September 5th 2020

Chapter 249
Their Flight to Sisters

Neither of the arriving duo had to work very hard to locate their ride once they got off the plane. They had barely cleared the gate when they heard a call for Maya from across the mass of people ahead of them. Aiding them in finding the source of this call, they quickly spotted a pair of hopping girls waving their arms at them.

"Woah, is that Emma? She got tall!" Riley blinked, spotting Maya's step-stepsister. Emma had come to use the word as it showed how there had been 'two steps' in between to make them sisters. The sister part was always going to be the most important part.

"Yeah," Maya laughed. "She went and hit that growth spurt. Teddy's so jealous, she's actually two inches taller than him now and she won't let him forget it."

The boy in question could eventually be spotted, along with his father, standing near Eliza and Emma, who might as well have been holding giant welcome signs with the way they awaited the visitors' approach. As soon as they were able to do it, they hurried to pile on for a hug with their big sister. Maya had long declared that this right here was always her favorite part of these visits, no matter who was the visitor or visited, and her sisters did not disagree. The thrill of the reunion was simply the best.

"I'm so glad you guys are here this time," Eliza was all smiles. "Although I wish you could have brought the others, too."

"The others wished that, too," Maya promised her.

It would not have been fair to any of them to always have these sleepovers in Austin, and when the plan had started to come together for them to hold this one out in Tucson, at the Hart-Lane house, there'd been no second thought required. The only hang up came in the form of the Hunter girls, and even Cecilia, who got an invite by virtue of being Sam's girlfriend. But then just because Maya and Riley could decide to fly off to Tucson for a few days, the rule did not apply equally to Nellie, Gracie, or Haley, and there just had been no way to make it happen for them, so they had to stay home. One had thrown a bit of a fit, the other had cried, and the third did not entirely understand what was happening but landed somewhere in the middle.

"Can we see your ring?" Emma asked Riley, once the group had retrieved the luggage and made it into James Lane's truck. Maya tried not to smirk, thinking how her sisters had been sneaking looks at Riley's hand ever since they'd all come together. It was not surprising in the slightest that the two of them had been eager to learn of her engagement to Dylan, which meant another wedding in the offing. Maya was pretty sure they were campaigning to get an invite. She and Riley had already vowed that it would be better not to mention their appointment at the bridal shop, in part, because as soon as the girls knew they would then want to come along, and they wouldn't have it in them to say no.

Riley held up her hand, gladly, and Eliza and Emma both leaned in to get a good look. This led to a litany of questions, the kind anyone newly engaged would soon receive, from any number of people. When was the wedding? What kind of dress would she get? Alright, once they got on to the dress, they didn't wander too far off. They were wholly devoted to their fashion design, as they had been for a while now. For all the knowledge and skill they would take in, their output was evolving, too, as the many, many photos they sent their sister showed.

"So, where's the rest of our Sleepster crew?" Maya asked, when Riley started throwing her 'bail out' eyes. If they went any further, her appointment secret would be teased out.

"Cara took Ginny and Sadie out for 'supplies,'" Emma reported. "Maisie's home with Mom," she went on, and Maya smiled. She didn't know what made her happier, seeing how deeply the Hart and Lane kids had grown to love their respective stepparent or the anticipation to see her littlest sibling.

Maisie Hart-Lane was turning a year old in just a month, which barely felt real, except that naturally it was. They had seen her, in person, in photos, videos and video calls… She had her mother's eyes, and her father's smile, and they weren't entirely sure which side of the family had provided the rest of her features, as both Abigail and James would insist those were his grandmother's ears or her grandfather's, his mother's nose or her father's and all his siblings'. This didn't matter so much. She was a beautiful amalgamation, and they loved her more and more every day she was in their lives.

"I can't wait until she's old enough to remember these sleepovers," Eliza smiled. "When she can write, she can sign the contract."

It already felt like they were all growing up much faster than their big sister was able to keep up with, but then that had always been the case, especially for how they lived in another state, diminishing the amount of times they could be together physically. Then again, it could be just as striking to think of those siblings she got to see weekly, sometimes daily. The twins would be nine soon, MJ would be seven in December, and Haley, her little 4H girl was about to be four years old over the coming summer…

But the Hart-Lanes… Except for Wyatt, who was born the same year as the twins, and Maisie, that whole group had been bigger when she'd even met them. That did not make seeing them grow up feel any less jarring. Sam was going to be eighteen this year, Teddy a year behind him, and Cara another year behind him, while Eliza and Emma were breaking into their teens this year… All these times she'd rolled her eyes when her parents would overreact at her own growth, now she wished she could take them back because, yeah, it could really knock the breath out of you sometimes. She couldn't imagine what it would feel like when she'd be having those realizations over her own children.

