Betrothed

Starting Over

Hey everyone! I'm really sorry about the super long hiatus! But the good news is I'm done with school and I should have a lot more time to write and publish! Thank you all for being so incredibly patient with me and I hope you enjoy this!!

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There was silence between the two young adults as they sat in Maya's room. Josh had finished telling Maya what had gone down between his parents and him earlier that night. Maya hadn't said anything since he had started talking as she was taking everything in.

"You're stupid." Maya finally said. Josh looked at her bewildered.

"Excuse me?" He scoffed. "Did you not just hear the part of me defending you to my parents?" He asked her as his eyes followed her around her room. Maya grabbed a hair tie and started to pull her hair up in a ponytail leaving ringlets down the side of her face.

"Yeah, I heard it Josh. That's why I think you're stupid." Maya told him. Josh ran a hand through his hair as he shook his head.

"I dont get you." He said as he stood up from her bed to face her. "You're just like a woman!" Maya glared at him but he ignored. "You want something one minute and then another the next, I dont stand up for you, and you get mad. I do stand up for you, and you get mad! You are so infuriating!" He told her.

"Well if that's how you feel about woman then no wonder you dont have a girlfriend." Maya snipped at him causing him to let out a dry chuckle.

"Well, its kind of hard to have a girlfriend when I have a finace." Josh snapped back. Maya glared at him again.

"That wasn't my decision, obviously." Josh bit his lip and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry." He said. "Look, can we please just sit down and talk. Please?" He practically begged. Maya sighed and nodded her head before following him back to her bed. Josh pulled her desk chair over to the bed and sat down while Maya sat down on her bed.

"I know what you did with your parents was a risk, and I know that you did it because you felt sorry for me." Maya said as she looked up to meet Josh's eyes.

"I dont feel sorry for you, Maya. You're going through something right now that my parents are inflicting on you. I feel responsible." Maya shook her head.

"You feel sorry. everyone feels sorry for me and that is why they are in trouble, Farkle and Lucas are in detention because of me, you probably just started world war three with your parents, this is causing strain between my parents and the Matthews. Nothing good is coming of this and its because of me." Josh shook his head.

"Maya this is because people care and about you, and love you. This has nothing to do with feeling sorry for you. What would you have done if Riley was forced into an arranged marriage with Lucas, and some guys were calling her a slut and a gold digger. What would you have done?" Josh asked her seriously with a hint of a smile on his face.

"I would have taken him by the hair, and slammed his face into the glass protecting the fire extinguisher." Maya said lowly but seriously with her face expressionless. Josh let out a chuckle.

"And why would you do that?" He asked her. Maya sighed deeply as she looked down at her hands before looking back up.

"Because I love her, and I care about her, and anyone who tries to mess with her would have to go through me. Because Riley is my best friend and nobody gets to treat her that way." Josh smirked.

"And what? You think you're the only one out of your friends that get to feel that way?" Josh asked her. Maya stared for a second before looking down again. "Look Maya, I get that this could be a reflection off of what your dad did-"

"You know nothing about my dad." Maya interrupted him as she got up and walked to the other side of the room. Josh rolled his eyes and sighed as he twisted the chair around to face her.

"Come on, Maya. I'm trying here." Josh pleaded with her. "I care about you." He said. Maya scoffed and turned to face him.

"You have a funny way of showing it." shetold him crossing her arms."Before all this happened Youwere as much apart as the 'I hate Maya Hart fan club' as anyone." She said bitterly.

"Maya-"

"You know what really sucks." She interrupted him. And Josh knew better than to do anything but let her talk. "Have you ever heard of the old saying 'fifty guys under her belt she's a tramp, fifty girls under his belt he's a champ.' that's an actual saying. You can overcome this, this agreement that we have going on here. Because you're a player, you date girls, you make them think that you really care about them, and then you leave them. And that's exactly what you're going to do with me. And you want to know what the sad part about all this is? Is that we cant tell anyone that this was anything less than two idiot kids falling in love, getting married, and then the boy breaking the girls heart right after a few months of getting everything he wants. Once again you'll be some kind of champ in the eyes of your friends, while I'm stuck still being in love with someone that will probably never look my way again. My life is pretty much over while your life gets to thrive in ways that you couldn't be happier with. So congrats, champ." Josh swallowed hard. She was right, he would be considered a "god" in his friends eyes. While Maya became the laughing stock of her school, and really New York City.

"Then lets get out of it. I'm turning twenty one next week, I'll have access to all my family's bank accounts. Especially to the business. I'll get money out, give it to your parents as another jump start for their business. We cant put our foot down to my parents, we'll make up a story, tell everyone that you broke up with me." Maya shook her head.

"Your parents aren't stupid, Josh. I'm sure your parents have thought about all of this. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided against putting your name on the account when you turn 21. Probably planning on telling you after your birthday." Josh didnt want to admit it but it did sound like something his parents would do to make sure this marriage went through. Maya had made a lot of sense. They wanted to make sure there were absolutely no outs for them, for Maya.

"Fine, then If we're going to be together, I want us to start over. Lets at least try to get along." Josh told her. Maya looked up at her and narrowed her eyebrows. "A truce. I want us to be friends." Josh held out his hand. "What do you say? No more yelling at each other, no more jokes, no more making the other feel bad. Just until we figure out what to do." Maya looked at his hand and back up at his eyes. She sighed as she held her hand out and connected it with his.

"Truce."

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I'm going to be working on this story really hard to try and make it better than what it is. I'm working on all my stories to make better improvement. If y'all have any ideas, DM me and if I decide to take one of your suggestions I will definitely give you a shoutout and the credit for it. Thanks everyone!!