Maya's POV
I don't even know if I should call this a happy or sad Christmas. Mom took a double shift today, yes, on Christmas' day. I'm so lucky! Aren't I? Just great. I thought our economic situation was getting better but I was wrong. As soon as I told Riley she obviously had to tell everyone else as well and her brother Elliot had the great idea to invite me over for the day. Don't get me wrong, I love that family, I love them all but I also know that I don't belong there. They're a family! I'm not part of that, heck I've never had a family of my own! I'm currently in front their building and I buzz the intercom
"Shawn!" Right, Mr. Matthews' imaginary friend is gonna be here as well
"Maya!" I smile, he's such a dork
"Shawn!"
"Oh whats the matter your boyfriend not here yet?"
"He's Not my Boyfriend!" I roll my eyes and come inside. It's so warm in here! In my home I can't even take my coat off. I take the elevator and come inside their apartment since they never lock the door. Let me just say that's a very stupid thing to do. There's dangerous people out there, they should learn to lock it.
"I don't believe think he exists!" I shout as soon as I get in
"He's real Maya i known the guy my whole life and he's real"
"You're fun to play with" I walk up to my best friend
"Riley I got you a present" I give her a note and she reads it our loud
"A donation been made in your name to the Maya new winter coat fund" I wish I could've given her something real and not just a simple note, I wish that-
"Thank you its beautiful!" she hugs me. I really don't deserve her. She's the best
"I'm glad you like it I don't know to get for people. So, what's the deal on this mysterious uncle Shawn?"
"I don't see him a lot I don't thinks he likes me" I frown, this can't be possible
"How could not like you?
"Ask him and let me know" the buzzer beeps
"Shawn?" Mr. Matthews has to calm down, I'm serious
"No, it's your Parents" Amy and Alan! They're amazing!
"Rats!"
"These days are important to me Alan. How much of a fiasco is it gonna be?" well, that wasn't a very nice thing to say...
"Let me explain to you how speaker props work" I try to contain my laughter
"Hideous Already!"
"How about i throw this pot at you?!" Ms. Matthews throws it towards her husband. Almost hitting me and Riley. It's a miracle we're still alive
"She tried to hurt you Shawn" he whispers to the Christmas Tree's ornament. Thankfully Riley's grandparents finally show up, meaning that we're out of danger...I think.
"Grandpa Grandma!" Auggie runs up to them and Alan gives him some money
"Here's ten bucks. Write me better"
"Ok" then Amy gives him a few cookies
"Here's cookies"
"Thanks. Here's ten bucks" they exchange what they have in their hands. She's a true business woman!
"Elliot!"
"Grandpa" they hug
"Riley! Maya!" We hug Alan
"Topanga. Hello. I just know you are gonna pull off the most fantastic holiday" Poor Amy, we heard her before and Topanga is no fool
" Oh, mom, I just heard you outside"
"How?" Alan chuckles
"I explained that to you. Well, now that it's out in the open, let's take a look at what you're doing wrong" Both women go to the kitchen. Please don't kill each other!
"Ah, wow! Look at all these kids. It wasn't that long ago I had kids around the house" Right after a teenager walks in gives him the keys
"Yeah, it was just this morning, wasn't it, Dad?" Dad?! That's Joshua? It can't be true! I don't believe it! He's hot now! It's impossible for me not to grin
"Oh, yeah yeah, you" I point at him.
"Boing!" Elliot frowns at me but then realizes who I was talking about and sighs
"That's my Uncle, Maya!" I smirk
"Sweet, I would be your aunt" Actually that's not a bad idea, I'd be an official Matthews after all
"Joshie!"
"Auggie! Come here!" he picks him up so that Auggie is up to his shoulders
"I love it up here!" My heart is melting, that's just adorable! Mr. Matthews greets his brother
"My brotha'"
"My brotha'. How's it possible we're brothers? "
"Because... it's a surprise!" best surprise ever!
"Stop doing that"
"Aw, Dad, so proud of himself. He gets into movies for like a quarter"
"Uncle Josh" Riley stands up as they hug
"Riley"
"Uncle Josh!" I hug him too. Man I can feel all of his muscles, has he been working out?
"Uh... I'm not your Uncle, Maya" I smile
"Even better" Sadly Elliot pulls us away from each other
"Um... It's... it's been awhile"
"Sure has" he scratches his neck, meaning that he's nervous or uncomfortable. He always did that as a kid. Wait, did I make him uncomfortable?
"Well... Boy, you grew up gorgeous" and with that he walks away with Elliot to his room
"You are not going to be my aunt"
"I can't hear you. Ba-da-da-da-da-da-da-duh"
Elliot's POV
I close the door behind me
"Do you like Maya?" I ask Josh. I don't call him uncle 'cause that's too awkward. He's just a year older than me
"What?" he asks with a nervous chuckle
"Oh my gosh you do!"
