Scene 3
References in this scene:
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Austria's own Adolf Schicklgruber, Tommy James and the Shondells's song "Crystal Blue Persuasion," various imdb message board comments about Girl Meets World, also various imdb message board comments about George Roy Hill and Tippy Walker's uhhh working relationship, the "Step on a Crack; Break your Mother's Back" game, Larry Silverstein's New! World Trade Center(TM), Patton Oswalt's "Karate Kid" story, "This Magic Moment" by the Drifters or (if you'd rather) Jay and the Americans
Shawn and Maya travel down the sidewalk, slow and almost aimlessly at first, in order to clear their heads of the madness that Katy was causing both of them. It is late autumn; just after Thanksgiving and the dead leaves scrunch under their shoes. They share a tender moment and bond even more discussing their shared miseries, yadda yadda yadda. Shawn rages on about how difficult Katy had become recently and pinpoints her change in attitude to have happened right after he decided to move in with them last month. He is gesticulating wildly like Adolf Schicklgruber himself at this point.
Maya is usually the first one to jump in to bash her flighty mother, but has fallen almost entirely silent. She's still quite shell shocked at the situation and assumes that Shawn, despite his promises to the contrary, is about to walk out on her and Katy permanently. She stares at down at the pavement slabs they are walking on, making sure to step on every crack (SYMBOLISM!).
Along the way, Shawn makes an offhand comment saying he feels sometimes that Maya is more of a grownup than her mother. This simple complement stings her right in the heart. Shawn's kindness always made her feel a little bashful, but it had been hitting her especially hard lately; it was causing her to nearly swoon now. 'What were these feelings?' Maya ponders once again, doing her best to walk in a straight line, as the familiar bittersweet buzz rushes through her entire body, now worse than ever.
About halfway between Maya's place and the Matthews's upscale Greenwich Village apartment, they come upon the bakery. Shawn opens the front door to Topanga's (the bakery mind you, not the apartment), holds it open for Maya, and she enters. She doesn't thank him though; she's not trying to be rude (for once), she's just dizzy with emotion.
Luckily the bakery has not been ransacked despite the door being unlocked (in this universe, Bill de Blasio AKA Warren Wilhelm Jr. is not the Mayor of New York City and crime is low). Shawn goes behind the counter to make Maya her favorite cup-o-coffee in order to cheer her up. Maya takes a seat on the cushioned divan facing him and the bar. She begins to catch her breath while looking towards Shawn as he starts brewing her liquid pick-me-up. And in this magic moment, she feels completely at peace, sort of daydreaming that it's only the two of them and the little bakery making up the whole wide world.
After a faraway minute or two staring at her benefactor, Maya tries her best to bring herself back to reality from the spell she found herself under. She shakes her head and shoulders roughly like a wet dog in an attempt to come to her senses. No, that didn't do the trick; she was still feeling a little fluffy. She has to bite her lip, hard; nearly drawing blood, before finally picking up conversation with Shawn.
Maya, now back on planet earth, quickly asks Shawn about his upcoming photography gigs (what is it with chicks and professional photographers?) trying to figure out his future intentions. Just as he finishes brewing her drink, Shawn explains that he will be taking photos of the empty interiors of the New! World Trade Center(TM) (property owner Larry Silverstein had been thinking of turning the mostly unleased property into a luxury hotel) through the winter season, but from spring on out, his calendar was clear. He did have a few interesting leads though.
Shawn comes over with the cup of plain black coffee (Maya's fave) and sits down on the big comfy couch, his knees just a few inches from the emotionally ailing blonde dynamo's. He continues to explain how his old girlfriend Angela (the very name sends Maya into a slight panic and her eyes dart up from looking at the floor to look at Shawn) had mentioned more than a few times in their email correspondences that the military was always looking for experienced photographers. "Not in the warzone mind you, but on military bases, recruiting centers, consulates, stuff like that. It might be kind of fun, don't you think, a world tour?" Shawn just mentioning this seemed, to Maya, like he was looking for a way out, and was giving her a fair warning. It was all too much for her. Shawn had made her feel complete for the first time in a long time. She couldn't let him leave, no. It was time for irrationality to make a power play.
"What do you think, Maya?" Shawn asks her. Staring him in the eyes, Maya half stands up in a rush towards him, deftly dodging the coffee table katy-cornered between them. Shawn doesn't react, being lost in the determined crystal blue persuasion of her eyes for a half moment. She pounces, pushing his shoulders back against the couch. Her calves go behind her as she straddles his lap with her knees pinning him in place. She presses even closer and, true to her bad girl image, begins kissing him in the most passionate, sloppy, aggressive, serious manner possible. Some of the older audience members in their 20s and 40s cheer.
