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Secret Boyfriend

Maya laid on her side in the barely lit hotel room, listening softly to the soothing voice of Ed Sheeran as he belted out his latest hit. She snuggled more into her pillow as she stared into his eyes and took in the moment. She loved these little romantic moments like this with just the two of them. Their fingers laced together while their hands rested between them with their legs tangled together. Their breathing slowly going back to normal from their activities not so long ago. She knew it would be hard to get in any moments like this the next few days. They were in Florida with his family and her family and group of friends for spring break. Riley was set on the two of them spending every moment together knowing they would be going their separate ways when Riley left to Texas for college.

"I love you," he mouthed.

Maya gave him a small smile as she felt her cheeks blushed, "I love you too," she echoed. She allowed herself to be pulled into a slow kiss, scooting herself closer to him and wrapping her arm around his lower waist as he cupped her cheek, pulling her into a deeper kiss. The two broke apart, cracking up laughing at the sound of "Iron Man" blasting from the iPod dock.

"What a way to ruin the moment," Josh said, laying flat on his back, reaching over to shut it off. "You were doing so good."

Maya laughed more, glancing over at the time before laying on top of Josh and kissing him hard. "I need to get ready to go," she murmured against his lips. "Riley is probably looking for me."

"I don't want you to go," he pouted, holding her tight and pulling her back in for another kiss.

"I don't want to go either but I have to or Riley will come searching after me and find me in here and that won't be pretty," she told him as he ran his hand through her hair. She placed another quick kiss on his lips, resting there for a moment, before finally getting up. She slipped his shirt on and her underwear, still too shy to walk around fully naked in front of him even though she knew he had seen every part of her and she had no reason to be. He loved her the way she was.

She walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her, leaning against it. She closed her eyes, biting her lip to hide the smile on her face. No matter how many times she stared into Josh's eyes, kissed Josh, told Josh that she loved him, made love to Josh, she still couldn't believe it was real. Joshua Gabriel Matthews had her heart. Her whole heart. She had found real love in her best friend's uncle. She cringed at the thought as she stared at herself in the mirror, fixing her hair. She knew Riley wouldn't handle their relationship well. Riley, herself, told her no when she admitted she had a crush on Josh and her finally words on the subject were her uncle was off limits.

Maya sighed, throwing her hair up in a messy bun. She didn't know how her and Josh got to this point but knew she never wanted to give him up. She never felt this way and she just hope Riley would try to somehow understand.

XOXOJOSHAYAXOXO

Josh smiled, watching her go into the bathroom before freezing at the sound of a key opening his door and then the sound of the voice entering into his room.

"Uncle Josh? Are you awake? Have you seen Maya? I can't find her. She was gone when I woke up."

Josh sat up, panic, making sure the sheet covered his bottom half completely. Maya was right. Riley did come searching after her. Here she was standing in his room while he lie naked in bed with her half dressed in his shirt in the bathroom. "What the hell, Riley? How did you get a key to my room?" He glanced over in the direction of the closed bathroom door, praying Maya heard the sound of his niece's voice and stayed in the bathroom. He wasn't prepared for their relationship to come out just yet out of fear he would lose her. She was his everything.

"Easy. I told the front desk you were my uncle you got locked out and they gave me a key and here I am. I've been texting you and Maya all morning and neither one of you were answering so I figured you were together."

Josh ran his hands through his hair, "Why didn't you just knock?"

Riley scrunched her face, shrugging "So is Maya here?" she asked, looking around the room and noticing a bra and girls clothes on the floor.

Josh froze, swallowing hard as he took in the sight of the bra and some of Maya's clothes lying on the floor. He noticed Riley's eyes glancing in the direction of him, to the bathroom, back down to the floor. "Hmm...about that...it's not what you think..."

"Or...yeah-sorry, bad timing. I should just go. I'll just talk to you later," Riley said in a rush before quickly leaving the room.

Josh sighed, before laying back down and running his hand over his face.

Maya slowly opened the bathroom door a few short seconds later after hearing the hotel door room close and no longer hearing her brother's voice. She bit her lip, cringing as she looked over at Josh. "She came looking."

Josh simply held his hand out for her to take.

Maya blushed, placing her hand in his.

He pulled her on top of him. He placed a gentle kiss on her lips, before whispering, "It's okay. We are going to make it through this."

Maya nodded, agreeing, "I know." How could she not believe his words? He made her believe they could shoot for the stars with their love.

"After graduation."

Maya narrowed her eyes, "After graduation?"

"That's when we tell everyone about us."

She remained quiet, taking in his words. She shook her head, "No. We agreed not until we know what this is between the two of us," she said, pointing her finger between the two of them. Even though, she knew both of them knew.

"We know," he said, confidently, voicing out her own thought. He took her hand into his again. "I know this crazy but we can't keep hiding and having this close call with Riley is making me realize we need to tell everyone."

Maya took in a deep unsteady breath and nodded, "We do..." she admitted softly. "It just scares me. I'm scared of Riley's reaction."

Josh nodded, understanding. He himself was scared of Riley's reaction. The last thing he wanted was to become between the two best friends and Maya had told him Riley is already against the idea of the two being together. "She'll be mad, but she'll get over," he assured her, giving her hand a squeeze.

"Are you sure?" she asked, still uncertain.

"I don't want to keep hiding. The sneaking around was fun at first but now I'm scared it's going to take a toll on our relationship. I can't lose you-"

"You're not going to."

"We have to come clean."

Maya sighed, thinking about how her best friend was going to react, even the others. Shawn? Her mom? Mr. and Mrs. Matthews? What would they think about the two? Would they be against them as well. There was only one way to find out. "You're right," she nodded. "We have to come clean."

Josh opened his hotel room, taking a peek in both directions of the hallway before opening the door fully and Maya sliding passed him.

She turned to give him a quick kiss bye on the cheek, telling she would see him later.

"Hey," he said, grabbing her arm to stop her. "I'm walking you to your room."

She looked at him as if he had gone crazy, "Have you loss it? If Riley, sees us she'll know it was me in your bathroom."

"And?"

"Josh, don't," Maya sighed, running her hand through her hair. "We just talked about this."

"I know," Josh agreed, shutting his hotel room door. "But what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't walk my love to her door? Even if, I am her secret boyfriend."

Maya playfully rolled her eyes, smiling largely. "Always the gentlemen."

Josh grinned, "Especially for my girl and that's why I'm walking you to your door."

"Fine," Maya caved in. "But you can't come in because if you do, chances are we are going to get caught," she pointed at him before starting in the direction of her room.

Josh grinned again, knowing he won before following behind her. "You might want to hide those clothes," he told her, walking beside her. "Riley saw them."

Maya nodded, stopping in front of her room and unlocking it. She held his gaze for a moment before glancing in both direction and pulling him into a kiss. "I'll see you later," she told him, turning to go into her room.

XOXOJOSHAYAXOXO

Later that afternoon, Maya applied her lipstick before taking one final look at herself, thinking she looked good enough before flopping down and getting comfortable on the big chair as Smackle and Riley continued to get ready.

"Where were you this morning?" Riley asked her while curling her hair. "I couldn't find you and I looked all over the hotel."

Maya's heart started to pound a little faster, as she tried to come up with a lie. "I-hmmm...I was just walking around the hotel, listening to music. We must have just missed each other," she shrugged, opening her water bottle.

She felt Riley's eyes stay on her and her face showed she wanted to question her more but let it go as she went back to her hair.

"Can I tell you guys something but it has to stay a secret?" Riley broke the silence that had come over the group. "You have to promise to tell absolutely no one and I mean no one because if this gets out of this room I'll know it was one of you two and I'll be able to tell which one of you two told because I can tell when you're both lying."

Smackle stopped putting on her mascara and turning her complete attention on Riley. "You know a secret?"

"I do," Riley nodded with a huge grin.

Smackle looked over at Maya who raised her eyebrows, shrugging. "Deal. We won't tell," Smackle agreed out loud for both them as Maya nodded, taking a sip of her water.

"Josh had a girl in his room this morning if you know what I mean."

Maya choked on her water as Smackle squealed out a "Shut up."

"You okay over there Maya?" Riley asked.

Maya patted herself on the chest before once again nodding her head as she felt their eyes staring at her.

"I can't believe your uncle would find a girl here and bring her back to his room. I didn't take him as a one night stand kind of guy."

"I know, I kind of thought my uncle wasn't that type of guy," Riley said, glancing over at Maya.

Maya remained quiet for the rest of the conversation, not saying a word. She needed to get to Josh quick and they needed to figure things out before this blew up in their faces.

XOXOJOSHAYAXOXO

Maya quickly found Josh sitting with his brothers playing a card game by the pool. "Can I steal you for a minute?" she asked, swallowing at Josh's concern eyes. She ignored Eric and Cory's eyes as she dragged Josh up and out of view without waiting for his answer. "Riley knows," she said, freaking out.

