"Lucas! You have to move the poster to the right. Higher! Higher!" Riley ordered as he boyfriend stood on a ladder in the former's home. "Perfect!" Riley cheesed as Lucas finally got it in the right position. "See! Everything looks amazing."
Lucas stepped down from the ladder and backed away so he was next to his girlfriend. "It looks perfect Riles. You did a great job with everything."
Looking around his girlfriend's home Lucas took note of everything going on around them. Zay was in the kitchen fixing the food, Farkle and Smackle were fixing the audio equipment, Cory and Topanga were even off getting Josh's parents. Lucas looked over in the living room and took note of Charlie and Missy setting up the games. "You even got Missy and Charlie here. You're amazing Riley," Lucas finished.
Riley shrugged and smiled. "Charlie wasn't hard at all. It was Missy that gave me a lot of trouble but I broke through. Missy is important to Maya and Maya is important to me so I have to try."
Lucas pulled Riley in closer to his body and hugged her tight. "Maya and Josh are going to love this."
Riley smiled up at her boyfriend and pecked his lips. "I sure hope so. Come on they'll be here soon. We have a few more things to fix."
"Maya can you please move a little bit faster? We were supposed to be at Cory's thirty minutes ago." Josh stood waiting for Maya with Aiden in his arms by their front door. He heard nothing yet and sighed impatiently as he waited. "Your mother will one day be the death of me," Josh muttered to Aiden.
Maya finally walked out towards the front of their apartment, fixing her earring. "I'm here, I'm here. Let's go!"
Josh and Maya bustled out of their apartment building in a haste as they were already very late. But that wasn't new, between a baby and Maya always taking way too long everyone expected it. Strapping their son in the car and driving to Greenwich, Josh and Maya sat in a blissful silence as they drove. "Hey," Josh whispered as he took Maya's whilst he drove.
Maya looked over at him and smiled. "Yeah?"
"I'm really proud of you."
Maya furrowed her brows together and laughed. "For what?"
"Stopping smoking. I know we both made some pretty crappy choices but it killed me to see you doing that to your body," Josh explained.
Maya nodded and sighed. "Yeah," she began. "I'm glad you stopped your extracurricular as well." Maya frowned for a moment. "But can we not bring it up anymore? I just feel like we've made so much progress and I'd hate it we somehow got sucked back into it by talking about it."
Josh nodded softly and squeezed Maya's hand as he paid attention to the road. "Of course. We're almost there anyways." Silence fell between them for a moment before Josh asked a question. "How do you feel about marriage?"
Maya frowned and looked over at her partner. "Why?"
Josh shrugged. "Just wondering. You know there are a lot of married people in our lives so I was just wondering where you stood on it. Cory and Topanga, my parents, your parents."
"Well," Maya began. "Marriage seems fine. I understand all the legal benefits of it I just- I don't know. You know my mom and Kermit were a train wreck and I just don't want to be anything like that."
"But remember your Mom has Shawn now. Happy endings do exist. I just want you to remember that is all."
Maya gritted her teeth and turned attention to the road as she subtly dropped the subject. Just waiting to get to Riley's.
Walking into the apartment Josh and Maya were greeted with their closest friends and family. "Oh my god!" Maya laughed as she saw all the familiar faces. "What are you all doing here?" she asked as she gave everyone a hug.
Amy walked over and swiftly stole Aiden from Josh's arms and kissed her son's cheek. "Well Riley called us all and encouraged us to come up here and spend sometime with you two. We haven't all been together since this little man was born."
Maya looked over at her best friend and smiled. She mouthed her gratitude and made her rounds before settling next to her friend in their first ever meeting spot- the bay window. "Riles."
"Maya," Riley smiled.
Maya looked at the brunette and smiled. "All of this is amazing. You always know how to make me feel loved."
The pair leaned in and hugged each other. "Of course honey. I love you more than anything. I even called Missy for you," she pointed out.
Maya laughed and pushed a hair behind her ear. "Yeah I noticed that. You are very mature Ms. Matthews."
They both shared a laugh and held a longing look with each other. "I've missed you Maya."
"I've missed you. You should come over more," Maya encouraged. "I know I've been a mess lately but I'm trying to do better all around you know? Be a better mom, better partner, better friend. It's just hard between everything to get a chance to hang out the way we used to."
Riley reached out and grasped Maya's knee. "You don't have to apologize. I can only imagine what kind of stress you've been under. Which is why I planned all of this. I wanted you to have a night where maybe you could feel like a teenager again. You know? Before life got all serious." Riley stood as she continued to speak, "Which is why I brought out a very special game for us to play tonight." Riley held out a hand to her friend and urged her to take it. "Come on. If everything is going to schedule then Lucas should be pulling it out right about now."
Maya, perplexed, furrowed her brows and grasped Riley's hand. "Oh god. I swear if Farkle or Zay are doing anything weird when we get down there I'm taking my baby and running."
Riley led Maya downstairs and looked at all their friends and family. Maya locked eyes with Josh from across the room and they shared a smile, knowing what was going to happen. Josh smiled and took a deep breath as he called everyone over. "Alright come on everyone. Let's get going if we're gonna be done by sunrise. We're playing the Long Game."