February 12th 2020

Chapter 43
Their Careers to Learn

Even though they had been engaged for seven whole months already, something about having narrowed down the window of when they would actually walk down the aisle had left Maya and Lucas with a bit of renewed thrill. They may not have set the day or month, but they had set the year, and even if that was maybe the easiest part of it, it was something. They had a few days left until Sam returned from Tucson, and they had done their best to make the most of those days. They were both working again after their brief holidays, but factoring in that Lucas was still working part time, breaking in his new schedule for winter, he had ended up spending a couple of those days primarily popping in to visit his fiancée at the theater and lending some very willing eyes and ears wherever they were needed.

Finally, the day came that Sam was due to return to Austin, and Maya and Lucas went to pick him up from the airport. The night before, they had received a number of calls, from Dora, and Josiah and Deanna Schmidt, and Cecilia… They all wanted to be there, too, to welcome their friend home. It would be the last day before the start of the winter semester or the back half of their high school year, and the next thing they knew they had a sleepover planned out, at the house, with Sam and all of them along with Adam.

And the whole thing was to be a surprise. So, after leaving the quintet back at the house, Maya and Lucas had taken off on their own after all.

"They're going to be okay back there, yeah?" Lucas asked as he drove.

"What, you think they'll start snooping?" Maya chuckled. He shrugged. Maybe? "Dora's out there, and she's your cousin. You trust her, don't you?"

"I do… Yeah…You're right, I'm just…"

"Turning into your dad?" she smirked. He tried to look insulted, but he couldn't even do it. As far as he saw, it was as much a tease as a compliment.

Even though they had enjoyed these last days with just him and her at the house, they were not looking to make it a habit to be without Sam. It was like a part of their little unit had been missing, and now that it was coming back to them they felt like the minutes couldn't pass quickly enough.

"Want to get on my shoulders?" Lucas chuckled, turning his head when he caught movement in periphery and found that Maya was just hopping in place, trying to see further ahead.

"Don't think I won't," she gave him a squint.

"Well, I don't think it's necessary anymore, look," he pointed and she looked back so far she might have gotten whiplash. There he was, their… well, her brother… Lucas saw him as that, too, but then it always felt a bit weird to refer to him as our brother.

"Walk faster!" Maya called out when Sam finally looked over and spotted them. A few of the other passengers getting off the plane looked at her, confused. "Not you, my brother," she pointed. "Welcome to Austin," she waved amiably, while Lucas bit back a laugh. "Hush it, Huckleberry," she 'warned' just as Sam finally reached them and she pulled him into her arms. "Welcome back, Sammy," she sniffed, trying to keep from crying for how happy she was to have him back.

"I was only gone for a few days," Sam told her, even though he was hugging her pretty tight, too.

"Yeah, well, you know how it is, you don't see someone for most of your life, then you see them every day, and one day apart feels like forever…"

"Love you, too, big sis," Sam smiled as they pulled apart again.

"What about me?" Lucas asked, raising his hand. Sam was in his arms a moment later.

"Yeah, you're okay, too."

"He's been spending too much time with you," Lucas told Maya from over Sam's shoulder, making her laugh.

The ride home consisted mostly of Sam's wanting to make sure that they had gotten his things for school the next day, from textbooks to other supplies he might have needed. He didn't worry about any of that, of course. He'd come to just the right people when it came to browsing books, and notebooks, and pens, and everything else a student might need. He had sticky notes and highlighters enough to learn everything there was to know, in an array of colors for the most overly organized of people.

Despite themselves, they had been trying to gauge how he was doing at the moment, specifically with regards to his ongoing girl dilemma. Even though the sleepover had been his friends' idea, seeing as they knew about the mess happening in his head, they now had to wonder if they were having him walk into a trap.

It hadn't gone so bad as they might have thought it would. As eager as his friends had been to see him again, Sam had been thrilled to find them waiting at the house, more so to learn they'd be spending the night. They'd all gone off into town to see a movie, had dinner out Ma Maggie's, and then headed back to the house for the night.

The next morning, Josiah and Deanna had volunteered to drive the others to their respective high schools, leaving Sam to catch a ride with his sister, as had been the plan before the whole sleepover plot had been put together.

"Do you guys have to go?" Maya turned to 'her boys' after the others had taken off in the twins' car. "It's the first day. They tell you what you're going to do this semester but you won't even do any of it today, just ask someone next time…" she innocently suggested.

"Now what kind of behavior is that to encourage in a couple of well-behaving students there, Teach?" Lucas smirked.

"Not teaching yet, am I?" Maya countered before turning to her brother. "Ready to go?"

"Uh, yeah," Sam nodded. "See you later," he waved to Lucas before heading off to get in the minivan's passenger seat. Maya frowned, watching him go. She turned to look at Lucas and found he had the same sort of 'what was that about?' look on his face.

"There goes my other full-time job," Maya sighed, gesturing off after her brother before coming up to Lucas and stretching on her toes to kiss him. "You have a good boring day today," she smiled. "Listen to your teachers, take notes…"

"That's not what you were saying a minute ago," he pointed out with a grin.

"Yeah, well, it is what it is. Go on, get out there, make good choices…"

"Hug a puppy?"

"Always. Always hug the puppy," she kissed him again, and they were off, him to his car, her to her minivan and her distracted little brother. "Right," Maya sighed, buckling her seatbelt before turning to look at Sam, who seemed to be attempting to ever so casually hide something in his hand. "Passenger/driver privilege?" she offered. He looked at her.

"What?"

"It's like… you know… doctor/patient, lawyer/client… You tell me stuff while I drive you to school and no one hears about it."

"That's not a thing."

"It can be a thing. I'm making it a thing right now, because what's the alternative really, except that you go to school looking all mopey… again… It's the first day. Is that the impression you want to make?" Again… No wonder she always wanted to get involved in romantic troubles. They were always messy, and drawn out unless someone stepped in to clean it up. This whole infernal situation had been going on for months already, and if she was tired of it then she could imagine how he was doing.

"How do you even do that?" Sam sighed, opening his hand to reveal a now slightly crumpled piece of paper. It looked like it had originally been folded several times over, after being pulled from a spiral notebook.

"Trade secrets," she shrugged. "May I?" she pointed to the sheet. Sam hesitated for a beat. Yes, he'd shown it to her, but as contents went, maybe… Finally, he slipped it into his bag. "Okay, that's fine," she assured him. "You don't have to…"

"She left it in my room, this morning, I think. I'm not sure when she wanted me to find it, now or later. She sort of… asked if I wanted to go out with her," he slowly revealed, and after wondering at first who the 'she' was in this scenario, it finally became clear, much like something that had come flying from a distance, only to come into focus and be identified a half second before it smacked you in the face.

"Cecilia?" Maya breathed. Sam nodded. "Oh… Wow… Good for her… I mean…" she looked at her brother. "Okay, well, do you know if you're going to say yes? Or…"

"I was going to, before they all left," he told her.

"Oh!" Maya gave a small smile.

"But I couldn't make myself do it, not when…"

"Oh…" she blinked.

"Yeah," he groaned. "Can we just…" he pointed ahead of them.

"Oh, right," she started the minivan and pulled out on to the road, heading for the university.

"It's all a mess…" Sam declared.

"I…" Maya hesitated, thinking 'well you said it, not me, even though we both think it.'

"I have to be able to say it in front of her, it's not like I'm going to hide the rest of my life if things go okay…" They'd switched from one girl to the other here, and he was lucky she could keep up. "But I couldn't do it, so does that mean I should… say no? I don't want to hurt Cecilia."

"Because you like her."

"Of course."

"As more than a friend?"

"Yes."

He looked almost startled, caught off-guard. Maya smiled to herself.

"No, but… that can't be right, I mean… I like Dora, too. I try not to, but I still do. You can't like two people at the same time, not like that, can you? Isn't the person supposed to be like… the only one you like, 100%... Not fifty-fifty…" Now he looked like he was questioning his entire life all over again, and Maya felt her small step forward turn into about ten steps back. And was she even in any position to counsel him, when she had only ever loved one person, a solid 100% and then some…

"Alright, look…" she sighed, trying to work it out as she went along. "I am sure that there are people out there who believe they're all in, and then one day it turns out they really weren't. Or they really were up there and… life happened… My mom and our dad probably thought they were all in, back when they had me, and that didn't work out in the end, but look what came from that. You, and Cara, and the Lizard, and Captain Wyatt in his spaceship… And your mom, who loved our dad so much, now…"

"She loves James," Sam nodded.

"Yeah. This thing with you and Dora and Cecilia, it's… it's complicated… So complicated," she mumbled to herself. "There's parts of it you can't do anything about, and other parts… You're one of the smartest people I know, the most caring. I know you don't want to hurt anyone, and I don't think you will, not intentionally, but you need to just… take a chance, for once, and trust that, in the end, you'll end up where you're supposed to be. So… Do you want me to make a little stop over at Cecilia's school on the way to the university? Answering over a text is so not the way…"

"Her classes start in like twenty minutes," Sam looked at his watch, a rumbling of anticipation rising in him. Maya gave him a smirk.

"We've got time. You might have to run."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners