Shout-outs: bloodrose28, kitawolf12, Discursus, ChocoholicMonkeyfish, VoniBerry, Guest, k, Guest, slayjaylee, Guest, momeeto2, Anabana06, peachy007 and selmon

Rated: T

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Chapter 10

"Maya, I need to talk to you."

Maya looked at Josh, suddenly filled with dread because she knew what was coming next. She plucked the strings of her guitar and pretended to be engrossed in what she was doing. "Sorry. I can't. I'm busy right now."

But Josh wasn't going to take no for an answer, for the first time in a long time he knew exactly what he wanted. For the first time in a long time, he felt whole again.

"Maya," Josh said again. "We need to talk. I'm not going to take no for an answer."

Maya eyed him wearily. "Josh, we agreed. . ."

"I know. We should have left a little bit of room for falling in love."

Maya swallowed hard. Yes, she had fallen in love with him too but for her it wasn't real because she hadn't written it down or said it aloud or dared even to think about it when the first stirrings of new love had started to overtake her like an ocean wave.

"Falling in love," she repeated, putting her guitar down and standing up. "Josh. . . you shouldn't have. . . I'm terrible at it. At sex, at love. . . at relationships. I was supposed to be your rebound girl. I was supposed to be the one who helped ease you back on the dating scene. I wasn't supposed to be the girl you fell in love with."

"I'm not good at casual sex and dating," Josh answered, coming over to her and pushing her hair behind her ears, framing her face in his hands.

"Josh. . ." Maya whispered, putting her hands over his with every intention of pushing them away. "Josh this was a mistake."

"No it wasn't," Josh whispered back. "There are rarely any mistakes. Everything happens for a reason. Including us meeting and starting whatever this was."

"I told myself not to get attached," Maya mumbled.

"So, you love me too?" Josh asked hopefully.

"Josh. . ."

"Stop saying that," he pleaded. "Please. Say anything else except for Josh. You say it so reproachfully."

"I do love you too," Maya said closing her eyes as the words fell from her mouth.

Josh kissed her then and she kissed him back, everything faded and it was just the two of them in the whole entire world.

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"What are we going to do Josh?" Maya asked as they made breakfast for dinner. "We have one of two options. We visit each other and try to make the long distance thing work until we drive each other crazy. Or we can end it now."

"End it now?" Josh repeated. "Maya we just said we love each other. How can we end it after that!?"

"It'll hurt a little bit in the beginning but we'll get used to it," Maya answered. "After a while."

"You have a funny way of looking at life," Josh muttered.

"I told you, I'm no good at this kind of stuff!"

"How about we try the first option?" Josh said. "To begin with. I'll come visit you when I can and you come visit me. We'll have long phone conversations and Facetime each other twice a week. During the summer, we can meet somewhere in the middle and spend three months together."

"What about the part where the distance starts to get too hard or we drive each other crazy?"

"We're not going to let that happen," Josh said firmly.

"How do you know? You don't know me at all. I know I can only complicate this, overthink it."

"No you won't," Josh answered. "Because I'm not going to let you."

"There won't be anything you can do about it," Maya said. "I am too far gone, I'm afraid."

"Even an old dog can learn new tricks."

"Spectacular wisdom, Mr. Matthews."

"I believe it," Josh told her.

Maya smiled at him in spite of herself. "Stop it."

"Seriously, I want to figure this out," Josh said.

Maya released a deep breath. "We'll think of something. Eventually. Maybe later. Right now, let's just celebrate Christmas and being together right now."

"Okay," Josh agreed reluctantly.

"Okay," Maya echoed, avoiding his eyes because she knew if she looked at him then she would agree to pick up her whole life to be with him and she didn't want to face that kind of commitment.

.

"Stop it Lucas!"

"What?" Lucas asked innocently.

"Stop looking at me!" Riley answered, blushing a little bit. "You shouldn't be looking at me like that right now!"

"I can't help it. You're so beautiful," Lucas replied.

"Stop it!" Riley repeated but she was laughing, so Lucas knew that she wasn't too serious.

