Sweet Tooth: On My Block

8: the aftermath

"What's wrong, Maxie?" Nova asked curiously. "Why are you crying?"

"He never liked me."

"What? What do you mean?" 

"I went to go confront him about Sofia, and-and he told me that he never liked me in the first place," Maxine cried. "He didn't mean any of it. It was all a lie."

Nova's face fell and she pulled Maxine onto her lap. "Oh, Maxie. Come here. He's just a stupid-a stupid idiot. You should take a day off work tomorrow."

"No-I'm not going to be weak and skip work just because some boy broke my heart."

"So you really liked him?" Nova whispered into her hair.

"I did. I should've told him, but-"

"Quit blaming yourself. You couldn't have stopped him from being a jerk, or from sleeping with his bitchy ex-girlfriend. Here." She handed Maxine her bottle of beer. Maxine downed the whole thing in about five seconds. 

Nova looked at her, surprised, but quickly got over it and shook her head. "Maxie. You're the prettiest girl I know. Okay? You're fucking gorgeous. If Oscar doesn't appreciate that, then you need to find someone who treats you like you're a princess, which you are."

"You're the best, Nova," Maxine murmured, tilting her head up so she could see her face.

"No, I'm not. You are. You're a literal angel, and you deserve the best, but you always get the shittiest guys, and I can never understand why." Nova gazed sadly into Maxine's eyes, brushing her hair away from her face.

She looked at Nova's face-really looked at it. Maxine suddenly noticed how far her shirt was pushed up, exposing the "baby girl" tattoo on the side of her body . 

Nova's eyes trailed up her stomach, noticing the tattoo as well.

Maxine glanced back up at Nova and, on an impulse, brushed her lips against hers, pulling Nova into a kiss. Nova leaned into the kiss and took a fistful of Maxine's hair into her hand before suddenly pulling away.

Curious, Maxine's eyes asked a silent question, and Nova shook her head. "I can't. You're just using me to get over Oscar."

LATER

Maxine pulled her hair up into a ponytail and tied her apron tighter around her waist. She groaned when she looked into the black screen of her phone-she was a hungover mess. Nova and her had spent the entire night drinking beer, singing along to heartbreak songs, and eating the entire fridge. 

"Take an Advil," Nova said, holding her head.

Maxine accepted it, washing it down with a glass of lemon water. She cursed under her breath when she heard the Santos pull up. Blaring loud rap music early in the morning never helped cure a hangover. 

Dom pushed open the door with Hector and Sad Eyes. "Hey, Maxine!" He yelled.

She winced and held her head. "What?"

"What's wrong with yo head?" 

Maxine shook her head and filled up another glass of water. "Hangover. Can you turn the music down? I have a massive headache."

"Sorry, no can do," Dom replied. "Unless you want to talk to you-know-who."

"Never mind, then." She finished the glass of water and turned to Dom. "Don't you ever get hangovers from drinking all night at your parties?"

"Not really," he laughed. "How much did you drink? You're probably a lightweight."

Nova made her way up to the front. "Turn off the goddamn music, please!"

"I already said that I can't. I don't want Spooky to get pissed off again. How do you think I got this black eye?"

"I never noticed that. What happened, Dom?" 

"It's nothing important. Anyways-"

"Why can't you tell-wait, is this because of yesterday?" Maxine asked, her eyes wide. "You better not have gotten in a fight for defending me."

"Good luck, man," Hector laughed, slapping Dom on the back. He turned to Nova, who was curiously watching the two talk. "So, uh, can we continue yesterday's conversation?" They moved to the back to talk. 

"Dom, seriously! You shouldn't fight Spooky." 

"Maxine. I was defending you. He treats you like shit, and you deserve better than that."

"Yeah, everyone says I deserve better, but no one's willing to give it to me. Thank you, but I don't think fighting your boss is a good idea. I don't want to be the reason that you get in trouble."

Suddenly the door swung open and everyone turned to face the pissed-off cholo standing at the entrance. When Maxine saw who it was, she sighed and busied herself with something in the back of the bakery.

Nova glared ferociously at Oscar and crossed her arms, making it known clearly that she was not happy to see him. "What do you want?" she snapped, moving closer to the baseball bat perched on top of the refrigerator.

He ignored her and turned to address the entire store, though he was only talking to the Santos inside: "what's taking you so long? I only asked you to get a bag of muffins."

Maxine grabbed a bag and filled it up with muffins quietly, handing it to Dom. 

Oscar's eye caught what she was doing. "So you were talking to Maxine?"

Dom opened his mouth to speak, but Nova interrupted him. "Yes, he was. Talking is allowed, Spooky, right? Pay for your muffins and get out."

"Who do you think you're talking to?" 

"One of the employees, that's who," Nova replied, not missing a beat. "I suggest you leave or we ban you from the store."

"Oh, you're gonna ban me. I'm so scared." He widened his eyes, pretending to be afraid, and then smirked. "You don't own this store. You can't ban me."

"Guys, come on." Maxine bit her lip.

"Well, Maxine can. Just because you're the leader of a gang doesn't mean you own this whole town. You're not as big and bad as you think. Save yourself the humiliation and get. Out."

"I don't think you'll be talking like that when you're in the hospital, princesa."

"Okay, quit it!" Maxine yelled. "Take the muffins and go. Please."

"We haven't paid, though," Dom said quietly. 

"I'm sure the two hundred dollars Spooky paid before can cover the cost. Can you guys just go now? You're causing a scene."

Dom took the bag of muffins and clapped Oscar on the back. "Come on, let's go."

"Wait, did you just call me Spooky?" Oscar asked, turning to face Maxine, who now looked very uncomfortable.

"Yes, I did. You lost the right to be called Oscar yesterday."

"Get out," Nova repeated, grabbing the baseball bat. "Quit stalling, and just go. Maxine has to work, Spooky. Go. Now."

"Who are you coming at with that bat?"

"You, if you don't get your ass out!"

"Oh yeah? Feel like threatening me when there's a bullet through your back?!" Oscar yelled, reaching into his pants pocket.

"Spooky, get out!" Maxine begged. "Please just go!" Her ears were starting to ring and everything around her was starting to get blurry. She felt a lightness in her head and reached for the counter to steady herself.

"No, she needs to know-" He stopped, shoving his gun back into his pocket upon seeing Maxine drop to the ground. "Wait, what's happening? Why's she on the ground?"

"I don't know!" Nova yelled, panicked. "This hasn't happened before!" 

"Can I help-"

"Please just go. You're stressing her out. Just leave." She rushed to Maxine.

"Okay, fine," Oscar nodded. "Just call me if you need something."