a|n - literally your reviews make my day, so many of you want to know what Josh is doing and you won't know until much later

btw I hope some of you like reading the joshaya scenes bc I sure love writing them x

Waking up felt weird.

There was an arm wrapped strongly around her waist and she could feel someone's breath blowing on her forehead. Her eyes opened when she took in the musky cologne scent, to her surprise (and horror) the person she was cuddling with was Josh.

This was bad. So, so bad.

Especially because everything in her body was telling her not to leave that spot on the...couch? Maya didn't really knew where they were and if they were on the couch, that meant that Shawn must've seen them. If he did, he probably took a picture so he could humiliate her later. Though her sapphire eyes didn't stray from Josh's peaceful face to search for her stepdad.

It was strange being so close to him and seeing how peaceful he looked. Pieces of ebony hair had fallen in the front of his face and she gently pushed them away. He looked so young when he was asleep, his skin was clear of any stress or acne and his lips were...

No! She shouldn't be looking at his lips. No matter how soft they look or how they would feel against her own...

She needed to leave. The guy was asleep and was still making her heart race and her mind think inappropriately. All of a sudden she felt the arm around her waist tighten as he brought her closer to his chest. He grumbled, "Gorgeous?"

Why did his morning voice have to sound attractive too? Maya's shut immediately, hoping that if he saw that she was asleep then he'll go back to sleep too. Her plan worked when Josh stopped trying to adjust them and his breath evened out again.

Carefully, she lifted his arm off her waist and rolled off the couch and onto the floor. Her phone was on the table and checked the time, it was eleven o'clock. Her and Josh must've stayed up really late.

Memories rushed into her mind while she went to her room to put on some sneakers, she couldn't be in the house when Josh woke up. Instead of acknowledging the awkward cuddling he'd probably say something charming about her absence like, "I missed you this morning, gorgeous."

And she was definitely sticking around to hear it and blush like some lovestruck school girl.

Grabbing her keys from her nightstand, she made her way to the living room, past Josh's sleeping figure and out the door. Some fresh air would surely do her some good.

What type of best friend doesn't pick up their phone?

Farkle Minkus, that's who. He still hadn't responded to the mass of texts she sent him last night about Josh and how she told him about her and Riley. She even text him about how Shawn told her to keep Josh's presence at their house a secret (for reasons still unknown to her).

Did Shawn know that Josh was sneaking out every night or was she supposed to keep that a secret too? Her mind would drift off to last night as the continued to walk the long blocks of Manhattan.

"So, how about another game? I promise to go easy on you this time." It was like he knew exactly what to say to take her mind off of Riley because she immediately looked at him with lifting her eyebrow, challenging him.

"Is that so? You're too kind."

"Only for you. Want to race on Rainbow Road again?" Maya nodded and they were off racing again and talking trash about the other. Then for some reason (she blames it on the fact that it was midnight and she was tired) Maya moved her body so she was laying horizontally with her feet on the arm of the couch and her head on Josh's lap.

Mid race, he suddenly froze as he slowly looked down to find Maya staring at the TV. She looked as comfortable as ever laying there and it took a few moments for Josh to get his mind away from the blonde in his lap and onto the game.

Once he was focused again, he was in first place with Maya close in second. And (because she was tired and feeling ballsy all of a sudden) she decided to tickle his side. The most adorable and boyish laugh she's ever heard escaped his lips then while he twitched so he could avoid her wandering fingers.

"Maya! No, you're gonna make me lose!" He kept moving his remote higher up due to the fact that she completely abandoned her own remote and was dedicated to sabotaging him.

"Good. Next time, you won't cheat." Maya was up and chest to chest with him also making sure to block his view of the TV.

At the end of their struggle, Josh ended up getting tenth place. His dark eyes were practically warning her that was what to come next wasn't going to benefit Maya whatsoever.

His nimble fingers reached out and met her waist before running along her ribs, his muscled arms trapped her in his embrace, "Josh, stop." She said in between breaths.

"Not until you apologize." Josh was grinning and chuckling at her outbursts of laughter. She shook her head as his evil fingers continued their journey over her cotton t-shirt.

"In your dreams, Matthews."

A creak from the master bedroom was what put an end to their fun. Josh placed his hand over Maya's mouth to stop her giggling as they waited to see if Shawn or her mother were awake.

Nothing happened so Josh turned his attention to the strangely giddy girl beneath him, "What's up with you, smiley?" Something wet slid across his palm before he pulled his hand away from her mouth in disgust.

"Real mature."

She stuck her tongue out at him and moved to get up but once her feet touched the hardwood floor, Josh grabbed her waist and pulled her back to him, "Josh!" She exclaimed.

"You can't leave until you apologize." He mumbled into her hair. She twisted around so that she could look at him, though she regretted it because they were extremely close.

"Then I guess I'm not leaving."

And she could've sworn that he whispered, "Good."

Completely annoyed (with Josh for being annoyingly charming and at Farkle for ignoring her), she decided to leave Farkle voicemails as well.

"You better be dead because there is really no other reason you're not answering my texts or calls."

"Seriously, Farkle? I kind of need someone to talk to."

"I could be in the forest being mauled by a bear and you wouldn't know because you refuse to answer your phone!"

"This is the last time I call you for advice! I don't need it anyway."

There would've been more voicemails to come because Maya was relentless but the sound of someone crying stopped her. Her subconscious had led her to Washington Square Park which was far enough away from Josh that she wasn't worried.

What worried her was the familiarity of the crying. Maya kept walking in the direction of the melancholy sound until she spotted cinnamon brown hair cascading over the face of Riley Matthews.

She was sitting on a stone bench with her head in her hands and people passing her by, looking curiously. Maya would've been disgusted with what people found so interesting about Riley being upset but then again, she herself was curious. Riley should be happy, she got to spend twenty minutes uninterrupted, talking to Lucas Friar (the boy she supposedly wants to marry).

"Riley?" Maya said uncertainly even though she was absolutely it was Riley.

Abruptly, she lifted her head and looked around before her eyes landed on the small blonde girl in front of her, "Maya! Uh, hi."

Maybe she should've just kept walking.

No! Riley seemed like she needed someone to talk to based on how upset she looked. Her brown eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks looked blotchy. She wasn't wearing what typical royals wore, she just wore sweats, a hoodie and her beat up beige (originally white) converse.

"Are you okay? Did something happen?" Without an invitation, Maya took it upon herself to sit on the bench next to her ex best friend, ready to listen.

But she simply shook her head, "It's not a big deal. I'm just overreacting, besides I'm sure you have better things to do then listen to the dumb things that are happening in my life."

Not really...

Besides, maybe she could subtly tell Riley about the conflicting emotions she's been having with Josh.

"No, it isn't. You can't keep that stuff inside, you know. It's bad for us teenagers."

Her brown eyes flicked around Maya's face, searching for any sort of tell that she was lying but Maya was sincere. Anything that was bothering Riley, she wanted to know about.

"Fine, but when I say it out loud, I feel like it's going to sound really stupid."

Maya rolled her eyes, "Just tell me!"

"So, I like this guy and I know that we can't date. It shouldn't bother me what he does and doesn't do but somehow it still does. Anyway, the guy, well I saw him kiss a girl and it just made me awful. For some reason, I thought maybe the guy liked me. It's stupid right?" The whole time, her eyes remained focused on the tainted concrete ground beneath them.

"You're too harsh on yourself sometimes, Riles. If you and the guy you like are meant to be then it'll happen, if not then you shouldn't worry about it. Any guy would be lucky to have you."

Riley sniffled, "It's weird hearing you talk about fate because the last guy that you were interested in was Uncle Josh and you didn't seem to care about fate at all." Then she laughed at the blush that came across Maya's cheeks. Even when she was blocks away, she couldn't escape that boy.

"Yeah, I guess I was really crazy about him."