The Fight For Love (Joshaya)

Chapter 37

  "Peaches? What are you doing?"

  Maya turns from staring at the back of her locker and looks at her best friend. She says, "Oh, hey, Riles. I guess I just spaced out."

  She leans against a couple of the lockers. "What caused you to space out?"

  "You were right."

  "About Josh?"

  "Yeah."

  "So, is he not going to spend the night with you anymore?"

  "Not 'til we're married. It sucks."

  "Yeah, it does suck. You get used to how your relationship with someone is and then all of a sudden it does a complete 180."

  Like when Riley admitted to having feelings for Maya. Her whole world turned upside down and she had no idea what to do then. Luckily, their friendship is stronger than fleeting emotions. 

  "Wanna start walking to class? It's getting near that time."

  "I guess if I have to," Maya begrudgingly says.

  Maya shuts her locker door and the two girls starting walking alongside each other to their second period, which happens to be math. 

  "If you want, I can start spending the night with you more often so that you're not sleeping alone."

  "Thanks, Riles, but it's just not the same. We did that once; it was nice having someone next to me, but not the same."

  "Okay, I get it. I'm no Joshua Matthews. I guess I don't come anywhere close to him." Riley bumps Maya's shoulder playfully with her own.

  Not seeing the joke in what Riley said, Maya hangs her head down and says, "You don't. He's so amazing. I can talk to him every night as I fall asleep and not have to worry about not having enough time. I can no longer do that. What am I supposed to do? Talk to him on the phone until I fall asleep?"

  "Yes!!" Riley stops just shy of the classroom door and jumps up and down. Maya hopes not too many people are paying attention to them. "That's exactly what you do! You have to make do with what you do get. You may not have the comfort in sleeping next to him in his arms, but you'll have his voice to comfort you. And for now, that has to be enough."

  "But what if it isn't?"

  She places a hand on her friend's shoulder and stares deep into her eyes. "You've got this. I believe in you. God won't let you go. There's a kind of love that God only knows. Trust in him with everything that occupies your thoughts and burdens your heart. You've got this."

  Maya musters to smile at her best friend before she puts an arm around her shoulders and the two of them walk into class.

~~~~

  That night Maya holds the phone up to her ear as she lies in the comfort of her bed. She speaks to her loving boyfriend, "So, this is what Riley told me to do. Talk to you until I fall asleep. What do you think?"

  "I will be more than happy to talk with you until you fall asleep every night. I'm really proud of Riley for giving you a suggestion like that, instead of hating on my idea. She's really good for you, and I think you're really good for her. I'm happy you two didn't stay split up. No guy is worth splitting up with the one person in the world who will stand by you no matter what life throws at you. I'm proud of you for sticking with her, Maya."

  "Thanks, Josh. But you do know I would've still chosen you over her in a heartbeat if I had to choose between one of you, right?"

  "I know, and you did. I'm not saying that's wrong, but I would never want you and Riley to never talk to each other again because of me."

  "I'm glad you helped me through that time in my life."

  "Maya, you are absolutely beloved. I want you to know that. No matter what. I want you to never forget that. You got it?"

  Maya has to sit up in order to keep the tears from spilling off from her face. Every time Josh says those kinds of things it doesn't make her heart flutter like it would with a lot of girls. It digs deep to the inner most parts of her soul, especially since her dad left when she was young and her mom is totally not supportive of her relationship with Josh. 

  Through chokes from crying, Maya says, "Yes, I got it. Thank you, Josh. I love you so much. I don't know what I would do without you."

  "Maya." His voice turns stern. "You would do fine without me. You don't need me to live an awesome life. I'm totally grateful to have you in my life and I'm sure you are as well, but we could live without each other. I need you to be aware of that."

  Her mind immediately thinks about the possibility of him dying soon or leaving here. She asks, "Where are you going? What happened?"

  "What? I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here. Where'd you get the impression that I was going somewhere?"

  Relief sweeps over Maya. "Okay, good. I thought since you were saying we could live without each other, that meant you were leaving or dying."

  "Well, I'm not leaving. And I'm not dying, at least not that I'm aware of. You realize we could each die at any given moment, right? It's kind of scary."

  She doesn't want to think about that. All she wants to focus on is talking to Josh and attempting to fall asleep to his voice after this conversation.

  "Could you just keep talking? It doesn't have to be about anything important. I just want your voice to be the last thing I hear when I fall asleep."

  "Okay, my girl. I'll make up a story for you."

  As Josh starts making up a completely unrealistic story about aliens on Mars coming down to earth, Maya's mind begins to lose focus little by little. She no longer hears what he's saying and falls into the blackness of sleep for the night. She got what she wanted, which was to hear Josh's voice as she fell asleep. Thankfully, it seems like that will be enough comfort each night until they get married.