On the day of her wedding, she didn't feel the sense of loss she had expected to feel for the weeks following it. She was a girl who had a future, a promise of a second chance at love whenever she was ready for it. Going to Tennessee for the holidays was one of the best decisions she had ever made even though she did miss her family.

"Hey Lucas, could I ask you a question?"

"Of course!"

"Do you have any vacation time set aside? I would love it if you came home with me for New Year's Eve."

Lucas grinned. "I think we could arrange something," he answered.

.

Josh had dozed off, his head resting on Maya's shoulder while she watched the time tick by. It was too fast. December 26th would be there too soon and then she would be leaving. They had both agreed to start out slow at first, talking on the phone and Facetiming even though she had been reluctant to do it at first but eventually he had convinced her to at least try it at first.

Maya sighed and shifted slightly, careful not to wake the slumbering young man. It wasn't that she didn't want to have a relationship with him. On the contrary, she did. He treated her better than any other man in her life ever had.

She was struggling to just let go and be with somebody without the fear that he was going to leave her when the going got tough. Josh promised that it wouldn't end badly. It still plagued her when it was time to start getting ready to leave for the airport.

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"I'm so excited that you're coming with me!" Riley said as they waited for a taxi to take them to the airport because Farkle and Isadora were still in Europe. "I can't wait for you to meet my family and to show you all my favorite places in New York!"

"I'm excited too!" Lucas answered, grinning at her. "Maybe I'll like it enough to come back and stay one day."

"Oh, I really hope so!" Riley replied, grinning at him.

.

"I'll just get a taxi," Maya said when Josh offered to take her to the airport outside the diner where they had pretended to eat western omelets and drink cold coffee. "We can say goodbye without making a scene."

"If that's what you really want," Josh answered.

"It is," Maya replied. "I'm not much for scenes."

Josh nodded. "We'll say our goodbyes now then."

He went in for a hug first, she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his neck. Both of them held on tightly before he let her go and gave her a couple of chaste kisses on the mouth.

"I'll be seeing you," Josh said.

"Soon," Maya promised, giving him another kiss before hailing a taxi.

She got one right away and didn't look back as she put her suitcase and guitar in the backseat before climbing in. She went through her purse and made sure she had her tickets and ID so she could get on the plane. She was having trouble breathing and there was something so unfamiliar to her forming in the corners of her eyes.

And then, for the first time in forever, Maya started to cry. The elderly man driving the cab looked at her in the rearview mirror, his expression worried.

"Are you doin' okay, miss?" He asked his New York accent thick.

"T-turn around!" Maya replied. "P-please turn around! I forgot something!"

"There's too much traffic, I can't just turn around!"

"I'm sorry but I have to go!" Maya said.

"Well, go then!" He said encouragingly.

Maya grabbed her things and made a run for it. She ran and she ran, not even stopping when her lungs started to burn and she got a stitch in her side. She dodged tourists and New Yorkers and started to yell for Josh before she even reached him.

He was standing at the diner with his back turned to her.

"Josh!" She shouted again, stopping short and putting her things down.

Josh turned around, his own face covered with tears.

"Maya. . ." He said. "What. . . you're still here! What are you still doing here?"

"I was thinking. . ." Maya trailed off and looked at him, wiping his tears away with gloved fingers. "That if I didn't stay then I wouldn't have a date for New Year's Eve and I just couldn't fathom being alone on New Year's Eve."

Josh started to laugh as he embraced her and picked her up, spinning her around and around as he kissed her. "Well, I'm just going to have to do something about that then."

TBC. . .

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Author's Note:

First things first, I want to thank everybody who came out and reviewed the last chapter of this story. I did not expect that kind of support. I expected six reviews at best! That would have been enough to keep me writing this story. Second of all, I want to thank everybody who took a chance on my Josh & Maya stories over the last six months. You guys are amazing. There is only one more chapter left in this story. I hope you'll be there for the final waltz.

I have so much to bring you this year! I can hardly wait.

Lots of love,

Holly, 1/2/2016_