Chapter Twenty- Truth Time, Part 3
"We have to lie, Boing...I got it all figured out...we can um...we can go along with Riley's lie...about me having a nightmare and you taking me for a drive...I think we can figure this out, you know?"
Josh didn't respond. He simply kept driving towards Cedar Heights Memorial hospital.
"But I'm like...I'm all dressed up though...crap!...Shawn can't see me like this...I'll need to wash away my makeup when we get to the hospital...And uh...maybe I'll ask a nurse if they have any slippers? I'm gonna take off my boots...so Shawn doesn't see how I'm dressed...Josh, are you listening?"
Josh simply nodded as he kept his eyes fixed on the road.
"Well, are you gonna say something? Why aren't you saying anything? What do you think about my ideas?! We need to come up with a plan, Josh!" Maya cried out at him in frustration.
Josh sighed and ran a hand slowly through his hair as he frantically thought of a plan. "I dunno Maya...I don't think we can lie our way out of this one..."
"We have to try, Josh!"
"I don't think that's the best idea," Josh responded solemnly. "I think I have to tell Shawn the truth..."
"Josh-"
"Maya, you saw his text," Josh explained. "He said the consequences will be worse if he finds out that I lied about tonight...I have to tell him the truth...I'm sorry, Maya...I really am...I'm an idiot...I..." His voice trailed off. He had nothing more to say. He could apologize a million times to her for making yet another stupid decision that had placed their relationship in jeopardy but what would be the point?
"Josh, if you tell him the truth, it's all over. Don't you get it? Didn't you say he was gonna break us up if we got caught? So, why would you let that happen?" Maya shot back in a frustrated tone. "We have to lie...Riley already made up a lie for us...so let's just go along with it...he doesn't have any proof that we went to a nightclub...so he will just have to go along with the lie...get it? This could work..."
Josh slowly shook his head at her. "I can't lie, Maya."
"Why not?!"
"Because, the truth is already out," Josh explained calmly. "He doesn't believe Riles since she was acting nervous...we didn't pick up our phones several times when he called...he knows I'm a screw-up...and we're still in our clubbing clothes..there's no way we can lie our way out of this, Maya...it's just gonna make things worse...we have to tell him the truth."
"No Josh, we can't!" Maya retorted sharply. "Oh my God, we admit to him that that's what we did, he's gonna break us up."
"Hopefully, he won't," Josh responded.
"How do you know?"
"Because of what he said in his text," Josh replied. "Hopefully, he's gonna appreciate that we were honest with him...and he will ground me, or us, without breaking us up. I'm hoping that that's what he's gonna do...but I dunno..."
Maya rubbed her face in frustration as she leaned back on her seat.
"Ugh...I've gotta get rid of this makeup..." She muttered. "I think you're making a mistake Josh...I think telling the truth is a huge mistake..."
Josh sighed. "No. Taking you to a nightclub tonight was a huge mistake, Maya...you deserve better...you deserve a boyfriend who's not gonna be screwing up all the time..."
"Don't say that Josh-"
"It's true. I could say a million sorrys Maya, but it's not gonna make up for the fact that I've placed us in a shitty situation yet again because of my stupidity..." He shook his head slowly as he parked the car in-front of the hospital.
"Josh, please stop beating yourself up," Maya consoled him. "You're a great boyfriend. I've been bugging you to take me to a club for a while now...and I'm really glad that you did. I had a really fun time dancing...at least, until all of this happened...You're not stupid, Josh, and you didn't do anything wrong, ok?"
Josh sighed in response. "We're here," He stated softly. "You ready to go?"
"So, we're gonna tell the truth?" Maya asked him one last time as she felt her heart pounding in fear.
Josh hesitated for a moment as he thought about her question. He was absolutely terrified. Shawn's message had sent a chill down his spine. He didn't know exactly how Shawn was going to react...he didn't know what was going to happen ultimately to their relationship...but he knew that he had no choice at this point but to tell the truth. I'm expecting the complete truth about your whereabouts tonight. If I don't get that and I find out that you lied, the consequences will be worse than if you simply tell me the truth.
Josh couldn't get those threatening words out of his head.
"Yes, Maya. We're going to tell the truth," He answered her question.
Josh's heart was racing as he waited for Shawn to react to the information he had just provided him. They were sitting alone in the hospital lobby waiting room. Maya had insisted on joining the conversation but Cory had convinced her to allow Shawn and Josh to speak privately for a few minutes. Josh held nothing back as he told Shawn the entire truth of where he had been with Maya that night. After speaking, he waited anxiously for Shawn's response. After what seemed like an eternity, Shawn Hunter finally spoke.
"Josh, if I were to tell you that I don't think you and Maya are mature enough to be dating each other right now- would you agree with me? Or disagree?" He asked him.
Josh stared at him in confusion. He had not been expecting to answer any philosophical questions. Was he mature enough to date Maya? He had no clue.
"Um...I don't know Shawn..." He muttered.
"Ok, that's a fair, honest response," Shawn replied. "Of course, you don't know...there's not really much you know about relationships and love at your age...trust me. So it's my job- well, I should say, it's our job- me and Katy- to point this out to you, Baby Matthews, so you guys don't keep banging your heads on the wall in the dark. I don't think you're ready to be dating Maya. Period. And I think Katy would agree with me on this considering the highly questionable decision you made tonight. I think you and Maya rushed into this relationship...and I don't want to say that 'I told you so' but I had a feeling that something like what happened tonight was going to happen which is why I was never a fan of the way you guys rushed things..." Shawn paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before he continued speaking.
"I'm going to make this short and simple enough for you to understand, Baby Matthews," He stated. "I think you initially had the right idea when you wanted to wait to date her. I don't think you guys are ready now. I think you were smart enough to be concerned about the age difference between you two, and it's something that you need to think about now. The fact that you took her to a nightclub...of all places...knowing very well that she is extremely underage-I mean, heck, you're underage but she...she's fifteen, Josh. I mean, what the hell were you thinking?"
"See, the thing is, had you guys waited until you were both older to date, none of this would really be a problem...do you see my point?"
Josh nodded. "Yeah," He muttered.
"You're both at very different stages in your lives, Josh," Shawn pointed out. "You're in college. You're 18. You're trying to experience all the 'adult' things that an 18 year old wants to experience...including the illegal stuff that you're supposed to wait until 21 to experience but of course, since you're in college and independent, you try to experience anyway...and, for the most part, if you're responsible and you don't go crazy with it...don't do drugs!...you can get away with it...because you're at a point in your life where Mommy and Daddy aren't hovering over you anymore...you are learning to be an adult...and you have a whole new independence which will help shape you into an adult without your parents holding your hands like they did when you were in high school..."
"But the problem is that Maya is not there yet...your girlfriend is not there yet, Josh. She's not gonna get there for another three years...she still needs Mommy and Daddy to hold her hands as she navigates through a very confusing period of her life where she's yearning for independence but she really also wants Mommy and Daddy to be around because deep down within, she's still an innocent child. She thinks she's ready to become an adult...she's extremely curious about all the things you're experiencing but she's nowhere near ready to experience them Josh...and at the end of the day, the more you try to expose her to the things you're experiencing, the more it's gonna cause conflict between you and between her parents who still have a say- at this point- in what experiences their daughter should be exposed to at the age of fifteen. You understand where I'm coming from?"
"Yeah," Josh nodded.
"No you don't. Not quite," Shawn retorted with an amused smile. "You will though, Josh, once you become a father. You will understand everything I'm rambling about right now. It will all make sense. This conversation we're having now- it's gonna flash back like lightening in your mind. You wanna know the first thing I thought of when you mentioned that you took her to a nightclub?"
"What?" Josh asked him curiously.
"I thought of everything that could have gone horribly wrong to hurt her at the club. She could have gotten sexually assaulted by some drunk jerk at a moment when you were not there, or you weren't looking, or you were there but you just wouldn't be able to protect her because this drunk jerk is bigger and stronger than you...she could have gotten exposed to drugs and alcohol and left the nightclub suddenly curious to try something that she saw over there cos it looked cool and everyone was doing it...if you guys had gotten away with this, she could have thought...I wanna do more 'college' things...how about more parties? how about more clubs? how about drinking and drugs and sex?...I mean, why not? My boyfriend can do it! So why can't I?! Do you see where I'm going with this, Josh?"
"Yeah," Josh muttered.
"The point that I'm trying to make is that you can't get to college unless you get through high school. Life is filled with steps. You take the first step in order to get to the second. If you start skipping steps, if you start rushing, that's when you start getting into trouble. There are no shortcuts in life, Josh. Slow and steady always wins the race...Maya is skipping steps because she's your girlfriend and so she thinks she can...you had a high school experience...she's not. She's shooting straight for college. Do you see the problem?"
Josh nodded solemnly.
"I'm not gonna be the one that breaks you guys up, Josh. I'm sick and tired of being the bad guy," Shawn told him. "You're the one who made the decision tonight to take a fifteen year old to a nightclub. You're the one who originally told me that you wanted to play- what did you call it?- oh, I remember- 'the long game'...you wanted to be friends with her until you felt ready to date her when she was 18. I personally didn't understand what the hell you were talking about then, but now that I think about it, it sounded a lot better than what I'm seeing now. So, the ball is in your court, Baby Matthews. You started this. And you have to finish it. And you have to tell her what your decision is."
"Before you make your decision though, the only advice I can give you is that relationships are hard enough when you and your partner are going through similar experiences in your lives. They become almost impossible when you're at completely different stages in your life. You two are growing in different ways, you're perceiving things differently, you want different things and there will be constant conflict not only between you, but with the parents as well- if they are playing a key role in the relationship. There's nothing wrong with waiting, Baby Matthews. You will be surprised sometimes how much waiting can make things stronger and better than they were before. If you talk to your brother, he might be able to tell you a little bit about that. He and Topanga waited for a lot of important things in their relationship, and ultimately, it made them a stronger couple. And not to mention, it taught them patience- which is a very important quality in any successful relationship."
"So, yeah. I'm done talking, Josh. I think I've said enough tonight," Shawn informed him as he stood up and faced him. "I'm not grounding you this time around. I'm not doing anything to you. Like I said, the ball is in your court. You decide. And let me know once you've made your decision so I can be there for my daughter. I'm gonna go upstairs now and talk to her. Feel free to take your time to think things through and join us whenever you're ready. Thanks for telling me the truth tonight. I'm sure it wasn't easy for you to do that. So, I appreciate that. I'll see you upstairs."
With a pale look on his face, Josh watched quietly as Shawn Hunter left him and entered the elevator to head to the sixth floor where his girlfriend was waiting.