With A Snap Of His Fingers / Joshaya

Sleepless night

Maya's POV

At some point in our life history will judge us. And maybe it will be hard and cruel, harder than people's judgments you have to listen every day.

But at that point Maya felt like people would judge just as badly. Riley wasn't very happy that she found her sitting by their window with Josh. When she explained, Lucas and Farkle weren't very glad either. And neither would be Travis, if he knew.

She tried to sleep. She turned around and then turned again. She did everything she could but her eyes just wouldn't close. She ended up watching outside her window, the dark sky and the shining stars.

She got up slowly and sat by the window. And she saw him there.

At first she thought she was dreaming. Obviously she was having a nightmare.

Josh was just a small figure among six or seven others. He had his arms in front of his face trying to protect it. The other boys were attacking  and hitting him hard, wherever they could.  The tallest one collided his fist with Josh's chest and the boy immediately fell to his knees. Then another boy came closer and said something. He gave Josh a last punch in the face, moved his hand and left with his friends following him.

Maya, who was frozen till then, ran. She found her shoes and wore them quickly. Fortunately, Shawn and Katy were off having fun, aka they were in Topanga's talking. Maya flew over the stairs and got out of the building, She hoped with all her heart that Josh was still there. And he was.

Once she got through the door she saw him. He was spitting blood all over the place, still on his knees. Maya ran towards him.

She put an arm on his back. Only then he turned to face her. His face wasn't awfully damaged. He had a not so deep cut on his cheek and his mouth was full of blood.

"Go!", he shouted.

Maya looked at him, confused. He wanted her to leave him? Maya took her arm off his back but didn't walk away.

"Josh, come on. We'll go at my place."

He shook his head, turning his eyes to the ground again.

"Maya, you don't need to see me like this. I'll be fine. Just go."

God, he was unbelievable. Maya got up and took his arm. He helped him up and he didn't resist it at first.

"Don't be an idiot, okay? Just follow me.", she told him.

And he really tried to but he fell after a few steps. His knees were also bleeding. He got up without Maya's help and rested his back on a wall. Maya took his arm and wrapped it around her back. She put her  arm on his waist and she helped him walk. Stairs were a problem but they made it. They got in her apartment and Josh sat on the couch.

Maya ran to the bathroom and took everything helpful she could find.

After a few minutes, she ended up on the couch next to him, softly cleaning his sores. He certainly didn't make it easy. He was staring at her with a sad look.

"I'll be fine.", Josh murmured, for the millionth time.

Maya chose to ignore him again. Instead of replying, she asked the question she was dying to ask.

"What was their problem?", she asked.

Josh shrugged, wincing as he did.

Maya wouldn't let that go, but now she tried to push away her curiosity and try to focus on bigger problems.

His face was cleaner now but Maya knew that he would have some good bruises the day after.

She tried to clean his chin too but he winced again.

"Does it hurt?", she asked.

Stupid, she scolded her self. Of course it did.

"A little.", he answered.

He had his eyes on hers. Maya could feel it, despite the fact that she only looked at his chin, trying to clean it .

He wasn't smiling or anything. He was just looking at her, with big eyes.

"Maya?", he asked quietly.

Finally she turned her eyes to his.

"What's going on?"

He tried to smile. Maya saw he was aching, though.

"Thanks."

Maya smiled at him, with closed mouth.

She knew she stared too much when she felt her chest tighting. All those butterflies they are all talking about are bullshit. It feels like you're in a roller coaster and after a century of only going up, you suddenly go down.

They stayed like that for who knows how long. Maya tried to talk but she just couldn't get the words out. And Josh didn't look in the mood of looking away either.

His phone rang. Maya didn't know if that made her feel good or bad. He hesitantly gave it a glance. When he did, he picked it up with a small smile.

"Brother.", he greeted, "Yeah... oh, okay!" And then: "Yeah, I'm going to tell her, don't worry. See you!"

He turned to face Maya. When she saw his smile, she frowned at him.

"What did he want?", she asked.

Josh smiled even wider.

"He's taking everyone out to dinner.", he explained, "See, tommorrow it's Auggie's birthday."

Maya raised her eyebrows. She looked down. Once again, she could feel Josh's eyes on her. Once again, she turned to look at him.

One tiny problem. They were sitting way to close. Their legs were almost touching, something that Maya had completely ignored before.

Josh seemed to notice that too. His mouth formed an almost invisible smile. Invisible for someone that wasn't as close as she was. Josh's eyes left hers. His mouth opened a bit as he stared at her lips.  Without planning on it he leaned closer. He seemed hypnotized. He took a short breath.

Maya couldn't breathe. She risked a glance at his lips but quickly turned away. His lips were just and inch away.

With fast moves she got up and left the couch. She walked fast and rested against a wall. She took a deep breath and enjoyed the oxygen. Josh was frozen. He had pressed his lips into a thin line again and his eyes were closed. He stayed like that for a while, trying to regain his coolness. He slowly opened his eyes and they landed, as always, on hers.

He opened his mouth to say something and Maya's mouth turned into a line, just like his had a few moments ago.

"I'm so sorry, Maya. I-I didn't... I'm so sorry.", he said quietly.

Maya did her best to smile at him.

"Let's just forget about it", she suggested. "We have a dinner to attend tomorrow and we both need sleep. You're crashing at mine tonight.

And it wasn't a question.