Hey everyone! Thanks for reading and commenting! I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter!
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Maya's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she noticed was her wall, as she had been faced laying down on her side towards it. Then she glanced up at the clock that was on her bedside table and noticed that it was half past eight on a Saturday morning. She groaned, too early for a Saturday.
She brought her hand up and rubbed the crust out of her eyes, yawning as she did so. She then closed her eyes and turned around in her bed wrapping her arms around something solid and snuggling into what felt like hot skin... Maya froze. Only now had she been aware of the arms that were wrapped tightly around her and the breath on her face.
Maya's eyes snapped open, and with a shriek she pushed on the chest of the guy that was in her bed away from her, causing him to roll over the side and fall to the floor. Maya rolled from the other side and got up, pushing her hair out of her face as she glared down at the figure as he jumped up from the floor. Maya's eyes widened.
"Josh!" She whisper shouted, fully aware that both her parents still like to get up early on Saturdays. "What the hell are you doing here!" She exclaimed in another whisper.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking." He told her sarcastically as he rubbed his head and then sat back down on the bed.
"Josh, how did you get in here?" She asked.
"Through the window." He stated as he motioned his head towards the open window in her room. Maya glanced over at it. "You should really get into the habit of locking it." He said. Maya glared at him.
She had gotten into the habit of leaving her window open at night because she loved to hear the noise and feel the breeze that came into her room at night. She sighed and turned back to her boyfriend.
"That still doesn't answer my question." She said. "What are you doing here?" She asked. Josh sighed.
"I just wanted to see you before I headed back to Philly." He told her. Suddenly Maya felt guilty for jumping all over him. She could see in his face that he was exhausted and worn.
Finals were coming up for him, and Josh had described it to her as the most challenging and stressful thing he had ever been through in his life. A lot of his friends had been working themselves to the point of making themselves sick, and Maya was worried that Josh would do the same.
He was going to spend the weekend in Philadelphia with his parents. But it wasn't a pleasant visit. One of his parents family friends had passed away and he was going for the funeral. Although I'm sure it would be nice to get away from all the studying he had been doing, Maya was sure he would rather be going under much different circumstances. Especially since he was going to start stressing himself out even more with realizing that he was going to miss a whole weekend of studying.
"Baby," Maya sighed as she sat down next to him on the bed and placed a hand on his shoulder, rubbing lightly. He was hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands rubbing his eyes. "You're going to make yourself sick." She told him.
"I'm already sick." He answered. "Sick of every where I turn there being something in my life that's causing me stress." He told her. "You're the only thing that I have in my life right now that I don't want to throw a brick at."
"Well that's a relief." She joked. She rubbed his shoulder even more as her hand made her way up into his hair and scratched his scalp lightly. "You know Shawn will kill you if he finds you in here." Maya told him. Josh chuckled.
"Yeah, but at this point it might be worth it." He said. Maya frowned. Josh sat up straight and let out a breath as he looked over at Maya. She could see the dark bags and lines on his face from where he was depriving himself of sleep.
"Maybe you should skip out on driving home today. Go tomorrow." She told him. Josh shook his head.
"I can't. My parents are expecting me tonight." He stated.
"Well I'm sure if you told them everything you had on you right now, they'd understand. Besides, I'm worried if I let you go you'll get into an accident or something. You don't look the best." Maya told him honestly.
"Believe me, there's nothing in this world that I would rather do than stay with you." Josh said. Maya bit her lip as she looked over at her door. She got up from the bed and walked over to locked it.
"When's the funeral?" She asked him.
"Two tomorrow." He stated.
"Then if you leave early enough, you'll make it on time." She said.
"Maya-" Josh started in protest.
"I'm not letting you leave here like this, Josh. You need to start taking care of yourself instead of everyone else." She whispered as she walked back over and let her hand run through his hair again.
Josh reached up and wrapped both arms around her waist, pulling her in so that his head rested on her stomach. Maya continued to run her hands through his hair.
"What is it that you want to do right now, Josh?" Maya asked him. "Not what everyone else wants you to do, but what you want."
"I want-" he started, then cut himself off with a deep breath. "I want to stay here with you." He mumbled. Maya smiled.
"Then you're staying here. Don't argue with me." She told him. Josh didn't say anything as Maya slowly pulled away from him. She walked to the window, shut and locked it before drawing the blinds. "Lay down, I'll go make you some hot chocolate." Maya told him.
"Maya?" Josh called out to her before she walked through the door. "I don't need hot chocolate. I really just need you." He told her.
Maya stared at him for a moment. Her heart warming at the statement that he had just made as his hand slowly retracted from the doorknob.
"Will you stay with me?" He asked her. His voice cracked as he looked up at her with his red rimmed eyes.
"Of course." How could she not.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks for reading!