September 20th 2022

Chapter 263
Our Hope For Tradition

One week later

"Hey! I… Are those our cupcakes?" Lucas asked, surprised at first at the presence of Olivia Zhu on the doorstep, and then a second time over when he spotted the box that she carried.

"Yeah," she smiled as she handed it over. "Our delivery guy broke his leg, so some of us have been taking over deliveries until they can get a temp in or something." She'd only started working at the bakery less than a month ago, and even though he knew that she had, with everything else that had been going on, it had slipped his mind entirely. "I wasn't going to be doing any today, wasn't even working, but I had to stop in to pick something up and they were going to send out your order, so I offered to bring it over."

"Well, I appreciate it," he tipped his head to her. She was looking past him, noticing the decorations with curiosity. "Home prom," he pointed, and her interest grew.

"Oh, yeah. Maya mentioned you guys did that last year…"

"And again, this year, thanks to our second surprise," Lucas smiled. "Speaking of prom, shouldn't you be getting ready? You're going, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'm going to pick up my things and head to get ready at Ava's house," Olivia confirmed. "To be honest though, I'm mostly going for her and Kelsey," she admitted, and the furrow at her brow was at once familiar, for growing up as friends with her older sister, and unique to her. Either way, he could just about see her mind trailing off. To Lucas, it was a strange turn. Somehow, he'd always imagined that Olivia Zhu would be one to be excited for her senior prom.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"It is… and it isn't," she shrugged. "I just want to be done with school so I can move on, and tonight, it's not exactly… I don't know… My heart's not in it, I guess. But Kelsey and Ava really want to go, and I want to go with them, I do, but…" Another shrug.

"You don't want to wreck their mood," he guessed, and Olivia nodded.

"I got us 'sorry in advance' cupcakes, that's why I was at the bakery."

"Do they know you feel this way?" Lucas asked, already confident on the answer.

"I can't, it would just…"

"Olivia, they're your best friends, I'm sure they'll understand. If anything, they probably already know something's up with you. And if they don't, somehow, then knowing might make things easier on all of you."

"Yeah, maybe… Anyway, I should go. Have a good prom," she smiled at him before dashing back to her car and driving off.

It really was her car. She'd paid for it herself, from her savings. She would have had a new one rather than used by now, just as her sisters had done before her when they'd reached this point, but that tradition had been denied her. Her parents would have given it to her after she got into college… except she hadn't done that. She'd decided to go the Dylan way and forego higher education, for now if not for always, and not unlike the Orlandos, the Zhus had taken it by doling out consequences. They loved their youngest daughter, but they were also disappointed by her choice. From what they'd been hearing, from Olivia herself and from an angry Nadine, who might have taken it upon herself to buy her little sister the car herself if Olivia hadn't made it a point of pride to get her own, aside from that denial, a lot of it came in words. Mostly it would come down to pointing out wasted potential, and then calling up Nadine, Marley, and Michaela Zhu's accomplishments by comparison to her. The doctor, the engineer, the violinist… and the slacker. She'd already established that she would be moving in with her friends after high school, and it was good, or else they might have told her she needed to move out. As it was, she had already started to pack, to move her things out of the house, stowing them in Nadine's basement for the time being.

The matter of Olivia's prom woes would have to be put aside for the time being, as the activity upstairs appeared to be winding down… which meant everyone would be coming along, and he needed to get the camera up.

Sometimes, it felt like their previous home prom had happened a blink of an eye ago, certainly not a year. But then as they had been preparing for this night throughout the week, he'd pulled up the photos they'd taken last time, and there the passage of time was undeniable. Mackenzie had been all of weeks old, the triplets not even two, and Marianne still had all her baby teeth… The theme might as well have been 'what a difference a year makes,' but instead it was to be a fairy tale.

The girls had certainly taken that to the letter. As soon as the idea had been presented as an option to them, there had been this glimmer growing in Lucy's eyes, and Kacey's eyes… They could be fairies? Oh, they wanted that! They'd both been fascinated by the bright, winged little creatures recently. It was a thing that they shared, and their parents had been sure to encourage this specific bond between the two of them. They were hoping to find something similar between Lucy and Remy. For now, though, the theme at large was fairy tales, but very specifically for the Friar sisters, it was fairies… and that meant wings.

Maya would still lament how she hadn't been able to make them herself, but between the amount of time they'd had to get everything ready, and the baby to look after on top of her big sisters, the chance that she could have gotten all those wings made by home prom night was not realistic. That was alright. Even if she wished it could have been done differently, she was very happy with the wings they'd bought, and, most importantly, so were the girls. Actually, 'happy' hardly seemed to cut it. There had been so much bouncing around and loud squealing when they'd first seen and then put on the wings, much to little Aubrey's ears' dismay. Lucy especially had been hard to convince when it had come time to take off the wings, which had led to the now infamous fairy chase. They had no doubt that this would be one of those stories they told for years to come, possibly to their daughter's embarrassment. Were it up to her, she might wear them every single day of her life. The way she spoke of them, one would think that they were a part of her, and she was being deprived of them when they weren't on her back.

