February 15th 2019
Chapter 46
Her Band of Classmates
Already they were into their second week of this new semester, and it didn't seem like the time had really gone by. She knew the others were feeling the same as she did, just by seeing how they went along, from day to day: they had found their stride, they were in their element. It was the sort of thing they really wouldn't have known how to explain, how to comprehend, back when they were still in high school, this thought that they could be going to school to work on something that felt that much more… tangible, maybe? Not just to go to school because it was what was expected of them but because it was the means to an end they wanted very much.
Even Sophie, who technically speaking might have been said to only be biding her time until she was able to start at the police academy, was thriving, having found something she didn't count as a back up in any way, but more like an opportunity to explore with no strings attached. She had always loved to learn new things, and now here she was, learning. In the end, it would become a tool in her belt, when she stepped out as an officer… or a detective…
And Dylan, from all they'd seen, continued to be satisfied of his choice. He didn't need college, not now. Maybe someday, as he'd said, but for now he was content. The proof of that was in his work at the community center. The catering, he enjoyed that, too, sure, but it was the coaching, working with the kids, that made him the happiest. Some days he would come home and he would start telling them about one of the kids in his groups with such a spark in his eyes. He was helping them, and they could see how much that was all he could ask for.
The only one of them she could say might have been in any way off center by a hair was Riley, and there was no way she wouldn't have picked up on it. One day, Maya had asked her if she was having problems with her classes, and Riley had assured her she didn't. But there was still that waver in her eyes, and Maya kept tracking it until her best friend of old would explain.
"I don't know, I mean I love what I'm doing in class, all of it, I do, but it still feels like there's something missing, something that will really complete the picture, you know?" She did. "It's okay though, I'll figure it out," Riley had promised, a smile on her face that told Maya that yes, she would do that, and she would do it all on her own, as she should.
Lucas, he was so glad to be back in class, him and Bishop moving their way up their program, and Maya would take her own brand of pleasure in referring to her boyfriend as 'Doc Friar.'
"Just so long as you don't call me…" he'd started to say that morning when she'd done it again. Then he'd stopped, like he'd realized he was about to hand her the weapon of his own demise. She'd fixed him with a pointed look at once.
"Finish your sentence, sir," she'd turned back from the closet where she'd been picking out what she'd wear that day. He'd only just turned from where he sat on the bed and let his feet set to the ground and he stared back at her, shaking his head. He wouldn't. "You tell me now, Lucas Friar, you can't just dangle something like that in my face," she approached him with a grinning fury that only set him smiling.
"Make me," he challenged, and oh how he liked that glint in her eye.
"Lucky for you, I can't do that and be in time to class, which I kind of like to be, so consider yourself owed one, unless you should find it in your heart to spare me a day's agony before I inevitably pull it out of you," she declared, pressing her hands to his shoulders. His response was merely to lock his arms around her waist, keeping her near.
"Sparing you does seem tempting, but I have to say I'm kind of curious about what you'll do to, as you say, pull it out of me. She just had to laugh, leaning down to kiss him for a few blissful seconds before she had to let go, had to get back to getting ready.
When she arrived to her first class of the day, she was met by a Franny and Kayla who looked entirely unlike themselves in some way she couldn't explain.
"What's going on with you two?" she asked at once, concerned.
"There was a fire in the dorms," Franny explained, peering up from where the two friends sat by the classroom door. Kayla had her head on her shoulder like she was a breath away from drifting off to sleep.
"What?" Maya's eyes went wide as she crouched down to be near them. "Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine, it wasn't in our room, it was down the hall from us, but it was in the middle of the night and we had to evacuate…" Franny told her.
"You should have called me, I would have come to get you," Maya went from crouching to sitting, reaching a hand to either of her friends. "When did they let you back in?" she asked, guessing they must have, seeing as they weren't in pyjamas at the moment.
"Like two hours later. We were both so wired we couldn't get back to sleep, so we just got ready and came here."
"It still smelled," Kayla volunteered limply. Clearly, whatever had kept them awake while they waited was now a thing of the past and they were exhausted.
