Daisies || Max Mayfield

35: Apology

I stared at her, taking an occasional glance at the car. She didn't say anything.

"So, do you want me to sit there or not?" I muttered, putting my hands in my pockets. They wasn't much pocket to work with, being women's denim shorts. Most of my hands stuck out awkwardly, so I pulled them out and started fiddling with my tank top hem.

"Why do you think I moved?" She asked.

"Fine." I stepped up on the edge, sitting next to her. The sun was hitting me now, and I massively regretted not bringing sunscreen with me. The tank top I was wearing had thick straps, but one of those Y-shaped back things, so my shoulder blades were exposed. I had a bikini top under it, instead of a bra, and the straps were visible on my back, and probably gonna leave burn lines. Awesome.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, brushing her hair off her face. "For calling you that. In front of El."

I nodded.

"I shouldn't have said that, to begin with."

"No, you shouldn't have."

"I don't know how else to apologize." She muttered. "I just feel like shit because I said that."

"Oh." 

"Yeah, and it's like, the guilt is bad, and I know you probably didn't feel good about it, like at all-" Her face had gone red, either from the topic of the conversation or the sun. She was stuttering a bit as well like she was nervous or something.

I adjusted my hat, my hair sticking to the back of my neck. The sunglasses were resting on top of the hat brim, so they didn't fly off while I biked. 

"And I'm just really sorry." She groaned, hiding her face from me. "It was a shitty thing to talk about, especially when you're not actually a..."

"A dyke?"

She cringed. "Yeah. Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed."

"You assumed I'm a lesbian?" I asked.

"No-well." She paused. "The thing you said about Phoebe Cates was kind of like, a lot."

"What, I have eyes." I shrugged. "Why is it weird to think another girl looks hot? It's not like I want to marry her or anything."

She grinned. "I have eyes too."

"So you agree with me?"

She shrugged. "I dunno." She leaned a bit closer to me. "I just-"

I should've been looking at her eyes. Her eyes, the normal thing a friend looks at when they're talking to you. But no, I kept glancing down and I could not stop. 

Her lips were somehow still a shade darker than the rest of her face, even though she was deep red already. They were a little chapped, with a small scab on her bottom lip, like she'd been chewing it. Originally, she'd frowned when I did it, but now, one side was turning up. It wasn't enough to be a smile, but it was something. It was fucking something.

When I looked back at her, her eyes were following my mouth as well.

"Daisy!" Mike's voice played over the walkie-talkie in my backpack. I'd saved up for it for at least five months, stealing loose change off the ground and making a bit from the job I'd had for a week before I got fired.

"Daisy! Are you there?!"

She froze. I literally felt the blood move to my face. I yanked it out of my backpack, glaring at it.

"Mike?"

"Yeah!" He shouted. "What?"

"Where are you guys?" I whispered, refusing to look at Max.

"I'm coming, just hold on a second." Even the radio picked up on his sigh.

 I stared at it, slowly setting it down on the car.

"Um." Max cleared her throat, shifting on the hot car. "What happened?"

I nodded to the blue shed, where Mike and Eleven had just left. El was carrying one of those CPR dummies, and Mike was following her with a broom. I have no clue why.

Lucas and Will appeared from the other end of the parking lot, dragging a ton of chains and shit. Now it was just waiting, to hear the plan and then set up.

The entire time Mike was talking, I was staring at Max. She was staring at me. And Mike was droning on and on about some sauna.

"Sorry, how is this going to work?" Max broke the silence, somehow playing it cool in front of everyone.

"The mind flayer likes it cold," Will said. "And if we put it in a ton of heat, with no way out, we can draw it out. Like my mom did."

She nodded.

"So, we use the dummy as a fake me." Mike continued. "We need a walkie-talkie for that. And then, we trap Billy in, and roast him."

"Roast him?" El asked.

"Burn."

"Oh."

We set up the fake Mike in the sauna, turning out all the lights in the locker rooms once it was time. Everyone kind of paired up. I worked with Will, Max, and Lucas, as always, and then Mike and El.

Finally, once it was dark out, the pool closed and Billy came in for his shower. The water thermometer, kept by the breaker box said the water was forty degrees. Mike said that should be proof enough, but Max didn't agree a single bit.

We hid in the tall lockers, Mike talking through my walkie, with his taped to the dummy in the sauna. 

Now it's just a waiting game.