Lucy Friar was a fairy tonight though, as were Kacey and – if only because she hadn't wanted to be left out – Remy, and Marianne, and even Mackenzie, who sometimes tripped herself because of the distraction of her wings. Ella would be a fairy, too, as Tori would be. She'd been the one to point out to her little sisters how their surname very nearly spelled out the word 'fairy,' and that might have been one of her crowning achievements as far as the little ones were concerned. That had to be a sign, proof that it wasn't just pretend!

Until she came along with Tori – which shouldn't be much longer now – her little sisters were ready to shine out in all their fairy glory, so along they came. Maya had done their hair, helped them in their dresses and their wings… The finishing touch had been a bit of glimmer on their faces, and oh, to see the glittery spark in their reflections… It was magical! As Maya would later tell Lucas, it had taken them some time to come downstairs just because the girls kept turning their faces this way and that, just to catch the light on the tiny flecks on their cheeks. This, coupled with their entire looks… It was like Halloween, with less pumpkin, less candy, and a lot more dancing.

Now here the five of them came, careful with their wings. Marianne talked Mackenzie into waiting for their father to come up and get her, already knowing how she tended to fall, and Lucas gave her an appreciative nod and smile for that forethought before looking to the smallest fairy.

"Good evening, Mackerel," he lifted the one-year-old into his arms and she gave a big smile back, wiggling her shoulders to her heart's content to get her wings moving. That tended to be her downfall – some might say literally – if she did this while standing, as she'd forget herself and end up falling, but she didn't have to worry about that right here. All that happened was that her father laughed… and nearly got clipped in the face by a wing, but he ducked his head in time. "Look at that," he smiled on, carrying her down to join her sisters. They had not seen what the living room looked like now, not yet, and discovering it, oh… To their young minds, imaginative as they were, it did feel like they'd stepped into another world, a magical one.

The youngest among them was hardly in a position to be fitted with wings of her own, but they hadn't left her out by any means. Aubrey was coming on three weeks old, wasn't about to get the same treatment as her sisters, but then that didn't mean that she'd be left out either, no. Eliza had stepped in, told Maya that she had an idea. She'd asked Emma if she would assist her, and Emma had agreed, at once intrigued and eager, thinking of what they could create for their littlest niece. For Maya, it had felt like an overture, an actual step toward… something… becoming better between the two of them, toward their becoming as they'd once been, as sisters and best friends. If that could happen, then assuredly, they would seek to encourage it.

That night, Aubrey was a baby fairy. Her wings hadn't come out in full force yet, but there was a promise of their growth, as she would grow. Did it matter that she would likely sleep for the better part of 'prom,' possibly up in her crib and not among them? No, it didn't. This was home prom, family prom, and she was one of them, so she was brought along, in her mother's arms. She had opted out of wings herself, leaving it to the girls, but to look at her, Lucas couldn't see her as being any less magical than the rest of them. To him, she might have been the source of all magic in the world.

"Get a look at her," she beamed as she came to join him and indicated the baby. Lucas was seeing her alright, and he didn't know that he'd ever stop smiling for a second that night, seeing her, seeing all of them… Maya was right there with him, for them but for him, too.

Ella arrived with Tori, and hurrying upstairs was made a far more difficult task as it required her to cut past her little sisters, seeing them all in their fairy best. But she went, just as the Hart-Lane sisters and their home prom escorts came down the stairs. Eliza had been looking forward to this night, to bringing Ben into this event, like they were able to reach back in time and make it so that the two of them might have gone to the prom together, a far better experience than her actual prom, as she told it. Meanwhile, there was Emma, coming along with Dakota Day.

Whether this could be called a date, well… it probably couldn't. The circumstance was that, as they'd been planning this, the idea had been floated about whether she would want to bring someone. She hadn't been sure if she had anyone she'd want to turn to, and then Eliza had piped in, suggesting she see if Dakota wanted to come. He was her friend, wasn't he, her very good friend? Was it subtle? No, but it brought to light that maybe things were brewing between those two. Certainly, as they appeared in their prom best, there seemed to be a bit of that fairy tale magic swirling along, opening the door to… who knew? But Emma looked happy, as did Dakota, and that would be all that really mattered for the night.

Soon, there would be music, and dancing, and of course cupcakes… It was to wonder what they'd do the next year when – hopefully – Maya and Lucas would once again be chaperoning the high school prom. They couldn't let this end, could they?

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners