Maria the Nurse Wannabe
Josh met Maria when he was in his first year at Portland Tech when they were taking a writing course that was required for all students. Maria was a new resident that arrived with her parents and brother from San Diego to begin a new life working in the northwest at a wholesale nursery. She met the qualifications to enter a training program that would help her find an entry-level medical position, but as the end of the one-year program approached, she needed to demonstrate how to prepare a person for a doctor's appointment during a final examination.
Maria wasn't very popular, probably because she had a Hispanic accent and many in the school were narrow-minded about immigration and seemed out of touch with reality as far as Josh was concerned. She wanted someone to practice with, and when she approached Josh, he asked her why she didn't ask her boyfriend. He saw her eyes well-up and heard her say his family had been arrested by ICE and was waiting for the judge to send them back to Mexico.
Josh had seen them together often when he'd drop Maria off at classes early in the morning, and he'd seen how she clung to him like a child to a mother, responding as if she were more than just friends. Josh was past his phobia and had been fortunate enough to know Dr. Anne Pembroke's receptionist, Jillian, who had enjoyed his company overnight a few times, since he was cured by his new primary care doctor and the shrink, who Jillian worked for.
Josh was aware that Jillian wasn't interested in a long-term relationship, and that she was trying to regain her self-confidence and lose her fear of men, which was caused by her brutal husband who raped her and caused serious bodily injuries during their short marriage, which was now absolved. Josh was convinced Maria's boyfriend had been scoring regularly with little the sweet dark-complexioned girl that had a sturdy figure that reminded him of a fire hydrant. Josh figured her locked up boyfriend had little chance of returning to Maria, or anyone else in the United States, and he felt her pain. She wasn't particularly good-looking, but he thought she might teach him a few things about pleasing a woman that Jillian hadn't revealed, but his main goal was to assist her through her upcoming test and see her credentialed to work in a better job.
Josh admired his new friend, Maria, and her goal, which she'd discussed with Josh over lunch, and he decided he'd offer to help her over her shyness when talking with other students and instructors. Josh had never made a pass at a girl and had no experience other than with Jillian who initiated the affair they were conducting when he stayed overnight in her apartment and was gratified that she made such progress overcoming the creep she married and regretted she'd ever met.
Josh lived in a small apartment building that his parents rented. He had free rent but was the main contact when people had issues and needed a plumber or an electrician, or the smoke alarm batteries needed changed. It took very little of his time to keep the place humming efficiently, and he liked the swimming pool, which he made sure was managed properly by the pool company.