AN: Hey all, here's Chapter 10! It's a short chapter but hopefully a good continuation of the story thus far. The good news is that I now have an outline of how I want the rest of the story to go. If I follow that outline, then the story is probably going to end up being longer than I anticipated but we'll see. Hopefully I will maintain the motivation to keep on writing :) Enjoy the read and as usual, feel free to review with feedback/comments/ideas. Chapter 11 is going to be the birthday dinner and Josh's conversation with Cory and Shawn (and Topanga and Katy-because you can never leave the wives out of a serious convo like that right? lol)

Chapter 10

Summary: Josh prepares for his birthday dinner

"I have a bad feeling about this, Boing!" Maya's voice rang out from his phone as Josh rushed around trying to get ready for his birthday dinner at Cory and Topanga's in an hour, while also listening to Maya's last minute attempt to convince him not to speak to Cory and Shawn that evening about the nature of their current relationship.

"Maya, we spoke about this," Josh sighed as he donned his shirt and started buttoning up. "I'm not going to tell them everything. Just the important stuff that we think they should know. Didn't we agree on this yesterday? It's gonna be fine."

"I hope so," Maya responded tentatively.

"By the way, just so you know," he continued with a small smile as he walked closer to the phone, "I missed my Friday night video game session with Drew because of our convo last night. He was not pleased."

"Doesn't he have a girlfriend? How come he's not hanging out with her? It's not like you're always going to be available!" Maya retorted.

Josh laughed. "He did hang out with her, but Jas' not gonna be playing video games with him for hours. Hence, he still needs me around, ya know?"

"Ay ya yai!" Maya cried out, "Well, that's just too bad, but he'll be aight. We have more pressing issues to deal with."

Josh smiled. "Anyway, where are you right now?" He asked curious.

"In my room," Maya replied. "I'm waiting for da parents so we can all head out together."

"Ha," Josh responded as he put on his jacket and glanced at his watch, "thought you woulda been at the bay window by now yapping away with Riles."

"Nah, busy day today. Mom wanted to bake you something so she asked me to help and then it turned into an all day bake session. Long story short, we're bringing a lotta desserts for dinner."

"Nice. I love your Mom!" Josh exclaimed. Maya laughed. "Well that's good cos she feels the same way about you too."

"I got the feeling when I spoke to her on Thursday that she pretty much knows everything about us and like one hundred percent approves," Josh said as he eyed his hair in the mirror and wondered if he should do anything to it.

"Well, almost everything." Maya answered. "She definitely doesn't know about the kissing and you're not gonna mention that to CorShawn right?"

Josh laughed at the couple nickname that she had randomly given to Cory and Shawn. He decided to leave his hair alone and simply pulled his beanie over it.

"For the millionth time kiddo, no, I'm not gonna mention any kissing in my little summary when I speak to them," he reassured her as he sat down on his bed, grabbed the phone and took it off speaker mode so he could press it to his ear. "However, like I told you yesterday, if they do ask me about it, I'll have to tell them the truth."

Maya sighed loudly. "I have so many things to say right now but given the fact that you're still the birthday boy, I shall control myself. All I can say is, I have a bad feeling about this. This is not gonna end well," She reiterated.

Josh sighed. "You sure you don't wanna join in on the convo as well? We can talk to them together?"

"Um, one hundred percent no." Maya responded emphatically. "Too awkward. This is your idea Boing and you're gonna have to deal with it yourself. I'm not getting involved. Anything goes wrong, I don't know you."

Josh chuckled in amusement. "Wow. Ok then. Point made, Ms. Hunter," He said.

"That's right," She responded.

"Wanna facetime me for a lil bit?" He asked her.

"You done moving around?" Maya asked.

"Yep. I'm all ready. Just need to head out the door."

"Ok. Call u in a sec."

Within two seconds, his phone was ringing again. He quickly accepted her Facetime call and grinned amusingly at the sight of her frowning face.

"Aww come on, you're not gonna give the birthday boy a smile?" He teased her.

"Nope. Me not happy. Nice beanie though," Maya immediately responded as she pouted at him.

"Then why'd I ask you to facetime me for? I was hoping to see a smile." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Well ya outta luck, boy," Maya responded with a straight face and a shrug.

Josh chuckled. "Hm...lemme see...how to make you smile…?" He pondered for a few seconds until he suddenly got an idea. Walking over to his desk, he held his phone straight up on top of the desk so that Maya could see the framed photos he had set up there.

"I want you to check out these photos," He told her excitedly. "I have a lot of photos obviously but these five are really important to me. Ok, here's the first one. Recognize it?" He moved the phone closer to the first framed picture.

"Um, yeah. That's the group photo from last two Christmases when I first called you Uncle Boing and you called me Gorgeous," Maya responded casually.

Josh laughed. "Of course you would remember that," He said shaking his head amusingly.

"Now this one you weren't there for. Christmas last year with the whole family in Philly." He moved the phone to the second photo which had every single Matthews in it as well as Mr. Feeny, their elderly neighbor and the Matthews kids' former teacher.

"Oh, nice," Maya replied. "We did our own thing last Christmas. First Christmas as a fam with Mom and Shawn's marriage and all."

"Yeah of course," Josh responded. "You guys definitely needed that time for yourselves. Ok, third photo! My parents and I- when I arrived on campus last August to officially start college." He moved the phone so Maya could see the details of the third photograph.

"Cute," Maya replied. "Wait, didn't Cory, Topanga and Riles come to this too?"

"Yes, they did! Check out the fourth photo! Cool uncle coming thru!" It was a picture of Josh, Auggie and Riley standing in front of what looked like Josh's dorm. Auggie was straddled on top of Josh's shoulders with a goofy grin on his face and his arms spread out wide as he pretended to be an airplane. Riley was all smiles as she stood next to Josh and Auggie.

"Awww," Maya responded with a fond smile as she gazed at the photograph.

"There it is." Josh pointed out as he checked her facial expression. "You are smiling!"

This made Maya roll her eyes and frown at him. "Ugh can you move your face away so I can keep looking at the picture please? Thank you." Josh chuckled and re-positioned the phone so she could continue staring at the photograph.

"You know," Josh observed, "you would've probably been in this pic if you had shown up that day. I remember asking Riley about you. She just said you were busy and it seemed like she didn't want to go into details so I didn't press it."

"Ye-ahh, I wasn't busy." Maya admitted. "I was just a lil embarrassed about showing up that's all."

"Wait, why?" Josh asked.

"Well the last time I came to NYU and ended up telling my feelings to all your friends was pretty embarrassing for me, although I didn't regret doing it at the time. Anywho, after that night, we didn't see each other again. So let's just say I felt super awkward tagging along with your family a few months later to help you move into college. I just kinda thought you would feel awkward having me around, and I would feel awkward too. So I didn't come." She shrugged.

Josh nodded in understanding. "Makes sense," He said. "Especially since you didn't know how I was feeling at the time and I certainly wasn't going to address it. So it would probably have been a little awkward. But anyway, I'm glad we're past that stage," He smiled.

"And now," He announced excitedly,"the last but certainly not the least photograph of the evening. Are you readayyyy?!"

Maya shrugged nonchalantly. "You're making a really big deal about this. Lemme guess, it's a cute pic of you getting your Boy scout award when you were like 11? For good behavior and basically being perfect?" She teased him.

"Not a bad guess, but I was never a Boy Scout," Josh replied.

"That's interesting cos you certainly act like one," Maya responded. "Neways, lemme see the darn pic already. Unless it's a flaming hot pic of you shirtless, I don't really get your excitement right now."

Josh grinned. "Oh, I don't display those. I keep those pics hidden on my phone." He winked at her.

"Oh. Holy crap," Maya burst out laughing at his comment.

"Just kidding….or am I?" He responded mischievously.

Maya just shook her head at him in shock. "Never thought I would see the day when Good Ole Boing turned naughty," She teased him. "I could definitely get used to this side of ya."

Josh chuckled. "Ye-ah, let's change the topic," he suggested as he scratched the back of his head nervously and cleared his throat loudly. "Here's the last photo." He shifted the phone so that she could see it.

Maya gasped in shock as the last framed photograph came into view. It was the selfie they had taken together just three days ago on his birthday. She couldn't believe her eyes as she gaped at the portrait of their smiling, beanie-clad faces perched serenely on his desk- almost as if it had always been there. He had actually chosen it as one of his five favorite photos- worthy of display to the world. Maya was speechless.

"Hello there. You doing ok?" Josh asked as he re-positioned his phone so they could see each other's faces again. Maya nodded as she felt her eyes slowly start to prickle with tears. Josh picked up on her facial expression right away.

"Uh-oh. You know, I showed you this to make you smile...but it looks like I caused the opposite reaction. I'm sorry," He told her softly.

"It's ok," Maya responded as she smiled warmly at him, and blinked back her tears. "I'm not gonna cry. I think my eyes are just allergic to really cheesy, cute or super unexpected sweet things that this guy called Boing sometimes does. But I've got an unlimited supply of Claritin, so I think I'm gonna be fine."

Josh grinned widely and affectionately at her. "Good," he replied. "Cos this Boing guy sounds like trouble. Keep that Claritin handy- you gotta protect yoself, gurl."

Maya chuckled softly at this, while shaking her head at him in amusement. "Ye-ahh, turns out I really like this Boing guy, despite all the trouble." She grinned at him.

Josh felt his heart skip a beat. "Well then, looks like you're gonna be stocking up on Claritin for a long while to come," He joked. Maya smiled warmly in return and for a few seconds they were lost in each other's gaze.

"Hey kid, you ready? We gotta go," Shawn's voice broke the trance between them as Maya quickly lowered her phone.

"Um yeah," She responded with a small smile. "I'll be there in a sec. I just...need to grab my bag."

"Ok," Shawn replied. "We're downstairs. See ya." He closed her door and walked away.

Maya lifted her phone again- only to see a dark screen.

"Josh? You still there?" She called out to him.

"Yep, hold on." He responded. She heard some movement in the background before his face re-appeared on her phone.

"I heard Shawn. You guys ready to leave?" He asked.

"Yep."

"Yeah, me too. Trying not to be late considering I'm the guest of honor, but we'll see," He grinned.

"You got like ten minutes to get there on time. Don't think that's gonna happen unless you can fly," Maya teased him.

Josh sighed. "No flying skills unfortunately but will do my best. Alright. I'm heading out. See you soon?"

"Yep. Bye."

"Bye Maya."

Josh hung up and grabbed his wallet and keys before heading out the door. It took him 5 minutes to get to the subway. As he waited for a train, he decided to send a couple of text messages. The first one was to Maya.

Josh: Hey, just wanted to reassure you (again) not to stress too much about tonight's CorShawn convo. I feel like ultimately it's going to be less stressful for us if they know what's going on. I'll make sure to work my lovely charm on them so try not to worry :)

Maya responded almost immediately.

Maya: You believing that your "lovely charm" will work on Shawn Hunter is exactly what makes me worried ;) Matthews doesn't count. He's your brother after all. See you soon, Boing. I'll make sure to plan a "lovely" funeral for you once it's all over :D

Josh grinned upon reading her reply.

With the train two minutes away, he decided to send his second text message. He already had the draft of the message written a couple days ago but kept hesitating to send it. He just couldn't help feeling uneasy about the entire exchange, and as usual, his thoughts were running wild as to exactly what her motives were for finally reaching out after two years of silence following their painful breakup the second semester of their Sophomore year at John Adams. Did she just want to catch up? Or to get some basic info about his experience at NYU which she had apparently applied to? Did she want closure? Did she want to be friends again? Was it all of the above? Was he ready to talk to her now at this point in his life and with everything that was going on in his life? Needless to say, he was overthinking everything and ended up not sending the message. But now, as he stood waiting for the train to attend his birthday dinner where he would eventually initiate a candid conversation with the father of the girl who could captivate him with a mere glance, he knew that it was time to hit the send button. It was time to face his past and resolve it so that he could finally move on. The guilt he still felt whenever he thought of her and how things had ended between them...the regret he still felt that his insensitivity and cluelessness ultimately cost him his best friend...the gnawing fear deep within him that she would not be the last to suffer from his mistakes... It was time for all these feelings that had been weighing him down for two years now in his own dungeon of sadness to finally be resolved. As conflicted as he had been when he first saw her message, he couldn't deny the fact that there was a huge part of him that felt relieved. He finally had a chance to make amends and to hopefully be forgiven. He finally had a chance to truly move on. Reviewing the message one more time and feeling satisfied with the content, he took a deep breath, and hit the send button:

Josh: Hey Anna! Thanks for the birthday wish! Really appreciate it. NYU is great! And I'm sure so is Columbia since it's Ivy League and all lol. I hope you get into your top choice school- I'm sure you will. I certainly wouldn't mind catching up with you and sharing my experiences at NYU. Perhaps we could do it in person? I'm coming back home for Spring break in March. So I'll be around the week of March 18th and will be leaving on Sunday, March 24th. Let me know whenever you will be available that week and maybe we can catch up? Hope all is well with you. Talk to you later.

The train finally arrived. He stepped in confidently, immediately inserted his earphones and allowed the rhythm of Coldplay's newest album and the lull of the moving train to carry him to his destination.