Arriving at the house, Maya quickly saw hers and Riley's bags disappear through the door, as Teddy, Eliza, and Emma grabbed them and carried them off to the attic.

"Full service siblings," she turned to Riley, who was busy looking up at the house, taking it all in. This was the first time she'd been out here, though she'd heard of it many times in the years since Abigail had moved the kids out here. She pointed to the attic windows.

"The spaceship?"

"And our lodgings and the site of Sleepster 2028," Maya confirmed with a nod.

Walking into the house, it didn't take long for them to find that Cara and her cousins had returned from their errands. They'd just made it over the threshold when Ginny and Sadie Chen came hurrying down the stairs like they'd just learned of the arrival. Luna's girls, aged twelve and eight respectively, did not spare their cousin Maya in striking her with their growth. One could hardly tell they'd only known one another for a little under four years. Maya definitely tried not to think about it too much, mostly because it usually sent her spiraling into the thought that it had been just as many years since Kermit had passed. They were coming up on that anniversary again, and it never got any easier.

"We got so much candy!" Sadie proclaimed, only to shushed by her older sister, like she feared an adult – other than her cousin – would overhear and take it away from them.

"So what I'm getting is there won't be any actual sleeping at this sleepover? Just a sugar crash down the line?" Maya inquired, making the girls laugh. "Everyone's upstairs?" she asked, and the girls nodded. "You guys remember my friend Riley, yeah?"

"She's in the band, too," Ginny stated by way of confirmation. Like the rest of the family, she was a big TXNY fan.

"I am!" Riley confirmed, smiling bright.

"Woah!" Sadie blinked, catching a glimpse of the ring on her hand. "That's so sparkly…"

Making it up the stairs, the quartet continued up the next set of stairs, heading into the attic. As they went, Maya thought she caught a glimpse of a watching eye, from the crack in Wyatt's bedroom door, only to see it disappear. She wondered what sneaky trick her little brother was up to, but for now she had to keep up with the girls and Riley.

Stepping into the attic, Maya and Riley discovered that the girls had already been hard at work, preparing for the weekend. There were inflatable mattresses, and sleeping bags, already laid out on the floor, and Ginny and Sadie's bags were near where they'd sleep. And someone had installed string lights, not unlike the ones they'd had up in attic back at Maya and Lucas' house, when they'd all packed in up there on a previous Sleepster. They had gone and turned it into a staple of these nights they'd share.

"Maya!" She was nearly bowled over as Cara Hart-Lane launched into her sister's arms.

For as long as Maya had known her, it had always felt as though her sister here was her very own clone. The more she'd grown though, it had really started to feel more like she looked a lot like their aunt Luna. Now, at sixteen, the shift felt that much more pronounced. She and Luna could have been twins. Even though Teddy was older than her still, she was the oldest girl, and with Wyatt as the only other boy, this almost gave her precedence as 'the oldest,' with Sam being away from home for nearly three years already. The role suited her better than anyone might have anticipated. For a girl who had sought to bail and go live with her sister in Texas after Kermit's passing, she had now fully embraced her place in this home.

Of course, that would all be brought to change in a year's time. She was finishing out her junior year in high school, and after one more year there, she would be college bound. She still had this goal of moving to Austin, to live with her sister and her husband while she went to college, the same way Sam was doing now. And she was still welcome to do so. Sam may not have expressed where he'd end up after graduation, but he had stated his intentions to move out of the house once he got to that point, so the room would be free and ready to welcome a new lodger.

"I was thinking we could go and have dinner somewhere and then we could go to the movies after?" Cara asked Maya and Riley. Maya looked to her sister's expression, stole a look to Riley, who would know that this was where Cara worked. What she might not know, was that this was also where Cara's boyfriend Declan worked. The two went to different schools, so it was where they'd met, and become friends, and – by her sister's swoony declarations – had started to fall in love.

"You know…" Maya started, after Riley nodded. "A movie sounds fun. Although…" she looked to Teddy, standing there with them. "What about you guys, you and Wyatt?"

"Oh, he won't come," Teddy shook his head.

"He won't? Why not?" Riley asked. Teddy and the Hart-Lane girls shared a look.

"He's kind of upset right now, because Sam and Lucas and MJ aren't here with you. Usually it's us girls doing our thing, and then the boys have theirs, too…" Cara explained.

"Oh…" Maya felt her heart sink just a bit. Suddenly, his spying from his room took on a different meaning. "I'll be right back, okay?"

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners