April 2nd 2020

Chapter 93
Their Fall in School

Lucas woke up on the first day of the fall semester to the low drone of the mixer breaking through the silence of the house. He opened one eye, just barely, as though having his arm around her couldn't already confirm that Maya was still at his side. The slow rise and fall of her breath also told him that she still slept. That left him with one solution: Sam. He was back to his breakfast making ways, getting himself and the two of them here ready for this big day.

"Hey," Lucas spoke quietly, setting a kiss to Maya's shoulder and keeping it there for a moment until he knew she was starting to wake up, at which point he carefully pulled her nearer, pulling her hair from her face so he might kiss her cheek. There really was nothing like these small, quiet moments of waking up together like this, was there? She would just smile, and he'd know she was just as peacefully warm as he was, with this thought in her like 'I never want to leave this space.'

"He's making breakfast, isn't he?" Maya mumbled.

"I think it's waffles," Lucas replied.

"How can you tell?" she asked.

"Don't know about 'tell,' just that the first day last year he made waffles. And the first day back in January, also waffles. So I'm putting my vote down for waffles again."

It was indeed waffles.

Once they had gone down the stairs and shared the meal with Sam and the dogs, they'd all gotten ready for the day and soon they were off. Maya would drive Sam off to school on her way to the theater, while Lucas went and picked up Robbie and Ramona and the three of them headed off to their first day back, first day of their second year.

Most of the ride saw the married pair in the backseat arguing over some misunderstanding that had happened the day before, he wasn't sure what exactly, as Lucas did his best to tune the conversation out and give them what privacy he could. It wasn't what he would have wanted, as a sort of 'welcome back!' starter, but with any luck it would just be that one small hiccup and then they would get to the university and there would be the rest of their small group, ready to jump into this new semester, new courses, professors…

When the voices in the back had gotten a bit louder, Lucas had ever so casually turned up the radio in the front, though he couldn't say he was paying much attention to what was being said or what music was on. But then, about halfway through the drive, he heard familiar notes and it pulled his attention back from the single-minded focus he had on the road, back to where he could realize it was Ree's song, Maya's song, and it made him smile. It was like, through no control of her own, Maya had gone and realigned him. He took a breath and went on driving.

By the time they reached the parking lot and the car stopped, he had a feeling one of his friends would get out as soon as motion had ceased. Right on cue, one of the doors opened and Robbie climbed out, shutting the door again and walking toward the building without a pause. This left Lucas and Ramona on their own for a moment, and after hesitating to say anything, Lucas turned around in his seat. Ramona didn't look like she was about to leave the car. Right now, she looked like she was trying very hard not to cry, to pull herself together before she went out, too, so not to get stared at by everyone she passed. After a few more seconds in silence, deciding that she didn't want to talk, Lucas pulled the car key from the ignition and extended it and the chain it was hooked to. Ramona blinked, maybe just now remembering he was there.

"Take your time, lock up when you're ready. You can get them back to me in class." Ramona only nodded in reply, which Lucas suspected was to stop herself from crying, and took the keys from him.

Getting out of the car, slinging his bag's strap over his shoulder, Lucas started toward the school with a feeling like his morning back home, with warmth and waffles, was so very far away.

"What's the matter with him?" Turning around as he walked, Lucas immediately smiled at the sight of Bishop Nicholas, now in step with him along with Simon Shin. Neither of them looked in any way troubled. Actually, they looked perfectly normal, as cheerful as he'd ever known them. It levelled out his hopes for the day with little to no effort.

"All I know is that he and Ramona were arguing in the car, but I tuned them out as much as I could, didn't feel right to intrude," Lucas explained. It wasn't like he'd been given much of a choice over being witness to the whole thing, but if they weren't so caught up with what they were going on about, they might have been left uncomfortable over his hearing anything.

Much as he'd tried not to hear a thing, it had been impossible not to catch some words, and from what those few words had allowed him to piece together, there had been some kind of misunderstanding over Ramona's friendship with one of her co-workers. Robbie had gotten the impression that the two of them were flirting, even though Ramona denied this entirely. So, as far as he was concerned, talking to Bishop or Simon or anyone else, he had no idea what the fight was about.

"Where is she?" Simon asked, looking around.

"She had to make a stop on the way," Lucas shrugged.

Ramona arrived all of twenty seconds before the professor called everyone to attention. She very quietly went and sat to Lucas' left, never minding that there was a free seat next to Robbie, who sat to Lucas' right. He now found himself in between his road mates, trying again to focus on something else but them. He'd only known Robbie for a year, unlike the near on twenty years – on and off – that he'd known Ramona, but even then he had never known the guy to be anything remotely jealous or prone to overreacting, so either he didn't know him as well as he thought he did – which didn't feel to him as though he did – or there was more to this than what either of his friends were letting on and it had nothing to do with this claim of flirtation. Whatever it was, he had to set it aside. It wasn't his place to speculate, and he really needed to focus on class.

"What's going on with those two?"

Coming out of class, Ramona had handed Lucas back his keys before going off on her own. The question had come from behind him, and Lucas turned to find Josie staring back at him with curiosity. He had meant to try and speak to Robbie, but when he looked again he was already gone.

"I… I don't really know," he turned back to Josie. "Look, whatever it is, they'll sort it out, just…"

"Just don't get involved?" Josie guessed, and Lucas hesitated, sensing something like hurt in her voice, like she'd guessed what he was about to say and now she felt bad.

"That's not it," he shook his head. "I'm sorry, it's all…"

"I get it," Josie shrugged. "I know how I was." He didn't know how to respond to that, and he couldn't help feeling like he must have been giving a very believable gaping fish impression right about now. "I'm working on being better," she went on, and he could believe it. He'd seen it. He'd never dared bring it up, but he'd seen it, they all had.

"I noticed," he told her, and to see how she smiled now, a proper and genuine smile… It was like he was meeting her for the first time all over again. "If you ever want to talk…"

"Thanks," Josie nodded. "Later, okay?"

"Deal," Lucas agreed.

"So… What's going on?"

He told her about the fight in the car. He hadn't even told Bishop or Simon about what he'd overheard, so it was natural that he wouldn't tell Josie either, past history or none. She said that she would try and talk to Ramona, along with Zelda, suggesting that he and the guys talk to Robbie. That was as good of a plan as he could hope for, so he agreed.

They had the rest of the morning free, their next class starting just after lunch, so there really would be no better time to try and see if they might be able to help their friends. Being the only one to have a vague idea of what was happening, Lucas knew it could be risky to try and tackle the situation, knew that they might make things worse and not better, so he might just try and approach Robbie on his own. As for Ramona… as for Josie and Zelda stepping in… He figured he had to give 'new and improved Josie' some amount of trust, otherwise what would be the point of extending his friendship out to her?

He found Robbie sitting outside, where they would all go to study or eat at times. One of his new textbooks sat on the bench next to him, like he'd taken it out to try and read for a while but finally abandoned the idea when he'd gotten nowhere. Lucas came up and sat next to him. For a few minutes, neither of them said a word. They just sat there, looking around, looking at nothing…

"I'm sorry about this morning," Robbie finally spoke, sounding a bit dejected. Lucas looked over at him. "Guessing you heard everything."

"I… tried not to, but… car…" Lucas shrugged. Robbie nodded, sitting quietly again for a few seconds.

"I know she didn't do anything wrong," he admitted now, sighing. "Neither of them did."

"But you accused her…" Lucas slowly stated.

"My head wasn't in the right place, when I went to pick her up from work last night. I know that doesn't make it right, I just… You get fooled by one person you trusted and all of a sudden it's like you don't trust your beliefs anymore."

"What happened?" Lucas asked.

"Turns out my father's been keeping up with another woman for… years…" Robbie revealed, shaking his head as he stared at his shoes. Lucas was speechless. For having heard just a few stories over the past year, he had been painted a picture of a perfectly happy family, Robbie, his parents, his two older sisters…

"Robbie, I'm so sorry…" was all he could think to say. "How…"

"I always wanted a brother. Turns out I've had one for sixteen years… and another for twelve… and four… The little one, he's sick, and no one else out there is a match for him, he needs… I don't know what he needs. So his mom showed up on my parents' doorstep and spilled the whole thing."

"When did you find out?" Lucas asked, feeling his own head spinning, which gave him some idea of what Robbie must have been feeling like. He didn't reply, but he didn't have to. Last night… It would have been last night, not long before he'd gone and picked up Ramona. "Why didn't you just tell her?"

"I wanted to. The only thing that made sense was that I had to get to her, and when I got there…"

"Robbie…" They both turned around, finding Ramona standing there, Josie and Zelda behind her. There were tears in her eyes, and it didn't take long that there were some in Robbie's, too. Lucas stood and left with the others, so the couple might have a chance of having the talk they should have had the day before.

"Thank you," Lucas told the girls. Zelda nodded, Josie smiled. "Lunch? I'm buying."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners