"Anybody home?" Maya called as she carefully opened the front door of the Matthews' apartment without bothering to knock.
"So, Maya, did you enjoy your first homecoming dance?" Topanga asked her with her signature toothy smile.
"The dance was nice," she said despite the fact that the only thing on her mind was going home and falling into her bed. She wasn't sure if she needed to sleep or have a good cry.
"Wait, where's Riley?" Cory asked as soon as he noticed that only one girl had walked through the door.
"Riley is probably still saying goodnight to Lucas," Maya replied.
"Riley is doing what?" Cory screamed before he ran past Maya and out the front door.
"He cracks me up," Josh laughed from behind a pile of his textbooks scattered on the kitchen table.
"You're here?" Maya said.
"You sound so happy to see me," he smirked as he got up and walked toward her. "You look beautiful."
"The dance was magical!" Riley exclaimed, throwing her arms around grandly as her father pushed her through the door.
"I'm glad one of us had a good night," Maya murmured just loud enough for Josh to hear.
"Peaches! Did you have a magical night, too?" Riley asked eagerly.
"Riley, want to tell me all about your magical night?" Josh asked before Maya could open her mouth.
"Well, I better head home, goodnight," Maya said as she walked to the door.
"Don't you want to stay?" Riley asked.
"I'm tired. The dance must have been too magical for me," Maya replied.
"Josh, can you walk Maya home?" Cory asked.
"I'll be fine," Maya tried. "I don't want Josh to go so far out of his way for me."
"It would be an absolute pleasure to accompany you home, Miss Hart," he said, trying his best to do an English accent, which despite being terrible was still better than Lucas'.
"Peaches, are you sure you don't want to stay. We have a lot of things to talk about."
The problem was the Maya wasn't sure how to tell her best friend that she wasn't enjoying the high school experience as much as she was.
"I'm just not in the talking mood, Riles," Maya said. "Maybe tomorrow?"
"Well, Miss. Hart, I should be getting you home before your mother starts to worry," Josh said in his terrible English accent.
/
As Maya walked down the street with Josh she couldn't help but wish that she could fall into a parallel universe: one where there wasn't an age gap between the two of them, one where he would be walking her home after the dance he took her to.
"So, what brings you out here on a Friday night?" she asked.
"My roommates are throwing a party and I have a test tomorrow," he said.
"You know I can get home from here?" she said as they reached the entrance to the subway.
"Nope, not gonna happen. I'm walking you all the way home and walking you in and saying hi to your mom," he replied walking through the gate behind her.
"So, what happened?" Josh asked as they waited for the train.
"I made my face and hair all pretty, put on this fancy red dress and sparkly shoes, and then we danced the night away."
Their conversation was cut short by the sound of the train coming to a screeching halt. The two of them made their way onto the surprisingly almost empty cart and sat in an all too familiar spot in the middle of it.
"Are you going to tell me what really happened?" he asked.
"Riley and Lucas were all sickly cute and in love, Farkle and Smackle were nerdy cute and in love, and Zay and I were just there. It was fine until he abandoned me to dance with some cheerleader. I ended up dancing with Charlie Gardner, I'm not sure who felt worse for who."
"Ah, the old pity dance," he said.
"Yeah," she breathed.
"I wish I could've been there for you. You deserved better than that," he said.
"I'm not so sure that I do." She moved her eyes from his to the sticky floor.
"Why do you say stuff like that?" he asked with a nudge.
"Because it's true, you're way too good for me."
"You have it all wrong," he said a smirk growing on his face. "I'm way too old for you."
"It doesn't matter," she took a long breath. "It's easier to think of it that way, you know?"
"How so?" he asked raising his eyebrow.
"I don't know. You're you. You know how I feel about you, Josh."
"Maya," he tried.
"I know, okay?
"Sometimes I wish I could be the person you think I am."
"Who are you then?" she asked firmly locking her eyes with his.
"I'm not a superhero or prince charming, I'm just a regular guy. I'm not this magical creature worth waiting forever for."
"Really? You're on a train going an hour out of your way to make sure I get home safe, you just told me that you wish you had taken me to my homecoming dance, and now I'm sitting here looking at you, a boy who not too long ago told me he liked me, wishing that everything could just fall in place for us. You're the kind of guy worth waiting for."
