June 8th 2020

Chapter 160
Their Progress Toward News

Looking back on it from the other side, Maya would come to decide she was glad she had lifted the ban on telling people about the interview. She was no good for waiting, but at least she wasn't the only one doing it. Seeing her people be just as anxious to know had a way of alleviating some of that feeling in herself, like a weight divided among many who were glad to bear part of the load.

After she'd told her mother, she'd gone home that day and told her brother. As soon as she'd seen Sam, it was like her brain had already made the decision and told her mouth to say the words. And oh how she'd loved her brother for how excited he'd been for her. She'd expected no less, from him or anyone who knew her enough to know how much it would all mean to her, but it didn't make her experience of it any less sweet.

By the time she'd told those two, and Siobhan as well, of course, taking those next leaps felt less like jumping into the unknown, less like a risk to disappoint anyone. They cared about her, they would be excited for her, and if she didn't get the job, well… they'd be there to support her as she continued her search. The offer had already given her the push she needed to promise herself this would not be the end. She had been content in carrying on with Stage Ready and her song writing lately, but that had mostly meant that she hadn't gone seeking new possible postings as a teacher. That was going to change.

"If I don't get this, and if I don't find anything anywhere in the city, I'll have to see if I might find anything outside of Austin," she'd told Lucas, after she'd made up her mind about it. They were loading up for TXNY's show, there to meet Betsy, Regan, and Kyleigh, and potentially Ree Forster, if Riley and Kayla were right.

"Okay," Lucas had said, the one word being enough to encompass the fact that he would support her choice, whichever choice she made. It was all she could want to hear. "I still think you won't have to," he'd added after a moment, making her smile. Leave it to him to have all this confidence in her, right?

It wasn't as though she didn't have some confidence in herself, too. As easy as it was to end up doubting and worrying – and she'd done a lot of that in the past few days – she also couldn't help but tell herself that she would be fine, that she would get the job. It was the kind of confidence, of hope, she had not always allowed herself, which made it inevitably powerful to her when she did.

Over the weekend, she had acted as her brother's personal chauffeur as he headed to the prom with Cecilia, all so she might get a look at the finished product of everything she had helped create. Walking up to the building, her old school, she couldn't stop thinking about her own senior prom, now six years behind her. She still remembered how it had all looked that night, remembered her dress, and Lucas in his own tux…

She'd wandered the halls for a little while after seeing Sam and Cecilia into the gym, and taking it all in… Stopping in front of the trophy case, she'd looked in at the team pictures hanging there behind the trophies. There she was, with her arms around Sophie and Nadine on either side of her. That victory had been the sweetest, how could it now? Yes, it was their last year on the team, in high school, but it had been only their second season, hadn't it? They hadn't gotten to play for the two years in the middle, and then they'd come back and they had dominated, them and the boys, too.

She'd said how her years here had been some of the best in her life, and that was the absolute truth. She couldn't be in here without remembering it, feeling it deep down. She would be happy to get to teach at just about any school, but the idea of her getting to teach here, of all places? She liked this idea very much, loved it and really just craved it now. The thought of spending however many years of her life in these halls… Yes, that would do very well.

After leaving the school again, she'd gone to join Lucas and a few of their friends at the movie theater, where they'd had a solid double feature before she could then swing back to the school to pick up her brother and his girlfriend. She found them waiting outside, sitting on not just a bench but the bench, where Maya and Lucas and their friends had spent so many mornings before heading into school. They looked so happy and exhausted and in love… They'd had a wonderful prom, even if this was not their school and these were not their classmates.

"So, what's going on over on the Ree front?" Lucas asked as he climbed into the passenger seat of Maya's red minivan.

"Well, according to our very own investigators, she's in town. Not much else on the radar, no word if she's actually going to be there tonight. I did hear from Betsy though, she and the girls have checked into their hotel," Maya revealed. They were staying two nights, the better to get to spend the following day with Maya and Katy and the rest of the family in Austin before flying off to their respective hometowns.

"I'll find them when I'm out there," Lucas assured her.

"I don't know why it feels weird to know they'll be out there tonight. I've done shows in front of friends and family for… years…"

"Because they're brand new to you?" Lucas suggested.

"Probably, yeah…" Maya breathed.

"Nervous?"

"Not even a little bit," she laughed. "Like I said, it's just weird. The band has been part of my life for almost ten years now, it's just… the band. Having to tell family about it, them not even knowing, it's like… Ree's family not knowing she's The Ree Forster. Not that I'm saying I'm like her…"

"No, I get it," Lucas nodded. "Once you're on stage, it'll be any other show."

"Even if she's actually there?" Maya wondered. "If she does show up…" she entertained the idea, voice trailing. "Do you think she'll come say hi before we go on stage or just sort of… play it covert in the audience?"

"I… can't say. Do you want her to show up before?"

"Honestly, probably not, if it's going to throw any of us off, but wouldn't be so bad if she did, either, I mean… it could get us pumped up before we go up."

"So either way is good," he summarized.

"Ups and downs, all around," she nodded.

They were met by the rest of the band as they arrived, which sent Lucas to go and find the audience contingent of their friends, as well as Maya's family. Katy would be there, too, that she might get to attend the show with her cousins' girls and Betsy. The way Maya had been hearing it, Katy and Betsy had always dreamed of going to a concert together, back in Arkansas growing up and then in New York, too. Betsy had wanted nothing more than to make that happen, once her younger cousin had come to join her, but the opportunity had never come along. And then just as she'd been plotting to surprise Katy with tickets… Katy had run off on her. Now here they were, a quarter of a century later, and their old dream was finally coming true… with Katy's girl under the spotlight.

"I have never seen so many people who kind of look like Maya," Zay declared, as Lucas found him and the others, already joined by Katy, Betsy, Regan and Kyleigh.

"You think this is weird, I met a ninety-nine-year-old version of my fiancée," Lucas told him.

"Yeah, okay, you win," Zay agreed.

"Is Nadine nervous about Ree maybe being here?"

"Nervous, no. She doesn't believe she'll be here. Anyway, she's nervous about other stuff," Zay shrugged. Lucas had to wonder, and he asked if he meant that they were trying again. "No, not that," Zay shook his head. "I'll tell you later."

It wasn't long that the show started. The noise of the crowd, of people who'd shown up to see Maya, Nadine, Riley, Rosa, and Kayla, was still something that kind of took Lucas' breath away, and he knew it didn't leave the girls unaffected either. He could still tell, just by looking at Maya, that there had been no Ree encounter leading up to the show, so if the singer was here…

"I think that's her there," he heard Kyleigh whisper from nearby, and he looked to where she was looking. There was a bit of a disguise going, but she was on her own, and if she was trying not to cause a scene, not to take the band's thunder away from them, that would be the way to do it. The features didn't lie; that was definitely Ree Forster.

As much as they kept quiet about it, Lucas wasn't the only one who'd take the occasional sneak peek over at the woman in the corner throughout the show. He debated just as many times whether or not to try and signal Maya, letting her know that Ree was here, but he never went through with it. Anyway, with how often their group tended to sneak a look over to where Ree was standing, he had a feeling all five of the bandmates had gotten the message. If it affected them in any way, they managed not to let it show; the spirit of the stage was in them now, they were in their element.

When he wasn't looking out in the corner, Lucas was also busy capturing the family's reactions, the better for Maya to see later on. It was almost as much fun seeing the way the four women got into watching Maya up on that stage, enjoying the music the band performed… Even if they hadn't been related to her, they would have loved to be here. There was really no putting into words how wonderful Maya was up there, like she came alive, three or four times over. She was electric.

As the performance came to an end, it took some time for the cluster of friends and family to separate from the crowd around them as they made their way out. Finally, they were able to get around to go and find Maya and the band. When they came up to the door and knocked, they could hear voices in conversation, and laughter, too… Lucas gave a knock – one the group and the band had agreed on as a sort of 'hey it's us' signal – and a moment later the door was opened… by Ree Forster. The costume was gone now, and she was all smiles as she recognized Lucas from their previous encounter in December.

To see the looks on several of the small group's faces when they saw her… Lucas wished he still had his phone out to snap a shot, but then Rosa was way ahead of him.

As the rest of the venue had been cleared, they had all been able to go out, family, friends, band, and Ree, where they remained for a solid hour, talking, sometimes busting out a guitar and having a song or two… It really felt like something out of a dream, but instead it was a memory being made, and it would exist in them and be shared by them for a good long while.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners