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

September 23rd 2020

Chapter 267
Their Step to Change

Friday night – Friars' field trip

"Right, I'm just going up to change and…" Maya started up the stairs, made it halfway before climbing back down and stopping on the bottom step. "Casual or formal? Halfway?" she asked Lucas, looking down at herself.

She didn't have a choice to change. They would joke that, sooner or later, at least one day a week, she'd come home at the end of the day with some 'artistic stain' or another. This week, maybe because of all the field trips, she'd been spared… right up until today, when Lucas had surprised her, meeting her outside school so he might drive her home. She had greeted him by pulling her jacket open to reveal what could only be described as a patchwork of paint and paper across her shirt.

"How?" was all he could say, shaking his head.

"Dude, you wouldn't believe me if I told you," she'd laughed.

She had been looking forward to this night all day long. Sure, she'd loved her time at work, as she did all her days, stains and complications in laundry included. But now the week was over, and she was headed out with her husband for dinner and a stroll through their favorite museum without a pack of wandering teenagers to look after. Casual or formal, well… Lucas would never say no to seeing her in one of her best dresses, but then it was Friday night, she'd been working all week…

"Oh, casual," he nodded.

"Okay, coming up," she smiled before turning again and dashing up the stairs.

"Want me to get that shirt in the wash?" Lucas called up after her. A moment later, the stained shirt came floating down from above and he caught it.

By the time he'd gone down to the basement, treated the shirt as best he could and put it in the machine, he came back up just as Maya came back down, changed and ready to go. Sam and Cecilia were in the kitchen, making dinner for themselves and a few friends who would be coming to join them for the evening, and they were put in charge of looking in on the washing machine. With all this behind them, they were good to go.

"Where do you want to eat?" Lucas asked as they drove off.

"Right now, I don't know about you, but I just really want to grab a booth at the diner," Maya hummed, like she could already smell the burgers.

The diner, the Garcias' diner, had been a staple from way back on her first days with her new Texan friends. It had been where she'd had her very first job, waiting tables, from age fourteen until she'd finished high school and moved to Houston. It was such a symbol of those middle and high school days, for her, for Lucas, for their group of friends, and coming back to it now, the memories were still very much alive.

"Hey, Nando," they both greeted the man when they walked in. Fernando Garcia was as much a staple of those teen years as the building itself, with that laughing, lively voice. He would always ask them how they were doing, what they were up to, and it might have come off as pleasantries from most people, but Fernando remembered it all. Whenever Maya and Lucas walked in, he would welcome them like a father with his kids.

"The usual?" he called to them with that great big smile of his, to which they nodded. "Excellent, I'll be right over."

"Is it weird to think how this place hasn't changed, ever since I first came here as a kid? There have been changes, here and there over time, but to me it still feels the way it did back then," Lucas stated as he and Maya took to their booth.

"Not weird, I get what you mean," she promised. "I mean I worked here all through high school, I can navigate the place blindfolded even now and I know I'll find anything I try to find. Fernando doesn't like change."

"No, he doesn't," Lucas chuckled.

"He'll let the others talk him into some… aesthetic changes, to spruce up the place, but don't go moving the utensils or the packets behind the counter, he believes in the 'efficiency of a long-standing system,'" she quoted, which boosted her husband's laughter. "He really said that," Maya grinned. "He wasn't wrong though, was he? This place is a well-oiled machine, learned a lot from it."

As they waited for their food, and then once they received it and started to eat, Maya and Lucas swapped stories of their days at work, her at school and him at the bookstore. After having had the rest of the week's days free to go as he pleased, whenever he wasn't on one field trip or another with Maya and her students, today Lucas had been working at the store all day. The way he told it, he'd spent so many days vaguely taking in the exhibit that he'd found himself wandering the art section on his lunch break. He would have been at the school, on his usual lunch date with his wife, but then they'd figured that, seeing as they were going out that night, they could skip this one.

"Wait, did you do research?" Maya wondered, amused.

"I might have done, yeah, just a bit," he admitted.

"Does that mean you'll be able to… guide me?" she asked, in a tone that felt almost better attached to a different activity.

"You might need to keep the old ladies away," he replied, pulling her right back into the giggles of a few days past. That memory could probably keep her stocked in laughter for years. "Even though I didn't have you there to do so, it reminded me of when I had just gotten the job, when you would quiz me."

"I loved the quizzing," Maya beamed, recalling as well. His getting the job at the museum had really been something that brought them closer together. It had developed his own love of art, which gave them all the opportunity to have this thing in their lives they could talk about, time and again, with what felt like an endless supply of avenues to travel. Maya loved to imagine them, decades from now, an old married couple, walking the museums together.

While Lucas had been exploring the arts over at the bookstore, Maya had spent her lunchtime without the rest of her usual lunch crew. When the time had rolled around and neither Stella nor Phoebe showed up, she had to wonder what was going on. She'd definitely seen them in the halls that morning, and they were always freakishly punctual, like they might have had super speed powers, taking them from their last morning class within what felt like instants following the bell. When five, then ten minutes had gone by, Maya had gone searching for them, only to find them sat in the cafeteria, among the rest of the students. Alright, maybe not right in the heart of it. They sat on the end of one of the tables next to the big windows, side by side. Stella had her hair up on the sides, which allowed Maya to spot something in her ear. Phoebe was writing something on her phone and Stella spoke when she showed it to her. The plugs meant that she could hear what her friend was saying, but they were clearly making it work.

It was the first step in Stella's evolution, after spending all those months eating in the art room. Maya had a feeling she wouldn't see those two in her classroom every day at lunch anymore, and as easy as it would have been for her to feel saddened by this 'departure,' what she felt most of all was happiness, watching her students grow. She had returned to her classroom, grabbed her lunch, and gone to join her co-workers in the teachers' lounge. She hadn't gotten to eat in there for most of the year, once Stella had joined her, and then Phoebe, and then the dance lessons had happened… She had gotten comfortable in this situation, too, but now she looked forward to spending more time with Morgan, and Cory, and Lindsay, and all the others.

When they'd arrived at the museum, the girl at the front desk, who had been there all week whenever the field trip groups came along, almost did a double take when she saw the pair of them back again.

"We should get a gold star, five days in a row," Maya joked as they moved into the exhibit proper.

"Or a gift shop coupon," Lucas offered.

"Or that," Maya agreed. "Oh, there's this print I keep seeing when we walk by…"

"Oh, I know," Lucas smirked back at her. Like he could go anywhere with her and not notice her roving 'art eyes.' She could only laugh for being 'busted.'

It really was a whole other experience, for them to be here now, on their own, really taking in the various pieces on display. As they walked, arm in arm, Lucas would occasionally lean in to whisper one of his newly acquired facts at her ear, lifting her features into a strong smile whenever he did.

"They're closing in fifteen minutes," Lucas finally had to point out, looking around. Even after all these years, he knew what closing time at the museum looked like. "Do you want to make that stop at the gift shop?" he asked Maya, who had been observing one painting for several minutes already. She blinked, turning back to him like she had heard everything he'd said but her brain needed to let the thoughts connect now that she wasn't looking at the painting anymore.

"Oh, yeah, yeah," she took his hand, leading him along. "I thought it would be a great addition to the house, I'm not sure where yet."

Lucas hadn't even really picked up on what was so special about this print, only that he'd spotted Maya's roving eyes all week long. Now that he did see it, it made him smile, as he understood why she'd been so drawn to the image… Galloping horses… It had made her think of him, and the ranch.

"Aren't they beautiful?" she asked him, with such a happy smile, the kind that always got his heart fluttering.

"They are," he easily agreed. By the time the PA system was letting people know it was time to leave, Maya and Lucas were on their way out with the rolled-up print in hand. They walked back to the car, debating where they might put it. If left to their own devices – Maya for certain – every last inch of their walls would have been covered with paintings, and prints, drawings, photos… They were pretty good at being discerning in their choices, and if they couldn't be, well, they were coming to explore something of a rotation system, swapping some pieces out a couple times over the year.

"Maybe we could wait to put it up," Maya suggested as they drove on toward home.

"Wait for what?" Lucas asked.

"Next year," Maya replied as though it was the obvious answer. Once she said it, he soon connected the dots. Of course, next year, when he would finish school for good, when he would move on to work at Sullivan Stables. It would be a sign of his achievements.

"I do like that idea…" he slowly nodded, laughing a moment later when he saw the look on his wife's face.

"We'll get a frame for it and everything."

Lucas did not lack for times where he would be reminded of how close he was getting to graduation, to moving on to the next step in his life lately. It wasn't a surprise. He'd had those times when he'd been about to start his last year of high school, and his last year at university back in Houston. It wasn't particular to him either, it was any of them about to graduate, and there were plenty more around them who were coming up on those final years. Dylan would be finishing up after next year, too, and so would Rosa, and so would Sam… It felt like just yesterday that they'd all started, didn't it? Just yesterday that Dylan had finally decided it was his time, now that he knew what he wanted to do, just yesterday that Rosa had found her own path, too, after going the undeclared path.

And Sam… Just yesterday, it felt, he had been coming to Maya and him, putting forth this idea of his moving to Austin to live with them while he went to school out here, and now he was one year off from being done, from leaving them. Lucas knew Maya desperately wanted to know what he'd choose to do, whether he'd stay in Austin or not, he didn't blame her. Sam was his brother now, too, and though he would support whatever choice he made, he would be lying if he said a part of him didn't hope this choice would involve him settling down to stay here, in their city.

Well, they'd figure it out soon enough. It all hinged on Cecilia, and what she would do when she finished high school, right as Sam finished college. He'd already told them that he and Cecilia had talked it over, that his being done with school would be a blessing, enabling him to go where she went. Now, all they needed to know was the location of this 'where she went.' With senior year coming in the fall, she'd be sending out college applications, and then they'd have to see where she got accepted. Sam was very Sam-like in his fierce belief that his girlfriend was the smartest cookie in the box and would get in anywhere she applied.

They were in the living room when Maya and Lucas returned. Their friends had gone on home, and now Cecilia was asleep, leaning to Sam's shoulder as he kept on watching the movie they'd been watching, the volume turned low.

"Hey," he whispered, looking back to his sister and brother-in-law. "I know I have to drive her home, she just…" he nodded down to his sleeping girlfriend.

"How about you just call her father and ask if she can spend the night," Maya offered. "On the couch," she specified after a beat. "Actually, why don't you let me take care of that?"

"That'd be great, thanks," Sam nodded. In response, Maya leaned over the couch to kiss the top of her brother's head. "We took care of your shirt," Sam informed her, and it was a mark of the good evening she'd had with Lucas that it took her a moment to remember what had happened with that.

"What would I do without you, Sammy?" she smiled, doubling down with a quick hug.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners