12. Chapter 12

Maya is on a mission Monday morning before class starts. She nixes going to the cafeteria to sit with Travis and Vic like she usually does. Instead, Maya scurries around the halls looking for Carina. She doesn’t see her at her locker. She walks around to the hallway that Carina usually hangs out with her friends near Addison’s locker.

She sees the group. “Have you seen Carina this morning?” She asks as she comes to a halt, foregoing any sort of greeting.

Andy and Addison look at Maya with twin curiosity. “She said she was looking for you. What’s going on, Bishop?” Andy is the one who voices the question, a hint of concern in her tone, possibly. The fact that both Carina and Maya have approached them frantically this morning has alarm bells ringing.

“Uh, nothing. I have to go.” Maya hurries off.

She goes to the one place she avoided and finds Carina in the cafeteria with Travis and Vic.

“Carina.” She says as she approaches.

Carina turns to see Maya coming towards her and stands up. They come together in a hug.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Maya mumbles, gripping Carina around the midsection.

“Are you okay? Carina asks, trying to get a look at Maya’s face.

“I’m fine.” Maya shakes her head. “I’m so sorry. That shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have had-“ you over. She can’t finish the sentence. “I’m sorry. Please, please, don’t stop being my friend. Please. Please. Please.” She cries against Carina’s shoulder. “Please, don’t stop being my friend again.”

“Again?” Carina whispers, she releases her tight hold on Maya, her hands find her shoulders, pulling the blonde away from her body a little. “What do you mean again?”

Maya wipes at her eyes and cheeks. “I told you I had a sleepover once and that it didn’t end well.” She sniffles. Carina nods. “The girls that were at that sleepover stopped being friends with me because of what happened at the sleepover.”

“What is happening?” Travis whispers to Vic.

“I’m not sure.” Vic stares at the pair standing across the table from them.

“Should we say something?” Travis wonders.

“I don’t know.” Vic shrugs.

“Maya, what’s going on?” Travis asks.

 “Are you crying, Bishop?” Vic says at the same time. She’s never seen Maya cry or come anywhere close to crying.

Carina and Maya both look over at Travis and Vic at their questions. But Maya gets one look at them and has to look away. She curls back into Carina, hiding against her. Carina glares at Vic. Vic raises her hands in innocence.

“Hey.” Carina whispers in Maya’s ear. “Can you look at me?”

Maya pulls away a little and looks into Carina’s eyes. She sees Carina searching her face for something. Something that Maya isn’t sure of. “Are you-“ Carina pauses. “-Okay?” That’s what she’s looking for.

“Y-yeah.” Maya says unconvincingly. “Are you?”

“I’m not afraid of your dad.” Carina says confidently.

Maya thinks she should be. His anger and rage are scary. Maya is afraid of it. That’s why she does everything she can not to provoke it.

Vic and Travis both nod when Carina mentions Maya’s dad, having some sort of clue as to what’s happening.

Carina realizes that Maya is shaking. “Here, let’s sit.” She guides Maya over to the table. A hand on her arm as she sits down. Carina gets some of her Hershey kisses from her backpack and dumps the handful on the table. “Travis, can you find some water?”

He's up and gone without saying anything. Carina takes Maya’s right hand in hers, holding it in her lap.

Vic starts unwrapping chocolates. “Here.” She holds one out for Maya’s to take.

Maya shakes her head. She doesn’t want candy.

“Just eat it, bella.” Carina whispers. “It’ll help.”

Maya isn’t convinced it will help but does as she’s told.

“What happened after I left?” Carina asks.

Maya shakes her head again. She can’t tell Carina that because then Carina won’t be her friend anymore. She already has a suspicion that Carina won’t want to be her friend anymore and if she tells her anything then she knows that suspicion will come true. “Nothing.”

Carina knows that’s not true. “Okay.” She squeezes Maya’s hand. “You can tell me later.” Thinking that maybe Maya doesn’t want to say anything with anyone else around, in the middle of the cafeteria where anyone could be snooping or hear.

“Later?” Maya mumbles.

“Yeah. Later. Whenever you are ready.” Carina insists. “I’m not going anywhere, Maya.”

Travis comes back with a bottle of water from the vending machine. “Here, Maya.”

Carina reaches for the bottle, letting go of Maya’s hand, and cracks the cap and sets the bottle in front of Maya. She resumes her grip on Maya’s hand that hasn’t left her lap.

Carina pops a chocolate into her mouth and starts sucking on it to occupy herself. Her mind wanders. Not that it goes much further than it has since yesterday morning when she was forced out of the Bishop household. She’s gone over every possibility and scenario imaginable between then and now. All the while, wondering what was actually happening between Maya and Lane.

The four of them sit there in silence until the bell rings to start the day. Maya gets up, like a robot, and grabs her backpack and walks away. Carina watches her walk away before hanging her head in her hands.

“What happened?” Vic whispers as she gets up.

“I fucked up.” Carina looks up and over at Vic. “I went too far with Lane. I pushed him too far and he finally had enough. I was getting away with it and I got too cocky, too confident.” She feels sick about it. Physically, her stomach is in knots. Addison told her to be careful and not to come in between them. Not that she thinks she did, but this is just as bad.

Vic growls, angry. “He’s an asshole. Everyone knows that.”

Carina nods and rolls her eyes.

Travis nudges Vic. “We better get to class.”

“See you later, Carina.”

“I’ll see you guys at lunch.” She already knows that she’ll be sitting with Maya and Vic and Travis at lunchtime.

In AP Bio, Maya is more composed, but she tells Carina she doesn’t want to talk about what happened. She was just worried about Carina and now that she knows Carina is alright there’s nothing to talk about.

Carina isn’t sure what to do, so she sits there.

At lunch, Carina invites Travis and Vic and Maya over for brunch on Sunday. She knows it’s not the greatest timing now, but she still wants to do this. They’ve been talking about it for weeks now.

“I’ll come over as soon as I’m done at church.” Travis is eager about this opportunity.

Vic laughs at him. “I’ll be there too.”

“Maya?” Vic asks, as they all look at her.

“What?” She stares over at Vic, not really paying attention to the conversation.

“We are having French toast brunch at my house on Sunday.” Carina rubs her hand up and down Maya’s leg.

Maya looks down at the hand and scoots away from Carina. “Okay.”

This doesn’t go unnoticed by Carina. She takes her hand back and tries not to be offended and upset by the distance that Maya puts between them.

“So, you’ll be there?” Travis asks hopefully.

Maya looks between the three. “I’ll see.” She knows there’s no possible way that her father will let her go over to Carina’s house for brunch. Or for anything else for that matter. He all but banned her from seeing Carina.

On Tuesday, Carina shows up in the cafeteria in the morning, hopeful that Maya is in a better mood today and that yesterday was just a blip that they can get past it.

But Maya purposefully avoids the cafeteria before school. She doesn’t know how she can face Carina after what her father did. How he yelled at Carina. If Maya hadn’t let Carina convince her to come over none of this would have happened. It was one of Maya’s fears going into the weekend, but charming, smooth Carina had her so distracted that she didn’t see it coming. She should have never let Carina into the house. Especially with her father’s track record with past sleepovers. Her friends just don’t know the line with her father and not to cross it.

In Bio, Maya hands the DVD’s that Carina rented back to her. “Sorry, they are late now.”

Carina sighs. “Don’t worry about it.” It’s the last thing Carina is worried about. She actually didn’t remember them. They were forgotten in the basement at the Bishop house.

“I’ll pay the late fee. Just let me know what it is.” Maya gets her books out and gets ready for class.

“Maya.” Carina sighs.

“Yeah?” Maya says without looking over at her.

“Just look at me, please.” Carina begs.

Maya turns with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s happening?” Carina worries.

Maya wrinkles her brow. “We are getting ready for class to start.” She turns back to face the front of the room.

Carina reaches out, putting her hand on Maya’s arm. “Are you avoiding me?”

Maya licks her lips and swallows the lump in her throat. “No. Not at all.” She lies. Truthfully, she feels like she needs to put some distance between herself and Carina. She got too close to Carina, and it ended in near disaster. She doesn’t want to lose Carina as a friend, but she can’t let herself get too comfortable again. She can’t let her dad yell at or get close to Carina again.

At lunch, Andy monopolizes all of Carina’s time whining about something Jack did. She keeps looking over at Maya at her lunch table, but Maya is always eating her lunch and never looking over in her direction. A certain feeling settles in her chest. Sadness, maybe. Despair. Regret, even.

They have gym class that afternoon. Carina changes quickly and goes over to sit on the bench near Maya’s gym locker, where she’s putting on her tennis shoes. She watches Maya’s movements, her rigid posture, the lack of emotion on her face, the lack of a smile or the excitement that she used to see on Maya’s face when they saw each other.

“I wish you would just talk to me.”

“About what?” Maya plays dumb.

Carina sighs. “You know what.”

Maya finishes tying her shoes and stands up straight. “You want me to do that- when? Where? Here.” She throws her arms out to her side. “In the locker room, with a bunch of nosy kids walking about.”

Carina frowns. “Well, no.” She tries to think of a solution.

“I’m sorry about what happened.” Maya sighs and closes her locker. “You have no idea how sorry I am, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened. Or the fact that I don’t know how to make it better for you.” Maya wrinkles up her face and steps past Carina to get to the gym. “Because clearly you’re still thinking about it, and it’s affected you.”

“Yeah, I’m still thinking about it, Maya.” Carina follows after her. “Because I’m worried about you.”

Maya stops, rounds on Carina. “Well, don’t be. I know how to deal with my father.” She turns back around, walking away, leaving Carina standing there in shock.

She stands there for a moment before turning around and going back to her locker to change back into her street clothes. She gathers her backpack and goes to her regular locker getting some homework, and because she’s eighteen, Carina goes down to the office and signs herself out of school for the rest of the day, telling the secretary that she doesn’t feel well.

Carina goes down to the park and sits on a park bench to wait for Andrea’s school to get released for the day. She picks him up and starts driving.

“Where are we going?” He asks when he realizes that they aren’t going home.

Carina doesn’t say anything. She lets out a long sigh instead. She gets on I-5 and heads south. They drive down towards Tacoma. Carina takes the exit for the aquarium. She’s been there before with her father and Andrea.

They pull into the parking lot. Andrew looks around. There are only two other cars in the parking lot. “I don’t think they are open.”

Carina shuts the car off and gets out. Andrew follows after her. She goes up to the front door, pulling on the handle. It’s locked. She hangs her head.

“We should get home.” Andrew puts a hand on Carina’s back. She shrugs it off. “What’s wrong?” He asks in a soft voice.

Carina turns around to face him. She chews on her bottom lip and shakes her head. “I came on too strong. I was too bold. Too outgoing. I have too big of a personality. I thought she liked that, but I guess I was wrong.” Carina has spent the afternoon second guessing every decision she made in regard to Maya.

The little light bulb goes off in Andrew’s head. “This is about Maya.”

Carina nods. “I went too far. With her dad. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have just left it alone. But I thought I was helping or trying to help. And now she won’t talk to me or even look at me.”

Andrew doesn’t know what to say. This sounds like a bigger problem then he knows what to do with. “We should go home.” He says again. Andrew isn’t worried about them being so far away from home or their safety because he knows, no matter what, Carina will take care of him. But they shouldn’t be here.

“Yeah.” Carina sighs. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He walks with Carina back to the car. “Did you want to see the penguins?” He knows his sister likes penguins.

