A Suite and Magical Life

Chapter 20: Life's twists and turns are a good way to learn

May 6, 2011

New York City, New York, United States

The Waverly Substation had just seen the end of the day's dinner rush and was quiet after nearly 2 hours of loud conversation. Justin Russo was busy counting the day's earnings and Cody Martin was tallying the restaurant's profits. Max Russo was cleaning the tables with help from Zack Martin while Theresa Russo cleaned up the kitchen. No one had any clue where Alex Russo was.

Zack Martin finished cleaning up a rather messy table which reminded him of how her used to eat while the S.S. Tipton and was internally making him laugh. He looked around the restaurant and smiled. After so many years away from this place, he was now here at least for the foreseeable future. He loved the general vibe of the place and was fond of the subway theme that Jerry Russo had created across the place. It made it feel familiar.

However, tonight, there was something else which was laying on Zack Martin's mind. Maya Bennett, his ex-girlfriend, had texted him saying she needed to talk to him. Zack had been confused over why she wanted to meet him. His first thought had been that he had gotten her pregnant, but this was quickly dispelled by him remembering that he had never slept with him.

After that, he had attempted guessing the reason many different times but was none the wiser. In the end, he simply gave up trying to figure out the reason and decided instead to find out what she wanted in person. This, however, didn't stop his overthinking mind from conjuring up possible reasons why his ex-girlfriend wanted to meet him. However, one blessing which Zack was happy to receive was that Alex Russo had gone out to meet her boyfriend Mason Greyback and most likely would not be around to witness the meeting between Zack and Maya. 

Just then, the bell above the restaurant door jingled and the door opened and there stood Maya Elizabeth Bennett. She was wearing a knee-length dress which was completely black and had no makeup on. A gentle, light vanilla cologne which Zack recognized as her favorite wafted around the room. Zack had to admit that Maya looked drop-dead gorgeous.

The atmosphere in the restaurant grew tense as everyone else looked up from what they were doing at the sniff of the new scene and saw Zack Martin looking wistfully and longingly at his ex-girlfriend Maya Bennett and her looking back at him in exactly the same way and knew that trouble was coming soon. 

Jerry and Theresa Russo immediately stopped cleaning up the mostly clean kitchen and pretended to not be looking at the scene. Justin and Cody pretended to be busy with the restaurant's ledgers. Max stopped cleaning the tables and openly stared at the scene, before taking a seat to watch comfortably without getting tired.

Zack and Maya slowly walked towards each other, meeting in the middle of the restaurant. They looked deeply into each other's eyes, not saying anything, just looking at each other, just drinking in the fact that less than 24 hours after their breakup, here they were just looking at each other, in the restaurant.

Maya breathed deeply, her hands shaking. She tried to smile at Zack, but it came of as more of a pained grimace. "Hi." she said.

Zack nearly inhaled a fly due to his nervousness, before breathing deeply, and responding with a quiet "Hey."

Maya glanced behind Zack, at the Russos and Cody, who were obviously listening while pretending and failing not to. "Can we talk privately, Zack?" she asked him.

Zack nodded, and quietly yet gently led her to the seating in the restaurant usually reserved for regular customers in a room made to look like a New York subway train car.

Once there, Zack noticed Maya's clasped hands, her rapid and short breathing, and her restless pacing, and realized that she was nervous. This confused him even more, because he couldn't remember any reason that he had given Maya to be nervous. However, he decided against prompting an answer out of her, and simply decided to wait for her to volunteer the information.