October 1st 2022

Chapter 274
Our Flight Through Adolescence

August had arrived, and as ever it would be a busy month. As though the end of summer/coming of fall wasn't enough for them to navigate, it was August Girls season. So many birthdays, so little time, but they wouldn't want it any other way. The first stop along this 'tour' would take place at the Hunter Hart house. Every birthday of theirs still felt like it came too fast, but here they were, and Nellie and Gracie were turning seventeen years old. Surely there would be a time when they'd stop being awed, right? No... Probably not...

"They're the same age I was when they were born..." Maya spoke, that morning, when she knew that Lucas was awake. He made a noise in query, and she turned to face him. "I'm twice their age this year. If you add the two of them, you get the one of me."

"I'm not sure what the right answer is here," Lucas bit back a yawn, pulled her nearer.

"Well, I'll accept that one," she smirked, breaking into laughter when he responded by bending his lips to her throat. It was probably not the best means of allowing themselves to have a few minutes of intimacy, what with the baby right there across the room. But Aubrey didn't seem too startled by her mother's outburst, just kept lying there, awake and at ease, so they weren't about to waste an opportunity.

Said opportunity came very near to being taken from them at about the worst possible time, but the doorbell thankfully did not ring until about three minutes later. It was still very early, and they expected no one, but then how many of their people had unexpectedly showed up on their doorstep before they'd had breakfast or even gotten out of bed? Maya quickly pulled herself together and went down the stairs to see who this might be, hearing voices in the other rooms to suggest the girls had been waking up, too, and were now curious about the bell they'd heard.

"Gracie?" Maya blinked, in flustered surprise. "What are you doing here, it's..." She blinked, remembering herself. "Happy birthday," she pulled her little sister into a quick hug before ushering her inside and shutting the door. When she looked at her again, she was struck once more with how fast she'd grown, her and Nellie both, but... "Is everything alright?" she asked, aware even more so of the time.

"I need a favor..." Gracie cut in. She was giving the impression of unease, or at least some element of uncertainty.

"Sure, of course, you..."

"I told Mom and Dad that I was spending the night here last night, because me and Nellie were doing this secret birthday twin thing," Gracie rapidly explained. "Nellie knows about it, so she's going to cover me on her end, but I needed to come here so we could go back together and... yeah..."

Knowing the girls were bound to come down any second, Maya decided at once to pull the basement door open and lead her little sister below so they could talk in earnest. When they got there, she faced Gracie again, finding she didn't know to which of her roles her voice belonged to. It wasn't harsh, just concerned.

"Where were you?" she asked. She at least owed her that, right? Gracie looked like a quiet little mouse right then, worthy of her nickname. But she had another nickname, and Sherlock Hunter was nothing if not observant and direct. Whatever her sister would or wouldn't do, she was at least owed the truth.

"At Ethan's," she spoke up, even as her hands were intent at fidgeting together. "He and I... we..." she sighed, annoyed at her own unwillingness to just come out and say it, so she did. "We had sex last night," she revealed, as though her sister hadn't known she would say so, probably since she'd mentioned that she'd lied to their parents about where she was. Still, to hear it, when not too long ago she was lamenting about how they were growing up so fast... "Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have said..." Gracie went on, Maya guessed, after seeing the look on her face.

"No, no, that's not... I mean... I'm glad you told me, I'm just... going to need a minute..." Maya breathed, legs feeling like they needed to walk, to pace back and forth as she processed, and yet they wouldn't move a muscle. "Are you okay? I mean... everything we talked about, you..."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, we were safe, all of it," Gracie promised at once, and Maya echoed her nod. At least there was that, right? "We'd been talking about it for a while, and... I had this idea that I wanted to do it now, with my birthday..." she went on, and Maya kept nodding. "We had this whole plan, and I was going to 'stay at Desi's,'" she air quoted. "But that fell through at the last minute, and we panicked, so I said I was coming here. I know I should have told you earlier in case they called, but then I think I was so nervous that I forgot."

Maya continued to just nod, without a word. Her little sister had this fluttery air to her now. She was recalling a moment to her that felt magical, so what was she supposed to do about it except be the big sister she needed her to be?

"His parents go to bed early, and they let us hang out a while before Ethan drives me home, but this time he just... didn't do that. Instead, we went into his basement, and... We were so awkward, both of us, at first, but we were ready, so... we did it... It hurt a little in the beginning, but it was okay. It was better the second time," she admitted with a blushing smile.

"Yeah..." Maya could only recall her own impressions, all those years ago. She remembered it well. "So, you slept out there?"

"And left quietly this morning to come here," Gracie nodded.

"You could have called me. I would have picked you up."

"I know," Gracie smiled. "But I was okay. I am okay," she pressed on, to be sure. Maya reached out and embraced her. Little Mouse-Mouse... "Nellie's chomping at the bits, she's waiting on me to tell her all of it."

It was certainly a detour to their morning plans, but with six small children to see to every day, the young Friars were nothing if not flexible. First off, while Gracie hopped in the shower to freshen up - she'd packed a change of clothes and everything - Maya went up the stairs to find Lucas and inform him of the guest they'd totally had overnight. She didn't tell him the entire thing, only that Gracie was there, and that she was supposed to have been dropped off here late last night. She would explain later. It was not hard to convince most of the others that she had been here. The kids would have been asleep by then, and it was thankfully a night where both Eliza and Emma were spending the night at their boyfriends' apartments. The only one that remained was Ella, and she was told the same as Lucas and fell in line just as he did.

The girls were very happy for the surprise of their aunt being there for breakfast, so they could wish her a happy birthday early. Marianne looked almost upset that she hadn't been informed earlier of this sleepover so she could have been involved. But all was well, and soon everyone was getting ready to head over to the Hunter Hart house, there to reunite the birthday girls, so they could have their twin surprise thing, up in their room. Whatever it was seemed to take a good half hour to get through before they finally came down again.

They were doing things differently this year, the friends and family party in the afternoon before the twins' classmates descended upon the house for the evening. Katy and Shawn would be clearing out along with MJ and Haley and going to visit the Matthews, on the promise that the house wouldn't be wrecked.

"Any idea what the two of them were up to?" Shawn asked as he came up to his eldest, already having gotten hold of her youngest.

"Not a clue, no. You?" Maya asked back, wondering if she actually sounded as casual as she hoped to sound. Oh, she was sure that the twins had not taken this plan lightly, that they had actually worked on something for one another's birthday. But then knowing what this whole thing had actually been about...

"All I know is Nell spent all of last night being kind of... shifty," he fixed his daughters - where they stood across the room talking with their grandparents - with an exaggerated look of suspicion. Maya was glad neither of them looked over and saw him just then or they would have definitely given themselves away. Shawn finally shrugged, dropping the act. "With the kind of things that I used to get up to at their age, let's just say they've earned themselves some leeway."

"Okay, what's up, really?" Lucas whispered once he and Maya were alone again. Clearly, she had managed to fool her father but not so her husband.

"Tonight, okay? Just... please..." she gave him a look and he pushed no further.

If Lucas needed a clue, he only had to wait until the Davis family turned up. The twins both moved to meet them as soon as they spotted them coming through the door, let in by MJ. Nellie went up to Bobby, shocked as many of them were to find him moving of his own accord. Oh, his legs were still healing... a lot of him was still healing, months onward from the accident. But he was on crutches now, and that was new.

"Surprise," they managed to hear him say with a smile as Nellie reached him. "Happy birthday." She hugged him close, and he hugged her back, barely managing to keep his balance but also secure that she would keep him from falling.

At their side, Gracie came up to Ethan, looking not at all surprised by Bobby's development as she went to hug and kiss her boyfriend. There was just something in the way they looked at each other, the way they stood, and... Lucas understood without realizing he'd made a noise as he did, a sort of 'wait, hold on...' Maya caught it and squeezed his arm, gave him a look. Careful. Tonight.

He kept it together throughout the party, but oh, were there ever close calls along the way, especially when he came across Gracie, or Ethan, or either of their parents. They left the house at the same time as the Hunters and Clutterbuckets, ahead of the twins' evening party. Even on the drive home, with the girls in the back, it was on his mind, and he couldn't say anything, and Maya almost felt bad, but she mostly smirked to herself. Gracie was as good as his kid sister, too, and there was no helping how strange a thought this would be for him.

Finally, with the girls in bed upstairs, they ended up in the living room, the two of them and Ella, who had also been left to wonder all day about the morning's surprise appearance. She had also pieced a couple of things together during the day, so she wasn't totally surprised at what information Maya was able to share.

"I just... I don't like being made to lie, that's all," Lucas admitted. Maya understood that, obviously. "Then again..." his train of thought made him look over to his wife, and her snort spilled out.

"Ah, I can still picture it like it was yesterday, you, climbing out that window like it was that or getting busted by my father," she intoned, which made Ella laugh uncontrollably. "Never saw him scramble like a rabbit that fast..."

"Alright, okay," Lucas couldn't help smiling. Ella was having to muffle her laughter in a cushion. "I think we can leave it at that."

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners