Girl Meets Season 4

16. Girl Meets Triangle Returns

"Yeah, and Maya... and Zay," she said as she watched his eyes look sadder than they already looked. "Josh..." he stopped her before she could say anything.

"It's okay Riley," he said before walking away. Riley forgot to ask him what movie they were watching only to see him sitting in the theater towards the far right side away from where Maya was. She saw him staring at the back of Maya's head throughout the previews.

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Maya was having a good time, Zay would comment on the most random things in the movie making her laugh.

"The guy doesn't notice that," he had said when one of the victims walked into a room where the killer was just standing in the dark corner with a knife. "The minute he opened the door the knife lit up, how does he not notice that."

"Because he's supposed to die," Maya laughed.

The two of them kept up the banter throughout the movie, while they shared a tub of popcorn, Zay threw in a bag of skittles for fun and the salty sweetness of the snack made her smile. By the time the movie ended she was full of sugar and bouncing up and down from the excitement of the movie. When she saw Riley hiding behind Lucas, she couldn't help but laugh.

"We have an hour before curfew so let's walk around," Zay said as they walked to the exit.

"We could walk home instead of taking the train, it's a good long walk," Maya said thinking about finding tacos somewhere. "Food carts outside sell all kinds of thinks so we can get something for the walk."

"I'm for it," he said.

"You two go ahead, I need to take Riley home, she didn't really like the movie," Lucas said as he hugged Riley to him.

"But why does it have to be so bloody," was all that Riley said as he walked her down the street towards the subway.

"And then there was two," Zay said. The two of them walked to the nearby park after grabbing food from one of the nearby trucks.

"I don't know how a date should go," Maya confessed. "The only ones I've been on were with Farkle and Lucas, and well Lucas ended up with a smoothie on his head and Farkle made out with my hand."

"How did Farkle make-out with your hand?" Zay said sounding amused.

"Well it was Riley and Lucas' first date," she started. "This was a few months before you moved here from Texas, and well her dad being her dad wouldn't let them go out unless I went out on a date with Farkle."

"Seriously," he said genuinely surprised. "Geez Mr. Matthews doesn't play around when it comes to Riley, her little brother has more freedom than she does."

"Tell me about it," she said before telling him the story of her first date, skipping the part about seeing Josh with another girl. She didn't want to ruin her time with Zay.

The two of them walked around the park for a little while before he walked her home, he told her stories about growing up in Texas, and she told him about growing up in New York. They talked about their best friends dating, and about possibly going out again. She was smiling by the time she got home, she liked Zay and thought they would be good together, but once she said goodnight to her parents and closed her bedroom door Josh's face automatically came to her. Zay had been a distraction, and now she felt awful for going out with him.

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Josh sat in his dorm room staring at the ceiling, his roommate had gone out to be with his girlfriend for the night so he was completely alone. Andrew had tried to get his attention while they were out at the movies but he had been distracted by a head of blonde hair sitting in the middle of the theater. After he had apologized to his friend he went to his room to sulk, and although he was completely alone, he didn't want to be. Normally at this time of night he was texting Maya, it had become their normal routine, only now she had pushed herself away and he felt heartbroken.

He thought about what Riley had told him, to go after his feelings and tell Maya that he didn't want to wait, but he didn't want to put her in that position so instead he sulked. His phone rang in the background but he ignored it, but it kept ringing for a good ten minutes.

"I don't want to talk," he said to whoever was on the other side.

"Josh we need to talk," his niece's voice told him. "I know what you're feeling, I've gone through that, and it took Farkle blurting out my feelings in front of everyone for me to be able to admit them to my friends. I don't want you to go through that much hurt."

"I don't want to talk about it Riley," he sighed covering his eyes trying to hid his face from the world. "I just want to be left alone."

He hung up the phone before she could say anything else and turned it off so no one else could call. He was going to let her have her chance at happiness, even if it meant that he wouldn't be able to see her face again.

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Zay was happy that Maya had asked him out, on the way home he was bouncing around thinking of where he could take her next knowing that she liked specific types of things. He remembered hearing about a taco place near 32nd street and thought that he could go there with her. Smiling as he walked through the door he said goodnight to his parents before rushing up to his bedroom and jumping on his bed. The next date would be just the two of them, he wanted to make it memorable for her so he thought about everything they could do. Since he had never been to the top of the Empire State Building, he thought they could do that, Maya would draw a picture and it would be where he would give her their first kiss.

He had liked her ever since they started High School, after Vanessa had broken up with him and they stopped talking. He needed to think about the future and for some reason Maya was always there. He didn't know what to say because of course Lucas and Riley were on the other side of that ridiculous triangle but even when it ended he still couldn't say anything because Maya liked Josh and although he had suggested that they could go out. Maya didn't say anything until now.

What had changed her mind? He thought to himself before pushing the idea out of his head because thinking about it would only cause him problems when he was finally getting some happiness.

Zay pulled out his phone and sent Maya a text, telling her about their next date, and when it should be. She suggested they do it the next day because she hadn't had anything planned with Riley so she was free. He smiled when he saw the message and quickly started sending her the plans he had thought up. When they had finished talking, Maya had added a stop in Korea Town to get dessert and to go to karaoke before finishing at the top of the Empire State Building. They decided to meet up around five so that they could do everything before curfew, before he had started nodding off.

He felt happy as sleep came to him.

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Riley couldn't sleep, all she could think about was her conversations with Josh throughout the day. She needed to do something to fix everything because in the end she didn't want anyone to get hurt. At that moment she knew the only person really hurting was Josh, because he was sacrificing his own happiness for Maya. He loves her, was the only thought Riley had and she needed to talk to Lucas about everything before it ate her up from the inside. Everyone had always helped her so now she had to help them.

She sent him a quick text, Lucas, are you awake? But when she looked at the time she realized that it was after two in the morning.

Yeah Riles I'm awake... kinda, he wrote to her. He would always answer her even if he were half asleep.

I need to talk to you about something, do you think we can meet in the morning? I have to work at the café so can you meet me there?

Alright, he said before saying goodnight.

If he knew would he be rooting for Zay or for Josh? She thought before she fell asleep.