November 14th 2020

Chapter 319
Their Growth in Demand

Day 1, Monday. Interviews - Austin

By now, her body had become so used to her schedule, waking up in the morning. Even when she didn't have to get up so early, on the weekends, she could never quite sleep in more than an extra hour. As soon as Monday rolled around then, she would open her eyes, and see the clock, most times a minute or two before her alarm even had a chance to go up, so that her finger would be out hovering over the button, ready to turn it off when it would start to beep. Today, although she wasn't going off to work, the time had been needed anyway. The band was due at the studio in a few hours, and by the time she was out the door and had the rest of them collected in Sparkles the minivan, they'd reach the studio right when they needed to reach it.

They didn't have so much to do today, the morning show first, and then in the afternoon the radio station. The rest of the day would be spent putting in more rehearsals for their first show, the following night, especially on their new songs.

"How long do you think it'll be before it's somewhere I can watch on my phone?" Lucas asked as they got up.

"I'm not sure… If I find it, I'll send it to you," Maya offered. "I can do a signal, a sort of 'hello, husband, I know you're watching, this one's for you,'" she intoned, making him laugh. "Not sure what it should be…"

"Whatever it is, I think I'll figure it out," Lucas pointed out.

"Challenge accepted," Maya tossed back. All along, as they got ready, and then downstairs over breakfast, she would 'practice' some potential signals to him. These, Lucas suspected, were in equal parts to amuse him and to confuse Sam. Actually, they were probably in majority to confuse Sam, who'd have no idea what they were going on about.

Picking up the rest of the band felt almost like doing pick ups on match days with the quiz team, where instead of a pack of high school girls she picked up a pack of grown women and long-time friends. Riley was first, though she had to double back when Door the dog followed her out and had to be convinced to go back inside. Then they got Rosa, dropping from the low wall outside her building where she'd been sitting in wait. Kayla came dashing out of her house, hands moving in such a way that her signs immediately had the intonation of frustration thanks to having accidentally overslept. Last of all was Nadine, who technically might have been picked up before both Rosa and Kayla, but then Maya had factored in the detour on her route, the better to give her extra time with the baby. They weren't headed away to Houston until tomorrow night, after the show, but Maya figured she'd want to bank as much time with Mia and with Zay as possible. When they pulled up to the house, the three of them were out there, with Mia in her father's arms, while her mother was leaning to kiss her face, and her little hand, several times over before finally kissing her father and hurrying toward the minivan.

"All good?" Maya asked when she climbed in.

"Yeah… Yeah… I've just… I haven't been away from her much since she was born," Nadine explained, looking like she was trying to give herself an internal pep talk at the same time. Having seen how this particular milestone had affected her and others before, it was one of those things Maya did not look forward to experiencing herself.

It had been almost eight years since the first time the band had gone through those studio doors. They'd been high school seniors at the time, not so young that they couldn't handle themselves on their own, and for that they had walked in unaccompanied, just three girls as nervous as they were ready to go. Still, with everything that had happened in their lives between then and now… it did sort of feel like an eternity. But they were still here, Maya, Riley, Nadine… Even though one of them had taken a four-year break in the middle of all that, it was in the past, and now there were more of them, with Rosa and Kayla… They had brand new stories to tell.

"What's on your mind?" Kayla asked Maya. She could always read people so well, which probably went hand in hand with having take her cues from something other than a voice or an intonation. Much as she wouldn't have seen herself lying, especially when asked point blank, the fact that Kayla was the one asking made Maya feel further compelled to explain.

"I guess I'm a little worried that they'll just keep asking about Ree, and the album, and the tour, like we're not really the ones they wanted to hear about." The rest of the band watched her signing, and it became clear to Maya that they had all been thinking it, privately.

She looked at them, and in her eyes she carried her sentiment on the matter. She was here as a member of TXNY, equal part, and that was always what she would be. They never had to worry about her putting herself ahead of them, of letting her head get big, full of hot air. And that was all they needed to know. They were looking back at her now, and their eyes said plenty, too. They were all on the same page.

"Are we too old for group hugs?" Kayla asked, smiling.

"To a hundred and three," Rosa vowed.

"To eternity," Riley pitched in.

"Whatever comes first," Maya declared.

