Daisies || Max Mayfield

10: Costumes

Will showed up a few minutes later, then the pizzas, then Lucas about an hour later. Max dug out two white sheets from her bag.

"Okay, so we kinda have to actually make it." She muttered, holding up a full sheet in her hands. "Mike!"

"What?"

"Where are the scissors?" I tensed at her shouting next to me.

"In the drawer upstairs!"

"I can get them," Will suggested. 

"Oh, I'll go with you," I added, standing up. It was very loud and also extremely quiet in the Wheeler's house.

"Thanks. That's not necessary though." He smiled.

"It's fine, it's just a pair of scissors," I replied, following him up the stairs.

"Okay." He held the door for me.

"Hi Will." Mike's dad said from a chair in the living room. He looked at me. "And..."

"Daisy."

"Hi, Daisy." He looked to Nancy, who was sitting next to him in an armchair. "Since when is there a girl?"

"Just a few hours ago," Nancy replied. "Hi Daisy."

"Hi Nancy."

"We're just grabbing a pair of scissors," Will said.

"Oh, yeah, you know where they are." She replied.

"Yep." He nodded and glanced at me. "In the kitchen."

I nodded and followed him.

"Why did you come with me?" He asked. "I'm not trying to be mean or anything. By the way." He slid open a drawer and grabbed a pair of scissors with a plastic blue handle.

"It was loud." I shrugged. "Thanks for the scissors."

"You're welcome-" 

"Will?" Mike appeared in the doorway. "Oh. Hi."

I frowned.

"I just need to talk to Will, I forgot you came up too," Mike said.

"Okay." Will handed me the scissors, and I glanced at the two of them, then left.

I walked back though the living room and down the stairs to the basement. Lucas and Dustin were shouting at the tv. Max waved from the couch, which I copied, and sat next to her.

"Got the scissors," I noted, placing them in her hand.

"Thanks." She grabbed a sheet and immediately stabbed it. I cringed.

After a few minutes of cutting, she spoke again. "There." She pulled it over her head, adjusting it so the eyes lined up with hers. "Perfect."

"Cool." I took the scissors off the seat next to me and began working on mine. Of course, my stomach growled rather loud while I did so.

"Want me to get you a slice of pizza?" She asked.

"No thanks, I'm fine," I muttered. I heard the now-familiar thudding of feet on stairs, realizing Mike and Will were back.

"Are you sure?" She looked at me, at my face. "Look, I know I've known you for one day, but I've been with you almost all of it, and I haven't seen you eat anything."

"Max, I'm fine," I muttered, tossing the scissors on the table and kicking the sheet by my feet. I crossed my arms over my stomach, an empty pit of whatevers inside stomachs.

She glanced down. "Look, I used to do the same thing whenever I felt fucked up, but then I fainted in the middle of the school hallway. And it was real embarrassing."

"Wonderful story." I reached for my bag, tossing out my clothes to find my walkman.

"Daisy, I don't know you well. At all. I don't know what you've been through, and I know that's not a good argument, but you should eat." She got up from the couch and grabbed a paper plate, dropping a slice of cheese pizza on it and setting it in front of me. "It's there if you want it."

"Thanks," I mumbled, pulling out my walkman. I set it next to me and held the headphones in my hand.

"You can listen to it if you want, I don't care." She said.

"Okay." I pulled the headphones over my ears and leaned back, letting the familiar sounds of Rising Power pull me out of reality.

I fell asleep on Mike's couch for seven hours. When I woke up it was four am. Fuck me.

I pulled my headphones off, eardrums burning from the constant sound. Some Kate Bush playing over a speaker somewhere in the basement. It was quiet.

Max was asleep on the couch beside me. She had her hair in her face, and she was drooling on it. I quickly moved it out of the way.

Everyone else was sleeping scattered around the room.

The slice of pizza was still in front of me. It was probably gross then, but I was starving. So I ate it. In the dark.

I hated myself for that. Just giving in so easily.

But I did it.

Will woke us up in the morning by throwing a can at Lucas. Then he made a scene and woke everyone else up.

"Alright, dibs on the bathroom this time." Max called. She grabbed her bag, glancing at me. "You coming? Or are you gonna change in here, with all of them?"

I grabbed my bag and followed her.

I'd need to stop by the house. It was too hot for a longsleeve shirt, so I had to go for the tank top I was wearing on the plane, with the same flanel. My jacket was going to have to take a day off.

I was trying to pull off my t-shirt from the day before when it got fucking stuck on my head. 

"Um," I muttered. One arm was stuck in the air, the other bent and stuck in the bunched layers.

I heard her laugh next to me. "Do you want help?"

"Yes please," I said quickly. I felt her grab the top and yank it off. "Oh. Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem." She handed me the shirt, looking me up and down. "Did you sleep in your bra?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I-" I frowned. "Why do you care?"

She shrugged. "It's uncomfortable."

I nodded, pulling my tank top on.

I heard the guys whisper outside the door. "Hide!"

"Oh geez." The redhead glanced at me, raising her eyebrows.

I pursed my lips, pulling my flannel over my shoulders. I zipped my bag and put my headphones around my neck, reaching for the door. She gave me a thumbs up, so I opened it and walked out.

They were very badly hidden behind one of the couches.

"Who you gonna call?" Nancy groaned from the staircase. I jumped. I didn't notice her before.

"Ghostbusters!" The four jumped up, in matching ghostbuster costumes.

Max appeared next to me. "Nice."

"Thanks." Lucas and her shared a fist bump.

"You know I did come here to tell you all something," Nancy said.

"What?" Mike asked.

"Steve can't drive you. Something came up. So you're all gonna have to bike. And apparently, you two are gonna skate?" She glanced at me and Max.

"Got my board." Max held it up, and I motioned to my roller skates on my bag.

"Alright, you all seem good to go. Will, your mom wants you to call her when you get there, okay?"

He nodded, his face dropping.