A/N: Okay, I get that you all aren't very happy with me right now, but bear with me, please. You think things seem dark and blurry for Joshaya at the moment, but trust me. Trust me trust me trust me.

Anyway, here's Chapter 13. This one contains that "one line" you all loved from the old version, and I hope that's enough to somehow make up for breaking your hearts? *crosses fingers* Hahaha! Enjoy, guys!

Chapter 13: Of Steinbeck and Mommy Issues

Maya buttoned her winter coat as she stepped out of the Tan House Events building, her arms packed with thick folders. Her phone was tucked between her ear and her shoulder, keeping it from falling to the ground.

"What's up?" Maya greeted Zay, who rang her up a moment ago.

Tramping across the street, Maya shivered when a chilly breeze flew by. It was freezing that day with the temperature dropping down to the unforgiving negatives. A snowstorm was predicted by the evening, which she wasn't excited about, considering the absurd amount of snow the previous storm brought over New York City.

"I got called for another business trip," Zay notified the same time Maya heard rustling noises in the background. "My flight leaves at eleven-twenty tonight."

"And you're just telling me now?" Maya asked, jaw clenching to prevent her teeth from chattering. "Where are you headed to this time?"

"The Philippines," Zay answered. "There was a typhoon that hit the country a week ago and it absolutely wrecked some parts of this region called Mindanao. Filomeno wants me to capture the disaster the hurricane left behind because he wants to do a huge report about it, and have it be the next months' cover story. Disasters like these really have the power to have an entire nation lending a helping hand, and Filomeno adores inspirational stories."

Maya's heart broke for the victims of the typhoon. "When will you be back?" she asked.

"This kind of job normally takes about a day or so, but I volunteered to help with cleaning up the place and providing aid for the victims, so I will be missing Christmas," Zay responded, and Maya could hear the reluctance in his tone when he implied that she'd be alone for the upcoming holiday.

Before Zay could tell Maya he's sorry, she cut him off. "It's fine, they need you more than I do," she reassured. "I won't be alone anyway. I'm pretty sure Riley's itching to send me an invite to her Christmas party."

"Still, I'm sorry I'm missing Christmas with you this year," Zay apologized. "I can give you your present now if you want."

Maya chuckled. "I don't have anything for you, though."

"You're joking."

"All right, you caught me," Maya said. "Maybe you can drop by at my place later before you have to run to the airport. We'll do some exchanging of gifts ceremony and have some wine."

Zay laughed. "Sounds like a great time. Sure, I'll be there," he replied.

A moment of silence lingered between the two. Maya took that opportunity to switch her phone over to the other side, once again trapping it between her shoulder and her ear. She could hear a suitcase zipping closed from Zay's side of the call, which implied that he was packing for his business trip.

"So—"

"Maya," Zay interrupted.

"Yeah?" Maya answered. Her body shivered even more as she increased her pace, eager to get to her destination where she knew it would be warm. She stepped on some ice on the ground and her foot slipped, but she managed to regain her balance before she fell flat on the ground.

"I'm sorry, but I just have to ask before I leave again," Zay began, sighing. "Have you thought about that thing we talked about the last time we were on the phone?"

Maya exhaled heavily. Although she loved Zay like he was her own brother, there were moments when Maya wished he wouldn't act like one. Zay knew how much she disliked talking about Katy, yet she couldn't distinguish why he had an incessant habit where he would bring up Katy every time they held a conversation.

Maya pretended she didn't recall the discussion Zay was referring to, though it was crystal clear to her which one it was. "Am I supposed to be thinking about something?" she questioned.

Zay clicked his tongue in exasperation. "Maya, do not act up again."

"Then, you should know better than to bring up the topic you know I don't like to talk about!"

"No matter how many times you try to avoid it, you can't escape it, Maya," Zay reprimanded, casting on his authoritative tone of voice. It was his way of showing that he wasn't in the mood to pound around the bush.

"You promised me you'd give me more time when I need it," Maya reminded.

"I know I did, but—"

"Zay, I don't want to talk about this right now," Maya interjected. "I'm handling a lot of events at the moment, so please don't be the person that gives me more stuff to think about."

From the way Zay exhaled, Maya could tell that she'd exceeded him.

"If I promised you time, I'll give you time," Zay began. "But I want you to promise me something, too, Maya. I want you to promise me that when I get back from this trip, we're going to sit down and have a serious conversation about Katy. I won't tolerate any type of bullshit you're planning to approach the topic with."

Maya remained tight-lipped.

"You may not care about her right now, Maya, but I do—a lot. Our families spent so much time together when we were growing up that Katy became a second mother to me," Zay added. "You and I were attached to the hip since we were kids, so you of all people should know that."

As much as she wanted to protest, Maya caved in and blurted a half-assed, "Fine."

"That doesn't sound sincere to me, Maya," Zay chastised. "Do you promise me?"

Trying to make her voice sound as profound as she could muster, Maya croaked out a strangled, "I promise."

Maya wasn't sure if she sounded convincing enough but deemed herself successful because the next thing she knew, Zay was letting her know he'd hold her to that promise.

"All right, I'll see you tonight," Zay added afterward.

Maya nodded though she knew he couldn't see her. "No talk of her tonight, please?" she requested.

Zay chuckled. "Okay, we're not talking about her tonight. Just presents and wine."

Maya was let off when she informed Zay that she was on her way to a library café to warm herself up. After Zay told her he'd be in charge of the wine selection tonight, the two bid goodbye to each other and ended the phone call.

Huffing out another breath, Maya pocketed her phone and pushed the doors to the library café open. Relief washed over her when the warmth of the quaint café enveloped her entire body. The place wasn't populated, which Maya didn't mind. A quiet place was what she was searching for.

With a cordial smile, Maya strode to the counter and ordered a cup of chai latte. She then sought an empty table and found one in the corner. As she made her way there, Maya recognized a familiar looking brown hair peeking above a worn out paperback book, occupying a table located by the windows. The book covered his face, but Maya had seen the man countless times before to know that it was Josh.

Unhesitatingly, Maya switched direction and headed for Josh's table.

"Hey," Maya greeted, much to Josh's surprise. "Mind if I join you?"

A smile crept up Josh's lips. "Yeah, of course," he responded with a chuckle. "What are you doing here? Aren't you . . . I don't know, cheating on Topanga's by being here?"

Maya placed her folders down on the table and hopped on the chair opposite Josh. "Topanga's is very busy around this time of day, and I needed to go someplace quiet," she explained. "Obviously, I could go back to my apartment or my studio, but I don't really feel like going home just yet."

Maya's chai latte arrived and she took a cautious sip, careful not to let the hot liquid sear her tongue.

"I see," Josh replied.

"How about you? What are you doing here?" Maya questioned.

"I'm waiting for Sophie to get off work," Josh replied, glancing briefly at his wristwatch. "She doesn't get out for another hour, so I thought I'd stroll around the city. I found this little library café and I've been sitting here for a while now."

"It's amazing what you can find when you pay attention to the little things this city has to offer," Maya stated before she took another sip of her chai latte.

Josh smiled. "You should check out their collection, it's impressive," he remarked as he gestured at the small library behind Maya. "They've got everything from Hawthorne to Salinger—even contemporary authors if you're into that sort of thing."

Maya nodded, glimpsing the library over her shoulder. "That is impressive, but I'll have to come back for that some other time. I've got a stack I need to get through today," she uttered while gesturing at the stack of folders in front of her.

"Fry your brains out," Josh commented as he returned to his book.

Maya snickered at his remark. Grabbing the top folder from her stack, she flipped it open to the first page. She browsed through a summary of a client's event, noting all the reservations she needed to secure and individuals she needed to contact before a certain due date.

"This bar mitzvah's all over the place. What was Darby thinking?" Maya murmured, her eyebrows furrowing together as she examined the contents of the second folder from her pile. She browsed through it, finding a list of clashing dates and catering complications due to the client's many dietary restrictions.

Josh lowered his book a little to sneak a glimpse at Maya. When she noticed him looking, Maya uttered a quick apology for bothering him, but he swayed his head to tell her that it wasn't much of a big deal.

Half an hour later, Maya finished her stack of folders. She sighed when she noticed that she'd drained her chai latte, and resolved to head back to the counter and order her second cup. The barista served it to her a moment later. When she returned to her and Josh's table, she set aside her stack of folders and extracted a hardcover textbook from her bag, flipping it open to the page where she last left off.

Josh lowered his book and examined the one Maya was reading.

"What are you reading?" Josh questioned, his eyes trained on Maya's textbook.

"Western Art: Renaissance to Post-Modern," Maya answered. "I read my old textbooks from college whenever I feel uninspired."

"Sounds serious," Josh commented with a smile. "I hope I'm not taking too much of your studio time. I know art is your passion, and—"

"No, no, it's not because of our deal. My feeling uninspired is all because of me," Maya interjected. She diverted her gaze from Josh to look at his shabby book. It was turned with the pages front up, forbidding her from knowing its title. Nodding at it, she asked, "What about you? What are you reading?"

"Oh," Josh chirped, picking the book up and showing the front cover to Maya. "Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men. The book's actually terrific, one of my all-time favorites."

Maya nodded in agreement. "I've read that one before when I was in high school," she told him, which provoked Josh's features to light up in surprise. "And you're definitely not wrong when you said that it's a terrific piece. I read a lot of books in high school, but that's got to be my favorite."

Josh's eyebrows shot up. "Most people I know always said that Hamlet was it for them."

"I mean, sure, Hamlet's great, but . . . Of Mice and Men is also a tale of tragedy, yet it actually had me feeling sorry for the characters. Shakespeare wrote a lot of tragic stories, so it's expected of him. Like, it's only gonna be a matter of time until you know Shakespeare's gonna spring a death at you," Maya commented.

"Are you a fan of literature?" Josh queried, his eyes glinting with delight.

Maya didn't want to crush his excitement, but she had to be honest with him. "I'm not that much of a fan," she responded. "I read books, yes, but I wouldn't really consider myself a literature geek."

"So, you're saying that I am?" Josh challenged, leaning forward to cross his arms on the table.

"No," Maya argued, shaking her head. "It's just that . . . I don't typically read a book in order to participate in discussions about the internal meanings of a certain novel or the different types of literary devices that were used. I only read them for fun, but going in so deep to excavate the true meaning of the piece? Uh-uh. What I told you a while ago was the most you could get out of me."

Josh smirked, a smug expression on his face. "So, you are calling me a geek."

"All right, I might have implied it," Maya admitted. "But you were an English major, so you probably did a lot of that stuff back in college."

"As a matter of fact, I did, and I enjoyed them a lot."

"See?" Maya taunted, poking Josh in his arm. "You're a geek."

Josh sat back in his chair as he picked up his book again, opening it to the page he left off. "Go back to your renaissance art. I'm sure you've got heaps of naked people to examine," he mocked with a broad smile on his face.

Maya kicked Josh on his shin, which elicited a laugh from him.

"What?" Josh asked, still laughing. "I take one look at your textbook and the first thing I see is a penis!"

Maya's eyes widened. "Josh! You can't say that out loud!" she chided, surveying the library café to see if they'd caught anyone's attention. Much to her relief, everyone was preoccupied with his or her own conversations.

"But, it's there!" Josh carried on, pointing at one of the pictures on Maya's textbook. "It's just staring right at you, which makes it kind of hard to ignore."

"Only those that have perverted minds would find it hard to ignore," Maya retorted with a daring smirk. "I've read through this whole textbook one too many times before and not once did I have a problem with it."

Josh laughed again. "All right, if you say so," he said.

With her smile still intact, Maya diverted her attention back to her textbook. Although halfway through reading the fourth paragraph on the page where Josh pointed out the male sex, she found that she couldn't keep his taunts off her head. Her brain had switched off, turning away any educational information her textbook provided.

Maya pushed the textbook to the side. "I'm done," she declared.

Josh closed his book. "You're done?"

"You just ruined renaissance art for me, so I'm just gonna work on something else. Expect a 'thank you' Hallmark card for that, by the way," Maya uttered as she stacked her textbook on top of her pile of folders. Reaching behind for her bag, she drew out her sketchpad. "Now, I want to do something else."

Josh closed his book, his interest piqued. "Like what?" he questioned.

Maya noted the time and discovered she only had half an hour until Zay comes over for their scheduled evening of Christmas presents and wine.

"If you want, we can work on your poem for Sophie," Maya suggested. "Have you started writing it?"

"Well," Josh drawled, "we've got the title down, that's for sure."

Maya's expression fell. "You didn't work on it," she deadpanned.

"I did!" Josh was quick to defend himself. "Here," he spoke as he reached for his own messenger bag and brought out his frayed leather notebook. He flipped it open to the page where he wrote the poem's title and passed the notebook to Maya. "This is what I have so far. It's only a rough draft, so the rhyming isn't perfect."

Maya took the notebook. Glancing at the page in front of her, she cleared her throat and prepared to recite Josh's words. "I've waited a hundred years, but I'd wait a million more for you," she read, her eyes following along the succeeding line. "Nothing prepared me for what the privilege of being yours would do."

Maya was silent for a moment, which worried Josh.

"So?" he prompted.

"This is beautiful, Josh!" Maya remarked. "And here I thought you said you weren't good with poetry."

"If I'm doing this for Sophie, I'm gonna try to come up with only the best," Josh responded bashfully, taking the notebook from Maya's grasp when she handed it back to him. "The inspiration for that originated from that time we talked about Sophie on Thanksgiving. She's a very busy woman, so I haven't found the time to talk to her about compromising in terms of her frequent travels, but . . . if there is anything I would want to say to her, this is it."

Placing her elbow on the table, Maya propped her chin on her upturned palm. "I think it's perfect," she commented. "I guess this means we're off to a good start."

Josh nodded, smiling. He didn't utter a word after, and neither did Maya. The two sat in complete yet comfortable silence, turning back to their own businesses. Josh finished Steinbeck's novel as Maya brushed on the finishing touches of the altered design for Leigh's benefit concert's poster.

After a few more minutes of staying put, Maya drained what remained of her chai latte and announced that she should best be going. Josh agreed, standing up from his seat and walking toward the small library in the back. He returned Steinbeck's book on the shelf where he found it earlier.

"So, do you have plans with Sophie tonight?" Maya queried as she and Josh exited the library café.

Josh shoved his hands in his coat's pockets and shrugged. "We're probably just gonna end up watching a movie while eating Chinese on our couch. She mentioned earlier that she recorded Rush Hour 2 for me this morning before she went to work, so . . . yeah. That's our night, basically," he stated.

Maya chuckled. "Really? Watching Rush Hour 2 while eating Chinese?"

"I don't think Sophie has realized that yet," Josh remarked, laughing. "How about you? Any chance you're gonna tear up another dance floor tonight?"

Maya shook her head. "Oh, God, no. I'm not in the mood to go out and pay for tomorrow's hangover—again," she answered with a chuckle. "Zay's coming over at my place tonight before he leaves for the Philippines. There'll be some wine involved, but we're not gonna go ballistic."

"Yeah, I've heard he and Jasmine scored another assignment," Josh stated. He lifted a hand to flag an oncoming taxi, but he put it down when he realized that the taxi had a passenger. The yellow vehicle swooped past them, the snow crunching underneath its tires.

"I don't know about Jasmine, but Zay will be staying longer in the Philippines to help out with the typhoon victims. That's actually why he's coming over tonight, we'll celebrate our little Christmas in advance since he won't be here for it this year," Maya informed.

"That sounds like a great time," Josh commented, but immediately caught himself when he realized what he said. "I mean, not Zay missing Christmas, of course—"

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

"You're doing better than Andrew, though. He's being dramatic about Jasmine leaving, even if she'd only be gone for two days," Josh informed, laughing. "You should've seen him at the office the other day when Jasmine broke the news to him."

"I can only imagine," Maya replied, referring to Andrew's theatrical antics. She watched as Josh looked at both sides of the road, watching out for any oncoming taxis. So far, the only ones that passed them had passengers on board.

After yet another occupied taxi drove by them, Maya adjusted her navy blue beanie and turned to Josh, her lips pursing. "Hey, Josh?" she called, squinting an eye as she looked up at him.

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to ask you this, but I never really got around to it," Maya answered.

Josh tilted his head to the side. "What is it?"

"Why did you want to know so much about why we didn't see each other at NYU when we were in college?" Maya asked inquisitively, fiddling with the buttons on her winter coat.

Josh took a moment to answer. When he finally constructed the perfect response in his head, he looked Maya in her eyes and said, without faltering, "I thought it would've been better had I met you back then."

Hearing those words coming out of his mouth, Maya could only stare at Josh, utterly stupefied, as he flagged an oncoming empty taxi.

No song of the chapter today because I'm still constructing the story's playlist and I haven't chosen a song for this one yet. Although I'm using the lyrics to Sleeping At Last's "Turning Page." I decided to write an original poem for Josh to use, but I haven't finished that one yet. So temporarily, we'll go with the Turning Page lyrics.

I hope you guys liked this somehow, and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!