Girl Meets Season 5

Episode 17 - Girl Meets Abroad

Josh saw the paper and couldn't feel anything but shock, he had applied the year before, this was before he and Maya started dating, it was on a whim. He had been pushing himself away from Maya at the time and was trying to give her the chance at having her life. Riley found out and told him he was being an idiot, but at the time he had applied for the program. It was only for a few months but it was supposed to give him the chance to find his footing in his life.

"Crap," he said out loud, while staring at the acceptance letter. Two-month semester abroad, an intensive course study with little to no breaks, an escape from reality. The program was supposed to be held half in Europe and the other half at the NYU campus. Four classes in total, but how had he forgotten about the application at all.

Of course, the answer to all of his questions was Maya, she had made him forget about everything. They studied together, he sometimes sat in her room while she drew something and he read a book. Sometimes he would read to her while she painted, and although she would deny it to everyone in the world, he knew she liked it. He picked stories that he knew she would enjoy, they had gone through all kinds of novels throughout their relationship and it had been weird at first but after a while she would just lay down next to him on the floor as he read to her.

That's why this was going to be the hardest decision he would have to make at the moment, because this relationship was still new. Their one-year anniversary was still a month away, and he would be in Europe the day it happened. He sighed as he sat on his bed in his dorm room. He had a single, which was rare as it was, but he had gotten lucky when they had given it to him, even though he rarely spent any time in the room. He worked at Topanga's, he ate dinner with Maya and her parents, or at his brother's house.

Not knowing what to do he leaves his room and starts walking towards the park, but he doesn't stay there, he keeps going watching the lights of the city around him. It was home because he lived there, it was home because his family was near-by, it was home because he had found someone he loved there. He found himself in a park close to his brother's place, it was almost dark but the park was still open to the public. He always found it weird that the parks were closed after a certain time, but he knew it was because it was New York and all kinds of things happened in the big city.

"You know you could just come upstairs," Riley said sitting down next to him. Her foot encased in a boot from the skiing trip.

"Why are you out here?" he asked her looking pointedly at her foot.

"Well the snow is gone, and I just wanted to take a walk, the park is close so I wouldn't have to go very far," she said smiling at him. "What's wrong?"

Josh sighed knowing that he couldn't really keep anything from Riley, "Last year, before Maya and I started dating, during that awkward time before you forced us into admitting our feelings, I applied to this program, it's competitive, but half of the year is spent in Europe, I think it's Germany this time, anyway they accepted me."

"That's great Josh," she said to him smiling. "You're worried aren't you, about how Maya would react."

"Among other things," he said looking at his niece with sadness in his heart. "Is it bad that I still want to go?"

"No, it's not bad Josh, it's something good and although I know Maya would be happy for you, she would also be sad. She does care about you very much."

"I need to talk to her about it," he said watching the streetlights turn on as the darkness slowly engulfed the street.

"She'll freak out for like a minute," Riley says watching kids run home as the lights turned on. "The question is do you think this would change your relationship?"