9. Chapter 9

Carina gets an idea on Tuesday morning. She’s been thinking about the weekend for two days now. Mostly, she’s been thinking about when she’s going to get to kiss Maya again. It seems like such a little thing, a simple little kiss, but Carina can’t stop thinking about it. And she knows she’s not going to get another opportunity for probably a long time.

This isn’t like anything Carina has experienced before and she’s okay with that. It’s not a hook up or a few weeks of dating someone and then going your separate ways. Whatever this thing is with Maya feels like more than that. And they aren’t even dating or hooking up.

She stops at a drug store on the way to school to get what she needs. She stuffs the bag into her backpack and heads into school. Carina heads into the cafeteria straight away. She goes over to the table and sits across from Travis.

“Oh, hello.” Travis raises an eyebrow as to why Carina is sitting across from him.

“Buongiorno.” Carina smiles. “Where are your buddies?”

“I’m not sure.” Travis doesn’t know where Maya or Vic are this morning.

Carina and Travis make small talk as they wait for Maya or Vic to show up. Or for the bell to ring for classes to start.

Maya comes in, looking over the papers that she just printed off in the library. “I had to print off my paper for History class before school.” She finally looks up when she gets to the table. “Oh.” She’s surprised to see Carina sitting there.

“Morning, bella.” Carina grins.

“What are you doing here?” Maya mumbles.

“Do you not want me here?” Carina throws back her own question.

Maya glances over at Travis. He’s watching her to see what her reaction is going to be. “It’s nice to see you.” Maya says shyly and sits down next to Carina. But it’s not just nice to see Carina. Maya feels all giddy and warm on the inside whenever Carina even smiles at her. It’s wonderful to get to sit next to her.

“What’s your paper about?”

“Um-“ Maya knows this is going to sound crazy when she says it. “We had to choose a country to write about that was involved in World War II.”

“What country did you pick?” Travis inquires. He knows Maya wouldn’t pick the US but is curious what she went with.

Maya looks down at her lap. “Italy.”

Carina wraps her arm around Maya’s shoulders. “Not our proudest moment.”

“I don’t know if World War II can be any countries proudest moment.” Travis adds.

Carina raises an eyebrow at him. “That’s not the vibe I get from most Americans.”

There silence for a moment before Maya moves and tucks her paper into her History folder. Carina rummages around in her backpack then. “I have something for you.” Carina tucks two into the palm of her hand.

“Me?” Maya wonders.

“No. Travis.” Carina rolls her eyes playfully. “You have to close your eyes.”

“I’m not doing that.” Maya folds her arms over her chest.

“Then you don’t get my special surprise.” Carina wiggles her eyebrows.

“Close your eyes, Maya. I want to know what it is.” Travis whines across from them.

Maya glares over at the boy but then closes her eyes and holds out her right hand.

Carina grins and takes one from her hand and puts it on Maya’s palm, keeping the other in her own hand. “Open your eyes.”

Maya stares down at the Hershey’s kiss in her hand.

“You said you liked chocolate.” Carina shrugs and shows Maya the Hershey’s kiss in her own hand. “One kiss for you. And one kiss for me.” She says boldly.

“How come I don’t get one?” Travis asks oblivious to what Carina is doing.

Carina chuckles and reaches into her backpack and throws one in his direction, hopeful to distract him. She unwraps her kiss and brings it to her lips, making sure that Maya is watching as she sucks it into her mouth with a little pop. She sees Maya shift in her seat under the attention and smiles. “Have your kiss.” Carina nods at the untouched chocolate in Maya’s palm.

“Yeah, or I’ll swipe it.” Travis is already finished with his. He reaches out for Maya’s, but Maya closes her hand around it, bringing it to her chest, and she starts to unwrap it.

Carina reaches into her backpack to get a couple more kisses for Travis and slides them across the table to Travis as Maya unwraps her kiss. She watches as Maya brings the kiss to her lips, pulling it into her mouth. Carina shows off her kiss, between her teeth before chewing it in half with a wicked little smile. Maya grins as she sucks on the chocolate for a moment before chewing it up.

Vic hurries over to the table, frantic about not finishing her English homework. She takes the focus as Travis asks her what’s wrong.

Carina takes the opportunity to leans over and whisper in Maya’s ear. “How was your second kiss?”

Maya chews on her lips and nods. “Not-“ She clears her throat. “Not as good as the first but just as sweet.” She glances over at Carina.

Carina leans back and shakes her head. For how much she loves to tease Maya, she loves it just as much when Maya comes back with something just as cleaver and teasing. Carina hums. “I’m glad.”

Vic sees the chocolate wrappers on the table. “What did I miss here?”

“Oh, Carina brought us chocolate.” Travis grins. “She knows how to win people over.”

“I have to win you over now? Ay, dio mio.” Carina throws her hands in the air. “Isn’t shared custody, promised French toast, and my wit and charm enough?”

It’s more than enough for Maya. But she doesn’t say that. She remains mum on the situation.

“Just wait. Just you wait. That French toast- it’ll knock your socks off.” Carina points between Travis and Vic.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Travis nods.

“When you taste it.” Carina corrects him.

“I’ll believe it when I taste it.” Travis grins.

“Enough. I need to finish this.” Vic worries about her English assignment still.

“Then I’ll go.” Carina grabs her backpack and stands up. “Ciao, track trio.” Carina chuckles as she leaves.

“Is she always going to be popping in now?” Travis asks Maya.

Maya is still thinking about her ‘second kiss’. “Probably. I can’t control what she does while at school.”

Travis smirks at what Maya said. “Does that mean you can control what she does outside of school?”

“What? No.” Maya scoffs. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

There is the freshman/sophomore track meet at their school that day. Maya and Travis and Vic have to help out. It’s one of the few track events that Lane doesn’t attend because Maya isn’t participating in any events as she’s a senior.

Maya and Travis are sitting up hurdles when someone calls Maya’s name.

“I know that voice.” Travis smirks and looks over at Maya.

Maya keeps her focus on the hurdles. She knows that voice too. She decides to ignore it and focus on the task. She doesn’t even know why Carina is here. It’s not like she’s running today. The juniors and seniors are required to help out and support their younger teammates for the freshman/sophomore meet. And Maya never told her that she had to do this or be here.

When she’s done being busy, Maya finally turns her attention to Carina in the stands. She had been ignoring her for the last thirty minutes while they were moving and adjusting the hurdles between races.

She looks up and finds Carina looking around, watching what’s going on. Maya moves over to the edge of the track. There is a fifteen minute break after hurdles for sprinter to warm up. She stands at the bottom of the stands hoping Carina will see her a some point in those fifteen minutes but doesn’t want to bring a lot of attention to herself.

It takes probably about three minutes before Carina comes down and stands on the other side of the railing from Maya, slightly elevated above her though.

“You looked busy out there. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were ignoring me.” Carina teases.

“I was.” Maya mumbles and looks anywhere but at Carina. “I told you, you can’t be here.”

“You’re not even racing today. That’s not fair.”

“I’m sure you have better things to do than be at a stupid freshman/sophomore track meet.” Maya still won’t look at her.

“Maybe I’m interested in the young talent that this school has.” Carina comes back with.

Maya can’t help it. She laughs at that. Her eyes finally meeting Carina.

“There’s the wonderful smile.” Carina whispers. “How long do you have to hang around here?”

“You’re a bad influence, Carina DeLuca.” She shakes her head. “Til the end.”

“Can I get you anything?” Carina asks. “A water. Powerade. Popcorn. A hot dog.” Carina thinks about it. “Though I don’t know if I’d eat a hot dog from a school event. Or any event really. I got sick from a movie theater hot dog one time. Those things just sit there in the open air rotating on that thing. It’s a recipe for disaster. And should be a health code violation. Andrea has them when we go to the movies sometimes. I don’t know how he does it.”

“Young and naïve yet.” Maya supplies.

Carina chuckles. “Si. So?” She raises an eyebrow.

“I could use another water.” She says timidly.

“Coming right up, Bishop.” Carina clicks her tongue.

“Thank-“

“Let’s go, Maya.” Vic slaps her on the ass. “Quit talking to your girlfriend. We’ve got work to do.” Vic throws a stopwatch to Maya and walks away.

Maya blushes profusely. “She’s not-“ She whispers but her eyes look back to Carina. And Carina smiles at her and nods towards where Vic has run off to, indicating she should follow after Vic.

A little while later, Maya is complaining to Travis about Carina as they are taking a break. “I don’t even know how she knew I was here.”

Travis grins guiltily over at Maya. “That would be me.”

“What? Travis.”

“We were talking this morning, while you were printing off your History paper. She asked me what I had going on this week. I told her about the freshman/sophomore meet and how we all had to help out.”

Maya nods and takes a sip from her water that Carina procured for her. She can’t really be mad at him for that.

“Hey, I wouldn’t complain if I were you. She went and got you water and popcorn.” He shoves some popcorn into his mouth. Maya had given it to him.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“About?”

“Carina. I think she wants to do something after I’m finished here.”

“So do something.” Travis shrugs.

“Like what?” Maya’s never been on a date. She’s never planned a date. Not that she thinks this is really a date, but it’s more about the planning of something. Is she suppose to suggest an activity? Is she suppose to lead the charge? She doesn’t know.

“Just hang out.”

Maya huffs. “You’re a lot of help.”

“Look, she’s clearly interested in you. Clearly.” He exaggerates the word. “If I had someone that showed up at a track meet that I wasn’t even participating in, I would definitely want to do something to return the favor. Show her that you are willing to put time in. Show her that you want to spend time with her. And I know that’s hard for you. I know you have a strict schedule but maybe, just maybe, she’s worth adjusting your schedule for.”

Maya already knows that Carina is.

The meet is coming to a close. The juniors and seniors are dismissed as there are only two events left.

“Hey, Maya, you still want that ride home?” Vic asks. The plan was that Vic was going to give her and Travis a ride home after they were finished and maybe stop somewhere to grab something to eat.

Maya looks over to the stands. Carina is still sitting there watching everything that is happening on the track.

Vic’s eyes following Maya’s line of sight. “Oh, I see.”

“I think I can catch a different ride home. But thanks.”

Vic throws her hands in the air. “Hey, I don’t blame ya. If I had a sexy Italian girl hanging around a track meet just to see me I’d jump at the chance to have her take me home.”

Maya turns to Vic with furrowed brow.

“Okay, that sounded worse than I intended.”

“You think she’s sexy?” Maya mumbles.

“Yeah. I might be straight, but that girl has it going on. And not in a like flaunting it kind of way either. There’s something so naturally hot about her.” Vic watches Carina as she says this.

Maya hums taking in this information. She supposes Vic is correct.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Bishop.” Vic claps her on the shoulder. “Don’t stay out too late with Miss Italy.”

“Okay, say bye to Travis for me.” Maya replies back halfheartedly, her focus shifting completely to the brunette in the grandstand.

Maya climbs the stairs. There aren’t many spectators left in the stands. She glances over in Carina’s direction as she climbs to the top row. The brunette has her eyes locked on Maya as she approaches. She comes over and sits next to Carina, her hands in her track jacket pockets. “Vic and Travis and everybody went home.”

“Okay.” Carina isn’t sure what that means.

“This is my main event.” Maya points out on the track as a group of kids gets ready at the starting line.

“There’s only a handful of them.”

“The 10,000 meter isn’t a very popular race.”

“I see.” Carina folds her hands together in her lap. She wants to do other things with them but knows they are in public. She’s not going to be too forward with any touching.

The gun goes off and the race starts. Maya sits forward on the bleacher seat. She watches the runners as they go around the first turn. “Good start. Mallory got a good start.”

“Who’s Mallory?” Carina asks.

“She’s really good. A freshman at our school. You didn’t have to come today.” Maya says, keeping her eyes trained on the race.

“I wanted to. Travis told me about it this morning. I hope it’s alright that I’m here. I know you said I couldn’t come to your meets but-“ Carina shrugs.

“This isn’t really one of my meets.” Maya finishes the sentence.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t mind if you come to my meets. I would like that but-“ She turns to look at Carina now. “-my dad might have other opinions.”

Carina sighs. “So, you’re saying?”

“Come if you want. I’ll deal with the consequences afterwards.” She turns back to the race.

“Maya.” Carina elongates Maya’s name as she says it. “There shouldn’t be consequences. Not for me being a spectator at your track meet.”

“But there could be. There are.” Maya starts bouncing her leg.

Carina wonders if the bouncing is because of the race or because of the conversation or maybe both. She moves slowly next to Maya, slipping her hand on the inside of Maya’s arm, wrapping her hand around her bicep. Carina, then, leans into Maya’s body, her side.

For her part, Maya sits there stiffly, not wanting to add anymore to the conversation.

They sit in silence and watch the 10,000 meter to the end. Mallory ends up winning and Maya stands, clapping her hands together, cheering her on. She turns to Carina when the cheers around the track die down. “Okay, we can go now. I just have to grab my bag from under the bleachers.”

“Oh, I’m taking you home?” Carina takes a step back from Maya. She smirks.

Maya nods. “That’s why I said Travis and Vic left.”