"Works for me," Nadine beamed, moving into their band hug.

By the time they ended up back at the Hex, practicing until the afternoon interview, they were fairly satisfied with how their week was going so far. There had definitely been a few attempts for the questions to take a certain turn, but the band had all worked together in ever so covertly course correcting the whole thing until finally the interviewer got the message. Whether this would lose them any points in the long run, they didn't know, and frankly if this was the reason then they didn't mind it.

As they paused for lunch, back in the kitchen, there was a moment for them to stop and rewatch their interview, which had found its way as a video on the internet. Maya had already sent it to Lucas, as promised, complete with a discreet tip of an invisible hat as they'd given their performance. They were waiting for the pizza they had ordered, and after the video, Kayla had waved her hand to get the others' attention.

"So, Will got an offer for his job," she started, and expressive as she'd always been, she couldn't mask a certain feeling, which already put something of a suggestion as to where this was all going. "It's in Sweden," she added after a moment. The rest of the band looked at her, then to one another. By the time they were looking at her again, there were tears in her eyes, and they moved at once to get closer to her, to comfort her. It wasn't the thought of following her fiancé to Europe that affected her, or even learning new sign language, new written language, not in this moment. It was the thought of leaving her friends, her bandmates of almost eight years.

"When do you have to go?" Riley asked, once they were all sitting around the table again.

"This summer," Kayla replied. "We already found a house. I've been looking for a job… There's so much to do before we have to go and I've been looking for the right time to tell you. I think maybe you should start taking the drums again," she looked to Nadine. "Either that or you all need to start looking for a new drummer as soon as possible. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep up with the rest of you the closer we get to the move."

"There's plenty of time to figure that out later," Nadine insisted.

"Let's not think about any replacements until after this week," Maya agreed.

Much as they all felt this would have to be the way, that they'd need to set aside this news and carry on with the week as planned, it wasn't going to happen in the blink of an eye, was it? Once the pizza arrived, lunch was just a bit on the somber side, as they considered the loss of one of their own. She would always be one of them, just as Isadora was, just as Willow was, but she wouldn't be active among them, not anymore, and it would feel very weird not to see her sitting at those drums. Maya hated herself just a bit for thinking that she knew exactly who might join their lineup, if they sought to remain as five instead of going down to four. Now was not the time.

At least by the time they made it to the radio station they had taken enough of an upswing in order to get through the interview without sounding like someone had died. No mention was made of Kayla's departure, as was their intention, and thankfully their interviewer here only briefly touched on the Ree side of things, sticking instead to the band itself and their years on the local scene. It was a reasonable balm, getting them through the rest of the day and preparing them to face the next.

"We have four shows this week," Rosa stated, as the five of them sat to dinner that night, at a restaurant. "If they're going to be some of our last as this version of the band, then they're going to be our best ones, right?"

"Count on it," Kayla smiled.

Back at home for the night, the last until the end of their whirlwind tour, Maya had barely returned home that she'd led Lucas upstairs for what was either one more try in the baby games or something closer to 'today has been high highs and low lows and I need you.' Either way, Lucas was there for her, and as he held her afterward, he told her about watching the interview from the morning, and then listening to the one on the radio while he'd been tending to Trooper…

"Kayla and Will are moving," she cut in, her ear over his heart. His hand stalled where it had been drawing lines along her spine. "His job is sending him to Sweden, so they're going."

"I'm sorry," Lucas told her.

"Yeah…" she sighed, lifting her head to look at him. "She's been with us for… almost as long as the band's existed, I don't know. It feels like a huge part of us is going."

"The rest of you will keep it going," he promised, then, "Right?"

"Yeah, of course," Maya assured him. "It's just going to take some time to get used to it," she frowned, setting her chin against his chest. After a few seconds, remembering how they'd be apart for most of the next week, she moved up, the better to kiss him some more. Pulling back again, she kept his gaze, as though she still needed any help to draw him from memory. "Any chance I can have the watch to take with me?" she asked, smiling.

"I would think by now that you'd know the answer to that," Lucas replied, and she laughed.

"It's already in my bag, isn't it?"

"Been there all day," he confirmed, before she kissed him again.

"I'll take good care of it."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners