A/N: The new chapter of "We Three Hearts" is now up!

September 2nd 2020

Chapter 246
Their Question For Always

Maya: Hey, heads up, whatever Riley told you to get you out here today, it has nothing to do with me, okay?
Nadine: What do you mean? She said she wanted everyone together for lunch, she didn't mention you.
Maya: Okay, that actually makes sense.
Nadine: Are you okay though?
Maya: Yeah, yeah, I'm good, but I told Riley there was something wrong at Stage Ready Houston and I wanted her to come with me. That's why she got all you guys, whoever is going to be out at the Nook today.
Nadine: Why'd you do that?
Maya: Because I'm a sneaky friend.
Nadine: Well I knew that!
Nadine: OH!
Nadine: Is this what I think it is?
Maya: I'm pretty sure it is! Can you let the others know?
Nadine: On it!
Nadine: I'm not going to jinx it, am I?
Maya: Guess we'll see!
Nadine: That's not helping!
Maya: Isn't it though? See you later!

"Is that the theater?" Riley asked, and Maya looked up, trying not to look like she was trying to keep her screen out of view.

"Uh, yeah, I just had to check in," she lied. Riley just smiled and nodded.

"Well, we'll be there in a minute," she pointed up ahead.

Indeed they would be there very, very soon. They were just now passing the infamous fountain, the site of what was to be Dylan's big moment and hers. Maya could just discreetly get a look at Dylan from where she sat, and she could tell he was very aware that they had just passed it. Minutes from now, they would be back here, as all the steps would fall into place. Before that could happen though, they needed to get to the theater and set everything in motion.

"What do you want me to do?" Riley asked when the car pulled up to the curb outside the theater. She had that look in her eyes, that very caring friend look. If asked, she would have marched right into that theater with her and given a stern talking to on to some unsuspecting 'culprit.' This was not what Maya needed, not in the slightest.

"I think… I mean, it already means a lot to know that you're out here with me, you guys should walk around, it's a nice day out. I'll go in and get things handled as quick as I can, then I can join you and we can head to the Nook."

"Are you sure?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Maya smiled, giving her best friend's arm a squeeze and working oh so hard not to start blubbering with emotion over what was about to happen for her.

Maya got out of the car, tapping Lucas' window as she went. He'd know what that meant. The plan was for her to go into the theater, and not too long after he would go in after her, under pretext that she had left something in the car which she might need. He didn't even have to go into detail over what it was, just hightail it out to join her. This would leave Riley and Dylan alone in the car, at which point he would find his moment and suggest they go walk around a while, recalling the old days when she'd been a student at the university nearby. This would take them over to the fountain, and then…

"Oh, Maya's going to need…" Lucas exclaimed, a few seconds after the theater door had shut. He grabbed something from the compartment between the seats, before Riley had time to spot what it might have been – it was a roll of mints – and hurried out of the car after his wife. He'd barely gone through the door, not looking back, when he spotted Maya waiting there, hiding behind a plant which allowed her to spy out the window.

"Get over here," she whispered, waving him over. Lucas hurried up, standing behind her.

"Your mints," he offered the roll. She snickered.

"Are you saying my breath stinks?" she joked.

"Not that I've ever noticed, but I can check," he tossed back.

"Later, later," Maya turned back to look out the window. "Still in the car…"

"Yeah, give them a minute," Lucas told her.

"Maya?" They both stood up straight and turned. Maya relaxed at once.

"Oh, hey, Janey," she waved to the woman who happened to run Stage Ready at the theater here. "We're just… Our friends are out there, it's a thing, I'll explain later."

"O-okay…" Janey laughed and carried on with her day. Maya and Lucas shared a look before turning again to spy on the car.

"They're out!" Lucas whispered.

"I can see that! Hang on…" Maya whispered back. They moved closer, looking for… "There they go," she pointed to the couple, walking off together, hand in hand.

"What now?"

"Wait until they get far enough, then we get back in the car and drive around that way to get at the fountain from the other side," Maya directed, grabbing his arm so they would step out of the theater, waiting for their moment. "Okay, go, go."

With little to no regard to how odd they must have looked, they got back in the car, where Lucas focused on the road ahead while Maya kept a roving eye to ensure neither of their friends – but especially Riley – would not see them and end up figuring out that something was going on, at least more than what she'd been led to believe.

"Are we good? Do you see them?" Lucas asked. They had made their way around, now parking not too far from the fountain but far enough that they should not have been seen.

"Yeah, I can see them through the… water," Maya mimed the rush of the fountain spray. "They're sitting on the edge there," she pointed. When she climbed out of the car, Lucas hurried to follow.

"We should be able to make it over there without her seeing us," he indicated one spot, moving along a few store fronts. "Then again, maybe we should stay back, give them their… Okay, we're moving," he sprinted off again, when Maya went where he'd pointed without a word.

Sure, they weren't going to interrupt, wouldn't get so close as to hear what was being said between the two of them, but it wouldn't be so bad for them to sneak a peek, yeah? These were their friends, some of their closest. And they had come all this way with them…

From what they could see, they could guess that Dylan had suggested they go for a walk – as had been the plan – after which one or the other of them had seen the fountain. As it held such a place in their relationship, they had gone and sat in the spot where they had sat so many times before, where they had spoken their love for one another once before. Today, they would speak it again, or Dylan would, and if all went well Riley would do so as well.

"I don't know how much longer I can handle this," Maya breathed, an eager little hop in her. Lucas practically had to lock her in place with his arms.

"Almost there," he reminded her. Sure, he was probably just as eager as she was, in his own way, but there was little else for them to do now except wait… and watch.

From what they could see of their friends out there, the smiles on them, Lucas and Maya guessed they must have been thinking back of previous times when they had been sitting here together, and how happy those memories made them. They could also see Dylan's hand as it brushed at his pocket, like he was waiting for just the moment.

"You know, I'm pretty sure we could walk out there right now and she wouldn't notice us," Lucas told Maya. She laughed, just enough that he could hear it. Riley had always had a fine ear for picking up on familiar sounds. Thankfully, just as Lucas said it, she was too focused on Dylan just now.

"Oh, I think he said something…" Maya patted at Lucas' arm with both hands without turning away. "She's looking at him like she knows what's happening now."

"Okay, okay," Lucas whispered, trying to get her to be quiet, as they could hear a thing at all. They could just barely see Riley's face from where they stood. They started forward now, the better for Maya to ever so casually pull out her phone and start recording the moment, for posterity, but mostly for Riley to see it again later. Knowing her, it would all feel like it had happened so fast and she wouldn't remember.

But Maya captured it. She got the moment Dylan stood from the fountain ledge and knelt before the already tearful Riley, producing the small box from his pocket and opening it before her. By this point, Lucas was standing behind his wife, almost holding the phone in place with her as she did her best not to be heard crying on the recording. She just about hit critical by the time Riley gave a very definitive 'yes' looking response. When Dylan stood back up even as she stood from the fountain ledge, they embraced and kissed… And then Riley almost fell back into the fountain, only to be caught by her brand-new fiancé, who pulled her back to himself for a beat before they laughed. Dylan stood back now – once he was sure she was steady on her feet – and he took the ring from the box before slipping it on her trembling finger.

"Honestly thought he'd drop it in the water," Lucas told Maya once she'd stopped the recording. "Almost dropping her in, that one I didn't see coming. Not that it wouldn't have been memorable," he added. They were walking over now, and when Dylan saw them, blurry as his eyes must have been from the tears, he motioned for Riley to look, too.

The way she looked, when she spotted Maya, they rightly guessed that she had figured out the charade all of a sudden. Her face was all aglow with happiness, and she looked to Dylan again for a moment before dashing off headlong into a massive hug with her best friend, who caught her on the fly and gave as much as she got.

"See? What did I tell you?" Maya whispered at her ear and Riley nodded. She'd waited, and the moment had come, and it had been everything she had ever wanted it to be.

"You still breathing?" Lucas asked Dylan, as he moved over to him.

"Yeah… I think so…" Dylan pressed a hand to his chest.

"Congratulations," Lucas clapped him on the shoulder. "What are you thinking right now?"

"Whether it's allowed for someone to have three best men?" Dylan declared, and Lucas laughed.

"I think the rule is 'if you want it, it's your day.'"

How they all ended up walking back to the car and driving to the Nook, none of them really remembered. The part they did remember though, and the one they'd laugh over for a while, was Riley realizing now that their friends would all be waiting for them, which was just as well, because she couldn't wait to see them, to share her good news, as though they wouldn't already have known by now.

Never would it be said that their group wasn't a time-efficient one. In the short time between Maya and Nadine's texts and the quartet's arrival at the Nook, they had gone and scared up some balloons and other sparkly decorations, the better to celebrate the newly engaged couple. When they'd walked in, there were Zay and Nadine, and Asher and Ray, and Sophie and Chiara, and Rebecca and Jax, and Rosa and Jenna, and Kayla and Will, and Willow and Lion, and Leona and Bishop… Everyone cheered, and Maya was once again on chronicling mode, filming everything from the burst of their waiting friends, to Dylan's sheer thrill to see them all, to Riley's slowly but surely turning into a human shaped happy tear.

It was a parade of hugs after this, hugs, and handshakes, and requests to see the ring, and demands for the story of this proposal… All the others really knew was that Riley and Dylan had made their way to Houston, under the pretense of friendly backup for Maya, in order for him to propose to her, in the city where their friendship had gone and evolved into love. Here, the video from the fountain soon found its way back on Maya's screen, placed in Riley's hands for her and Dylan to see, even as the others crowded around to have a look.

The whole lunch was a chaos of conversation, moving from the recounting of the proposal to questions of the wedding. It was all much too soon to even consider any amounts of details, with the bride and groom's heads still spinning over the events of the day, but they promised to let everyone know as soon as there was anything to know.

"Say the word and I'll kidnap you away from here," Maya whispered at Riley's ear at one point, to which Riley only smiled and set a kiss to her best friend's cheek.

They held down the Nook, easily for the entire afternoon and into early evening before they finally had to call it. Many of them were looking to a long drive home. Maya regained the front passenger seat, as Lucas drove them back to Austin. In the backseat, the newly engaged couple sat together once more, the return much more subdued than the morning's ride, the better to give them some much earned peace and quiet. They would take in hushed tones, leaving the pair in the front to catch the occasional laugh, to see them holding hands, every once in a while sharing a kiss… Maya and Lucas both were fairly certain that they had been entirely forgotten, as though the car was driving itself back home and Riley and Dylan were all on their own.

When they were dropped off in front of their home, the couple recalled their friends in the front seats with many thanks before disappearing off into the house.

"So, that happened," Lucas turned back to Maya with a smile before pulling them on to the road. She looked spent, happily so.

"It did… It did…"

"You're going up in the attic when we get home, aren't you?"

"Oh, so fast," Maya nodded, hands practically twitching. "But I can bring the sketchbook down anywhere after that," she assured him with a grin.

"You go wherever you need to go," Lucas insisted. "I'm sure I can find myself a spot near you anywhere."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners