Daisies || Max Mayfield

29: Starcourt

Lucas and Max eventually left.

It was getting dark out. 

By the time my watch hit eight, I gave up. Will apparently had the same plan.

"Dustin, come on." He said softly. "Let's go home."

"No, I swear to god she's here!" He panicked, standing up with the receiver still in his hand.

"He's right, it's getting really late." I held up my watch.

"Ugh." He groaned.

"Come on Dustin, you can come back in the morning," Will added. "But please, let's go home."

"No." He crossed his arms. "You guys go if you want, but I'm not leaving."

Will shook his head but began walking down the hill. "My mom is probably terrified right now."

"Steves totally gonna kill me." I followed him down the hill.

"Doesn't he work until eleven?"

"No, apparently Robin's picking up his shift tonight. We were gonna drive around a bit." I lied.

"Oh." He smiled. "Do you wanna call him from my house?"

"Is that okay?"

"Yeah, my mom would hate it if I let you walk home." He shrugged. "Where do you live, by the way?"

I scrunched my face up, annoyed. How do I answer that?

"Because Jonathan said Steve had a fancy house in the woods," He continued. "But I've never seen you guys anywhere around those woods."

"Yeah, we used to live in a nice house, until he got hooked on weed and moved us to a creepy old house," Steve explained. "And now we don't live in any house, awesome, right?"

"I think they used to live there," I said. "But now..." I shrugged. "It's complicated."

Will nodded. "I used to have a dad too."

"Ah, wonderful wording," I muttered.

I called Steve's work from Will's place. Robin told me Steve already left. And I said fuck. She just laughed. Then she hung up, and two minutes later, Steve was on the phone.

"How do you even know the number?" I asked.

"I know everyone's numbers." He said on the other end. "Robin chased me down in the parking lot."

"Yeah, I could've lost my job over that!" Robin's voice was faint.

"Yeah," Steve muttered. "Anyways, where are you staying tonight?"

"I dunno." I glanced at Will in the other room as I spoke, lowering my voice. "Maybe Mike's."

"Do you need a ride over?"

"It's not that far."

"Daisy, it's a ten-minute walk."

"Not that far."

"Look, I'm leaving anyways. I'll just pick you up and drive you over, cool?"

"Okay." I nodded, putting the phone back on the hook. I turned to Will. "Is it okay if I stay here while I wait for Steve? Or should I just start walking now?"

"Stay." He said from over his sketchbook.

I woke up to a loud clatter in Mike's basement.

"Holy shit-" Max burst out laughing.

I sat up, staring at her. She was on the floor, her skateboard rolling on the floor towards me.

"Oh hey, Daisy." She smirked, hopping up and grabbing her board.

"What's going on?"

"Me and El are going to the mall. I thought you'd be here. Wanna come?"

"What?"

"You know, starcourt?" She grinned.

"Oh, right." I nodded, reaching for my backpack. It had my overnight stuff in it, and forty dollars I'd earned from babysitting Holly a few times. "When?"

"Now." El appeared at the top of the stairs.

"How do we get there?" I asked.

"We can take the bus, there's a stop a few blocks away," Max explained, tucking her board under her arm.

"Okay."

I'd only taken the bus to the mall alone, whenever I needed to meet Steve for something. I must've spent five dollars in total just going back and forth one day.

I wasn't really paying attention, until the end.

"And Mike was lying about his grandma, clearly, so El came to me because Mike's a piece of shit and that's why we're here." Max smiled in the seat next to me.

I frowned. "What?"

"Mike lied. Friends don't lie." Eleven said.

"Oh. Yeah, no, lying sucks." I nodded.

Once the bus got to the mall, Max led us around. I'd never really shopped much here because everything is like five dollars more expensive than shops in town. 

They wandered around The Gap, trying on a ton of clothes. El had to ask how she knew what she liked, which kind of completely shocked me. She doesn't know what she likes, but she's been in a relationship with Mike since she met him.

El and Max wanted to go to the music store next, Time Out, but I think Max noticed I was completely exhausted.

"You good?" She asked, glancing up at me.

"Eh." I shrugged. "I'm tired."

"You can sit out if you want." She muttered. "Not that we don't want you here, you just kinda look like you're about to drop dead from sleep deprivation."

"Oh." I nodded. "Maybe I will go hangout at Scoops for a bit."

"Yeah, we're gonna get ice cream later, we'll get you then." She grinned, patting my shoulder.

"Okay." I smiled back, turning to Scoops. I haven't been on such a big shopping trip since the last time my stepmom took me shopping, and god it's exhausting.

I walked in the shop, already feeling a bit better from the cold.

"Screw company policy," Steve muttered, talking to Robin. He turned around, facing a group of girls. "AHOY LADIES! Didn't see you there! Would you guys like to set sail on this ocean of flavor with me? I'll be your captain-I'm Steve Harrington." 

I frowned.

"Daisy?" He stuck his head out around the group and waved to me. "What are you doing here?"

"She's like, fifteen." The ginger at the front of the group giggled.

"I know, right?" Another said.

I walked behind the counter, dropping my backpack on the floor. "That's my brother."

"Sister." He explained.

The girls giggled again. "I didn't know you had a sister, Harrington."

"She's quiet."

"No, I'm not," I muttered, leaning against the wall.

"I'll take a double strawberry scoop, and two vanilla." The girl in the front said, chewing her gum obnoxiously.

Steve sighed and grabbed his scoop.