"Okay, you guys are coming over to the house tonight, no argument. Stay as long as you need." That they didn't even try to say they'd be alright going back to their dorm spoke plenty to where their heads were at. If they didn't have to go back yet, they weren't going to. "Did you eat?" They shook their heads. Without a word, Maya got up again, making a dash for the nearest food cart, acquiring breakfast and coffee for the tired duo and bringing it back to them. They sat there, the three of them, Franny and Kayla eating as they told Maya more about the night they'd had.
By the time they were able to head into their classroom, the food had started to do its work in them, while the coffee did the rest, enabling them to carry on through the day. Maya texted her roommates to let them know they would be having guests. They were all at once welcoming to the news, wanting to know that their friends were both alright. Later, in between classes, Maya, Franny, and Kayla were approached – and nearly tackled – by Riley and Sophie, who came toward them and embraced the two dorm residents, wanting to hear for themselves that they were okay.
The day had been entirely altered from the moment they'd heard about the fire. Though she remained focused on her classes as she attended them, Maya felt like the slightest moment of distraction, any time where she was able to think to herself, her thoughts would shift to her friends and what they'd gone through. Even if the fire hadn't been in their room, to think of that happening so close to her… No wonder they were shaken up. When a classmate came up to her and said they'd heard about the band and their upcoming show, saying they wanted to be there, Maya realized it was the first time since she'd found Franny and Kayla that morning that she'd actually thought about their first performance, which was now just a few days away.
She told her classmate that she was looking forward to it, too, which of course she was, but then… For the first time now, she wondered if they might have to cancel, try to get another slot another time. If Kayla wasn't up to it, she wasn't going to force her. She didn't know how to bring it up without having it sound like she only cared about the show or something, but it could be that it became a genuine concern. They couldn't simply not show up, nor could they cancel last minute without some reason that would be understood. It could mean the end of things right when they were starting again.
She had one more class than her two friends, so they'd gone to their room to pack up some things before going to wait to meet her by the parking lot. When they'd all started back for home, they'd heard back from Dylan, saying he had recruited Willow to help him start dinner for them that day. Maya was due at the restaurant that night, but she knew not to worry about her roommates making her classmates and friends feel at home while she was away.
Hours later, when Lucas came to pick her up from work, she asked how Franny and Kayla were doing.
"They're good, they're fine," he assured her. "Settled in, Franny's bunking with Riley, Kayla's with Sophie," he told her. "They spent most of the evening in the basement. Kayla's been on the drums." She didn't say anything and she didn't have to. "She'll be okay, Maya," he told her. "The show…"
"If she isn't, I wouldn't…"
"I know you wouldn't," he promised. "Want to stop for ice cream?" he asked, and she smiled.
"It's ridiculous how good you are," she breathed out, and he gave a 'humble' shrug that made her laugh. So, they went for ice cream, which they ate sitting back in the car, sharing a quiet moment in the dark of night.
"Dockleberry," he said after a few minutes, and she blinked, staring back at him in confusion.
"What are y… Oh!" she gasped, before breaking into roaring giggles. That was what he'd almost said, that morning… it all seemed so far away now.
"You had a weird day, figured I'd spare you," he shrugged. "But please, let's not make it a thing?" She looked at him like it was really hard for her to agree to 'not make it a thing.' Finally, she leaned across her seat to kiss him, once, twice, and a longer time the third, before pulling back to look at him.
"Is it a thing if I just break it out for special occasions?" she asked, with a wicked grin.
"I guess that's your right," he declared, and she nodded, kissing him again. "Eat your ice cream before it melts." One more quick little peck and she moved back to her seat proper, digging into her small paper cup. Every few seconds she'd get a smile or a small laugh, and he knew she was thinking about the name again. If he could alleviate her worries, that would win out against his own self-preservation any day.
They went home, the place quiet again now, though they didn't take this for granted to mean that everyone was asleep. It had been an eventful day, the house was loaded, but that was the good part. This was the world they'd created, hard at work. They may have left their families back in Austin, but they had created one of their own, with old friends and new ones in the mix. Their house was open to all of them, whenever they needed it, and as time went on it also meant that their friends could see that open door.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
