|| Zara Leigh Silva (Née Mayfield) || Married to Javier Silva || 29 || Scorpio || Freelance DJ/Singer/Song Writer & Music Teacher || Graduate of Turing Academy: Music Composition ||
Should I stay? Should I go? Should I run far away
To the point where I can’t even see the universe?
I know I’m killing time
And baby that’s not fine
I’ll pack it in, pack it in, never smoke anything
Never eat anything that will compromise my health
And, baby that means you, too
That means you
Give it up, give it up, give it up for lent
Take a break, pack it in, take it out to the bin
Isn’t it counterfeit? Take a hit a little bit
Wasn’t it not worth it?
Life outside The Grid had become much more interesting to experience in the last year. As real as the digital world was, as intense and thrilling as every sensation in there was, it wasn't reality. What Javier had out here in the real world was, and for once, he didn't need more. The pretense of appearing alright but craving for something more had vanished. His family was in a good place, with Nat and Ri forging their own paths forward. His professional life continued to thrive, as the webcomic he and Riley worked on continued to cement itself as a cult classic with a steady, strong following. His poetry continued to flourish, and he'd managed to balance his work at Atlas Publishing with his own personal projects. He was happy. He was truly happy, having found the woman —who for lack of a less clichéd term— was the love of his life. Javier wanted to spend his life with her. He wanted to be her family. And so the thought of marrying Zara was effortless and natural, the right course for them to follow together and become each other's home.
All that Zara was accomplishing was worth celebrating. She'd battled too much to get to where she was, and Javier continued to stand by her side to praise her hard work and undeniable talent. “You know, I won't confirm or deny that accusation,” the writer replied with a smirk, leaning down to kiss her shoulder after helping her out of her coat. Zara looked stunning, but when didn't she? He also had in mind another way of celebrating her success once they returned to their place, an idea he was sure she also shared. She stole a kiss in turn and Javier draped an arm around her for a moment, enjoying the closeness.
“Oh, it's my fault then? Who knew all it took was a Mexican dude to distract the great Zara Mayfield from her craft,” he joked as he took his seat across from her. “Sorry, Zara Silva,” he corrected himself with special emphasis, raising a finger. A playful grin spread across his lips then, and he looked at her the same way he did at that Halloween party years ago. Even now, he still looked at Zara with the same quiet attraction of two people who flirted like they were just getting to know each other. She still kept him on his toes like that. She still made him fall a little more each day. Her next words made him smile again, amused, endeared. Chasing her on her tour was a no-brainer, really. “I know, right? I really got into some trouble when I said I'd go anywhere with you,” he chuckled. Despite the humor in his voice, there was some undeniable truth. He reached for her hand across the table and brought it to his lips, kissing the inside of her wrist. “I can write anywhere. So wherever you go to succeed, I'll follow, amor”.
Zara cranes her neck downward and to the side so her chin is against her shoulder, eyes looking up at Javier in a rather coy manner. “I’ll consider that a, ‘yes,’ then,” she teases him; enjoying the sensation of his lips against the exposed part of her shoulder. How they still manage to flirt and taunt each other like they did when they first admitted to having feelings for one another is beyond Zara. Being as happy as she is now, she tends not to question things between them, and why they’re still as good as they are. Waiting for the other shoe to drop simply isn’t necessary anymore; not when he’s seen every part of her, good and bad, and decided to stay. The waiter comes by to introduce himself and fill their waters, mentioning he’ll be back to take their drink orders once they’ve had a chance to look over the menu.
Even as she picks up and opens the menu to look at it, Zara knows she won’t actually need to because she already knows what she wants. Javier’s comment has her snickering behind it, and she lets out a small snort in amusement as she sets the menu back down. “Hm, well, to be fair, the Mexican dude who's thrown off her game is pretty sexy, and awfully tempting…” she muses aloud, biting down on her lower lip as her brow arches up. “And that’s Mrs. Silva, to you. Better start correcting yourself now before it’s too late, babe. Won’t be long now before Zara Mayfield is a thing of the past…y casada con el amor de su vida…” Zara points out as she leans in closer towards Javier. Their hands aren’t too far away from one another’s on the table, so it’s easy for Zara to absentmindedly begin toying with his fingers. There’s a familiarity to it, an unspoken comfortability that two people get from being around one another for so long.
The waiter comes back around a little while later, and they order their drinks, and Parmesan bread to start. When he leaves, Zara turns her attention back to Javier as he speaks, and laughs. “Yeah you really should have thought about the word, ‘anywhere,’ a little more carefully before you agreed to it…luckily for you, I’m only dragging you around the States, and not across Europe…yet.” They still have their honeymoon to look forward to, after all. But it seems like a helluva lot in such a short period of time…is it too much? An engagement, a tour, a wedding, and a honeymoon, all in the span of five months? Christ, that’s a lot of change. And it’s not that she doesn’t welcome it, it’s just…a lot with what they’ve already both got going on, and can feel a bit overwhelming when she thinks about it all at once. Javier’s hand in hers serves as a lovely distraction; as does the kiss he places on the inside of her wrist. “You mean that though?” She breathes out, looking him over with slight nerves. “Anywhere? You'll follow me?” Yeah, it still amazes her to this day that he’s willing to commit to this thing long term. But she’s selfish enough to accept it for as long as he’s willing to give himself to her. Now she’s looking down at their hands, fiddling with them again. “And this isn't... too much, right now? The engagement, the wedding, the tour, our honeymoon…you don’t think with all the shit happening with the group, and Kishan, that we shouldn’t…I dunno...postpone, or something?”
Date: January 16th, 2022
Time: 11:47 am
Location: Juno’s Bakery & Cafe, Boston, MA
Zara’s getting married. Yes, hard to believe; and her siblings probably won’t believe it when she tells them either, but well, it’s happening. And soon. Now there’s just the matter of actually telling them. She wants to do it in person, not over the phone. But here’s the deal. It’s hard to get all three of the younger Mayfield siblings together in one place at the same time. They’re busy people; all adults with lives to cater to.
However, there is one saving grace they have, and have always seemed to uphold. And that is their every third Sunday of the month sibling brunch. Sonya had invited herself to a few of these brunches, on occasion. In fact, when she first found out the younger Mayfield’s all went to something without her, she would come out of spite. Though Sonya has always loved to pretend to play the part of the, ‘older, far more eloquent and mature,’ Mayfield sibling, who’s, ‘above it all,’ she actually hates being excluded. Especially when it involves all of them. The FOMO gets the better of her.
Still, despite Sonya’s occasional intrusions, it’s been about a year since any of them have actually properly seen or talked to her, let alone at their sibling brunches. But she’s got three kids now, two of which are rather young, so maybe she’s got other things to worry about…Two out of four of the siblings live in Boston, so that makes things easier.
Sonya stayed in New York, and lives with her husband and three children in Greenwich Village. She still works for the New York Times; one of their top editors, so Zara and the family have heard.
Heath moved to Boston right before Zara did when he started playing for the Boston Red Sox right out of college. He’s been with them ever since, and is now getting towards the end of his career, thinking about retiring. Heath’s a photographer, though, and a damn good one at that. So at least he has something to fall back on if he wants to.
Beth moves around a lot for her job, depending on where there’s a gallery in need of an art curator. Right now, she’s living in New Jersey visiting Boston for the long weekend. She’s staying with Zara and Javier, and quite frankly, it’s been hard to hide the exciting new news she wants to share with the both of them.
The three of them have always been close. Growing up, they did a lot for each other, and basically raised one another. Heath used to braid his younger sister’s hair for them before school, and beat up their bullies. He even taught them how to beat up their own bullies when he couldn’t be around to do it anymore. Zara served as a wingman for both Heath and Beth, as well as taught Heath how to talk to girls. She also taught Beth how to play the guitar.
Beth would help Heath pick out outfits to wear on his dates, like…she’s the only reason he has style. And she taught Zara how to be patient, and kind. It’s because of them, she didn’t completely go, ‘off the deep end,’ when things always seemed to go south for her, or their family. They always have each other, even if one of them (particularly Zara) pushes the other away. They don’t leave the other behind.
So it’s nice that today, at their sibling brunch, Zara can share good news with them rather than bad. There’s been a lot of sibling brunch’s of them sitting down to bad news, particularly on Zara’s end. Today though, today she gets to share that she’s engaged to her favorite person.
As they sit down, the host gives them their menus and fills their waters. Heath’s just come from practice, so his hair is wet from a quick shower, and he’s thrown on a forest green polo, a pair of black slacks, and some nice looking green velvet loafers for their sake. He doesn’t have to, but something in all of them feels the need to be presentable when going out in public even still, all these years later. Can take the kid out of politics, but you can’t take the politics out of the kid…
Beth, of course, is dressed to perfection. Out of all of them, she’s always taken the award of best dressed. She’s got these cute strappy peach sandals on, paired with a floral v-neck sundress, and a floppy sun hat that matches her shoes. Her sunglasses match her dress, and they're big and round, much like her eyes when she takes them off. Zara’s a bit more muted with her all black attire; going for her classic Doc Martens, a ripped Van Halen tank top, a pair of black jean shorts, and brown visors covering her eyes.
They’re all so different, yet they get along so well…it’s interesting to see. Maybe they’re bonded by trauma, maybe they actually do just have personalities that mesh well and get along. Maybe it’s both; who knows. At the very least they’re trying, unlike some of their other family members…
When the host walks away to give them time with the menus and they wait for the waiter, Beth is the first one to pipe up, taking off her sunglasses now that they're in the comfort of a shaded table outside.
“What the fuck is up with you two, huh? It’s been like, a month, since I’ve talked to you, Heath. And three weeks for you, Zara. That might be my fault because I just moved and I’m working a lot…” she pauses, finger raised, eyeing her siblings.
Zara raises her brow and sips her water, looking at Heath. He does the same, near perfectly mirroring his sister’s actions.
“Okay stop, I have a good excuse! I’m grinding!”
“Oh, she’s grinding, Zara did you hear that?”
“I heard her say she has a good excuse, Heath, but I hardly think grinding, is an excuse-”
“Okay, alright, losers, so what’s your excuse then, hm? You helped me move to Jersey, and then you totally bailed!”
“Yeah, because you moved to Jersey City.”
Zara nearly spits out her water, leaning over to smack her brother's arm as she stifles back laughter and ducks her younger sister’s eyesight. He’s sitting right next to her, so it’s not hard for him to smack her back. Now they’re in a smacking fight, while Beth rolls her eyes at them, and hits them both from across the table.
“Ha, fucking ha, assholes. It’s not even that bad, and it’s a train ride from New York, so. Who’re the real losers here, yah Bostonites, or…whatever the hell y’all are called,” Beth snorts, sipping her water and looking over the menu.
“I’m not married to this place like you are, so,” Zara puts up her hands, looking towards Heath.
He rolls his eyes, and flicks water from his glass towards Beth. “It’s great here, and you just don’t know it yet.”
“Hey!” Beth flicks water back at him and laughs.
“Well the people aren’t any nicer, and it certainly isn’t, and can’t be more diverse than New York, so. She has you there,” Zara points out, shrugging towards her brother.
He gasps, “who’s side are you on, dude?”
“Definitely not Boston’s, I don’t give a shit, dude,” Zara chuckles, and Beth snorts, covering her mouth when Heath looks put out.
“I mean, I don’t even know if I’m gonna live here in a year. Javier and I might wanna move somewhere else,” she points out.
Beth and Heath both look at each other with raised brows. “Why, you got something to say, Z?” Heath asks, leaning back in his chair.
Well shit. Boston has always been Heath and Zara’s thing. They both live here, and their mom tasked Heath with taking care of Zara when she first enrolled at Turning as, ‘punishment,’ for bad behavior. Heath was the only person Zara knew in Boston for a long time, so they spent a lot of time together here, getting to know the place.
But, well…it’s Heath’s place. Not hers. He was here first, and she just showed up for the time being until the next adventure came along. Now…well, now that next adventure is here, and it may be time for a change. Who knows. Javier and Zara haven’t really talked about that yet. They both have lives here, so…why change any of that just yet? And besides, they have some loose ends to take care of before they want to even think about leaving. Like The Grid, for example…
“I’m not moving, it’s not that,” Zara starts, pausing when she sees the waiter approaching.
They all order drinks, and some bread appetizer that they know they’ll all eat. Once the waiter is gone, Zara turns back to her siblings and waves her hand in the air.
“I’m not moving,” she says again, and Beth flicks her to go on.
“I’m getting married. I’m engaged. To Javier, obviously,” she adds, as if it isn’t obvious. Heath nearly chokes in his water, and Beth gasps, and puts her hands on either side of the table to brace it.
“What?! Wait…what?!” Beth nearly shakes the table.
“When did that happen? Do Ri and Nat know?” Heath questions, picking up her left hand to examine it. “And where the fuck is the ring? He got you a ring, right?”
“Dude, chill the fuck out; he gave me a ring. It's just around my neck right now because I was waiting to tell you guys. Eesh. Y’all are worse than mom,” Zara chuckles, reaching up to unclasp the metal chain the ring Javier gave her is hanging on for safe keeping.
“And yeah, Jav told them the other night over dinner. I think he and Ri called Nat to tell her the news.” She leans over to give it to Beth first, then obviously she can pass it around for show and tell. These frickin’ nerds…
“Man…I kinda feel like he should have asked for my permission, or something.”
Zara snorts loudly and turns to Heath in an exaggerated way. “Excuse me? What am I, a piece of meat? I’m not for sale, my guy.”
“Yeah what the fuck, Heath? That’s like, so archaic of you? You’ve got three sisters, just… be better.” Beth muses without looking up from examining the ring.
“Yo, this is actually gorgeous, though. Javier did good,” Beth says, handing the ring to Heath next. He takes it, gives it a look over, then whistles.
“Alright, I take back what I said before. My man Javier spent a pretty penny on this one. And he knows my sister well. It’s black, just like her soul,” he jokes as he hands the ring back to Zara, who punches his shoulder a few times.
“Asshole,” Zara hisses at him while Beth laughs and Zara takes her ring back. Enough show and tell, now it can go where it’s supposed to. On her damn ring finger.
The waiter comes back with their drinks and the bread appetizer they ordered a few moments later. A Coke for Zara, an Arnold Palmer for Beth, and a Bloody Mary for Heath.
“How long’s it been now?” Heath asks, pointing to Zara’s Coke.
“Two years in April,” Zara smiles proudly as she sips her Coke; having been referring to her sobriety. It’s been almost two years since she decided to get sober after Kishan’s death. Crazy, how times flies, and how the anniversary of his death has managed to sneak up on them like this. It sort of makes sense, what with everything going on.
“Congrats, sis, that’s great!” Heath puts his hand up for a high five, which Zara meets with her own.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s great, but when’s the wedding?” Beth waves her hands in the air, musing aloud.
“Dude,” Zara laughs, shaking her head.
“What?! I love love, and weddings, and I didn’t think we’d get another one so soon after Heath’s.”
“Heath’s wedding was like, over a year ago!”
“It was eight months ago, but, who’s counting,” Heath shrugs.
“Okay…” Zara rolls her eyes and shrugs her shoulders. “What do y’all want from me, huh? It’s not my fault Heath and Willow literally took five billion years to finally get married, like…y’all have been together since high school, and it took…ten, plus, years? Twelve, maybe?” Zara’s kind of being mean, but whatever, Heath can take it. Heath rolls his eyes and Beth stifles a laugh.
“Jav and I joked about marriage before, but then we actually started talking about things, like…like about being each other’s family, or whatever, and you know how our family is,” Zara explains, looking at them.
They nod. “Yeah,” they both say, grimacing a bit.
“I love y’all. You’re my family. But with Jav, what we have is…I dunno, different? Like…okay. When I go to his family’s place with him in Mexico, it’s always like this big celebration. Everyone’s happy to be there, to see each other; and there’s kissing, and hugging, and everyone’s talking over each other because they’re all just so excited. It’s been however long it’s been, and they’re all just…happy, to get to be in each other’s presence. To cook, and eat food together. They dance, and sing, and watch soccer tournaments, and…they’re close. There’s lots of love there. Love, that I don’t think we’ve ever really experienced at home…you know?”
Beth looks sympathetic and nods, reaching out to grasp Zara’s hand in hers, their fingers intertwining.
“Shit,” Heath sighs, shaking his head. “I know Ri and Nat are cool, but I wanna go to Mexico and hang out with Javier’s extended family. They sound awesome.”
“They are! They’re literally the best, and now they’re my family, and I don’t wanna fuck that up by being me,” Zara blurts out, surprising all of them with her candor.
“What the fuck’s wrong with who you are? You’re kick ass, dude. You and Ri are like, inseparable,” Beth muses loud, squeezing her sister’s hand.
“Zara? Beth’s nicer than me, so she’ll sugarcoat. I’ll be honest with you, okay?” Heath pauses. “You’re awful with people’s parents. You make the worst first impressions. You’re like a walking talking parental unit nightmare,” he breaths out, obviously needing to get this off his chest.
Zara and Beth stare at him; Beth’s mouth agape, and Zara’s sipping her Coke with a narrowed brow.
“However,” he continues, raising a finger; “if Javier’s parents haven’t voiced their concerns by now, and haven’t tried to stop their son from making the decision to marry you, let alone continue to date you, I think you’re in the clear, Z. I think they sufficiently see past your bullshit facades and like your ass. Your kind, generous, loyal, talented, fun, party loving ass.”
Zara leans over to kiss her brother's cheek once, but then fakes him out by thinking she’s moving away from him, only to then bombard his face with kisses. Heath hisses at and bats her away like a cat, sufficiently causing a laughing fit from the two Mayfield sisters.
“That was really sweet, Heath, thank you,” Zara says after they’ve calmed down, leaning over to punch her brother’s arm gently.
“Yeah, well just don’t say I never did anything for yah, kid,” he chuckles, leaning over to ruffle Zara’s hair. She swats at him while eating her bread. “I care about you losers, and want what’s best for you. I want you to be happy, and I know Javier makes you really happy, Z. I’m happy for you.”
“Awwwwwww!” Beth gushes loudly, leaning over everything on the table to try to threeway hug her siblings. “We’re so cute!”
Heath and Zara both groan loudly, but let their younger sister pull them into a weird ass hug that nearly knocks everything over on the table. After about a minute, they detangle, and Zara and Heath try to look less pathetic than they feel for, ‘showing emotion.’ Beth’s the softy in the family.
“So when is the wedding, anyway?” Heath asks while picking up his menu and turning it sideways in his hands on top to the table.
“I was just about to ask the same thing!” Beth exclaims, looking expectantly at Zara.
“I…don’t know?” She admits, looking at them sheepishly. “Maybe…in a couple of months?” Beth audibly gasps, and Heath looks unconvinced.
“Look this isn’t…this isn’t gonna be like y’all’s wedding, Heath. Or Sonya’s. Or mom and dad’s. Or mom and Chris’s,” Zara lists off, trying to let them know exactly what to expect. This wouldn’t be a traditional wedding.
“It’s not a church wedding. It’s not like uh, ‘let’s invite everyone and their mother to a wedding because we can, pack the place, and make it this whole production,’ type of thing. We don’t want that. We just want something simple. With you guys. With our immediate family.” Zara looks from Heath to Beth, who both look not stunned, not disappointed, just…well, maybe they are a little disappointed. But what did they expect? This is Zara they're talking about. Zara’s not the marrying type. Javier’s the exception.
“But not like a shotgun wedding…right?” Beth insists after a moment of silence, eyeing her sister.
“I mean…not not like a shotgun wedding, per say…” Zara shrugs, fiddling with the straw in her Coke. Suddenly this thing feels a little heavier, much like the set of eyes on her from both her siblings.
Luckily the appetizer comes and interrupts the awkward stretch of silence. Zara takes this opportunity to tell the waiter they’re ready to order food, and to stuff her face with bread. Much easier to subvert expectations with your mouth full…
They order their meals, and hand their menus over to the waiter about five minutes later when they’ve finished. Both Beth and Heath are staring at Zara like she’s got a third eye, and after a moment, she’s the one who caves first, breaking the silence.
“Come on, it’s me. Me! Did you really think I’d even have a wedding? The most I’m willing to have is an exchange of vows, and a party afterwards, because those are the fun bits. Dresses, invitations, cake, venues; all that other bullshit doesn’t matter to me. We want the piece of paper, and I wanna have a good time while doing it…okay?” She doesn’t mean to sound as aggressive as she does; especially since Heath sits back in his chair from the impact, and Beth puts up her hands.
“Okay, Zara. Eesh. I didn’t think you were the marrying type, but after meeting Javier, and seeing you together? I dunno. I kinda figured maybe at one point you would.” Heath admits, shrugging back.
Huh. Well, that’s perplexing. Zara and Javier only jokingly started talking about marriage a year ago…it hasn’t really occurred to her that other people can see something else they can’t. Maybe looking from the outside in, it’s easy to see how the two of them ended up where they are now.
“Same, I second that. I’ve never seen you more googly eyed over anyone before in my life. In fact…I think it’s the only time I’ve seen you like that,” she points out with a tilt of her head.
Zara snorts, “that’s because my eyes don’t google. I’m not the mushy-gushy type. Jav isn’t like that either though, and maybe that’s why it works.”
They’re both writers, so they know what romance is; they know how to court another person. Javier has certainly proven that to Zara over the years, as he only seems to one up himself with surprises. Yet another reason they’re getting married. The excitement hasn’t died out like it has in past relationships, it just keeps growing. Javier keeps Zara on her toes, continuing to impress her and show off new parts of himself she so desperately wants to get to know.
“Okay,” Beth says after a moment, chewing the last bit of bread in her mouth from the appetizer plate. “So to recap,” she waves her hands around in the air, “wedding is in a few months and it’s…nontraditional. You want the piece of paper and the vows, not the whole production, but you do want a party after. So…a reception. And what about bridesmaids? Do you want those? And can I be one?”
Zara snorts, “didn’t really think about it, but I guess, yeah. Or something like them. You, and a couple friends maybe would be ‘bridesmaids.’” She does air quotes around the word, ‘bridesmaids.’ Sounds weird to say, and leaves a strange taste in her mouth. It’s a little too traditional for her taste, but well…it’ll be fun to have her people around for a very important moment in her life. And besides, it’ll make Beth happy.
“And what makes you think I also don’t wanna be a bridesmaid, asshole?” Heath points out, quirking a brow.
Zara laughs so hard it nearly scares her. “You wanna be a bridesmaid dude? You can be a bridesmaid. I thought you’d wanna be one of Jav’s groomsmen, or whatever the fuck, but-”
“Oh shit, I forgot about that! Okay, okay…yeah. I guess I’ll do like a half and half situation? I’m team Zara, and team Javier.”
“You’re literally insane, you had a wedding and had it the regular way. How do you not remember groomsmen exist, and this isn’t- we’re not on teams!” Zara pinches the bridge of her nose and closes her eyes, while Beth chuckles under her breath and hides it with her elbow as she eats more food.
“I mean I’m just fucking with you, Z,” Heath laughs, chucking a small piece of bread at his eldest younger sister.
Zara blinks at her brother, looking to the center of her forehead briefly where the bread just made contact with her skin. “Did you just hit me with bread?”
“He hit you with bread.”
“I hit you with bread. And you’re the weirdo copying me after I just got married,” Heath continues to tease, flinching before Zara even winds up to hit him.
Beth cackles and eats more bread while watching her siblings go at one another. Zara pretends to strangle her brother, grabbing his neck and shaking it gently, as Heath pretends to choke and pass out on the table.
“You’re so stupid, stop hitting me with bread when I’m talking to you about my wedding!” Zara tries her hand at looking as serious as she possibly can, but ends up laughing and shoving her brother in the shoulder some more instead.
Yes, it feels cheesy to admit it, but she’s happy. Zara is actually, for the first time in a really, really long time, feeling positive about her future. She’s not waiting for the other shoe to drop, or wondering why. It doesn’t matter why, or how, she just is happy with Javier. And she wants to get married; to spend the rest of her life with her best friend. Her favorite person. Her person.
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