March 31st 2022

Chapter 90
Our Summer of Friends

As much as they had loved being away, it felt really good to be home again. It sort of felt as though their hearts and minds had been greatly devoted to their trip, yes, but underneath all that, they had a layer of home, which kept them constantly… untethered? They were not in their own place, and once they were back in Austin, everything was back where it belonged. These were their people. They could be strangers, but they were their strangers, and they felt like home.

Right as they'd pulled up to the house, they'd found some of their people – not strangers at all – waiting. Theo, and Nika, and Tori… When Ella spotted her out on the porch, Lucas tried to get them out there as reasonably fast as possible, and she'd gotten out of the minivan the moment she could, hurrying over to retrieve her daughter. Sure, they'd talked every day while they'd been away, but this felt a whole lot better than a face across a screen. Ella sat with Tori on the porch steps as the rest of them got out of the minivan and started unloading the suitcases, bags, and other baggage, and they stayed there for a solid hour.

Marianne was so happy to be back home. While her parents were busy unpacking, she just went around as though reuniting with every part of the house. The rooms, the stairs, the plants, the photos and artwork on the walls, the couches, the kitchen table, the basement playroom, the second floor art room, the skylight, the Hex and the pumpkin patch… All that was missing now was…

"Daddy, when do the dogs come back?" she asked, coming into their room like she'd had a sudden brain flash. They weren't here! She knew they wouldn't be, but she wanted them to be.

"I don't know, pumpkin, we haven't checked in yet… but we will," he added, catching the next question in her eyes before she could ask it.

"When?" she asked, and Lucas caught a snicker from Maya. Should have seen that one coming, too.

"After we finish with this, we'll call everyone, okay?" he told the girl, and she brightened. There was a task, and that task would lead to dogs.

"I want to help, Daddy."

As promised, after the unpacking was done, the calls were made. They could have very easily left their dogs up the road with the Sandersons, but they'd had very respectful requests put on to them by the likes of Nicky Orlando and Mia Babineaux. They wanted to have the dogs at their houses, so the plan had been made. Honey Bee spent the last week up at the ranch, with her visiting brothers and sisters, as she had been since Maya had first brought her. Meanwhile, Jax and Squeak went to the Orlando home, and Artie and Crowley stayed with the Babineaux family. While Honey Bee would be allowed to stay with her siblings as long as they were around, as well she should, Lucas called to his friends and, after speaking to Dylan and Nadine, it was arranged that they would bring the dogs back later in the afternoon.

Naturally, after a week gone, they weren't just about to come by themselves, drop off the dogs, and leave again. It would be the whole families coming, couples and children all gladly received. And because it was them, once those had been invited, it didn't take long for more to fall in, until they suddenly had a full compliment for a proper friends' dinner, all set to descend upon the Friar home. For the occasion, the Minkus family would even spend the night. It didn't matter that they'd just returned from their trip. If anything, it was more of a reason than ever. They all had plenty to catch up on.

"Auntie, guess what! Lucy said her first word the other day!" Marianne was there at once, when Riley came up, carrying eleven-month-old Megan in one arm. "She said 'dada.'"

"She did?" Riley gasped, as she would.

"Yeah, she said it a lot," Marianne nodded before dashing off to tell her uncle and Nicky and Emily the same thing and getting immediately distracted by the giddy dogs they had brought with them.

"I swear that's not her biggest takeaway from this trip," Maya told her best friend with a laugh as she hugged her and greeted the little brunette in her arms. Oh, that first birthday was coming up fast, for Megan and the triplets, too. They were going to have to discuss their plans for that one soon…

Little by little, the others arrived, all of them getting the good word on the first word as their greeting from Marianne Friar. It was too good a day for them to stay inside, especially with all the kids and all the dogs being in particularly fine chaotic form, so they gathered behind the house where everyone could sit or choose to run around, whatever their heart desired most.

There was a particular rush for the newly returned and the rest of the Austin crowd when the Houston family arrived. This was in large part focused on Chiara, now a solid four months along with baby number four, the final one… or so they thought. The two couples had been sitting on a bit of surprise news in that respect. All along, their plan had not only been set but easy to follow, thanks to their circumstances. They would have four children, one born of every combination possible between the four of them, and that would be all.

Only, number four had revealed itself to be numbers four and five, fraternal twins.

The surprise was about as they would have expected it to be. This was good news for all of them, and they didn't miss a chance to celebrate. At the same time, they were all looking forward to the upcoming day when Ella and Lea would be headed off to Houston to move in with Sophie and Chiara. Of the four bedrooms at the house, one was theirs, one was Giulia's, another was Connor and Jae's, and the remaining one had been a guest room. Now it would be shared by the two college freshmen. Tori would be moving into Giulia's room, and this had been a request from her. She would be turning six in just a few weeks, not too far ahead of when her little roommate would be celebrating her third birthday, and as much as she loved her little brothers, she was so eager for a little sister, especially one she could play with, and suddenly she would have one. She was going so far as to try and convince her fathers to let Tori come along on the nights when she would be sleeping at their house across the street.

It was sort of inevitable, with present company at hand, that once the talk of the Friars' vacation has passed, and the Orlandos and Babineaux had shared tales of their dog sitting adventures, that when they got to talking of Ella and Lea's new room, and the move, they came around to reminiscing about the college days. Sometimes it really felt impossible to consider how it had been nine years since they'd been housemates, thirteen years since Sophie, Maya, Lucas, Riley, and Dylan had first moved into that house and made it their own, before eventually being joined by Chiara and Rosa to make their full seven. As with many things in any of their lives, it would truly feel as though they only had to take one step and they would tumble into a well of memories, as though they had never left those days.

"I am really looking forward to the party this year," Maya hummed as she hugged Zay. The night was drawing to an end, and everyone was starting to head out.

"Oh, I am way ahead of you on that one," he promised her with a knowing grin. "It's going to be one for the books, mark my words," he pointed at her, and she laughed.

With how they'd had to sit out last year's – though Zay and Nadine had managed to make up for it – it really felt good to look ahead and know that it was nearly time for the Babineaux party. It was one of her oldest and dearest traditions since moving to Austin. By now they had so fully transitioned from the old set-up, when the parties were held at Aunt Susanne's house, to the new one, at Zay and Nadine's house, that while they would always look back fondly on those older years, they didn't lament them so much as to be any less eager for the day to arrive.

Finally, it was down to just the Friar and Minkus families, spending just a bit more time outside, now on the front porch, before they would go and start thinking of turning in for the night. Marianne was given an extension on bedtime, an exception, with how they'd just come home, and she'd slept a lot on the plane, and the drive home, and because they had guests… Eight-year-old Ada and six-year-old Bertie Minkus were not of those of her young family friends she got to see the most, and yet there was clear and genuine affection on both sides, so the more they got to spend time together, the better. Just now, they were chasing each other on the front lawn, filling the starry and silent summer night with the occasional giggle or squeal.

Lucas ended up picking Farkle's brain about a few business-related questions, things he had been discussing with Juliet before they left for their vacation, while Maya asked Isadora about what she'd been working on lately, what parts she could discuss, obviously. It wasn't as though it never happened that they got to hang out, just the four of them without the rest of their friends, but with how they all had their lives to keep them busy, it was definitely rare, so it was nice when it happened. Then again, that notion alone would soon have them thinking about all those years they had spent with two of them here in Texas and two of them back in New York, counting themselves lucky if they got to see one another in person once or twice a year, or receiving the New Yorkers for the summer back when they were all in school… The Minkus family's move to Dallas was still counted for the blessing that it was, bringing them all that much closer to one another.

"Wanna stay with you," Marianne mumbled, when Lucas was carrying her off to her room, barely awake still. He suspected she had fallen asleep, only to be brought back out by the ascent to the first floor.

"You want to sleep between Mommy and me?" he asked her, and she nodded, burrowing her head under his. "Alright, sounds good," Lucas smiled, tipping his lips to press a kiss atop her golden crown. "Got a lodger," he informed Maya as she came out of the nursery, where she'd been checking up on the babies, back in their own cribs.

"Oh, we love those," she chuckled, especially as the sound of her voice made the sleepy pumpkin turn around and reach out her arm. Maya stepped up, and Lucas passed her over. "Hey there, not ready for your own bed again just yet, huh? And… yeah, she's already asleep," Maya stopped herself laughing as she looked back to Lucas. He signed, indicating that he would take his turn at looking in on Kacey, Lucy, and Remy.

As happy as they were to be back in their own bed, they were just as glad to still have one of their girls between them. Maybe it was that they had been with all their friends, and the children, and they'd been discussing the many of those who would have birthdays in the month of August, and the Babineaux party, and the move, and college, but now they were thinking of fall, and back to school, and that took them right on to October, thinking of how their little Hucklebucket was going to be a whole five years old in just a few months. They weren't there yet… They still had some summer left ahead of them.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners