March 9th 2020

Chapter 69
Their Fear For the Future

The first time they'd visited their old house in Houston, once the five of them who'd moved out and back to Austin were gone, after Sophie and Chiara had gone about making the place fully their own and soon also Asher and Ray's own as they had – temporarily – moved in… it had been odd. That couldn't be denied. Even so, it felt even odder on this day, as they made their way up there, on their own, with his mother, and her father and her brother, while the rest of them were at the hospital.

"You know, they will be spending a lot of time up in that hospital, and while I would not speak ill of the efforts of their kitchens, I think what they could do with is some home cooking," Melinda Friar declared after the three cars had come to a stop in front of the house and the five passengers and drivers had come to meet on the sidewalk. "I will make a run to the market, and then we will get to it. Would you two care to join me?" she turned to Shawn and Sam.

It was almost too obvious that, while her statement was absolutely true, her motives might have had something to do with giving her son and his fiancée some space to themselves, if for a little while. And for it being that obvious, both Maya and Lucas looked to their families, who'd driven all this way to be with them, and the truth was… Yeah, they could use that little time to themselves. So they didn't say anything to the effect of 'We'll go with you, it's fine.'

"That'd be great, actually," Maya slowly replied.

"Yeah," Lucas agreed.

"Sounds good," Shawn nodded. "I need to pick up some diapers anyway." That was probably a lie, but well-meaning and equally accepted.

"And we should get some dog food, too," Sam chimed in. That… might not have been too much of a lie. Between Trix, Lou, foster dog Max and growing puppy Archer… it might not have been a bad idea to have extra.

Melinda left her car there and got in with Shawn and Sam, and then they were off, while Maya and Lucas turned and made their way up to the door with the number that had been their address for four years. Maya pulled out her keys, finding her old house key, there among their current house's keys, and the theater keys, those to the minivan, and his car, and her parents' house, his parents' house, the Chuckles' apartment, and Zay and Nadine's, Abigail's up in Tucson… So many keys, so many threads of their lives…

Walking in, the place in a lot of ways still felt like their old place, but in other, almost more significant ways, it was so very different. It was Sophie and Chiara's home, not theirs anymore.

"It feels like…" Maya started, unable to come up with an explanation.

"Like we're breaking in?" Lucas offered.

"Yeah," Maya sighed. She looked to the couch, their old couch… They'd helped pick it out, they'd moved it into place, spent countless nights sitting here with their roommates and other friends, sometimes ended up sleeping on this couch… She walked over and let herself sink into it, as she used to, and with her eyes closed she could almost… almost…

The tears came on to her without warning. It was just them now, and it had been such a long and terrible day. She couldn't hold it in any longer. She burst into tears, and soon Lucas was there with her, pulling her close. It felt like she'd been keeping her hand on a charge all day, working relentlessly to keep it from exploding. All day, she'd kept a firm grip on that switch, never faltered, kept it contained. But now she had no more strength in her to keep that switch down. It was okay, no one would feel its touch here except the two of them, in their old house, on their old couch.

Sophie had nearly died… For all they knew, she still might… She couldn't stop seeing her in that bed, couldn't stop imagining what those bandages they saw or didn't see could have kept covered. And she kept hearing the rhythm of that heart monitor, which her brain seemed intent on making her turn into that long, sustained note, the one that said…

"Talk to me, tell me something, anything," she asked Lucas as he continued to hold her. She needed a distraction, and he knew it.

"Right, okay," he took a breath, thinking of what he might talk to her about.

The thing was that, while her reaction, bottled up as it had been, resolved itself in these deep, almost bone-shaking tears, he wasn't exactly unaffected in all this. It was easy for everyone to forget, but before she'd been any of the others' friend, Sophie had been his, back when they'd taken dance class. For a few weeks, she'd just been this presence in his life, this bubbly girl who made those classes even more fun than he'd anticipated. It had been easy to forge this friendship with her, and in time the rest of them had gotten to see what he'd seen.

"All day when we were at the hospital, I kept having the same memory replaying in my head. Started out thinking about that day at the camp, like I said, but when Zay brought up the day when we told her we knew you and the others in the band… It got me thinking about how that all even started. I didn't ever tell you, did I?" Maya shook her head. "Sophie didn't either?"

"I don't think so," Maya sniffled, wiping tears on her sleeve.

"We were talking about music, the songs we wanted the teacher to put on. We'd say silly things, like… the theme to Spongebob Squarepants, or the Monster Mash. And then Sophie, she said she wanted something from TXNY. She asked me if I'd ever heard of it, and it just caught me off-guard that she brought it up that I just sort of kept staring at her, and she must have taken it as me saying I didn't know about the band. I'll never forget, she just said 'Oh, they're this amazing group, all girls, and they're like our age,'" he recited, in an impersonation of the then sixteen-year-old Sophie that left Maya unable to keep from smiling. "'They write their own songs, and I know they're from around here, I would love to go to one of their shows, even if I'm pretty sure I'd pass out if I saw the lead singer in person, she's so pretty...'"

Maya stared at him, her hand moving to cover her mouth, unsure what expression would have emerged. She'd heard all about this infamous 'awakening' crush of Sophie's. To find out she had sort of inadvertently confessed it to Lucas, first, and of all people…

"She just looked at me like she was surprised at herself for saying it, but at the same time she didn't regret telling me."

"She trusted you," Maya smiled.

"She barely knew me, but yeah," he nodded. Maya remained leaned to him, half aware that she'd stopped crying. "So, at that point, I kind of didn't have a choice. "I told her 'yeah, she is,' and she looked so happy that I did know you after all, and then I just said 'she's actually my girlfriend, she goes here.' Her whole posture just shifted so fast, like she realized 'oh, she's in the same building as I am' and she wondered what she looked like." Maya chuckled at this. She could absolutely picture it. "After that, that's when I called Zay over, and he confirmed that what I said was true, that the three of you went to our school. And the rest…"

"… is history," Maya breathed.

"If it wasn't for her, I hate to think what would have happened that summer, and after you came back from Philly… If you came back. I was terrified your parents would want to move you back to New York or something. But Sophie came through…"

"Air Zvolensky, the maiden voyage…" Maya told him, her voice drifting on thoughts accumulating in her head.

"Yeah…" Lucas nodded, kissing the top of her head. After a moment, after thinking it a few more times over, she'd slowly detached herself from his side, sitting up and turning to face him.

"I don't know how this is going to come off, but hear me out, okay?"

"Okay," he nodded, unsure where this was going. Maya let out a breath, searching her words.

"We don't know how long Sophie will be in the hospital, but everything tells me it will be weeks. And after she gets out…" She paused, trying to block the words 'if she gets out' from finding a foothold. "After she gets out, she's still going to be recovering for a long time… well into the summer." Another pause, another breath. "You said it yourself, if it wasn't for her… The way things are shaping up, she won't be back on her feet, not really, by… by July. I… I hate to even suggest it, but it wouldn't feel right…"

"You want us to push back the wedding," he said it, seeing as how she kept inching toward the words, setting as much padding as she could, to soften the fall.

"I don't want to," she shook her head, and now the tears were returning. He reached over, holding her face in his hands so he might brush the new tears back.

"Hey, hey, I get it, okay?" he promised, closing her into another hug. "And you're right. For all she's done for us, over the years… I'm with you, all the way. It'll be a good thing. We get more time to prepare… We can make it even bigger. Get some fireworks, get a trampoline…" A laugh broke through her crying. "See? It'll be good."

They weren't going to be making any more decisions or even thinking about anything like cancellations and refunds, rescheduling… There would be time for that… until whenever they settled for their new wedding date. As for today, and the days to come, they decided together to keep this decision to themselves. All that mattered for now was Sophie, and ensuring that she got out of that hospital and back on her feet.

By the time Melinda, Shawn, and Sam returned with their bounty from the market, there was no more sign of tears on Maya's face. She and Lucas joined in the effort of cooking up some meals for their friends and their families. Eventually they would be joined by others. Asher and Ray would return, along with the rest of their friends, and Mr. and Mrs. Mantovani. In no time, they had found that Chiara's abilities to rule a kitchen had come right down from her mother. Teresa Mantovani became a fit ruler for the activity, and even Melinda Friar soon deferred to her without question.

"So what's the plan, are we going to be shuttling back and forth from Austin, or are we bunking around here?" Zay asked as they all sat to dinner that night.

"Maya and I figured we'd go and stay with Pappy Joe and Patty," Lucas revealed.

"Joseph's dad said I could stay at their place, and them, too," Rosa added, indicating Riley and Dylan.

"You two can stay here with us," Asher told Zay and Nadine.

"Do you think you'll be okay to go back to Austin, go back to school?" Maya asked her little brother, smiling when he gave her his bread roll.

"I guess so. But you'll call, you'll write?" Sam asked, earning himself a good sister hug.

"You will get tired of me for how much I will write you."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners