Author's Note:

Hey guys! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. School just started again, and I've got volleyball every day on top of that, so I've been pretty busy. Also, I had no idea how I wanted to write this chapter until a few days ago, so it was coming along even slower because of that. Anyway, it is here now and I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Girl Meets World.

Happy reading!

Chapter Four.

Maya laughed at a joke that Shawn told as she got up to put her dishes in the sink. She was going to stay at her parents' house for a few days just to spend some time with them, and had entrusted the apartment to Josh for those days. It had been a few days since the incident with Jordan, and everything was back to normal. She'd worked things out with Jordan, and somehow managed to get Josh off her back about what Jordan had done to her the other night. It wasn't that big of a deal, but he had seemed to think it was.

So, after all the drama of the past two weeks, she decided to take a weekend to be with her parents.

"I'm going to get ready for bed," she told them, turning to go to her old bedroom and grab her pajamas.

As she shuffled through her duffel bag, she realized that she hadn't packed any pajamas for the next few days. Sighing at her forgetfulness, she grabbed her keys and her purse and her keys instead.

"Mom," she yelled.

"Yes?" her mom called back.

"I'm going to go back to my apartment really quick to grab pajamas, alright?"

"Okay sweetheart! Say hello to Josh for us!"

Maya rolled her eyes at her mother's response, and then went down to get her car. It took her around ten minutes to reach her place, and she took the stairs to make the trip even faster. After finding the key and unlocking the door, she pushed it open, expecting Josh to be on the couch watching TV or something similar to that.

He was indeed on the couch, but he wasn't watching TV. Instead, he was busy with a blonde-haired woman who was straddling his waist and practically devouring his face as she kissed him.

As soon as the couple realized that their moment had been interrupted, they separated. As soon as Josh realized that it was Maya who had interrupted them, he practically shoved the blonde off his lap and stood up, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

The blonde stood as well, and Maya was immediately envious of her long, slender legs, small waist, and full breasts.

"Josh, do you know her?" the woman asked. She looked absolutely mortified, and was frantically trying to button up her shirt.

Josh ignored her. "Maya, this isn't what it looks like."

"Oh really?" Maya asked. "Because it looks like I just found you hooking up with some girl in my apartment, explicitly breaking one of the rules that allow you to stay here in the first place."

"Okay, so maybe it is what it looks like," Josh said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "But you weren't supposed to be home for a few days."

"So that gives you permission to have a girl over?" Maya demanded.

"I've had guys over before, and you were fine with that! Why's a girl any different?" Josh asked, turning the tables to her.

"Because I didn't give you permission to have this girl over!" Maya said. "That's what we agreed on, is it not?"

"I-um…" the woman spoke up, grabbing her purse from the floor. "I think I should leave."

"No, Olivia, wait-" Josh said at the same time Maya said, "Okay bye."

"You two obviously have to work something out," the girl, Olivia, said. "I-I'll call you Josh."

By the way she was out of the apartment in less than ten seconds, Maya guessed that Olivia wouldn't actually call him.

"I cannot believe you did that, Josh!" Maya yelled. "I was gone for three hours! Three hours! And you already broke one of the rules? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I still don't get how this is such a big deal," Josh said.

"You were about to have sex with someone! In my apartment! On my couch! Without my permission!" Maya shouted. "How is that not a big deal?"

"When you put it that way, it sounds like a big deal," Josh pointed out.

"'That way'?" she asked. "I said it exactly how it was! Honestly, I can't deal with you right now!"

She went back to her bedroom, and then texted her mom, telling her she might not be back for a while. She had something to work out with Josh.

After an hour or so in her room, she had calmed down.

She heard him calling from the living room only minutes after she'd declared herself 'calm', so she went out and found him waiting anxiously by the couch.

"What is it, Josh?" she asked.

"I'm sorry for that," Josh said. "I was completely out of line."

"Yeah, you were," Maya said. "Honestly, what got into you? Everything had been going so well before that."

"Again, I'm sorry," Josh repeated.

"I get that," Maya said. "And you're forgiven. Now, is that all you brought me in here to say?"

Josh took a deep breath. "No, unfortunately."

Maya sighed. "This ought to be good."

"I don't know exactly how to tell you this," Josh started out.

"Just spit it out," Maya commanded. "It can't be that bad."

"I-I'm still in love with you."

Stunned silence met him after he said that, and he decided to fill it with more words.

"You're such an amazing woman, Maya, you always have been, and I regret what I did. I also regret that I waited this long to say something about it. It's just that spending these past few weeks with you has really reminded me of who you are and how incredible that person is.

"And I know that I promised that I would move on, but I tried that with Olivia, and all I could think about was you the whole time I was with her. And now-"

He stopped abruptly, noticing that she had still said nothing, she was just staring at him with a face that told him that she was slowly getting angry with him.

"Keep going," she said.

"What?" he asked, confused. He was expecting something completely different. An angry outburst at the least.

"You stopped," she said. "I want you to keep going. Keep digging this hole."

Stupidly, he listened to her. He kept going.

"I have listened to Cory and Topanga talk about your fiancé, and then I listened to you talk about him too. And I know you love Jordan, and that you're about to get married to him. I know that. But I just want to know if I still have a chance with you. Because if I do, I will stay and I will fight for you. But if I don't, I don't know if I could allow myself to stay in your life."

She didn't say anything for what seemed like an eternity.

"Maya, will you please say something?" He asked.

The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion. Without letting her respond to his words, Josh took another step closer to her and closed the remaining space between them, pressing his lips to hers. For half a second, she kissed him back, but then reality hit her and she pushed him away roughly.

"How dare you?!" Maya shouted. Tears were forming in her eyes, but she wiped them away angrily. She was seething. "How dare you force me to make that decision!"

She paused, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes again, this time with the palm of her hands. They were starting to fall hot and fast, but she wouldn't break down. Not now. Not in front of him.

"I'm tired of waiting, Maya," Josh said. "I love you, and I need you to tell me where I stand in your life."

Maya shook her head, wanting to block his words from her head. He couldn't seriously be expecting this from her, could he? If he was, she knew what her ultimate decision would be.

"Are you seriously expecting me to choose between the two of you?" she asked quietly.

"Maya, I need to know," Josh said.

Maya took a few deep breaths as she processed everything that had happened in the past few minutes. She had to make the decision. Either way, it meant someone she really cared about would leave her life for good. At least, that's what Josh was threatening and what Jordan would likely do.

When she really thought about it, however, the decision was painfully obvious. Josh had gotten his chance already, and he had blown it. Jordan had yet to do anything like that.

She took a deep breath and turned to Josh, ready to tell him that.

"Then you can leave," Maya said as calmly as she could. "You can leave, and you can't ever come back."

Suddenly, it looked like Josh regretted his words. They weren't working in his favor, like he somehow thought they would.

"Maya, wait…" Josh said.

"No!" Maya yelled. "You do not get to change your mind now! You made your decision, and now I've made mine. I want you out of my apartment."

She began to push him towards the door until his back collided with it. Then she closed his suitcase, not caring that a lot of his stuff was still in the bathroom, and rolled it over to him.

"I don't care where you have to stay, or how long you end up staying there," she said through her teeth. "But I don't want you staying here anymore."

Then she opened the door.

He looked into her eyes for half a second, then looked away. "Goodbye Maya."

And then he left.

She made it to the couch that he slept on before she broke. She curled herself into a ball and started crying harder than she had in five years.

"I'm here, and I brought all of the ice cream that our freezer had," Riley said, opening the door to her best friend's apartment. Her arms were indeed filled with four or five containers of ice cream. "Lord knows we have too much-I've been craving it a lot lately."

She had come over as soon as Maya had texted her, despite it being one in the morning. Lucas had been sleeping soundly, but she hadn't been able to fall asleep due to her growing belly.

"Thanks," Maya said, sitting up and making room for her friend on the couch. "Did I wake you? I'm really sorry, I just couldn't sit here all night thinking about what happened."

Riley put the containers on the coffee table and then went to her kitchen in search of spoons. "You're fine, Maya. I wasn't really sleeping anyway."

She found what she was looking for, sat down next to Maya, and picked up one of the many tubs of ice cream in front of them. She opened the lid, gave a spoon to Maya, and then started to dig in.

"So what exactly happened?" she asked, reaching over and brushing a tear from Maya's cheek. "I thought everything was going well for you two."

"It was," Maya said. "It was great, but then he brought this girl-Olivia, her name was-over to hook up with her while I was at my parents' house. I came home a few hours ago just to grab some things that I had forgotten and found them on the couch. His shirt was off, and hers was unbuttoned…"
"And he left because you walked in on them?" Riley asked.

Maya shook her head. "No, he left because…because I didn't choose him."

Riley frowned. "You didn't choose him?" she asked, thoroughly confused.

"So, after Olivia left, we got into an argument," Maya explained. "So I went to my room for a few hours to cool off. Then he called me in here to apologize, and then he told me he still loved me and he wanted me to…" She trailed off, the story bringing fresh tears to her eyes. "He essentially told me to choose between him and Jordan and then…and then he kissed me!" She paused for a few moments, then continued.

"Riley…he didn't even fight me when I told him to go. He just said goodbye and left."

Riley put the ice cream on the table and pulled Maya into a hug. "I'm sorry Peaches."

"He couldn't have cared that much about me if he was willing to just leave like that, could he?" Maya asked, crying into Riley's shirt. "…I wonder if he ever cared.

"Of course he did, honey," Riley said, stroking her long hair comfortingly. "He's just an idiot sometimes. I'm sorry I ever brought him into your life."

Maya gave her a watery laugh. "Thanks."

Riley pulled out of their hug and gazed at her broken friend sympathetically. "So you chose Jordan?"

Maya nodded. "Jordan…he's never caused me pain like Joshua has, and I think he really cares about me."

Riley nodded. "I think he does too."

Maya smiled slightly. "Thank you Riley. I know you don't like him too much, so that means a lot to me."

They sat there for a while, picking the ice cream back up. Riley put her head on Maya's shoulder after a few moments, tired from the lack of sleep she had been getting the past few days.

"So…the real question is: did you make the right choice?" Riley asked, looking up at Maya's face.

Maya thought for a long while.

"Let's hope I did."

Days later, Josh texted Maya that he was coming to get the rest of his things from her apartment. She didn't text him back, but he wasn't expecting it.

When he reached her apartment, he skipped the elevator and climbed the stairs slowly, giving himself time to prepare for seeing her for what might've been the last time.

He knocked when he finally reached her place, and the door was opened almost instantly. But instead of being greeted by the blonde beauty, his pregnant niece stood in the doorway with a large brown box.

"Maya had an art show to attend," Riley said coldly, shoving the box into his arms. "Not that she'd want to see you anyway."

Josh couldn't meet her eyes. He knew that he'd fucked up, but he had really hoped that it wouldn't do much to his family ties with the Matthews. All in vain, apparently.

"You really messed up this time Josh," she said, her tone somewhat softer. "More than you ever have before. Don't expect things to be the same ever again."

Josh hung his head in shame. "I know," he said quietly.

With that, Riley shut the door and he was left to get back to his friend's apartment with tears in his eyes.

How could he have pushed someone so wonderful from his world in a matter of hours?

Author's Note #2:

So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Again, I'm sorry it took so long to upload it. I will try my best to get the next chapter out sooner, but I'm not too sure how much time I'll get.

I had this idea the other day about writing a companion one-shot type of thing about exactly what happened at Maya's graduation, just to give you guys a little more information about that. I know that I've been a bit vague about it in this story, so let me know if you'd like to see that. If you do, I'd love to write it for you!

Thanks for reading! Goodbye for now!

~SmartyPants210