Chapter Text
Okay, let’s think. Bea said the whole drive was about 90 minutes, which might have helped except Mae didn’t remember what time they’d left. It was 10:07 PM now on account of the snowy roads slowing them down, but that was fine. Late nights were fine. Anyway, 90 minutes, give or take a few depending on the traffic…
Mae looked over to Bea’s side of the dashboard. They were at steady 40 mph, so that meant… wait, no, they’d been on the highway earlier right? So they must have been going faster earlier. Probably. Mae hadn’t checked. Well she didn’t know exactly how fast, but they must have been driving at least 80 miles, right? Wait, no. That sounded wrong.
Bea could probably figure this out easy since she’d apparently gone to math camp, whatever that was. She probably only worked with higher class math though. Algebra and arithmetic and other extra fancy types, not distances so much. Besides, she was the driver, so it was kind of cheating since she’d already know the answer. Okay, focus, back on track… An hour was 60 minutes, then an extra 50% for the other 30 minutes, so…
Bea sighed. “What are you staring at?”
“Where the eff are we?” Mae asked.
“Like five minutes away”
“Oh cool” Well that was way easier than what she’d been doing. Didn’t exactly answer Mae’s question, but it was probably even better. She hadn’t been exactly relishing the mental exercise she was using to kill her boredom.
Mae stood up in her seat to better look out the window, watching the buildings go by in this unfamiliar town. They’d been here a month prior, on their last visit to one of Jackie’s parties, but to be honest Mae hadn’t paid much attention to the place.
Bea glanced over briefly. “You might want to sit”.
Winter as expected had come early this year, and the car was acting as their little warm bunker in what was otherwise freezing temperatures and some mild snowfall. Appropriately Mae had on a rather puffy, awkward snow coat, one that made her feel overdressed after seeing Bea looking essentially like her normal self with just a scarf on. Bea’d claimed to be wearing extra layers too, but it was impossible to tell really.
“Hey, where-” Mae started to ask, only for the car to come to a sudden jerking stop at an intersection and for Mae to stumble forward, very nearly falling out of her seat. And though she caught herself, for a few moments her world was still spinning forward. Everything tumbling.
“You alright?” Bea asked.
And then it was all back again. Right. Sitting, good idea. Bea probably did that on purpose. Always the stickler about people standing on the seats. Well, about Mae specifically, but only really because Mae was the only one who did it.
“Yeah, fine” Mae sat snugly into the cushions once more, feeling far more secure. Her ear twitched as her mind processed the little tumble just now, and just as quickly shoved it into the ‘Ignore’ folder in her head.
Quick fright aside, it was still kind of nice. There was no question that Mae did most of the talking for both of them, but Bea had been especially quiet on the drive even by those standards. Even this little bit of interaction was an improvement.
And then it was quiet again. Only the hum of the engine kept them company as they drove on.
It took a few more minutes for the silence to break again. “Got a minute?” Bea finally spoke up, her gaze still focused on the road.
The car slowed to a stop on the side of the road a block away from their destination. A pizza place was in view just down the road, and just out of view from the stopped car was the outdoor staircase leading down nightclub across the street from it. It was pretty much just a glorified basement.
“Yeah what’s up?” Not that Mae had much of a choice, but still.
Bea took the keys from the ignition and rested her chin on top of the steering wheel. “I just want to talk about this party”
Mae groaned as obnoxiously as she could manage. “Again? I got it, really. No drinking, no mentioning work, no bringing up last time. Easy” If her eyes had been rolling any harder they might just have fallen out of her skull.
“Uh huh”
Mae squinted. “You don’t trust me”
Bea mentally debated the point before admitting “I trust… that you’ll try your best”
“That doesn’t mean anything. I always do my best”
“That explains a lot” Bea rolled her eyes, took the keys from the ignition, and stowed then away in her pocket. “Well I’m here to relax, so it’d be really great if I didn’t have to worry about keeping tabs on you tonight”
“You could’ve just left me at home”
Bea smirked. “Yeah. I guess I could’ve” But she didn’t. Then she unlocked the doors and climbed out. “C’mon”
As soon as Mae touched down outside and shut the door behind her, every hair on her body stood on their ends. “Holy freaking god it’s cold!” She swore, zipping up her coat.
