A/N: Happy belated 4th of July! I know I took a while to update this story, but I promised myself that for every new chapter I write, I have to post two chapters online. I'm currently done with chapters 19 and 20, and I'm halfway through chapter 21 even though I'm sorta getting stuck on that one. Chapters 19 through 21 are the "emotional" chapters, so I really want to make them perfect. Get those emotions right . . . right?

Anyway, I give you Chapter 8 today, and hopefully, I'll have Chapter 9 edited for you tomorrow. Enjoy!

P.S. I know we had that age issue thing at the beginning of the story, but I worked out the timeline and I've decided that the gang will be in their mid-twenties. Josh will be older by a couple years or so to maintain the age gap they had in the show.

Chapter 8: Sober Up

"Shit," Maya cursed under her breath as a huge blob of red paint splattered on her jeans. A tsk accompanied the bad word as Maya dabbed on the damaged spot with a damp cloth. She thought her dirty smock would protect her clothing at all costs, but evidently, the smock was only useful for when she was painting while standing as opposed to while she was sitting.

"Hey!" Zay scolded through the phone.

Maya had put him on speaker when he called a few minutes ago to let her know he was on his way to see Katy. Of course, Zay asked if she wanted to tag along, though he knew that the only thing he'd get from it was rejection.

"Katy's going to freak out when she finds out you've developed a potty mouth," Zay taunted.

Maya rolled her eyes despite knowing that Zay wouldn't be able to see her. She dipped her brush in the palette again, coating the bristles with red paint. "Jeez, Zay, I'm twenty-six. Colorful words like that have a higher tendency to spill out of my mouth than your 'Rated G' versions of them."

If Zay was someone else, he'd feel offended by Maya's retort. Except, Zay wasn't anyone else; he was Maya's childhood friend. He'd spent all his life with her, thus becoming used to all her personality quirks. None of those comebacks bothered Zay because he knew she didn't mean any of it.

"Besides," Maya added, "I don't actually see that 'freak out' happening anytime soon."

Maya heard Zay sigh.

"I know you're tired of hearing this, Maya, but you really should see her. Katy has been at the center for almost eight months now, and she's not getting any better. Yes, she's showing some progress, but they're so minimal. I'm starting to think that maybe all she needs to get that extra motivation is to see you. You're her only daughter after all," Zay said.

"Zay, you know I—"

"At least once, Maya. Just visit her once."

"I can't, I'm sorry," Maya refused, hardheaded as ever. "She's going to have to find some other means to get better—"

"Maya!"

Maya's brush strokes grew violent as she worked on detailing her piece. It was good that Zay wasn't physically present in her art studio, therefore, Maya wouldn't have any means of inflicting her anger toward him.

"I'm sorry, but sick or not, it's not going to change what she'd done in the past. As insensitive as it sounds, I'm refusing to see her. I'm establishing a new life for myself—and I'm doing really well, mind you—and seeing her again might just lead to her manipulating me into coming back into her 'motherly' arms, which, by the way, is not so motherly anymore. Next thing I know, I'm with her inside that hellhole and I don't have a way of getting out. I don't want that, Zay. I don't want to end up like her," Maya blathered, propelling her paintbrush toward the utility cart she had next to her easel.

"She's not going to induce you to it, Maya. She's your mother who knows what's best for you—"

"If she knows what's best for me, then where is she right now, huh?" Maya challenged, her jaw clenching in vexation. This wasn't how she planned her free time to turn out. For once, she was happy that she was finally getting some much-needed inspiration to work on a new piece. But, no; Zay just had to call her regarding her mother again.

"If you could please just put aside your—"

"I have to go. I just remembered I have a meeting with Leigh this afternoon," Maya interjected. It was a lie, of course, but she needed to extricate herself from the conversation. She removed her stained smock and shoved it on the lower shelf of her utility cart.

"Just think about it, Maya," Zay requested with a somber tone. A certain rustling sound resonated in the background. "If you don't want to do it for Katy, at least do it for me . . . please. It's all I ask of you."

Maya stopped. If there was a person she loved more than anyone or anything else in the world, it was Zay. Zay was there when Maya had no one, especially after Katy lost herself. He was more than supportive of everything that Maya did, and not once did he ever abandon her for anyone else. She was family to him and family was Zay's first and utmost priority.

With those thoughts in mind, Maya felt herself beginning to consider giving Katy a chance. However, as rapidly as she thought of it, she recalled what the woman had done and any trivial progress Maya made came crumbling down.

"I can't promise anything," Maya informed Zay, who exhaled in defeat.

