March 19th 2022
Chapter 78
Our Look Back on Prom
The only thing Lucas had in mind when approaching the bathroom that afternoon was finding his wife so he could show her something sweet back down the hall. He'd been standing in their room and had just finished getting ready, but he could hear high pitched squeals and giggles from outside, so he'd looked out the window. With a grin, he'd moved out into the hall and gone up to the open doorway.
"Hey, come get a look at…" he started to say, only to feel… almost literally… the words evaporate from his mind.
They may only have been chaperones for that evening's prom, but never let it be said that even after all these years, a bit of formal wear couldn't stop either one of them dead in their tracks when they got to see it on one another. And here was Maya, just finishing her make-up and turning to look at him, and… He was as mesmerized now, two pregnancies, four babies, and several years along their journey together, and the cherry on top was that she knew it. She could read it in his face when he saw her, and it made her happy, even as she was not left indifferent by him.
"You were saying… you want me to look at something?" she asked, giving him a look that felt entirely aware of the fact that, unlike most of their lives at home these days, there was not a single small child in their vicinity. Had he been in any way less able to keep his mind in check, he might have forgotten everything, from the prom to…
"Yes, yes, I did," he pointed at her before offering his hand. More than willing to play along, Maya set her hand in his and allowed him to lead her out of the bathroom and back to their room. He could just hear the joke coming, so he pointed to the window even as he guided her toward it.
Down below, on the front lawn, Eliza and Emma were finding themselves corralling a pack of small girls, specifically Marianne and her preschool/green group friends, Winnie Grayson, June Abernathy, and Harper Beaumont. Did they look the tiniest bit in over their heads? Absolutely. Was everyone having a great time and, in effect, making the madness part of the fun? Yes, a thousand percent. The joke around the house now would be 'is it too early to call them her turtle friends?' This had then taken a turn toward calling them not the four horsemen but the four horse girls… of the Sullivan Stables after school program. They were all spending the night here today, making it a special night for their little host, too, while her parents headed out to the school.
"Oh, check it out, incoming," Maya pointed up the road to the car coming along.
They had been locked into a permanent loop of being involved with the run-up to seniors' end of the school journey for as long as Maya had been a teacher, but then for obvious reasons this one was different. This one, for the first and only time until they saw the class of… 2048… would involve one of their daughters. They may not have expected to be dealing with anything like this for another decade and a half up until a couple years ago, but everything had changed once Ella had been adopted, so here it was. Their daughter was headed to her senior prom that evening. She didn't even mind having them there as chaperones.
"Wow, you guys are already dressed and everything…" Ella blinked when she came into the house after leaving Tori with the others outside. She had her dress, her shoes, her bag for everything else… By the look of her hair, they'd say she'd showered right before making her way over here. It wasn't exactly typical for a high school senior to be living on her own, and it mattered to her that she got to be here, with her parents, when she prepared for her prom look. All the same, Maya had been feeling 'ridiculously eager' to help her get ready if she could, and Ella had asked if she might do her hair.
As the two of them took care of that back in the bathroom, Lucas went to look in on the triplets, all the while being careful not to get anything on him that would require him to change at the last minute. He was joined there by Maya once the hair had been dealt with. Ella didn't want her to see any of the rest until she was all set. It was probably a good thing that they had the girls to look after in that moment, or else they really couldn't say how they would have coped with the wait. It was at once ridiculous and very amusing to them to be going through it all.
There had been some wonder, especially as the school had turned into the land of promposals, about what Ella and her friends would do. It was not an unfamiliar scenario, especially for a teacher and someone teacher-adjacent. What was supposed to happen when there were feelings in the air, feelings between friends, feelings… that were either being buried or just… unknown? Where Taylor stood, for the most part, they had a solid idea. With Ella, well… honestly, it was difficult to say. And then there was Lea, who didn't exactly have any prospects but could have easily found herself a date… but realized she could have been the buffer between her friends, preventing them from getting stuck in some spiral of 'should we just go together or what?' Eventually, they'd settled on just going as friends, all three of them together. They were getting ready to spend a couple of weeks out on their own for the first time, just them, so why not do the same for prom?
Except… It was no secret, as she'd sort of mentioned it in the past, even as senior year was only on its way, that Ella had been thinking about prom for a while. Before the entire thing with her and Theo getting together, ending up pregnant, having Tori… she'd had this sort of private fascination for teen romcoms and dramas, and one of her favorite tropes was this one, the entire senior prom experience. She'd never figured herself for having one of those in real life, between what her first parents would have been like and then after having Tori… She was going to prom with her two best friends, and that was more than she could have asked for already.
"Hello?" a voice from below drew Maya and Lucas out of the nursery even as they heard high-heeled steps on the stairs coming up fast. In a flash of color and sparkle, there was Lea Sullivan-Reyes in all her pre-prom glory.
"Hey!" Maya laughed while Lucas grinned, taking in his cousin's appearance as she happily gave them both a twirl and a pose. "You look great!" Maya told her.
"You guys do, too," Lea appraised them both as she cut around them, stretched to look over their heads and made funny faces and waved at the baby girls all sitting in Remy's crib. "Where's Ella, back there?" she hooked her thumb toward the bathroom. They barely gave their answer that she was moving toward the closed door.
"I thought we were picking you up," Lucas called after her.
"Yeah, change of plans," Lea briefly stated before knocking on the door and asking if she could come in. She was granted access, so in she went, the door opening only so far as to admit her and giving absolutely no peek at the other girl inside.
"Any idea what that's about?" Lucas turned to Maya, and she gave a slow, ponderous nod.
"I'm not sure, but I think I'm going to like it…" she declared with a smile.
There was no telling what was going on back there between Ella and Lea, but after about half a minute, both Maya and Lucas heard the floor creaking downstairs and realized that Lea had not come alone. They figured that it would be Taylor, naturally, so they went down to say hello. Except it wasn't Taylor at all but rather another of Maya's seniors named George. He had never been in his teacher's home, and he was clearly aware that he was there today, going by the awkward way he stood near the door.
"Hey, Mrs. Friar… Mr. Friar…" he slowly raised his hand.
"Hey, George…" Maya blinked with surprise. "What…" she started to ask, but then the pieces fell into place. He was here with Lea, as her prom date, which was probably part of what was being told to Ella upstairs. How this had come to be, neither of the Friars could say, but they really hoped that their daughter would take it well. They sort of figured she would, but then again, this was very last minute, especially considering the way the girls and Taylor had been going forward with this other plan…
Whatever they'd been thinking up to that point, the story took a very odd turn a few seconds later, as they heard Lea's voice float down from upstairs, so loud as to be purposefully audible to them. When he heard her, George immediately took his phone from his pocket, typed for a few seconds, then as his phone gave the familiar tone of a sent message, he stuck the thing back in his pocket and tried to look casual again, even as he looked out the window and completely ignored his teacher and her husband.
They really didn't know what to make of that whole scene, but when George's posture shifted, suggesting that he'd seen what he'd been hoping to see, Maya and Lucas approached to get a look, too. It was impossible not to guess exactly what he was staring at, not when they could see a proper limousine making its way up the lane. Maya gasped, her hand clamping on to Lucas' arm next to her. Oh, he didn't… Outside, Emma and Eliza had spotted it, too, and they were presently collecting the mass of little girls, moving them toward the porch and eventually into the house and down to the basement. They'd barely shut the door when the limousine pulled up and stopped.
Taylor Munroe emerged from the back, looking about as grown up and formal as they'd ever seen him. They always said he was like a younger version of his half-brother, and he still was, but the more he grew, the more they got to know him, it was easier to see him just for who he was and not for the one he resembled. Just now, he looked like he had a whole mass of butterflies in his stomach, threatening to spill over, but it didn't stop him from coming up to the door and ringing the bell, as though he couldn't see George and the Friars right on the other side.
"Open the door," Maya whispered, stepping aside. Lucas cleared his throat and did as she asked. Taylor looked up at him, gripping on to the clear container that held a white flower corsage matched to a violet blue ribbon like the entire act of not letting his hands contract under nerves was the only thing keeping him grounded. This had nothing to do with his feelings, whatever they may have been. This was all for her, for Ella, to give her this thing she'd wanted.
It was a wonder that he kept it together, standing next to her parents, and even more so when Ella actually came down the stairs. It was also a good thing that both Maya and Lea were recording all of this, because it was impossible to look around and be aware of everything. For Maya and Lucas, it all came down to Ella. All at once, they were presented with the completed look they'd been so eager to discover. Going by the color of her dress, they would guess that Lea had clued Taylor in, ensuring that the corsage would match.
As taken as they would be with their daughter's prom look, they had the added factor of Taylor's presence, and Taylor's request, essentially. Whatever had been told upstairs between her and Lea, Ella's face was that of someone who had no idea what was happening. Her other best friend was here, prom ready, with the corsage in his hands. He approached the bottom of the stairs like he was debating if he should offer her his hand for the last few steps, and she looked somewhere between confused and amused.
"Hi…" Taylor breathed, smiling nervously. "You… I like your dress," he finally spoke.
"Thanks," Ella replied. "You've never had your hair like that," she noted.
"Yeah…" he absently reached up to it. "I just thought…"
"No, it's good, I like it," she promised, and his hand went back to the box.
"Look, I… I know this wasn't what we all planned, but then…" he vaguely indicated Lea and George, who stood together, apart from them. Even if this had clearly been part of the plan, and George was merely a willing participant, Lea still gave Ella an apologetic look, which Ella responded to with a 'don't worry about it' shrug. "I'd still like us to do our thing, even if it's more… one on one… But only if you want to," he promised.
"Yeah… Yeah, definitely," Ella nodded. "I'd like that." She smiled. He smiled. Maya and Lucas were battling Lea in a 'try not to cry' challenge.
"Okay, then I have to do it for real," Taylor stated, regaining some confidence. "Ella… will you go to prom with me?" She made a show of thinking for a second or two before nodding again.
"Yes," she added, in the spirit of 'doing it for real,' as he'd said.
In a few minutes, the four seniors were gone. Ella had been stunned and giddy upon seeing the limousine. They were all going somewhere to take pictures together before making their way to school, as they let their teacher know, which in turn reminded Maya and Lucas that they weren't just parents tonight but chaperones. With this whole show, they'd almost forgotten. One thing was for sure, as they took off, too. This night would be a prom they would not soon forget, and they couldn't wait to make those memories.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
