August 23rd 2020

Chapter 236
Their Record of Love

One day, a few weeks back, the band had been in the middle of practice up in the Hex when they had gotten a text. Isadora thought she might have been in labor, so Farkle was taking her to the hospital. It had been a false alarm in the end, but from that point on it had been hard not to be primed for the call that would have to come sooner or later, when it wouldn't be a false alarm anymore and Baby Minkus number two would be making his or her entrance into the world. So, the girls had made up their mind that whenever that call did come through, no matter what, they would get together and wait out the outcome together. Thus, Minkus Watch had been initiated, though none of them had expected it to be kicked off so late as it did, minutes off from one in the morning on a Sunday… technically a Monday, hours off from them being due at work or school. Still, a promise was a promise.

Lucas and Maya followed Sam down from the attic to find their living room had suddenly been invaded, not only by their bandmates but also some of their significant others. Riley and Dylan were there, along with Nadine and Zay, and Kayla and Will, and Rosa and Jenna.

Immediately, there was a rush of voices from either side, and it was a wonder that they all could pick up on any of it, but they did. Maya and Lucas wanted to know what the others had heard about Isadora and Farkle and the baby, while the others wanted to know about Maya's session with Ree Forster earlier that day.

"Hey, hey, time out, alright, one at a time," Lucas raised his voice enough so to be heard, which got him a few barks from the dogs, who were all over the place, hyped up by the presence of their visitors at this hour.

"We weren't sure if you were still with Ree," Riley explained to Maya, "Farkle meant to text but then he ended up calling me instead. Then I called the others, and then we all figured we'd just come on over, Minkus Watch."

"When did you finish?" Kayla signed.

"Uh, not too long ago, actually. Ree left about a half hour ago," Maya spoke and signed at once, stealing a look to Lucas, who nodded, as much in confirmation as solidarity in not sharing the tour news yet. "When did he call? What did he say?"

"About an hour ago," Dylan told her.

"They're sure it's real this time. Farkle's parents came and picked them up and they went to the hospital together, then they could keep an eye on Ada," Nadine followed.

"Last we heard, they were just settling in, and Farkle said it might be a while," Rosa shrugged.

"Right…" Maya turned to Lucas and Sam. At this point, they were ridiculously used to having guests for the night, and the way this was shaping up, the whole group would be here until morning. There was no saying how much sleep, if any, they would get, but it was only right that they should set themselves up for the possibility that they would. "We'll get the fold mats up in the attic for whoever doesn't take the couches or the bed in the basement?"

"Done," Lucas nodded, tapping Sam's arm as though he wouldn't have tagged along to help him unasked.

"Is it okay if I work on my paper while we wait?" Jenna spoke up in a voice clearly showing she still hadn't completely gelled with the group to the point where she didn't see herself with 'new' floating over her head.

"Yeah, of course," Maya told her. "You want to set up in the kitchen? Or you can have the desk upstairs…"

"Kitchen will be fine, thanks," Jenna smiled, stealing a look to Rosa, who nodded at her before she went off with her bag. Rosa watched her go until she'd disappeared from view, finally turning back to the others, who all had a variation on a 'aren't you guys cute?' smirk. She briefly touched her face, trying to settle her expression into something more neutral again, better not to have them all stare at her.

"Hey, can we go to the Hex, play around for a while?" she asked, diverting the conversation somewhere less awkward for her.

"Sounds good," Maya nodded, turning to Dylan, Zay, and Will.

"Hey, we're good, you go," Zay shrugged. "We'll find something to pass the time, yeah?" he turned to Dylan and Will.

"Shoot off?" Dylan asked, turned to Will so he might read his lips.

"You're on," Will smiled.

"Lucas! Shoot off! Hurry up!" Zay shouted up the stairs as the guys made their way out to the basket, leaving the five members of TXNY standing in the living room, looking to one another.

"Okay, let's go," Maya waved her hand in the general direction of the Hex.

As they'd made their way through the kitchen, Rosa had casually checked on Jenna, while Maya told her she could take whatever she wanted if she was hungry or thirsty. Walking the short path from the house to the studio, the lights in the ground activated, breaking the darkness. Maya couldn't even feel silly for enjoying this. She had spent the whole day in her studio, and somehow it felt like a brand new space again.

"So, how was it today?" Nadine asked as they all went and grabbed or sat at their instruments. Maya turned to face her bandmates as she picked out her newest guitar. This wasn't practice, wasn't about pretending they were on stage. This was them taking music as their means of communing with their friend and former bandmate across the country, so they were a circle tonight.

"It was…" Maya searched her words. She couldn't tell them about the tour, couldn't even let them hear what she and Ree had been working on. They'd all helped her with the backing on the demo track, they knew the songs, but it had been specified that the recordings with Ree were to remain unheard as of yet. "I think one of them is going to be my new favorite that I've done outside the band," she finally told the others, smiling.

"See, now you said that and I just want to hear it," Rosa frowned as she adjusted her bass.

"Sorry," Maya laughed. "Speaking of things we want to hear though, what I'd like to hear is how it's going now, with you living at Jenna's place. Are you good? Do we need to get you back in the basement now that the in-laws are gone?"

"Uh, no… no, I'm alright," Rosa waved off the offer, clearly oblivious to the fact that she lacked any kind of poker face when it came to her friend and roommate anymore. It was hardly unexpected, when the possibility and the call to anything mildly romantic was still so new to her. But in the last several months, there had been no doubt whatsoever that this was what it was, not to anyone who knew Rosa at all.

For as long as they had known her, it had always been the way. If others had found someone that made them feel all lovey dovey, more power to them, but she just didn't feel that way. And then she'd met Jenna, and suddenly the world had changed, or Rosa just didn't see it the way she used to anymore, not entirely. When she'd actually open up about it, which was not all the time, she would be so shy about it, and it would be hard not to find it all incredibly cute. She'd once told Maya that it felt a bit like learning to swim as an adult. All the little kids learned it so easily, because they didn't know any better, but her… She was very aware that she might sink and drown even if everyone told her she could float.

Worse yet was the fear that she might screw it up. New as they were, these feelings immediately felt dangerous to her. The very idea that she might try and fail, or that she might start, and be good for a while, and then fail… It was enough to make anyone feel concerned when they had finally found someone worthy of those feelings, but for Rosa it was so much more. Jenna had become precious to her like no one else in her life, in all her twenty-three years.

Now, with February upon them, the world had gone and taken its dose of red and pink, of hearts plastered everywhere, and any other symbols of the looming day for valentines. In the almost seven years they had known Rosa, she had always kept a wide berth when these appeared. She would decorate as she always did, at her mother's bookstore back in Houston, as little more than professional pride, as she usually loved decorating and no one else did it right anyway. This year… This year, she was intrigued, she was drawn to it all in a bit of 'you know, this is kind of sweet' sort of way.

"Hey, come here a second," Rosa had pulled Lucas aside, one night when she'd been at the house for practice. "What'd you get Maya for Valentine's Day this year?"

"Uh… why?" he'd asked, unsure where this was coming from. Rosa would only make a gesture. Just tell me. "Well, it's the first one since we got married, also our tenth one since we've been together," he'd started, an easy smile coming to his face. "So I sort of wanted to get her something that would remind her of all those other ones, and…"

"Oh, for crying out loud, why are you so… fluffy…" Rosa had huffed. "What about the first year, what'd you get her then?"

"A book…"

"Seriously?" Rosa had blinked, shaking her head in disbelief. "You got her a book…"

"Really big one, from the museum where we tried to have our first date," he'd tried to mime out the size of it. "Had to save up for it for a while. Should have seen the look on her face when she saw it."

"Okay, okay, I get the picture. What about the next year? What'd you get her then?" Rosa cut him off. This went on until he'd listed out every single year, every gift. It had taken until about the third gift for him to understand what she was after.

"You want to ask Jenna out, don't you?" he'd finally asked, and oh the deer-in-the-headlights look she'd given him.

"Leave it up to me to make up my mind in February, right?" she'd smiled nervously. "What if she feels obligated, what if…"

"Rosa, listen to me, okay? You listening?" She was. "The one piece of advice I can give you: say what you feel. Don't second guess yourself, no sidebars, no take backs. Be honest with her. Best thing you can do. You know her a lot better than I do, but I'm pretty sure if you do that then she'll be honest with you, too, and then you'll know once and for all."

"Okay… Okay, I-I can do that…"

She had left the house after practice. An hour later, she'd come back, frantic and smiling. She had a date, an actual pick-you-up/take-you-out date, with Jenna, and she was in the most dire need for assistance. This time around, Maya had taken up the task, and between this and Lucas' advice earlier, they had gotten a good kick out of dubbing themselves Rosa's fairy godparents.

Now they were here, tonight, and Jenna may still have been acclimating to being part of the group, but there was no question that she was just that, that she was one of them. She had been becoming so long before earning the title of 'Rosa's girlfriend'.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners