Flower Crown Royal

A Parting Gift

"Think of it as a parting gift." Max said
"I don't think I'll survive without you! Take me with you! I can probably fit in a suitcase!" Max barely shook her head by I saw it.
"Get over it. You'll live without your best friend for a week Pee." Andre said. We moved so he could roll his past us and down the stairs. After he was out of ear shot, I slightly pushed Max back into her room and held her hands
"I seriously don't think I will be able to survive. Anytime it gets bad, I come here. But now I won't be able to go anywhere." Max squeezed my hands
"Let's make a deal. If you can make it through this week, then we will build up the tree house again. But. Bigger and better. With mattresses and a desk and..." I started to tune out the words and eventually ignore them completely. I gave her the occasional nod but she was just lost in looking at her. Thinking about how this amazing person could put up with me constantly troubling her. "Okay Pi?"
   "Huh?" I looked at Max
   "Pi. Where you even paying attention!"
   "No."
   "Pi, cmon!"
   "They kicked me out. Well not they, but my asshole of a dad." I said quietly because Max's parents didn't like cussing in the house. Her eyes widened
   "Really! Why didn't you tell me?"
   "I didn't want to bother you until you got back." I looked down only slightly ashamed "sorry..." Max grabbed my shoulders
   "I was waiting until I got back, but..." she gave me a smirk and let go. She went to her door frame and leaned out of it, her crop top moved with her. Today it was a space drop too with black short shorts with black converse. "DAD! HOW MUCH LONGER UNTIL WE LEAVE?"
   "ABOUT HALF AN HOUR. WHY?"
   "I GOTTA DO SOMETHING REA QUICK."
   "WELL MAKE IT FAST." I always loved her dads voice. He was an Aussie all the way, Max only had a slight accent. She leaned back in and grabbed my hand and pulled me through the house. She ran through the open door, me in tow. We ran down the street, we didn't go too far. We stopped until we came to under the train. It was a place that we loved a lot. It was a safe haven. We walked next to each other into we got past where all the houses were. "You look cute btdubs. Seems you took my fashion advice." I giggled a little bit. I was wearing an off the shoulder shirt and a pair on jean shorts that I had bleached with Max. "Okay. We are here." She said putting her hands in her pockets.
   "What? Where?" All Max did was look up. I followed her gave up to the concrete roof. It was pretty high up, but there was a landing with a tent on it. The cement columns had a landing between all of them beneath the track just in case. "How did you get it up there?!" Max huffed
   "Dammit. Wait here." She said backing away with her hands in front of her. She ran back to her house while I just stood there looking up at the medium sized grey tent. A couple minutes later, Max arrived again with a ladder. She was dragging it on the ground, cringing as it scraped against the pavement. I half jogged half ran over to one end of the large ladder and helped her carry it. She and I extended the ladder and propped it up against the landing. She held it still while I climbed up the ladder.
   "Stop looking at my ass."
   "I can't help it! You got a nice ass." I made it up to the landing and held the ladder still while she climbed up
   "Won't your boyfriend get a little jealous? What is his name this week?" Max made it up to the top and I pulled her up. She gave me a playful push when she got up there and stable
   "His name is Craig. And he is going to last this time. I swear by it."
   "Yea. You say that every time. I can't believe you did this." Max shrugged
   "Now we have a place to go when we want to leave society. There are two sleeping bags unrolled on top of each other like mattresses. Umm... about five pillows, a bunch of blankets a lot of non spoiling food, but we can always bring up food. A few flashlights, books, and a gift bag for you to open once I leave. OH. And I got a rope step ladder so we don't have to use this on all the time." She smiled at me once she finished. I stepped forward and hugged her
   "I love you Max. You are the greatest friend anyone could ask for." She hugged me back harder.
   "I love you too."
   We went down the rope step ladder that swayed a lot, but it really wasn't all that bad when you got used to it. We made out way back to Max's house and saw her family almost ready to get into the car and leave. She turned to em and grabbed my hands "We will be back before you know it. You know where our extra key is and you can raid my clothes whenever you want. There are battery powered phone chargers in the Hager."
   "So we are calling it the Hager now?" Max nodded and drilled my hands. She skipped away to her family van and jumped in
   "Bye!" She said as she hung out the car window waving at me. I watched their car disappear over the hill that we lived on. After the red van was out of sight, I ran back to the Hager, hoping not to be seen by my piss poor excuse for a father. I slowly made my way up the ladder and pulled t up so none of the local homeless men could sneak up. The day was hot but the shade was cool. I decided to see what Max had left me in the tent and also what she had handed me at the house. The zipper got stuck a couple of times, but it was expected because it seemed pretty old. It was oddly cool in the tent, but that was fine. I smiled at the polka dotted bag in the center of the tent. I sat down on the giant Totoro plush she had brought up here and opened my present. "You are the greatest." I said aloud. 10 packs of cigs some top shelf liquor, some crown royal, wine, and beer. Bottle and can. I grabbed a cig, a lighter, and a bottler yuengling. Two chairs where set up with pillows on them for cushioning, I made my way to the one with the blue cushion in it. "How did she get this stuff up here?"

Earlier

"MICKEY! ARE YOU INCOMPETENT? ITS A CRANE NOT A ROCKET SHIP" Max screamed at her oldest brother
"MIGHT AS WELL BE!"
"Max? Are you sure this is safe?"
"Of course I'm sure. Just tie the tent around the landing and I won't die." Max said leaning over the landing looking at her younger sister Angie.
"ANGIE!"
"MARCO! What do you want."
"Stop worrying so much. We will only die if we fall." Marco started swinging around on his side. Angie was shrieking. The where balancing each other out and they were supposed to be tying the tent around
"Marco. Angie. Both of you. Stop and just tie the damn thing already."
"Hey Maxine?" Max threw and blanket on the ground at the voice.
"I you to not call me Maxine, Andrew."
"Sorry Miss bossy pants."
"How about you stop bitching and get your ass up here and help. Teach your brother how to drive a crane for crist's sake." Mickey let out a strained laugh and Andre snorted. Max let out a small smile.
"Hey Max!" A chipper voice came from below.
"Hey Lissa! Is Zayn with you?"
"Yeah! Got him right here!"
"Okay Max-AHHHH- HOLY SHIT MARCO!" Marco laughed and Max freaked.
"MICKEY!"
"Yo! Whatcha need?"
"GET OUT OF THAT CRANE, LET ANDY TAKE IT AND GET UP HERE. ANGIE IS ABOUT TO FALL ABOUT 100 FEET DOWN."
"oh shit."

Now

A plume of smoke came out of my mouth that was replaced with a flow of beer. I sighed and later down in the shade. Waiting for anything to do
"What's up?" Yelled a voice from below. I scrambled up, almost rolling off of the landing. I looked down at the person who so rudely interrupted my nap. I sighed and pulled a new cigarette from the pack behind me. I lit it and threw down the ladder. The tent shook slightly as I went inside. "So what's up?"
"Max left for her trip Craig." I said sitting down in my chair and picking up a magazine from the stack that Max had stolen from the store. I looked up from the ever so interesting article about Taylor Swifts new ex to see Craig looking around the tent.
"So this is the place that Maxie has made for us to fuck in. I see she added padding and an errand girl." I glared at him "Wow. Snacks to replenish the carbs that we lost during sex. I can't believe she made this place all for me."
I threw my magazine down and tackled Craig.
"This place is for me and Max only." Craig smiled at me and I noticed the position I was in. I looked at him with disgust. I saw his arms reach up and find themselves resting on the back of my neck. He pulled me down for a deep, violent kiss. He was keeping me there. I was struggling and loosing my breath. He finally let me go and I started panting
"WHAT THE FUCK CRAIG? MAX WOULD BE DEVASTATED TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE CHEATING!"
"What? It will be our little secret." As he finished that sentence I punched him in the face. Multiple times. I lost count. I pushed him out of the tent
"Give me one good reason to not push you off of this."
"It would devastate Max?"
"Get the fuck out of here." I pointed at the ladder "Now," he was holding his face the entire way down. It was black blue and a disgusting shade of yellow purple. "That'll teach you to fuck with Pi Decesare and her best friend."