October 26th 2020

Chapter 300
Their Spooking of the Night

Much as the first part of the evening had felt riddled with hiccups, by the time the activities shifted into the house for the party, it did get to feel a bit more… Halloweeny. Music, dancing, crazy cakes, friends in crazier costumes… Suddenly, both Maya and Lucas could look to one another and think of how eleven years ago that night, things had taken a turn between them, and the morning after that, sealed with a kiss…

"This is the first time we've left her with anyone that wasn't one or more of the four of us," Asher let out a breath, when asked how he and Ray and the girls were doing, two months into their shared parenthood. Specifically, baby Giulia had been left to the care of Mr. and Mrs. Garcia, who could not have been more in love with their little granddaughter if they tried. They'd come to collect her here at the house, shortly after she and her parents had arrived, so that her many aunts and uncles would get some time with her, face to face. The child was still too little to realize it, but oh how many people she had wrapped around her finger already…

"That's a good thing, right?" Rosa asked.

"Depends on who you ask," Asher tipped his head over to Chiara, carefully pulling chips from a bowl, as her long, billowing sleeves tended to get in the way.

As much as she had seemed to breeze through the pregnancy, the part afterward had been harder. Suddenly finding herself with a baby daughter in her arms, it had awakened something of an ache for her family back in the Italy and the home she had left behind upon coming here. Her family had flown in to meet Giulia, of course, and they'd been in Houston for a few weeks, but then they'd gone home, and Chiara really got to feel their absence.

It had gotten better over time, but not so much that the sadness didn't find its way back in now and again, resolving itself into so much protectiveness for the child she'd brought into the world. According to Sophie, she barely slept on the nights when Asher and Ray had Giulia at their house. And tonight, much as she knew that of course her daughter would be safe with her grandparents, there was an inevitable yearning for their reunion which made it harder for her to enjoy the party. Sophie could only do so much to hide her concerns, even as she did her very best to try and cheer her wife up. She finally got her to get up and go dance with her, and from there Chiara did manage to brighten again.

"So, what are you two up to after tonight?" Nadine asked Maya, who had not been paying attention. When Nadine tapped her on the shoulder, she turned her head, eyes full of questions. "You and Lucas, after tonight," she repeated.

"What? Did he say something to…" Maya blinked.

"What?" Nadine laughed.

"Never mind, I… Oh, the anniversary, you mean?" she realized, and Nadine confirmed with a nod. "I don't know, he's in charge of that part again, so I just follow his lead. I just know that there's a thing I'm supposed to bring with me to school tomorrow and open after last bell." The memory of this brief bit of instruction, given to her that morning when they got up, was able to get her smiling momentarily, prying her away from what she'd been focused on earlier. Nadine noticed the change though, and she gave her friend and bandmate a curious look.

"What's up?"

"Nothing," Maya promised, trying to wave it off.

"Liar," Nadine 'accused,' making her sigh. So, she turned her head again, discreetly pointing out the sort of awkwardness happening across the living room.

Here was Sam, chatting with some of his school friends, who had come to the party. There was Dora, signing away with Kayla and Will in what felt like she'd taken a break from her hearing aids. And then there was Cecilia, sitting to a piece of 'brain' cake as she watched the people dancing.

"Am I missing something?" Nadine asked, not getting exactly what Maya was getting at.

"And if I could tell you right now, I would, but I can't," Maya nodded at her.

Specifically, what she was able to notice, for knowing about what had happened earlier, was something of a conflict. Sam wanted to be nearer to Dora, maybe dance with her, and she wanted it, too. They had not meant for it all to happen that way, but now it had, and it had awakened something in them, had reminded them of all the things they had buried away for so long. Maya could more than understand how irresistible that feeling could get.

But then there was Cecilia, right there, and they were happy that she was here, they both were. She had been their friend, had been more to Sam, naturally, and despite everything that had come along, leading to their breakup, Dora still saw her as her friend, and Sam wanted them to be that again. So they wanted to go and see her, talk to her, except… Well, what if they gave themselves away? What would she think if she figured it out? More importantly, what would she feel? They were stuck, unable to get to each other and unable to get to her, while Cecilia… As resolved as she'd been to come anyway, now she was here and she looked like she had no idea what she was meant to do anymore. So she sat, and she ate her cake.

"Looks like a mess to me," Nadine declared, and Maya nodded once more. It definitely was that. "Who's that guy?"

"Which guy?" Maya turned to her, and Nadine pointed across the room. Even as Maya followed her finger, it moved, keeping up with its target's movements, approaching the couch where Cecilia sat. It took her a moment to remember whose costume that was, but then she was familiar enough with the way he walked to identify her former student.

"That's Tony Janacek," she blinked.

Playing like a silent act, they could only watch as Cecilia looked up when Tony spoke to her. He must have introduced himself, as she responded with a tip of the head and a readable declaration of her name. Tony pointed back, off to where people were dancing, and a surprised Cecilia appeared to kindly refuse, pointing to the floor and looking back to Tony. She'd likely stashed her crutch there. Whatever Tony said in response to this, it made her smile, or laugh, they couldn't say for sure. He might have asked her if she was sure she didn't want to give dancing a try, as she responded with a nod and an apologetic smile. Tony gave a courteous nod, then pointed to her plate. Cecilia pointed toward the kitchen, and with an exchange of waves, Tony walked off in search of cake. Cecilia looked back down to her plate for a moment, then back the way he'd gone, seeming to think to herself for a few seconds more before this sort of new breath in her convinced her to pick up her crutch and stand to head off to the kitchen, too.

Maya blinked. As baffled as she was about what had just happened and what it may or may not lead to, her gaze couldn't help but travel in search of the other two, where they'd been. They'd seen it, too, clearly. Dora was understandably surprised, even as she reacted as well as any friend might, when another friend had been going through a bad time and something came along to refresh their spirits. For all that though, she looked just as curious as Maya was about how Sam would react upon seeing his ex-girlfriend make a possible connection with someone new.

Oh, he was surprised, too, obviously, but if there was any concern from anyone that he might suddenly see this and feel the stirring of lingering emotions, making him want to get her back, that wasn't what happened, not by any means. He looked… relieved, almost hopeful. For some reason, it reminded Maya of what Cecilia had told her, two years back, another Halloween caught in their tale. He's got this stupid big heart, and he loves, and he loves, and he loves, and asking him to be any other way would be asking him not to be as good as he is… And he's really good…

When they'd broken up, Cecilia and him, it was like the floor had fallen out from under them. He'd known there was no coming back from it, that as happy as they had felt they were, they were not seeing the truth underneath. They would always love one another, but their lives were just destined for different things, and the breakup had saved them from sinking so far that they would have destroyed one another on the way out. Cecilia had needed to confront her emotions, and she'd done that, when she'd visited Maya, but Sam… He needed to know she was okay, couldn't bear to cause her any hurt. Her maybe forging something with Tony, who he knew to be a solid guy, well… that might have been the best thing to happen.

Right then, Maya couldn't think why she'd felt in any way upset at her little brother. She knew who he was in his heart, and this thing with him and Dora, well… Who of them hadn't done something without thinking it through? Sam… Sam rarely did, and maybe this would be good for him in the end.

"What are we looking at?"

Maya and Nadine both jumped, startled, and they turned to find Lucas standing there, Zay following right behind like maybe they had both been going around, seeking their wives.

"Nothing," the two of them replied at once, grabbing their respective husband's hand and leading him off in opposite ways.

"Nothing, or more 'drama?'" Lucas asked Maya as she pulled him to an empty spot where they might dance.

"Please, I need to think about other things than teenage triangles right now," she pleaded with an exaggerated huff.

"Okay, okay," he laughed, one hand finding hers, the other settling around her waist. "Better?"

"Yes," she smiled, then, "Turn this way."

"Okay?" he followed her lead. She was looking back toward the kitchen. "You know, you're giving mixed signals," he teased her.

"Yeah, well, it's been a weird night."

"And getting weirder?"

"You could say that… New player, maybe."

"New…" he looked, but there was nothing much to see from where they stood.

"Would it be weird if you lifted me up right now?" she asked, and he gave her a look. "Hey, it's not my fault, I didn't want to get involved," she insisted. Lucas bit back a laugh. "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in," she recited, sounding very much like her mother for a moment.

"You know you can't give me all that and not tell me the rest," Lucas looked to the kitchen again, like he might know whatever this was about if he saw something, anything.

"No, I guess not," Maya tapped her hand at his chest so he'd look at her again before motioning for him to bow his head until she could whisper at his ear. With the beat of the music around them, he might not have caught half of what she said, but then he stood back up with a look of surprise, and one which read like 'this is good?' "Maybe?" Maya shrugged. They wouldn't know until a few more steps went by, right? "Now, can we please just dance?"

"We could," Lucas slowly nodded. "I just get this feeling like we haven't been bad good guys enough tonight…" Oh, this was an excellent point. Snow White and her prince had to see about some spooks while they had the chance…

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners