Betrothed

Meetings

What up y'all? Here's the next chapter, enjoy!!
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"I have to do what?" Maya asked her best friend as her face told a story of pure disgust.

"It's tradition, Maya." Riley told her as they were sat up on her bed back at the Matthews apartment.

"It's also stupid and humiliating." Maya told her. "Forget it Riley, I'm not doing it!" Riley rolled her eyes.

"Josh has to make one too." Riley said. Maya shook her head.

"I'm still not doing it." Maya exclaimed. "Why should I make a speech about how much josh means to me and how I'm glad that we are getting married when it couldn't be further off from the truth! That would make me a liar, Riley." Riley sighed as she got up from her bed and starting pacing the floors.

"Okay, Josh is probably working on his right now as we speak. So maybe if we wrote about how you felt back in middle school then it wouldn't really be a lie." Riley said. Maya sighed as she fell back onto Riley's bed.

"How did I get here?" She asked as she stared up at the ceiling. "Just a few days ago I was all excited about hearing back from college and wondering where I was going to go. Now I'm engaged to the one person in my life that if  died tomorrow and I would probably dance as his funeral." Maya admitted. Riley winced.

"Aren't you sweet."

"My point is, my life isn't even my own anymore. How many teenage girls can say that they are forced into marriage so they can save their family business." Maya said. Riley shook her head as she went to sit on the bed beside Maya.

"You know this isn't the seventeen hundreds anymore. Maya if you really don't want to go through with this then we can go to Topanga. She said she will get you out of this. All you have to do is stand up to my grandparents, there is no way they would ever risk dragging their name through the mud on the news if this becomes a legal thing." Riley said. Maya sighed. It was a tempting offer, but she knew that her and Josh's plan would work better.

"I can't do that to my parents. After everything they've done for me, it wouldn't be fair. Besides, everything will be okay. I just have to be patient." Maya said. Riley raised her eyebrows.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked as she nudged Maya's side with her knee. Maya shrugged.

"Don't worry about it." Maya looked at her phone and sighed as are got up off up Riley's bed. "I have to go. Your grandparents want to have a meeting with me and Josh about our engagement party." Maya told her as she grabbed her jacket and put it on. Riley gave her a sympathetic look.

"Good luck." She said before Maya waved her off and walked out the door. Maya sighed as she walked into the living room. She looked over at Josh who was seated beside Topanga on the couch. Maya rolled her eyes as she made her way to the door.

"Hold up a minute and we'll walk together." Josh told her as he was finishing up his conversation with Topanga.

"No thanks." Maya mumbled as she opened the door. Josh rolled his eyes.

"Maya, it's dark outside and it's New York." Josh told her. Maya rolled her eyes.

"I've been walking the streets by myself since I was 12. I think I'll be okay." She told him.

"Fine! But if you get raped don't come crying to me." He told her right before the door slammed shut. Topanga hit Josh in the arm and gave him a look.

"What? I did what you said and I made an effort. Look where that got me." He said as he leaned back on the couch.

"Josh, sometimes with Maya you just have to insist." Josh sighed before rolling his eyes and getting up from the couch.

"I'll see ya later." He told her before he walked out the door. Topanga smiled as she went over the conversation that she just had with Josh in her head.

"Maya wait up!" Josh exclaimed right before the elevator door closed. Maya scoffed as he slipped through the doors right before they closed.

"Josh I'll be fine." She told him as she leaned back against the wall. Josh shook his head.

"Yeah well I'm walking with you so deal with it." He told her as he stood on the other side of the elevator. They were silent for the rest of the elevator ride until they were outside of the building and walking towards Topanga's for their meeting. "So, did Riley tell you about the speech?" Josh asked. Maya laughed.

"You mean the speech that I am never doing? Yeah, it rings a bell." She said honestly. Josh rolled his eyes.

"Look I'm not too thrilled about it either but we have to do it." Josh stated. Maya shook her head.

"I'm not going to be a liar in front of my entire family and yours." Maya told him as she made sure there was distance between her and Josh.

"Then don't be. Go up there and tell everyone how much you hate me, tell them how all of this is just some publicity stunt so we can make more money for the company. Then you can sit back and watch your parents lose everything because my parents will be to angry and won't merge the companies together." Josh told her as they got closer and closer to Topanga's. Maya sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"How the heck am I supposed to break this to Leo." Maya mumbled to herself but Josh overheard it.

"You want me to break it to him?" He smirks. Maya rolls her eyes.

"No I don't. I can do it myself and I don't need your help." Maya told him. Josh shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever. You better hurry. There's only like a month and a half of school left. After that it's goodbye freedom. At least for now." He said as they made their way to the entrance of Topanga's.

They looked inside and Allan and Amy were already sitting down waiting for them to get there. Maya looked up and caught her mothers gaze. Katy smiled at her but Maya looked away still too hurt over what happened. Suddenly Josh nudged her shoulder.

"Let's ditch." He told her her. Maya lifted her head up to meet his eyes.

"Are you crazy!? We can't ditch your parents take this as a huge deal." Maya told him. Josh rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

"So? Common we'll play it off as we were hanging out and lost track of time. They won't care when they realize that we're actually hanging out and getting along." Josh said.

"But we're not." She told him. Josh scoffed.

"They don't have to know that. Now common live a little." Josh said as he started up the stairs.

"You may be use to this whole o can do whatever I want and get away with it thing, but not me. My parents actually need me to go through with this because of their financial situation. I'm not going to let them down, some of us weren't spoiled growing up. I need you to stop playing these stupid games and actually take this seriously so we can go through with our plan." Maya told him. She didn't wait for Josh to respond before she walked into Topanga's.

Josh stood there for a minute as he watched Maya walk in and go over to his parents. Despite what happened the other night at dinner, his parents got up up hug her. That was the last thing Josh stayed to see before he continued up the stairs and into the streets of New York.
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Sorry about the wait. School for me is starting back in a couple of weeks so things for me are hectic as I'm getting ready for it. I hope y'all enjoyed!!