August 24th 2020

Chapter 237
Their Record of Patience

"Hey, we're starting a pool," Dylan told the girls. "Boy or girl, you in?"

They hadn't turned on the 'no entry' light, there was no point, when they were just going the way of 'we play what we want, see where it goes.' They had been in the midst of a rousing bit of improvisation, just on the cusp of triggering Maya's imagination, when Kayla had spotted the door opening and signalled the others. When they'd looked back, there was Dylan. Riley had gone to open the booth door, poking her head out to ask if there had been news about the baby.

There was no news, only the idea of this pool having started as the four guys tossed the ball at the hoop in their ongoing shoot off. It had been Dylan's idea first, and though the others had been slow to pronounce themselves at first, eventually they had come up with a compromise. Loser bought breakfast, winner got to see the baby first.

"It's a dead heat right now, two to two, and…" Dylan reported, before turning his head to listen. The girls could just make out someone calling out, unsure which of the guys. "Make that three to two on another girl."

"Who said what?" Maya had to ask.

"Will, Jenna, and I said girl. Lucas and Zay chose boy," Dylan counted off. The girls looked to one another, considering the question. Farkle and Isadora hadn't told them what they were having, same as the first time.

"Personally don't see the point, but I guess I'll say boy," Rosa shrugged.

"I'll say boy, too," Kayla smiled, the look on her face suggesting maybe she did so in order to have one half of her couple on either side of the divide.

"I kind of want to say it'll be a girl again," Riley pondered aloud. "It'd be sweet if Ada had a little sister."

"Surprise twins, one of each," Maya raised her hand with a smirk.

"Can she do that?" Rosa pointed at her.

"You have to pick one," Dylan told Maya.

"You're just scared that I might be right," she challenged. Dylan kept staring. "Fine, put me down for boy, I guess," she finally shook her head, looking to her guitar before turning to Nadine, the last unspoken. She turned her head up upon sensing her friend's eyes, the rest of the band's and Dylan's as well.

"Uh…" she hesitated, then with a slow shake of the head, "Boy, I guess."

"Great, so that's… six to four boy, I'll tell the others," Dylan shut the door and was gone in two seconds, leaving the studio to work its way back to where they were before he looked in on them.

"Nadine, you want to start us off?" Maya asked her friend, standing to her right. They shared a brief look before Nadine took a breath and set her violin back in place, taking a moment to find a start and filling the room with a melody the others followed, one after the other.

Sooner or later, they'd be made to remember, and whenever they did, the thing they'd be left thinking more often than not was just how much their situation sucked. It was no one's fault, no one was to blame, and yet… As much as she could soldier on with the best of brave faces, Nadine couldn't entirely hide the fact that she was in pain, day by day, as she and Zay continued to await some good news. The longer it went, the harder it got, as being patient and understanding that it might take some time would start to be edged out by questions and doubts about why it was taking so long. Was it something wrong with them, that no one chose them?

It only made matters worse that their group appeared to be caught up in the biggest case of communal baby fever. So many of them were either having babies or talking about how they angling down that road, enough that it felt like a constant buzz word around them. There was no escaping it, for better or worse. Now the rest of them were left in the position of clearly being aware of this and not knowing whether to address it or leave it alone, all the while trying to keep Nadine from noticing, so she wouldn't feel bad about them feeling bad about her feeling bad…

"Can we take a break?" Riley asked after a few minutes. "I think I need coffee or something, if I'm going to make it through the night."

"Me, too," Kayla nodded.

"I should check to see how Jenna's doing with her paper," Rosa piped up. Soon, the three of them were filing out of the Hex. As the door shut behind them, Maya let out a breath.

"Looks like you were elected," Nadine told her. Turning around, Maya found that she had gone to sit on the ground, back to the wall. She went and joined her.

"I think it's the teacher thing. You would think they'd pick Riley half as much, she's a shrink."

"Yeah, but no one wants that," Nadine tilted her head to look at her. "Anyway, I think it's not the teacher thing so much as you're usually the one it's easiest to talk to when everything's so… you know." Maya couldn't help but smile, looping her arm with Nadine's.

"I appreciate the vote of confidence." They were quiet for a few seconds. "For the record, Lucas is way easier to talk to, but maybe that's just me."

"I don't know, your husband's Texas through and through, you're like fifty-fifty, New York balances you out or something."

"If I can borrow from Riley, I think that's called deflecting," Maya gave her a look. Nadine let out a breath. "They're not going to come back in here until we talk, are they?"

