April 15th 2020

Chapter 106
Their Road to Returns

More often than not, Lucas would do his school work at the desk up in his and Maya's room. He had his set up, and after a year or so, the familiarity almost felt part of his routine. Following along those lines though, it was also part of his routine that, on those particularly important or complicated assignments and study sessions, he would take it one step further and retreat into the attic. It hadn't been his idea so much as it was Maya's suggestion, her offer to him. He had insisted it wasn't necessary, that he didn't want to take her away from being able to use her desk, but she had insisted right back, telling him that she wanted nothing more than to give him that space 'and all its powers.'

He had to admit, being up here, there was something about it… the view from the windows sort of highlighting the height off the ground, the skylight bringing in the light of the day or the moon and stars, the string lights still lining the walls and then of course the great surface of the desk crafted by his aunt… It really was something. He was up here tonight, putting finishing touches on a paper that was due to be handed in first thing the following morning. He hadn't intended to be cutting it so close, and he might have had it done days ago, except he'd made a conscious choice to allot his time to another task over the past week.

After having spent weeks living with them, Ramona was finally back at her apartment as of earlier that day.

The rearranging of the apartment, with the introduction of the wardrobe, had been step one. Since then, there had been a few more. They'd brought out all the things Ramona had been storing at their place. They had gone shopping with her for some new additions to her décor, helped her assemble, place, install everything. After having decided to wait, Ramona had changed her mind about the walls, so there had been a painting blitz. And then, the last thing, they had gone with her and helped pick out her new car. It was used, in a green shade that felt at once like the kind only a specific kind of person would love, but then Ramona had gone up to it and right in the first seconds the impression had come along that… yeah… it was made for her.

"One more night?" Maya had asked Ramona as they'd all returned to the house, the new car next to Sparkles the minivan. On the declaration that it needed a name, Ramona had decided that whatever her new car was meant to be called, it would need to be driven around for a while first. For that, or maybe really just to break in this new chapter of hers, as she'd move back into her apartment, she would be making her way to and from school on her own this coming week. That would also mean Lucas would be driving alone in the 'Huckleberrymobile,' as Maya had baptised it in that same conversation.

"One more night," Ramona had agreed. While he had been up in the attic at that time, as he was tonight, the two of them had spent most of the evening working together on the new TXNY site design Ramona was doing for the band. It was nearly done, and Maya had expressed in full confidence that it was already fantastic and Ramona should consider doing some more of this. Their temporary roommate had looked so pleased at the idea.

That morning, they'd woken up and soon climbed into their cars – Ramona in hers, and the others in Lucas' – before heading to Ma Maggie's for breakfast. After the meal had been over, they'd left the restaurant and had their 'goodbyes,' even though it was only really that they were all going home. Sam had estimated that they had all been way too dramatic, seeing as Lucas would see Ramona again the next day at school. Maya had hushed her brother, pointing out that he had hugged her just as much as the rest of them and challenging him to deny that he would miss having her around as much as the rest of them. Sam had said nothing, and his silence had been enough of a confirmation.

Right now, they were outside, Sam and Maya. He could just barely hear the telltale thump-thump of a basketball being dribbled, like the sound was just built into him after all these years of playing, both on the school teams and with his friends. If he focused a little harder, he could also hear Maya's voice, her laughter, as she played with her brother. He tried not to, as he had to finish his paper, but the closer he got to the end of it, the more it got to feel as though he might be able to piece together how this one-on-one game was unfolding. Maya was definitely outpacing Sam with ease.

When he had finished his paper, Lucas finally stood and went to look out the window. Two floors below, there they were, the lights from the porch flooding the surroundings just enough to enable the Hart siblings to play around with the ball, which Maya now tossed at the hoop with a jump she had made flawless after years of practice, and it sailed through the net. She made a victory lap around Sam, hugged him until she nearly yanked the pair of them off their feet.

Lucas tapped at the window, enough that it got his fiancée's attention and she looked up. He signalled for her to come up and a moment later she gave Sam's shoulders a tap and jogged back toward the house. By the time Maya had made it up to the attic, Sam had picked up the ball again and was now making throws at the hoop, practicing.

"Done?" Maya asked, just a bit out of breath from playing more than from the steps.

"Yeah," Lucas pointed to the laptop on the desk. Maya went and had a seat and started reading. "Water?" he asked her.

"A gallon of it," she hummed. "Wouldn't say no to a cookie or three."

"On it," Lucas smiled, heading out of the attic. After having being cooped up there for hours, since the three of them had dinner, it felt good to come back down again while Maya reread his work with eyes that hadn't been spinning for a while.

Lucas went and got water and cookies for Maya, while also bringing the same out to the porch for Sam to get to once he stopped tossing the ball.

"Lift your elbow," he called out, as he watched him aim.

"Okay!" Sam called back, taking the shot. It just barely missed.

Reaching the attic again, Lucas found that Maya had switched positions, taking the laptop down to sit on the beanbag under the skylight. He sat on the floor with her, holding out the glass and placing the plate at her side.

"Thanks," she nodded before taking a sip. "It's looking good so far," she tipped her head to indicate the screen.

"Yeah?"

"There was one sentence so far that looked like it could use reworking, and a couple typos, but other than that, you're solid. I'm only on page three though, so…" she made a gesture he took to mean 'let me read,' so he did so. He sat there, sometimes watching her, other times looking up at the night sky through the window. "I can't speak for your professor, but I thought it was really good," Maya finally declared when she was done, handing the laptop back to him. Lucas scanned through for her markings, fixing the issues along the way. Finally, he launched the printing, faintly hearing the machine start up from below.

"Thanks," he set the laptop aside.

"Anytime," Maya smiled, eating one of the cookies.

"Good game?" Lucas asked, nodding in the general direction of the window, or more specifically to the boy he'd watched play ball from that window.

"I tried to be the good big sister and downplay a little, but who am I kidding? Anyway, it wouldn't be right, would it?"

"Not really, no," Lucas agreed.

"Got to hand it to him, he's shaky with the basketball, but the rest…" Maya tapped the side of her head. "He's definitely on to us, knows we've been wondering about Dora and him now that she and Adam broke up."

"He said that?" Lucas was surprised but also not. It was like she said, Sam had that brain of is working very well, beyond the qualities that had allowed him to start college at age fifteen.

"Not with exact words, but yeah," Maya replied.

In hindsight, Lucas doubted that Sam would have really needed any sort of above average intelligence to catch on, would he? Sure, both Lucas and Maya maintained in both heart and mind that Sam was a good kid, who liked his girlfriend very much and would never want to cause her any pain. On the same line, they also maintained that Dora was just as good, and she would never go about wedging herself between two people who were some of, if not her closest friends. But…

But sometimes that wasn't enough. They had seen people who would have fit those categories very well make just the kind of mistake they were now concerned about. And they knew that feelings had a way of complicating matters, the very feelings they knew both Sam and Dora had held for one another a year ago. It had all more or less fallen away as the months had gone by, and they'd both been in their own relationships, so it was easy to think of the whole thing as a done deal, a thing of the past, but now… Now Dora's break from Adam had the potential to reawaken some parts of them, and that was the part that left others to worry about, in particular Maya and Lucas, who had been right there at the heart of it with the two of them.

"So…" Lucas slowly asked. Sam knowing was one thing. How would he feel about them being on his case like that?

"I don't know, I think he just thinks it's ridiculous, like he doesn't see why we would even think it," Maya explained. Neither of them said a word on that, but they were of the same mind. Sam may not have been able to see it, and maybe that would be a good thing in the long run, but it would take his sister and her fiancé a little more time to put their concerns aside.

"So, Halloween," Lucas breathed out, a new subject being as good a way as any to bypass this thing for now as any. At the mention of the word, Maya brightened at once.

"Yes?" she asked, her voice almost deepening to vampire-like levels. He laughed, reaching to pull his laptop open again and show her a site he'd kept open.

"I was thinking, and I know the thirty-first is your territory…" he stated first, getting a nod out of her. He handled November 1st, the anniversary. Maya had full dominion over October 31st, the spookversary. That had been the rule, for years now. He showed her his idea for their costumes though, and she was all smiles.

"You know, I have a crazy idea…"

"You?" he asked, 'shocked,' and got kicked playfully in the leg for it.

"What if we swapped this year? You do Halloween, and I do the day after." Alright, he was intrigued at the thought.

"A lot of pressure, following the HalloQueen," he gave a small bow, finding her with a gasping smile at the nickname.

"You show respect for the title, I have great faith that you'll make me proud…" she spoke dramatically, royally.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners