maya told him, shaking her head like he was silly and laughing some more. "I would have let you, you know."
This caused the young boy to pause. Jackson Cho had said when you asked a girl for a kiss, she always said no. That's why you had to take matters into your own hands and kiss them without their permission and when they were unsuspecting.
Josh's face warmed at the admiration in the younger girl's eyes and he swallowed past the lump in his throat, wondering why he felt like he'd swallowed a net full of butterflies and why his heart was racing faster than the cars at the Indy 500.
It confused him.
The feelings, they seemed too big for a little boy like him. So, he swallowed hard and smiled at Maya. Totally oblivious to the can't-eat, can't-sleep, reach-for-the-stars, over- the-fence, World Series kind of stuff look in her eyes, completely unaware of the big girl feelings she had already developed for him.
"I. . . gotta go," he said, backing away from her slowly before breaking into a run and going into the house, slamming the door behind him.
Maya sighed and sat down beside Riley in the grass.
All the boys in her life always ran away.
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He walked her home from the Matthews apartment after the college party that had gone to hell. She walked a foot in front of him, her shoulders hunched and her arms wrapped around her waist like she was protecting herself from him and what he could say to her next.
When they got to her apartment, she didn't bid him goodnight, she didn't even look at him. Josh knew he couldn't let the evening end like this for either of them. Because the truth was, he still liked her a lot and he couldn't imagine a life where they weren't at least friends.
So, he followed her up the concrete steps and gently grabbed her by the shoulder, spinning her around so they could look at each other in the eyes.
Her blue eyes were swimming with unshed tears and Josh felt terrible because he had caused them. He never wanted to be the cause of Maya's pain.
"Maya. . ." He trailed off and released a long sigh while she watched him looking at her. "Maya. . . I am so sorry if I hurt your feelings. If I disregarded your feelings in anyway. . ."
He trailed off, unable to articulate how important she was to him. Instead he pushed her hair away from her face and gently stroked her cheek before leaning down and giving her a kiss on the cheek. He closed his eyes, she smelled different than the first time a he had kissed her the last time, a lot less like Double Bubble bubble bath and a lot more like Burt's Bee Balm and citrus.
"Josh. . ." Maya whispered.
Josh opened his eyes and looked down at her, her cheeks were flushed pink in the streetlights, she looked like she was trying to breathe again.
"We're friends Maya," Josh told her.
Maya's eyes lit up. "We are?"
Josh nodded. "Yeah."
She smiled at him. "Goodnight Josh," she said sweetly.
"Sweet dreams Maya," Josh answered, rubbing the back of his neck before turning around and retreating down the stairs.
Maya watched him go before she punched in the code to go inside, she felt like she was floating on a cloud and she couldn't help but wonder if the look on Josh's face as he left her for the night meant he liked her too.
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Josh kissed her on the hand at her mother and Shawn's wedding. And Maya laughed because it was the 21st century, not one of her mom's, Topanga's and Riley's period dramas where everybody spoke with British accents and sometimes fell in love with the wrong person before marrying the right one at the end of the movie.
She touched her hand to her chest and fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Why Mr. Matthews, I do declare! I don't think I will ever wash my hand again as long as I live."
Josh grinned at her and looked at her in her turquoise blue bridesmaid dress, Maya's joking demeanor faded and she blushed under his scrutiny. not knowing he was only making a memory of her.
"Do you approve?" Maya asked quietly.
"You look lovely!" Josh assured her. "What do you say to a dance, Gorgeous?"
"You want to dance with me? Are you sure I'm not too young for you?" Her question was borderline sarcastic but her heart was beating too fast and when he took her hand, she could have sworn she saw stars floating in front of her eyes and she wasn't sure if it was because she hadn't eaten enough or because he was touching her.
"Yes," Josh answered, sweeping her onto the dance floor and swaying with her to the music.
"Is that a yes to both my questions?"
Josh covered her mouth with his hand and shook his head. "Shhhh. Just dance with me."
He wouldn't ever admit it to anybody but the song they were dancing to always reminded him of Maya every single time he heard it. It was ironic it was on the wedding playlist, especially when she was standing in front of him looking exactly like the lyrics.
His heart skipped a beat and he could have sworn there were stars floating in front of his eyes.
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He kissed her shoulder on impulse. It was bare and tan and she was sitting right next to him, sketching the Charleston coastline.
Josh barely grazed her shoulder with his lips but he could still feel her tense up and pull away from him.
"Stop playing with me, Josh," Maya murmured. "You're breaking my heart."
Josh rested his chin on her shoulder and sighed. "You think I'm playing games with you?"
"The past five years of my life," Maya answered.
"I wasn't playing games with you the past five years," Josh told her, lifting her hair away from her neck and kissing it.
Maya put down her pencil and frowned. "You haven't?"
"Nope," Josh answered.
"The flowers, the random kisses in places that weren't my lips, the letters. . . you weren't playing games the whole time?"
"I'm not that kind of guy, Maya," Josh said, kissing her neck again.
Maya audibly sighed, his mouth was causing goosies to erupt all over her flesh. "What were you doing then? Making it impossible for any other boy to compete for me?"
"Maybe, I don't know," Josh admitted. "Did it work?"
"Josh, you ruined other boys for me a long, long time ago," Maya told him.
"When?"
Maya grinned. "The first time you kissed me."
"That's the night everything changed for me too," Josh told her.
"Really?"
Josh nodded and proceeded to tell her about the night he had kissed her forehead from his point of view and how he'd spent the better part of knowing her fighting his attraction to her.
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It was a kiss that had been a good fifteen years in the making. It was a serious I love you kiss on the mouth to a symphony of traffic and people cursing at each other in thick New York accents and street performers singing over each other or playing their instruments in unison.
She tasted like iced mochas and chocolate scones and Cherry Chapstick, her lips were slick with butter, leftover from their dessert at Topanga's.
Josh pulled away too soon and looked into Maya's eyes. This time he recognized the can't-eat, can't-sleep, reach-for-the-stars, over- the-fence, World Series kind of stuff look in her eyes. He smiled, his eyes crinkling in the string of streetlights lining the pavement.
Maya smiled in return, her whole face lighting up like the sky did during a thunder and lightning storm in the middle of an inky black night. "I love you," she breathed.
Josh released a deep breath and tucked her hair behind her ears before framing her face with his hands and resting his forehead against her's. "I love you too," he replied.
Maya closed her eyes and released a pent up sigh.
For the first time in her life, she wasn't scared that somebody she loved was going to leave her. She knew that Josh was in it for the long game.
She still was.
_The End_
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Author's Note II:
This story was inspired by a "Kiss" meme I found on WeHeartIt and since I am in a serious Josh x Maya phase, I decided to apply my inspiration to them. I am in no way trying to rip off any of the other good "kiss" stories I've found about them online. I hope you'll tell me what you thought of this story.
More soon!
Love,
Holly, 7/1/2015_