SS 118

By the time the uber Josh had called pulled up in front of Sashas building, Maya had done her best to wipe her lipstick back into place, and scraped her long blonde hair back into a bun on the top of her head. She was noticeably drunk and she didn't want the driver to think that she was about to throw up in his car. She couldn't afford a 200 dollar cleaning charge.

The ghost of Maya's red lipstick was still smeared around Josh's mouth, and as soon as they were settled into the back seat Maya reached out and wiped it away with her leaned against Josh and let him put his arm around her as she closed her eyes. She was just the right level of drunk, where her whole body felt warm and tingly and all her muscles felt relaxed. She was glad that she and Josh had left the party when they had, because another drink or two would tip her over the edge from her fun drunk self to a total slob.

Josh's phone vibrated in his pocket. Maya opened her eyes at the sound just as Josh pulled the device out of his pocket and hit accept on the call.

"Hey man" Josh said, holding his phone up to his ear.

"Hey" Maya could hear the muffled sound of Randall's voice on the other side of the line. Without thinking much about what she was doing, Maya reached out and took the phone from her boyfriend's hand. Josh willingly handed it over as Maya held it flat on her palm between them and hit the speaker button.

"Raaandy" Maya's voice came out in only the way a drunk girls could.

"Hey Maya" Randall answered, sounding genuinely pleased to hear from her.

"What's up?" Maya asked, as if it were completely normal to be taking a call from it at 2 am.

"Where are you guys?"

"A cab" she answered helpfully " Somewhere on Houston Street"

"We just left Kates," Josh clarified.

"Ahh I was calling to see if you guys are there. What the hell went down? Kate just called me in utter hysterics. I'm getting dressed to go down there"

Maya snatched the phone and held it directly up to her lips.

"Do not. I repeat. Do not. Come down here. Kate is fine, she's just being a baby. Also, she dumped you dude! Don't go running the first time she calls"

"It sounded like she needed help" Randall explained, although his voice was not as clear as before.

"She's just pissed that tonight wasn't all about her." Maya said, not thinking about what was coming out of her mouth.

"She couldn't stand that people were having more fun at Austins party than at hers. And on top of that she's pissed that you didn't come tonight so she could look all mature and adult by being friends with her ex's. That's bullshit you know Rand? She doesn't want to be your friend, she wants to keep you on a string, always there when she needs someone to play with. Cut the cord Rand. Cut the damn cord"

"Damn" Josh said under his breath.

"Damn is right" Randy stated.

"Was that too harsh?" Maya asked, suddenly concerned that she'd let her drunk words go too far with her sober thoughts.

"No, I needed that'' Randy promised. " She does have me on a string. I was about to go across town in the middle of the night to comfort her about her ruined wine and cheese night. You're right. It's bullshit"

"Bullshit" Maya echoed. "You're better than that Rand. You know what you need?"

"No but i'm sure you're going to tell me"

"You need to have a little fun my guy. Let loose. Pretend you're not an accountant for 5 minutes"

"I happen to think that tax law is fun" Randy defended.

"Something different then" Maya pivoted, changing tactics. " Something to get Kate out of your system. It's been weeks now. You have to get out" Maya proclaimed. Josh bit his lip, trying to conceal his amusement.

" I love you guys and everything, but I really don't want to go to dirty bars and hit on random girls. That has never worked out well for me"

"No, it hasn't. Because you're a nice guy, and not the type of guy who thinks he's a nice guy but is really just an asshole with good grammar. Like a genuinely good person. So we're not going to troll bars for women, although I think I would be amazing at that" Maya added as a side note.

" and nice guys deserve nice girls" Maya went on. "So next weekend I am setting you up. I have the perfect girl in mind" She proclaimed.

"I don't know Maya," Randall hesitated.

"I'm not taking no for an answer"

"I wouldn't fight her on this one" Josh advised.

"Alright alright" Randy gave in stifling a large yawn. "Now i'm going back to sleep"

Maya tossed Josh's phone back to him, closing her eyes and leaning back against the seat.

"You're not setting him up with Sasha are you?" Josh asked, half concerned and half amused. Maya scoffed.

"I said a nice girl. Not that I don't think they wouldn't have fun but Sasha would eat him alive."

"So you're going to set him up with Riley? You really think she's ready for that?" Maya rolled her eyes.

"I know more than one nice person you know"

"Huh. I was kind of under the impression that Riley was your only other friend besides me" Josh teased.

Maya shoved against his side. "Shut up!"

"So you're not a Kate fan huh?

"Ugh" Maya groaned, leaning forward and dropping her head in her hands.

"I was hoping you didn't hear that."

"I was sitting right next to you," Josh pointed out.

"Then I was hoping you were too drunk to be paying attention"

"Come on, what's up?" he prompted, pulling her hands away from her face and holding them in his own.

"I don't want to bash your friends but Kate is kind of a , I mean sometimes she's, um"

"A bitch?" The cab driver offered.

"Yeah that" Maya grabbed onto.

"I get the vibe that she doesn't always want me around," Maya admitted. Josh furrowed his brow.

" That can't be true. I would have noticed"

"No offense babe but you aren't exactly the master of picking up passive aggression. Sometimes what you see as her being nice is actually her talking down to me."

'Shit" Josh slumped back against his seat, eyes unfocused.

"Look it isn't a big deal. I'm never going to be best friends with the girl.I'll go to her parties and make polite small talk but i'm not going to braid the girls hair. That's yeah we could say that i'm firmly on team Randal" Maya teased, trying to lighten the mood.

"You're sure that's it?" Maya nodded.

"I promise"

"Now I personally think we should stop talking about this, start making out in the back of this cab, and then go get falafel"

Josh laughed out loud.

"You are so weird. I love you" he said through a grin, his hand sliding up her leg and bringing his face closer to heres.

"Damn straight" she teased back, pulling Josh closer by the front of his shirt.

"Sir, I will tip you handsomely to keep your eyes on the road" Maya called to the driver as Josh's hand moved under her shirt and grazed over the bare skin of her stomach.

The driver shot her a thumbs up and continued onwards towards their destination.