"Shut up! I don't! She's too young!"
"Age doesn't matter to you! You flirted with a girl who was two years older than you"
"There's a difference between two and three! I mean, if you flirted with Maya that'd be normal but if I did that that'd be creepy"
"So you admit it! You like her!" he rolls his eyes
"I just think she's cute, I can't tell if I like her, I don't really know anything about her except for his dad leaving her. She's just so mysterious about her and I wanna discover all of her secrets" I sigh
"She won't let you man" he furrows his eyebrows in confusion
"Why?" I take a deep breath, should I tell him?
"Because I've tried"
"Wait, you dated Maya? I never pictured her with a boyfriend, especially you"
"We didn't date, we fake dated for clout, well, for my clout, she didn't want to be involved but she decided to join me anyways because she's a great friend. Turns out that we actually had feelings for each other"
"So why aren't you together?"
"She said she didn't want to trap me in a true relationship and that she pulls away people she cares about"
"Didn't you try harder?"
"She said that it was going to be useless"
"Well, you know what? Just because you couldn't make it doesn't mean that it'll happen to me!"
"Woah, what are you trying to say, buddy?"
"I'm gonna try it out with Maya"
"What?!"
"When the time will be right, of course"
"You can't do that!"
"Yes I can. Listen, I like her but I definitely know that we can't be together right now. She's too young and she dated you so you surely have to recover from your 'breakup'. I'll date her in the future" he's crazy if he thinks Maya will wait for him to wake up!
Maya's POV
I can't believe it, did Shawn really just snubbed Riley? I walk towards him and Mr. Matthews and wait for them to finish their..song?
"I wanna to talk to you"
"What's that?
"That's Maya. She thinks she's tough" Excuse me? I am tough!
"Scram!"
"Okay" Mr. Matthews sits down
"I've heard stories about you. You're great in the stories. I don't see it yet" he sighs
"Okay. Riley and I are the best friends on this planet
"Well, that's cute. 'Cause Cory and I are the best friends in all of existence. Which includes your little crummy planet. Cory and I finish each other's...
"Sentences!" I raise my eyebrows
"Yeah? That all you do? Because...
"Maya...
"And I...
"Can read...
"Each other's...
"Minds. Ready? What am I thinking of? One, two, three!"
"Pizza!" we shout in unison
"One, two, three, clouds! One, two, three, Farkle!
"Yeah, right. Like we can't do that. We can't. One, two, three! Rainbows!" oh, poor Mr. Matthews, they aren't capable of that
"Can't do it! That's pretty impressive. You're still not me and Cory"
"Why do you make Riley feel bad?" I must've taken him off guard because he's clearly shocked
"I don't mean to"
"Well, you do. And that's not cool with me. 'Cause I'm her best friend. So I just wanted to tell you that" Riley and I start walking away but Shawn stops us
"Hey. Maybe you are like me and Cory" We're not like them, we're better. Anyways, I let a couple hours pass before waking them up. It's just very hard for me to understand why he doesn't like my best friend
"How could you possibly not like Riley?"
"What is she talking about?" I wait for Riley to reply
"Whenever you do come here, it's like you find some excuse not to talk to me and then you leave"
"I talk to you. I'm talking to you right now"
"When's my birthday? What's my favorite color?"
"Riley, that stuff doesn't matter" I correct Mr. Matthews
"It does matter. Tell us what you know"
"Girls... Shawn knows Riley's birthday"
"How do you know?"
"He knows" I'm no fool
"Dinner, everybody!" you just got saved! everyone sits at the table and starts eating. Needless to say that I ate even more than the boys, to be honest, I don't even remember the last time I had a decent meal.
"Five minutes?! That dinner took two days to cook. You animals ate it in five minutes!" Well, she should take this as a compliment, it was delicious!
"What's for dessert, mom?"
"Nothin'! I want you to sit there for two days and think about that dinner you just devoured, and then maybe I'll give you a cupcake" Shawn smiles and replies to her
"Well, I thought it was great, Topanga. Thank you. I don't get a lot of home-cooked meals"
"How's the job going, Shawn?" My eyes widen
"Oh, you do something?" hwe chuckles
"Yeah. I write for a site called hit the road. Go to a lot of different places and tell you if it's worth a weekend" what? I can't believe it. I love that site
"I... I go on that site" I admit with a little bit of shame
"Restless little spirit, huh?"
"No, I just think about-" he completes my sentence
"Other places?"
"Sometimes"
"Yeah..."
"Yeah..."
"You take the pictures too"
"I do"
"How'd you guess that?"
"I draw pictures"
"Yeah?" I nod
"Yeah"
"I'm gonna say yeah last, okay?"
"Very mature"
"Yeah... " I mouth him a silent 'yeah' no way he's gonna win this thing.
"Okay, that's it. When's my birthday, Uncle Shawn?" Right, I almost forgot I was mad at him.
"He knows, Riley"
"You keep on saying that. Why won't he answer? What did I do?" he stands up and grabs his coat
"You're coming or what?" Weird, Riley and I follow him to our usual bakery and find a table to sit
"December 8th"
"What?"
"Your birthday?"
"That doesn't save you. I know her birthday, but I don't abandon my friends to hit the road" woah, didn't expect this from this
"Whoa. You think that's fair?" I nod
"I do"
"Then this is fair too. What time was she born? How much did she weigh? How tall was she?" I look down
"Uh-oh"
"6:00 in the morning, seven pounds, four ounces, 21 inches. I was there all night. I was the first person to hold you after your parents. You looked like this" he does a weird face and I chuckle
"She still does"
"Why do you remember it all so well?"
"It was the day I left New York City"
"City wasn't big enough for the both of you?"
"When people get married and they have kids, sometimes their old friends who didn't keep up start to feel a little out of place"
"Please don't make me and my brother the reason that you don't stick around"
"No, I'm the reason. It's on me. Your parents are the best people I've ever met in my life"
"Then you should really love Riley. Because I love her. I mean... She's exactly like her parents"
"He does love me" Okay, I'm confused
"What?"
"He loves my parents and I come from them, so he loves me. He loves me so much that he can't even look at me" she sits next to him
"I'm right here. Look at me" he chuckles
"I'm looking at you" she cups his face
"Look at me" he smiles
"What?"
"You're Cory with Topanga's hair. You got lucky" what a...compliment?
"Is it okay if I say something scary?"
"I hardly think a 13-year-old girl can say anything that would scare me"
"Every time you see me, does it remind you of what you don't have?" yeah, she did scare him
"Check!" oh... after a little while we get to the building. I already know what's gonna happen so I sneak out a climb the fire escape that I usually use to climb into our bay window while those two get inside the apartment. I know she's gonna force him and her dad to talk there and I also know that Shawn is gonna try to escape
"-You lost it, pal" Yup, like I thought. I stop him by smiling at him before closing the window. I don't pay that much attention to them until Josh comes in as well
"Oh. Well, we interrupt two grown men in a girl's bedroom window for this special announcement. Mom says to come down to open presents. We now return to two grown men in a girl's bedroom window" after that he starts singing
"They're two grown men in a girl's bedroom window and nobody thinks that's weird. A-wink" that was adorable! When he walks out I look at the sky. It sucks to live here. No stars and constant noises. I just want some peace. I've heard that countrysides have some real stars and peace. Maybe one day the cowboy will take me there someday since he's from those parts.
All of the sudden the bay window opens and someone drags me inside
"What are you doing?" I ask after I notice that it's Riley who did this. Why is Mr. Matthews standing by the door frame?
"Wait, what are you doing?"
"Ask him about his parents"
"Riley" not even her dad knows what she's doing
"Look at them. They're us" he then whispers something to her but I can tell that he looks proud. I wish I had moments like this one when my father was around...
"Uh, Cory? What's going on?"
"Riley, what are you trying to do here?"
"You got this, buddy"
"You got this, buddy" they go out and close the door. I sigh
"Okay, fine. So, what about your parents?"
"Okay, fine. Um... My Dad was in and out half the time" woah, is he my older-male version?
"I got half a mom"
"Well, my mom took off when I was a kid"
"My Dad has another family" I don't even know why I'm saying all this stuff to him, he's basically a stranger.
"I would never let anybody grow up like that"
"You wouldn't?"
"No"
"Oh. You wouldn't?"
"No" there's a brief moment of silence between us before he realizes
"Oh"
"You done?" I force a smile to my best friend
"Yeah"
"Good" we go out and sit on the living and Shawn stands in front of everone
"Surprise. So, listen, I have an assignment next weekend up in Columbia county, upstate New York. It's beautiful up there"
"We're gonna miss you, Shawn"
"Well, maybe not. 'Cause I was thinking... Maybe you might wanna come?"
"All of us?" Auggie asks
"I wouldn't have it any other way"
"You know..."Here it comes
"I never go anywhere without my best friend" he smiles
"Yeah, that's not a bad way to grow up"
"So... Maybe you would like to invite Maya?"
"Oh, you mean her? Oh, what do you say, kid? You wanna come?" I nod
"Yeah" I smirk and point at Josh
"You're invited too" he smiles at me and blushes a little. Maybe I should stop flirting this directly
"Cool" I can feel Elliot's cold glare, which makes me understand that I should tone it down a little, at least in front of him.
"Oh, boy" I sense it's gonna be a great week.