The Fight For Love (Joshaya)

Chapter 49

  "There are people worse off than I am. It's crazy." Maya stares at the lake in front of her at the park.

  Putting an arm around her and rubbing her shoulder, Josh places a kiss on Maya's cheek.

  She turns to look at him. "Josh, are you even hearing me? There are people worse off than I am. I never thought someone's life could be worse."

  Josh only places another kiss on Maya's cheek with a smile.

  Jerking away from his arm's embrace, she faces him directly and almost shouts at him. "Josh! I'm not kidding! I want you to hear me out! Please! This is important to me, and most the time you're the only thing that matters to me, so this is a really big deal. Please, Josh."

  He stuffs his hands in his pockets and turns to look out at the water.

  Maya sighs and wraps her arms around him from behind. As she rubs her cheek against the warmth of his shirt, she breathes in his scent and rests against his back. She loves the feeling of being right next to him; it makes her forget about any frustration she holds over his head in the present moment.

  With her face still resting on his back, Josh places his hands on top of hers around his waist and leans his head back, releasing a deep sigh.

  Loosening her grip around his waist slightly, Maya asks, "You alright, babe?"

  He turns his head in an attempt to look at her, but fails to do so. He says anyway, "I couldn't be better right now. I could stay here forever."

  Smiling, she clings tighter to him.

  Immediately, he takes her hands from his waist and does a 180 in order to look her in the eyes. Still holding her hands, he kisses them before speaking. "I could stay here forever if I didn't have a butt-load of homework to do."

  She rolls her eyes. Homework, gross. She swings his hands back and forth, smiling up at him. "I've got your hands. You're not going anywhere."

  He chuckles, "Come on, crazy girl. Let's head back to my dorm room and I can tell you what I think about Nathan."

  The two of them let one of their hands go, but continue holding the other hands as they start walking out of the park.

  Not even a minute on their walk, Josh speaks up, "So, Nathan." He sighs. "He seems like a really good guy, just like you. Maya, you are a diamond in the rough, but we're getting you shined back up. Well, I have hope for Nathan as well. What you did today at the dumpsters is exactly what you should've done. It was the right thing, and I couldn't be more proud of you."

  Maya blushes from his words and clings to Josh's arm as the two of them walk.

  The same words echo through her mind. She did the right thing. Josh is proud of her. She did something right. Someone is proud of her.

  Stopping in the middle of the path, Maya pulls Josh back to where she is, making him face her. "You're proud of me?" She can feel tears spilling from her eyes.

  Gently, Josh places his thumb underneath Maya's eyes and wipes away the tears. "Girl, why are you crying?"

  Her lip trembles as she repeats her statement, "You're proud of me."

  He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and smiles. "Of course I'm proud of you. You did a good thing today. That's the Maya I love to see."

  Suddenly, Maya's confused. What does Josh mean by the Maya he loves to see? She asks, "What Maya are you talking about?"

  He gestures at her full body. "This Maya. The Maya that uses her experiences to reach out to other people." He places his hands on her shoulders. "Sweetheart, that's what we're supposed to do."

  When he drops his hands from her shoulders, she takes a step back subconsciously and glances at the water behind the trees. Without thinking, she makes her way to the water once again. She hears Josh follow behind her as she stares across the water.

  It was so cool to meet another person that understood the hardships that she endured. She really can't wait to go back to school, if only to have another conversation with Nathan. She thinks the two of them could be really good friends; plus, they could look out for each other.

  Interrupting her thoughts, a hand touches the small of her back. She turns her head to see Josh and can feel his hand rubbing her back. In response, she lays her head against his chest.

  The two of them know that no words need to be spoken in this moment as they rest in each other's embrace and admire God's creation.

~~~~~

  No way. This isn't real. She's not here. How could she possibly be in the one place she wants to avoid?

  Taking a deep breath with her eyes closed, she prays to a God she's still not completely convinced of. "God, Josh's God, I can't believe I'm doing this." Tears begin spilling from her eyes and her words come out choked up as she continues. "She's gonna hate me. I don't know how I'm supposed to respond to her. I know myself. I'm going to get angry or I'm going to run away or I'm going to cry til I have no more tears left to cry." 

  With her eyes still closed, she sniffles and wipes a few tears away. The wipe doesn't help, though; a stream of tears pours down from her eyes.

  Slowly, she peeks her eyes open and looks down at the world below her. There are people walking beside the streets, and she wonders if any of them are about to do anything as scary as she is. 

  After she manages to stop crying and dry her eyes, she closes the bedroom window and moves towards the door.

  This is it, she thinks. Here goes nothing.

  She opens the door, walking in. Everything seems completely normal until she notices several sheets of paper on the kitchen counter.