February 8th 2020

Chapter 39
Their Holidays With Art

It had taken some convincing and the acquisition of an extra bed, along with sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses, but the visitor out of Tucson were staying at the house on the lane and not a hotel. At some point, it had involved appealing to Abigail's boyfriend with something like 'Come on, the Lanes staying on the lane? How can you not?' Whether or not that had been the deciding factor, she couldn't say, but in the end it had finally been agreed.

Now the house was as crowded as they had ever seen it, and they were perfectly happy for it. Maya and Lucas had happily relinquished their bed to Abigail and James, while Granny Lizzie had insisted for Sam to keep his bed, while she bunked with her daughter in the borrowed bed set in the third room, across the hall from the master room. The other kids were spread out through the three bedrooms and the attic, where Maya and Lucas had set up their temporary residence.

"You know, I could get used to this," Maya whispered, the morning after her family's arrival. Lucas turned his head to her, finding she kept on looking up through the gable window, showing the sky beyond in its early colors.

"It's pretty good," he agreed, looking back up before turning to her again. "Want to keep looking for a while? I can go get breakfast started."

"I'll help," she shook her head, though she hadn't broken eye contact for this, so he smiled, leaning over to kiss the side of her head.

"I'm sure you will, but you take your time," he told her, slipping out of their sleeping bag and getting to his feet, stretching. "See you down there," he whispered before sneaking on their bunkmate in the attic and calling her bluff by prodding her side with his foot. "Want to help, too?" he grinned when Cara squirmed and laughed.

"How'd you know I was awake?" she asked, sitting up.

"He always knows," Maya informed her sister, who'd sort of scoot-crawled over to embrace her before joining Lucas. "Be there in a few, alright?" she smiled.

The morning had been spent making the very most of the snowy land around the house, which had been much of the selling point for having the Tucson Harts come over to Austin instead of going the other way around. Eventually, they all had to go back inside, to thaw and dry up and eat, and then it was time to get ready for the rest of the day, in particular the evening, where Maya, Lucas, and Sam were concerned. The others had gone off to the Friar house, taking up the invitation extended by Lucas' mother and father as soon as they'd heard that they would all be coming over.

"They're going to be family before long," Melinda had pointed out, the smile on her face becoming a familiar one they had nicknamed the 'my baby boy is getting married' smile. Both Maya and Lucas suspected the wedding would be a primary topic that day, and they had tasked Cara and Teddy Lane with keeping their eyes and ears open, the better to report what they found out. Both of them had agreed, the two of them having grown closer as friends and – if things kept up the way they were going – future brother and sister in the months since Sam had gone off to Austin.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Maya popped her head through her brother's open door, giving a final tug at her ponytail before starting to twist it into a bun. Her brother was sitting on his bed, cross-legged, face supported on his balled up hands, elbows at his knees, an open comic in his lap… It was a pose she never liked to find him in, knowing it would mean that there was something on his mind.

"Yeah," he replied blankly, reaching one hand down to turn the page on his book before resuming his troubled position. "Is it time to go?"

"Not yet," Maya told him. Abandoning her bun and leaving the blond ponytail to tumble back over her shoulder, she went and sat next to her brother. "What's up?" she asked, leaving no space for him to try and let her believe that there was nothing.

"Cara and I had a… I don't know, a fight, I guess, before she left with everyone," Sam confessed.

"Oh…" Maya blinked. She thought she'd heard something earlier, but she'd been braiding up Ginny's hair, and Sadie was telling her about something else… "What was it about?"

"Stupid stuff," Sam shrugged.

"Usually is," she nodded. "Hey…"

"I know she didn't want me going away, I get it, but it's never been a thing whenever we'd talk and now today… I don't know… She started on me about Cecilia, and Dora, and I just…"

"Right…" Maya sighed. "But we're going to the show tonight, and you've been looking forward to that…"

"I know, I am…"

"Okay, then you're going to have to tell your face that," Maya gave her brother a small smile. "This is Cecilia's night, and she deserves to have her friend there to cheer her on, yeah?"

"Yeah… Yeah," he agreed, more confident on the second pass. "She's been texting, saying she couldn't wait to show me the whole look."

He hadn't seen it yet, as Cecilia had decided to keep it a surprise until the day came. He'd been helping her practice her poses, for each page of their live story book, with the costume part of her character at least, but not with the paint and everything else that would turn her into part of the story. It was different from Maya and Lucas and their live art of years prior, as she'd be portraying more than one scene, which would mean she'd have to be able to move from one pose to another. Maya had been working with her and her classmates to get them ready, which included the makeup components.

"Yeah, and you really can't miss that," Maya smiled. "So… we good?"

Arriving at the school soon after, the trio made their way through the halls until they reached the auditorium. Sam was texting Cecilia to let her know they had arrived as they went to find their seats, Lucas steering him by the shoulders so he wouldn't veer off course.

"She says she wants me to go backstage, is that okay?" Sam asked them both, looking up again.

"Yeah, go for it, we'll save your spot… or sell your ticket, haven't decided yet," Maya told him. He squinted at her before moving up the aisle and out of sight. "There's a market for high school Christmas shows, isn't there?" she turned to Lucas as they sat.

"Oh, yeah, you can't hold on to those for a second, the tickets just disappear," he told her, making her laugh. "It really takes you back, doesn't it?" Lucas asked as he looked around.

"Do you know what my favorite one was?" Maya smiled.

"I can't say, but if you asked what my favorite one was, it might sound strange, but…"

"Junior year?" she guessed, and he looked at her, finding her nod to indicate it was hers as well. It would seem strange, wouldn't it? That had been the year of the accident, just a couple months after it in fact.

That Christmas, they would still have been stuck in that zone where he was not welcome in her house, and generally expected to keep far away from her, by her parents anyway. They would still see each other, at school more than anything, and the prospect of the holiday break had generally meant a break for them to have a mandated reason to be near one another. In the end they may have found a way to sneak a meeting and exchange gifts, but for a while it had seemed like they would be weeks without seeing each other, and it had been hard not to feel like it would be the worst Christmas ever.

But then the school show had come around, and like everyone else he'd ended up in the auditorium to watch it all. And when she'd come on the stage, her arm still in its cast, the old faded scar on her forehead still much more visible at the time, he'd felt immediately like he knew why she was up there, why she'd bothered to participate at all. She'd stood up there, knowing full well that a lot of their classmates would be staring at her, at those remnants of the accident, and they'd be whispering to one another… She didn't care. She'd gone up there, and she'd sung her song, and as far as they were concerned it was just him she was singing to, and it had been a memory he already cherished as it was being burned into his mind.

"Yeah…" he smiled. "Junior year."

Sam returned a few minutes later. By then the auditorium was a buzz of voices, most of the seats already filled… The show would start before long.

"So? What'd you think?" Maya asked her brother as he came and sat between her and Cecilia's father, who'd finally arrived a minute before, sounding like he'd rushed in fear of being late.

"What?" Sam asked, looking at her and Lucas, at the professor sitting there with the freckled nose his daughter had inherited.

"Cecilia, the full costume?" his sister told him.

"Oh, yeah," Sam blinked, like that hadn't been the reason he'd gone back there in the first place. "It's really nice, she… yeah…" His whole gaze seemed to be somewhere else, off with his thoughts, and Lucas swore he heard Maya mutter something like 'oh, crap' under her breath.

Whatever this was about, it would have to wait, as the show quickly began with the school choir's opener, followed by a number of performances, solos and duos and small groups… Cecilia's story book group were to close out the night. Whenever any of the kids she'd worked with would come on stage, Maya would tap Lucas' arm and lean in to whisper some fact or another, like his very own personal commentary track. When the last group was about to come on, Lucas was the one to do the arm tapping.

"Is he alright?" he whispered, indicating Sam. Maya gave him a look.

"Depends on what your definition of 'alright' is," she told him. He looked at her brother again, sitting as he'd been sitting throughout most of the show, like he was paying attention but he was also not. He'd been told about the fight with Cara, and maybe for a while he'd let himself believe that was the reason, but now he was presented with an alternative, without the aid of much explanation.

"Oh…"

"Yeah…"

"Crap…"

"I know…"

The curtain opened once more, presenting the audience with the very tall open book which had been constructed for the occasion, complete with the large painted 'pages,' which would serve as backdrops for the various scenes and be turned to reveal the next, just like in a book. Each turn would demand a reset of its players, but for now only one of them appeared, standing in the middle of their title page and holding her pose like she was part of its two dimensions.

Like Maya six years before, they were sure a lot of her classmates were looking at Cecilia and putting much more focus on her crutch than was necessary, like they didn't already do enough of that every day since she'd returned to school with it for the first time. They'd given her the option of finding a way to hide it in her costume somehow, but she didn't want to, didn't think she should have to, and to see her as she stood up there, there really was no arguing on it.

She made a great impression on two people that night. First, on her father, who watched his girl standing on that stage and couldn't help but be stricken with how she was growing to look so much like her mother, like his late wife… It had dipped his smile in tears for the duration of the story. And second, she'd made an impression on Sam, before the show had even started, an impression which left him with so much confusion, and perhaps the future vindication of his nosy little sister.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners