June 12th 2020

Chapter 164
Their Choice of Memories

"What are you doing here?" Lucas couldn't hide his surprise as he arrived up at his floor of the bookstore to find Maeve, store vest on and everything, like she was back on the clock. "Aren't you still on leave?"

"I came back early," she casually shrugged, typing away at the computer keyboard. "Maternity leave is for rest on the end of a pregnancy, and the birth, and then looking after the baby for a while. I did part one, and part two, but I'm not doing part three, so once I was recovered I was just sitting around at home watching way too much television. And now that I'm back, you don't have to deal with those temps you complained about so much."

"They weren't so bad in the end…" he couldn't help but mention. After a few seconds of quiet between them, he had to ask… "Are you sure you're okay to…"

"I'm fine, Lucas," she cut him off, her voice sharp but her eyes pleading. Just leave it alone.

"Ship's all yours, Captain," he tipped his head to her.

"I don't know about that. From what I heard, you've been doing a pretty good job here while I was gone. Talked to Darren when I called to tell him I was coming back early, he told me all about how you handled things. We think you should keep going. You get to be… like a co-captain," she smiled. "Pays better, too."

"Wow… Well, I really appreciate that, I do."

"Figured you would," she told him, moving around the counter once she'd found what she was looking for. Lucas watched her go, the momentary happiness at the thought of this small promotion and raise sliding aside as he was left to consider what this accelerated return tended to mean for his friend and co-worker.

He didn't know it through her but through Maya, who'd heard from Ramona, but Maeve had finally gone and visited Carter and their baby girl just a few days ago. Erin was a month old now, and Maeve had not seen her in any way – her choice – since the day she was born. Ramona had not gone into much detail, already sounding like she hadn't meant to divulge this information, but all signs pointed to this having been a very emotional encounter all around, especially for Maeve. Now he had to think it was this moment, more than just being at home for no reason, which convinced her to get back to work when she did. Staying at home might have made it too easy for her to get caught up in thoughts she wanted to evade.

As the day had started in earnest, Lucas had been drawn back from thinking of one family situation to another. He had his sheet of notes folded in his back pocket, and when he'd ended up in a lull of activity, he'd opened it up on the counter before him, read through it.

He had known Nadine Zhu for half his lifetime, known Zay Babineaux for all but a handful of years of it. The number of stories he had in his head… He could have written a whole novel for whoever would be seeking to know them.

With Nadine… He had met her at the same time Zay had met her, them and Dylan and Asher. There they'd been, playing at the park, tossing the basketball around, and Dylan had overshot, sending the ball flying way past the hoop. They hadn't seen where it landed but then there'd been a screech of surprise and the boys had all stalled where they stood. A moment later a girl had come marching in their direction, the ball in her hand and a curtain of jet black hair swinging to show the intensity of her stride.

"Do we run?" Asher had quietly asked the others. They hadn't made up their mind by the time the girl stopped there and observed them. She looked to be about their age.

"Who threw this?" she asked, holding up the ball in her palm. Four fingers looked ready to point but stalled before reaching their target, overridden by solidarity. "I know it's one of you, so who was it?" And then Zay had raised his hand.

"I tripped," he spoke, staring at the girl like he was trying very hard to come up with the words but also struggled from looking at her. "I just had a growth spurt, my limbs are all over the place," he demonstrated. It had cracked through her frown like a precision hit, causing a smile to rise through and evolve into a small laugh. "I'm sorry, did I hit you?"

"Almost," she revealed. Now that she wasn't so upset, they could see the way she handled the ball, which suggested she might have been a player, too.

"Well, I think the safest thing would be for me to take myself out of the game for a little while. You could take my place, play with us for a while." This had left her intrigued, interested. She'd taken a look back the way she'd come from before turning to them again.

"I need to go and let my grandmother know, be right back," she'd tossed the ball to Zay, who just barely managed to catch it and not be carried to the ground from the momentum, and turned to run back and find her grandmother, who had been watching over the younger Zhu girls over at the sandbox.

"She's kind of intense…" Dylan had declared.

Seconds later, she'd come jogging back their way, even as she worked to pull her hair into a high swishing ponytail. She'd been paired with Lucas, as it would generally be him and Zay versus Dylan and Asher. The introductions were made, and soon the game was on. Within minutes she had shown them just how great of a player she was, and by the time her grandmother had called her back to head home, they had told her they would be back here again the next day, and she'd promised to be back again. They had played this way, day after day, for the rest of the summer, first at the park, eventually at Dylan's house. She would be going to their school, which was excellent, as she'd quickly become an integral part of their group, taking them from being 'the boys' to something more.

He didn't remember the exact day he had met Zay for the first time, though like Nadine it had happened at the park. He had vague sort of memories in the back of his mind, but he wasn't sure if those were his own recollections or simply the narrative he had retained from his mother's stories, and Zay's mother's stories. The two families lived relatively close to one another, and they would both take their sons to the park to see the fireworks in the summer.

As far as his parents had told him, Zay had wandered off from his parents' side, as they'd been chatting with friends, when he'd spotted an ice cream stand, with balloons, and lights, and sweet scents, enough to get the attention of any curious four-year-old. He'd had no money on him, of course, and once he'd realized he needed that in order to buy a cone, he'd turned and his parents… He couldn't see them anymore.

Right at this moment though, as he'd been looking around, Lucas was stepping up, brandishing the bill his mother had handed him. He was five, and he'd seen the boy standing right there, looking distressed. When he'd asked what was wrong, all the boy was able to say was that he wanted ice cream. Lucas had taken this statement in stride and looked to the woman at the counter, holding up his money. Could he have two with that?

Shortly thereafter, escorted by Tom and Melinda Friar, the boys had gone in search of the misplaced parents as they ate their ice cream. As Isaiah and Lynette Babineaux had been found and reunited with their son, they had remained in conversation with the Friars, as the boys kept together and played around until the fireworks started. That was the part that Lucas remembered the most, the two of them staring up at the sky together, faces lit up with the bright display. And by the time that was all over, they wanted to play some more, enough that numbers had been exchanged.

That had been the beginning, and from day one it had been easy with them. They were either so exactly on the same wavelength or they were on opposing ones in such a way that they complemented one another and it just worked. He had not felt that again with anyone else, not until Maya had come along, and that had been all of this and then some.

Zay though… From the beginning, the fact that Lucas was a year older, a grade above, made it so that they didn't get to be in class together. They'd find each other again, at recess, at lunch, and at the end of the day, but they'd be in their own worlds for a while, Lucas on one side and Zay, and Asher and Dylan and Nadine in time, on the other… Sometimes it would get to feel as though he'd be missing out, but soon enough they'd catch up. Then he'd started seventh grade, he'd been at a different school than the rest of them, and he'd missed so much more.

Of all people, Nadine had been the one to tell him, about the boys, the ones who had been tormenting Zay. He hadn't even told her, or Asher or Dylan, but she'd seen it, and she'd turned to Lucas for help. She'd come for advice, but what she'd done instead was set him on the path to suspension.

He'd gone back to his old school one afternoon, bailing out on gym class. He knew his friend well enough that he had to find him under the right circumstances to get him to open up, and this was the right one. There was no telling what he would find, but what he'd found was just what Nadine had said. They had him cornered, and Lucas… Lucas had reacted.

To this day, the moment remained sort of blurred out, blocked off. He mostly remembered having walked away when it was all over, walking back to his own school like an automaton. His nose was bleeding, his eye felt almost swollen shut, his shirt was torn in places, and one of his shoes felt like it had ripped open and he had to walk carefully in order to keep his foot from sliding out. He was so caught up in his head, it never occurred to him that going back to school, looking like this, would let any and all know that something had happened. And he could lie all he wanted – which he wouldn't – except that the boys on the other side had named him, and by the time he'd made it back to his school, the two principals had been in contact. It had happened fast. Before he knew it, his father had come to pick him up, for what would be his last school day in months.

As certain as he had been that he'd been doing the right thing at the time, he had known already that he shouldn't have done it, not like that. He had never gotten into a fight like that before, and all the years since he had never done it again.

"Why'd you do that?" Zay had asked, when he'd been able to come and visit for the first time. He wasn't mad, just sort of confused, possibly apologetic, like this was his fault.

"Didn't mean to. Just wanted to help," he'd spoken quietly. "The big one, he was going to hit you, had to stop him." After a beat of silence, Zay had come and sat next to him.

"Thanks, man, I owe you one." Lucas might have said he didn't have to, but Zay would insist. "Hey, at least now we all get to be in the same class, right?" Just like when he'd met Nadine, he'd managed to find just the thing to lighten the mood, making him smile. It was the kind of thing he knew would make him a great dad someday, the kind of thing Lucas had to convey in his letter.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners