I've read all the reviews, and I understand. Give me until the end of this chapter. Most will be explained, and the rest of my logic will be explained. Yes, Charlie is supposed to be a complete creep.

The celebration at the bakery was quite subdued. At least, Charlie had the sense to not show his face.

Topanga appeared next to Riley and Lucas, "Would anyone care to explain to me why this party is a celebration, but I've barely heard a peep out of anyone?"

Lucas and Riley looked at each other and shrugged, "Maybe we could talk outside, Mom?" Riley asked.

Corey joined the trio at the wrought iron table in front of the door.

"It was in the locker room afterwards, ma'am" Lucas started.

Corey sighed and paced over the wall and back.

"Go on," Topanga urged.

"Charlie was bragging about the hotel room he reserved for tomorrow night."

Corey looked shocked, while Topanga was turned red. Katy and Shawn had silently come out the door. Katy gasped and turned her face into Shawn's shoulder.

"Josh came in as we were confronting him. Charlie said some things even more insulting."

Corey laid a hand on Lucas's shoulder, "And you?"

"I'm okay, but Zay was about to teach him a lesson when Maya came in. She kicked him in the shins pretty hard and told him off in front of everyone."

"That's my baby girl!" Katy found her voice, while Shawn muttered, "Go, Maya!"

"Do you need any help?" Corey slipped into teacher mode.

Riley found her voice, "Tomorrow's prom!"

Corey breathed a sigh of relief. It couldn't be too bad if the dance was his daughter's top concern. "We can worry about that tomorrow."

"Sir, Charlie didn't have the nerve to come tonight. I think it will be okay"

Meanwhile, Maya had slipped outside to the loading dock in back to escape onlookers and the soft whispers. She'd never had strong feeling for Charlie while they were dating. Now all she felt was disgust, but looking back he'd always been a little smarmy. She wasn't looking forward to facing him again.

"Is this a party for one, or can I join you? I brought cake."

Maya turned to see Josh in the doorway with a couple bottles of water, a giant piece of cake, and two forks in his hand. She motioned to the ground next to her. "I'll make an exception for you since you brought cake."

"I knew that would work!" Josh gave a quick smile. He handed her the food as he sat. "How are you doing?"

"I'm here. I'm furious that he could say those things, and then I feel like a fool for letting my guard down around him."

"Both make sense."

"I don't know how I'm going to face him again. Shit! Prom's tomorrow night. I mean it's a stupid dance, but I was looking forward to going with everyone. I don't want to hide at home."

Josh turned to face Maya. He'd been thinking about this since halfway to the celebration. He was free. Maya was now free. He never wanted to see that stricken look on her face as she had when she entered the locker room. He took a deep breath, "Would it help if you had a date?"

"Josh, you don't have to do this."

"I want to, but I can't ask you, it's not my prom."

Maya couldn't believe her ears. "Josh, please, I don't want a pity date."

"Maya, it's not pity!" Josh knocked his head backwards on the brick, "I don't know what it is exactly. We said long game, and I don't know how it fits into it. Call me arrogant maybe I think that showing up with a college man will make it easier to face everyone. Maybe it's a friend helping a friend. Do I have to understand it all at this moment?"

Maya felt tears mist her eyes as she grabbed Josh's hand in both of hers. "No, you don't, but I had to ask. I'm second guessing a lot today." She took a deep breath, "Josh, would you do me the honor of attending prom with me?"

"I would."

Maya suddenly felt lighter than she had in hours and also hungry. She picked up the fork and dug into the cake. She went over the plan for the day with Josh paying more attention now that he would be attending.

When they finished the cake, Josh stood. "Let me walk you home."

Maya considered him for a second. It was still the kind of guy he was. "Sure."

Josh disappeared for a moment to throw away their trash. They started around the buildings to the sidewalk. Josh shoved his hands into his pocket. It was tempting to put an arm around her shoulders or to grab her hand, but he wanted to give her some space. "I should ask – what color is your dress?"

"It's red with this great handkerchief hemline. Why?"

"It's not going to be anything silly, but a guy needs to know these things."

"You aren't going to tell me?"

"No besides I don't know exactly what it is yet."

They had reached the entrance to Maya's apartment. They turned to face each other. Maya felt the words Charlie had said rise up like an elephant walking down the street. "Josh about what Charlie said…"

Josh couldn't resist reaching out to take her hand, "Maya, long game. You don't owe me an explanation. Besides I know most of what he said was crap."

"Thank you, Josh." Maya looked up at him.

Josh gave her a hug and couldn't resist kissing the top of her head. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow." Maya turned and entered the building.

Her Mom and Shawn would still be at the bakery for awhile. She grabbed some sweats and went to shower the day off of her. Returning to her room, she saw a shadow on the fire escape. She smiled. Zay had never gotten over his horror of people entering a room through the window. However, he had taken to climbing up the fire escape and waiting for people to join him outside.

"I should have known you would come. You could have just texted me."

"It's easier for you to lie in a text. How are you doing?"

"Hanging in there. It's been a roller coaster of a day. How about you, Mr. Game-winning-homerun?"

"Worried. You know that not even Lucas knows anything specific about you and me. Charlie was on a fishing expedition."

"I trust you way more than I've ever trusted him, evidently with good reason."

"Good to know. What was up with his comment about Josh, though?"

"Ugh, that's from the long weekend back in January. We went to the party at Shnoop-a-loop's apartment?"

"I remember that. I can't say I remember much though."

"Yeah, I know. Charlie had a family thing that night, and my parents were out of town. Josh and I hauled all of you back to my place to sleep it off. We ended up falling asleep to some movie on the couch. Charlie came by in the morning and found us. He said he trusted me, but clearly that wasn't true."

"I wish I had punched him."

"I can fight my own battles."

"He'll be limping if he shows up tomorrow night. Speaking of which, I hear you are going on a dream date with Uncle Boing tomorrow night? How do you feel about that?"

"Yay!" Maya did her best Riley impression. "How did you know that?"

"He talked it over with us when you snuck out that back."

"You didn't tell him to ask me, did you?"

"No, it was his idea. He cares about you." Zay gave her shoulders a hug.

"We're going to have fun, aren't we?"

"You bet. Now we both better get our beauty sleep if we are going to knock the socks off everyone's feet and party all night long."

"Will do. Thanks for stopping by"

"Always" The pair hugged before Zay disappeared down the ladder and Maya slipped back into her room.

Author's Note: Okay, here's the thing about Zay's thoughts last chapter. In my mind, Maya and Zay dated/had a semi relationship after they went to the movies. I think both characters are bigger risk takers than Riley and Lucas. They were curious and trusted each other so they tried things. In keeping with my "T" rating and baseball analogies, we'll say somewhere between second and third base. After Zay got together with Winnie, he and Maya could still talk about things that Riley is too innocent to understand. He would know if Maya was planning on spending the night with Charlie. It's also to underscore that he's kept his mouth shut rather than bragged to all his friends. Charlie can guess but it only shows how little he knows Maya. Hope that clears some things up.