Someday: A Collection of Joshaya One Shots

The Extra Ingredient

Josh's POV

Office parties are the absolute worst. When our boss sent out the email detailing the plans for this year's party I was less than thrilled. I was planning on going home and snuggling up with my dog, Scruffy and watching classic Christmas movies to kick off my long weekend but instead I'm still at the office, bored and miserable. 

I bring my cup of eggnog to my lips and scrunch my nose up at the taste. It was clear that someone had spiked it. I place it on the table beside me as a brunette woman who sits in the cubicle beside me comes and takes a sear on the arm of the chair. "Hi Josh" she says, placing her hand on my thigh. 

"Uh hi" I reply, pushing off her hand. "Is there something you need?"

Her lips quirk into a smirk. "What are you offering?"

I roll my eyes. I really didn't need to put up with this. "Nothing" I snip, standing up and heading towards the door. I grab my jacket off the hook and start pulling it on until a loud crash catches my attention. I look up and find Maya Hunter, the receptionist, standing beside my desk looking at the ground with wide eyes. 

She had knocked over a picture frame on my desk that held a picture of me and my niece and nephew. "Oops" she giggles, covering her mouth and I sigh. It was clear she was drunk. 

I abandon my coat on the hook and walk towards her. "Maya" I murmur, carefully approaching her. 

She looks up at me and frowns. "Josh! I am so, sorry" she says dramatically. "I will uh I will buy a new one" she says finally and I chuckle, taking her hand in mine. 

"It's okay Maya. Come on" I insist, helping her step over the glass. She clears the mess and stops in front of me, looking up at me with glazed over eyes. "How many cups of eggnog did you have Maya?"

She shrugs. "A lot. It tasted really good this year. Usually I hate eggnog but I really liked this eggnog" she rambles and I chuckle. She was sort of adorable drunk...not that I didn't think that all the time. I've had a crush on the blonde since her first day. 

"That's because someone put an extra ingredient in it this year" I explain simply. "Now Maya, do you remember your address?" I ask, hoping she can think of it in her drunken haze. 

"Um" she thinks, biting into her bottom lip. "It's a house."

Despite the situation I can't help but laugh. Leave it to drunken Maya to tell me she lives in a house. "Yea okay" I reply, giving up. "Come on."

I lead her towards the door and help her with her jacket before finally putting mine on and the two of us head out into the bitter New York cold. I lead her to my car and help her into the passenger seat before climbing into the driver's side and cranking the heat. "It's cold" she complains. 

"I'm surprised you noticed" I joke, putting the car in reverse and pulling out of the parking lot. I knew that the only logical thing to do at this point was bring her home to sober up and hope that she would understand. 

I head towards my place while she leans her head against the glass and drifts off to sleep. The ride is about ten minutes so she gets a short nap before I wake her up when we arrive at my place. I shake her gently and her eyes flutter open. "Where are we?"

I smile. "Somewhere without eggnog. Let's get you inside" I insist, unlocking the doors. She climbs out on her own but a patch of ice outside her door trips her up. Luckily, I catch her and help her into my place, leading her to my couch and lying her down. "I'll be right back."

I walk down the hall to get some blankets from my front hall closet but when I return she's asleep again and I smile. At least she seemed comfortable enough to get some rest. 

I drape the blankets over her before heading to my own room to relax. I flick on the light and laugh when Scruffy lifts his head off the mattress to look at me. "Hey buddy" I smile, closing the door. "Ready to watch some movies?"

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I hear her footsteps. I had woken up early to make sure that I caught her when she finally woke up but I had stayed in my room so I wouldn't scare her. I pause my show and look down at Scruffy, telling him to stay put before climbing out of bed and walking out to the living room. 

I find the blonde walking around the room with a blanket around her shoulders, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she tries to figure out whose house she's in. "Morning."

Her head whips towards me and her eyes go wide. "Josh."

"Expecting someone else?" I laugh, stepping towards her. She brings her bottom lip between her teeth and hugs the blanket closer to her. 

"I don't know who I was expecting" she admits. "What happened last night?"

"Someone spiked the eggnog and I was planning to take you home but you couldn't remember your address so I brought you here. I thought it was better than leaving you there to be taken advantage of."

She looks at the couch before looking past me towards my bedroom. "And we didn't-."

"Uh no" I shake my head. "You passed out as soon as we got here...not that I was planning on doing anything with you. Not that I would never do anything with you" I ramble causing a chuckle to fall from her lips. 

"I get it" she says, putting me out of my misery. "And thank you. You don't know how much I appreciate this. I-I wasn't planning on getting drunk last night."

"I figured but it was really no trouble."

She nods thoughtfully, biting harder into her lip before looking back at me. "Maybe I could buy you breakfast to repay you?" 

"Uh yea" I nod. "I think that could work but then of course I'd owe you dinner" I add, my lips turning into a smirk. She laughs. 

"These sound a lot like dates."

I shrug. "Only if we treat them like dates." She seems to think over the idea for a moment and I feel my heart pounding in my chest in absolute terror. I had put all my cards on the table. I was all in. 

Her lips quirk to the side and she nods. "Okay sure" she finally agrees. "It's a date."