She could see into his bedroom window - which meant he could see into hers. You know that saying your mom used to use when they were at the playground? How if you couldn't see her, she couldn't see you? That had to work the other way around, right?

She hadn't much cared about him when they were kids; Joshua Matthews was the older boy who lived across the alleyway, and boys were gross. Her bedroom shades were usually closed, anyways, and her window locked; her mom didn't want her little kid climbing out onto the fire escape two floors up.

When did everything change for Maya?

Thirteen maybe. Or it might have been earlier, I'm pretty sure it was actually earlier. I think twelve. 7th grade.

Maya knew Joshua Matthews's sister Riley; they had been in the same class since they were seven. She didn't know her very well, despite the fact that they lived across the alleyway and probably should have been best friends. It was just that Riley kind of reminded Maya of cotton candy, you know? She was too nice, too happy, it almost felt artificial. She was sure that Riley was genuine, but she just couldn't handle being around that kind of… sickly sweet positivity, all the time. She was sure it would give her a toothache.

I bet Maya and Riley could have been really good friends, though. Maybe in another life. Or maybe if Riley had been the one in the bedroom right across from Maya's window. I guess everything could have been different, but that's just not how it turned out.

It was Josh in the window right across from Maya's.

It was Josh that Maya began to notice getting hotter and hotter throughout the years.

Maybe Maya was just attracted to older guys, or maybe it was just Josh. But she was around twelve (I think) when she started opening her window.

Maya's desk sat just under the window - on purpose. It had always been that way, so that she could get some natural light while painting or doing homework. At least during the daytime, I guess.

But the time she painted was just about around the time that Josh Matthews opened his window to get some natural light into his room while he worked out. He had some dumbbells that he would lift - I have no idea what weight, but it worked. At least, Maya thought so, as she watched his abs define and biceps swell. And he would lift them in the window, with the shades drawn back, and Maya could see it all as she painted.

It was the summer after ninth grade, though, that she got really interested. She was fifteen (or sixteen, maybe, I don't exactly remember what day her birthday was - but I do know that Josh Matthews's birthday was two years minus six weeks before hers), and he was two grades above her - both going to John Adams High. She'd watched him walk in the halls all year, her being a freshman and him a junior, and when she'd come home she'd open her shades and do her homework, one eye always on his window for when he'd get home from football practice. A couple times, she could swear he looked for her when he got home and opened his shades, but I don't know if he really did. I mean, he's two years older, and he's a football player. Sure, Maya was cool and definitely hot, but she was still two years younger than him. I think it was just Maya's wishful thinking.

That whole summer after ninth grade, Josh Matthews lifted weights - shirtless - in his window around 4pm. And Maya was always there, somehow, painting.

But the heatwave was when things really started to kick into high gear.

Greenwich Village was supposed to be a really nice place - it had to be, for the bills Maya's mom was always complaining about. But that summer a heatwave choked New York and shut everything down. Not just in Greenwich Village either, in almost all the boroughs, at some point during that week. For four days, while the city worked feverishly to get the power (and the AC) back on, the houses baked up to what felt like a thousand degrees to Maya, but I bet it was probably only about a hundred. Maya always loved to exaggerate.

But anyways, it was better to be outside on the fire escape than inside the oven that was her bedroom.

And that's how Maya Hart and Joshua Matthews found themselves on the fire escape that roped around their buildings at the same time - Josh doing reps and Maya drawing with charcoal.

Drawing a hot seventeen year old with sexy abs and a smile that made her heart flutter.

She hadn't planned it. Actually, she hadn't been planning anything that day - it was way too hot to think five minutes into the future. But there she was, wearing her favorite loose white tunic embroidered with flowers and her coolest (and shortest) shorts, her barefoot feet swinging off the edge of the fire escape with her legs threaded through the bars. And she was drawing Joshua Matthews.

She really should have been paying more attention to where he was, though.

"What are you drawing?"

Maya slapped the cover down on her sketchbook, her face snapping up to see the guy she'd never even spoken to standing over her, smirking as he wiped sweat off of his brow. Her face flamed red, but I think Josh probably thought it was just the heat. At least, that's what Maya was hoping.

"Nothing," she said, dropping the sketchbook next to her and threading her legs back through the bars before pulling herself up. She was much shorter than him, though, and she found herself standing in his shadow as the sun created a halo on his hair.

He was shirtless, his abs were glistening with sweat, and he was standing less than six inches from her.

Maya swallowed, forcing herself to keep her eyes on his.

Maya could swear they were standing like this, staring at each other for like, years. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't more than maybe fifteen seconds before Josh crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows with a grin.

"Shame, I thought it was me."

Maya's heart was beating faster than she had ever felt it beat. Searching her mind for something cool, or really, anything, to say, all she arrived with was,

"And if it was?"

Josh shrugged as he started back to his side of the fire escape. He turned back over his shoulder, letting his eyes sweep down and up over her body, before saying, "I'd want a copy."

A/N: I'm writing this story in a new kind of writing voice, kinda like the narrator from the Great Gatsby but not inserting myself into the story, you know? More like I'm telling this story to someone else as I heard it from her, with my own commentary. It's just something new I'm trying, idk, people might hate it.

This story is full on Joshaya all the way. Slow burn-ish. Won't be that long. Partially writing this because my Nodus Tollens fans want something Joshaya focused (Nodus Tollens is more complicated, can't focus only on Joshaya), but also not K-rated like Anecdoche. Unlike Nodus Tollens, this story has no set plot line and I'm 100% open to ideas and requests. I've got an idea of where it's going, but it's not in stone. So if you guys want something, review nicely and I'll try to incorporate it :)

Also age difference between Josh and Maya here is, like Nodus Tollens, 2 years. Maya and Riley aren't bffs here because I want to focus on Joshaya without having the whole 'you're dating my brother/uncle' dilemma.

Making a quick guide here for my stories, please don't hate me:

- Dramatic/Fluffy Joshaya, medium burn = LFIL (FIF) - aka this story

- Fluffy Joshaya, quick burn/minor established = Anecdoche

- Dramatic Joshaya, slow burn and angsty = Nodus Tollens

Don't give me hate for a plot line on one, just find one that suits what you want to read :)

Kisses,

C