December 27th 2019

Chapter 361
Their Ceremony of Matrimony

There would be these moments in life where Maya felt so full to the brim with inspiration that her fingers practically tingled with the need to find some way to put it to paper, to canvas, to clay… Anything to ensure that what she saw and what she felt would be immortalized in whatever way it required in order to be there always to be looked back upon in years and decades to come.

This was one of those moments, and the feeling started to rise in her from the moment they'd all started their walk up into the church proper.

No, actually, she'd say it had started even before, in small moments, small touches in those seconds leading up to the walk. It started in the moment where Isadora and Farkle had been reunited, to take part in this procession, and Maya had just seen this spark in her old friend's face. He hadn't even seen her right away, only his wife, and Maya was struck by just how grown up he appeared now. Her little Farkle friend… a man grown, with a wife, and a baby on the way… She sort of had to take a breath, to really process it, as she felt that overwhelming joy for them, joining hands like they had a secret all their own, which of course they did, from everyone now except herself and Lucas, by the sound of it.

Isadora had said something, which Maya guessed had to be something like 'I told her,' because a moment later Farkle had looked around until he'd spotted her. She couldn't go to him, and the best she could do was press her hand to her heart and extend it out to him with a smile. He smiled back, nodding. They'd have a proper talk later.

"That's pretty," Gracie was whispering to Olivia Zhu, just between Maya and Nadine and her father. Maya turned to see that both the twins were admiring the crown of paper flowers on the older girl's head. Nadine had suggested she keep it there through the wedding, and this way she'd get to see it all the way up the aisle. Olivia had not needed to be told twice. She was to be the ring bearer today, with the Hunter twins as flower girls. According to their parents, they'd been practicing all week, which had somehow been about getting the two extremes of Nellie and Gracie's original methods and getting them to meet somewhere down the middle. Today would be the moment of truth to see if they had pulled it off.

"She made it, Nadine said," Olivia informed the twins, who immediately turned to their big sister.

"I'll make you some later, okay?" Maya reached out and presented the palm of her hand, which her sisters each tapped in turn.

Then, the time had come, and they were walking. The pairs ahead of Maya followed the pace they had been instructed to keep, fanning out on either side of the altar when they neared the front. The further along they went, Maya would spot people sitting on either side, along the benches, Nadine's family, and Zay's family, and all their friends, their friends' families, and any number of other guests. From what she'd heard and seen in the weeks and weeks she'd been participating in the preparations, while the bride and groom were still in Boston, there would be near on two hundred people here today, and right now she could believe there were that many people.

She caught her first glimpse of the groom and his very handsome best man before either of them spotted her, which just made her smirk. It was only for a few seconds, but in that quick beat, she felt she saw more than enough to make those seconds count. Zay looked like, if he'd been in a cartoon, you might actually have seen his heart thumping outside his chest with the anticipation of Nadine's approach. She was so sure he would have stood up there, just overly stiff with his nerves, but there was just enough relaxed ease in him to feel like he was just ready…

And what was there to say about that best man… He'd gotten a haircut, and he'd lost that tiny bit of fuzz almost permanently prickling and tickling at her skin when he would kiss her… Combined with that suit he was wearing, she could see herself falling right there in love with him if she'd never seen him before. That sort of sounded shallow, she knew, and there was no point pretending like a fraction of it was absolutely on the merit of how handsome he looked. Hot… He looks hot…

But even a complete stranger would look at Lucas Friar and almost immediately – right after they'd stopped looking him up and down – would just know, without a shred of doubt, that this was a good man, caring and kind, and anyone would be so lucky as to be loved by him. She just so happened to have the privilege of being the one who he loved.

So, here she had those brief seconds of anonymity, and finally Lucas saw her…

In what felt like the reverse of what she had done, where she had seen him and the groom before either of them had seen her, there were several seconds where he saw her, and only her, forgetting entirely what he was standing there for, and who he was meant to be seeing, even as he could not have missed her, as the bride was just a few steps behind, after a trio of children. For those first few seconds, all Lucas saw was Maya.

