May 23rd 2021

Chapter 143
Our Time With Progress

Maya knew that, for herself and Dylan both, as much as they were concentrated on Stella as she took the stage, they would have been lying if they'd said they weren't at least a bit distracted by Phoebe's request. In order to make this conversation as easy as possible, taking away the restraints of time and potential eavesdroppers, Maya had suggested that they wait until the end of the day and go somewhere else.

So, the day went on. Stella did her song, and it went about as well as they could expect. She could sing, of course, that was why she'd been cast in the first place. She'd done it at her audition, and she'd done it at sessions with the rest of the cast, and in both settings, she'd shown only a mild case of unease which in no way prevented her from singing as she was meant to. On the one hand, it was probably easy to pull back into the song and ignore the rest when there were only these few surrounding her, people she could see and know as being familiar and trusted. Maya knew, for having been close to her for over three and a half years now, that the Stella who stood before them today could do this part because of those years. The Stella of freshman year would never have gone so far as to audition. If she'd made it this far, it stood to reason that she could go further, had the capacity in her to evolve.

"Back here, tomorrow, lunch time," Maya told her as they went off for the afternoon.

"But I can do it like this," Stella looked at her. "It's when there's more that I… I…"

"We are starting this way," Maya nodded at her. "We'll get you there, alright?"

"Alright," Stella finally smiled. She trusted her teacher.

So, the afternoon kicked off. After her freshman class, the afternoon break became devoted to any and all tasks she could put herself to instead of thinking about the now two distracting factors of her day. Once she'd prepared the room for the juniors, she still had plenty of time to kill, so she'd gone and cleaned and re-organized the supply closet and noted anything that needed to be restocked. She cleaned up her bookshelf, too, and when she finished that and found that it was almost time for class, she breathed. Any more time and she would have started covering the board in random doodles.

After last period ended, Maya made her way to the parking lot, there to find Phoebe waiting for her as she'd asked her to do. Dylan would be following them shortly.

"Is something wrong?" Phoebe asked as they took off. Maya had just checked her messages and it was likely that her face had spoken ahead of her.

"It's just… One of my dogs is sick," she finally explained as they pulled on to the street and started for the Orlando house. "Actually, she's dying." There, she'd said the words, she told herself. They'd felt as heavy in the pit of her stomach as she'd expected them to.

"Oh no…" Phoebe gasped. "Trix?" she asked, and it returned something of a smile to Maya's face that she of course knew her dogs. "We don't have to do this today," Phoebe shook her head now. "Really, it can wait. Just drop me off and I'll take the bus…"

"It's alright, Phoebe. I already knew when I said we'd do this, and I'm sticking to it. Really, it's fine." She might only have suspected as much back then, the confirmation landing just minutes ago, but there hadn't been any doubt in her mind.

They arrived at the house, where they found none other than Mrs. Orlando to receive them. She'd been looking after Nicky while Riley was out, and Maya felt an immediate jolt at the unexpected encounter, not for herself but for the girl standing by her side. Up to now, no one knew about any of this, no one beyond Maya and Lucas, Riley and Dylan, Phoebe, Stella, Cory… Specifically they had been keeping Dylan's family out of the loop, and Phoebe's, too, but now…

Now, the woman greeted her son's friend, but her eyes couldn't help travelling to the girl, like her brain wouldn't let up. She couldn't possibly look at her and not spot the striking resemblance. If that wasn't enough, well, she could just about guess how old she was, and whatever her husband had or hadn't told her about his ex-wife's departure, whatever he had or hadn't known himself… she could make a guess or two about this girl's identity. And now that she was here, at Dylan's house…

"Let's talk," Maya pulled her aside as they walked in. Phoebe went into the living room, where nine-month-old Nicky was sitting in his playpen and now looked excited at her approach. She knew who that woman was, clearly, and if she'd been spooked by the prospect of her knowing any part of her secret, she set it aside in favor of picking up her nephew. He knew her well now, even if they didn't see each other as much as they would once the secret was out. Maybe part of her reasoning went to that.

"Who is she?" Gina Orlando whispered as she watched the girl and her grandson, clearly not strangers.

"Phoebe Munroe," Maya whispered back, and the surname was enough to straighten up a lot of the jumbled mess. Maybe she, like Phoebe, had originally misplaced the blame, thinking her the secret child of her husband, rather than his wife's.

"She's a… a sophomore? Junior?"

"Senior, actually," Maya told her, and she could see the math happening in the woman's mind. When she completed the equation, she let out a breath and closed her eyes. "Did he know?" Maya asked, the words coming before she could reason with herself as to whether or not it was a good idea to ask the question, especially before Dylan's arrival. Mrs. Orlando didn't even need her to fill out the question for her to understand what she was asking. Did Mr. Orlando know about his ex-wife's love child?

"Not exactly. Everything he told me about that time, I guess he suspected, but Jocelyn never said anything, and he… He never dared to ask, wasn't in him. Maybe he just didn't want to know."

"Yeah…" Maya breathed. She'd known Mr. Orlando long enough to see how that would track.

"He told me how a lawyer came to see him one day with the divorce papers, asked him to sign. And he just did it because… it was the right thing to do. He wasn't going to get her back, but he cared enough to let her go, so she might be happier, wherever she was."

That sounded a lot like him, too. It sounded a lot like… well, Dylan. But then it was also a lot like Phoebe, so it might not have been so easy to call it genetics. Then again, for all this mess, her father was a great man, too, wasn't he? She guessed there was no point trying to decide who had gotten what where. Dylan and Phoebe were not just siblings, they were very in tune with one another as brother and sister, something that went beyond blood.

"Please, don't say anything?" Maya asked Mrs. Orlando. "It's all going to come out soon, I imagine, and when it does Dylan will want to tell you all about it."

She hated having to send the woman back out into the world with this new secret to carry, but for now she had to stand for Phoebe's interests most of all, as her teacher. She and her little brother stood to lose the most if this was not handled properly. So, Mrs. Orlando left, and for a few minutes more it was just Maya and Phoebe and Nicky, and Door the dog. The pup, so like her brother Crowley, was all about the baby boy being danced around the room by his aunt, but today she remained near Maya, like she knew she needed some canine comfort. It was greatly appreciated.

Dylan arrived at last, and Maya briefly caught him up on the encounter with his stepmother. He reacted about as she would have expected him to. He hadn't wanted it to happen like this, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He thanked Maya for handling it the way she had, and then they went into the living room. Whatever worries he'd had, they melted easily away when his son saw him and reacted at once. He was handed over, and Dylan took him close, his sweet happy boy.

"So…" Maya breathed, looking to Phoebe again. They all sat down, and the mood around the room was very much that they needed to get back on track. "You're ready?"

"I… I'm not sure," Phoebe admitted. "I want to, I need to, but… whenever I think about doing it, it's like I get tackled from inside and there's this thing shouting not to do it."

"Because it's going to change things," Dylan guessed, his attention on her even as he had to keep his active little boy steady in his lap. It was almost second nature to him by now.

"Yeah…" Phoebe breathed. "I'm moving out, in a few months, but they're still going to be my parents, and Taylor…" She was scared for him most of all. "I really don't know how he's going to take it. I said I wanted to wait until after Christmas, so he could have a good one, and that's still true, it was. But… I think I'm starting to realize a lot of it was just me… putting it off, because now it's after Christmas, and New Year's, and now Valentine's Day… and I still haven't made a move, so I don't have any more excuses."

"Yes, you do," Maya shook her head. "The excuse is that you never should have been put in this position, but you were. That is not your fault, okay?" she told her, holding her gaze so she would understand and remember. Nothing, not the split of the Orlando family, not Dylan and Kyle growing up without their mother, none of it was her fault. And neither was the secret. She'd just gotten caught up in the middle of it with them.

"I… I don't know how I'm going to…" Phoebe bowed her head.

"I'll go with you," Dylan spoke, and she looked up. Maya turned to him. "I'll go with you, when you talk to them, I'll be there." That was huge, to all of them. They knew how it weighed on him, this thought of seeing his mother again, of confronting her after all this time. But he would do it. For Phoebe, for Taylor, he would do it. "It doesn't have to be right now, if you're not ready, if you need more time… You just tell me you're good to go, and we'll work it out, okay?"

"Okay…" Phoebe let out a breath, let it carry out her worries. "I… I don't think I'm ready just yet," she finally admitted.

"That's okay," Maya nodded. "I'll be there, too, if you want me to be." Phoebe nodded at this, no hesitation. "Good."

There was not much more to say or do after that. Phoebe hugged her brother and her nephew, and she followed her art teacher out. Maya drove her home. When they pulled up to the curb, Phoebe hugged her, too, for the help and for Trix as well. Maya watched her go. Trix… She needed to get home now, to see her.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners