The Green-Eyed Maid Inn

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“So,” Avery said, “I gotta ask, before I forget... Do you happen to know someone named Lynetta?”

I very nearly choked on my cappuccino. “You’re the robotics expert she told me about?”

Avery cackled. “You’re the superbike owner I hooked her up with some custom parts for! Holy crap.”

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Megyn and Avery were in the living room watching anime on Netflix when I came into the room that evening with a huge bowl of popcorn for them, and a smaller one for myself. “Is this a private party?” I asked.

Avery and Megyn looked at each other. They both grinned.

“Well it was,” Megyn said jokingly, “But we’ll make an exception since it’s you.”

“Besides, I’ve already seen this one,” Avery said, patting the sofa next to her. “How was the big city? Hey, cute necklace,” she added, referring to my unicorn pendant, which had a tiny sapphire eye, a parting birthday gift from the band that I found in my luggage. Apparently they had snuck it in along with a really sweet note when I wasn't looking.

“Thanks. And, it was exhausting, but amazing,” I said. “Next time I’m going to ask Mom to go too, and Dad if he feels like it, and I’d love to bring you two along too. I promised Mom a broadway show since Shannon and I only got to see a Rocky Horror shadowcast.”

“Kickass,” Avery said. Megyn nodded.

“Yeah that sounds amazing.” She seemed to hesitate as a momentary silence fell over the three of us, other than the sound of me and Avery crunching popcorn. “Hey Rye, I got a stupid question.”

“There’s no such thing,” I said. “What’s up?”

“How did you get into your hobbies?” she asked. “Still thinking about what Beth said, you know, finding hobbies for self-therapy. Getting to borrow your Grandma’s guitar has been incredible though, don’t get me wrong. I’m just curious how you got into stuff like photography, you know?”

“Well,” I said thoughtfully, “Most of my hobbies I sort of just fell into.”

“Really?” Megyn asked. “How do you fall into a hobby? Like, for Avery 3D printing was a natural extension of her general interest in making cool tech, working with robots, that sort of thing.”

I nodded. “Exactly. I definitely never set out to become a photographer originally.” I paused and then gave them both a sheepish smile. “Okay, if you want to know the absolute truth, I initially only signed up for photojournalism class because I wanted to get to know Candace Walker.”

They both stared at me. “You joined an elective to impress a girl?” Megyn asked. I nodded sheepishly. Avery giggled.

“Wow, Rye. That’s,” she paused, as if trying to find the right words for it.

“Shallow?” I asked. She laughed and gently slapped my arm.

“No, it’s kind of cute, actually. But uh, now I have to ask, what happened?”

“Yeah, give us the juicy details,” Megyn said. “You told us one time how Mrs. Hamilton is a stickler about making you use film and develop it yourself. You were in a dark room with a girl you were crushing on. Did you ever, you know, slip and accidentally bump into her?” She wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

“She dropped out before the year had even started,” I laughed. “But I figured since I had already signed up and bought the damn camera, that I might as well stick with it. I ended up completely falling in love with it, and that’s how I ended up racing, too.”

Avery sat up and looked at me. “Wait a minute, what are you talking about racing?” She then quickly added, “No, don’t answer that right now. I’ll ask you about it later. This is about helping Megyn right now.”

“Oh,” I said, “Well it’s actually related. See, when I was 15 Mrs. Hamilton suggested that I get more experience with action photography. I didn’t want to cover the same boring football games everyone else was shooting, so I looked around and found out about the Snider Speedway. I started going every weekend, initially to take photos, and one thing led to another. I made friends with a racing crew and eventually bought my Ninja off one of them and started doing time trials.”

“Oh my God,” Avery muttered under her breath.

“That’s so cool,” Megyn said. “So like, you’re saying you just kind of took the plunge and said ‘I wanna try this’ without any real idea if you would enjoy it or not?”

“Exactly,” I said. “I mean don’t get me wrong. I didn’t go into either photography or racing totally blind. I did a little research online, reading articles and reviews - on cameras and bikes respectively, but like, I bought the camera based on class requirements, having never picked one up, and Aunt Rose helped me buy the Z when one of my friends from the track upgraded to a brand new model.”

“I remember you housesitting for her a lot,” Avery said, nodding.

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s another thing, Megyn. Our family LOVES to help each other out like that. If there’s something you’re interested in or even think you might be, don’t let money stop you. Whatever it is, we’ll crowdfund you. If you end up hating it, hey, you only live once, and you’ve got that experience and a few interesting stories out of it.”

Megyn looked down at her hands thoughtfully for a moment. “There is something,” she said. “But I didn’t want to say anything because I don’t want to come off like I’m fishing for a favor, which you know I would never.”

Avery took Megyn’s hand in hers, squeezing it gently. “Hey, whatever it is, you can tell us.”

Megyn sighed and then looked up at us. “I really want to get into music, but I don’t even know where to start. I LOVE to sing, and I’ve managed to teach myself a couple of cowboy chords on Grandma June’s guitar, but like, all these child prodigies out there who’ve been playing Mozart on the violin since they popped out of the cradle, it’s hard not to feel cooked.”

“You know,” I said, grinning, “U2’s bassist has admitted he actually had absolutely no idea what the hell he was doing at first. He literally made fake it till you make it a lifestyle, and I think he did pretty well for himself. And I personally know someone whose parents forced her to learn the violin from the age of around 2 or 3.” I paused for dramatic effect and then added in a stage whisper, “She absolutely hates the violin now,” I laughed.

“Oooohh,” Avery cackled. “That’s beautiful.”

To quote Claire from earlier that day, speak of the devil and she appears, although in this case, it was just a phone call.

“Hey you,” I laughed. “We were just talking about you.”

“Uh oh,” Shannon laughed. “Nothing bad I hope,” she teased.

“Not at all. I was just telling Avery and Megyn how much you love the violin.”

“Oh, fuck you too,” Shannon laughed. Avery and Megyn burst out laughing next to me, as it was quite loud enough for them to hear it over the phone. “Actually, Megyn is the reason I’m calling. I wanted to ask for your advice. Well, Tara and I do,” she said, and I heard Tara’s voice chime in with a ‘hey Rye’ from close by, and I realized I was on speaker.

“Oh sure,” I said as I got up and stepped into the hallway, heading for the kitchen to make myself a cappuccino. “How can I help?”

“We’ve been talking,” Tara said, “About Megyn and how she’s practically family by proxy, not just because you and Shannon are dating, but because of your aunt Rose as well, you know? We’re extremely close with Harvest.”

“Robin is like the big sister I never had,” Shannon laughed. “And Elizabeth is full of amazing singing life hacks.”

“Exactly,” Tara said. “Okay, I’m just going to come right out and say it. When I was Megyn’s age, my parents threw me out of the house as well. My story only worked out because my amazing friends helped me get through it, and eventually I joined the Midnight Dolls, and the rest is history. I want to pay it forward, but I’m so afraid I’ll make it worse, you know?”

“She’s worried Megyn will think she’s only doing it because we’re dating,” Shannon translated. “And I mean fair enough, I can’t say I wouldn’t feel that way if I was in her shoes - Megyn’s or Tara’s. But you know her better than we do. Do you think she’d be okay with us helping her along a little on her musical journey?”

“Oh,” I said after thinking about it for a moment, “I think if you explained it the way you just explained to me, the connection to Aunt Rose and all, I think she’ll be thrilled.”

“You really think so?” Tara almost squeaked.

“She idolizes you guys,” I laughed. “Tara, I think finding out you’ve been exactly where she is right now would be really good for her self esteem.”

“So,” Tara said, “If, say, we were to show up on your doorstep in the morning and take over your garage for a good old fashioned garage band jam session, she’d enjoy that?”

“Oh my God,” I laughed. “She’d freaking love you forever.”

“Oh, thank God,” Shannon laughed. “Because we’ll be at your doorstep around ten.”

“Thank you, Rye,” Tara giggled, “For putting my mind at ease. I just, I want so much to talk to her about all this, as someone who has been there, and does know what she’s going through, but I didn’t want to seem like overbearing or whatever.”

Avery grinned as I walked back into the room with my coffee. “What?” I asked.

“You’re glowing again, sis,” Avery giggled.

“I’m always glowing,” I said jokingly. “I’m a hundred watt light bulb these days.”

She and Megyn both burst out laughing as I sat back down. “So,” Avery said, “I gotta ask, before I forget... Do you happen to know someone named Lynetta?”

I very nearly choked on my cappuccino. “You’re the robotics expert she told me about?”

Avery cackled. “You’re the superbike owner I hooked her up with some custom parts for! Holy crap.”

Megyn, giggling, started singing the lyrics to the “It’s a Small World” ride, and I stuck out my tongue at her.

“Just for that, missy, I’m dragging you both on that ride when we go to Disney World this year.”

Megyn giggled even louder. “Can’t wait! I haven’t been since I was, like, 3, so I have almost no memory of it other than making my parents ride the tea cups like five times in one day.”

“By the way,” I said, “Tara says she’d like to talk to you, but she’s worried you might think she’s only interested in hanging out because Shannon and I are dating.”

“Well, I mean, why else would she want to?” Megyn asked honestly.

“I think it’s because they’re best friends with Harvest, and since aunt Rose is their lead sound engineer, they consider you family by proxy,” I said, adding, “And because Tara has some life experiences she wants to share with you. It’s one of those ‘it’s not my story to share’ things, but, let’s just say her wikipedia page is missing some details about her early life.”

“Ooh, oh wow,” Megyn said. “Yeah that actually explains a lot. Of all the Dolls she’s the one we --know the least about, and now I can see why. But um, yeah, I’d love to hang out and talk sometime.”

“How’s tomorrow?” I asked. “You don’t have work do you?”

“Tomorrow’s good,” Megyn said, surprised, but grinned, singing, “It’s only a day away!”

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Author's Note:
I apologize if this chapter feels a little short, but it was originally the final chapter. I didn't like the way it felt rushed though. I wanted to give Megyn's and Avery's scene time to breathe and separate it from the final chapter. Tara's story is one I wanted to tell, but it unfortunately got lost in editing somewhere along the way, too. Maybe I'll eventually write a prequel talking about the Midnight Dolls' formation (which does get hinted at in this and the final chapter a little bit :)).

This has been such a fun ride slowly getting back into writing ad editing again. I just hope the final chapter next week doesn't feel too abrupt. I never was any good at actually ending a story (Just look at Becoming Robin Book 2 lol)
- Zoë