Chapter 102
Love on the Rise

"You have a cat?"

Maya was startled from her reorganizing of one of the displays in the art store, but as soon as she spotted the speaker at her side she smiled.

"Not exactly," she told Stella. "I don't have cats, but I'm looking after a couple of them who belong to my friends. "How did you know?" she asked. In response, the girl pointed to a couple of scratch marks on Maya's forearm. "Oh, right," she chuckled and prodded at the red lines. "Had a small misunderstanding with one of them the other day. Do you have a cat?"

"Used to. He died not long after we moved to Texas."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. What was he called?"

"Kipper," Stella replied. "My dad said he was old, and he didn't handle the change well."

Maya had been tending to Coco and Rebel for almost two weeks now, since Diana and Farah had left for Canada. It was about as low maintenance of a task as her classmates had promised. The first days, she went on her own, on the reasoning that she needed to see how they'd respond to her coming into their environment without their 'moms' around. They knew her by now, so this went on the whole about as well as she could have hoped it to go.

The next step was to bring Lucas, and as she'd expected, the cats responded even better to him, like they could sense something in him, a trace of the veterinary passion. They could have just brought them to the house, but there were just so many elements, ways in which this could go wrong, with the dogs, with the boys, and really just with putting Coco and Rebel in an environment they didn't know.

The dogs were the next step. Maya felt confident in the way this would turn out before she even got there. Trix… well, she was like a grandma in dog form. She was naturally protective, naturally caring. She'd shown this in how she interacted with Lou from the get go, and then with Maya and Lucas and their friends at the Houston house, and with the boys, oh… How many hours she'd spent with the dog sitting or lying near her when she'd been pregnant with both of them… And once they'd been born, one and the other, she had shown so much gentleness and care for them. She'd been 'Tix' to Elliott, now 'Twix,' and whatever name he chose to call her, she came. If they ever lay him down for a nap anywhere that wasn't his crib, they would probably find Trix curled up with him by the end of it half the time.

And Lou, fretful little Lou, she needed to warm up to strangers still, but once she did, they were good and clear. If Trix was Elliott's dog, Lou was definitely Noah's. They were so unlike each other in temperament, the brave boy and the shy dog, but they each had someone they looked up to for reference. Lou would often take her cue from the other dog the way Noah did with his big brother, so it left Maya to imagine the smaller dog would be uncertain around the cats, but Trix would be more courteous, and so Lou would do as she did.

That was more or less how it went down. There were a few minutes where Maya wasn't so sure how everyone would deal with this meeting, and maybe she needed to pull everyone back in their own corner, but then both cats and dogs apparently reached a point of 'well, here we are, this is fine,' and she breathed. The important thing had really been about how Trix and Lou would respond to this, for the future and this idea of maybe adopting a cat, and even though she'd expected more or less this reaction, she was happy to see it realized. The last hurdle now… The boys.

They'd grown with the dogs, from the day they were born, it was just reality for them. There hadn't been this opportunity before, for her to see how they'd respond to cats. They'd met plenty of dogs before, and when she'd take them around and they'd see one they would perk up and squeal and want to touch them… This would be something else.

Lucas had been with them that day, to help, he said, though Maya suspected he was just curious about how the boys would respond, too.

In more than one sketchbook, Maya had immortalized the day. In Elliott's book, she'd drawn him, standing as he so often did these days, with a sort of 'oh, what's this' look in his eyes. There was the smile, too, showing that whatever this new thing was, he was intrigued and he liked it already. His whole pose had been brought on by Coco, who'd been sleeping in a patch of sun by the balcony window. The arrival of the visitors had awakened the young cat, and she'd immediately sort of bolted up, but then there was the two-year-old, and Coco was as curious as him. On the opposite page in Elliott's book was the follow-up, as the boy had gone down lying on his tummy, almost putting himself at eye level with the cat, and when he extended his little hand, the kitten came forward, and he was gently petted and played with, eventually held in Elliott's arms. He couldn't pick up the dogs like that, but Coco was small enough, and he looked very happy to hold her.

In Noah's book, Maya had captured his meeting with Rebel. Had she secretly hoped he would bond to Coco first, because he was smaller and undoubtedly gentler? Yes, a little bit. But Rebel wasn't bad by comparison, arm scratches aside. She was perched on top of the couch's back when they arrived, and Noah clocked her presence at once. He stretched out his arms from where Lucas held him, and he was brought over, while the cat stared back, unmoved. When Lucas sat with the boy on the couch, Rebel hopped down on the cushion next to them and Noah crawled toward her. They couldn't say that she had ever been around children before, but she was reasonably curious about the small human. Noah just laughed and smiled and responded to her as he would either of the dogs, because maybe that was just another one. Rebel was not a dog, and the boy's tactile curiosity was strong, but it came from a good place. Lucas had joked how Rebel looked to be saying 'no, no, human, I'm a cat, here, let me show you.' By the time they left the apartment, Noah cried at being split from his new friend.

"So, what's the verdict?" Lucas asked Maya, after they'd gone home.

"The cat verdict?" she asked back, and he nodded. "Still want one, definitely," she stated. "But the bigger question is should we? Right now, I mean."

"The door's open for whenever," he suggested, and that was good for her.

It was just as well, wasn't it? Summer was already promising to be busy enough, and it was only getting busier. The moment they'd finished school until fall, along with everything at home and at work, they'd had a new big thing to take its place: the Babineaux-Zhu wedding. Their friends had set their wedding date for July, and they made it very clear that they wanted a great big wedding. They weren't aiming for royal standards, but they wanted all their people around them, and they wanted to make it a day to remember, for them as much as for themselves.

Many of their friends were either in New York or over in Houston. The former did their best to contribute, mostly by giving their opinions regarding dresses, and tuxes, and flowers, and food, and innumerable other things. And while the hands-on tasks were handled in great part by their Austin friends and family – Maya, Lucas, the Zhu girls, Zay and Nadine's school friends – those in Houston would do their best to join in when they could.

And maybe it was from there that things went and got more complicated, in a very surprising but very good way, too. They'd been preparing for one wedding for weeks, and very suddenly they ended up planning for two.

One day, as the group came down from Houston to help lock down the menu, they'd all started getting this sense of something going unspoken, hanging in the air, and they couldn't pinpoint it. After a while though, it definitely felt like it revolved around Sophie and Chiara and something that kept them bubbling in barely contained happiness. Finally, they got it out of them: they were engaged.

As they told their very excited friends, the last weeks, contemplating Zay and Nadine's upcoming nuptials had gotten them both thinking about the future, specifically their future together. They both came to the very plain realization that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with their girlfriend, and they wanted to make it known, to the other and world. They were both looking to pop the question, and secret schemes were finally discovered, and then… here they were.

They hadn't wanted to tell their friends, not until after the other wedding, didn't want to come off as stealing their thunder, but it was just impossible for them to be in the middle of all this wedding talk and not get caught up thinking about their own big day. Now, they'd been busted, and rather than the news being seen as stepping in the way, in next to no time it led to a new plan, as spearheaded by the bride and groom of this first wedding. Why not make the most of it and have a double wedding?

It wasn't that in the end, not exactly, but very close. They would not get married on the same day but on two consecutive days, first Zay and Nadine in Austin and then Sophie and Chiara the very next day in Houston. And suddenly, the planning was redoubled, the second half being on such a short deadline as be a great frenzy. Sophie's mother was instrumental in compensating for this, but the fact remained that they had so little time before the big days.

Maya's primary contribution was two-fold, though only the first was known to the couples in question. She would make the cakes.

She'd never made wedding cakes, never had to make enough for such big parties, but she was up to the challenge. Back when she'd just been looking to make one cake, for Nadine and Zay, Sophie had helped set her on the right path by suggesting she talk with her friend and former colleague at the bakery in Houston, Ellie Beale.

She'd been very helpful, not just for the wedding cakes but for cakes in general, for the small business going forward. The plan was for her to make the most of summer on that front, so that she could get it to a place where she could gain more traction, and so far it was working out well enough. She'd have one or two orders to fill most every week, which meant more interventions from her junior squad. They were all on break from school, which increased their availability as much as their interests, so it became something of a summer job. They all wanted to learn more, too, so she showed them more.

"Did you always want to be a teacher?" Ariel asked her, one day as they were gathered to work on the two wedding cakes. She'd been the first to arrive, as the other three would be coming along together, dropped off by Abigail. The Brett girls had spent the night at the Hart house, a sleepover organized on the spot, after Daphne and Stevie and their father had had dinner with them. The girls had wanted to stay, and so they'd stayed, their father heading home on his own.

"No, definitely not," Maya chuckled, shaking her head to herself. Seeing the curious look on the girl's face, she sighed and tried to explain. "I wasn't exactly what you'd call a motivated student, not for a while, actually, not until I moved down here in middle school. I came here, and it was like… No one knew me here, and I was worried people would think I was… stupid, or bad, anything… It was not the push I would have expected, but it did what it had to do. I started to apply myself in different ways, and I started to get better, and after a while I realized… I liked what I was doing, I liked being in school for the first time in my life. After a while, thinking about what I wanted to do with my life, I figured out that what I wanted, more than anything, was to be like those teachers who helped me. I wanted to be that person for other kids like me. And the thing I thought I could bring from myself was… art. That's how I got here. With a few delays, and… well, I'm not there yet, not until a couple years from now still, probably… But I'm on my way."

Ariel considered all this, and the small smile on her face suggested to Maya that maybe her young friend had designs on becoming a teacher as well.

"Do you think my mother would let me stop seeing Dr. Eisley?" she asked, and the shift in subject took Maya by surprise for a moment.

"You want to stop?"

"I do, I just… I think I could. You stopped going, you said that you'd go back if you needed to but you didn't need to continue now, right? That's how I feel about it, too," Ariel explained.

"Well… Then you need to tell your mother that. Just be honest with her, make your point. Just… if she says you need to keep going…"

"I know," Ariel nodded. "I will." She wished she didn't have to, clearly, but she understood why it might not be up to her.

When Abigail came along, she dropped off Cara, Eliza, and Daphne before carrying on, to take the boys and Stevie Brett to their own activities. It had been a little over four months since Maya had enabled this idea of introducing Abigail to Mr. Brett. In that time, she didn't know that she saw any signs of a burgeoning romance as of yet, but without a doubt the widow and widower had gone and built a genuine friendship, for which Maya was very glad. And whatever the Hart and Brett kids may have thought of this interaction, one way or the other, they all got along very well, among themselves and with their new friends' parent. The fact that they all shared this unfortunate commonality had not changed, and having people there to sympathize with, people who would not need so many explanations for what they were going through…

Every so often, she could tell that three of them girls involved, among her helpers, were still wondering about the future, and where this whole thing would lead. Were they wasting their time? Even though nothing was really moving as of yet, Maya actually thought there might be a shot. Stranger things had happened, right?

What was coming together, now… The cakes. By the time they got everything done, as proud as she was with the results, Maya didn't know that she could ever have been prouder than she was for her junior bakers. She looked at them, and she could see how thrilled they were with what they'd made together. This was their accomplishment.

"It's too pretty to cut into," Cara declared with a sigh, and her big sister hugged her from behind. She knew the feeling.

"Well, it's either we cut into it and eat it, or else it goes bad and has to be thrown out and then it never got to fulfill its purpose," Maya reminded her.

"Alright, fine," Cara sighed, and Maya kissed the top of her head.

"Hey, now that we're done with all this, I would like you girls' opinion on something…"

It was unfortunate, to a certain degree, that her surprise could only be a surprise on day one. Once it was sprung there, they'd have to know what was coming on day two. It wasn't so big of a problem, and certainly not to her. It would make both couples happy, she was sure, for two different reasons, and even though they would not be surprised, Sophie and Chiara would have something extra to look forward to.

So, day one came upon them. The Friars got on their very best, right down to the boys. If Elliott had been just a little older, they might have had him for a ring bearer, but trying to explain to him what he had to do felt like the start of so much chaos, so they didn't go down that road. Still, he and Noah were both put in the best little suits and by the time they'd been dressed and had their hair tended, they were a couple of fine-looking little guys, able to make their mother get weepy in half a second for how grown up they suddenly appeared to her, at just one and two years of age.

"Are you going to make it?" Lucas teased her.

"I don't know, are you?" she challenged back. He had no reply, and her point was made.

Isaiah Babineaux and Nadine Zhu were wed, on a sunny July day, with family and friends all about. There had been some trouble with one of her grandmothers, but nothing would get in the way of this day, not one thing.

After all the work everyone had put in, from near and afar, everything was going perfectly. To Maya, this was great news, as much for her friends as it was for her surprise. It meant that it arrived as surprises should: unexpectedly. The bride and groom had just shared their first dance and were about to go on to their second when they found that one of their friends had stepped up on the stage, guitar in hand.

Her muse, if she had one of those, and whether or not she came in the form of a girl called Stella, had been very kind to her. She'd wanted to compose a song, two of them, one each for Nadine and Zay and for Sophie and Chiara, to be shared as a wedding gift. She was very proud of what she'd achieved, for reasons which would become evident by the next day. The two weddings were meant to be interlocked, two days, two ceremonies, two parties. So, she'd wanted the two songs to almost run into one another, like she could have played them back-to-back and they would have flowed smoothly from one to the other. On the one side, there was her former bandmate, one who'd helped bring her music as deeply as this in the first place, and on the other… Her music, her band's music, was what had brought Sophie and Chiara together. They would attest to it themselves. This wasn't TXNY, not anymore, but the symbolism would be there, just as easily found.

By weekend's end, it would really feel as though they had existed, for the space of those two days, in a realm built by love. They got to be with all their friends and eat and dance and be merry with all of them. They got to see two pairs of their friends be joined to share in their lives together… They were turning a page this year, they really felt it. They couldn't wait to see what came next.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you next week! - mooners