written by Lehanna

Note: Since season 2 didn't have a Christmas episode, this is a scene that maybe would have happened. It takes place before Girl Meets New Year's, obviously. This story contains some Joshaya.

...

While the revelation that Maya liked Lucas was shocking, things would be at least normal during Christmas. Well, that's what Maya hoped. She would have dinner with the Matthews and Shawn, and she wouldn't have to worry about what her feelings for him were until she saw him next.

"Guess who I just found out is visiting!" Riley shouted out to Topanga and Maya who were decorating the tree together. The two females didn't respond. "Uncle Josh!"

Maya inhaled sharply and whipped around. "What?"

"Since he's living in New York anyway, he's visiting us. He should be here any minute," Riley explained. Joshua was pretty much an older brother to her, so the news was very exciting. Maya, however, was not as excited.

"You mean hot Uncle Boing?!" Maya shouted. She put the ornament she was holding back into the box and flopped onto the couch. "This is terrible!"

"Why, exactly?" Topanga questioned. Last time she checked, Maya was in love with Josh. What had happened?

The blonde put her head in her hands. "Because I'm already so confused with this Lucas thing. Now, I have to deal with how I feel about your way-too attractive uncle!"

Part of Riley felt happy that Maya's feelings for Josh would be brought back out. Maybe then she wouldn't like Lucas anymore. Was it selfish for Riley to hope for that? She didn't want to prevent Maya from dating Lucas, so the best she could do was hope that Maya would fall for someone else.

"What am I gonna do?" She paced around the room, running her shaky hands through her hair. The door opened causing her to yell in fright. Behind the door was not Joshua, but Shawn. Maya brought him into a hug. "Oh, good. It's you!"

"Thanks? I would've thought Cory was going to be the one to hug me first." He hugged the girl back.

Sure enough, Cory came running out of his bedroom with his arms wide open. "Shawnie!"

"Cor!"

The three women rolled their eyes at Cory's attachment to the man. It wasn't that long ago since they last saw each other. While the two men were having their moment, the door opened to reveal another familiar face, Joshua Gabriel Matthews.

Maya crossed her arms and averted her gaze. She couldn't like both him and Lucas. She just couldn't! She finally looked up at him after hearing her name being said by him. "Yeah?"

"It's nice to see you," Josh said. Maya had a feeling that he really meant it. He had a certain look on his face. If Maya were crazy she would think that that look meant Josh actually liked her back, but it couldn't mean that. He didn't reciprocate her feelings. Right?

She stared at him awkwardly, unsure of how to respond. "You too."

"Yeah…" Josh added. Shawn gave Cory a questioning look, wondering why on earth the two teenagers seemed so weird around each other.

"Well, bye!" Maya told him. She went up to Riley's room in a hurry. It would be too awkward and uncomfortable for her to stay in the living room with her unrequited crush that she wasn't even supposed to have.

Maya managed to successfully avoid Josh for most of Christmas Eve. Sadly now she would have to have dinner with him, which is completely unavoidable. Unless she faked a stomach ache or something. "No, no! I need to face this and get over my crush on him."

Topanga called the girls down for dinner. Maya sighed and entered the kitchen with Riley. She saw Josh and Shawn sitting next to each other at the table. Luckily the spot next to Shawn was open so she didn't have to sit next to Josh.

"So...what's with you two?" Shawn finally asked. The odd demeanor that they both had was too obvious for him to miss.

Maya knew exactly who he was referring to but still questioned, "What's with who?"

"You and Josh. You seem so weird around each other." Despite the fact that he and Maya were very close, and he was dating Maya's mom, Maya never talked about her love life with him. He had no clue about her crushes on Lucas and Josh.

"Do we?" Maya sighed. She knew what she had to do. "Josh, can I talk to you in private?"

"Uh, sure." Maya pulled his hand to drag him to the other room. Once they were there, Joshua casually asked, "Want did you want to talk about?"

"Did Riley tell you about the Lucas thing?" she interrogated.

His mouth formed an o in realization. Riley had mentioned to him before that Maya developed a crush on Lucas. "Yeah. I hear you like him."

"I do...I think." To tell the truth, Maya wasn't completely sure about how she felt about Lucas. She gets two different feelings when she's around Josh and Lucas. Was it because they were two different people or because she felt differently about them?"

Josh then asked the one question she didn't want to hear. "Do you still like me?"

Maya stared at him. "Yes. I keep trying to get rid of my feelings for you, but I still like you...a lot. My romantic life is very complicated right now." She forced a smile.

"Why would you want to get rid of your feelings on me? I mean, not that I care or anything..." he lied. He glanced around the room in hopes of convincing Maya that he really didn't care.

"I already like my best friend's crush. I don't want to like my best friend's uncle too!" she groaned.

Josh looked at Maya, unsure of what to do. He desperately wanted to admit that he liked her back, but didn't think it was the right time. She was dealing with the Lucas drama right now. The last thing he wanted to do was create more problems for her.

Riley walked into the room. "Mom wants you two to hurry up so we can open our presents." Maya quickly walked to the living room, not wanting to deal with her feelings any longer.

Josh crossed his arms and looked at Riley. "I guess we're both hiding our true feelings, huh?"

Riley frowned. "Yeah." Josh was the only one she had told about still liking Lucas. It felt good to have someone that she could share her true feelings with and that also understood her.

"If she decides that she doesn't like Lucas, I think I'm gonna tell her I like her," Joshua stated.

"Really?" Riley widened her eyes. "Do you mind doing that now?"

Josh laughed. "As much as I want to...no. I want her to decide her feelings for herself."

"You're too nice," Riley pouted. "Now let's go before Mom gets mad."

"An angry Topanga is a scary Topanga," he commented with a grin.