"You're my friend, Maya, and you deserve nice things. I know this whole thing sucks, but I am just a guy. Right now, I'm too old for you and nothing is going to change that. We need to give ourselves some time to grow in our own worlds. Promise me something?"
"I might," she said, knowing exactly what was coming next. The speeches he had gave her again and again still echoed in her mind.
"I need you to promise me that you're not going to wait around for me, that you're going to date other people. I know we said someday, but if you wait around for someday you might miss out on someone."
"What if I don't? What if it's meant to be you and I'm wasting my time?"
"If it's meant to be it'll happen, but you have to try. That's all I'm asking for."
"Okay, I promise to try," a smile grows on her face, "but I'm still in it for the long game."
"I wouldn't expect any less from you."
The train came to another screeching halt, a few people left the train, and it picked up again. Josh and Maya sat in silence, unsure of what would happen to them next, or how to handle their friendship moving forward.
/
"We should dance," he eventually said.
"Right now," she laughed, "in the middle of a moving subway cart?"
"I can't just sit here and not talk, so let's dance," he said standing up.
"Ah, the old pity dance."
"It's more of an I'm-sorry-for-ruining-your-already-horrible-night dance."
"It's just homecoming, you get four of these. It's the prom that you really have to make sure you don't mess up."
"So, any requests?" He pulled his phone out of his pocket.
"I think you're forgetting what happened to Riley on a moving train."
"Lucas caught her, didn't he? And if I remember correctly you pushed her," he said not bothering to look up at her.
"So, are you saying if we fall you're going to catch me, or that if we fall it'll be because I pushed us?" she asked waving her hand in front of his face.
"Definitely both." he smirked before quickly adding, "slow or fast?"
"Josh, we're on a moving train,"
"Slow it is."
"Josh," she huffed.
"Miss Hart, would do me the honor of dancing with me?" he asked in his British accent.
"You know this is a really bad idea, right?"
"Well, I think it's well worth the risk," he said, once again in his terrible accent.
"And I think you are a dork," she quickly replied.
"Just come on, the worst thing that can happen is we fall," he said extending his hand out to hers. She reluctantly put her band in his, hoping that if they fell it wouldn't be on top of each other like in those romantic comedies Riley made her watch. He pulled her close as a familiar song began playing on his phone. Although the song he chose wasn't romantic, it was sentimental.
"I love this song, I remember the first time you played it for me."
"I was hoping you'd remember that. I thought I was so cool."
"I thought you were cool, too. Now, I know that you're a dork."
The two of them laughed and gently swayed to the music and she thought of all the times he pulled her aside to play her the latest song he had stumbled upon. As special as their dance was, it was the kind of moment that Maya knew couldn't be repeated if she was going to be okay with being just friends with Josh, until she realized something important.
"Can you promise me something?" she asked him.
"Anything."
"I need people like you in my life," she started. "Promise me that you'll be my friend. Promise that you'll be in my life."
"Maya, I'm your friend. I'm here for you. I promise. I'm not going anywhere."
"My stop is next. We better hold on to something."
/
Maya and Josh walked and talked about nothing and everything as she led him down the streets to her apartment building. She tried to not think about the what ifs and enjoy the moment as is. Josh was her friend, they would always be in each other's lives, and that would have to be good enough for her for the foreseeable future.
"Maya, you're home?" her mom asked when she walked into their apartment.
"Hi, Katy," Josh said.
"Thank you for getting my Maya home safe," Katy said.
"It was my pleasure," he said once again in his British accent which seemed to have gotten worse.
"Thank you for walking me home," Maya said. "And for making my night better."
"I'm glad you had a good time," he said.
"You better go, you've got a big test in the morning," she leaned in to give him a hug. "Goodnight, Josh."
"Goodnight, Maya," Josh said before he let her go, turned, and walked out the door.
Maya peeled off her dress, washed off the thick layer of makeup off her face, and took what seemed like a million of bobby pins out of her hair. She didn't feel the need to cry or sleep anymore so she just sat on her bed with Ginger. Eventually, her mom walked in her room and sat on the bed next to her.
"Did you have a good night, baby girl?" she asked.
"Yeah, it was kind of magical," she smiled.