Carina laughs.

“They were my ride home. But since you were still here, I thought you’d want to.”

“Oh, I very much want to.” Carina wraps her arms around Maya from the side, squeezing her tight before letting her go. “Let’s go.”

“And maybe we can stop somewhere and grab something to eat on the way. That’s what Travis and Vic and I were going to do. I haven’t had a proper supper. And water and a little bit of popcorn isn’t cutting it. I do have a few protein bars in my bag so I could always eat those, but you don’t really want to eat more than one in a day, so maybe not.”

“Why not?” Carina asks.

“Why not what?”

“Eat more than one.”

Maya’s ears burn at the answer. “Sometimes- uh-“ She looks around to make sure no one is too close to them. “-if you eat more than one in a sitting, you’ll get the poops.” She whispers and looks to Carina to see if she understands.

“Ah. Si.” Carina grins.

“Here.” Maya makes an abrupt right turn and ducks into a door underneath the grandstand.

Carina steps into the ‘room’. “I didn’t know this was here.”

“Ya learn something new every day.” Maya winks and grabs her bag. “It’s for the team. Track, soccer, football. To store equipment. I think the football team has their team huddle in here at halftime. Same with soccer.”

“Cool.”

Maya thinks of another thing. “The hurdles go under here.”

“Today?”

“No, we have a meet here on Thursday. They’ll stay out until then.” Maya explains as they walk out. “Do you know anywhere good that we can stop at and eat?”

Carina grins at Maya’s wording. She thinks about teasing her. Saying something like ‘are you asking me on my preferences for food for a date?’. But knows now isn’t the right time. “I have an idea.”

She drives them to a little diner that isn’t far from the school. “What do you want? It’s on me.”

“You don’t have to do that.” Maya says automatically.

“I insist.” Carina raises a challenging eyebrow across the table at Maya, daring her to argue some more.

Maya sees the look and backs down. “Okay.” She looks over the menu. There isn’t anything super healthy on the menu.

“I think I’m going to have a burger and fries and a shake. Do you want to split the fries?” Carina asks, closing her menu.

“Sure.” Maya isn’t sure if she wants any fries though.

“Do you have a curfew?” Carina asks.

Maya shakes her head. “No. I don’t ever go out, so there is no need for one.”

“You’re out now.” Carina points out with a little smirk.

This is true. “Yes, but it’s track related. My parents knew that I was going to be at the meet and then that Vic was going to bring me home afterwards.”

“I’m not Vic.” Carina bites her lip around a smile.

“No.” Maya shakes her head, smiling at the little secret that they share.

Their orders are taken. Maya gets a grilled chicken sandwich and Carina convinces her to order a chocolate shake.

Their shakes come shortly after they order.

“How did you know about this place?” Maya plays with her straw wrapper.

“Oh, Andrea and I come here sometimes.”

“You seem to have a really good relationship with him. Like, you two seem super close.”

“We are.” Carina looks around the diner. “After my mamma died, we stuck together all the time. It got to be a little weird at one point. But then we moved here and going to different schools helped. We went to different schools in Boston, but they were really close together. So, I’d go over to his elementary school at the end of the day and pick him up right away and we would walk home together. Her death kind of bonded us, I think.” She chances a look back at Maya to see her reaction, hoping Maya doesn’t think she’s weird for being so close to her brother that is six years younger than she is.

What she sees on Maya’s face is nothing but empathy. She breathes a sigh of relief. It’s not easy to talk about her mother, or her father, or even Andrea, sometimes. Her friends didn’t get it when she would tell them she couldn’t attend this or that because she was hanging out with her brother, or that they were going to do an activity, or even that Carina needed to attend his soccer games.

“After mamma died, papa took a turn. He was erratic for months. Some things happened at the hospital he worked at, and they fired him. He never really told us what happened exactly. I have a feeling that he put a patient, or more than one’s, life at risk. He was doing this research project, had people participating in a study. I’m not sure.” She sighs heavily.

Maya reaches across the table and puts her right hand on top of Carina’s left. Carina looks over and gives Maya a thankful little smile.

“He took some time off. Away from medicine. And then he got this job in Seattle and we moved here. I think he’s still not good. Or great. Or the best. My fear is that it goes beyond grief and melancholy, but I don’t know enough of him or see enough of him to really determine one way or another.”

“That sounds like a lot.” Maya says softly.

Carina nods. “It is. Thank you for listening. Nobody ever wants to listen. My other friends don’t get it.”

“I want to listen. I could listen to you talk forever.” Maya says earnestly. “You could recite the phone book and I would sit next to you and listen.”

Carina chuckles a little. “You’re a good one.”

Maya ducks her head a little and takes the straw for her shake to her lip, taking a sip.

Carina moves, grabbing a pen from her bag.

“What are you doing?” Maya asks curiously.

Carina smirks. She flips Maya’s hand over. The one that is on top of hers and brings the pen over to it, writing a phone number on Maya’s palm. “There.”

“What is this?” Maya pulls her hand back and looks at it.

“A phone number, silly.” Carina raises an eyebrow. “My cell phone number.”

“You have a cell phone?” Maya only knows a few kids that have their own cell phones. Her parents have cell phones, and they are mostly for emergencies and getting in touch with them if they outside of the house.

“I do.” Carina nods. “I guess you could say a perk of being a doctor’s child.” She winks. “I don’t like to brag about it though. So don’t go around giving my cell phone number to everybody you know.”

Maya holds her palm to her chest and shakes her head. She wouldn’t never do that. This feels too sacred.

“Good. Only a few people know that number. But if you want to hear me read the phone book you can call me sometime. Wherever I am, I will answer.” She promises.

Maya nods, not knowing what to say. She swallows down the lump in her throat and is about to say something when the waitress brings their food to the table, killing the conversation.

Other than Carina playing footsie with her under the table, their meal is uneventful after that. It’s moments like this though, when it’s just the two of them, that Maya is beginning to crave. There’s no one else breathing down their necks, no little brother’s, no teammates or classmates, no peer pressure to act a certain way. It’s freeing being with Carina like this.

Carina parks the car in the Bishop driveway.

“I should go in.” Maya mumbles quietly making zero effort to move or unbuckle her seatbelt.

“Okay.” Carina mumbles back.

Maya turns and looks over at Carina. Carina with her pinched smile and her amazing profile. Carina with her wavy brown hair and rich brown eyes. Sexy? Maya isn’t sure that’s the word she would use. She’s sure Carina could be sexy if she wanted to; but Maya thinks that maybe flawless or stunning or beautiful would be better words to use. Regardless, Carina is very attractive no matter what words Maya might use.

“You’re staring, bella.” Carina giggles.

“Sorry.” Maya ducks her head and bites her lip.

Carina reaches out and wraps her hand around Maya’s wrist. “What did I say about that?” She chides softly.

“That I shouldn’t say sorry all the time, especially if I didn’t do anything wrong.” Maya braves a look over in Carina’s direction. She is met with a warm smile. She takes a deep breath in, before letting it out.

“Ask your dad if I can come over?” Carina says out of nowhere. The one thing she knows for certain is if she wants to spend time with Maya outside of school hours; she’s going to have to navigate Lane Bishop.

Maya narrows her eyes at Carina. “W-why?”

Carina shrugs. “I was thinking- that if you can’t come over to my house then maybe I can come over to yours.”

Maya hums. “What about Andrew?”

Carina matches her hum. “He could come along. Or I could find somewhere else for him to go. Papa is supposed to be back on Friday. He could keep an eye on his own son for once.”

Maya hums again. This time with a nod. “I’ll ask.” She knows she probably has about a fifty percent chance of her father agreeing.

“Molto bene.” Carina smiles a little brighter, happier. “Goodnight, Maya. I will see you at school tomorrow.”

“Goodnight.” Maya unbuckles. “Uh- what did you just say?”

Carina raises her eyebrows higher. “Do you like when I speak to you in Italian?” She teases in a low voice.

“I don’t dislike it. Part of me wishes I knew what you were saying, but the other part likes the mystery and uh- sexiness.” She whispers the last word. So, the speaking in Italian is very sexy, Maya will admit that.

Carina laughs. “Molto bene is very good.”

“Oh, okay.” Maya tries to commit the words to memory. “Can you say it again?” She wants to make sure she has it right.

“Molto bene.” Carina says slowly and then watches Maya mouth the words. “You are super cute.”

Maya rolls her eyes. “Shut up.” She whispers. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She pops the door open and grabs her bag from by her feet. Maya gets out and ducks her head back into the car. “Bye.”

“Bye.” Carina waves. Maya shuts the door and Carina watches as she walks up the sidewalk to the front door. Maya stops at the door, hand on the doorhandle, turns and smiles back at Carina before entering the house.

Carina wears a satisfied smile on her journey home.