The next morning, Mae awoke to the smell of fish, fried potatoes, and fried rice, a sure hint that her mother wasn't cooking, since she didn't know how to cook rice.
Making her way down the stairs, she was only surprised by the fact that her dad was still there, dressed for work but happily eating a delicious fried-rice and hashed potato with fish.
Vaan smirked a bit when he noticed her. "Told you she couldn't stay asleep if I made breakfast, Mrs. Borowski."
Mae's mother laughs a bit, and nods, smiling. "Indeed you did, dear. Mae, honey, it's great to see you up before noon. Come eat breakfast."
Mae smiles and walks to the table, where Vaan had sat down a plate of food for her, before he himself sat down to enjoy his own food. Mae's father thanked him for the meal and headed off to work.
As soon as they were finished, Vaan and Mae went upstairs to do their homework for the day, which only took about an hour, and then they headed out after asking Mrs. Borowski if she knew where Gregg was.
Mae was amazed to learn of the addition of a snack falcon, and that Gregg was working there. Vaan, though, was more preoccupied with the beautiful weather, and told Mae he'd race her down the street.
Mae rolled her eyes a bit, though smirked and took off quickly. Ever since Vaan had taught her how to run properly, after learning about how good she was at parkour, she'd been tied for the fastest person at college, alongside him.
Then again, most of the people there were fat, lazy, or so rich they didn't think they had to do anything, so she wasn't sure it was a really special title.
They reached the Falcon in half a minute, barely even breathing heavy as they walked in, Vaan's laughter barely held back, while Mae teased he'd been going easy on her.
This attracted the attention of a fox standing at the counter. His eyes lit up and he grinned as he began waving his arms wildly. "MAE'S BACK!" he shouted, jumping over the counter and running at Mae.
He stopped right in front of her, grinning. "Dude, what's going on? Why're you back? And who's your friend?"
Mae laughed, smirking. "Well, I decided to take online college. And I invited Vaan to come with me because he was my only friend at College. What about you, what's been going on? Are you and Angus still a thing?"
Gregg laughed. "Yeah, and we're a band now! Are you going to come to practice?"
Mae shrugged, looking at Vaan. "You wanna come? My other friends will probably be there."
Vaan nods, smiling a bit. "Sure. You planning to play?"
Mae blinks, having not thought of that. "...Dunno, might."
"DUDE! You HAVE to play! C'mon, let's go!" Next thing they knew, the hyperactive fox was dragging them to the Party Barn. Inside was a bear, who was standing on stage, in front of a microphone.
Gregg excitedly shouted to him, "ANGUS! Look who's back! It's Mae! And she brought a college friend!"
The bear, obviously Angus, looked over, and a small smile appeared. "Hey Mae. Nice to see you again. Who's your friend?"
Vaan waved a bit. "I'm Vaan, nice to meet you."
Angus nodded. "Same. So what're you two doing in town? Don't you have school?"
Mae smiled. "Vaan told me about online college, and the one we were at had online courses, so I decided to take them instead, and work from home."
Angus nods in understanding. Vaan's ear twitched, and he opened the door as an Alligator walked up to it. She didn't even spare the time to be surprised by how he knew she was coming, and instead she walked past him, idly commenting, "So, who brought Gregg's cousin into town?"
Mae began laughing immediately, while Vaan pretended to be insulted by this, though inwardly he was laughing as well. She managed to introduce Vaan through her laughter, while Vaan waved slightly.
"Well, I'm Bea. Bea Santello. Nice to meet you. You two joining the band session today?"
Mae nods. "Yeah. What about you Vaan?"
Vaan then grew kind of embarrassed. "Uh… I guess. But I don't have my instrument."
Gregg raced into another room, shouting about having plenty of things to choose from. Vaan winced when he heard a loud crash.
"Hey Mae, you still play bass?" Gregg shouted.
"Yeah," she called, shaking her head in amusement.
Gregg came back carrying the bass, as well as a keyboard and a saxophone.
Vaan perked up but then pouted. "I have to choose between my two favourite instruments…" he said.
Mae held back her laughter and just patted his shoulder playfully. "C'mon, we'll have Gregg leave both out and you can play them alternatingly."
Vaan nods, and picks up the saxophone. "What song are we playing?"
Gregg grinned. "Let's play 'Die Anywhere Else'!"
Mae deadpanned. "...We don't know that one."
Gregg shrugged. "You'll be fine!"
Vaan sighed quietly, but decided to make sure the saxophone was okay to play.
...Judging by the horrible shriek, it needed a new reed, and to be oiled.
"...I'm going to fix this later. For now, I'll just play keyboard."