December 28th 2019

Chapter 362
Their Ceremony of Community

Over the years they had spent living in Austin, they could all say they had seen on at least one occasion, if not more, a woman in a wedding dress striding across the park with or without the whole entourage, to pose for some pictures. It always felt like some magical creature had just stepped out of a fairy tale, something that just didn't meld well with the rest of the world they saw around them. But then, somehow, something about her standing up there had a way of transforming her surroundings, like she was reclaiming the park into her enchanted forest.

That day, when they witnessed Nadine Zhu taking that very stride, as her mother trailed over her, ensuring that her dress wouldn't drag through the grass, it was their friend who had earned her fairy wings, looking like genuinely had the power to take off and fly. Zay was at her side, holding her hand as they went, and the look on his face suggested he thought his new wife as magical as they all did, if not more. The little kids were just as transfixed, stood there with their flower crowns, but the closer the bride and groom got, they went and shook free of the spell, until they were able to dash over to say hello, to show that they all had crowns now.

"You know what Olivia told me at the salon earlier?" Maya asked, even as they both knew the answer would have to be no, seeing as he hadn't been there. "She said she couldn't wait until they came back out here and got married already, because once they did then Zay would be her brother, and she always wished she had one of those." Lucas smiled, looking over to where the youngest Zhu girl produced the final crown they had made and set it atop her new brother's head as he took a knee before her, like a knight before the queen. Maya had quickly signalled Shawn so he'd capture the moment, which he did.

"Want to grab a few shots?" he asked Maya now, as he turned to her.

"Can I?" she nodded at once.

"Of course," Shawn passed her the camera.

No one would take away the top spot from Katy in the category of 'happiest to have Maya back in Austin,' but it was an uncontested fact that Shawn squeaked in for a close runner up position. As he'd said before, the twins were the first children born of his blood, but Maya had been the one to make him a father, and no one could take that away from him or her. Having that two-hour gap between them for the last four years had only made him feel her importance to him even more. It was never just about physical distance, was it? If it were up to them, they would have easily travelled that distance time and time again. But on both sides there was anything from work, to school, to children and other schedules to keep, and so they had no choice but to restrict the number of their visits down to once a week if they were lucky, every other week more likely, and once a month if they were really busy. Thank goodness for phones and video chats…

"Rolling out the big guns, alright," Zay nodded when he spotted Maya coming toward them with the camera in hand.

"Nothing but the best," Maya smirked, especially at the muted sort of 'hey!' Shawn gave out, even as he couldn't hold back a smile of his own.

Maya would see to see to individual photos of Zay – a few – and Nadine – so, so many – before bringing the newlyweds together again and putting them through the gamut of serious poses, and funny poses, and tender ones, too, before finally surrendering the camera back to her father so he could do the family shots and then the wedding party, of which Maya took part.

For Zay, Maya had been reminded of a day, years ago, where they had all been at Chubbie's and they had tried to get him to dance properly, to really let loose. It had taken some effort, but Maya had finally gotten it out of him, and she did so again today. This was not that same thirteen-year-old boy anymore, but it was and would forever be their Zay, same as he had been all along, the boy who had been right there on that first day of school, the first one of all of them to speak to her, and as ever he had been exactly who he was, inside and out.

Then with Nadine, stepping up in that dress, practically glowing in the sun… How was Maya not to feel that rush of ideas? It brought her back to those early band days, when they'd gone through this whole photo shoot together. There, too, they had explored various moods, from serious, to whimsical, to boundless energy… A lot of the time they had just been bursting out laughing, finding it impossible not to lose composure with what one or the other would be doing. Much of it had been about getting Smackle to match the rest of them, which could lead to some unintentionally comical results. Even though they were not the ones who made into the 'official' roster, those were still some of their favorite photos they'd taken together, because they weren't about being The Band TXNY. It had been about friends, having a good time and goofing off together. Here in the park today, it wasn't exactly goofing off, but it was two old friends completely in synch with one another, and they had a blast.

"Please, can I put this one in a frame on my nightstand, so I can stare at it every day?" Maya had asked after the two of them had been done, turning the camera around for Nadine to see the screen and making her bust out laughing at once.

"Two copies," Zay chimed in when he got a look at it.

"Let's focus on getting this shoot done first, so we can get out of here," Maya told him.

"Then you get to have food," Nadine had added with a knowing look. Lucas had already told Maya about Zay's fear of getting his clothes dirty, which made her smile, too.

"Yeah, okay, let's roll."

When the camera had been returned into Shawn's hands, he had led the gathered friends and family of the bride and groom in any number of combinations. Father and child, mother and child, parents and child, the Zhu sisters, Zay and GiGi, the collected Babineaux family… When he'd called all the Zhu forth there had been the briefest moment of unease, thinking about the missing member, but they were here for Nadine, not for her grandmother's views, so they got into position and smiled for the camera and for their bride. Shawn got photos of Zay and Lucas, and Zay with the rest of the guys, of Nadine and Maya, and Nadine with all her bridesmaids.

"Hi, Daddy!" Gracie waved with a smile when she and Nellie were called up with Olivia Zhu.

"Hey, Gracie," Shawn laughed, waving to his daughter.

"Look! Maya made these!" Nellie pointed to the crown on her head and the one on her twin's.

"I saw that," Shawn confirmed. "She didn't make me one, but hey," he shrugged like he was just a bit hurt at being left out.

"I'm going to start charging!" Maya called out to him, tossing a look to Lucas, already her next customer. Shawn just laughed and went about getting the ring bearer and flower girls photographed. Finally, everyone had been brought together for a group shot and then they were good to go, making their way out of the park and off to the reception hall.

"Hey, ride with us?" Nadine called to Lucas and Maya, indicating the limousine waiting on the street, just across the street from the diner, at the edge of the park. They didn't have to be convinced much more than this. They climbed in along with the bride and groom, where Zay had immediately taken Lucas off to the other end, leaving Maya with Nadine, which they quickly understood to have been the intent as soon as they'd been asked to go with them.

"Everything good?" Lucas asked his best friend, looking at him as he sat there, almost transfixed by the ring on his finger. It wasn't anything of doubt on his face, more like bewilderment, realizing more and more that it had finally happened.

"I'm like the poster boy for 'good' right now. Open the dictionary, boom, there's my picture," Zay nodded. "It's still just blowing my mind that I'm married, you know? Like, one second we were in school, playing basketball, and now we're out here, man and wife, thinking about careers, and a house, and kids… When did we become adults, Lucas?"

"Think they snuck in one night and upgraded us while we weren't looking," he suggested, and Zay nodded like that made a whole lot of sense.

At the other end of the car, caught up in a cloud of fabric, Nadine pointed to the small fridge and asked Maya to pass her a bottle of water, which she happily did, grabbing one for herself, too. This first day of June wasn't the hottest they had seen, but it wasn't exactly cool out, and with these dresses, Nadine's especially, it only felt heavier on them. It was a moment of respite for all of them, and they were going to make the most of it.

"So, I wanted to talk to you about something," Nadine finally turned to Maya, once the water and the limo's AC had done their work.

"What kind of something?" Maya asked, intrigued. After Farkle and Isadora's big news, there really wasn't anything left to surprise her.

"I…" Nadine started, before pausing with a sigh, like she wasn't sure whether she should go on or not. "Look, I don't know what you guys are planning to do now that you're out here, and I don't even know if I'm really sure about this, but you've always known what to tell me before, got me to make the right choices when I wasn't sure…"

"I am really going to need you to fill in some blanks here, because I have no idea what you're saying," Maya shook her head. Nadine took a breath, like just saying the words would commit her to following through, and maybe that was the intention.

"I was thinking… maybe, just… if it works for you guys… I could come back."

"Come back…" Maya repeated, not understanding at first, and then… "To the band?" she blurted out, drawing the guys' attention for a moment. She smiled and waved at them and they went back to talking. "Are you serious?" Maya turned back to Nadine with a smile growing and growing over her face.

"Haven't made up my mind, remember?" Nadine told her, and Maya sat up, nodding.

"No, yeah, absolutely. For the record, and no pressure, I think that would be the best thing ever, and I'm sure the others will say the same."

"What am I going to do though? You already have a drummer, and I don't want to take Kayla's place…"

"Nadine, if there's anyone out here in… the pantheon of TXNY… who can pick up a new instrument, it is you. How's this: we get you through today, you go on your honeymoon, and then when you get back, we can look at options, talk it out with the others… Full disclosure, knowing myself, I'll have a few new songs by the time you get back, and at least one of them will have you front and center… But, again, no pressure, okay?"

"No, right, of course," Nadine chuckled. "Can we wait until I'm back before telling the others?"

"Oh, sure…" Maya told her. It's not like I'm not already keeping secrets here.

They'd finished out the ride with Zay and Maya switching places, reuniting the two couples. Part of Maya could think of nothing else but the band, and what Nadine had told her, but she made herself push it back, like that other small secret courtesy of their other retired bandmate. It was easy enough, as she and Lucas could see their friends over there, beaming at one another, still just floating in the glow of their new status as husband and wife.

"Look at them…" Maya breathed, smiling back to Lucas. "I keep telling myself that we just need to get them through the day, no more drama from anyone… The wedding's done, and the photos, now just the reception. It's like we're halfway in and it's smooth sailing, but what if there's waves up ahead, and rocks, and… icebergs…"

"Icebergs?" Lucas looked at her, chuckling.

"Come out of nowhere, rip your ship in half… Don't need one of those," Maya elaborated.

"Yeah, we don't," Lucas had to agree. "Anything we need to look out for that's not a big ice thing?"

"Well…" Maya hesitated. "The grandma drama, of course," she stated right off the bat, easy.

"Okay…"

"That bun…" she followed, sidestepping any chance that she'd say a word that would float across the limo into any ears that weren't meant to hear it yet.

"Right," Lucas nodded, confirming he understood what she'd been going on about.

"And…" she started, then paused. "And that's it, I think, unless you've got something?" She'd dodged her near miss, her very own iceberg, about as cleanly as she could manage. Much as she trusted him, putting Rebecca's secret in his midst was like a variable that couldn't be counted. He might actually manage to hear about it, process it, and put it away for the sake of their friends' big day. But he might also just get knocked down by the revelation and have a reaction somewhere in line with Riley's, or Asher's. It wasn't a good idea to tempt fate, not today.

It might have been that he would have seen right through her misdirection, if not for how she had inadvertently nudged him right into thinking about his own secret. She'd asked him if he could think of anything that might disrupt the party that evening, and… Well, he wouldn't call it a disruption, not when both the bride and groom were not only aware but complicit. The only one who might be disrupted would be him, as he just knew that once they all ended up in that reception hall, he would get distracted with little to no prompt, as he remained on the lookout for an ideal moment to get her away from all that and take her to the house.

"I can't think of anything, no," Lucas shook his head, maintaining as casual of a face as possible and just as quickly deflecting with something he'd been meaning to tell her. "By the way, I'm going to do my best to get back to you whenever I can, but there's all these girls who asked to dance with me, and I just… I couldn't tell them no," he shrugged. Maya contemplated this with a smirk, pressing her chin 'pensively' to the palm of her hand.

"These 'girls,' somewhere about five to eight years old?"

"Oh, one of them is in her early fifties," he whispered, breaking her smirk into laughter.

"Well, if you gave them your word, I can't make you break it."

"I kept my first dance for you though."

"Yeah, you better."

By the time they reached the reception hall, the rest of their guests would all have arrived. They'd made a pit stop on the way, so Nadine could trade in her first, skirt-heavy dress for something a bit more reasonable for the purposes of dancing while still allowing her to stand out as the bride. This had not been her own choice or purchase, rather a gift from her mother upon her arrival back in Texas, but Nadine had been thrilled to receive it, as the thought had never dawned on her or anyone else before, one of those things they couldn't believe they hadn't thought about until now. Once Maya had helped her get out of one and into the other dress, she had also pulled the hairpins the hairdresser had indicated earlier that day, which would release Nadine's hair halfway and send her into the rest of the day with a new style that fit her change in wardrobe.

"It is ridiculous how beautiful of a bride you make," Maya had smiled, hugging her as she'd turned from the mirror.

"So will you," Nadine told her, still holding on, which was just as well, or else Maya might have caught on to the look of slight panic that flashed across her face, fearing she might have said too much. But Maya merely laughed it off as a 'looking to some indeterminate future' kind of thing.

"One thing at a time," she told her friend as they finally pulled apart. "Alright, let's go."

They rejoined the guys at the limo, and Zay was appropriately appreciative of the new look on Nadine. They had then gone on ahead to the reception hall, where Maya and Lucas hurried off inside, the better to be in the room when the newlyweds made their grand entrance. Actually, Maya was also due to get to the stage, as TXNY had taken on the very important task of playing them in. Riley, Rosa, and Kayla were already up there, waiting for her. She'd sent them a text when they were a minute out, so the fact that they had suddenly gone and taken their positions would explain why everyone in the room was now standing in anticipation, looking in the general direction of the great doors. Isadora also stood near the stage, talking with Rosa, as Maya jogged over.

"Hey, are we ready?" she asked the others, signing the same toward Kayla. They all confirmed that they were.

"Are you sure you don't want to take my place?" Rosa was asking Isadora, holding up her bass.

"I'm sure. It should be you," Isadora nodded confidently, though Maya thought she could vaguely see her sort of fold her arms before herself, like someone might notice the change in her figure.

There was no time to argue any further, as they were given the signal – by Lucas – to go ahead and start to play. As soon as they did, everyone went from vaguely looking at the doors every few seconds to just staring on in anticipation. Maya doubted that anyone but herself, and Lucas, and Asher and Dylan – and of course Zay and Nadine – would recognize this song's significance. It was the song which had been playing in Chubbie's, the day of the infamous dance coaxing. Some might wonder why they'd want to come in to a song whose purpose had been to get some other girl to notice Zay, but then what they really remembered it as was the first time, consciously or not, that Nadine had put herself out there for Zay. And Zay himself would say he remembered this moment less for any attempts to get Vanessa's attention and much more for how dancing with Nadine had made him feel.

Maya got to announce them as they came through the doors, and what a rush it had been… They came in, hand in hand and smiling brightly, and it was beautiful.

As the bride and groom went about, mingling with their guests, thanking them for being here, the band kept on playing, their song selection coming straight from the couple of the day. The dresses weren't the most ideal for what they were doing, but they were going to make it work, for the little while in which they'd be playing.

Lucas was not in a chatting mood. This wasn't about his being in any way upset. It was much, much more about eagerness for after. It wasn't as though he was just going to take her to the house, do what he had to do, and then take her right back here like the whole thing was an afterthought. But now, until the right time presented itself, all he could do was…

"Lukey!" a small hand tugged at his jacket, and he looked down to find Gracie Hunter staring up at him. There would be those times where, almost more than when they'd been smaller, he wouldn't be sure which of the twins he was staring at, but today the distinction had been made easier by the fact that Gracie had her brown hair pulled into a bun atop her head, while Nellie had one small braid on either side of her head, meeting at the back, while the rest of her hair hung loose.

"Yeah, Gracie?" he asked, crouching to get at her eye level. "You looking to get your dance shoes on?" The girl, just a couple months shy of six, looked down at her feet, reaching in haste to settle her crown of paper flowers as it started to slip in the process. "I mean, do you want to dance," Lucas smiled.

"Not yet, Maya has to go first," she declared.

"Yeah, she does," he agreed.

"But I want to see her play, and there's too many people in the way," she explained.

"Is that right?" he looked around, from the perspective of a small girl… Yeah, he could see how that would be a problem. "Alright, hold on to your crown," he told her before hoisting her up, squealing, and settling her on to his shoulders as she stood to his full height. "Better?" he asked, one arm locked around her legs dangling on either side of his head, the other at her back.

"So high…" she breathed.

"You want to come down?" he asked, but she shook her head. "Alright, hang tight," he made his way through the clusters of guests. "Make me a path, will you?"

"Excuse me!" Gracie called in her shy 'yell.' It was sufficient to get people to look up and move. It also caught the attention of Nellie Hunter, who came dashing toward them as they approached the stage.

"Can I go up, too?" she called to Lucas.

"Uh… Okay, just follow me up there and then I'll pick you up when I'm not walking, deal?"

"Uh-huh!"

When they came closer to the stage, even as the twins spotted their big sister and she spotted them back, Lucas carefully released his hold on Gracie, telling her to hold tight, while he picked Nellie up until she was sort of sitting on joined arms, also locking Nellie's legs in place again. This worked out better than he might have hoped, right up until MJ Hunter had come jumping along and looked up like he wanted to be higher, like his sisters. Lucas was looking to have to tell the three and a half-year-old that he couldn't get him up, too, when Isadora, still standing nearby, came along.

"I can pick you up," she addressed MJ. "Is that okay?" She barely had to ask before the boy's arms were up; he didn't need much convincing. So, Isadora picked him up, turning sideways so he could see his sister and the others. She and Lucas locked eyes for a moment, and he gave her a smile and a tip of the head. Congratulations. She returned the gesture in thanks, looking to the boy in her arms. MJ had decided the best way to watch his sister involved resting his head on the shoulder of the one he vaguely recognized as Maya's friend. Isadora took this in, and Lucas knew MJ had very innocently given a boost to the future mother's trust in herself and her abilities. He looked so very much at ease in her arms.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners