June 5th 2020

Chapter 157
Their Progress Toward a Goal

Somehow she had kept working at the school for an hour more, which she suspected was benefit given over by working on the prom decorations with Lindsay and the students. The whole time, she was just doing her best to focus on that and keep that little ball of frenzy contained. She could not let that thing crack open until she was home, not until she was with Lucas, with Sam...

After she'd left the school, for just a moment she really didn't know what to do next. Something in her wanted to pick up something on the way, make dinner special, while the other insisted she had better not get ahead of herself. She had an interview, not a job, not yet, and oh... There was so much to think about...

Pizza. Pizza was thinking food.

Maya got a good idea of where her brain was at when she left the restaurant with three large pizza boxes balanced in her arms. She drove home, singing loudly to the songs on the radio, and arrived to find she was the first one there.

"Not a problem," she told herself as she let out a breath. "I can control myself."

When Lucas came home from his weekday at the bookstore, he found his bride to be sitting outside on the porch.

"Waiting for me?" he wondered, as he got out of his car and she was already on her feet and watching his approach.

"Kind of, yeah. It was either that or going like a vacuum at the pizzas," she nodded back to the house. The temptation had been too strong in the end, so she had removed herself from the situation.

"There's pizzas?" Lucas inquired, curious.

"Way too much of it," Maya nodded. "I figured Sam and Cecilia would be here, too, but they're having dinner at her place tonight, so it's just you, me, and a ridiculous amount of pizza," she shook her head in 'shame.' Lucas paused before the porch steps for a moment, considering this statement, calculating.

"I'm up to the challenge," he finally nodded, which made her laugh. "So you just felt like a lot of pizza or..." he asked, extending the one option he could think of so she might fill in the other if it existed.

"I... have an interview... to fill the position of art teacher at the high school..." Maya revealed, with barely contained giddiness. It became even harder to contain when she hadn't even finished the sentence that Lucas had climbed up to join her and caught her in a lifting hug. She giggled and held on tight.

He had been right there with her, all through the job searches, and the worrying over whether she would ever get the job she was after, which had led to her coming up with the idea for Stage Ready. She had found something that stimulated her, kept her in touch with at least something like what she'd been after. That didn't mean she had abandoned that original dream, and all this time Lucas had not just been there, he had been in it. He and Maya may not have been married yet, may not have said their vows to one another, but as far as he was concerned he still held to all of it. Her dreams were his dreams for her, her worries were his to share, and her triumphs... or potential triumphs...

"How did this happen?" he asked after having set her down.

"I did mention there was a lot of pizza, right?" Maya took hold of his arm and pulled him back into the house.

Soon, they were at the table, with plates and glasses filled and eager pups underfoot, queued up for their share. Maya relayed the story of her encounter with the principal, everything he had said about her - to which Lucas agreed wholeheartedly - and then the job offer set in motion thanks to Lindsay Alcott's good word. Even as she said it all, there was still something in her that couldn't believe this was really happening.

"When's the interview?" Lucas asked.

"Monday," Maya breathed out, pulling another slice from the box on top.

"Hey," he tapped her foot with his own so she'd look at him. "You've got this."

"Maybe. I don't know who else is applying, there could be some really good people, ones with experience..."

"Did they all get glowing words of encouragement from the principal, too?" Lucas asked, making her snort.

"I'm just saying I... I don't want to get too excited yet... Okay, that's a lie, I really want to jump around and shout and all that, but I also don't, because then if I don't get it, that'll only make it worse."

"So you just make sure that when you walk in there you give them all the reasons to make sure they don't let you go, so that they see you are the one they need and no one else," Lucas declared, leaving her unable to keep from smiling.

"Well, your pitch is excellent, are you sure you don't want to go instead of me?"

"I can give it a shot," he shrugged with confidence. "But you're the one they need to see."

She had to hand it to him, he always knew what to say to make her feel better, to push away those clouds of worry that kept her from seeing the sun in the sky.

"I don't want to go and tell too many people, just in case it doesn't pan out, okay?"

"Sounds fair," he agreed. "Does that include Sam?"

"Please, the guy has no poker face. I love him, but the odds are not in his favor," Maya shook her head.

"Alright, then it stays between us?" Lucas asked. Maya nodded. "What about your mother?"

"We literally just said..." she frowned, taking a bite of her slice.

"I mean because you two work together. Aren't you going to have to say something to someone over there?" Lucas elaborated. Maya stared back at him now, the pizza stuck between her teeth as she considered his words.

The theater... What was she going to do about that, about Stage Ready? The songwriting part, that was easy enough, she could do that whenever, wherever, and she already did, didn't she? As far as the theater went, she had some flexibility, which made it so that she could sometimes work from home, or go in and do things, like now with the prom... But she still had to put in a certain amount of hours actually in her office, at the theater. Even if she wouldn't have classes to teach from first to last bell, she doubted she would be able to just go and be at the theater in the time when she wasn't in class.

"I'll have to talk to Siobhan," Maya replied once she'd swallowed her bite. "I'll have to tell her tomorrow, she's out of the office on Friday."

"She has to know that this would happen sooner or later, right?" Lucas pointed out.

"Sure, yeah, I guess..." Maya nodded. "This is starting to feel a lot less cheerful, isn't it?" she turned an awkward smile toward him.

"This is still what you want, isn't it?"

"Completely," Maya replied.

"And you are going to own that interview, aren't you?"

"You're kind of not giving me much of a choice," she smirked.

"So come on, Miss Hart, celebrate a little," he smiled back.

"My stomach is full of pizza right now, if I celebrate too hard it won't be pretty," she reminded him.

"Maya..." he gave a pointed look.

"I will think of something, can't rush art, you know that," she waved him off by plopping another slice on to his plate. "I was told you could handle this," she teased, making him smirk.

"Come on," he collected the boxes and his plate, leading the way into the living room.

"Hey, hey, hold on," Maya hurried after him, caught in a race along with the dogs, equally eager to be reunited with the pizzas. "Is it weird that I want to see if you can actually eat all that?"

"You're helping," he reminded, dropping on the couch.

"Oh, but I need to watch my figure..." Maya breathed, giving something like a bridal pose.

"Right, for that dress I haven't seen yet," he stated, in a tone that said 'I understand why but I can't help being curious.'

"That would be the one, yes," she grinned.

"In forty-seven days, you won't even remember these pizzas."

"You're totally counting down now, aren't you?" she laughed, sitting next to him. Archer hopped on the couch now, sniffing at her plate. "Hey, now, what are we looking for here, huh?" she asked, scooping up the dog and tearing a piece of her slice he could eat. It was good and gone in the blink of an eye. "Started on fifty days, then forty-nine, forty-eight..."

"I just like to keep track," he told her. "I'd call it building up anticipation but we definitely hit that peak already."

"Few times, yeah," she agreed, getting a kiss to the top of her head as she ate her slice. She had a thought now, and she turned a grin over to Lucas.

"What?"

Once again, and as they had barely relocated to the living room, Maya and Lucas took up the boxes. This time, they walked out of the house and up the path to the Hex.

"Open the windows or else it'll smell like pizza in here for weeks and no one will be able to focus," Maya told Lucas as they walked into the studio. After he'd done so, he turned to find Maya had pulled down two of her guitars, her first one and then the one her father had left her. She handed the first one out to him.

"What's happening?" he asked, intrigued.

"I am going to teach you how to play," Maya announced, a bright smile on her face.

"You are?" Lucas blinked.

"Yeah," she nodded, waving the guitar at him until he'd take it. "It's how I'm choosing to celebrate. I can't celebrate the job just yet, have to crush that interview first."

"And you will," he maintained, making her smile.

"For now, I can just celebrate the possibility of the job, and i want to do it by sharing some joy. I think you might just get into this."

"You might be on to something," he admitted. He had sort of been intrigued, having watched her play for a good decade. "How did you learn?"

"Book in the library, videos... I wanted to learn, so I did," she shrugged. "Ready for lesson one?"

"Wait, hold on," Lucas grabbed a pizza slice. "Ready."

"Okay," Maya laughed. "Sit. You need to know your instrument first."

By the time Sam returned home, he found a quiet house, three sleeping dogs, and no one else. Spotting the lights on in the Hex through the attic window, he went back down and headed to the studio, where he found his sister and Lucas laughing uncontrollably, sitting on the studio floor, surrounded by empty pizza boxes, both holding a guitar.

"Hey, baby brother!" Maya called out when she spotted him. "Come here, come here, you gotta hear this," she waved him over. Sam approached almost apprehensive, like the two of them might gave been drunk, when they really weren't. "Tell me what that sounds like," she told Sam, waving for Lucas to play.

"She likes to make fun of me," Lucas informed his brother.

"I do no such thing, I'm just amused, that's all," she innocently vowed, looking back up to Sam. "It's been a really good day."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners