Maya

A Josh & Maya Story

By Brown Eyes Parker

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Rated: T

Author's Note:

I do not know what is possessing me to post this story except maybe I want to see how people react to it and I have nothing better to do with my time except write stories in the morning while my sister does school and I sip coffee and try to catch time in my diary. Anyways, this is a very deep author's note for something that will be very much like a romantic comedy.

So, onto the story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Once upon a time on the North Shore of Long Island, not far from New York there was a very, very large mansion. Almost a castle, where they lived a family by the name of Matthews. There were servants inside the mansion and servants outside the mansion. Boatman to tend the boats and six crews of gardeners, two for the solarium, the rest for the grounds. And a tree surgeon on retainer. There were specialists for the indoor tennis courts and the outdoor tennis courts. The outdoor swimming pool and the indoor swimming pool.

And over the garage, there lived a chauffeur by the name of Hart, together with a Rolls-Royce and a daughter named Maya.

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Chapter 1

Maya Hart watched from the tree as Lucas Matthews celebrated another birthday party, this one was bigger and better than the one last year was. Taylor Swift was actually performing live and all the guests were leaving with autographed CDs from the singer as favors.

Maya sighed, what she would have done to have Lucas look at her the way he was looking at Missy Bradford. They lived on the same property and were in all the same classes at school but he was still oblivious to her existence.

There had been one time he asked her to help him practice the waltz for his dance class but he had called her Marie and he had stepped on her bare feet with his sneakers so her big toenail had come off and she had bled all over the freshly waxed mahogany floor.

At the sight of blood, Lucas had gone pale and run away. His older brother, Josh Matthews had walked in just as Maya was trying to limp back to the garage. He had surveyed the mess on the floor and shaken his head.

Maya expected him to abandon her too, but he had put down the book he was reading and come over to her.

"It's okay Maya," he had soothed as he tried to sweep her off her feet, stumbling backwards a little bit because he preferred to read, go into work with his dad and play the piano to any form of exercise. "Whoops, sorry about that! Maybe we should just walk instead,"

Maya had nodded wordlessly, terrified of the teenager-man standing in front of her. He had brought her into the kitchen and sat her down on one of the bar stools. He'd thrown a charming smile at the cook and asked if he could turn on the radio because maybe it would help keep Maya calm. She had nodded her agreement and soon the kitchen was filled with classical music.

Josh had disappeared, returning a few minutes later with the first-aid kit that the staff kept on top of the refrigerator. He'd proceeded to clean her toe and bandage it with a neon pink Band-Aid.

"Do you want me to kiss it better?" He had teased.

Maya had pulled her foot away from him and shook her head. "No, I'm okay. Thank you."

"Well, at least let me help you back to the garage," Josh had answered as he got up to wash his hands.

Maya blinked and the memory was gone. She was back at the party, back listening to Taylor Swift sing Blank Space and watching a birthday party that Lucas had forgotten to invite her to when he had invited their whole class via Facebook.

"What are you doing all the way up there Maya?" Somebody called up the tree.

She startled slightly when she realized that Josh was peering up at her.

Maya blushed. "Nothing," she lied.

"You should come down, I'm sure you'll be able to hear the music better and all your classmates are here. Where's the fun in sitting in a tree just watching the party?"

"I wasn't invited," Maya answered simply, looking back at Lucas. He had slung his arm around Missy and Farkle Minkus was taking their picture with Missy's iPhone.

"Nonsense," Josh said. "You live here don't you? Of course you were invited. Come on down! I'll go with you."

"Really, I'm fine where I am!" Maya replied.

"Okay, how about I go get two pieces of cake and you meet me by the outdoor pool then?" Josh bargained as he loosened his tie. "It's the best cake in New York City; it would be a real shame if you missed it."

Maya eyed the older boy and wondered if it was some sort of trick. But this was Josh Matthews she was talking about, he wasn't in the business of tricking people and he had been kind to her ever since she had come to Dosoris Lane to live. But it didn't mean she wanted to spend time with him, he was three years older than her and incredibly boring.

His father was fine tuning him to take over the family business. Something, Josh had confided in her that neither of his two older brothers had ever done. Eric had abandoned the family name and fortune and become nomadic. Cory, the second born had married a bohemian from Philadelphia and become a teacher at a middle school in New York City. He and his wife Topanga still came for weekly brunch because he still loved his family regardless of the personal lifestyle choices he had made.

And they still loved him. Cory was the golden boy, regardless of the fact that he had married beneath him and become a teacher as well.

"Well?" Josh asked, breaking into her thoughts again. "Do you want some cake or not?"

Maya looked at the party again and wondered what was more pathetic. Watching parties from a distance or sharing cake with the birthday boy's brother. She decided that she was going to be very pathetic and stay up in tree.

Later, when the party was over and Maya had gone back to the little apartment above the garage, she found a piece of birthday cake with a note in Josh's boyish handwriting.

Really, it would be a shame if you missed out on the cake!

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"Maya!" Katy Hart called up the tree four years later. "You're flight is leaving in two hours, sweetie. Are you ready to go yet?"

Maya looked away from Lucas and the blonde he was dancing with. "I'm almost finished packing!"

"Well, you better get to it girl!" Katy called back. "You don't want to be late!"

Maya shook her head, of course she wanted to be late. She didn't even want to go to Paris, it had been her mother's idea in the first place. She wanted her to get away from Lucas and the rest of Matthews and their mansion. She was trying to give her the life that she had never had even though Maya didn't really want it.

When she looked at the dance floor again, Lucas and the blonde had disappeared. Maya knew what that meant too well. She slid down the tree and went to finish packing because it was the only thing there was to do, she was silly to think that on her last night in New York, and Lucas would finally wake up and notice her.

She almost collided with Josh as she stepped away from the tree. He was late coming in from New York City, still dressed in his work suit and tie.

"Ooops, sorry Maya!" He said, taking his glasses off and smiling at her. "Still hanging out in that tree, I see. You know you should be at the graduation party. It's your day too."

"I'm going to Paris tonight," Maya answered.

"I know, my mother told me. You must be excited, a lot of high school graduates don't get to go to Paris," Josh said. "Not right away anyways."

Maya shrugged. "I really have to go finish packing," she said.

"Oh, of course!" Josh answered. "Have a safe trip, Maya."

Maya nodded. "Thank you."

Instead of packing though, she watched the mansion from her bedroom. When the light in Lucas' room went on, she decided to go and talk to him. It was her last chance before she left, she couldn't go without at least giving him a hint about how she felt about him.

She took the servant's corridor to his bedroom, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. This had been a long time coming, confessing the way she felt about him. The door was ajar, so she pushed it open and slipped through.

"Lucas?" Maya said, waiting a second before continuing. "No, don't say anything or I won't be able to get through this. I like you a lot, I wish we could have been better friends when we were in school. I'm leaving for Paris tonight and I just wanted you to know, if there's anything you need. . . anything you need at all, I'll do it for you."

She was rambling, her speech was spur of the moment and not carefully planned. She hoped that Lucas would understand what she was saying though and take it to heart. She was about to take a deep breath and continue when Josh came out of the walk in closet, holding Lucas' most conservative colored bowtie.

"Actually, I was wondering if you would bring me an Eiffel Tower paperweight back," he said, in all seriousness.

Maya was mortified, of all the people to hear her feelings for Lucas it had to be Josh. Sure, he wouldn't tell Lucas or make fun of her and she was pretty sure that he had always known. He had just been polite enough not to mention it to her.

It was different saying it aloud though. In letting the stoic, all business, middle brother know how she really felt about his little brother.

She backed out of the room and ran away as quickly as she could while Josh followed her, probably to make sure she was okay.

But Maya didn't give him the chance.

TBC. . .

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Author's Note II:

This feels a little bit scattered to me. I hope you will tell me what you thought though. I promise Lucas is not a bad guy, he's just oblivious and a boy. This is not really a Lucaya story though, there will be Lucas/Maya parts but for the most part it will be Lucas/Riley and Josh/Maya. I hope you will tell me what you think and if you've never seen the 1995 version of Sabrina, it's on Netflix. So, if you have that, I hope you'll watch it!

And that you will tell me what you think. I don't think this story will have regular updates like Casual Observers. But when I do update, it'll most likely be on Saturdays. I am planning on writing a huge chunk of this before committing to weekly updates and seeing what you guys think before I actually commit to writing it. This is all up to you. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

I will have Topanga's POV in Casual Observers posted by Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

Love,

Holly, 8/24/2015_