Warnings: Maya is slightly OOC.
One-shot.
The roller skating rink was abuzz with excitement and joy, beginners and experts, kids and adults alike treading the man-made floor, doing laps around the circular arena during the public skating slot. But two certain individuals, namely that went by the likes of Maya Hart and Josh Matthews, were doing anything but that. Both of them stood in the center of the rink, eyeing each other as they stood across from one another.
"Umm, do you feel like a third wheel?" Auggie mumbled out, observing his Uncle Josh just standing there staring at Maya. He thought that they were all supposed to go roller skating together, and yet here he and Ava were, watching on the sidelines like spectators. If he didn't know any better, it was like his favourite Uncle had used them as bait for a chance to spend some time with his sister's best friend.
Ava rolled her eyes, chastising him with a look towards his way that clearly said she didn't agree. "This isn't a date, Auggie."
Well, at the very least she was giving the two late teens the benefit of the doubt. Uncle Josh had Maya's best interests at heart, and his plan to bring them all here was completely rational and logical in her eyes. Although, seeing so much commotion and joyous noise around the rink except for the two individuals in question in the center was starting to give her doubts on whether his intentions were truly just to help Maya out with nailing a key part of her motorcycle driving test since he was a pro runner of the vehicle himself.
"It's all about remembering what was behind you and relaxing."
Maya observed him carefully as Josh effortlessly skated gracefully away from her in a backwards motion, and then coming back full circle around her to smoothly glide to a stop right where he started.
Hmm. Okay, looks easy enough. She lifted her right skate off the ground to try to accomplish the feat that he had accomplished, but immediately felt her gait waver, her legs losing balance and toppling over the other.
This was indefinitely 1000x harder than he just made it look.
Shouting unintelligible whoa's and cries of falling on her face, it wasn't long before she found herself buried in Josh's shirt. When she looked up, she found Josh looking down at her with an almost smirking yet quizzical look on his face, his hands hovering over her hips so she wouldn't fall.
"You have uh, skated before right?"
"I've watched people skating in the park," she justified with a quiet but unsure voice, her cheeks starting to attain a certain glow of crimson red.
"See, this is totally a date!" The young preteen exclaimed at witnessing the exchange. As if that blush and googly eyes wasn't enough to indicate.
But his other half was just as adamant, albeit hanging on a string. "Auggie—", she denied with a slightly aggravated voice with the justification, "he's trying to teach her something about bike riding."
Both youngins proceeded to watch with a keen eye at the development occurring on the rink.
"It's all about anticipation," he stated as his hands joined with Maya's tried to gently pull her backwards, and make an effort to get her rollers to move. But Maya had locked up.
"Maybe I should learn how to go forward first!" She burst out, objecting.
...
Now Josh pulled on her hand as he skated them both in the forward direction, Maya looking at the ground behind him as if it was the most interested piece of wooden floor she'd seen in her life. And then just when she was starting to get comfortable skating with Josh guiding her, he did the inevitable.
"You have to just trust yourself and let go!" And just like that, he let go of her hand, leaving her to fend off on the scary rink by herself. And miraculously, she had managed to keep her footing, almost gliding across the floor. Even if it did happen as a fluke.
"Just for the record, I meant to do that!"
...
As Maya continued to move her feet left and right again and again, she got better and better with every attempt. Her gait was steady, and she was starting to attain a smooth glide with her movement.
With a few more tries, she had mastered the art of moving forward at a steady speed.
"You got it!" Josh's euphoric exclamation took some bystanders by surprise, taken aback by how enthusiastic he was. Just one more thing left to do, and she'll have this in the bag, he thought. "Now spin around and coast!"
This is it, I can totally do this. She skated across from one end of the rink to the other, where Josh was waiting. Her movement was in tandem and steady. Just like the bike, she just had to pick up sudden speed and then coast, like he said. She just had to trust herself.
And at the right moment she did it, she spun and was now skating backwards circling around the rink. She was overjoyed at the feeling, it was surreal. It was like she was floating on a cloud, up in the sky. Maya had never felt so free, She'd finally done it after so many struggles and it was so worth it. A bright smile was on her face, and the sight of Josh gracefully joining her by her side with a heartfelt smile and those shining cobalt eyes of his made it all the better.
By this point, Auggie's palms of his hands had pocketed themselves under his elbows. "Still thinking it's not a date?"
Ava didn't hesitate to reply with accordance this time. Seeing those two skating off around the rink in perfect sync smiling like love-struck idiots and like they were the only two skaters on the whole rink had said it all. "Okay yeah, it's totally a date."
After that practice at the bike arena, Maya truly doubted herself, her confidence, and her abilities. She questioned whether she would really be able to pass that license test and pull this off or not.
But one skating session with one Joshua Matthews had pushed all her insecurities away. As she looked at the Polaroid photo that the two little guys had secretly taken of them on the rink, she couldn't have been more thankful for the life she was given. In the still photo of them skating together, she was glowing. Her hair was blowing by a gentle breeze, her smile was glowing as if she were on cloud 9, and her eyes were twinkling with a newfound sense of content and happiness that she had rarely felt in her life. And the best part was that she could see the same emotions in his features as well. She would never forget his words that had given her back her confidence that had been washed away earlier, and they would give her the strength she would need for tomorrow's test -
"I know you can do this, Maya. Just trust yourself."
And trust herself she would. She had found an all-new sense of the word trust when it came to herself, and to the strengthening bond between her and her Boing.