“It was snowing the whole way here” Bea rounded the car and tightened her scarf, heading down the sidewalk.
Shivering, Mae jogged to catch up and walk alongside her. “Yeah, but you forget that when it’s all toasty in the car. Like a big…” Drawing a blank, drawing a blank. “... thing, that’s… toasty”
“We’ll be inside in a minute, come on”
“Aren’t you cold?” Mae asked.
Bea was silent, just staring straight ahead contemplatively. Then her stoicism cracked for a moment and she hugged her arms close. “Like you wouldn’t believe”
“Should we run?”
“I’m gonna pass on the chance of slipping on ice, thanks” Bea said.
“I’m gonna run” Not that Mae needed an excuse. She didn’t wait a second more to run down the sidewalk through the snow straight towards the party. A few people were still hanging around outside in the snow talking amongst themselves, but at least she didn’t think she recognized anyone whose car she jumped on a month ago. Hard to tell.
And it was during this moment of wonder that Mae’s outstretched foot slid right out from under her. Before she could even comprehend what was happening, she was on her back staring up at the sky.
A few seconds later, accompanied by the sound of snow being crushed underfoot, Bea appeared standing over her and offering a hand. “Anything hurt?” she asked.
“A toaster!” Mae answered, taking the hand and standing once more despite her feet once again attempting to slide out from under her. “That’s what I was thinking of! How’d I forget that? That was easy!”
Bea gave one quick brush of her arm, wiping the layer of white off Mae, and approached the basement stairs.
Mae followed, sliding one last time before just settling on a spot she found comfortable. “God, these boots are just good for nothing” And then… they were stuck waiting again. Staring at the staircase and growing colder by the minute. Last time they’d at least been talking, but for whatever reason Bea completely clammed up. Mae shivered quietly. “Can’t we just go in?”
“Hey Jackie!” Apparently Bea had taken that moment to suppress her nerves and call out.
Oh right, Jackie.
From the dark room down the stairway before there emerged the evil shadowy figure of Bea’s other best friend who could be kind of a jerk. Geez, was she just waiting there all night
“Hey Bea, there you are!” Jackie hurried up the stairs, hands in her pockets cool as always with a smile that immediately dropped upon seeing the bundled up Mae shivering at Bea’s side. “And you brought Mae. Again”
“Yeah, is that okay?” Bea asked.
Oh cool they were going to do this thing where it was all awkward as hell. Mae’s ear twitched, her eyes found an interesting patch of snow to stare at, and she waited for it to be over.
“Sure, I mean…” Jackie trailed off. Wow, this was a total repeat of last time, awkward introduction and all. “Actually, no it’s not. Bea, sweetie, you need this tonight. You really didn’t have to bring her again”
Bea shrugged. “I know. I wanted to”
“Aww” Mae lovingly snarked under her breath, gaining two unwelcome glares from the two taller members of the conversation. She rolled her eyes. “Fine, geez”
Jackie shook her head, clearly unsatisfied. “I’m just saying after last time…”
Well, there wasn’t much else that needed to be said. They’d all been there, they all knew what had happened. Still both Mae and Bea stood unconvinced.
“Look, Bea, I’m not gonna tell you your business, but...” Jackie just gestured towards Mae, as though all of her was the problem.
Bea deeply sighed. “I know”
“I’m just saying” Jackie said.
“I know”
“I’m standing right here” Mae spoke up, only to be thoroughly ignored.
Jackie had gone silent, looking from Bea to Mae and back again over and over, before finally shrugging. “It’s your night, Bea. You do what you want”
Jackie stepped aside, waving for them to head down the stairs and into the party. Well, for Bea to at least. Jackie put a hand on Mae’s shoulder as she tried to pass. “Mind if I talk to Mae real quick?” She asked Bea.
Mae sighed. She could probably gnaw Jackie’s arm off like a wolf right now. Just escape into the party. But that’s why she and Bea were so close, they looked out for-
“Go for it” Bea answered, already heading on inside.
“Bea, what the hell?!”
