"Wait a minute, let me get this straight..." Maya said. "You, Riley Matthews, are sneaking out of your tent to see a boy?" She finished, sounding impressed.
Riley finished touching up her lip gloss then rolled her eyes at Maya and said, "No, of course not. Smackle is sneaking out to see Farkle, so Lucas is gonna come here. That way we each get to spend some alone time with our boyfriends. It's perfect." She added and clapped happily.
"Right, perfect. Except for the part where you won't actually be alone because I'll be here awkwardly third-wheeling it." Maya reminded her friend.
"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that." Riley frowned.
"It's okay, Maya, you can come join me and Farkle." Smackle chimed in. "We are going to look at the stars and discuss the history of all of the constellations we find."
"Yeaaaah, I don't really do learning on school trips... or at school." Maya explained, rejecting the offer.
"Well, just stay here then. It'll be fine." Riley said.
"Are you kidding? I don't wanna sit here and watch you and Ranger Rick make kissy face all night." Maya retorted, shivering uncomfortably at the thought.
"Maya," Riley scolded. "We are just gonna talk."
"Ew, that's even worse." Maya replied with a face of disgust.
Riley just shook her head at her friend and tried to hide her laugh.
After a moment, Maya sighed then continued to speak.
"Don't worry about me, I'll just bunk with Darby and Sarah for tonight. No worries."
A little while later, Maya crawled out of the tent and used her flash light to make her way around the fire to the pink tent that housed Darby and Sarah. She was halfway there, when she passed a single blue and gray tent. Recognizing the tent, Maya froze, smiled cheekily, and walked backwards until she was in front of the door to the tent.
If she had to bunk with someone else for the night, why not chaperone Boing?
Maya, always one for making bold moves, didn't hesitate before unzipping the entrance to the tent and climbing inside. Unfortunately, chaperone Boing was nowhere to be found. She shrugged it off and plopped down onto his sleeping bag, making herself comfortable as she rested her head on his pillow and popped in her ear buds.
Three songs later, Maya was head-bobbing to Troye Sivan's Youth, when she saw the tent door unzip and Josh peek his beanie-clad head through.
"Maya?" Josh said, feeling very confused. He went to talk to Cory for five minutes and now she was taking over his tent?
"Sup?" She called out, tone overly loud due to the ear buds still in her ears.
"What are you doing?" He inquired, trying and failing to hide that boyish grin of his.
Taking her headphones off, she explained her predicament. "The couples need some quality time, so I'm bunking with you for the night," Maya told him, then rushed to add, "and would you close the door already? I rather not be eaten alive by bugs tonight."
"Well, alright then." He responded simply, then came inside the rest of the way and zippered the door. He knew this probably wasn't the best idea, but it was innocent really. They had grown closer after his chaperone gig last year at the ski lodge and have actually become pretty good friends since, not that they hung out a lot, but still... they are friends, and friends can share tents... right?
He sat down next to Maya, and smirked as he said teasingly, "I'd tell you to make yourself comfortable, but it looks like you already did."
"Darn right." Maya said with a smile of her own. "Care to join me?" She asked, lifting one of her ear buds out towards him.
"Sure. " He answered as his smile grew a bit bigger.
As he placed the ear bud into his left ear, she placed the other one in her right and hit shuffle on her ipod Nano. For the next two hours, they sat closely with their heads tilted toward each other, talking about anything and everything. It started with music, big surprise, where they discovered they actually had some similar tastes. Then when the Mamma Mia sound track popped up on her music player, they segued into movies, then into books, and then from there they descended into other random topics.
The weird part of it all was that it wasn't weird at all. It felt natural talking to each other and just being with each other in general. That was probably why Maya made it a full two hours before realizing how cold she was. She was dressed in a Yankees quarter-sleeved baseball shirt, black leggings, and secondhand off-brand UGG boots. While her legs were fine, her arms were covered in goosebumps from the chilly night air seeping through the tent. As the conversation drifted into comfortable silence, she rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm herself. It was then that Josh thought to ask, "Are you cold?"
"A little. It's okay. I'll deal." She told him.
"Here, take my hoodie." He offered, moving his hands to unzip the navy and white NYU fleece zip-up he was wearing.
"But then you'll be cold. So, that makes no sense." Maya stated the obvious.
Josh couldn't help but smile and shake his head. Maya was unlike any other girl that was for sure. Every other girl he had ever made that offer to always just smiled and took the jacket or hoodie or whatever it was, but of course Maya wouldn't. Maya was different. She was difficult and stubborn and caring and amazing and a genuinely good person despite her rebellious nature.
He found this realization to be funny and decided to say something about it.
"You know," He began. "Most girls would just take the hoodie and say thank you."
Maya rolled her eyes then responded, "Well, I'm not most girls."
"No, you certainly are not." He answered.
At that comment, they locked eyes and proceeded to stare at each other. Josh didn't know what to say or do next, but thankfully Maya broke the silence and the sudden tension that hung in the air.
"I have an idea." She stated matter-of-factly, then smiled mischievously before turning herself around so that her back was to Josh.
Arching a brow, Josh watched as she scooted herself over to sit between his spread legs, then slid her arms, one at a time, into the zip-up jacket that he still wore on his own torso. Once inside, the jacket with Josh, Maya zipped it back up and smirked.
"There." She said. "Now we can both be nice and toasty."
Josh smiled and shook his head, knowing he shouldn't be okay with this, but not really caring at the same time because the last thing he wanted right now was Maya to remove herself from her current position. She felt so warm, so right as she sat innocently pressing up against him. Why did she have to be three years younger than him?
To distract his mind from his current train of thought, Josh decided to have a little fun with Maya.
"You know, I could use a good stretch right about now..."
"Josh, don't you even-" Maya began but before she could finish Josh had his arms, and therefore her arms, out above his head, flailing about.
Maya was laughing so hard her stomach hurt. It was an amazing feeling. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed like that. Her laughing didn't stop until his flailing knocked them both over backward so that she was now laying on top of him.
At that point, they were panting and trying to catch their breath. Once they did, Josh spoke up.
"We should probably head to bed and try to get some sleep." He said logically.
"Probably." She agreed, then reluctantly unzipped herself from his jacket and sat up.
After sitting up himself, he rose to his feet and said, "I'll be right back... nature calls."
"Gotcha." She nodded and watched him disappear into the night.
By the time Maya wrapped up her headphones, put away her ipod, took off her shoes, and pulled her hair up into a ponytail, Josh was back with a folded up quilt in his hands. When Maya arched a brow, Josh just said, "Stopped by Cory's tent."
"Ah." She replied, then watched as he silently rearranged the blankets so that his sleeping bag was opened all the way up for them to lay on and the quilt could be used as a cover.
As they laid down and said their goodnights, Josh made sure to put an appropriate amount of space between them, which was all fine and dandy until morning when Josh woke to find that Maya was snuggled into his chest and that his arm was draped over her.
Reluctantly, Josh removed his arm and scooted back a few inches, immediately missing her touch and warmth. He sighed deeply, then thought to himself. Two more years, just two more years. And he knew as soon as the words entered his mind, that these next two years were going to be two of the longest and hardest years of his life, but he also knew that they would be worth it. Maya would be worth it. After all, Maya wasn't most girls.