Chapter Six- Girl Meets Overprotective Parents

I walked home, feeling less enthused than I had a few hours earlier. Josh walked next to me to make sure I would arrive home safely. I didn't speak to him the whole way back. I couldn't quite figure out why I didn't feel safe telling Josh how I felt, but I knew it had nothing to do with him. I didn't want to destroy it, and letting him see the real me might do that.

If it hadn't been dark out, Josh could have seen the tears filling my eyes when he said goodbye to me at my front door. He gave me a kiss on the cheek and squeezed my hand, wishing me luck in dealing with the repercussions of all this.

I couldn't stop thinking about my decision to keep quiet, to keep my feelings to myself. What did that mean for the fate of our relationship? What if I never felt safe to tell him those kinds of things? I knew I liked him and I knew I could tell him anything, and I really wanted to. In fact, I had until this point. I told him almost everything. But something changed that night, and I didn't know what.

I snuck inside, despite knowing that my mom and Shawn wouldn't be angry about the time. I had dealt with enough confrontation for one night. I felt awful about lying to Josh and about my fight with Riley, so I decided to text him when I finally changed into pajamas and reached my bed. The conversation felt dull and normal, which was unusual compared to the epic discussion we usually experienced together. But despite the lack of excitement, I still could not have felt happier to talk to him. We fell asleep sometime around three in the morning, still talking about whatever came up.

I woke up to the smell of pancakes wafting through the house and into my bedroom. Shawn's loved eating pancakes for breakfast and with my mom's help, Shawn figured out how to cook them as well. I looked forward to tasting what they came up with breakfast each weekend.

"Good morning, sweetie," my mom smiled as I walked into the kitchen. I sat at the kitchen table next to Shawn while my mom handed me a plate of pancakes. "Did you have a good night with Riley?"

They had to know something happened. I planned on staying the night at Riley's but if I had done that, I wouldn't be sitting in our kitchen for breakfast. "Yeah, I needed some rest, though." I didn't want either of them to know what happened. At least not yet.

"Cory texted me this morning," Shawn started, glancing at me between bites of his pancake.

He didn't need to say anything else. I knew Cory had told him everything. "Of course he did."

Shawn looked at me and waited a minute to see if I had anything else to say. "He didn't tell me everything. He wanted to give us all time to talk."

I leaned back in my chair and stopped eating. "What do we need to talk about? No one has given me any time to think about this." I didn't realize it until then, but Josh and I barely had an opportunity to discuss where we stood with each other given everything the Matthews' had thrown at us.

"I just want to contribute to the discussion," Shawn shrugged, continuing to eat his breakfast. "I know Josh. I've known him his whole life. Not only that, but I know what he thinks like. Cory and I were teenage boys once, too. You can't see what he and I see here."

My mom looked between Shawn and I while we spoke. "I hate to say it because I know you like Josh a lot, but they both have a point." She reached for my hand but I looked away. "I don't want you to get hurt, either."

"So somehow all that means that Josh is going to hurt me?" I asked, a little angry at how quickly they jumped to that conclusion.

Shawn looked over at me. "Maya, Cory and I have fed Josh advice his whole life. Advice favorable for him, not for any girl that comes along."

I raised my eyebrow, shocked that Cory and Shawn would ever give Josh advice that might not support everyone's best interest. "Oh so now that Josh's girl advice involves me you've changed your mind? Of course, no girl he previously dated matters as much, right?"

My mom immediately came to their defense. "Maya, you know he doesn't mean it like that."

"He means that Josh can play the tricks you and Cory taught him on any girl unless that girl is me." I rolled my eyes and stood up, hoping to get a break from the conversation. I needed someone to listen, someone to understand. I really wanted Josh, but first I needed friends. Well, friends other than Riley.

I walked to my room and reached for my phone, hoping that someone would listen and someone would take my side. I stumbled upon a group chat containing me, Lucas, Riley, Smackle, Farkle, and Zay. Since I didn't want to deal with Riley, I decided to start a new group text between me, Lucas, Smackle, Farkle, and Zay.

Hey, do you guys want to meet at Topanga's? I could use some friends. -Maya

Smackle and Farkle both texted back right away that they would meet at Topanga's in a few minutes. Lucas couldn't make it because he didn't want to exclude Riley. Zay replied after a while and agreed to come as well. I left my house without addressing Shawn and my mom, and I made my way towards Topanga's.

Right when I reached the coffee shop, I noticed Smackle and Farkle sitting in our usual chairs, waiting for me to arrive. I sat on the couch by myself and took a deep breath. Although it had been hard for Farkle and Smackle to give advice like this in the past, I hoped that they would understand and at least support my decisions.

Zay showed up a few minutes later. He sat down next to me on the couch as well. "So what happened, Maya?" Farkle asked.

"Yeah, why didn't you invite Riley?" Smackle followed.

My eyes shot up at Smackle and I instantly regretted inviting her. I did like Smackle, but I wasn't in the mood for her comments. But despite it all, Smackle made a great friend. And I needed more of those if I no longer had Riley. "Riley is the problem."

"What do you mean?" Zay asked.

I shrugged. "Josh and I...Josh, Riley's uncle, and I are together. We started...I don't know, dating, I guess. We haven't labeled it."

Smackle's eyes lit up. "Boing?!"

I nodded. "Yeah, Boing." I waited to see if anyone else had an opinion about that, and then continued. "Well we went out last night. And when we got home, Riley's dad lectured us about how I'm too young for him and how he's gonna hurt me. Riley took his side."

"Riley took Mr. Matthews' side? Over yours?" Farkle's face displayed obvious confusion. Riley always chose my side. I still didn't understand why she suddenly chose Cory's.

I just nodded and waited for someone else to say something. "Maya...you and Riley will get through this." I think that came from Zay. "You always do."

"I hope so." I sighed. "I could really use my best friend right now."

Smackle decided to change the subject. "So you and Uncle Boing?" She seemed excited, exactly how I wanted Riley to behave.

"Yeah," I couldn't help but let a smile escape. Smackle and I went back and forth talking about all things me and Josh for a long time and the boys just rolled their eyes, annoyed by how obsessed the two of us got about things like this.

After all of that, I regretted the little bit of annoyance I felt towards Smackle. I needed a friend, and without Riley I needed a girl more than anything. And Smackle wanted that too. So I embraced it, and hoped that I would grow to love Smackle as much as I loved Riley, fully knowing it was impossible.

A/N: I'm sorry it's been so long since the last update. I've been on spring break and kind of going through some stuff the last couple of weeks. I finally finished this chapter though so here it is! Hopefully the updates happen a lot more quickly from now on. Please let me know what you think of this chapter and any predictions for future chapters. Thanks!