A/N: Hey everyone! I was thinking, with most everyone isolated these days, I might try and do something extra on here along with the daily (and weekly) chapters. I wanted to do maybe like... deleted scenes. Like, if there are moments from throughout the stories in this universe, from 2017 up to now, that were not covered in chapters and people might have wanted to see played out, I could write them and post them as I do them. Let me know if that is something that would interest you and what you'd like to see! :)
March 23rd 2020
Chapter 83
Their Music to Grow
"Hey, I'm not calling you at a bad time, am I?"
"No, not at all," Topanga Matthews replied, though Maya heard her and imagined she might have been caught up in an attempt to do something that involved two-year-old Hunter Matthews. She could hear the boy in the background, complaining. "Hold on a minute, will you?"
"Uh, sure…" Maya told her, though the phone might have already been set down on the other end. She kept on walking on her way from the theater to Chubbie's, hearing a lot of 'Get back here!' and 'Sit still!' from Topanga and a lot of 'Nuh!' from Hunter. Riley would often laugh, saying that her mother had finally met her match in this boy. Her youngest was as stubborn as she was, and he would hold his ground until he was blue in the face. Thankfully, Topanga was an excellent negotiator, even with hard-headed toddlers.
"I'm here, sorry," she came back on the line, breathing out.
"Rough night?" Maya kept herself from laughing.
"Bath night," Topanga confirmed. "I've called in reinforcements, it's fine. What can I do for you?"
"I need a lawyer," she replied, then just as quick, "Not for trouble, just legal counsel, you know?"
Topanga was aware of who Audra was, of course, for having heard about the offer from her daughter the previous summer. Maya recounted the encounter back at the theater, along with the offer she had received. Even running back through it like this, just hitting the facts as she kept on walking, it felt like it couldn't be real, but she knew it was, she'd been there, and she'd already established it had not been a dream.
"Maya…" Topanga responded much the way she envisioned her own mother would react. She could almost see the smile on the woman's face just from hearing the way she said her name.
"I'll let you know when I get Audra's e-mail, I just wanted to give you a heads up." And maybe catch my breath for a second before talking to anyone else about it.
"Of course. I'll be ready for you whenever."
By the time she'd hung up with Riley's mother, Maya was nearing the restaurant and she followed up the call with a message.
Maya: Meet me outside?
Lucas came through the door just as she walked up. Maya cut off his greeting with a kiss.
"That works, too," he breathed. "Everything alright?"
"Very much," Maya smiled. "Possibly more than very much," she added. "I had a visitor at the theater today, after Stage Ready."
"Guessing that's the reason why you ran late?" She nodded. "Who was it?"
"Audra Watts," Maya replied, glad to see he remembered the name.
"The one from the record deal?" he still asked. Maya nodded again. "What did she want? Did she want to sign the band again?"
"At first, yeah, which was just…"
"Wow…"
"Yeah, that," she agreed. "But even when she was saying it, I knew… I still don't want it," she told him. Lucas gave an understanding tip of the head.
"You're okay with all of it then," he asked.
"I am," Maya smiled. "I told her about you and me, the wedding, our future as we've planned it, and she got it."
"Good," Lucas smiled back.
"She wasn't done," Maya went on, taking another breath. "She had a different deal to offer after that." Lucas' posture changed at this, which made her chuckle, recalling how she'd had more or less the same reaction. "She wants to sign me, as a songwriter," she revealed. Lucas' reaction here was what she would call a halted celebration, like his immediate response had been to rush forward and embrace her, but then he'd had to consider the possibility that she might have said no, in which case he might have needed to respond differently.
"Did you… How did…" he asked.
"I haven't made any decision yet, not exactly," Maya explained. "Audra suggested I should have a lawyer look at what she'll be sending me, so I called Riley's mom, just to give her the heads up."
"Okay, that's good… What are you thinking though?"
"A lot… So much…" she hummed, balancing from heels to toes. "For now, I mean… all I've got is this offer, and it feels huge, and I want to hop around and shout and shout some more. It would be perfect, wouldn't it? I get to be here, with you, living the life I want to live, and at the same time, people everywhere could be listening to my songs, singing them… And who wouldn't want an extra bit of income for doing something like that?"
"With you so far," Lucas grinned.
"I just want to make sure that it would be as good as it sounds. It's one thing to write stuff for the band, and for Weaver Kings, and Shae… This comes with… paperwork, and legal things… I don't want it to end up being something that turns out to be too good to be true. Not that I think Audra would put me in that position, but she might not get the final say, and then… I don't know… When we said no last year, a part of it was just how all of us in the band had been making it work as well as we did, all on our own for all these years."
"You did, yeah."