“You’ll be fine” Bea called back as she descended into the party below.
Oh sure. Yeah. She’d be fine. Alone in some college town with the fascist punching… bad person. God it’s too cold to think of good metaphors.
And still the two of them stood in silence, staring at one another, Jackie with her arms crossed, Mae with her… puffy coat. Mae’s eyes darted around the parking lot, then back to Jackie. Then to the party… back to Jackie. Down the road to the car… “... Sooooo…”
Jackie huffed. “I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing here”
“Oh really, are we gonna do this already? I just got here. I’m not gonna mess anything up”
“Sure you’d say that. You’re a walking disaster area, and Bea really needs this tonight. I don’t know what she’s thinking bringing you along again, but so help me god if you screw this up a second time-”
“That was an honest mistake! I’ve got it all under control this time! Just lay off and let me help!” Mae yelled, arms raised.
Jackie shook her head dismissively. “You put one foot out of line tonight, Borowski, and I swear I will hurt you”
“You’re kind of a bitch” Mae spat back.
And silence fell. And Jackie stepped back, just as unwilling to ruin tonight as Mae was. She sighed, nodding her head toward the stairs. “Get inside”
Mae glared for a moment more, and instead asked “Is that Bombshell girl here?”
“Uh… Bombshell?”
“Brown hair, blue highlights, I think? It was really dark in there last time. Pretty much the hottest thing ever? I think she had a couple piercings”
“Well that’s not her name, but-“ Jackie started.
“Shhhh! Don’t ruin this for me. She’s Bombshell to me , ‘cause that’s what she looks like”
“Like a bombshell” Jackie said.
“Yeah”
They stood in awkward silence. Mae was good at making those. There’s a job idea, librarian. She already liked books anyway.
Jackie shrugged. “In the back, last I saw”
“Thanks!” And Mae hurried down the stairway into the of creepy basement with music pouring out of it.
“Stay out of trouble!” Jackie called after her.
For now, Mae was going to ignore that. If she didn’t they’d probably end up fighting, but like not in the snarky back and forth way. And if either of them put hands on the other, that’d be it for Bea’s night.
If there was any saving grace, it was that Bea was leaning on the doorframe just inside. As she approached, Bea stood up straight and asked “Jackie’s not coming down?”
Mae grumbled out some unintelligible combination of “I don’t know” and “I don’t care”
The basement was way more packed than it had been on their last visit, to the point Mae couldn’t see from one end of the room to the other. Which had nothing to do with her height. There were just a lot of people. And a fair bit of cigarette smoke in the air. And while those hanging around the tables and corners of the room were content to talk amongst themselves, there was that ever inviting dance floor covered in moving people in the center of the room, by the DJ.
Suddenly Mae wanted to dance… later. Well, now, but she was busy now. “Thanks for that by the way. Good thing I’m so small, too, or I might not have fit when you threw me under the bus”
Bea rolled her eyes. “Oh relax, you’re fine”
“Yeah you’re right, I totally needed the speech from Sergeant Hartman back there”
“What?” Bea asked.
Mae groaned loudly. “I can’t think of any good bossy movie characters right now! I’m still cold! And… a little hungry?”
Bea sighed, pinching the bridge of her… yeah. “Mae, you’re gonna have a good time at this party. Just give it a few minutes and you’ll forget that ever happened. Besides, I think Jackie gets a free pass on being mad at you after last time”
“Oh come on, I have to be the fall guy for last time forever? It’s not my fault! No one told me anything!”
“It was pretty ‘your fault’” Not that Bea held a grudge, but still. “Look, sorry I kinda threw you to the wolves there. The difference is you’ll get over it in a few minutes, but Jackie would’ve spent all night brooding if she didn’t get her chance” Bea produced an empty cigarette box from her pocket, frowned, dug her hand around her empty pocket, then sighed before crumpling up the empty box and tossing it away. “Dammit… So just take the high road here, alright?”
Mae stared at the discarded cigarette box. “I thought you were trying to quit”
“Yeah well, we’re at a party. I’m trying not to think about work” Bea produced her dummy cigarette and stuck that in her mouth instead.
“Does quitting smoking count as work?”
“Almost everything I do counts as work” Bea answered.
Wow. That would’ve been kinda funny if it wasn’t so sad. Mae decided to leave that depressing note where it was and start wandering through the crowds of people, to… nowhere in particular. Well, Mae was wandering and Bea was keeping close. As long as Jackie was sulking they were once again the best available friends. That thought brought a smile to Mae. “So... you’re saying I’m better than Jackie”
“I’m... saying I have two very different types of friends”
Mae’s face broke out into an incredibly punchable pleased-with-herself smirk. “I’m pretty sure you mean that I’m better than Jackie” she said. Bea shrugged, unwilling to take it any further. Mae stopped wandering and closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the thought. “It’s cozy on the high road”
“You finished?” Bea asked.
Mae remained quiet, fully taking in that authentic good person highroad feeling. “Yep, let's go”
And off they went. Again. Mae still had no destination in mind. She was just trying to see if she could either find a snack table or spot Bombshell in the crowds. Bombshell didn’t really strike Mae as a dancer type. Too cool, too collected, too… uh...
The only real distracting part was that throughout all of this Bea was still following Mae around. Which Mae wouldn’t normally have minded, but it was kinda weird that she hadn’t said anything about it. Didn’t she want to go meet up with the fascist puncher?
Mae coughed loudly, stopping when they reached the other side of the room and pulling Bea from whatever trance she’d fallen into. “I thought I was supposed to be the nervous one”
Bea jerked back to alertness, and crossed her arms. “Figured I should hang around you a little while”
“I’m not going to drink”
“I know” Bea said.
Mae glared at Bea. “But you don’t believe me”
“I believe you’ll try not to” Bea answered.
“You know, it’s really shitty that you keep saying that”
Bea sighed. “Honestly? Mae, I’m just nervous about seeing those guys again after last time. Jackie’s not here so you owe me a comfort zone right now”
Oh. Right. Bea was totally crushing on one of those boys, wasn’t she? Oh wait. “Awww” Mae cooed smugly. “I’m your corner”
“What?” Bea asked, and was completely ignored.
Well now Mae really couldn’t screw this up. Love was on the line, or something. Whatever Bea wanted to do with those guys. Not that Mae had been planning to screw up, but still. Now she couldn’t. “Alright, keep on the lookout for that girl I kept telling you about and I’ll keep an eye out for your booooys”
“Deal. The Bombshell one?” Bea asked.
“Yeah”
So together they… wandered some more. With Mae’s new found self confidence now guiding her towards more absolutely no one she recognized. In fact that confidence lasted about one minute straight of walking and squeezing through crowds before Mae lost patience with the search. Bea being taller definitely would’ve helped if she looked like she was actually trying to find this girl. Lost in her own little nervous world.
“I bet she still thinks my name is Samantha” Mae mumbled.
“Samantha?” Bea asked, scanning the crowd.
“Boom. Hexed”
“To the Bombshell girl? Why did you tell her that?”
“Have you ever tried introducing yourself as Mae Borowski? I have. It sucks”
The two stopped once again as they rounded back at the doorway of the basement’s entrance, still thoroughly unwowed by hot babes.
“No one here even knows who you are” Bea went on.
“Exactly, because I said my name is Samantha. And I met a really hot girl and nothing bad happened until I hung out with people who knew my name was Mae”
Bea pulled her dummy cigarette out for just the moment to glare. “Something bad happened because you stopped thinking and kept talking ”
“Sure you say that, but that’s a one to zero on the Samantha versus Mae debate. I’m pretty sure that’s how the scientific method works”
Though her expression hadn’t changed at all, there was a shift in Bea’s tone that indicated she was just about done debating it. “Can’t argue with that”
And yet, they’d been wandering around for at least ten minutes looking for this chick without head or tail of her.
“This is stupid” Mae sighed. “Come on”
If there was one thing she’d noticed in her search, it was the snack table. Or like… whatever you call a snack table at a college party. ‘Snack table’ was really more high class sounding. Less low class at least.
Mae shoved her way through the crowd of people surrounding it, all going about their own business and probably preppy conversations. Still no Bombshell here, but that made sense for a girl like her to not hang around here. And she was right, you wouldn’t even call this a snack table. This was more of a red party cup table with a big untouched bowl of a candy almonds. High school all over again.
It was probably for the best to assume the many filled cups weren’t just preplaced for the taking. The keg off to the side was worth checking, which is what Mae squeezed the tap of, letting brown liquid spill out onto the floor just to check. Bea loudly cleared her throat, and so Mae let the tap go. For now. Smelled like beer anyway.
“They’re right over there” Bea spoke under her breath, nodding her head off towards a crowd Mae couldn’t see through. She kept her head down, the truest sign of this party so far not going great. Which made sense since they’d done… nothing so far. “So not drinking huh?”
Mae shrugged and hopped up to sit on the edge of the table. “I’ve never been to one of these for more than like ten minutes. What am I supposed to drink?”
“This party is literally right across from a pizza place. They have soda”
“And I don’t have money. What kind of ass backwards party has free alcohol and makes you buy normal drinks?”
Bea sighed and pulled out her wallet. “College parties, apparently”
“Jackie parties more like” Mae snarked. “I would know”
“Sure” Bea said, offering a five dollar bill, which she then snatched back as Mae reached for it. “You know you just said you’ve never spent any time at a college party, right?”
“Ugh, sometimes I just lie about stuff that doesn’t really matter, okay?”
Well that wasn’t exactly good to hear, but… it was about what she expected. Bea sighed and handed over the bill. “Okay, fine, I’m not going to watch you all night. I’m trusting you here” Bea said. And instantly Mae beamed at that significant step up. “But I swear to god if I hear you say ‘nightmare eyes’ one time we are out of here”
“Fine geez” Mae said stuffing the bill in her pocket. And they were back to sitting-standing around with no direction. This whole thing was sucking. Shouldn’t Bea have been socializing by now? They hadn’t even danced.
“Christ, what’s taking Jackie?” Bea asked again.
“Oh yeah, does she usually hang out with you at these?”
“Yeah. I’m not exactly in my element at these things”
“Ah” And all of a sudden, that thought that she was the one taking the high road rang out in Mae’s head. And Jackie was probably waiting for the perfect moment to swoop in and steal Bea off, like a really bitchy vampire queen with horns. “Maybe it’s ‘cause of me?”
“Probably”
“I can like… go hang out in the corner if you want” Mae offered. Not that she wanted to, but the whole point of this was to not ruin Bea’s night.
“It’s fine” Bea said.
“Seriously. No problem at all”
“Mae-”
Mae hopped off the table, grabbed Bea by the wrist, and started leading her through the crowd again. “Come on, this is your night , Beatrice. You don’t have to hang around me”
She hadn’t actually seen where Bea had pointed out before, but she had a decent idea. They rounded the beer table, Mae peeked between some people and at one point between someone’s legs, and eventually shoved their way into a little circle of people talking with two very familiar looking college boys standing among them, both of which immediately shut up at the sight of her and Bea. “I knew what I was getting into. No drinking, no mentioning work, no bringing up last time. Easy. Hi”
“Oh hey, you were here last time right? Mae, right?” One of them asked. His name was like… Chris, right? It was at this point Mae noticed Jackie hanging not two feet away from him, sour expression covered by her glasses.
“Yup. Here, look” Mae tugged Bea forward into the conversation who instantly could be confused for a deer in headlights. “My friend wants to talk to you guys. And Jackie’s here, that’s perfect”
Bea’s face eventually worked out something partially resembling a smile. She snatched her dummy cigarette out and hid it away, not that everyone hadn’t already seen it. “Wow, hi. Again. I’m-”
“Bea, right?” The other guy asked. Oh wait, this was Chris. Maybe? Which was Chris? Or were they both Chris? “Yeah, you were here last time I think. I’d remember that name anywhere”
Mae elbowed Bea in the side, doing nothing to ease her worries. “See? Everyone knows everyone. It’s great. Soooo I’m just gonna go. Gotta find someone” Mae hastily started backing away.
“Oh, uh, alright. Later Mae!” One of the boy’s called after her.
