Authors Note: Sorry for the wait! But, it's finally here. I hope you enjoy, and please, leave a review!

Maya

It's been almost a week since I last saw Josh. Almost a week from the party and when I slept with Josh. We're both busy. Josh has his classes at NYU. And I'm focusing on graduating high school in about a month. And right now, I'm pre celebratingwith
Riley, Lucas, Zay, Farckle and even Smackle has come out with us tonight. We're all gathered at Charlie Gardners house, and why I don't really know, but don't care. I must admit though, I am having a good time. That might be because of thefew
beers I've had so on the other hand looks a little out of place. She's been nursing her second cocktail for the past hour now. Which I find odd. So, I'm going to find out what's going on.

"Hey there, Pumpkin."I greet Riley as I find her by the couch standing next to Smackle and Farkle.

Riley turns her head towards me with a small smile on her lips and glassy eyes. "Hi Peaches. Are you having any fun?"

I nod my head while giving my best friend a weird look. "Yes, I am. Are you having any fun Riles?" I question her back.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Riley asks me with a slight tilt of her head and her small smile begins to widen.

I look over my shoulder to follow Rileys line of sight and find Lucas with the same goofy look on his face. I turn back to Riley and can't help but feel happy for her to have Lucas and feel so glad that triangle is done and over with.

"No reason not to be!" I enthusiastically say back. "Even if it's Charlie Gardners party." I add.

"Exactly. Hey, I'm going to go over to Lucas." Riley says while pointing over to where her boyfriend is and then leaves me with the two geniuses.

"Ok." I draw out while watching Riley walk away from me.

A couple of hours later and another few more beers later, I'm ready to leave this party and head back home. So, with high spirits, I go to tell Riley I'm ready to go, but she's not ready yet. I decide to just leave anyway and head out and towardsthe
subway to go home. And once I get home and walk through the front door to the apartment that my mom and I now share with Shawn, I'm greeted with two solemn faces. I give both my mom and Shawn an odd look as I step into the living room.

"What's going on? What's with the serious faces?" I ask while setting my purse down on the coffee table.

"Maya, baby girl, I have some bad news to tell you." My mom says while getting up from her spot on the couch.

"What?" I ask feeling my high from earlier fading away.

Josh

Just about as I'm about to get up to get another round of beers for my friends and myself, I hear someone knocking on the door to my apartment. So, instead of getting the beers, I head to the door to see who would be knocking at my door at oneo'clock
in the morning. And upon opening the door, I find Maya standing before me with a duffel bag in her hand and with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Maya, what are you doing here so late?" I ask her with a concerned look. She doesn't answer me, but instead walks right past me and goes straight to my bedroom without a word.

I walk into my bedroom to find Maya changing out of her dress. "Maya, is everything okay?" I softly ask as I approach her.

After Maya puts on a pair of sweatpants and what looks like one of my t shirts, she turns to me with a forced smile. "I'm fine." Maya answers me in a strained voice. "I just want to be alone for awhile." She gives me an even more painful lookingsmile.

I take the hint and nod my head before walking out of my room and make my way back to my friends, but first, I grab a beer from the fridge. Once I sit back down on the couch, all of my friends, including my roommate Andrew, are all giving mequestioning
looks.

"What?" I ask while taking a long swig of my beer.

"What was that?" Asks my buddy Colin, who has a smirk on his face.

"I'm not really sure." I answer with a shake of my head.

Moments later and over the sounds of my friends loud voices and the movie we're watching, I hear someone in the kitchen slamming cabinets and shuffling around. I get up from the couch to finding Maya standing in the kitchen, with a bottle in herhand.
So with curiosity, I head into the kitchen.

"Maya, what do you think you're doing?" I ask as I point to the bottle in her right hand. She doesn't answer, but takes a swig of the vodka in her hand instead. I try to take step closer to her, but she takes a step back.

"Josh, just let me be." Maya studders while avoiding eye contact with me.

"Maya, please hand me the bottle." I request of her while reaching my hand out towards her and she shakes her head. "At least put it down." I plead with her, but instead she just walks away from me and goes back into my bedroom, with the bottlein
hand.

I just stand in the kitchen staring in the direction of my bedroom while trying to wrap my head around what is going on with Maya. I'm usually good with reading people, but right now, I can't figure out that blonde in my bedroom.

"Yo! Matthews, your phone is blowing up!" Andrew calls to me, breaking me out of my daze.

As I pick up my phone, I see that I have a few missed calls from Shawn and one from Riley. I should probably call Shawn back. So, I press on Shawns name and wait as the phone dial rings.

"Please, tell me she's with you." A frantic Katy answers instead of Shawn.

"Yes. Yes, Katy, Maya is with me. She's in my room right now, sleeping, I think." I reassure Maya's mother, omitting the part about Maya findingthe vodka bottle and about how strange she's been acting.

"Oh thank God. Thank you. Thank you Josh for being such a great friend to my daughter." Katy tells me.

"Yeah, you're welcome Katy. Maya means a lot to me. I'd do anything for her." I answer back, feeling a tad confused.

"Ok, well, once again, thank you and have a goodnight Josh." Katy tells me and hangs up before I could say goodbye.

As soon as I get get off the phone with Maya's mother, I hear a crashing sound coming from what it sounds like my bedroom, but I'm not completely sure. I look around me and everything looks to be in its place. I turn to the guys, but no one hasspilled
anything or knocked anything over. So, with a shake of my head, I turn my attention back to my phone and call my niece back.

"Uncle Josh! Have you heard from Maya? I can't seem to get ahold of her. She was really drunk whenshe left the party tonight. I'm worried about her Josh." Riley starts ranting to me.

"Riles, breathe. Maya's with me at my apartment. She's fine. At least that's what she's telling me. I don't know if I believe her. I don't know what's going on. I don't have all of the answers. I do know that Maya is going through something rightnow
and she just needs some space." I tell my concerned niece.

"Is she going to be okay?" Riley asks me.

"I believe so. She will be. Riley, it's been a long night, I should get some sleep and so should you." I advise her while I take notice to my friends starting to leave.

"Yeah, its late. Thanks Uncle Josh. I'll talk to you later. Goodnight." Riley tells me.

"Yeah, goodnight Riles." I reply with a yawn before hanging up.

After my friends leave and Andrew goes to bed, I head for my bedroom to change. I might just sleep on the couch tonight to give Maya her space.

"Josh?" Maya calls out to me just as I change out of my jeans and put on a pair of sweats.

I turn around and find Maya sitting up in my bed, her face red from drinking and what it appears to be traces of tears as well.

"Can you sleep next to me tonight?" Maya asks me with a weak smile.

"Of corse." I softly tell her as I make my way over to my bed and sit up next to her.

"Josh, I want to apologize for earlier." Maya tells me while moving closer to me and laying her head on my chest.

"It's okay Maya, don't worry about it." I say with a yawn and start running my fingers through her curls.

All I get in response is a head nod and then everything goes quiet between us for awhile.

"My mom told me that my father just died tonight." Maya whispers, barely audible for me to hear.