Shout-Outs: ranggy, Guest (Lynn), Guest (Carolyn) and Galpalcj

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Rated: T

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Chapter 8

"You should cut your hair," Maya said as she cooked dinner because Freedom had taken Riley to pick up the truck from the mechanic.

"I don't think so."

"Why?" Maya asked. "Are you afraid one of the girls here will realize how handsome you are and attach themselves to you for the rest of their lives?"

"I like being alone."

Maya frowned. "I don't believe you. Nobody likes being alone."

"Yeah. Well, nobody's you," Josh answered, opening a beer and raising it to her. "I drink to your health, good lady."

Maya covered the pot of water she had put on the stove and shook her head, batting her eyelashes at him. "Come on Josh. Do it as a wedding present for me."

Josh took a sip straight from the bottle and shook his head. "Nope."

"Well then, let me do it for you!" Maya pleaded. "Please."

Josh realized he was still powerless when it came to her. Time and distance had done nothing except maybe made him love her more, which seemed impossible, because he had already loved her more than he could ever fathom when they had been together.

"Why?" Josh asked.

"I told you why," Maya answered, rinsing her hands off and flicking water at him. "You're never going to get a girlfriend with a beard and a man bun. I don't care how well you pull it off."

"I told you, I don't want a girlfriend."

Maya came and took the bottle of Samuel Adam's out of his hand. "Well then, do it so I can remember you the way you used to be when we first fell in love," she said quietly.

"We can't go back," Josh told her quietly.

"No. I know. We can only move forward," Maya said, reaching out and rubbing his cheek.

"Do it," Josh replied. "I can always grow it out again after you leave."

Maya beamed and hurried off to find scissors and a razor before he could change his mind.

She invaded his album collection and put on some music then got started on his hair, humming along with James Bay as she pulled out his ponytail. Her fingers on the nape of his neck caused his whole body to erupt in tingles.

"You're going to look so good," Maya mused as she trimmed away the length.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Josh asked, ignoring the way he wanted to take her into his arms and kiss her senseless.

"Zach has me cut his hair all the time," Maya answered. "He refuses to pay to get his haircut so he had me learn how to do it."

"Oh."

"He's not a bad sort," Maya said, carefully snipping around his ears. "He's just not. . ."

"Just not. . . what?" Josh pressed even though he had an inkling of what she was going to say next. He had always been able to read her, even when they had been just friends.

"Never mind," Maya answered. "Why didn't you come to Lucas and Riley's wedding? I've always wondered and Riley never said."

"I couldn't face you," Josh replied because it was a weekend for honesty and clearing the air between them. "Not after the way I had left things, not after the way I had left you. It wasn't one of those teenage CW dramas where the girl would take the boy back after he had done something stupid or royally screwed up."

"You watch teenage CW dramas?" Maya teased.

"No. But you and Riley talked about them often enough when we were dating," Josh said. "I never understood why she always took him back after he did all those nasty things to her."

"Because she loved him despite everything he put her through," Maya told him. "And you didn't do half the things he did. Besides, this is real life. Not a television show."

"Yeah and you never get a happy ending in real life."

"But you get a happy middle," Maya answered. "And your parents did get a happy ending. When it was their time to go, they went together. Neither of them had to be alone for the next twenty years or fall in love all over again."

"Falling in love again. . ."

"Isn't as easy as you would think it would be!" Maya insisted. "Take it from me, okay? There are some days I've woken up and wished I could see you again. . . even if it was just one more time. But I don't really want it to be one more time I want it to be forever. It makes me feel guilty because if I really loved Zach, then I wouldn't be thinking about you."

"But you're allowed to move on."

"I don't think we're the sort of people who were made to move on," Maya murmured.

"What?" Josh asked even though he had heard her.

"Nothing!" Maya answered quickly.

"Okay," Josh said, letting her off the hook.

They both fell into a familiar, comfortable kind of silence that Josh realized he had missed. The kind he had only ever shared with her.

Twenty minutes later, she was combing out his hair. "There! Much better!" she proclaimed, spinning him around so she could get a better look at him. "Now for the beard!"

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"Pinterest is going to be a great help!" Maya told him as she pulled up the app on her phone and punched how to shave beards into the search engine. She got another chair and sat down, her legs brushing against his as she did.

They both tensed up at the contact but it didn't stop Maya from lathering his face up with shaving cream and coming at him with a razor.

"Ouch!" Josh said when she got to his top lip.

"Ooops! Sorry!" Maya answered, kissing her pointer finger and pressing it on the area she had nicked. "This is harder than shaving my legs. . . well, except maybe for my knees."

Josh smirked. "Nobody asked you to give me a shave."

"Ha! Well, it's too late to turn back now!" Maya said. "You don't want to go around with one part of your face shaved and the other part hairy. Now do you?"

"No."

"I didn't think so," Maya replied, smiling at him. "Now, shhh! Let me finish! It'll be worth it when I'm done. Okay?"

"Fine," Josh complied, closing his mouth and his eyes.

Maya wiped the leftover shaving cream away a few minutes later. "There! You're back!"

"I was still me," Josh told her.

Maya shook her head. "No. You really weren't," she answered looking at him sadly.

Josh acted on instinct and took her in his arms. His mouth crashed into her's on its own accord. She was kissing him back. He stood up and took her with him, clutching her like his life depended on it. It had been so long since the last time he had kissed her except he didn't forget the curve of her lips or the way her hair felt under his fingertips.

He couldn't believe he had ever given her up.

"I love you," he murmured in her ear before kissing her again.

Maya choked and buried her face in shoulder before turning her face towards him and letting him capture her lips with his.

"Maya! Josh! The truck is finished!" Riley said breezing into the kitchen. "Oh my. . . what are you two doing!?"

"Riley!" Maya pushed Josh away. "We were. . . I got Josh to shave and cut his hair," she finished lamely.

Riley nodded. "You look nice Josh. Is dinner ready yet? I'm starving!"

"I'll order pizza," Josh said. "We kind of forgot to finish dinner with everything going on."

"Maya?" Riley turned to look at her.

"We have to go," Maya told her. "As soon as Josh is in bed, we have to go."

"Without saying anything to Josh?" Riley asked.

"I can't. . . I can't say goodbye," Maya replied.

Riley reached out and squeezed her friend's hands and nodded. "We'll go then. No questions asked. It'll be okay."

"Thank you," Maya said, hugging her.

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He watched them leave but he didn't try to stop them or to say goodbye. It felt like it was payback for the time he had left her in the middle of the night. He didn't deserve long, weepy goodbyes.

He hadn't even deserved to see her ever again. He considered the last few days a gift. He had never imagined he would get a chance to dance with her again or feel her fingertips on his skin or her lips on his mouth.

Sure she hadn't decided to stay with him - and he didn't think she ever would have even if he had asked her to - but she had wanted to see him during the last few days as an unmarried woman and that had to mean something.

Get in your car. Go after her. . . ask her to stay. She still loves you, she said as much.

Josh rubbed his freshly shaved face and sighed in frustration at his subconscious. It wasn't that simple. He had complicated everything the night he had left five years earlier.

He knew there was no getting it back.

It was too late.

TBC. . .

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Author's Note:

Do I still have your attention? I hope so because we are getting so close to the happy ending. Did you expect anything less from me? If you expected I'd give you an angsty ending, you don't know me very well.

Stay tuned for more. I'll be back soon, I promise.

Lots of Love,

Holly, 5/4/2016