May 29th 2020

Chapter 150
Their Construction of Creation

"Are they… drilling?" Maya mumbled, half awake. "It's too early, make them go away…"

"Think that's your phone," Lucas replied in a similar tone. Seconds went by, the noise still heard every one to three seconds or so, before she opened one eye enough to locate the object on her night stand and see that the screen would go on and off along with the sound. It wasn't a drill, it was the vibration of constant notifications.

"It's too early, make them go away," she repeated, turning over to burrow closer to him and back to sleep with any luck.

For about a minute, he happily indulged her, arms closed around her just so, making her feel as warm and secure as she ever could be. But the sound continued, and if the fact that it was annoying and distracting them from sleep, there was the curiosity. What was so important that people were trying to reach her so bad? Was this good? Bad? What if it was about Abigail and the baby?

With a groan, Maya had first tried to reach back her arm blindly, like she might be able to preserve the rest of this cozy position, but she wasn't reaching, and when he heard her mutter something about it being too far, Lucas finally scooted them over just enough that he might reach over and get it for her. It kept on buzzing in his hand and then hers when he handed it over.

"Thank you, sir," she smiled, laughing when he did his own bit of burrowing closer, settling his head in the crook of her neck. "Yeah, you stay right there, that's perfect," she gave a kiss to the top of his head, as he so often would do for her, though this so often happened while they both stood, so was it any wonder? "Alright, alright, where is the fire?" Maya sighed, looking to her phone's screen.

E-mails, texts, notifications from a number of apps, missed calls… She barely had time to frown and wonder what this was before a few words started to set her on the right path. She switched off her notifications, for a little while at least, so her phone could have a break…

"Thanks for that," Lucas told her, then, "So what is it?" In response, she put the screen in his line of sight. He blinked for a moment, focusing on what he was seeing, trying to make sense of… "That's the…" he pointed to her phone, looking up at her.

"The new song, yeah… and the trailer."

The eye of the storm of notifications that morning had been started with a double release. The third song she had written, the one she had learned would be part of a movie soundtrack in months to come, was not only in the movie, but it was the whole background to the official trailer, which had just been put out for people to see early that morning. In conjunction with this, the artist who had recorded the song had released the full track, including credit to the 'wicked brilliant' songwriter.

"Hey, she's not wrong," Lucas sat up, turning to Maya as she did so as well.

"I'm not mad at it," she grinned. "I don't know if I want to hear the song on its own first or just see the trailer," she shook her head, the excitement bubbling in her chest, and she didn't even need to look up to know he'd be smiling as he watched her, that silly goofy look of his whenever his face would take to be overwhelmed with love for her. "You choose then," she challenged, holding out the phone. Lucas considered this for a moment, then climbed out of bed and went to open the door.

"Sammy, get in here!" he called down the hall.

"He's going to think he's in trouble, you know that?" Maya laughed.

"Not from me he's not," Lucas turned back to her, catching her mock affronted look. A moment later, Sam came from his room, dishevelled and half-asleep looking.

"What?" he asked, rubbing at his eyes.

"Come here," Lucas led him along until the three of them could pile on the bed before holding Maya's phone for all to see and starting the trailer video. To Sam's credit, he understood what was going on with very little context.

The opening notes were the very first thing they heard, over a black screen, and already it was difficult not to get pulled into the trailer itself, even as they were listening to the music. Maya had not realized that her song would be right there in the trailer, none of them did, but now it was there and it was a lot to process at once. The trailer was good, the song… if she was so bold as to say it herself… took it to another level.

"What do you think, Sammy?" Maya asked her brother, setting her chin on his shoulder with a look of amused curiosity.

"I think… if I was the kind of guy to mooch off a relative's success to make friends, I would be very popular when they'd find out you're my sister," Sam nodded, and Maya laughed, taking hold of his head with both hands and planting a kiss on his cheek. "You get one! One!" he squeezed his eyes shut even as he would laugh and return the gesture by hugging her. "Proud of you," he beamed when she let him go.

"Please, go make breakfast?" she smiled back.

"You want me to go so I don't see you cry, don't you?" Sam guessed.

"Less talking, more pancakes," Maya nudged until he got up and made his way out of the room and into the hall toward the stairs. Maya let out a breath, looking to the phone over in Lucas' hands still. Even silenced, the notifications were still rolling in.

"Trying to hold it in?" Lucas asked.

"Do my tears amuse you, Huckleberry?" she tried to dramatically lift up her chin, but there were definitely tears spilling from her eyes, wildly happy ones, so the effect was slightly dashed.

"They don't, but the feeling behind them sure does," he pointed out, holding her phone back out. When she reached to take it, she barely had the chance to show anticipation for what she knew he would do. He used the opportunity to tug her forward and pull her into his arms, which sent her laughing out loud, especially as momentum carried them down.

A Little Louder – Marika Marsden (Just For One Day - Original Soundtrack)

They had listened to the track on its own, as the three of them sat to breakfast. Even as they did so, Maya could only start and see what all the notifications were, the messages… Of course there were several from friends and family, and seeing these always made her feel like her heart was too big for her chest. Some were reactions to the trailer and its being shared by cast or crew members. Others were taking notice of the song, wanting to know where they could find it, and would be directed to the post from the singer's account, and so of course a vast number were messages reacting to the song, whether they directed toward Marika herself, or toward Maya herself, from those just learning about her, but many more from those who already followed her work and were big fans of it.

"Ree shared the song," Sam reported. They were all on their phones at this point, combing through the messages, reading some of them out… This one he showed to his sister, who just didn't know how to keep from smiling anymore. The singer's involvement was hardly unique now, and today… Maya couldn't stop thinking 'third time's the charm,' as the barely released song, coming on top of the ones she had done for Ree, and for the Violets, was making people take more and more notice of the common link behind them all. The names she saw scroll by, of people who had responded to Marika's post, noting Maya's part in it as much as the singer's… people she had known and admired to some degree or another… She was out here in her home, in Austin, with her fiancé and her brother and the dogs, in her pyjamas and eating pancakes, and still it felt like the spotlight was on her and she didn't know what to do with her hands, or her face…

Soon after breakfast, the girls from the band, as well as Ramona, showed up for practice and some more TXNY10 anniversary discussion. As was to be expected, the release of the song, and the trailer, were hard to ignore as an immediate subject. This, combined with curiosity on the advancement of the studio build, led to the group moving upward rather than down, climbing to the attic to get a look at the progress made on the construction site before going to the basement again for what was to be one of the last few practices taking place there. They could not wait to break in that new rehearsal space.

"Throw in some walls, a roof… Call it home," Rosa declared with a smile as they all crowded around the window.

"We should get one of those big ribbons in front… with the giant scissors…" Riley added, making the motion of cutting with her hands.

"Look at you," Kayla signed, when she'd gotten Maya's attention. "You can't stop smiling, can you?" she smirked, and Maya laughed.

"I'm doing my best," she assured her. "It's a lot, but that's okay. I prefer it feeling like a lot than feeling like any other day."

As they finally left the attic and started down toward the basement, they would playfully suggest Ramona take her pick of the guys working on the studio. After months living on her own, which was to say living single, after her divorce, she had finally come to a point where she expressed a readiness toward dating again, and this was as good of a signal as any for her friends to flip on matchmaking mode. Ramona was left some concern, with wanting to make sure she wouldn't jump into something that wouldn't be right, or would be rushing in more than anything. Much as she claimed herself to be ready, Maya and Lucas both could tell, from one look, that 'ready' did not mean 'not scared.'

"I'm just saying, I saw that one with the man bun looking up, pretty sure he was looking at you," Nadine gave Ramona a smirk and a nudge.

"He saw the six of us up there, if he saw any of us through that sun. And it wasn't a man bun," Ramona insisted, which earned her a look from Rosa. Ramona looked back at her, turning away almost immediately when she figured out she had gone and tipped her hand in showing she had noticed the construction guy, too.

"That's Ben, by the way," Maya chimed in now, and the others looked at her. "Man bun/not man bun guy. His name's Ben, he's Carter's younger brother. Two of them are working together now, looking to start their own company. The studio is allowing them to sort of… set some things in motion, you know? He's nice, talked to him a couple times. I'm pretty sure he's single."

"How sure?" Kayla asked, as intrigued as the rest, once Maya had given her the quick rundown.

"I can find out," Maya replied, signing toward her but speaking toward Ramona, who was looking on the edge of flighty, as they'd reached the basement and she went toward the couch with her laptop.

"He's working, it's not like… I mean…" she shrugged, flexing her fingers in a way they had long identified as her nervous tic. Maya smiled, picking up her guitar as the band moved into position to get started.

"You never know, opportunity might present itself…"

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners