The Green Tiger

Chapter 12 : Stress

Jane was going to take the plane in just a few hours. Max proposed her to spend the day with her to clear a bit her head. It was an important match; she knew Jane would be stressing more if she would be alone. She went to her apartment and prepared the lunch for her while Jane was preparing her luggage with her cat rubbing her legs. The brunette finally went back to her kitchen where Max was.

- "It smells good," Jane said.

- "I hope it will be!"

- "I'm sure it will be. You're a good cook, just knowing that you will cook makes my mouth water."

- "Really?" Max smiled.

- "Oh yeah, it's like eating at a restaurant but without the bad aspects."

- "Stop exaggerating, I'm not that good."

- "Yes, you are! You never thought of working in a restaurant? I mean, like a cook, not a waitress."

- "When I see who is in the kitchen, sometimes I think that I could be a cook too," Max joked.

- "Your cooking is better than most of the restaurants I had eaten, and, believe me, I had eaten in lots of restaurants!"

- "Yeah? I could think about it. It could be cool; I would be the boss!"

Max smiled at the idea. She always had a strong character, and she was sure she could work in a kitchen without problems. She looked at the ceiling with dreaming eyes, imagining herself directing her team, cooking her recipes, and teaching them new things. It could be funny and more gratifying than being bartender with all the boys flirting too much with her. Well, it was satisfying in a way, at least they were interested in her, but if they were not drunk, it would be better.

Max finished to prepare the meal while Jane was preparing the table on the balcony. The two girls ate under the shy sun, with the view on the town which seemed smaller than usual from where they were. Max was so hype by becoming a cook that she couldn't stop talking about it, already imagining her restaurant or her recipes, under the amused smile of Jane. But the redhead noticed that Jane was strangely quiet, it wasn't her kind to not talk at all.

- "Are you okay?" Max asked.

- "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Jane answered with a too wide smile. "I like hearing you talking like that, you seem to have a dream now, it's great."

- "Yeah, it could be so cool, but for now it's just a dream!"

- "Which could become true! My dream was to become a professional baseball player, and it became true! Don't be defeatist, it's not impossible. You'll have to work hard, but it doesn't seem to be something that stops you."

- "What do you mean?" Max frowned.

- "You have two jobs, you don't like them, but you still go to work. And bartender and waitress are hard jobs; you spend your time running everywhere to serve people who are not always very kind with you with a wide smile to not have problems. I would have never been able to do that."

Max had no words to answer, just her smile. She wasn't used to having support from someone like that, but she was feeling like she could do anything with Jane around her, that she would support her no matter what.

The two girls finished their meals by talking of everything and nothing before cleaning the table. They couldn't do other things as Jane's cab was almost arriving. The brunette lent her keys to Max to take care of Cat while she wasn't here. The redhead took her role seriously, it was a proof of trust from Jane, she was certainly not giving her keys to everyone like that. Jane took her luggage and went outside her building with Max to wait for the vehicle. The redhead could see on Jane's face that something was wrong. She was frowning and seemed preoccupied, and her right hand couldn't stop moving.

- "What's wrong?" Max softly asked.

- "I don't know...Maybe I'm not ready...Or maybe I'm not as good as I think and I'm deluding myself! And maybe I'll be shitty, and all the consultants will think I'm very bad, and I won't be able to be in a bigger team, I'll stay here forever! I'm already twenty years old, I'm certainly already too old! They will prefer everyone except me!"

Max placed her hands on Jane's cheeks which made stop the brunette. Jane looked down like if she was ashamed. Max didn't know why she was breaking down right now, but she seemed more worried that she used to show.

- "Why do you doubt of yourself like that right now?"

- "I, I don't know...I'm scared to fail..."

- "Why would you? You never failed before."

- "I did, I'm not perfect, but I'm scared to fail THAT day. It's like one of the most important days of my life!"

- "Stop pressuring yourself!" Max cut. "Play like if it was a normal match. You don't need to be different on the field because of these consultants; if they are unable to see how amazing you are on the field then they are the ones who fail, not you. You'll be awesome, like always, I know that."

Jane loudly gulped before nodding.

- "I wish you could come with me," Jane said with a small voice.

- "Maybe one day. But you're not alone, you have Mallory with you, right?"

- "Yeah, yeah, of course."

Jane finally put a smile on her face. Max was understanding Jane's stress, it was her dream since she was a young girl, she didn't see her life without playing baseball, failing her match in front of the consultants would ruin her professional life. The redhead wrapped her arms around Jane's waist and hugged her tight to comfort her.

- "You call me after your match, okay?"

- "Okay."

- "And when you want, of course."

- "I will. Thank you," Jane said.

The two girls were cut in their hug by the taxi arriving. Jane seemed to feel better, still stressed but calmed down. Max helped her with her luggage before kissing her to say goodbye.

- "Kick their ass!" Max said.

- "I will!" Jane smiled.

Max looked at the taxi driving away until the vehicle disappeared. She couldn't stop smiling, what happened was important for her. For once, Jane wasn't trying to impress her or to act confident, she wasn't scared to tell her she was doubting of herself. But Max knew she had no reason to worry.