"What?" Josh snapped, his eyes large.

Maya nodded, folding her arms in front of her. "She questioned me where I was this morning and then went on to tell me and Smackle that you had a girl in your room."

Josh sighed, running his hands over his face before resting his hands on her shoulders. "Let's not get a head of ourselves. We don't know she knows."

Maya shook her head. "Josh, she knows. I can feel it."

"Gorgeous, I think if she knew she would have said something. Do you honestly think she would keep it to herself? Especially after letting the cat out the bag that I had a girl in my room?"

Maya seemed reluctant to agree but she knew he made a good point, "It's just-"

"Nothing," Josh tried to ease.

Maya shook her head. "No Josh, it is something. She thinks you just brought some random girl in your room and had a one night stand with her. You are not that type of guy and I don't like her and Smackle or anyone else thinking that of you."

"I don't care," Josh shrugged. "I don't care what anyone thinks of me. I won't care what anyone thinks of me after our relationship comes out. The only thing I care about is us."

Maya shook her head again, "But I do," she countered. "I do care. I know you are saying you don't but I know you do. Maybe this is a mistake," she said, starting to panic, pulling away from him. "Maybe we are getting all caught up in this and we aren't thinking clearly and we need to take a step back."

Josh remained quiet before bursting out laughing causing Maya to glare at him.

"This isn't funny, Josh!" she snapped, crossing her arms.

"I know, I'm sorry," he told her, stepping closer to her to take her hands in his.

"We aren't caught up. We know," he reminded her. "We are meant to be together," he said, lacing their fingers together.

Maya looked down at their laced fingers before looking back up at Josh, she shook her head trying to hide her smile, "I know," she agreed, softly. "I know I'm being ridiculous," she told him. "I'm just..."

Josh nodded, understanding. "Don't worry," he said again, giving her hand a squeeze.

"Maybe we should go ahead and tell Riley before graduation."

Josh nodded again, "If that's what you want."

"I don't know," Maya sighed. "But I know I hate hiding and maybe coming clean will be the best thing for us."

"So we tell her?"

Maya nodded. "We will sit her down and I want to tell her tonight."

XOXOJOSHAYAXOXO

Maya sat nervously on the bed next to her best friend as Josh sat at the little table not far from them.

"What's going on?" Riley asked, glancing back and forth between her best friend and uncle.

"I-we have to tell you something and you aren't going to like it," Maya began softly, looking over at Josh who gave her a slight nod and smile which she returned. She stood up and could feel Riley's eyes on her as she walked over to Josh and sat on the arm of the chair, lacing their fingers together. "Josh and I have been secretly dating since I turned eighteen and we are in love," she confessed, swallowing. She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out as she waited for her best friend's reaction at her confession. She felt like she had been waiting forever as Riley made no move but to stare straight ahead. She nervously glanced over in Josh's reaction who shrugged. "Riley?" she finally broke the silence after not being able to handle it any longer. "I know-"

Riley finally stood up, holding up hand for Maya to stop as she turned her back on the couple.

Maya looked at Josh again, worried.

Riley turned back to face the couple, "How could you hide this from me?! How could you go behind my back and date my uncle?! I told you no! My uncle was off limits! You are supposed to be my best friend!"

Maya's mouth dropped open, shocked by Riley's outburst. "Riley I..." she began but stopped when Riley started to burst out laughing much like her uncle did earlier. She looked over at Josh who shook head just as confused.

"You two are horrible at hiding," Riley laughed, pointing at the couple. "Maya you were always hanging out with Josh at his dorm, the movies, my house, your house, or where ever else your two's hearts desired and come on your two's sneaky touches aren't that sneaky. I about killed you when I told you about the "girl" in his room earlier and did you honestly think I wouldn't know it was your clothes on his floor?"

Maya's mouth remained dropped as she tried to take in what was happening. "So you knew this whole time?" she asked, knowing she shouldn't be shocked her best friend would be on to them.

"Yes," Riley nodded, smiling. "I knew, but we are going to have to talk about the rules when it comes to pda and any other couplely thing when it comes to you two now that it's out because I do not want to see it but we will have to talk about that later because I'm late," she told the still in shocked couple as she left the hotel room.

Josh adjusted his stun girlfriend to sit on his lap and pulling her close. "She knew," he murmured against her ear, before placing a kiss on it.

Maya shook her head, amazed, "The whole time."

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