Long Game: A Joshaya Fanfic

the necklace & the beanie

Maya and Riley sat at the bay window and Maya poured her heart out, "I don't know Riles, there's not much to tell, um we used to all hang out when we were little and I guess I always thought he was good looking for a little kid, and he was always nice to me and then I heard he was coming today and I don't know, I just got all nervous. And he's even cuter now. So whatever that means, I guess that's what it is." "Hmm," Riley started saying while she thought, "It's a crush." "What? Really? No, it can't be." Maya said, shaking her head. "But it is Maya, you like my Uncle Josh." Riley said. Maya looked down and said under her breathe, "More like Uncle Boing." "What?" Riley asked, not completely hearing her. Maya chuckled and said, "Oh nothing. Hey, let's go back in there, your mom's probably wanting us back in there anyways." "Yeah okay." Riley said, getting up to follow Maya out of her room.
The girls returned to the family room and Topanga called them over to open presents. Riley looked under the tree to find something of hers and Maya did the same, Maya found one for her from her mom and went to reach under the tree for it because it had fallen pretty deep. That's when Josh came over and said, "Whatcha looking for?" Maya didn't even look up but said, "Some box that I saw said it was from my mom." "Oh, uh did it look small?" Josh said, putting his hand on the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess." Maya said, now looking at him a little. "Oh uh I know which one that is, we brought that here from your mom," Josh said while he reached under the tree for it. "Um here." he said, handing Maya the box. Maya took it and looked up and him saying, "Thanks." And then they walked their separate ways again. Maya went and sat next to Riley and tore open her present, only to discover a little blue box and she opened it and was greeted, looking at the golden heart locket. Just like what she always wanted. "She remembered." Maya said to herself. Riley looked at her best friend and said, "She's your mom Maya, she loves you, of course she remembered." Josh saw Maya putting on the locket and everything from their childhood flashed before his eyes but he just smiled at the beautiful blonde girl sitting in front of him. Amy handed something she found under the tree to her son and said, "Joshua, this was for you." Josh took it and read, "To Josh from, your parents." And opened it. He looked at the little black beanie and remembered how he always wore these since he was a little kid. He took the hat and wore it and looked at his parents and smiled as if to say, 'thank you.' They smiled back and him and then Maya glanced up to see him wearing the beanie she wrapped the day before. She smiled as now all of her childhood memories flew back to her mind. People continued to open presents and then Maya and Riley had finished theirs so they were on the couch, talking. Josh looked at his own little pile of presents as he was also done opening all his. Then he looked up at the blonde. He thought, 'I want, scratch that, I need to talk to her. Not like how I have so far, like I need to have a real talk with her. She's grown up so pretty, how do I talk to her though? Okay.' He got up and walked over to Riley and Maya, not disturbing anyone or drawing attention to himself. He got there and looked at the two and said, "Hey guys." They said hi and then he grabbed Maya's wrist and said to Maya, "Uh can I talk to you alone for a minute?" Maya looked at Riley as if she was asking, 'should I go?' Riley nodded and Maya nodded to Josh and he pulled her to the hallway.