Title: Sooner or Later
Category: Television Shows » Girl Meets World
Author: And The Moment's Gone
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Words: 3,729
Warnings/Spoilers: The kids are in High School, Josh is at NYU, Cory still lives in denial.
Summary: "I changed my mind." Josh watched her eyebrow rise as she took a sip of her drink, Lucas turning to accept felicitations from Riley and Will. "Suddenly you look very fourteen."
Official Disclaimer: All Girl Meets World characters and plots belong to Disney Channel, Marc Jacobs, and April Kelly, I do not hold stock either the company or the people. Maya Hart, Joshua Matthews and any other character featured are NOT mine. The title comes from the Mat Kearney song Sooner or Later and I don't own that either.
There's a lot to be said about receiving an invite to spend New Year's Eve at one of the most exclusive parties in New York City.
It was another thing entirely when this party was being held in the Rainbow Room at the top of the Comcast Building, complete with open bar, car service, and formal reception station-style buffet.
Trying his hardest not to whistle at the opulence around him, Josh tucked his date's hand into his arm and slowly descended the stairs. The room in front of them was decked in silvers and golds and mint green with crystal everywhere. Both Josh and his date had already checked their coats, and a well-dressed assistant with a clipboard waited for them at the bottom of the steps, presumably to help them find their seats. Behind him, his roommate had already started to question whether Josh had to kiss or kill someone to score something this epic for their holiday celebration.
He wasn't entirely sure how to tell him that all he had done was show up to a family game night a few nights ago. Farkle and Maya had done the rest.
They paused, allowing the assistant extra time to converse with whoever it was in front of them. "I just got lucky, I guess."
"Lucky?" The assistant was flipping through pages, seeming more than a little agitated at the fact that she didn't immediately recognize them. "Name please?"
"Joshua –"
"Matthews!" Maya bounced up to them on too tall heels and wrapped her arms around him in an attempt to steady herself. "He's with us, Claudia!" Releasing him just as quickly as he was grabbed, Maya bounced back a step, before launching herself at Christian. "We'll take him too."
Her date appeared next, tall and dapper in the same suit he wore to Homecoming. "You guys are at table four," Lucas informed them as he wrapped an arm around Maya's waist. "Matthews."
"Friar," Josh didn't hesitate to shake Lucas's hand. "Lucas Friar, this is Ellie Holmes, future Nobel physicist."
"Tall order," Lucas whistled after a moment, trying to keep Maya upright and carry on the conversation without actually splitting his attention. Josh noted that he was doing a much better job than anyone would give him credit for. The normally short blonde was explaining the hierarchy of the party to Christian and his new girlfriend. "That is Maya Hart."
"How much has Maya Hart had to drink?" Josh was only partially joking. He had yet to have the privilege of seeing her completely gone before, but something told him that he might learn a thing or two tonight.
"Half a pear Bellini." When Josh's eyes widened, Lucas nodded. "What you see before you is a combination of espresso shots and pixie sticks." Maya giggled at something Allison said behind them, and Lucas managed to distractedly walk her away from the entrance. "It was Riley's idea."
"She's peppier than I am," Maya made it back to the conversation, completing an abbreviated pirouette in her date's arms to face the proper direction. "Let that sink in for a minute." The draped overlay of her one-shouldered cocktail dress still fluttering as she gesticulated.
At the Minkus's request – and he could thank Topanga's annoyance for the fact that he also knew it was on the Minkus's dime – both girls had been outfitted in darker shades of mint green in order to signify that they were with the family. He hadn't understood it when Farkle had tried to explain the inner workings of Jennifer Bassett-Minkus's party planning, but he did appreciate the results. As they neared the tables to the left of the dais, Josh caught a glimpse of Riley in her knee-length lace sheath dress.
Lucas seemed to catch his eye over the top of Maya's head. "Sugar and Spice," he agreed as if he could read his mind.
Another pirouette and Maya did her best game show model impression as she presented the table behind her. "We're on the other side of the railing," She waved at Riley and Will and turned to her left. "Mr. Minkus and the baby Minkii are more toward the back."
'Baby Minkii' was a vast understatement, but Josh was used to Maya's generalizations. Farkle was the oldest of four, his sister Imogen sharing their table. At fifteen, she and her best friend had been allowed to actually join in the revels of the New Year. The twins, Leighton and Keegan, were back at the table with their parents. The party hadn't officially started yet, and they both looked like they were seconds away from falling asleep on their plates. Josh guessed that was what happened when seven-year-olds decided they were big enough to celebrate with their siblings.
Which brought up the fact that the twins were the only ones in the room who actually had food.
Riley wrapped an arm around him, kissing his cheek and introducing herself to Ellie in one smooth motion. "Buffet starts after Mr. Minkus makes the welcome announcement," she pointed over to the stage where Stuart Minkus had seemed to teleport to,
"Dad's got this big speech," Farkle leaned over the railing, handing two glasses to a waiter. "He thanks the big wigs and the employees that are here, introduces the family and then pronounces it food time." All in all he seemed rather bored with the prospect. "But hey, since the twins are here, we're not required to actually go up on stage this year."
"You guys do this every year?" Ellie had set her purse down, snagged her water glass from her place and rejoined then, threading her arm through Josh's.
"Five times a year." The waiter returned with new glasses of sparkling cider, and Farkle turned to pass them to his sister. "New Years – which is never in the same place twice, Mom said she's considering doing yachts in the Hudson next year. The Minkus International anniversary lunch, which seems to be exclusive to the Central Park Conservatory Garden. Then there's the Family Fun Day in the Hamptons and the 'Big Thank You' party." He was ticking the names off of his fingers now. "And the MI Christmas party, no one under 18 please." His last sentence came out in an almost perfect impression of his father, complete with the arm tucked in the jacket and the shake of his head. "Then there's the Mikus Charitable Foundation stuff, but Mom does most of those speeches."
"And you have to go to all of them?"
Maya's hips shifted to the beat of the instrumental pop song playing through the speakers on stage, her hip popping against her best friend's. "Do not knock the BTY party," she said seriously, waving her finger in his general direction.
"And we got to spend at week at the Minkus place after Family Fun day last year," Riley agreed.
"There may be moments of stuffy businessy stuff," Maya's mouth quirked and she shrugged. "But the parties are kind of epic."
Farkle bowed slighty, nodding to where Isadora Smackle was making her way through the crowd in a strapless calf length cocktail dress with thick lace accents. "And I get the added benefit of being able to surround myself with beautiful women."
Watching Smackle skirt past her, Maya smirked. "We're going to 'fashionably late' this evening are we?"
"If a girl looks like this when she gets here," Farkle took his date's hand, lifting it up to drop a kiss to her knuckles. "Who gives a damn if she's late."
There was a low 'ohhh' coming from the two girls by the step, and Riley waved in the general direction of her date, Lucas, and Josh. "It seems you've all been outclassed." Maya caught Lucas's eye, and when he winked, she blushed. "Why, oh why could we not have chosen to date Farkle?"
"If you had tried," Isadora set her clutch down at the place setting next to where Farkle had left his suit jacket. "I would have been forced to atomize your entire existence."
"Yeah," Maya hopped off of her step and moved closer to her date. "Somehow that's no less scary when she's in formal wear."
Lucas dropped a kiss to Maya's forehead, relieving the waiter that seemed to be hovering just outside the group of a champagne flute garnished with pomegranate seeds and a thin slice of pear. A Pilsner flute was set on the table at his elbow, and the Texan nodded his thanks. "I'll protect you." Josh watched him whisper to the blonde, handing her the Bellini.
"We're staying in the Minkus guest suite tonight," Maya popped up and kissed him on the nose. While Riley clapped encouragingly, Josh threw a questioning look to Farkle. "You're already getting laid."
"Are they always like this?"
With Farkle having a quick conversation with his mother, it was Will that answered him. "Not at all," he leaned over the railing in order to converse without having to be loud. "We usually get one or two public displays and a hell of a lot of banter." Lucas had talked Maya into heading back to their table, and Riley fluffed the skirt of Smackle's dress one more time, helping her check her make-up before the darker haired girl took her date's hand and was led through the crowd.
"Duty calls!" Farkle called behind him. "Someone keep Maya away from my drink."
"Spoilsport!" Maya shouted back, reaching over and taking a tentative sip of whatever was in Farkle's glass. She made a face, dropping the glass back down to the table with a groan. "Seriously?"
"If everyone could be seated please?" The voice belonged to the woman Josh would forever refer to as 'assistant number one,' and she had ditched the clipboard in favor of a handheld wireless microphone. Everyone slid into their seats, minus the Minkus's – both Farkle and Imogen had taken their plus ones up to the stage with them – and Riley and Maya seemed to be content perched on their dates laps to her better views. "Thank you. It is my esteemed privilege to present to you, a man that needs no introduction: Mister Stuart Minkus."
Applause erupted and Josh watched Stuart kiss the twins on the forehead on his way up the stage, his wife following closely after. She stood off to the side, just at the top of the steps, as Stuart took the mic from his assistant, whispering something to her before moving to the center of the stage.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen," Stuart Minkus held the microphone in one hand and a drink in the other, looking every bit the Fortune 500 CEO that he was. Where Farkle and his sister were on the causal side of formal, in a three-piece suit and cocktail dress respectively, the patriarch was decked out in full black tie. "Now I promised my kids that this speech was going to be short this year. Apparently dinner doesn't start until I step off the stage." From her place at the side of the stage, Imogen shook her head and muttered something about how telling everyone that isn't making his speech shorter. "Sorry sweetie." The rest of the room just laughed.
"I had an entire speech ready for this evening, full of references to stock prices, and talks of how the year we're leaving has been amazing to us all." Jennifer smiled indulgingly as if she's the one that had written the speech that Stuart was lamenting the loss of.
He didn't need Riley's voice behind him to say that it was entirely possibly that she had.
"I scrapped it all before even getting in the car tonight." There was a nervous chuckle around the room, and Josh watched Stuart's smile turn contemplative. "While getting ready for this evening, one of my eldest son's friends quoted T.S. Eliot in the middle of my kitchen." The laugh was behind him now, and Josh didn't even think about turning around. "And I thought if she could make sense of the last year of her life with two sentences, why can't the rest of us.
"'For last year's words belong to last years language, and next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.'" He raised his wine glass, wrapping his free hand around his wife and pulling her closer to him. "May we all have a bright and prosperous 2019, filled with only good blessings! Happy New Year!"
The room erupted in cheers and 'hear hears' and Stuart could be heard dimly over the sound system as the turned to his daughter and kissed her forehead. "Was that quick enough for you sweetie?"
"Where's your date?"
Josh turned, just in time to see Maya hop up next to him. He'd wandered out onto the terrace early, hoping to grab one of the tables to make it easier to watch the fireworks, and Maya set her glass down beside the votive and readjusted her double-breasted shearling coat. She hadn't buttoned the coat, and the ends still seemed to flap no matter how many times she puled them together.
"Bathroom," Josh pointed vaguely in the direction of the hallway inside Sixtyfive and Maya nodded understandingly.
"Five minutes to midnight and she's braving the line." Maya whistled, her eyes scanning the top of the city. Briefly his niece's voice skittered through his head reminding him that this was the first time Maya had been this high up in the city.
Then he snapped back to what Maya had just said. "There's a line?"
"There are three hundred people here," her laugh was almost contagious, and she took a quick sip of her Bellini. "Even if only half of them are women, there's most definitely a line to the ladies room."
Well, that most definitely sucked.
Still, Christian and Allison were supposed to be following him out, the promise of fireworks from the Hudson, East River, and Central Park being too good to pass up. And he could always catch a kiss later in the evening. El was already planning on staying with them so she didn't have to deal with campus security.
"Did you know that German folklore says that the first person you encounter in a new year, and how the interaction goes, is supposed to set the tone for the rest of the year?" Maya had her back to the city now, watching his face as she finished off her glass. She set it on the table to her left, "Your brother insists on telling us that every year."
"You can take the teacher out of school…" He had to admit the adage definitely fit with Cory. "He comes by it honestly, though, Feeny was all about how every day was an opportunity to learn something new." Josh remembered getting to middle school and realizing that his brother's favorite educator – and their next-door neighbor – was now his principal. While he didn't get the lectures that Cory and Shawn boasted of from their youth, he'd been forced to learn a thing or two when detention beckoned.
Maya nodded, crossing her arms against her chest and turning back to the cityscape. "The New Years kiss is about strengthening ties you want to preserve in the future."
The sentence seemed nonsequential, but one look to her eyes proved that she hadn't been sure what to say, so she just went back to her original train of thought. Her eyes caught something on the other side of the terrace, and he raised an eyebrow. "You trying to tell me you're invested in my New Years kiss?" He asked slowly.
The laugh that bubbled from her lips forced his smiled wider. "Do I look fourteen?" Tongue planted firmly in cheek, Maya reached a hand out taking a second champagne flute from Riley and seeming to fold the younger girl into her coat. Riley was in flats for this venture, so they seemed to be close to the same height now. "Where the hell is your coat, Pumpkin?"
He couldn't hear Riley's response, but marveled at how Maya handed the flute she had just received back off to Lucas – without looking at him or speaking – so she could wrap both arms around her best friend. Lucas took a step to the side after a moment, Will sidestepping him so he could drape Riley's oversized coat around her shoulders and pull her to him. Maya dropped a kiss to Riley's forehead before taking the flute back and randomly fist bumping Farkle, who had appeared on the other side of the table with his date and sister.
In the middle of a conversation with Smackle, where they seemed to be debating scientific terms for something that he didn't catch, Farkle took a quick sip of his drink and continued to gesticulate wildly, his left arm not moving as emphatically as his right. Lucas's phone had materialized at some point, and he and Riley were shouting greetings and 'Happy Early New Years' at the screen.
Maya checked her own phone; her smile fading somewhat when Josh realized that she had no messages. For a split second, Josh thought of trying to get her attention. Of anything that he could say or do to get the laughter back into her eyes. He was a firm believer that no one should ever be down while surrounded by friends.
"Brought you a drink." Christian handed him a champagne flute, steadying two others in his other hand for his date. "Where's El? Getting out here was a bitch."
"Bathroom." Josh caught Maya's eye, "I think she got caught in the line."
Allison nodded in understanding. "Hopefully she makes it before the fireworks start." From their spot, they would be able to easily make out the Hudson River and Central Park fireworks. They'd have to shift a little further to the right in order to clearly see the East River. "This view is amazing!"
"One minute to midnight!" Farkle tucked the microphone into his suit jacket with the same stealth that he had pulled it out, and Riley almost shrieked.
"I wanna say something!" Riley practically shouted and Lucas bopped Maya on the nose with a pointed "No."
The blonde held her hands up in surrender. "I don't want it." She announced.
Farkle gave her an appreciative smile – after all, Maya was the only one that would actually pose a threat if she'd gotten it into her head to get the microphone – and picked his glass up from the table. "Any last minute resolutions?"
At the exact same time, Riley and Maya turned to each other, smiles bright. "Talk less!" They announced in unison, each wagging a finger at the other, "Smile more!"
"I'm gonna stop going to see musicals with you crazy people." Will's smile told the group that he was lying, horribly, but the girls giggled nonetheless.
The microphone was back out, and Farkle rotated his wrist to see his watch before turning it on. "Who's ready to start counting?" The crowd on the terrace - and it didn't amaze Josh that it seemed to be the younger crowd - started cheering. "TEN!"
The chant was taken up immediately, Riley and Smackle hopping to the countdown.
"SEVEN!"
Lucas slid past Will, holding both flutes and smirking down at the blonde. Josh couldn't help the grin on his own face when Maya's smile returned, accepting her glass and grabbing a hold of Lucas's tie.
She pulled Lucas down into a kiss even before the count hit 5, twining both arms around his neck and forcing him to brace one hand on the glass behind her. Riley clapped her hands and giggled, and Farkle just rolled his eyes and shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips. From what he had gathered, while they weren't shy about their arrangement, public displays of affection were few and far between for the blondes, only appearing during special occasions.
"THREE!"
Riley wrapped her arm around Josh's, noting his lack of date and determining that she was going to ensure that no one felt excluded.
"TWO!"
He and Christian bumped fists, the excitement seeming to multiply for something that happened every year.
"ONE!"
"Happy New Year!"
The entire terrace erupted into cheers and loud kisses, Christian and Allison no different. Josh turned to give them a second of privacy, thankful that the fireworks over Central Park had begun right as the clock struck the new day so he wouldn't be stuck desperately hoping that no one accused him of playing the voyeur.
To the other side of him, Maya tucked the top of her head into Lucas's chin, both of them seeming to whisper back and forth for a second.
He was vaguely aware of Lucas whispering 'go for it.' Before Maya released the taller boy, turning more fully to him.
The kiss she planted on him was simple and sweet, her lips off center, and landing on his cheek just as much as his lips. It lasted all of two seconds, and Maya's hand came up to brush her lip-gloss off of his cheek even as she pulled away. It was the same kind of kiss his niece was bestowing on Farkle on the other side of the table, and Will on Smackle. It meant nothing more than a handful of teenagers enjoying their last New Years as a cohesive unit. Her arms came up around his neck, and he was instantly aware of the cold crystal of her champagne flute pressing against the back of his neck as she breathed on his ear.
"Happy New Year."
Lucas's arms were around her waist again, and Maya stepped back into him with a twinkle in her eye.
"I changed my mind." Josh watched her eyebrow rise as she took a sip of her drink, Lucas turning to accept felicitations from Riley and Will. "Suddenly you look very fourteen."
Maya's wink caught him off guard as she wrapped her arms around her best friend and she and Riley shared a quick peck. Ellie appeared then, apologizing about being unable to get through the crowd in time and pulling him in for a quick kiss. When he tucked her into space in front of him to watch the fireworks, he swore he could still her the petite blonde laughing beside him.
