Chapter Text
The day had arrived.
Sweaty palms, tired sighs and longing for some cold air. Short pants, sandals and technicolor graphic t-shirts. Bikes were out and everyone on the suburbs were cleaning their pools.
Summer was here. But not only that. Last day of school was too, and with it the nervousness within every child waiting impatiently to get out of the building and start running recklessly, without any kind of responsibility.
Max wasn’t nervous. Max wasn’t excited. The heat invading her veins wasn’t beating as fast as everyone else’s, and her mind was not distracted by thoughts of clear water and short nights. Her friends weren’t gonna be there anyway. They all had either summer camp or family travels around the country. She was gonna be so alone, and just thinking of a wasted summer made her skin tremble. It was not like she couldn’t have fun by herself, she had spent enough summers up in the attic playing with dust, but now she got used to company and to smiles, and to have that taken away was just cruel.
Jane was not going away though. Max and Jane were never the best kind of friends though.
Jane was special. She had never been the warm kind, and surely she wouldn’t make an exception with Max. Very few words, long cold stares, judging eyes. But there was something different to her. Something real, perhaps. She felt like a dream, but also like the most tangible thing to exist. A mix between realities, a miracle of sensations. The fact she barely talked to Max just fed her with more fantasies about what she could be.
Someone who definitely knew Jane was Mike. They were very close, and even though she would not admit it, Max longed for that closeness, for that kind of true intimacy. Their relationship was not sibling like, nor it was partner like either. There was something else to them, something much deeper and carefully built. Max had asked Mike about Jane multiple times. About her thoughts, about her worries. About the thick wall she had imposed Max, about why she was so distant. But there was never a definitive answer, just vague words and spilled wonders. Wonder why they were like that. What had she done, anyway? But there was nothing she could do now. It was summer, her feelings were boiling to the point of melting and there were months of loneliness ahead.
But one day, she talked.
Max was sitting alone in a bench, feet where the thighs should be, almost burnt cigarette between her lips. She was adding an abstract sharpie drawing to the back of the skate when Jane appeared.
“Hey” she whispered, sitting next to her. Max jumped a little to the voice, and almost dropped the cigarette.
“Didn’t hear you coming”
“Didn’t want you to”
Max skipped a beat with the comment, and tried to make herself look calm. Jane looked at her, with those serene, dark eyes she had. Max gazed back and felt a knot inside her stomach.
“So what are you doing around here?” she asked, trying to be someone smart again, someone who could talk properly and not look like a melting mess.
“I thought I could see you” Jane played with the cord of her walkman “it’s a good day so why not hang out”
“Yeah, that seems reasonable” she took the cigarette and sucked in the last breath before throwing it to the ground. Jane got up and stepped on it, making sure it was completely dead.
“Hopper does that all the time. Says it’s to prevent fire” she said, seeing how Max was looking at her. Max smiled. Things like these made it clear that Jane was just as human as any other. Dream like, but human. Little things that filled the boiler inside of her. Jane sat down again, and looked into what Max was drawing.
“What’s that?” she said, touching the hardwood. Her nails were painted dark purple.
“I’m not too sure” Max closed the sharpie and looked at the piece, which made her realize how dangerously close Jane was to her. She could almost smell her perfume. Lavender. Blinking twice and feeling the wood under her fingertips made her go back to reality. But just before she was about to talk, a soft and cold sensation grew over her hands. Jane’s fingers pressing hers, taking her, holding her. She was trying to set aside the hand to look at the skateboard. Blink one, two, three, four times. It was Jane, why the sudden rush of blood and sweat?
“It looks cool” Jane said in a breath. Max smiled again. Millions of thoughts swirling inside a boiling room, she was afraid her heart could be heard outside her chest.
Max dropped the skate on the ground and got on top of it. Quickly, Jane went next to her and grabbed her by the waist. This felt normal. It felt like the sun rising or the touch of books. Jane asked once Max to teach her to use the skateboard and, sometimes, when they were with the rest of the boys but the rest of the boys weren’t really there, Max would let Jane use the skateboard, and it made everything clearer. They didn’t need no words to talk, no signs. They were all thought and wonder.
Jane wasn’t made of the same material as everyone, she had constellations inside of her. All Max wanted was to reach for those stars.
“You ready?” Max asked, putting one foot on the ground to start running.
“Always” her arms tightened around the waist, and Max knew everything boiling inside was soon going to be released. She still didn’t know what it could be, but it was strong.
Jane was special. She had her own way of existing, a mysterious aura surrounding everything she touched. Max and her were never too close, but she knew that, somehow, this would change.
Heat called for love and they were always hungry for some.