Then a thought popped into Mae’s head, and she popped herself back into the conversational circle. “And sorry about last time when I called you a spoiled rich kid” Might as well get that over with.
There came Bea’s terrifyingly uncomfortable laugh. “Ha Ha, Mae…”
“I’m just saying. Didn’t mean it. Had kind of a party vibe going and stuff was just coming up”
“Mae, Mae”
“Okay sorry I’m going bye”
“Seriously?” Mae asked.
“You saw the price, you wanted large”
“I could’ve just gotten a pizza for that much!”
“No. You couldn’t have.”
“So you admit this place is overpriced”
“Go away, kid”
Actually I’m twenty. Is what she normally would have said, but this wasn’t going anywhere anyway. Mae took her large soda and marched herself right out of the pizzeria’s doors out into the snow again.
Hey, at least she still had 68 cents after that, enough to do absolutely nothing. And it was still cold as hell in the pizzeria parking lot, which only ruined the satisfaction of her nice cold soda. Needless to say, tonight was sucking.
Mae slid once on her way over to the basement’s stairs, and settled for sitting at the top of it. Nothing to do inside but make things awkward after all. No Bombshell in sight, cold out here… “This sucks”
That, and her butt was now freezing.
“Monday then?” Some girl asked from down at the other end of the parking lot.
“Yeah, it’s a date” Her partner answered. That one made Mae raise an eyebrow, but she kept her eyes locked on the stairs.
“See you then” the first girl said.
And then whatever little conversation the two strangers had been having was over, and it was back to quiet freezing lonesomeness for Mae.
Except she knew one of those voices from somewhere. And it was going to bug her all night. Mae glanced over and only saw one girl, and a disappearing figure rounding the parking lot corner to head down the sidewalk.
Well, Mae didn’t know this girl, so… okay, let’s see. There’s Bea, Jackie, the college kids, and Bombshell. Those were the only people she knew in this town so- oh right shit.
Mae was up on her feet and running across the parking lot within second, slipping over herself twice and only just staying upright as she slid to a stop in front of the slightly frightened looking college girl she’d just sprinted at.
“Hey was that Bombshell?” Mae asked.
“What?”
“Bombshell, the girl that- actually just forget it!”
“Wait, are you talking about-” The stranger began.
“Shh- just nevermind!”
There was only the one way she could’ve gone, so Mae bolted down the street as fast as her little legs could carry her. There was a chance to make tonight not totally suck!
Well down the street there wasn’t actually anyone in sight, but that was fine. Bombshell had gotten a head start. Mae could just check down the intersections at the next corner.
So as she arrived at the corner, Mae slid to a stop to look up and down the feet, and she was tumbling. Everything was tumbling. Spinning forward, no balance, no stability, just a dark snowy night that-
And then her head hit the ground after her boots slid straight off the sidewalk into the road. Mae sat upright, shaking off the sensation. Okay seriously what the hell was that? She sat scratching her head long enough that she only barely noticed the screeching of tires down the road, and the headlights of a car skidding to stop in front of her.
It came to a halt only a few feet away, at which point the driver’s window rolled down. He stuck his head out, and began yelling obscenities while Mae stood up and ran out of the road to the opposite sidewalk. Okay, right, that was stupid. That was dangerous .
And crap, her soda was now spilled and abandoned in the middle of the road. Okay okay forget it, just keep going. Mae shook her head free of the collecting snow on it, and hurried down the sidewalk again. Bombshell hadn’t been down either way, probably? Maybe? She wasn’t totally sure anymore.
Mae reached the next intersection, this time taking far more care not to totally pass out mid step, and checked down both ways once again. No Bombshell… Mae rounded the corner, and started on her way again before stopping when a realization suddenly hit her.
“Wait, am I still going the same way?” Okay so… she’d crossed the road when that car had… no no, it’s fine. Mae turned and hurried back down this road, off to the next intersection. Looked down both ways, and saw neither a sign of a hot babe or a pizzeria. She had crossed the road, and then she’d… turned down one corner, or two? Had she turned the corner when her mind had blanked?
Mae wandered, slower now, down the next street to the next intersection, and saw once again nothing identifiable in sight. She stood there, letting it all sink in.
“Shit”