March 22nd 2022
Chapter 81
Our Look Back on Graduates
With the ceremony behind them, the freshly graduated class of 2034 was off having a small, impromptu party outside the school. Someone had brought snacks, and drinks, and music, and that was all they needed. It might have turned into much more than that except that the vast majority of them were expected at family gatherings, so they'd all have to go before dinner time. While this was happening, their families at the very least had time to do whatever they needed to do before said dinner. One of those dinners was going to be a big one, and not just because of the sheer number of guests.
Ella, Lea, and Taylor were taking off for their trip the very next morning. This hadn't happened with the intention to leave the moment they'd been handed their diplomas, though it had definitely sounded that way in the beginning. When their families had heard about the date, they'd been surprised, naturally, but then the explanation had pulled everything together. There was a concert they hoped to attend, and they'd tried and succeeded to get tickets… for the final night… which was the night after their graduation. That would make it so that they would fly off, bright and early the next morning, fly several hours, land, check into their hotel, get changed, maybe eat, and then it would be off to the show.
Because of that, what had once been intended to be solely a graduation dinner for the trio had now become a combo graduation/farewell dinner ahead of the kids' travels to Europe. All the families, Friar, Munroe, Sullivan-Reyes, and all others associated, would gather at Lea's house (she had a pool, after all) to both celebrate and see off the 'stars of the day.'
"Never imagined it'd be the two of us, seeing our girls off to college at the same time," Michael Sullivan told his nephew with a grin as they worked to bring out a couple more tables into the backyard. Some of the older kids were pulling the matching chairs from storage.
Lucas chuckled. He'd been hearing similar asides for a while already, from both of his uncles. Ella and Lea were always so happy to call themselves cousins as well as best friends. Someone would always point out they were in fact 'first cousins once removed' but that didn't matter so much. And if someone pointed out that they had both been adopted into the wider Friar/Sullivan family, they'd just say they were 'destined cousins, never removed.'
"All I see here is more reasons for us all to get together," Lucas told his uncle, and Michael's smile was renewed. That was a very good bonus of their daughters' friendship.
Back inside the house, Marianne appeared at Maya's side while she was getting the triplets changed into their bathing suits. This was easier said than done with them wriggling around so much.
"Mommy, can I go swim?"
"Is there someone to go with you?" Maya asked the four-year-old as she stood by her and got Remy's attention, inadvertently getting her distracted enough that she stopped wriggling and Maya could finish. When Marianne didn't answer, she took it as a no. "Gonna have to wait a little before swimming then, but I promise we'll do it later, okay? We're taking these three in with us, that'll be fun, huh?" she smiled.
"Yeah," Marianne agreed, not disappointed in the slightest. That was what she was looking forward to the most, so as long as her mother had promised, then she could wait.
"Until then though, I think I heard Uncle Keith say something about sprinklers?" Maya casually stated, and a moment later Marianne was off, flip-flops slapping at the ground as she went, not running but definitely walking with hurry. She'd tripped when she'd run in those once, and she was very good about the 'fool me once' logic.
The trio arrived at the house, as requested, by five o'clock. The gowns had been ditched, though the caps were still very prominently worn. Minding the fact that they had worn the gowns all through the graduation, so no one could see what they wore underneath, and the fact that they knew that they were bound for a barbecue/pool party afterward, they were already for the most part dressed for that party. The only things they'd done to conceal that, for the girls, came down to hair, makeup, and fancier shoes. Meanwhile, Taylor had been left to wear full pants, socks, and shoes under his gown, which had already been replaced by the time he showed up with the girls. He still had his 'formal' hair, the same as he'd had at prom, since Ella had remarked on it, and so he joined his friends in completing the transition to party mode in the upstairs bathroom.
"It's going to be so weird when he's gone…" Phoebe lamented to her former teacher as she watched her brother come through the backyard, talking to their parents…
"It's only a couple of weeks," Maya chuckled, a moment before realizing she would have meant the part where he was moving to Indiana for college. Phoebe saw this realization, so she didn't feel the need to correct her.
This was not going to be like having to go to Houston, or even visiting the family in Arizona, or Arkansas… This would be like when a bunch of their friends had gone off to school in Boston and New York… Maya was lucky here, in so many ways. Her daughter would only be two hours away, and her siblings… All of them save Teddy, when their time had come, had not ended up further away; they'd ended up closer, living in her own house and then staying in Austin when they'd graduated. It had all worked out in perfect timing, for all of them, which still felt like a dream at times… What would it be like if any of the other ones decided to go somewhere far away?
Lucas was considering something about distance, too. It seemed as though Tori was just realizing that she would be gone for a while and wouldn't see a lot of her family for a couple of weeks. She'd known about the trip, as they'd been telling her all about it, and she was excited, but up to now it had evidently not connected that it would just be the four of them. She had caught on now though, and her solution was to go to everyone she'd miss and be held by them for a while. Right now, it was her grandfather's turn, and he didn't have to be asked twice. He was going to miss her while she was gone, too.
Now he had to think about after the trip, when the time would come for Ella and her daughter to relocate over in Houston. It wasn't a huge distance, they drove it plenty of times, but it definitely changed how likely they were to see one another, how often… He looked at his wrist, and there was that clock, drunkenly acquired by those of them who'd lived in that house all those years ago, and he remembered how much some of them had found it difficult just being two hours away. They'd gotten used to it over time, but it had still been a relief when they'd returned to Austin. Now, as he considered his daughter moving out there, he had a whole new respect for his parents and all the others, Maya's, Dylan's, Riley's, Sophie's…
So, right now, he'd just hold on to this little one as she remained clamped on to him. It wasn't as though they hadn't already been living apart for some time, ever since she'd moved in with Stella and Phoebe, but they'd see each other almost every day with how Maya had been watching her, and with how the grandparents had taken over, looking after her and the triplets while everyone was at school or work… Had she stayed in Austin, she would have ended up in preschool with Marianne in the fall. Preschool… She would be three years old soon, right around the time when Kacey, Remy, and Lucy would be turning one… Just as with his children, it was as amazing to watch her grow as it made him wonder where the time had gone, when she'd been just a small babe in his arms a moment ago.
"Alright, you remember what we said?" Lucas asked Tori when she pulled back to look at him. She looked at him like she thought she remembered but she wasn't sure, so she'd just rather smile instead. "Funny shirts," he whispered at her, and now she giggled into her hands. "When you go into a souvenir shop with them, that's when you have to tell them, okay?" She nodded. "Attagirl, sneaky," he kissed her cheek before setting her down. Soon, she bolted over to find Pappy Tom.
At long last, Marianne got her wish. It was time to go in the pool. Maya, Lucas, and Ella each took up one of the triplets, and they went into the water with them. Later on in the summer, they would be coming back around here, so they might get the trio learning to swim with their Uncle Keith, just like Marianne had done, just like Tori had done… Already, the ten-month-old girls absolutely loved splashing around from the comfort of their parent or sister's arms, not a care in the world except the chance to keep on playing some more. Remy was definitely the biggest splasher of the three, to absolutely no one's surprise. Kacey in particular enjoyed dipping her hands in and pulling them out to see the water stream between her fingers.
For all that, the biggest takeaway was how much Lucy took to the water. All along, she'd been singled out for lagging behind her sisters as developments went, but here… here she thrived, possibly more than the twins did. She looked ready to go, like they could have let her go and she would have started swimming like a happy little fish girl. They sort of tested her, never letting go fully but still loosening their hold a bit, and she responded so well… She never wanted to leave.
"Is that what it is? Huh, bun-bun?" Maya asked, holding her lastborn girl as they waded together. "Are you a little mermaid and we've been keeping you on land all this time?" Lucy looked at her from under the brim of her purple hat. "Look at those happy eyes…" Maya laughed lightly. "Wait until we break out the kiddie pool back home, you're going to love it."
In the morning, there would only be a few of them here headed to the airport with the traveling quartet, so as the evening progressed and people would start to leave, it would give way to a lot of goodbye hugs, and well wishes, and requests for updates. Ella, Lea, and Taylor promised, several times over, that they'd be sending letters – on paper and through e-mail – to their families, so it wouldn't be hard to keep up. Tori had another round of big hugs to go around, though to no surprise she spent the tail end of the evening in her father's arms. There had been some thought of having Theo come along, Nika, too, especially as they'd be spending some time out in Greece, but finally it had been better off for them to stay home, for plenty of reasons that none of them pushed on. So, they left father and daughter be. One thing was for certain. As of this moment, it was officially summertime for everyone, whether they were students or teachers or not, and it would be a big one for all of them. Birthdays, camps, moving days, a wedding… It was all about to start.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
