Maya hopped up on the counter as she popped a strawberry in her mouth. Her legs swinging as she watched her boyfriend walk towards her. "Good Morning," he mumbled against her lips. Maya smiled and wrapped her legs around his bare chest as his lips captured hers in a soft kiss.
They both pulled apart with a smile on each of their faces. "Morning Carter," Maya breathed.
Carter smirked pulling her closer as he stood between her legs, feeling as she wrapped them around him. "You know you look really sexy in my t-shirt, right?"
Maya smirked and draped her arms over his shoulders. "Well I like wearing it."
Carter pecked her lips again and stared into her eyes. Her blue staring into his brown. He smiled at her and nodded towards her left hand. "Show it to me again," he said excitedly.
Maya rolled her eyes and dangled her left hand in front of him. Specifically, her ring finger. Which was now decorated with a beautiful diamond ring. "Happy?" Maya asked, jokingly.
"Very," Carter said proudly. "Besides, now we can announce it when we go to see your parents this weekend. It'll be great."
Maya sighed. "Yeah. I guess so," she finished dejectedly.
Carter frowned and looked at Maya. "What's wrong? You seemed very excited about going there a couple of days ago."
Maya shrugged. "I am, trust me. I'd take any chance to see my parents, but I can't shake this feeling that something bad is supposed to happen."
Carter scrunched his eyebrows together. "Bad how?"
Maya thought for a moment, trying to understand the feeling she had. It was very vague. Maya shook her head. "Doesn't even matter." Carter continued to stare at her questioningly. "It really doesn't!" She protested.
Carter nodded slightly and pursed his lips. "Whatever you say," he answered unconvinced.
"Shut up," Maya said as she pushed him away from her playfully. She hopped off the counter and ran a hand through her messy hair as she walked away. "I'm gonna go shower!" She called out behind her.
Carter smirked and called after her. "Babe!"
Maya stopped walking and turned around to look at Carter. With a raised eyebrow and a hand on her hip she asked, "What do you want?"
"Mind If I join you?"
Maya rolled her eyes and continued walking. Once she made it to the bathroom door she yelled, "Think you can help me wash my back?"
A thunder of footsteps were heard behind Maya until she turned around to see Carter behind her panting. Maya grabbed his hand, dragging him close to her before guiding him to the bathroom, and with a slam of the door they spent the remainder of their morning in the bathroom.
As always, Carter and Maya were late. It only makes sense that the now engaged couple, who met when they were both late for a college class, would be late to practically everything.
Class? They were late. Dates with each other? They were late. So of course they are late to getting to the airport. Maya's hair was a wild mess and Carter's shirt was half unbuttoned as they realized what time it was. Maya raised her head sleepily and looked over at the clock that sat right by their bed. The red numbers slowly came into focus as she blinked rapidly in an effort to read them. As soon as her blurry vision cleared, eight fifty-two shined in all its red glory.
Alarms erupted in Maya's head as she shot up out of bed. "Carter!" She yelled as she started scurrying around the room in an adrenaline filled haste. He didn't respond. "Carter!" She yelled again. Still didn't answer. Maya hustled over and hit his shoulder. "Wake up!" She hissed.
Carter popped up and looked over at Maya irritably. "What?"
Maya narrowed her eyes and pointed towards the clock. "We were supposed to leave for the airport an hour ago!"
Carter turned his head slightly and spotted the red numbers. Eight fifty-four he read. "Crap!" He exclaimed as he darted off to get dressed. Moments later he came out looking some what decent, shocking Maya.
"How the hell did you get dressed so fast?" She asked as she pulled a t shirt over her head.
"Doesn't matter," Carter dismissed as he searched for his car keys. "I'm gonna go get the car started," he said as he walked out of the room.
Maya simply nodded and continued to bustle around and get ready. Only a minute later she was downstairs in the car next to Carter. About ten minutes into their hour long ride to the airport, Maya gasped quickly and patted Carter's repeatedly. "What?" Carter asked as his eyes kept on darting from her and the road.
"Our bags!" Maya pointed out. "We left them at the house!"
Carter cursed under his breath and made a swift U-turn on the road. Praying to God that they wouldn't miss their flight.
The sound of knocking at Shawn and Katy's front door brought a smile to both of their faces. "They're here!" Katy squealed as got up to go to the door. She began to walk backwards as she looked over at Shawn. "How much do you want to bet that she has a rock on her finger?"
Shawn shook his head. "Twenty," he offered.
Katy smirked. "Your on!" She declared.
Katy turned around and walked towards the door with a knowing smile on her face. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door with a grin plastered to her face. In a moment, mother and daughter were reunited. "Hey mom," Maya greeted softly as she hugged her.
"There's my baby girl," she smiled. She pulled away from the hug and looked at Carter pointedly. "And her not so baby boyfriend?" She asked discretely.
Carter laughed and wrapped and arm around Maya. "Actually we have something to tell you," he led. Maya looked at him and nodded. "We're getting married."
Katy squealed triumphantly and turned towards her husband. "Pay up!"
Shawn sighed and took out his wallet. "You were right." He handed her the twenty and watched her hand it to Maya. "Hey!" He protested.
"This is the first twenty dollars towards your wedding. You can thank Shawn," she grinned.
Carter and Maya stared at the twenty dollars and frowned. "You bet on me saying yes?" Maya asked.
"You bet on her saying yes?" Carter asked at the same time.
Shawn wrapped his arm around Katy and scoffed. "I knew she would say yes. I just can't turn down a bet."
Katy laughed. "And besides," she pointed towards Carter. "Any man that takes off work to come spend an entire week with us and then proceeds to ask us formally to propose to you is someone I would hope you would say yes to marrying."
Maya turned to Carter and smiled. "That's where you were? You said you had conferences all week in Arizona."
Carter smiled. "Nope. I was here."
Maya smiled and turned back to her parents. "I can't believe you kept this from me!"
Her parents just smiled and walked away towards the living room, leaving the couple to themselves. "You're amazing, you know that?" Maya complimented.
Carter smirked. "I know."
Later the four sat down just talking as they winded down for the evening. "So how's California treating you two?" Shawn asked as he handed Carter a beer from the fridge.
The snap of the metal cap filled the room before Carter took a swig from his beer. "As good as California can treat two twenty-five year olds," he answered with a chuckle.
Katy and Shawn shared a look and laughed. "You two must be having a great time then."
Maya plopped down next to Carter and took a sip of his beer as he set it down. Loving the feeling of alcohol running down her throat after a long flight really soothed Maya. Handing the beer back to Carter, she smiled. "It's been great. I really like it out there, but you know there's no place like home." She answered.
Katy took a sip of water and sat quietly before a question popped in her head. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "How's work? I know you both have had some great success out there! How's it going?"
Carter and Maya each blushed and smiled proudly. "Well," Maya began. "I've never been happier. I really enjoy working with these kids. I mean they all have so much talent and depth. Its going to be hard to leave them though," she finished.
"Leaving?" Everyone in the room asked, including Carter. "What are you talking about?" Carter asked.
Maya looked at everyone with wide eyes and laughed nervously. "Well you see I've been meaning to talk to you about this babe," she led. "But I've been thinking a lot about what I really want to do in life and I think my passion still lies in helping children with their art potential, but I want to bring it out on the road you know? Start my own company or something."
Katy and Shawn just looked on realizing that this was becoming the newly engaged couple's problem. "We're going to head on to bed. Let you two talk," Katy led. Yet Shawn still sat on the couch watching. "Come on!" Katy hissed.
Maya watched as her parents left and sighed as she looked over at her fiancé. "Carter," she began.
"No," Carter interrupted. "Were you going to tell me this?"
"Of course I was!" Maya protested calmly. "I just did," she whispered.
Carter scoffed. "Yeah with your parents in the room." Maya sighed. "You do realize we have to talk about things like this, right?"
Maya sighed again and looked at him remorsefully. "I know," she admitted. "It was just something I really wanted to do. I know its very unconventional and all but-"
"Very unconventional."
Maya rolled her eyes. "But we can figure this out right?"
"Of course we can!" Carter agreed. "But don't you think you really should have run this by me? I mean we're going to get married Maya and we live in Beverly Hills for crying out loud! We can't exactly just cut off one of our incomes. We need that money."
Maya stared at Carter's face and saw the worry stored in his brown eyes. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "It was extremely selfish of me to spring this on you like that. I guess we can talk about this more when we get back home."
Carter nodded and combed a hand through some of his wavy hair. "You're right. Let's just enjoy being engaged and enjoy being with your parents." He kissed her forehead. "Love you," he whispered.
Maya angled her head upwards and kissed his lips tenderly. "I love you too."
The following morning Maya stood in the bathroom trying to brush her badly tangled hair. Letting her thoughts run free, she smiled as she spotted her ring on her finger. Carter was hers, at least almost officially. His beautiful chocolate brown eyes, boyish grin, and short wavy hair. He not only good looking but he was an amazing person. He was caring, sweet, and kind. He seemed to put himself before everyone and it warmed her heart. He was smart and completed Maya in a way she never felt. Suddenly, her ring tone brought her out of her thoughts. Smiling at who it was, she answered in a cheerful tone. "Hey."
"Hi peaches!" Riley greeted on the other line. "Are you here yet?" she asked excitedly.
Maya laughed to herself and answered. "Yes Riles. I'm in New York. We can meet up in a bit, plus there's something I want to tell you."
"Yay! Its been so long since I've seen you," Riley whined. "Make sure you bring Carter too because Lucas is going to get bored of us at some point."
A chuckle escaped Maya's lips. "Will do. See you later Riles."
Maya hung up the phone and quickly finished brushing her hair.
Soon enough, Maya and Carter were on their way towards Topanga's to meet with Riley and Lucas. As they were getting ready to walk down the steps towards Topanga's Carter's phone rang. He looked down at the caller ID and looked at Maya apologetically. "Go," she urged. "You can meet me inside."
Carter smiled and kissed her lightly. "You're amazing you know that?" He walked away and turned towards her again. "I won't be long, promise."
Maya laughed and walked inside, but first stopping outside the door to fiddle with the ring on her finger. Deciding ultimately to take it off and put it back on when she Carter were ready to tell everyone, she walked inside. "Look who's back!" Lucas exclaimed as he ran over and hugged Maya.
As he let go Maya examined his face. "Whoa, Huckleberry!" she exclaimed. He started growing out a beard. "I see you're finally becoming a man," she teased.
"Ha," Lucas snorted.
Riley walked over to Lucas' side and kissed his stubbly cheek. "He was already a man in my eyes," she assured.
Maya faked a gag. "Ew. I know you two are married and all, but tone it down."
"Whatever," Riley teased. "Now," she began.
Riley and Maya stood in front of each other and took a deep breath right before they gave each other bone crushing hugs. "Oh my god!" they squealed. "no how are you?" they asked in unison.
They both broke out into laughter as they laughed at their antics. "I see some things never change," a voice from behind the counter added.
Maya looked over at the source of the voice and all her breath left her body. "Josh," she breathed.
After not seeing him for years, Maya still saw the boy that made a promise to her in the ski lodge when she was fifteen. His hair was slightly longer and he was sporting one of his signature smiles once again as he looked over at Maya.
"Hi Maya," he grinned. "Do you think we can talk later? About someday." He was so straight forward. Something that must have changed over the years.
Maya opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the sound of Carter's voice. "Hey!" he greeted as he wrapped an arm around Maya. He looked over at her and back at Riley. "I'm guessing by the lack of screaming that you haven't told her yet." Maya shook her head. "Would you like the honors babe?"
Maya took a deep breath and took out her engagement ring and slipped it on her finger. "We're getting married."