Chapter 1

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Maya's POV

Okay. I can do this. I am Maya Hart. Maya Penelope Hart to be more exact. 

Alright maybe I should leave out the Penelope part. It isn't doing to much to boost my confidence right now. I've never really liked the name Penelope. It's all flowers and sunshine--not really my style. 

But that is besides the point. The point is: Riley's parents are celebrating their 100th wedding anniversary in a week. Okay, so that was an exaggeration, but 25 years is a long time. I'm happy for them though. I really am. But I am not so happy about who comes along with this celebration. 

Joshua Gabriel Matthews.

And to make matters worse. This wasn't any typical anniversary celebration. It was more than just dinner and cake and gifts. Cory re-proposed to Topanga a couple months ago. It was actually kind of cute. He gathered the whole family (plus a few honorary family members) to Philadelphia for a picnic at the park and a family game night to follow. 

At the park, he took Topanga to the bench by the now rusted monkey bars and reenacted HIS proposal to Topanga.

They decided that they wanted to finally have their dream wedding. They explained to everyone that despite how appreciative they were of Eric's crazy scheme at their real wedding, they wanted to have a wedding where they weren't Mr. and Mrs. Harold Peterman and where they didn't end up in jail. Who could blame them though?

It has been a while since I have really seen Josh. Sure I have seen him here and there for short spans of time. He used to be at Riley's house all the time while he was at NYU. Then, I would see him around campus once I started my freshman year in the NYU art program. We all got kind of close too. Josh hung around our friend group a lot and he pretty much became our newest member.

But I haven't been that close to Josh ever since THAT night 3 years ago. Our friendship hasn't been the same ever since. 

And now.

Now would be the first time since that night that I have to spend more than a couple hours with him. And to make matters worse, it's not like I could just avoid him. 

Cory and Topanga ever-so-graciously paired me up to walk down the isle with him. In their defense, they don't know anything about what happened that night. Nobody does. Not even Riley. 

I will admit, it definitely makes me feel guilty that I never told her. But this, this was one of those things that I handled by myself. That is how I knew how hard this really was on me--I tend to handle the hard stuff by myself. 

"Maya! Get your butt up now!" Riley echoed from the kitchen of our new apartment in between bites of her Cheerios. 

After we graduated from NYU, we finally got an apartment together like we always dreamed of doing. It was small and dainty, just like Riley, but I didn't mind. It was perfect. It had just enough edge to scream Mayaville meets Rileytown. 

"Hello?! Maya?!" Riley repeated. 

This time she was standing in the door way of my bedroom. 

"Maya, it's almost noon and you haven't even moved out of bed. We have to be at the dress shop at 1 o'clock. Get up and get dressed," she said before quickly leaving my doorway so that I didn't even have a chance to argue.

"Ugh fine," I mumbled to myself.

I was dreaded this too. We had already picked out the bridesmaid dressed but we had to go today to make sure they fit and didn't need any last minute alterations. Not only was I not really a fan of dresses, but it also meant that we were one step closer to this wedding and one step closer to facing Josh.

I rolled out of bed and threw on the new sweater I got last week with a pair of leggings, a scarf, and my silver feather necklace. I pulled on a pair of boots and grabbed my bag to meet Riley in the kitchen/ living room area.

 I pulled on a pair of boots and grabbed my bag to meet Riley in the kitchen/ living room area

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I plopped on the couch and said the words despite my resistance, "Okay. I'm ready to go whenever, Riles."


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