chapter six
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Morning came in the form of an unexpected box of donuts and a steady knock upon their door. Kevin reached for the knob when no one else moved, and despite having slept very little himself, it was Nicky and Aaron who seemed the most tired.

     He opened the door to reveal Dan, who had her mouth open ready to say something when she stopped and pointed behind him,"You too?"

     "What?" Kevin turned to where Andrew was working on his third glazed,"Oh, yeah. Wymack?" He guessed, but Dan shook her head.

"Maeve. But he was here earlier." She corrected, his brows shot up and she nodded in agreement,"Yeah, I was gonna offer some of ours, but seeing as you guys have your own... anyway, have a good summer, see you all next month."

Nicky was the only one to offer up a goodbye, a silent wave as Dan turned to leave and Kevin shut the door, still rather surprised as he walked over to the box and plucked a raspberry jelly filled donut from the dozen. He thought about the moment before he'd fallen asleep and thinking he'd heard movement in their dorm, how much had he slept?

     They ate mostly in silence, the exception, again, being Nicky as he woke up enough to begin chattering eagerly about the summer they were about to embark on. In his mind it looked like late breakfasts and nights in Columbia whenever they wished, it looked like being lazy around Abby's house and hot afternoons playing video games on the couch.

     Kevin didn't feel the same.

For him it looked like three weeks of extra practice time, clocking in as many hours as he could in a day. It looked like heavy limbs and pushing every single one of his limits, it looked like sleepless nights... and the sound of a motorcycle engine speeding away. He didn't express any of these sentiments, of course, would never even consider it.

Instead he took one last sip of coffee and headed to their room with an authoritative,"Start packing, we're expected at noon."

     Considering he hadn't brought much of anything with him when he took refuge with the Foxes last December, he was done pretty quickly and made his way outside while the rest finished up. He sat down on the sidewalk and watched as Renee and Dan took turns handing their belongings to Matt, who stood in his truck bed to arrange everything neatly. Nor Seth or Allison were with them, meaning they'd probably left already. Slowly, his thoughts drifted back to Maeve against his will.

He thought of her motorcycle and how she surely couldn't have moved back to Abby's without any help. In any instance, he would've thought she'd have asked Matt for help, as they seemed to be quite close. However, the sight before him meant otherwise, and Dan had mentioned that Wymack had been around earlier, meaning she probably had him help. Kevin couldn't imagine what she had on him in order for the man to agree, but finally let the thought go as Andrew stepped out and beckoned him to follow.

They made it to Abby's just fifteen minutes before twelve, pulling into the driveway beside the woman's car. Kevin spotted Maeve's motorcycle parked at the curb, and looked around as if he expected her to be nearby somewhere. It wasn't until they gathered at the trunk for their things that he realized how right he was when Andrew shouted out of nowhere,"Hey, Maeve! You gonna help us unpack?!"

He followed Andrew's gaze upwards and saw where she was perched up on the roof. She flipped Andrew off in response and removed herself from their view, but Kevin's eyes stayed on the spot she occupied anyway as he followed an excited Nicky inside.

The first thing he noticed was a small table and the framed portrait of a man sitting on it. An odorless candle burned in front of it.

     "Should we bow?" Nicky whispered.

     A voice sounded from down the hall and they turned to meet Abigail Winfield, the team's nurse and last he'd heard (though never cared to fact check), Maeve's godmother. The woman smiled at them in greeting and when she saw them still looking at the photo, her expression turned a little sad,"Maeve's father." She supplied,"Today marks nine years since his passing."

     "Yeah, let's keep calling it that." Maeve cut through them and down the same hall.

     "Maeve." Abby tried, but she was promptly ignored as Maeve emerged not two seconds later with her keys jingling from her finger.

     "I'm going for a ride." Was all she said.

     "Be back for dinner!" Abby called after her, but once more didn't receive a response.

     Andrew coughed as awkwardness spread amongst them, Abby took a deep breath before her smile returned and she was spoke like the previous interaction hadn't happened,"Well, let's show you lot to your room, shall we?"

     "That'd be good." Andrew sassed.

     She led them down the hallway and into the room toward the back of the house, flipping on the lights as she did so. "This used to be Maeve's art room so there's no bed, but since she doesn't use it much anymore she said it was okay for you guys to stay in—"

     "I'm sure she did." Andrew remarked, but she went on as if he hadn't.

     "And I was thinking you boys could head to the store and find either some sleeping bags or blow up mattresses, it's only three weeks, but if guys decide you'd wanna stay here again you're more than welcome and we can find something permanent before then."

They paused as an engine — Maeve — roared to life outside and sped away fast, Abby chose not to comment as she sent them an expectant smile, mostly looking to Nicky, who agreed for them all and then asked what he was supposed to say when they (Aaron) grumbled about having to go to the store.

     Abby would probably regret her decision to trust them later though, for as soon as they had walked in, they split up. Nicky claimed he would actually be looking for what they needed as he pushed past them with a shopping cart, Aaron said he'd be back, though didn't explicitly state where he'd venture off to, leaving Kevin to follow Andrew into the freezer aisles. He forced himself not to scoff as he began looking for ice cream, of all things.

It took him a good five minutes before settling on a pint of some variation of chocolate and they left to find Aaron and Nicky, seeing the former first and following him into an aisle that led them all to the latter.

The four stared at both the sleeping bags and the inflatable mattresses and the prices of both. "So..." Nicky cleared his throat,"How do you guys feel about sharing?"

Kevin sent him a glare,"If you think we're all gonna pile up onto one—"

"Hey, I'm just saying," Nicky rose his arms in defense,"It was your idea to crash at Abby's to be closer to the court, otherwise we'd all have our own beds."

"Abby has a couch." He pointed out,"Get one of the mattresses, two sleeping bags. We alternate, and I'll pay. Good?"

"I guess." Nicky sighed heavily and contemplated the best mattress option while Aaron knocked two sleeping bags into the cart and Andrew walked away, disinterested.

By the time they left the store, Kevin could see that it was much, much later.

"What time did Abby say dinner was?" Aaron held a hand to his stomach.

"Six thirty." Andrew responded.

"What time is it now?" Nicky asked.

Kevin rolled his eyes,"Six."

They'd had to wait in an annoyingly long line after deciding what they'd be getting, Andrew had paid for his ice cream and then stood off to one side as Kevin paid for the rest. Their drive back was quick.

Kevin couldn't help spot the motorcycle back in its place and Maeve once more on the roof as they pulled into the driveway, though he had missed a third car on the side of the road as well because when they entered, Wymack's voice snapped them into line.

"About damn time!" He grumbled from the kitchen,"What took you so long?!"

"We had important life decisions to make, Coach." Nicky joked,"This is our new room we're talking here."

The man rolled his eyes. Andrew slipped past him to stick his ice cream in the freezer and Nicky hauled their things back down the hall. Aaron sat down at the table, though was almost immediately scolded by Wymack, who said he oughta make himself useful and set it properly for their meal.

Aaron scoffed,"Who invited you?"

"So what's for dinner then?" Nicky missed the tense air in the room as he returned and readily rubbed his palms against each other.

     "Pasta with a side of salad and breadsticks, it's Maeve's favorite." Abby explained.

     "Yeah because a good dinner will surely make up for a dead dad." Andrew laughed from where he leaned against the counter.

     Abby sighed from her place at the stove,"Can just— one of you," she paused and looked at Andrew,"Not you, please call her back in. Aaron hurry up on the table and David take the breadsticks out of the oven. Kevin, you go. Nicky, help Aaron." She almost seemed to relax when she saw Andrew's place by the refrigerator and scolded him,"Andrew Joseph Minyard, don't even think about ruining your appetite by reaching for that ice cream I saw you bring in!"

     When she saw that Kevin had yet to move, she sent him a look that asked what he was waiting for while simultaneously telling him to hurry up. He stepped outside to warm air and an even warmer sky and contemplated just shouting up at the girl on the roof, though figured that might not be enough to bring her back down. He looked for how she'd gotten up there and after about two minutes of confusion, found a ladder he pushed into place and climbed up.

He thought he saw her roll her eyes at him, but couldn't say for sure as he made his way over and sat down. "Dinner is ready." He gulped,"Abby wanted you to know."

She brought her knees up to her chest and leaned forward onto them, waiting before acknowledging him. "What's on the menu?"

"Your favorite— pasta, salad, breadsticks." He elaborated, even if it was unnecessary because who didn't know their own favorite? She nodded in response and though he tried not to, he found himself staring at her and eventually asking,"Why spend so much time up here?"

Maeve didn't even turn to him as she directed his gaze toward the sky with two fingers on the side of his chin. "It's beautiful."

He looked to her again.

"It is." He agreed and forced his eyes back to the hues of yellow, red, and orange, watching as they blended into pinks and purples, slowly descending into a deep blue. Stars blinked down at them in no time and he felt himself point out before he could stop himself.

"Look."

She followed his finger to a shooting star and closed her eyes,"Make a wish."

Kevin didn't bother, instead finding himself at a loss for words at her and darting away quickly when she reopened her eyes and stood up.

"Better get going then, show's over." She said before inching toward the edge and climbing down in a perfectly calculated way that didn't even require the ladder he'd used only moments before. He followed her back down — though stuck to his way, as he didn't need any more broken limbs — where everything returned to normal as soon as they stepped inside.

Maeve kept to herself, as did Andrew. Nicky and Abby made conversation while Aaron listened, though hardly inserted an input to indicate he was even paying attention. And Wymack turned to Kevin with talk of their latest recruit and his soon approaching arrival.

Soon all that would remain of that interaction was a fixed point in the sky where the star had danced its way across the moon.