On Purpose

The big whoa

"Why hello kiddies and my brothaa." Josh cheers as he walks in.

It's been two weeks since the college thing happened. Maya hasn't been the same but she puts up a front that everything is okay and Riley of course sees through it. Josh hasn't been over as much as before. But Riley has noticed that when he does come over, he's happier than usual.

"Okay, I got some news." He smiles.

"Are you moving in?"Auggie sits down.

"Nope sorry kiddo."He chuckles and continues, "So I got a girlfriend. I met her from the college walk through and I invited her over tonight to meet you guys."

Riley's eyes widen. "What about Maya?"

"What about her? Riley she just has a stupid crush. She'll get over it." He shrugs.

"No she won't. Your her boing. How am I going to explain this to her?"

"Explain what?" Maya walks through the door.

"Uh..."Josh scratches the back of his neck nervously.

"Actually. Maybe josh should explain this one." Riley glares at him.

Maya looks at him. "What's up? You finally see that the three year age thing isn't a big of a deal?" She smirks.

"Uncle josh has a girlfriend." Auggie interrupts unaware that it would affect Maya.

Maya frowns. "Oh. Well that's nice. I hope she makes you happy." She avoids eye contact from josh and walks to Riley's room.

"She hasn't been the same after she admitted that one thing to you."Riley sighs.

"What do you mean?"He asks confusingly.

"She doesn't talk about you anymore. She knows there's no hope and I think that now that she knows you have a girlfriend she's going to stop hitting on you."

"Well that's a good thing."He chuckles nervously.

"Are you stupid?" Riley snaps. "I've seen the way she looks at you when you enter a room. Never has she looked at any other guy that way."

"Well that's her problem Riley. I've got a life, I can't just stop my life because a little girl has a crush on me."

Maya over hears and walks out of the room.

"I don't need you to protect my feelings okay? The most mature thing for me to do is to accept it. Josh is never going to like me riles." She looks over at josh. "And I'm sorry that you have to go through all this trouble because I'm a stupid kid with a stupid crush. It won't happen again. I have to go." She rushes out.

Josh sighs and sits down. "I feel bad."

"You should. Want to know why? Because you like her back." Riley sits next to him.

"I don't-

"You're afraid. Three years younger is a big deal for you but not to Maya. I see the way you look at her too. You have to be blind to not know. I want you to know that everyone supports it. Just think about it uncle josh." She stands up and walks away leaving josh confused as ever.