Carina nods.

“Maybe we can come back on Saturday when they are open and see them.”

“You have soccer.” Carina mumbles, knowing that will take up the whole morning.

“We can skip it this week.”

Carina stops walking. “You can’t skip soccer because I’m sad.”

“Or you could come here, and I’ll go to soccer. I’ll have Tommy pick me up and drop me off.” Andrew offers.

Carina grins, teary-eyed. “Andrea.” She pulls him into a hug and starts crying. They hold onto each other for a few minutes while Carina cries. She finally sniffles up the last of her tears and lets him go. “Thank you for thinking of all that, but I don’t want to come to the aquarium alone.”

He nods.

“But would it be alright if I skipped soccer this weekend?” She’s not really equipped right now to sit at the same soccer game that Lane Bishop is at.

“Yeah.”

Carina nods and they get back in the car and drive home.

“Where have you two been?” Vincenzo asks when they walk into the house.

“Carina kidnapped me and drove us all the way to Tacoma.” Andrew deadpans.

Mr. DeLuca doesn’t believe what his son is saying. “Funny.”

“Sorry, papa. I know we are late. We were just- bonding.” She says for lack of anything better. “I’ll get supper warmed up for us.” Carina walks into the kitchen and pulls their dinner from the fridge to heat it up.

Wednesday morning, they are seated and ready for Biology class to start. “What happened to you yesterday in gym class?” Maya asks. She was shocked that Carina never came to class. And maybe a little worried that she disappeared so suddenly.

“I was suddenly feeling sick.”

Maya glances over, narrowing her eyes at Carina.

“I signed myself out of school.” She adds, holding her head high. She’s not going to let Maya make her feel bad about it.

“Well, I didn’t know what happened. I was worried.”

Carina scoffs. “That’s rich.” She mumbles under her breath.

“What?” Maya finally turns her head all the way to look at Carina.

Carina raises and eyebrow. “You were worried about me? That’s rich considering that you told me that I can’t be worried about you.” She snarls.

Maya scrunches up her face. She turns back to the front of the room. “Well, I was.” She whispers.

Carina just shakes her head.

They are starting a unit on badminton on Thursday in gym class. Mr. Larson is assigning partners.

“Maya. Carina.” Mr. Larson calls.

Carina rolls her eyes so hard thinks she pulls an eye muscle. “Of course.” She rubs at her right eye. “Let’s go, Bishop.” The fact that they are partnered up together again isn’t lost on Carina. She’ll grin and bear it. She walks over to the court that they have been assigned to. “I’m not bringing you to the nurse today if you get your nose busted open again.” Carina smirks.

“I can take care of myself, but thanks.” Maya rolls her eyes. She absolutely hates this. She didn’t think that when she told Carina to be back off that she would turn into a mean girl again. But she supposes that what she asked for. It’s all her fault anyway, so it’s just another part of her punishment.

They can’t figure out a system or strategy for their badminton game and end up losing the first round to their opponents. And Maya hates losing. “I can’t believe this.” She groans.

“That you’re losing?” Carina questions.

“That you’re making me lose.”

“So, it’s my fault now?” Carina raises an eyebrow. “I wasn’t the one who missed three, or was it four, hits on the shuttlecock.”

Maya wrinkles up her nose. She doesn’t really like that word. And doesn’t like when Carina says it. “Whatever.” Her thoughts have her distracted. Her father tells her all the time to ditch all the distractions. And that’s what she tried to do when she told Carina not to worry about her, but it seems like it’s only made things worse. She feels like she can’t win. At anything. Even a stupid gym class game of badminton.

Carina goes to get a drink between games. Andy comes over to her. “What’s up with you and Bishop?”

Carina glares over at her friend and sloshes the water around in her mouth as she debates whether to tell Andy the truth or not.

When Andy doesn’t get a response, she continues. “I thought you had the hots for her.”

“Shhhh.” She takes hold of Andy’s arm. “I do.” She closes her eyes. She didn’t mean to admit that out loud. “But you can’t go around saying that.”

“Then why do you two look like you’re about to murder each other.” Andy looks over at Maya. Maya is watching them with a scowl.

Again, Carina doesn’t come up with a response in enough time.

“Is it sexual frustration?” Andy wiggles her eyebrows.

“Can you stop?” Carina raises her voice a little. She releases Andy’s arm. “And no. It’s not.” Carina sighs. “Something happened. And we- I- I don’t know-“ She’s beyond frustrated.

Andy hums. “Sounds serious.”

“It is.”

Mr. Larson blows his whistle. “Rotate.”

“Hope you figure it out.” Andy claps Carina on the shoulder. “Cuz that look on your face ain’t cute.” She jokes.

Carina rolls her eyes as Andy runs away.

“I miss Carina.” Maya sighs at lunch on Friday. Other than AP Biology and gym class she hasn’t seen her since Monday morning. And in each of those classes they haven’t said much of anything nice to each other or interacted.

Vic and Travis share a look. Travis reaches across the table and puts a hand on Maya’s hand. “I don’t know what happened. And I don’t know what you said or what you want but it seemed like Carina was just trying to look out for you. Trying to make sure you were alright. Trying to find out what happened after she left.”

“Those aren’t bad things, Maya. I know you think you can take care of yourself, and you don’t want anyone else’s help, but maybe you should let her.” Vic adds. “Me and Travis too. You can talk to us if you want or need to. I know we mostly just see each other in school and that’s fine with me. I’m not someone that needs to see you all the time. That’s only reserved for Travis.” Vic smiles, cheesy, at Travis. “But it’s okay to lean on other people now and then.”

“And I miss Carina too.” Travis adds for a little relief.

Maya furrows her brow in his direction.

“What? She’s fucking amazing.” Travis thinks Carina is the best thing to happen to Maya, to any of them, in recent months.

“He’s not wrong.” Vic grins too. “She puts a smile on your previously grumpy face.”

“You make it sound like I’m some sort of depressed psychopath.” Maya scoffs.

Vic shrugs. “It doesn’t need to sound like that. It’s just us trying to let you know what we are seeing. Sometimes it’s good to see things from other people’s perspective. That’s how we learn and grow.”

“Okay, Einstein.”

Vic lets the insult slide. “Now, we hatch a plan to get her back.” She leans in conspiratorially. “You need a plan.”

“Do I?” Maya whines. It sounds like a lot of work and effort on top of everything else she has going on. “I don’t want to sound ungrateful but-“

“Shut up.” Vic rolls her eyes. “I mean that in the nicest way possible. You need to do something. Probably apologize for something you did or said, if I know you. So start with that but whatever else you decide should be something to let her know that you want more, that you’re not done. You’re not done with her.”

“You make it sound like she’s an empty bag of chips.” Travis glances over at Vic.

Vic smiles.

“It’s scary.”

Travis and Vic turn their attention to Maya.

“What is?”

“Taking the risk.” It’s so much more than that. But that’s the first thing. “And I don’t want what happened on Sunday to happen again.”

“Then don’t let it.” Vic shrugs.

Maya sighs. It’s not that simple. She doesn’t even know when she’s going to have an opportunity to talk to Carina again. She knows there’s the soccer game tomorrow morning but isn’t sure if anything can even happen there with her parents around.

Carina sits on the couch at Jack’s house. There aren’t a lot of people at the party yet. Andy is somewhere in the house. She’s the one who let her in. The boys had an away baseball game so it will be later before Jack and Dean and their buddies arrive. Carina is fine with that. It’s quieter this way. She likes this better than hooting and hollering and running around and dumb drunken shenanigans.

Someone sits down next to her. She looks over and it’s Owen Hunt.

“Hey, Carina.” He grins, thinking he’s smooth. “How you doing?”

She looks him up and down with a judgmental eye. She’s nursing her third drink and well on the way to getting drunk. The thing is, Carina never gets drunk at these parties. Not completely anyway. But tonight she feels like she needs to. So she’s hitting the alcohol harder than she usually would.

“Do you need something?” She questions the redhead boy.

“You?” He wiggles his eyebrows.

Carina grimaces. “Gross.”

Owen scoffs. “How can you say gross. We’ve hooked up before.”

“Yes, and?” She doesn’t see the point.

“We had a good time. Don’t you want to have that again?”

“Not really.”

Owen rubs his hand against Carina’s leg. “Oh, come on.”

“Do not touch me.” She glares down at his hand.

Owen huffs. “You’re no fun.”

Carina hums. She definitely isn’t going to be an fun tonight. Moody and trying not to think about a certain blonde while drinking herself into oblivion.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” She thinks she remembers hearing about Owen attaching himself to someone. Carina hasn’t kept up with every single piece of gossip in recent weeks.

Owen sighs. “I did. I do. I don’t know.”

“Then I suggest you try not to hook up with anyone.” Carina advises.

He nods and gets up and walks away.

Carina rolls her eyes, downing the rest of her drink and going to find another.

In the morning, Carina wakes up on a bean bag, with a headache and a dry mouth, with no recollection of anything that happened after her conversation with Owen.

She somehow makes it to Andrew’s soccer game though. She said she wasn’t going to go and Andrew arranged for Tommy’s parents to pick him up.

She just couldn’t stay away. Despite her hangover and splitting headaches. And despite the fact that she hates Lane Bishop’s guts. She had to come. She had to support Andrew because he’s been supporting her all week. She also has to see Maya, even if from a distance. She sits as far away from the Bishop’s as possible.

Carina tries to focus on the game but finds herself look over in Lane’s direction. She tells herself it’s because of her hatred for the man but she knows that’s not the only reason.

She feels like she was a teeny tiny bud, that a plant was starting to grow. A bud that would eventually grow and turn into a flower. A flower that would bloom and open up. She could feel that potential there. But then Lane Bishop walked by the plant and knocked the bud off. And now it lays on the ground shriveled up and dying. All the life taken from it.

It might be a bit dramatic, but that’s how Carina feels, like that potential has been taken from her.

Carina goes to the bathroom just after halftime. After the typical bathroom rush. She comes out of the bathroom to fill her water bottle from the water fountain. She needs as much water as she can get today.

“I saw you over there.” Maya leans against the wall next to the water fountain. She nods her head back towards the field.

“So, you’re stalking me?” Carina continues to fill her bottle, not looking up.

“Maybe.” Maya walks her fingers up Carina’s arm.

Carina looks down at those fingers in confusion. “What are you doing?” Her eyes shift over to Maya, looking up at her face. She spills some water on her hand in the process before concentrating on filling her water bottle again.

“I miss you.” Maya sighs.

Carina abandons filling her water. “No. No. No.” She shakes a finger at Maya. “You can’t do that. You can’t stand there and pretend like nothing happened.” Carina turns and walks away from Maya. She rounds the corner of the bathroom pavilion to get back to her chair. She doesn’t want to deal with this right now.

Maya follows after Carina. She reaches out, grabbing her wrist, stopping her.

Carina looks down at the hand on her wrist. “What do you want, Bishop?” She says through gritted teeth.

Maya closes her eyes and groans in frustration. “Use my name, please.” She hates that Carina has reverted to calling her Bishop. Bishop is her father’s name.

Carina stands there and studies Maya for a moment.

“Please, Carina.” She begs. “My family is messed up. I know. And I’m so sorry that you had to be in the middle of that. That you had to be at the brunt of his yelling. I should have never let you into my house. I shouldn’t have let you get that close but-“

Carina stares at Maya with confusion. Does Maya think this is her fault?

Maya looks around them, taking in their surroundings.

“But?” Carina is waiting for more.

“Come on.” She tugs Carina back around the corner and into the bathrooms.

“Maya.” Carina tries to protest. “Where are we going?” But she follows Maya willingly.

Maya makes sure that no one is the bathroom before she speaks. “I’m trying to apologize because we finally aren’t at school. Because I want to make it better. Because I miss you and I can’t stop thinking about you.”

Someone pushes the door open, and Maya pulls Carina into one of the bathroom stalls quickly. Carina doesn’t say anything but raises questioning eyebrows at Maya as Maya has her presses against the closed stall door. Maya shakes her head, grinning at the audacity of what she’s doing.

They wait for whoever it is that is in the bathroom to leave.

Carina can’t help but think about how perfectly Maya feels presses up against her. Her left hand finds Maya’s hip.

The bathroom door closes, and Maya lets out an audible breath. “I thought they’d never leave.”

“Why?” Carina challenges, her eyes searching Maya’s.

“So, I can do this.” Maya reaches up, her hand moving from Carina’s chest to her cheek, tilting her head slightly, and leaning into kiss Carina.

Carina hums into the kiss, knowing that they probably shouldn’t be doing this. “Maya.” She squeezes her hip.

“What?” Maya wonders if Carina doesn’t want this anymore.

“We’re in a dirty public bathroom.”

Maya shrugs, glad that Carina isn’t stopping her. “Don’t touch anything.”

Carina laughs and pushes off of the door. She presses Maya against her side wall of the stall and leans in to capture her lips again.

They trade slow kisses for a few moments before Carina rests her forehead against Maya’s. She’s so turned on right now. She never would have imagined this. Somehow, Maya has reeled her back in again. Everything feels light and airy again. The flower bud that she thought had died is alive again within her. Her skin buzzes with anticipation. She knows when she gets Maya alone again, they have things to talk about, but this feeling right now, she thinks she can live on that for a long time.

“Ya know, I’m never going to be able to think about or look at this bathroom the same again.” Carina bites her lip.

“You’re welcome.” Maya slips out from under Carina and exits the stall.

Carina howls with laughter and follows after her. “I want to sit next to you soooo bad now.” Carina whispers as they walk back towards where the crowd sits. She wants to do so many things with Maya right now.

Maya hums and looks over her shoulder at Carina. She sticks her tongue out and winks.

“Stop.” Carina whispers and Maya stops and turns around. She doesn’t get too close now that they are out in the open, but she just stares at Maya for a moment. “Come to brunch tomorrow morning.” She says, breathy.

Maya groans, knowing that she can’t. “I’ll try, but no promises.” What she wouldn’t give to spend the midday with Carina, and Travis and Vic too, but she knows that’s unlikely at this point.

She didn’t come to the soccer game with an agenda or knowing that she was going to accost Carina like she did. Maya just saw her, she was looking for her, arriving late and sitting as far away as possible. She kept on eye on the brunette the entire time and made her move when she saw Carina get up to go to the bathroom. It just all sort of happened. There’s something about Carina that Maya craves. And while they spent all week stewing and frustrated around each other it added something. The friction there palpable until now. Until it was release in the bathroom stall in a most irresistible kiss.

Carina takes a step to the side, in the direction of her lawn chair. “Bye.” She whispers, not taking her eyes off of Maya.

“Bye.” Maya gives a little wave before turning and finding her parents and her chair again.

“Everything alright, dear?” Katherine asks her.

“Yeah.” Maya screws up her face in confusion. “Why wouldn’t it be?” She scoffs.

“You were gone quite a while.” Katherine says.

Maya looks over and glares at her mother, willing the woman to shut up. “Everything is fine.” She says in a clipped tone. “I was just walking around a bit. Stretching my legs. They are a little tight after my workout this morning.” She lies.

“Okay, dear.” Katherine thankfully leaves it at that.