Maya closes her eyes, mentally letting go. She instinctively grinds her hips on his lap and moves her hands from his shoulders to caress the back of his head with every maneuver of her lips and tongue.
After his initial shock, Shawn closes his eyes too, giving in, and finally starts kissing back. He puts his hands on her hips, gently guiding her already gyrating body. It just feels so primally right. The make out session goes on for more than a few moments, until Shawn remembers that yes, there is an outside world. He pulls Maya off of his face, pushing her back by the shoulders. He says solemnly, looking into her goo-goo bedroom eyes, "we shouldn't be doing this." He lifts her slightly, rests her on the other cushion of the big comfy couch, and sits right back down next to her. She 'harumphs' slightly, but not feeling totally defeated, curls her legs under herself, leans her head onto his shoulder, and smiling slightly, grabs his left hand to hold like a stressball. He's kind enough not to pull away and scold her, mostly because he's too stunned; therefore, they sit silently for a bit. Maya, with her eyes half closed, stares at the floor and coffee table in front of them; she feels like she got her point across. Shawn looks forward with his eyes wide open, staring at nothing really, lost in a world of thought that rushes through his conflicted mind over this newfound jailbait situation. He ponders on; 'why did it hurt so bad to stop? Was he really that messed up? He had said before that he 'loved' Maya, but was 'in love' with Katy [a reference to dialogue in 'Girl Meets Upstate']. Was he really just in love with Maya and using Katy to get to spend more time with her? No. He hadn't even thought of Maya that way before, consciously at least. They were just friends of the same family; the rock in both their lives. Their personalities just meshed so well. Was he leading her on in some misconstrued way? Was it the clothes he bought her? The way they both opened up to each other? He certainly never argued with her like he did with Katy… They were always just cool with each other… If it were only just she and him in the world… But if Cory saw what just happened… God, if anyone did… Wow she tasted good…'
"That was a bit much," Maya concedes. "But I was going crazy inside for a second. You're not mad right?" She massages his shoulder with her jaw line, trying to ensure a "no" from him.
Shawn shakes his head. After a moment of taking everything into account, he admits, "I don't know what I'm supposed to be for you." [Unbeknownst to them, they begin to repeat the exact same dialogue from 'Girl Meets Pluto.']
"Can you just be out there for me?" Maya asks, giving Shawn's hand a good squeeze.
Shawn responds with, "yes. I can do that. I want to do that. What do you call that?"
"It doesn't matter what you call it. I just wanna know that you're there." Maya nestles her head into his neck and shoulder.
Shawn grants her the vague promise she wants, "okay, I'm there," he concludes as he lifts her hands which are still holding on to his left hand and claps them all together with his right hand clumsily. It's settled. He cares about her too much to bail now.
"Thank you Shawn," she says satisfied. They seem to have come to an understanding of sorts, and Maya's anxiousness seems mostly dissipated, though Shawn has no idea where to go from here, so he buys time.
"Okay, let's get out of here. We can talk about everything once we've both calmed down a bit okay?" He caresses her hand and continues, "maybe when your mother falls asleep during another movie?"
Maya smiles at their inside joke, rises up on her knees, and kisses him on the cheek slowly and deliberately. Her joy is short-lived. She begins looking down, a little sad that she will probably never kiss him again, running the tip of her nose along the little wet spot on his cheek. "I'm sorry that I love you…" Maya mumbles into his shoulder, almost to herself. Shawn winces and half pushes her away; he doesn't want to dig this hole any deeper tonight.
"Ach, don't be sorry," Shawn says plainly as he stands up, cutting off the 'emo'ment Maya was trying to have. He gets her to stand up by pulling her by the hand once again, declaring "time to go home, Maya." She grabs her coffee and they head for the exit. Shawn hits the lights and locks the door behind them. They begin to walk back down town towards Maya's apartment and the motel Shawn will be staying in for the night.
Unbeknownst to the pair, Riley had followed them from the apartment all the way to the bakery and had been peering in on them the entire time. She scrambled to hide behind a giant blue mailbox terminal right outside the bakery just as they were exiting the building.
Once the couple disappears into the distance, Riley stands up and says, "oh my gaaauuuud," or rather some TV-Y7, nondenominational, Disney friendly epithet…
COMMERCIAL BREAK!