She would tease him sometimes, suggesting that every time he saw her in a dress just a bit more on the formal side, it was as though he'd completely forget the fact that he had seen her in formal wear before. It wouldn't matter anymore, the past would be in the past, and the present was glorious because here she stood, and she'd presented him with a vision that was good enough to make him feel that very specific kind of wobbly in the knee, sending his heart perilously off into a new beat. After a while, he'd have no choice but to remind her she wasn't exactly infallible to spacing out herself whenever he'd end up wearing anything that required dress shirts, and ties, and bow ties…

Right about now, seeing her out there, knowing they were hours away from a massive turning point… If he could allow himself a moment of so much corniness, the last thing he thought before he had to remember where he was and what he was supposed to be focusing on was that right here and now, they were in the clothes they would remember wearing when they told the story of their engagement…

But that had to be for later, and much as he could have kept on staring at her, at that private little smirk that said she knew she'd gotten to him, but then there was Nadine, coming up on her father's arm. Everyone else had gone up the aisle, Maya closing out the ball, and now it was time for Olivia Zhu and her crown of paper flowers, followed soon after by Nellie and Gracie Hunter, who were really zoning into their twinness as they sent those flower petals flying, practically in synch. And now Nadine and Mr. Zhu…

Both Lucas, from his side, and Maya, from where she'd completed her march, could see the look on both the bride's face and the groom's as they saw one another, from both ends of the aisle.

They saw Zay, the very moment he spotted Nadine, and oh after the separation they'd had since yesterday, with all that drama over Nadine's grandmother and what she'd said to her… All he'd wanted, all he'd needed, was to be with her and to know that she was okay, and he couldn't do that, not until now, without breaking this tradition they'd been intent on maintaining. It was very much a case of 'if she's not okay, then I am not okay,' and Lucas and Maya both knew exactly what that felt like.

And it was about so much more than her grandmother, they knew that, too. He would have to be thinking about those dreadful months where they'd been apart, broken up, with him moved out to New York and her back in Boston. They'd come so close to losing one another back there, and much as it could be said that their being here now, getting married, was as much an indicator as anything that there hadn't been any danger to their future at all. One way or the other, they were meant to be together, and here was the proof. Zay wouldn't take it for granted though, and neither would Nadine.

They'd both learned in that time apart that things could happen, that they could be torn apart by the smallest thing. They'd learned that a relationship needed more work than what showed at the surface, because if that was all they focused on then they would risk missing everything that sat brewing and bubbling under the surface, until one day it would find a way out. Lucas and Maya had stood witness to that lesson, and they been shaken by it enough that they wouldn't soon forget it either.

Zay had told Lucas to give him a pinch or something if he saw him start to cry. Did he start to noticeably tear up when he spotted his bride? Yes, he did. And did Lucas do a thing to stop it? No, he did not. He only had to look at Nadine, making her way up the aisle with similarly blurred eyes, to know that the sight of those tears on Zay's face just made her want to get to him even faster. She'd keep the normal, expected pace, sure, but in her head and in her heart she was running up to him and it just showed in her eyes.

Before they knew it, Mr. Zhu had accompanied his firstborn all the way up that aisle, up to the point where her soon to be husband would come and take her hand. Maya's eye of imagination was just looking on like she could see every brush stroke, every new color which would set this image down to canvas. She could hear the click of the camera… Her father hadn't so much been hired or even volunteered, really. There had just been a moment where they had been talking about the wedding, one Saturday where Maya was home with her parents, and Shawn and Nadine had started talking about the photos, both during and after the wedding, like neither of them needed to say anything more. He would be their photographer, easy as that, and he would not take one penny from either Nadine or Zay… or their families.

Looking on from where they stood, both Maya and Lucas would look at their friends and, while part of them still paid attention to the procedure of the wedding itself, the rest of their mind was just sent flying back through the years, thinking about the two of them and their journey together.

Lucas would think about the day he and the guys had all met Nadine Zhu, at the park, when she'd crossed paths with them mostly by chance. Zay had been the first one to invite her to come and play with them. It had been little more than the kindness of a twelve-year-old boy, who was just barely coming on to the idea of girls and how nice they were to be around and how he might like to be around them some more. It was just Zay being Zay, which in turn might be said to be what had gotten Nadine interested in him in the first place. The fact that he was cute, and funny, that would all fall in place in due time, but in the beginning he'd been nothing but a boy who'd made her feel welcome when she'd still been new.

And speaking of being new, that was what Maya had been thinking about, too. Specifically, she'd been thinking about when she'd first come to Texas, and when she'd met, among others, the pair who'd dubbed themselves 'Tall Z and Little Z.' Zay and Zhu… As soon as she'd met them, Maya had seen them as a pair, and at first this had been no more than a pair of friends, which was what they were, especially as Zay had been pining over Vanessa, who would for a short while be his girlfriend, in no small part thanks to the intervention of Maya… and Nadine herself.

Both Maya and Lucas recalled how, right around the time Vanessa had ended up out of the picture – or before, to a certain point, where Lucas was concerned – they had come to piece together the feelings that Nadine had for Zay, and Zay for Nadine. It had been the kind of knowledge one struggled to hold, at least so far as how not getting involved was a nightmare. How could you not want to facilitate those two getting together? But then they had gotten there, to no one's greater relief than those two were now, years later, promising to have and to hold one another.

The following years, taking them all through high school, had been like the golden era of Z and Z. It wasn't as though it came without struggles, without the odd fight or argument, but then no one was spared, not even Lucas and Maya themselves. But those down times were so few and far in between that they could never, would never get in the way of all the good that surrounded it. They'd been right there the heart of all those big moments of their high school days. Some felt more personal to Lucas and to Maya, like the support they had given them both in the time following the accident, when they had needed to work overtime just to have any kind of relationship while their parents… Maya's parents more than his own… prevented them from seeing one another. And they had been just as instrumental in seeing their broken basketball teams come back together, never giving up the fight, right alongside them.

Being away from them once college had become a thing and they had chosen to head to Boston, while the two of them had stuck with Texas, moving only so far as Houston… None of them would have ever faulted any of the others for going where they needed to go, would only ever encourage them. And still the prospect had not been one they had looked forward to. Four years without some of their dearest friends… and that was if they ended up in the same place again once those four years were over…

At no point had they gone to a place of believing that the distance would break them. Across the country or across the world, those were their friends, and they could be apart for four years, or forty years, and it wouldn't change a thing. When they had confirmed that they would be coming home to Austin, just as most of their Houston contingent was doing the same, that had easily been one of the best days of that time apart.

Still, in between, there had been those years apart. And while for the most part they had been easy enough to bear, with messages and video calls, there had been points where the distance had made itself felt so deeply… The breakup, that had been as close to the kind of nightmare they had expected, only outdone by the potential that any of them might have far away and physically hurt. The emotional hurt wasn't so much better. They had been helpless to stand by both Zay and Nadine while they'd been grieving for the loss of one another. But then, there'd been Christmas. And while that particular Christmas had been vastly tainted by the news received out of the Hart house, regarding Kermit's imminent death… Maya and Lucas had done what they could, hoping to help their friends.

That they should actually succeed had been the kind of wish you didn't dare to make, in case it failed. But before they'd left New York, Maya and Lucas had been left thrilled and very relieved to find that Zay and Nadine had reunited. And then, not too long afterward, they had gotten engaged. Nothing like being hit with what it'd feel like to lose one another to make anyone want to hold tight…

Now they were back in Austin, back to stay. Nadine was not done with school, while Zay would be finishing out his degree, which had been slightly delayed thanks to his fugue to New York, after that breakup… He should have been out there by now, doing as Maya was going to be doing, looking for a teaching post. Instead, he had one more year of college ahead of him, which he was happy to see through, especially here, back home, around his people. Both he and Nadine had expressed just how hard it been on them, to be somewhere on their own, without any of their family or friends. This would be flipping the script upside down… or right side up, more like.

When it was announced at last that Isaiah and Nadine were husband and wife, the proclamation had been met with raucous cheer, no more than when the union was sealed with a kiss. Zay had very nearly swept his bride right off her feet, and the look in their eyes as they stood there… All the colors, bright and alive, that's what this needs…

The newlyweds would soon disappear from sight, retreating somewhere for a moment to themselves for a little while, after which they would return, and pictures would be taken, and then the day would move from part one to part two, with part one as the wedding itself and part two as the reception, the dinner, the party well into the night… for most of them, anyway. Lucas wasn't sure exactly what would happen after he took Maya to the house and did his special, secret part, if they would return to the party or just call it a night. Either way, it was coming closer and closer, and he just wanted to…

"Hey there," a pair of small hands appeared on either side of him and planted themselves over his eyes. "Can you guess who?"

"I would, but I'd only make you blush," he joked, and Maya laughed, moving from behind him to where she could stand in front of him, giving him a good twirl of the dress and all the rest put together, now from up close. "Wow…" he smiled broadly, pulling her close into something near to a dance hold.

"You're very 'wow' yourself, I should make sure you don't wander off too far on your own, someone might try and snatch you."

"I'd like to see them try," he smirked. Mostly, he imagined them getting taken down by the queen of tiny but mighty. By the spark in her eye, he guessed she was thinking about it, too.

"Hey, so… Did you happen to talk to Farkle about…" she just had to ask, and staying vague about what she was asking was not something she was looking forward to. Thankfully, he was able to let her off the hook.

"Yeah!" Lucas jumped in at once, taken with the power of finally having a chance to tell someone. The fact that she was generally the one he wanted to get to tell the most… well, that made it even better. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it, I mean the two of them…"

"No, I know, I get it," Maya nodded with just the same energy. "You know, it's crazy, there have been, like… several times where some of us have heard her say something that made us think she could be…" she looked around, making sure no one was nearby before whispering 'pregnant.' They were aware of enough to know that they hadn't told anyone else yet and likely wouldn't be telling anyone else today. "And every time we've just had to say it was just Isadora being herself. And now that it's actually happening, it completely took me by surprise, didn't see it coming at all. But then she told me and… yeah…" she breathed out, laughing. Surprising as it had been, now all they could think about was how happy they were for their friends.

When she asked him about anything else noteworthy that might have happened over the morning, while they'd been off either on Team Bride or Team Groom, Lucas had mentioned the bit about Asher being inexplicably upset at his brother about something, back at the tailor's. Lucas didn't know what it was about, and none of them had dared to bring it up with him so it remained a mystery.

Maya was forced to hold her tongue here as well. She had a pretty good idea exactly what Asher would be upset about concerning Joey, but the last thing this wedding needed was more bad feeling, after Nadine's grandmother's notable absence, and some of the girls finding out about what Joey had done. Rebecca had begged them not to make a fuss, which had been just a bit complicated, earlier, when they'd all gone to take their places before marching down the aisle. When Joey had come along to stand by Rebecca, as had been planned, there had been an uncomfortable sort of silence with Maya, Nadine, and Riley, and with Sophie and Chiara… They'd tried not to make the freeze out so obvious, out of respect for both Rebecca and Nadine, though they couldn't say exactly how successful they'd been. They were going to get through the day with the minimal amount of drama.

"Hey, you want to ride with me to the park for the photos?" Shawn came along.

"Yeah, thanks," Maya accepted gladly. "Hey, on the way, any chance we can get a hold of some paper and string? Some scissors and glue?"

They arrived at the park, near the group's favorite spot, with time to spare before the photoshoot. Never to let perfectly productive time go to waste, Maya had set about cutting as many pieces of paper flowers as she could, handing them over to Lucas, and Nadine's sisters, who followed instructions and helped her fashion a few more of the flower crowns. One landed on Nellie's head, and then Gracie's, and never to be left out, MJ demanded and got one, too. In no time, they were chasing after one another, chasing Olivia Zhu, who became their ringleader for that day.

"Are you going to make me one, too?" Lucas asked with a smile, after their helpers had gone away and it was just them once again.

"Would you like me to?" Maya asked, planting chin in her palm as she wondered.

"Always," he nodded.

"Well… I don't have any more paper here," she showed him. "But never let it be said I am not a woman of my word, Huckleberry. A crown you request, and a crown you shall have."

"Only if you've got one to match," he told her.

"More and more demands, wow. You're lucky you're easy on the eyes and I can't say no," she sighed with a smile.

"Yeah, my one redeeming quality…" he nodded, making her laugh just as Shawn was passing by, taking pictures of the wedding party in waiting. The shot he captured of the two of them here would be one they'd look on to for years and years.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners