startled!

oh wow

"lets go," max says, standing up. brooklyn does the same, following max. "are we going back?" she asks, trying her best to hide the sadness in her tone.

"no,"

"thank god," brooklyn breathes as the two throw their empty slushee containers into the trash can.

the two end up going to a deserted park just across the street. it could barely be called a park, as it was really just a patch of grass and a single set of swings. it was now fairly dark out.

max challenges her to see who can swing higher, and she, of course wins. "hey," brooklyn says from behind max. she turns around.

"tag!" she quickly taps max's shoulder and bolts off in the other direction. "oh, my god, your so immature," max says, before quickly chasing her. 

when she catches up, instead of just simply tagging her back, as one should- she full on runs into brooklyn and tackles her, both of them falling onto the ground, their limbs intertwined. they look at eachother with blank expressions for a second, before bursting into giggles.

the laughter dies down, and brooklyn looks up at the stars. "oh, wow," she breathes. max looks to her and follows her eyes up to the sky. "oh wow," she repeats. 

"look, thats the big dipper," brooklyn starts to list all the constellations she notices, pointing to them as she does so. max, found it cute how she'd memorized almost all of them, yet wasnt really paying much attention- glancing at brooklyn most of the time instead. 

brooklyn turns her head, only to see max staring at her- and the two make eye contact. brooklyn slides her hand underneath max's and intertwines their fingers. brooklyn turns her head away from max and to the stars. "so, big dipper, huh?" max asks, earning a grin from brooklyn.

the two girls spend the rest of their night together, admiring the stars- and eachother.

sadly, it didnt last.. forever. brooklyn said she had to go home, or her dad would get mad, so max offered to walk her there. brooklyn, obviously accepted- and the two walked home, holding hands. 

max gathered enough courage and invited her to sleepover at her house the next day, and brooklyn immediantly said yes, vigorously nodding her head, and max grinned. they said goodbye, and sadly, parted.

brooklyn cautiously opened up the door to her house, as quiet as possible, hoping she would be able to just sneak upstairs to her room. "why are you late?" her father asks from the couch in the living room, holding a beer- still dressed in his work clothes, a collared white shirt, and pants.

"im sorry, daddy," brooklyn quickly apologized quickly in a quiet, soft, almost scared voice that she only ever used with her father. 

"why?" her father grunted. "i just- i lost track of time, and, i had to walk home," brooklyn explains, her eyes dropping to her shoes. "im sorry. i-i wont be late again," she looks back up at him. "dont," her father only replies, raising his beer to take a sip.

"i promise," she promises quietly. she remembers the sleepover with max. "can i.. have a sleepover, with my friend tomorrow?" she quickly asks. "friend?" her dad repeats, his gruff eyebrows furrowing.

"my, friend, max," 

"max? no boys."

"no, max, she- max isnt a boy,"

her father stays silent for a moment. 

"mm.. okay." he agrees, but seemed suspicious. "okay, thank you, daddy," she says, combining all her words- and rushing up the stairs the second she can, letting out the breath she'd been holding in once shes out of his vision.

 meanwhile,

"hey, guys, where did brooklyn and max go?"

heyyy we met brooklyns dad!! sorry if i wrote him kinda cliche? i wasnt really sure how else to write him uh