"I almost didn't come tonight," Nadine confessed. "I figured I'd be too much of a downer on everyone else, and lo and behold…" she gestured around the empty studio.

"You're not a downer," Maya insisted.

"I don't want to make it look like I'm not happy for Isadora and Farkle, I am. I can't wait to see the baby, find out if it's a boy or a girl, find out what they'll name it and who it'll look like the most. I can't wait for all the pictures, and the videos, and to see how Ada responds to her new brother or sister…"

"I know," Maya quietly replied.

She almost told Nadine about the tour right then, out of some notion that it might be something good for her to hold on to, but… No, it wouldn't have been right, wouldn't have fixed anything. She was better off sticking to the plan, not telling anyone until they had more details.

"You know, there's one positive about all this waiting," she stated instead. Nadine silently asked what that was with a curious look. "Then maybe your kid and mine will be closer in age, whenever you get yours and I have mine." One beat, and Nadine laughed.

"That'll be nice," she agreed with a nod.

"Might be in the same year," Maya added.

"Besties," Nadine went on.

"For life," Maya swore. "And then, plot twist, they fall in love, get married, and we are set for life."

"You know, if that actually happened, we would lose our minds," Nadine laughed.

"Us? What about the guys?" Maya nodded toward the door. They could faintly hear the basketball hitting the backboard of the hoop.

"Oh, I might just want it to happen for that moment alone," Nadine just near collapsed in Maya's lap from the laughter now.

"Everything will happen when it's meant to happen. And it is meant to happen, so it will. Your kid might not have been born yet, might not even have been conceived. But one day you'll get that call, and then the rest of us, we're going to be right here, waiting for as long as it takes, same as we are tonight, waiting for the call from New York."

Catching a sniffle, Maya looked back to Nadine. Even though she cried, her tears were following the curve of a smile as they fell. Nadine turned so far as to embrace her friend, and Maya returned the gesture at once.

"I'm getting used to sleeplessness with my shifts at the hospital, how are you going to look at school tomorrow?" Nadine asked as they still held to one another.

"I might have to skip the lunch time dance lesson and take a nap instead," Maya smiled, which made Nadine chuckle. "Just hope this kid gets born before I have to take off."

After the hug broke, the two friends shared a look before standing up and moving out to confirm their suspicions. Peering through the window, they could just make out a few figures standing around outside the studio, idling. When Maya opened the door, Riley, Rosa, and Jenna stood there, coffee cups in hand as they watched the guys – joined by Kayla – back at the hoop.

"You guys coming back or what?" Maya spoke, startling the trio by the door and making Nadine snort.

"I almost called out to her," Rosa shook her head to herself before shouting out to the guys so they'd let Kayla know they were headed back in.

When she jogged over to rejoin them, Jenna also came into the Hex. As it turned out, she'd worked on her paper for about fifteen minutes before the sound of the rebounding ball called to her and she went out to join the guys. When Rosa and the others had stepped out for refreshments and to let Maya and Nadine talk, Jenna had finally realized she had no intention of getting back to work that night, which was fine. It was already near on two thirty in the morning, and she would get nowhere that wouldn't sound like gibberish upon rereading.

"Jenna, any preferences on what we do next?" Nadine asked the newcomer. Her renewed wakefulness and smile seemed to work like a wave over the band, as they looked to the girl standing in the open booth door. Rosa waved her over, and after a moment she stepped in and shut the door, finding a seat on the displaced stool in the corner.

"I don't know… Something happy, for the baby," Jenna decided.

"I like the sound of that," Maya agreed.

"I have an idea for that," Riley spoke up, and so she was given the floor. She set her hands back to the keys before her, and almost as soon as she started to play the others started to fall in with her, resetting the Hex on its vibrant way.

As the minutes ticked on by, deeper into the night and nearer still to sunrise and the new day, they liked to imagine that, even as they all sat here, waiting on the news, back in Houston another small gathering was sitting in wait, finding their anticipation in a way redoubled as they considered their own future addition, cooking away in the belly of Chiara Mantovani. If not for the hour at which this whole thing had started, they would probably have driven on over to Austin and been with the rest of them. All they could do now was look forward to all of them catching up in the morning.

They weren't sure how much time had passed before they became aware that the guys had either finished with their shoot off or simply decided they were done, but then there they were, crowded around the console, listening in as the band continued to play, sending off their musical vibes clear across the sky, from TX to NY and the growing Minkus family.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners