Someday Soon Chapter 4

After visiting her grandparents in Philadelphia for a few days over the christmas break, Riley returned to New York with her parents and little brother in tow just in time to spend new year's eve with her friends, Maya included. The city, that was considered busy at the best of times, was a complete zoo at the new year. Thousands of people crowded into times square to watch celebrities ring in the new year with outlandish performances before the ball dropped at midnight. Elsewhere throughout the city thousands of parties were held, some extravagant with flutes of champagne and tiny finger foods served on polished silver platters. Others were more simple affairs fueled by cheap liquor and the good company of those around them. Every member of the Matthew/ Hunter/Hart clan had plans for the evening of December 31st. Cory, Topanga, Shawn, and Katy were attending an upscale new years celebration thrown by one of the partners at Topangas firm who had befriended the rest of the group. Riley, Maya, Farkle and the rest were all invited to attend a party thrown by an upper classmate in their family townhouse on the upper west side.

With some persuasion, Riley had gotten her parents permission to attend a party being held by a senior. Little did the Matthew parents know that Riley and Maya had attended several parties without their parents permission, including the one Maya had called Josh from in the summer. They had to be honest about their plans on this occasion as they didn't want to get roped into babysitting Auggie and Ava for the night. As long as Riley and Maya agreed to check in with their parents every few hours and leave the party by 1am when Farkles parents were sending a car for them, then the party was a go. Cory, Shawn, Topanga, and Katy weren't stupid. They knew that at their children's ages they would likely be partaking in underage drinking. It was something that they had experimented with themselves when they were younger, and hoped that it would be mostly harmless. They worried as all parents did, but hoped that they had raised children with good enough heads on their shoulders that they wouldn't make any truly heinous mistakes.

The party was well underway by the time that Maya, Riley and their friends pulled up. The streets around them were loud and busy as they climbed out of the Minkus town car and climbed up the steps of Senior Cassidy Mariners family townhouse. The music came pouring out of the house as soon as the door opened, and the group hurried into house and out of the freezing cold.

It was nearly two hours into the party and midnight was fast approaching. Maya was smiling down at her phone, leaning against a doorway in one of the crowded rooms. She and Josh had been texting all day after he had forwarded her a photo of a poorly wrapped late christmas gift that he was spending to one of his distant cousins in Florida.

Maya was typing a reply to Josh when she felt someone peering over her shoulder. She glanced around and found Riley standing behind her with her hands on her hips. Riley's eyes were glassy and Maya could tell that her best friend had indulged in a few celebratory drinks, not that Maya hadn't. Riley was giving her friend an accusing look and Maya slipped her phone into her back pocket as she turned to face her friend.

"What's up Riles?" Maya asked, taking a long sip of the drink in her hand and avoiding Riley's harsh eye contact.

" You've been on your phone all night." Riley accused, an edge of whin in her complaint. Maya rolled her eyes at her friend.

" You're exaggerating." Maya said, having to raise her voice to almost a shout over the sound of the party going on around them. It was Riley's turn to roll her eyes as she reached out and began to yank on Maya's hands.

" It's almost midnight. Don't just stand here. Go find someone to kiss!" Riley ordered. Jumping up and down slightly, swinging Maya's hands in her own. Maya shook her head at her best friend but couldn't help but smiled at her.

" Well you've only got a few minutes Riles, you better go find ranger rick." Maya joked. Riley brushed her off.

" I`ll find 's tall. He sticks out in a crowd." Riles defended, a little unsteady on her feet. Riles took mayas shoulders and spun her around, pushing her towards the crowded room.

"Go getem peaches." Riles said, smacking her friends butt as she sent her friend away. Maya shook her head as she walked through the party amused at Riley's antics. Her friends inhibitions were so down when she had the slightest bit of alcohol that she was almost an entirely different person. In the end Maya did kiss someone at midnight. A guy she had seen around school a few times, but didn't have much interest in. It wasn't a bad kiss, but there definitely weren't any fireworks going off in her head. In the back of her mind she couldn't help but wonder if Josh was kissing anyone at that very moment, and just who that girl could be.

…

Despite the thoughts Maya had had about Josh on New Year's about him kissing someone else, she wasn't expecting Josh to be some saint until someday, if someday ever came. She wasn't uncomfortable with Josh dating other people, she herself had been on a few dates over the past few months. They didn't exactly talk about it with each other but they didn't flat out avoid the subject.

Once when Josh was over at the Matthews apartment doing his laundry and Maya was sitting on top of the washing machine, watching as Josh tried and failed to scrub a giant stain out of a white shirt. The white shirt had a large red splotch on it. When Maya inquired about the stain Josh blushed but recounted the story of how he had dropped a large fork full of spaghetti onto himself while on a disastrous first date with a girl who lived on the floor below him. Maya had snorted in laughter at him and shook her head.

"Let me drop a little bit of advice on you. A. Never order spaghetti on a first date, not even the people who love you already want to watch someone eat that and B don't wear white. I know you try to be clean but you're kind of a messy eater." Maya hopped down from the washing machine and began to dig through the clothes spread across the laundry room floor. She unearthed a navy blue long sleeve shirt and tossed it to Josh.

" Here. Wear something like that. It's dark. It'll find any stains and it's a good colour on you." Maya stated, hopping back up onto the dryer.

Josh looked down at the shirt Maya had handed him and nodded in consideration.

"Hey" Maya said her voice harsh and serious. Joshs head snapped up from the shirt and looked at Maya spooked.

"Remember that these are trade secrets and sharing them without consent can be punishable by death." She said her voice as straight as a board.

" Also, burn those pants." Maya said gesturing to a horrible pair of cropped salmon pants that josh's great aunt had sent him for christmas. Josh cracked another smile

" Done."

….

" I'm going to fail." Maya said, resting her head in her hands.

" I don't think it's actually possible to fail the SAT's" Josh said, half serious and half joking. Maya shot him a look and Josh quickly back tracked.

" You're not going to fail. You're getting better every day."

Josh had started picking up shifts working the coffee counter at Topangas, and had taken to helping Maya study for her SAT's both after his shifts. Maya had taken to studying at Topangas after school, citing that the constant noise helped to keep her mind focused. Quiet wasn't calming to Maya, if anything it was more distracting. Maya would sit at the counter her books spread out in front of her, and Josh would refill her coffee cup multiple times within the span of an hour. Maya would study for the majority of Josh's shift and then once he clocked out, Maya would move her stuff over to a table and Josh would quiz her on all the cards she had been studying off of all day.

Maya had lots of other people she could have studied with and she had tried too but it had never worked out. Riley was laser focused and almost in a trance while she studied. Farkle was miles ahead of Maya and studying with him made her feel more stupid than anything else. As for Zay and Lucas they couldn't take anything serious enough to get anything done.

Josh was a stellar study partner, he was encouraging and funny, and had a way of keeping her focus even after she had already been studying all day. It wasn't a one sided relationship. There was only so long Maya could go looking at her same flashcards and study outlines in one sitting before wanting to scream. When she needed a break from her SAT prep she had taken to quizzing Josh from his own stack of flashcards for one of his college classes. Maya would bark questions at him as he ran back and forth filling orders and making drinks. If Josh got too many questions wrong within a specific span of time he would have to buy Maya one of the pastries from the display cases. Maya had a sneaking suspicion that one certain occasions when Maya was having a rough day Josh would get questions wrong on purpose just as an excuse to buy Maya a dessert to cheer her up.

" Well then i'm going to score like a 200. i won't get accepted to a single university, i'll end up going to a junior community college and get a diploma in pathetic test scores." Josh rolled his eyes and shook his head at her, still smiling.

" You get 600 points for basically writing your name. But stop getting down on yourself, you're going to do great. In fact, i will bet you that you'll score higher than i did on my SAT." Maya narrowed her eyes at him, considering.

" What do i get if i win?" Maya asked, watching him carefully.

" To be determined. Is it a deal or not?" Josh asked extending his hand across the table for Maya to shake. Maya hesitated for a moment and then took Josh's hand and shook.

"Deal"