The Bet

Moving in

NYU was a big school. Thousands of students, hundreds of teachers, and the percentage rate of getting in was close to none. So when Maya Hunter found out she was accepted on an art scholarship, it was easily one of the happiest moments of her life.

Maya and her best friend Riley has been accepted into NYU, along with their other friends. It had been their dream to go to school together, and it had been Maya's dream to get into NYU.

When they had all opened up their acceptance letters together, it was a moment that Maya would never forget. Not only did she get to go to her dream school, but she got to go with the people that she loved more than anything in the whole world.

Shawn had told her about his experiences in college, but he said what made it the best times of his life was having his friends surrounding him. That he would have never made it or had ever gone to college if it weren't for them. Maya couldn't wait to have that experience herself.

Joshua Matthews was facing his final year in college. He had spent the last three years in New York with his brothers family, leaving behind his parents back in Philadelphia.

Ever since that college party where Maya had made it clear that she had feelings for Josh, Josh had made it a point to try and avoid Maya as much as possible. Which was extremely difficult since she was with the Matthews all the time.

They made their 'someday' deal as Josh had found himself thinking more and more about Maya as he was trying to avoid her. Hearing stories about her from his family and niece made it incredibly difficult to keep her from running through his mind. And somehow he started to realize that he didn't want to avoid Maya so much anymore.

But somewhere along the way Josh and Maya got too busy with their lives to worry about the other one. When Shawn had married Katy, he had made it a point to spend time together as a family. Taking them on family vacations, making family movie night. It was very easy for Josh to visit his family unnoticed and uninterrupted by Maya.

Josh had also met some life long friends. Ones that he went on trips with, went home and spent time with their families and even took them back to Philadelphia for his parents to meet.

At last it had been two years since Josh and Maya had seen each other. And neither of them were the same person that they had been when Maya was in middle school. They both had changed, very different opinions now.

When Maya walked into Josh's dorm building for the first time, she had been carrying boxes right along side her family and Riley's. They just so happened to be moving into the room that was just a hall over from Josh's. Josh stopped right outside the bathroom and stared. Maya had always been gorgeous, but it seemed that she really has blossomed over the last two years.

"Uncle Josh!" Riley exclaimed. Maya looked over and smiled, but instead of stopping like Riley did, she kept walking straight into their room. She didn't even give Josh a second glance.

"Hey Riles." He smiled as he helped his niece by taking the boxes that were in her arms. She gave him a thanks while he followed her into her room. He sat down the boxes where Riley had pointed and looked over to see Maya already starting to unpack the one she brought in. "First day, huh?" Josh asked.

"Sure is! I feel like my stomach is going to pop out of my throat at any moment. Is that how you felt on your first day?" Riley asked him. Josh shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't worry about it. Soon the classes will kick in and you'll be too sleep deprived to notice." He told her. Once again he glanced over in Maya's direction. She had not turned around once. "Hey Maya!" He greeted her. Maya turned around and let a genuine smile grace her lips.

"Hey Josh." She greeted back. Then she turned back around and started unpacking her stuff like nothing happened. Josh was a bit taken back by this. For the first time, she didn't call him boing and she didn't let out some kind of smart remark about him and her.

Suddenly the room was filled with Matthews and Hunters, all with boxes in their hands and Josh being greeted by every one of them.

"You'll have to look after Riley and Maya for us." Topanga smiled. Josh laughed as Shawn came up and ruffled his hair.

"You kidding? More like they'll be looking after him. Don't think you won't have shadows this year, Josh. No going out to those wild senior parties." Shawn warned him with a smile on his face.

"Don't I know it." Josh laughed as he hugged Shawn and then moved on to Cory. "Don't worry, I'll make sure they're good." He told them honestly.

The next hour was filled with people coming in and out with boxes in their hands. Helping unpack and put furniture together. Josh helped Maya with a lot of her stuff, they engaged in conversation about college and what to expect. She told him about her art scholarship. It was the first real conversation that they ever had been able to have together since their time at the ski lodge. And not once did maya make googling eyes at him, or remark about their future together. She treated him the way she treated any of her other guy friends. To be honest, Josh didn't really know how to feel about this.

After everyone had left and said their heartfelt goodbyes to Riley and Maya. The girls sat in their room taking it all in. Josh had his arms folded over his chest, leaning against the wall.

"College isn't as scary as you might think. It will take a while to adjust, but you guys haven't ever faced anything you haven't been able to handle yet. You'll be fine." He told them.

"Thanks Josh." Riley smiled at him. Maya got up and grabbed a bag.

"I'm gonna hit the showers real quick. I don't think I'll have time tomorrow, I have an early meeting with my art teacher. See you around, Josh." Maya smiled at him one more time before waking past him and out the door. Josh stared after her. Riley cleared her throat causing Josh to come back to reality.

"What?" He asked his niece as she smirked at him. Riley scoffed.

"You didn't expect her to still be pining over you, did you?" Riley asked with amusement in her voice. Josh stared at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He told her. Riley laughed.

"Uncle Josh, you haven't been able to take your eyes off of her since we got here. I get it, you're shocked. You were expecting Maya to still be head over heels for you. After your someday deal the two of you started to grow apart. You made it pretty clear that you weren't interested in her as much as she was, so she got over you." Riley told him. Josh nodded his head.

That wasn't true at all. Sure, life got crazy and they ended up going separate ways. But there wasn't a day that went by that Josh didn't think about how things could be different if their little game had finally come to an end. But it had been two years since they've seen each other, and after all feelings do change.

"Well good. That's great she got over it. It will make things a lot less awkward this year. I'm glad." He stated. Riley raised an eyebrow.

"And you?" She asked him. "Have you gotten over it?" Josh rolled his eyes at his niece.

"Have a good night Riles." He told her. Then he opened the door and left the room.
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Not a very strong start, but I promise, it will get better.