Disclaimer: I do not own anyone or anything from Girl Meets World.

Just a quick note. I changed the rating for this story from K+ to T, only because this particular chapter has some sensitive content. Believe me, it's nothing overt or flagrant but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Anyway, thank you all for being so patient! Enjoy the new chapter!

Day Three, Part One

The next morning, Maya woke up to see the soft early morning sun radiating through her window. She stretched her arms contentedly over her head and laid in bed for a few extra minutes, gazing at the ceiling. Her mind was consumed with thoughts about Josh as she recalled the feel of his hand grasping hers, the sensation of his warm lips on her forehead. It all still felt like a dream. At the sound of her text tone, Maya grabbed her phone from the nightstand and spotted a message not from Riley, but from Lucas.

Lucas: In case you didn't know, Riley's losing her mind over not knowing where you are. She's on the verge of organizing a search party to look for you.

Maya chuckled to herself. Typical Riley.

Maya: Well reign her in, Lone Star. Isn't that what you cowboys are good at?

In a matter of minutes, she received a reply.

Lucas: Seriously though, are you okay? Riley's not the only one worried you know…

Maya: I'm just trying to figure some things out. I promise, I'll fill you guys in when I get back tomorrow.

It touched her to know that Lucas was concerned enough to reach out to her himself. In the years following the triangle fiasco, they had become closer as friends. Where Riley always saw the best in her, Lucas kept her grounded even if that meant getting into occasional spats about trivial issues.

Before getting out of bed, Maya decided to take a selfie and send it to Riley for good measure.

Maya: See? I'm alive and not locked up in a dungeon somewhere. Call off the search party.

After getting dressed, she went downstairs to find Josh and Derek having breakfast in the dining hall. Alice, Kurt, and Tori had left for an early morning hike. The smell of bacon and waffles wafted in the room as people sat around tables and chatted in low voices. All throughout breakfast, Maya and Josh exchanged furtive glances and timid smiles. Derek was blissfully unware of this as he helped himself to a second plate of waffles.

"So Maya," said Derek in between bites. "Aren't you graduating in a few months?"

Maya tensed, knowing exactly where his question would lead.

"Yup," she said, trying to keep her voice even. "That's right."

"Have you been accepted anywhere?"

She swallowed hard and picked nervously at her food with her fork. Though she was purposefully avoiding Josh's gaze, she could feel his eyes fixed intently on her.

"Yeah, a couple of places here and there."

"Are any of those places NYU?" Josh straightforwardly asked, unable to contain his curiosity.

"No, I'm still waiting to hear back from them," Maya lied, keeping her head low.

Maya could feel the pressure of Josh' scrutiny as if he knew what she was leaving out. She hated to lie to him but this wasn't a conversation she was ready to have, especially with an acquaintance like Derek present.

"Well, hopefully it's good news," Josh said at last.

"Yeah, me too," agreed Maya, relieved that he had decided to drop the subject.

"Josh and I are graduating this year too," Derek chimed in as he adjusted his glasses.

"Oh my god, you're right. I always forget that Josh started college a year early." Maya's head snapped towards him in apparent surprise. "What are you planning to do after you graduate?"

"I'm thinking about getting my Master's in English with a specific focus on writing and composition," he said before taking a gulp of orange juice.

"At NYU?" Maya uttered the question before she could stop herself.

"That's the plan. I just found out this week that I got accepted into the program."

"Josh, that's great." A genuine smile spread across her lips. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks," he said, looking her straight in the eyes. "So, you know, if you get into NYU I'd definitely be around to annoy you a lot."

Maya chuckled nervously as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, I guess we'll see."

Shortly after breakfast Maya was sitting by the bay window, contemplating about the conversation with Josh and Derek, when Josh suddenly plopped down beside her.

"What are you doing today?" he asked, sounding markedly cheerful.

"I didn't really have anything in mind," she replied, looking him once over. "Why? What's up?"

"I thought we could spend the afternoon together. Just you and me."

Maya faltered, unsure if she had heard him correctly.

"What about the others? What are they doing?"

Josh leaned over to rest his elbows on his knees and replied, "There's a small town nearby with some shops the girls want to check out. Kurt and Derek are out in the wilderness somewhere, trying to get in touch with their inner woodsman. So that just leaves you and me. What do you say? I thought we could go to the lake and do some fishing."

They could've gone to the lake to stare at rocks for all she cared. The point was she would get to spend a whole afternoon with her sought-after childhood crush.

She failed miserably to suppress her smile. "You do realize you're asking me out on a date, right?"

"Is that a yes?" he asked glancing pointedly at her.

"That's a hell yes," Maya stated with an affirmative nod.

After lunch, they rented some fishing equipment and folding chairs from the front desk and headed out. Being with Josh felt like Christmas morning. Maya could feel the sparks fly each time her arm brushed against his on their walk to the lake. And she was almost certain Josh could feel it too. They exchanged stories like old war veterans; Maya talked about her time in high school, and Josh about his last few years in college. As Josh talked about going to college parties and pulling all-nighters, Maya tried to imagine herself as a student living out the collegiate experience. She also wondered, with some reservation, what that life might look like with Josh in the picture.

Puffy white clouds floated along the crystal blue sky as a cool breeze blew, creating an idyllic weather for fishing. When they reached the lake, Josh found a perfect spot underneath the shade of a tall pine tree. While Maya set up the folding chairs, Josh dug through the tackle box and got to work preparing the fishing poles.

"So how are Riley and Lucas doing?" he asked as he tied a hook to the line.

Maya had found herself a long branch and was scribbling in the dirt nearby.

"Still going strong," she absentmindedly replied. "Even after that minor hitch last year."

Josh turned to her with sudden interest. "What happened last year?"

She bit her lip and mentally kicked herself for her indiscretion. Josh noticed Maya's hesitation and grinned in amusement.

"Looks like someone's got some juicy gossip to share," he playfully prodded. "C'mon, Maya, out with it."

"It's nothing. Forget it," she asserted, turning away from him.

"I promise," insisted Josh. "Everything you say out here will stay between you, me, and the trees."

A long tense silence ensued as Maya fought the urge to crack under pressure. But her efforts proved futile.

"Fine!" she relented, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "But you can't talk to Riley about this. In fact, don't ever mention any of this to your brother."

Josh gave a triumphant smile and drew a cross over his heart. "Scout's honor."

It was on rare occasions like this when Maya felt the absolute awkwardness of having a crush on her best friend's uncle. And what she was about to tell him wasn't going to make things any less awkward. With a deep breath, Maya proceeded to tell him about the "hitch" as she and Riley had come to refer to it.

Last year, Riley and Lucas had reached a point in their relationship where peer pressure and hormones pushed them to the brink of having sex. Maya was careful to leave out specific details, like the fact that Riley had invited Lucas over on a night when her family was out of town with the intention to lose her virginity. Somewhere in between making out and undressing each other however Riley's resolve had wavered. She told Lucas that she couldn't go through with it and he somehow took her rebuff as a scathing form of rejection. The incident severely strained their relationship. When a distressed Riley revealed everything to her a few days later, Maya was dumbstruck. She had no experience of her own to draw from so she had no idea how to comfort her best friend. Luckily Riley and Lucas were able to work through it in the end, much to the relief of their friends.

As Maya reached the end of her narrative, she paused briefly and glanced over at Josh. If he felt at all perturbed by her account, he didn't show it. In fact, he appeared unfazed, as if the whole incident between Riley and Lucas was to be expected.

"So anyway, in the end, I think they both decided it was better if they just waited," Maya stated. "You know, until they were both ready."

Josh nodded his head solemnly, considering her words. "That's good. Sex isn't really something to rush into."

Almost immediately a burning question entered her mind.

She shifted uneasily in placed and, before she could stop herself, asked, "What about you? Have you been with a girl in that way before?"

As soon as she heard herself ask the question out loud, she wished she could take it back.

"Actually yeah," Josh said after a long tense pause. "It happened a few years ago. Before you and I even made our deal."

He hastily added the last part as if it would lessen the blow of his revelation.

"Oh," was all Maya said as she suddenly felt self-conscious about her own limited experience.

"Long story short, she and I jumped into it before we were ready," he admitted with some regret. "And let's just say it really complicated things."

She could tell by the look in his eyes that the regret of his experience weighed heavily on him.

"I'm not saying I would necessarily wait until marriage," he mused after some time. "But I guess if I could do it all again, I would at least wait for the right person and the right time."

Maya remained silent on the matter as she gazed at her abstract doodles on the ground. She had never really thought much about sex mainly because she had never felt that way about someone before. Even in her short-lived high school flings, Maya never allowed herself to become too close to any of the guys she dated. Constantly having her guard up was the terrible side-effect of having a father who abandoned his family. In spite of her self-awareness, Maya constantly struggled with opening up to people. Josh however seemed to be one of the few exceptions in her life.

"It's almost ready," Josh announced, pulling Maya from her thoughts.

Once the bait was set, he walked over to her and handed her a fishing pole. She glanced at the fishing pole to Josh and back with a puzzled look on her face.

"Am I supposed to know how to use one of these?" she asked, arching her eyebrow skeptically.

"You're kidding right?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Maya asked, feigning a deadpan expression.

Josh shook his head in amusement and then stepped behind her. He placed a firm hand on her left shoulder and used his other hand to guide her movements. Maya instantly felt the hairs on her neck bristle with excitement at the feel of Josh's firm chest against her back.

"Is this just your way of getting me to put my arm around you?" he asked in a low voice that sent goosebumps down her spine.

Maya smirked playfully at him and replied, "It worked, didn't it?"

Josh chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Okay look. You're going to throw the line back and then forward, towards the water. As you're swinging it forward, be sure to release the lock on the reel so the line can go out further."

He showed her how to release the lock and then stepped back to let her try on her own. After a couple of clumsy attempts, Maya was finally able to smoothly swing the fishing line into the water. Meanwhile, Josh had prepared his own pole and had soon released his line into the lake. Maya watched with affectionate eyes as he took a seat beside her.

"So now what?" she quietly asked.

"Now we wait," Josh replied, flashing her a handsome grin.

Maya let out a contented sigh as a comfortable stillness enveloped the space around them. Without thinking, she leaned her head on Josh's shoulder and gazed out at the sparkling lake before them. As first dates go, this was by far her best one yet.

In the next chapter, I'll finally reveal whether Maya was accepted into NYU (yay!). I'm sure you all have your suspicions already. Don't forget to review! I enjoy hearing your thoughts!