"If you need more time, I can give you more time. I just want you to think about it," Zay stated. "You are going to think about it, right? Maya?"

"I'll try."

"I'll settle for that—but just for now," Zay declared as rustling noises sounded in the background. "Listen, I'm sorry that I'm just telling you this, but my boss gave me and Jasmine a new project. Our flight leaves for Brazil tomorrow morning."

Maya pretended what she heard was new information. She tried to be as enthusiastic as possible, yet despite her inadequate attempt, her voice just wasn't coming out right. "Oh, really?" she said. "That should be fun. You're going to Brazil after all."

"The trip is only for a day and a half, so there's really no time for me and Jasmine to get all touristy," Zay informed. "I should be back before Thanksgiving."

"Oh, yeah, about that," Maya stated. "Lucas's parents bailed on hosting Thanksgiving this year, so the party's moving to our favorite married couple's nest."

"Really? How does Riley feel about hosting again?" Zay asked.

"She was actually stressed about hosting again because of the disaster that was last year, but from what she told me yesterday, Lucas decided he'd handle the menu and the cooking this year. He probably did that to compensate for his parents bailing."

"Well, can you tell Lucas to not do what Riley would do?" Zay teased. "I don't think I can do another year of eating burnt Thanksgiving food."

"I'll make sure he hears it." Maya noticed a missed spot on her painting and picked up her paintbrush again to repair it. "Zay, I'll have to let you go. I have plans tonight, so I really need to start cleaning up my studio."

"Yeah, sure. Take a picture of that new piece you're working on. I want to see it."

Maya laughed. "Call me before you get on that plane tomorrow morning, all right? Love you."

After he echoed Maya's affectionate words, Zay dropped the call.

Maya set her paintbrush down and backed a few steps from the easel. Opening her camera, she leveled the lens with the canvas and snapped a photo of her unfinished painting. Just as Maya was about to send the image to Zay, she halted.

On her canvas was a portrait of a faceless old man. Where his facial features should've been was a collection of scenarios painted side by side, chronicling a love story with an ill-fated ending. The side of the old man's head where she painted the forlorn ending withered away, making it seem as though Maya wanted the unhappy ending to disintegrate into oblivion and only the pleasant memories left behind.

Taking one last glance at her painting, Maya deleted the picture she meant to send to Zay and got ready to leave her studio. Grabbing her bag and her sketchpad on the way out the door, Maya decided she'd stop by Topanga's and start brainstorming possible designs for Leigh's benefit concert poster. Leigh hadn't given her any ideas on how she wanted the poster to look like, but Maya figured it wouldn't hurt to have some ideas of her own.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon when Maya arrived at Topanga's. Taking her usual table at the back of the room, Maya began drafting the poster design for Leigh's benefit concert. She already held the tiniest idea as to how she wanted the first design to look like, she just needed to get that idea represented on her sketchpad.

Suddenly, Auggie, Riley's younger brother and one of the coffee shop's high school employees, strode over to Maya's table. He had a backpack slung over one shoulder and a plate of cronuts in his hands.

"Hey, Maya," Auggie greeted. "Mind if I join you? I've got cronuts."

"Sure. How could I say no?" Maya replied as she gathered her things on the table to make room for Auggie. "Are you on your break?"

"Yeah."

Auggie sat down opposite Maya and placed the plate of cronuts in between them. He extracted a thick, hackneyed textbook from his backpack and heaved the most dramatic sigh Maya had ever heard.

"What's got you breathing like that?" Maya mocked with a smirk, certain that Auggie's sigh meant something.

Auggie wordlessly lifted his textbook and flashed the front cover at Maya.

"Salvador Dalí, huh?" Maya uttered. She couldn't help the proud grin that erupted on her face, having discovered that a young man like Auggie was taking an interest in art. It might be because it was an inevitable topic at school, but Maya nevertheless felt thrilled that he was being introduced to the world of art.

"I have to write an essay about him," Auggie informed, his eyes returning to the book.

"That sounds fun."

Auggie straightened in his seat as a particular thought came over him. "Hey, you're an art person. What do you know about Salvador Dalí? Maybe you could tell me a thing or two about him," he said.

"What do I know about him? Let's see," Maya replied, tapping her chin with her pencil in thought. "Well, Salvador Dalí was a surrealist painter, who apparently had a fascination with melting clocks. If you look at some of his paintings, you would know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah," Auggie agreed, his eyes lighting up in recognition. "My art teacher showed us a slideshow of his famous paintings and I did see the melting clocks in almost everything."

Maya beamed before she continued her lecture. "Salvador Dalí was also known for experimenting with cubism, which is a form of making art where you use geometric shapes to paint a certain subject. People thought his works were quite anomalous that they—"

The entrance door of the coffee shop swung open and Andrew came strolling in. This was the first time Maya encountered Andrew outside of his workplace, hence why she resolved to acknowledge him.

"Hey, Auggie," Maya called as she kept her eyes on Andrew, who just finished ordering and was casually standing off to the side while he waited for his drink. "I'm gonna have to get back to you about Salvador Dalí, okay? A friend of mine just walked in and I'm gonna say hi to him real quick."

Auggie nodded in response, then returned his attention to his textbook.

"Frosty!" Andrew greeted upon seeing Maya's approaching figure. "I didn't think I'd bump into you here."

Maya snickered. "Well, Topanga's is sort of my official hang-out spot. My office at Tan House Events can get a bit cramped, so I almost always go here," she explained, smiling. "How about you? Shouldn't you still be at PV? It's only four in the afternoon."

"Filomeno let us off early today, something to do with his daughter—her birthday, I think, if I heard correctly," Andrew responded. "Anyway, Josh and I decided to celebrate this little miraculous scrap of freedom we got. We're supposed to meet up to grab a bite at Grab-A-Burger then we'd hit The Sixth Box tonight, but Josh's running late. I didn't want to freeze outside while waiting for him, and Topanga's just happened to be the closest place where I could keep myself warm."

Maya laughed at Josh's unpunctuality. "Is he always late?" she queried.

"On a normal day, yes, he is—but he tries, you know, to be more punctual."

A barista yelled Andrew's name and he excused himself to claim his drink.

"So, how's Jasmine doing?" Andrew wondered after he rejoined Maya. "I saw her at the office today, but I never got around to congratulate her on her new project. Zay's coming with her, right?"

Maya nodded. "I was actually on the phone with him a while ago and he mentioned that their flight leaves tomorrow morning," she informed. "Brazil is a big deal, though. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't hear from Zay and Jasmine for the next couple of days."

"I was supposed to go with them," Andrew ventured after he took a sip of his drink. "Unfortunately, Filomeno changed his mind and said that I'd be much of a better use here in New York. Which makes sense because they're a team of photographers and I'm a graphic designer. I don't really see my purpose there."

"Yeah," Maya agreed.

"Still, it might just be a quick trip, but come on, it's Brazil. Who doesn't want to see the Christ the Redeemer statue?"

Just then, Andrew's phone chimed and he brought it out of his pocket to read the message. It was from Josh, asking him where he was. "I have to run," he said.

"Go ahead. You don't want to keep him waiting like he made you wait for him," Maya teased.

After taking the last sip of his drink, Andrew bid Maya farewell and left the coffee shop.

Maya returned to her table the same time Auggie took the last bite of his cronut. "So, where were we?"

The clock struck ten and Maya still hadn't left her table. After she'd sketched the first draft of Leigh's benefit concert poster, she switched her sketchpad with her laptop and began sifting through her countless emails. She received an event description from a new potential client, but Maya had been holding off her reply.

Maya's phone buzzed from the table and she picked it up, unlocking it to find a message from Riley.

Riley — Hey, is it okay if you close Topanga's for me tonight? I'd do it myself but I have TONS of exam papers to grade. I think my ass is stuck on this chair.

Maya — Sure, of course!

Riley — Also, Lucas's just finishing up at the office. He offered to give you a ride home if you'd take it up :)

Maya — Tell Lucas don't bother. I'm not sure what time I'll finish here and I don't wanna rush him or anything. Tell him thanks for the offer, though!

As the last of the coffee shop's employees polished off the tables and countertops, swept and mopped the floor, and turned the chairs over so they rested upside down on the tables, Maya declared that Riley had instructed her to close the coffee shop. The employees were all familiar with Maya and her close relationship with the shop's owner, thus they weren't surprised by her announcement.

It didn't take long before all the remaining employees clocked out for the night. Maya saw each one out the door and waved them goodbye. She walked back to the coffee shop to gather her belongings, and after making sure that all the lights were shut off, she headed out and closed the shop. Pocketing the keys, she began her walk home.

Maya hadn't gone that far yet when she heard Josh's voice calling from behind her.

"Maya!" Josh exclaimed.

Maya pivoted so abruptly she swore she had vertigo. "Josh?"

"We're over here!"

"Oh, God."

Maya spotted Josh standing in front of a closed establishment two street lamps away from Topanga's. Next to him was Andrew, bent over as he hurled the acidic contents of his stomach on the pavement. She ran over to the two men, panic-stricken.

"What happened?" Maya questioned the second she reached them.

"He had way too much fun at The Sixth Box. I was gonna take him home and then he just—"

Andrew hurled again, cutting Josh off.

"Jesus. We've got to sober him up," Maya murmured as she caught a whiff of the stench of Andrew's vomit. She seized one of Andrew's arms, hoisted him up to his feet, and said, "Come on, I'll open up Topanga's. He needs coffee."

Josh grabbed Andrew's other arm and draped it across his shoulders. "Are you sure that's okay?"

"I can't let you take him home like this," Maya replied as she began to walk back toward the coffee shop.

It didn't take long for the three of them to reach Topanga's. Josh took Andrew's full weight into his arms so Maya could grab the keys and open the doors of the coffee shop. When the lights turned back on, Maya pulled down a chair from the nearest table and Josh plopped Andrew on it.

"I'll start brewing," Maya said, trotting toward the counter.

Josh shrugged his jacket off his shoulders and tossed it on the table. His eyes made a quick scan of the empty coffee shop before he returned his attention to his best friend.

Andrew made a gagging sound at the back of his throat and his head fell forward, ready to throw up once more.

Josh stopped him. "Not on the floor, bud. The bathroom's over there. Come on."

While Josh assisted Andrew in the bathroom, Maya turned on the coffee maker and took two clean cups from the back kitchen. She also grabbed three bottles of water.

A few minutes later, Josh and Andrew returned from the bathroom. Maya poured a cup of coffee for Andrew, which she handed to Josh's awaiting hands.

"Thank you," Josh said, then he turned to his drunken friend. "Andrew, bud, drink this."

Maya returned behind the counter and poured another cup for Josh. He might be the lesser drunk of the two, but he nonetheless had some alcohol. She thought it would be judicious to get him to sober up as well before he could bring Andrew back to his apartment.

"So, is it safe to say that our friend here is a lightweight?" Maya asked.

Josh snickered. "Yeah, you could say that."

"I didn't realize he'd be such a . . . I don't know, a silent drunk?" Maya commented. "I've had a lot of experience with sloppy drunks, flirty drunks, even sentimental drunks, but definitely not this. This is totally an uncharted territory for me and I'm not sure what to do."

"My sentiments exactly when I first dealt with a drunken Andrew," Josh ventured, laughing.

The two fell silent for a moment, watching Andrew sit on his chair wordlessly. He drank the coffee, though, much to Maya's relief. Aside from being a silent drunk, she was afraid Andrew might also be a disobedient drunk.

"Must be nice to have keys to the palace, huh?" Josh spoke.

Maya turned and caught Josh checking out the entirety of the coffee shop.

"Being best friends with Riley has its perks," Maya answered as she scanned the room herself. "Technically, her mom is the one who owns the place, but she lets Riley handle it anyway. Extra income, she said."

Josh bobbed his head. "That sounds nice."

It was quiet between the two until Maya asked, "So, Thanksgiving's coming up. Do you have anything fun planned for tomorrow?" She grabbed one of the water bottles she claimed a while ago and took a sip.

"Just the usual dinner at Sophie's childhood home," Josh replied with a shrug. "You?"

"My best friend's hosting this year again, so of course, I have to be there," Maya answered as she recalled last year's Thanksgiving disaster. "Then, we also have friends coming over from San Francisco, which makes me so excited. I haven't seen Farkle and Isadora since last summer."

Josh jounced his head in response.

Silence befell the two for the third time that night. Their gazes flickered toward Andrew, whose head kept falling forward. He would righten it, only for it to fall forward once again.

"I think he's asleep," Maya whispered.

Josh set his coffee down on the table and trudged toward his best friend to check on him. "Yeah, he definitely is," he said. "I should get him home. Thanks for everything you've done tonight, Maya."

Maya smiled. "It was the least I could do," she replied.

"One last thing," Josh blurted out, a knowing smirk plastered on his face. "I know you're good friends with Jasmine and that Andrew asked you to put in a good word for him the other day in the break room, but please don't tell her that he's a lightweight. He'll never hear the end of it."

"Don't worry, I'll let her find that our herself."

Josh laughed before he decided to wake Andrew up. Within seconds, the latter was up on his feet—albeit groggy—and ready to head home. The three of them left the coffee shop, and once Maya had flicked the lights off and had secured the lock on the doors, Josh and Andrew bid her farewell.

I know not a lot really happened in this chapter, but I'm hoping you guys still liked it somehow. Chapter 9 is gonna be interesting; we'll see how our dear Joshaya's gonna spend their Thanksgiving. I'm excited for you guys to read it!

Thanks for reading!