"I'm trying to tell myself to just not to think about it too much, not until I get more information, and I talk to Topanga… but it's just…" she shook her head, a giddy little smile leaking out.
It made Lucas respond in kind, allowing himself to lift her off the ground – an easy feat – and into his arms. He could easily say he had been impressed with this girl from the day he'd met her, and it wouldn't be wrong. But more than that, the more he'd gotten to watch her grow, and evolve, year by year, that feeling only followed in that same climb. More than once he had watched her go and his instinct had been to tell her to slow down, not to take on as much as she would. Sometimes it really would be too much, and she would recognize it herself, but other times… most times… she actually just thrived in that chaos, and she came out on the other side having produced… gold.
"Make you a deal, you play it cool until you know for sure, and I'm going to just keep on being so, so proud of you all the time. No matter what, you made all this happen, Maya…" She giggled at this, pulling her head back so she could see his face.
"I can work with that," she nodded.
"Yeah?" he smiled. She nodded. "Good," he kissed her, setting her down on her feet without breaking their hold. When the kiss finally ended, leaving a trail of small pecks for a few more seconds, he kept his arms around her, finally looking back to recall where they were. "Keeping this to ourselves for now or are you planning on telling them?"
"Until I know more, I think I'd prefer not to tell," Maya shook her head.
"In that case, I'd like to cast my vote for you and me just calling it a night and heading home," he told her, which made her laugh.
"But there's food in there," she 'pouted,' pointing to the door.
"I will cook," he countered. "Sam is out hanging with his friends tonight, so it'd be just you and me… and the dogs."
"All good people…" she nodded approvingly. "Sparkles is back at work though. And what about them in there?"
"We can walk, and I'll take care of it."
So they left Chubbie's together, taking the same path Maya had travelled just minutes ago, where they found the red minivan and drove off toward home. Lucas had already texted Nadine, informing her and asking her to tell the others that he and Maya had decided to call it a night after all.
They arrived at the house to find eager pups in full welcoming committee mode. Trix and Lou had been at this game long enough to have developed a technique along the lines of 'come say hello, get scratches, go lie down and wait for the food if there's none left.' Archer the puppy, on the other hand, was still very eager when his people returned, and he would follow them wherever they went for a good long while.
This time around, as Lucas went into the kitchen to prepare his promised dinner, Maya scooped up the growing dog and took him along into the basement, where she hoped to tease out that new song from the back of her mind. She sat on the ground, knowing Archer would want to keep close. As predicted, he sat across her ankles, which made her chuckle as she picked up her guitar.
"Want to sing with me, Arch?" He barked. "You've got a real voice, kid, come on, lemme hear something," she asked in her best 'gruff old timey' voice. She strummed at the guitar strings, humming her melody, and the pup did more or less as told, giving a weak little attempt at a howl that made the musician laugh through her humming. "Yeah, you're a star!" gruff Maya declared.
Having done about all she could expect to get done on the song for the time being, the guitar was set aside, the recording on her phone was stopped and saved, and the puppy was carried back up the stairs. Her stomach had already been growling just a bit, in clear competition to the dog, but now that she could smell what was being made in the kitchen, she was very near to drooling.
"No, you were right, this is so much better than Chubbie's," she told Lucas, coming to lean against the counter next to the stove where he worked.
"Don't let them hear you say that, they won't let you back in," he teased.
"Please, they love me," she defiantly declared.
"Yeah, well the line forms behind me on that."
"Even him?" she 'gasped,' holding up the dog who had been desperately attempting to get at the food while Maya held him back from getting burned. He squirmed in her hands, which only heightened the cuteness and made Lucas break into laughter.
"Even him," he finally nodded.
"Tough bargain," Maya squinted at him, pulling Archer back to herself. "Come on, you, let's see what's happening with your dinner."
When they finally went ahead and sat to the meal Lucas had prepared for them, Maya got a look at their plates and had to hold back some solid giggles.
"Okay, that is next level right there, did you seriously make the potatoes into music notes?"
"Cookie cutters," he shrugged with a smirk.
"You are such a nerd," she whispered.
"I told you I was going to keep on being proud while you're not telling about the offer."
"Well, I've never met a potato I didn't love, but these might be my favorite now, and if the next ones aren't like this, I might not eat them anymore."
"I got you covered," Lucas assured her as she happily bit into her first note.
"So long as we're settling all that, if you see me go off track tomorrow night at Josie's because I've gone all Pensive Maya…"
"I got her, too," he nodded. "Are you trying to make a song?" She had started to move her potatoes around in her plate, like pieces in a puzzle.
"It'll be real short unless you… You made more, didn't you?" she asked, seeing the look on his face.
"Not enough for a… symphony or anything, but we may have something." She grinned at him, pressing her hands together.
"Permission to play with my food?"
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
