January 2nd 2020

Chapter 2
Their House of Friendship

"We could pick up a couple pizzas, too," Lucas suggested as he leaned on the bar of the basket he pushed down the grocery store aisle. Maya trailed at his side, sometimes picking up something to add to their load, other times looking at her phone. She stopped now, turning to him.

"We're going to need paper plates… and napkins…" she declared, looking at the small list she had underneath her phone.

"We just passed those in the last aisle," Lucas pointed back, and Maya took off at a jog, returning several seconds later with the items in question.

"Maybe we don't actually need the plates," she reflected now, inspecting the pack she held tucked under her arm. "Just like…" she mimed holding a slice of pizza.

"Don't look at me, I was raised by Melinda Friar, we use plates," Lucas declared.

"Oh, so, it was fine when we were in Houston, but now we're back in Austin it's back to Friar law, huh?" Maya teased with a smirk.

"Shh, she shops here," he whispered. She just chuckled and went to deposit the paper plates into the basket, making a big show of it. "Thank you," Lucas couldn't help but smile. Maya looked to her phone once again. "You know, they won't get here faster just because you keep checking," he pointed out, earning himself a look which very much translated into 'says you.' She looked back at it again, just in case his claim might be disproved right here and now, for effect. The phone remained regrettably quiet, and Maya grumbled before continuing along the store aisle.

They had been back in Austin a week now, but today was to bring more of them back into the city where they had grown and become friends, while another would be leaving her own hometown in favor of this one. Today was the day Sophie and Chiara would have the old Houston house to themselves, at least until Asher and Ray arrived from New York. Today, Riley, Dylan, and Rosa were packing up and driving in to move in to the apartment they had rented together. Naturally, they had several willing helpers ready to assist once they arrived.

"How's this for a home warming present?" Nadine inquired as she and Zay came down from the other end of the aisle, with a basket of their own. She held up what looked to be an iced tea kit, with a pitcher and an infuser and a selection of tea leaves.

"The way it is out there, get two," Maya nodded. Of all the days for the trio to have their moving day, it had to be one where the heat was out of control.

"Right," Nadine put the kit in her basket before sprinting off to get another.

"Wait, we need ice, too!" Zay maneuvered the basket around to trail after his wife.

Lucas smiled, watching them go, and more so as Maya turned back toward him with a smile of her own. He knew where that came from, it was the same as him, just this amused awe at the thought that the pair of them were now married, as much as the thought that they were back living near them once again. It felt much easier now to admit just how deeply they had missed Nadine and Zay while they were off in Boston the last four years. They would never have said a thing about it before, but now they were here and all was as it should be, so yes, they had hated being away from them and they were ecstatic to have them back again.

Maya's phone chimed a moment later, and she nearly dropped it before looking to find just what she'd been waiting to see.

Riley: We are baaaaaack!

She had attached a picture, showing Dylan in the driver's seat, Riley at his side, and Rosa in the back, the three of them posing together – Maya guessed – while stopped at a red light. Riley had vowed to let her know when they had passed from the long road and started through the streets, which would mean…

"We have to go get those pizzas, come on!"

Once they had hurried through the rest of their errand and returned to the sweltering summer day, the four 'moving assistants' packed into Lucas' car, deciding to get the pizzas delivered, the better to get to the apartment in time to meet their friends as they arrived. Though the air conditioning was going strong, Maya and Nadine gladly spent the length of the ride with the bags of ice between them, looking like they'd found the most genius spot for relaxation.

They pulled up to the building just a few minutes before the car came along, carrying the trio of the day. Heat or no, they all quickly went to meet one another. Riley rightly bolted into Maya's arms like she hadn't seen her in months instead of a week.

"Your side's all cold," Riley declared in a tone that suggested she approved.

"I made friends with a bag of ice," Maya revealed. She'd barely let go that she was seized by her 'partner in shortness,' also known as Rosa Del Vecchio. "Welcome to Austin," Maya laughed, squeezing her good. Her bandmate pulled back with a grin.

"Happy to be here. The movers didn't look happy," she countered. Their belongings were being driven over by hired movers, and the day's heat was not agreeing with heavy lifting.

"We're going to need more ice!" Maya called back to the others.

The bags they already had were presently ushered up to the apartment and into the refrigerator – a gift from Riley's parents – like patients being rushed into urgent care. This, along with the oven gifted by Dylan's parents, and the dishwasher gifted by Rosa's mother, was not the only thing they already found on the premises when they walked through the door. Where bedroom furniture went, those were on the truck making its way up from Houston. For the rest, there had been much shopping to be done, most of it seen in stores in Houston and ordered and delivered to Austin, with one friend or another present to receive them. Some things needed to be placed, others assembled, There was air conditioning to be installed, which Lucas saw to with Nadine's assistance. Maya and Rosa saw to the iced tea before joining Zay, Dylan, and Riley in the assembly of one item after another.

The pizzas arrived just minutes before the movers did. It could only be awkward for the seven of them to stand there, rightfully exhausted from all they'd done, eating their slices while the movers walked back and forth near them. There was no way they couldn't smell the pizza, and it was just so good…

At long last, the truck had been emptied out, the movers were gone, and everyone went about helping Rosa, Riley, and Dylan as they figured out what would go where. All the painting had been done beforehand, with the Matthews, the Orlandos, the Hunter Harts, and Maya and Lucas, and then Zay and Nadine fresh from their honeymoon… All that was needed now was for the three tenants to arrive.

"Finishing touch…" Maya told her bandmates and Dylan, as she and Lucas pulled a framed painting out of hiding. It was her work, easily recognized, and the trio received it gladly.

"I think… we did enough for today…" Riley finally declared, plopping down on the couch some time later. The others didn't have to be convinced. They found whatever space available on the couch, the love seat, or the floor, and for a few minutes all that could be heard was the sound of ice moving in glasses as they emptied out the pitcher of iced tea.

"You know, I know I haven't lived at home with my mom for a couple years already, but this one feels different. I can't explain it…" Rosa observed after a while.

"You pay rent," Lucas suggested.

"That might be it," Rosa pointed to her former co-worker and roommate. Some of the others laughed. "One third of it anyway," she turned to her new/old roommates.

Rosa wasn't so much younger than the rest of them, but still she had always carried something like a 'kid sister' vibe among the group. Now, as she had gone and joined Riley and Dylan in their new living situation, the feeling got to be something more like she was just their kid. It was weird and also not.

"So, when's practice going to be?" Rosa looked to Maya, Riley, and the newly reinstated Nadine. All three gave a sort of exhausted 'not today' sort of groan. "I know that, but when?"

"Well, first things first, where are we even going to have those?" Nadine inquired.

"Our neighbors aren't next door," Maya shrugged, pointing to herself and Lucas, who gave an approving nod.

"And you're not… indoors… yet," Zay frowned, as his point got away from him. He resolved it with a sort of 'you know what I'm saying' shrug. Maya and Lucas hadn't technically moved into their house yet.

"Doesn't mean we can't get everything set up in the basement," Lucas told him.

"And I still need to figure out what I'm going to be playing instead of drums," Nadine added.

"And Kayla is still on her trip with Will and Franny and the Weaver Kings girls," Maya went on.

"So 'not now' is what you're saying," Rosa sighed, halfway twitchy in a way the others could understand it. They all missed it as much as the next of them. Relocating the home base of TXNY, even if it was back to the place where they had begun, was understandably difficult. In Houston, for four years, they had really grown and expanded into something solid, and now it felt like they might have to start all over again. They would do it, they could do it, as they had done time and again.

"How was it this morning, back at the house?" Lucas asked the trio. It had only been a week since they'd left, and for all they'd been up to, it still hadn't quite sunk in that they had left Houston, and the house, and Sophie and Chiara…

"It's been so quiet since you guys left, with two of the dogs, too," Dylan told him.

"And they're bringing Peanut over when they'll visit in a couple days," Rosa added, sounding almost like she worried they might decide to keep the little guy. "I think they're going to go and maybe adopt another one. House wouldn't feel right without any pups," she declared, to overall agreement.

"Who cried?" Maya wondered, because there was no way no one had cried. The trio looked to one another like they weren't sure what to say. "Everyone?" Maya guessed.

"It was sweat," Rosa defended, to suspicious smiles from Maya and Lucas and the newlyweds. "It's so hot outside," Rosa waved pathetically. "Is there more pizza?" she got up and dashed for the kitchen.

"I'm so glad you're here, you know," Maya told Riley later on as they were getting ready to head on home. "I've been spoiled, four years living with you," she told her best friend, arms looped together. Riley gave a good nod ensuring that she'd been feeling the same.

"You have the key."

"And you have ours," Maya beamed. Looking around, to the rest of their little group, it was impossible not to smile. It would be even better if they were all in the same city once again, but a short trip to Houston was so much better than having them near across the country. It was somewhere between a new beginning and a return to old times. Whichever way they looked at it, everything was headed in the right direction.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners