Chapter 4

Maxine’s head was fucked. Not only could she not get the interaction with Miles out of her head, but she had to listen to Eashan go on and on about what a cute couple they’d make. Much like his persuasion regarding her posting her thoughts and feelings online, he was bullish on Maxine finding a nice guy and settling down.

She dearly loved Eashan, but she simultaneously longed for the day when he’d meet the perfect girl and be too distracted by his own life to care about hers.

Thankfully, the sounds from Derek’s bedroom forced Maxine and Eashan to retreat to their respective rooms. She planned to simply pass out, thus hitting the reset button on this ridiculous day, and avoiding any further conversation about Miles.

About twenty minutes after shutting off the lights and closing her eyes, her lids fluttered open and she stared around in the darkness. Eventually, she admitted temporary defeat and flung the covers off of her. Padding over to the window, and grabbing her vape pen along the way, she cracked it open just enough to blow smoke out. She couldn’t smoke weed that often; she had to be super alert throughout the majority of her day, but in a pinch, it worked better than anything else when she couldn’t sleep.

Two quick drags were plenty, and she shut the window again before turning to her desk to put the pen back. As she did so, she noticed her lavender wallet sitting there, moon shining on it like it was a Broadway star about to sing the big solo. 

Miles’s words danced through her mind.

You have my card.

She hadn’t even looked. If she had, and Eashan had seen, he would have insisted she text him.

Scoffing to herself, Maxine looked out the window briefly before slowly returning to the wallet and narrowing her eyes. Maybe it was how the weed hit at that moment, but she found herself slowly striding forward and grabbing the small metal rectangle before hurrying back to her bed like a kid sneaking cookies to her room.

It was easy to find, as business cards were ever-so-slightly longer than credit cards. Without even needing to turn the light on, she was able to easily slip Miles’s card out of the wallet. She felt something flip in her belly as she registered that his card was glossy and black… just like her own.

Still hell bent on pretending she was going to sleep, she used the light from her phone screen to examine the card rather than turning her bedside table lamp on. The card was minimalist, with only a word or two on one side. Upon shining the screen light on it, she found herself stifling a laugh.

Of course, that guy made this card. Of course, she thought as she flipped it over, at which point, she could not help the full belly laugh that came out of her.

Mouth seemingly stuck in a permanent smile, she finally broke down and turned on a light before entering a new contact into her phone. Her fingers moved quickly enough that her mind didn’t have time to argue as she opened up a message.

Maxine: I like your card

She quickly flipped the phone over and lay back on her bed. Not even a moment later, however, the text message sound erupted into the room, and she shot up to grab it.

Miles: Henrietta?

She snorted a laugh and responded.

Maxine: Mrs. W, please.

He was already typing, and she scooched back on her bed so she could lean against the headboard, then slid her legs under the blanket for good measure.

Miles: Fair enough, Mrs. W… thought you’d never text

Maxine: Well, I’m full of surprises

Miles: I’ve noticed. So, should I take this to mean you wanna be friends?

Her stomach flipped yet again, but she took a deep breath and pressed on.

Maxine: Not sure yet

He started typing… then stopped. Then he started again… and stopped.

Realizing how he might have interpreted her message, she quickly sent another.

Maxine: (I already have a lot of friends, but I might be willing to make room for one more)

There was a long pause, but then his next message came through quickly.

Miles: Bet.

Maxine bit her lip, mind whirring, trying to decide what to say next, but he saved her the trouble.

Miles: Speaking of… did you win?

Maxine: ?

Miles: The bet with your roommate

Maxine: Eavesdrop much?!

Miles: Sit outside over a public street and expect privacy much?

Maxine: 🙄

Miles: Well?

She left a small pause here for effect, and then…

Maxine: Yeah, I won. Our roommates totally did it last night.

Miles: Congrats. I bet you won’t see much of them for a while.

Miles: Guess u DO have room for a new friend, then?

Maxine: I walked right into that

Miles: Get used to it, bestie

That last word made Maxine squirm a bit. Arden was her best friend, but to Miles’ point, it seemed she might be preoccupied for a bit while her lavender haze era with Derek played out. She and Eashan had gotten close over the last year, but he would also be leaving for a trip to Europe soon. So yeah, she supposed she did have room for a… friend.

Maxine: So is this what our friendship will consist of? Snarky texting?

Miles: I mean… I specifically asked if we could chill sometime, but it’s fine if u wanna pretend that didn’t happen.

Maxine: ☝️Wow, maximum snark.

Miles: It was intentional, thanks for noticing. When u wanna chill?

Letting out a long sigh, Maxine bit her lip and contemplated her schedule. Brooks could turn up at any time, and when he did, she was sure he’d reach out to her. She’d left him enough messages, including a physical one in his office. In the meantime, she might as well… chill.

There was no imminent danger from David or Enrico; they didn’t know her real name, where she actually lived, or her phone number. To them, she was Trina Hidalgo, a girl staying on a friend’s couch and just trying to earn enough cash to make ends meet. The catering hall job was all cash under the table, so no working papers or anything like that had been necessary.

She was pretty sure David also employed minors who were far too young for the gig, but that was nothing compared to what else he was apparently up to. Enrico was nothing but an accomplice, who probably had no idea what was going on. So, while she would certainly be steering clear of the catering hall, including the town it was in, she didn’t feel that she had to hide in her apartment either.

Maxine: I’m waiting on word from my boss, and until I get it, I’m free.

Miles: Okay, then I have a really important question.

Maxine: ???

Miles: Do you like roller coasters?

Biting her lip, Maxine contemplated her response. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, considering a variety of different ways to say it, and simultaneously feeling panicked; she was taking way too long to answer.

Sure enough, he beat her to it.

Miles: Wow, tough one?

She took a deep breath, releasing almost a growl as she typed her reply.

Maxine: Not really, just trying to figure out how to let you down gently.

Miles: Star-Wars-Darth-Vader-Noooooooo.gif

Maxine: Did you really just type out the title of a gif?

Miles: Did you really just break my heart after less than 24 hours of friendship?

Maxine: Roller coasters are fine, but not my favorite

Miles: Hmmm

Maxine: Hmmm, what

Miles: Can’t tell if you’re intentionally presenting me with a challenge or trying to tell me to fuck off

Maxine: Dealer’s choice

As she watched the three little dots bounce up and down, Maxine noticed her heart rate was up, but brushed the awareness away as she smirked down at his response.

Miles: Fair enough, I’ll pick you up in the morning. 9:30. Wear those sparkly cons or anything else you’re comfortable in, but def with laces.

Maxine: Wow, I was not aware that they had invented a guy who noticed women’s shoes.

Miles: Well, I’m full of surprises.

Maxine: I’ve noticed.

Miles: GN Lady Detective Alvarez™ 

Maxine: GN Roller Coaster Nerd™ 

Maxine clicked her phone off and held it to her chest as she lay back on her pillow, suddenly certain she wouldn’t fall asleep easily, if at all that night.

𓂃🖊

“So, if a coaster has a height of 200 feet, that’s a hyper coaster, 300 is a giga coaster, 400 is a strata coaster, and over 500 is a—”

He broke off when he realized that Maxine was looking at him like that again.

“What’s that look!?”

“Oh nothing,” she said with a smile that seemed somewhat sinister, “It’s just… You really are a nerd.”

“I am not a nerd, I am an enthusiast.”

“Uber-nerd, actually,” she said, ignoring his correction, then gasped and put a hand over her mouth. “UBER NERD!” she cried, pointing a finger at him, and everyone around them, also queuing for the park, turned in their direction for a moment.

“Get it, cuz you drive Uber? See what I did?”

Miles smiled, pride only slightly hurt by her commentary. It was opening day, which, if he was honest, always brought out the “uber-nerd” in him, only he would normally be hanging with other ner- enthusiasts on opening day. None of his actual friends, mind you, but whoever he happened to meet while waiting in line, provided they weren’t extremely annoying.

Unfortunately, one such type of person turned around from his spot in front of them in line and smirked at Miles.

“You were kinda info-dumping, bro. If she’s a GP, I promise she doesn’t care.”

“I’m sorry, if I’m a what?” Maxine said, throwing eye-daggers at the dude immediately.

The guy was wearing a t-shirt from Steel Vengeance —a beloved coaster at another park— so he likely had traveled some distance for opening day, and meant business.

“A GP,” the guy said, seemingly unaffected by her death-glare, “It stands for general public. Non-Thoosies.”

Maxine made a mock-choking sound, then said, “Um, gesundheit?”

With a small cringe of annoyance, the guy then began to explain that Thoosie was short for enthusiast, and it was a term used in the roller coaster community. He then began explaining about American Coaster Enthusiasts, or ACE, and how they boasted over six thousand five hundred members before Miles cut him off.

“Who’s info-dumping now, bro?”

Maxine looked over at Miles with a smirk, then back to the guy.

“Six-thousand five-hundred, you say? And are you one of them?”

The flirtatiousness in her tone was unmistakable, and it sent a wave of something through Miles that made his skin prickle.

To be clear, this thoosie was the most non-threatening guy possible. From the look of him, you could tell he spent a lot of time on the internet arguing with other thoosies about whether it’s still a wooden coaster if it has steel tracks, and/or boasting about his coaster count. He was definitely someone who referred to Steel Vengence, the coaster on his shirt, as “SteVe.”

When Miles tuned back into the conversation, he saw that Maxine was biting her lip in an effort not to laugh, as the guy explained that he had been instrumental in popularizing CoasterCon.

Just as Miles was starting to get annoyed, and Maxine looked about to burst, the front gates mercifully opened, and the whole crowd began to cheer.

Chills erupted all over his body, as they always did. Miles fucking loved opening day, and once they shook this pock-marked pasty dude in the SteVe shirt, he could tell they were going to have an amazing day.

𓂃🖊

Maxine was grateful for the distraction of the annoying nerd in the queue, because ever since they pulled into the parking lot and she saw the steel tracks painting the skyline, she’d had enormous butterflies fluttering in her belly.

Saying that roller coasters were fine, but not “her favorite” was more of a bald-faced lie than any she’d told to Miles thus far. She wasn’t just scared, she was utterly terrified. For some reason, though, she could not bring herself to tell him this.

Ever since she was little, she had been scared to ride. The other kids on school field trips to this very theme park had made fun of her endlessly, and frequently succeeded in bullying her onto rides. Once on, she would simply slam her eyes shut, hold on for dear life, and then pretend to have been unfazed once the ride was over.

In short, roller coasters were a form of torture to her.

She wasn’t sure why she was pretending this wasn’t the case, but now they were there, and she could see the way Miles’s eyes dazzled at the sight of the rides in the distance; she definitely could not tell him.

It was just another undercover job, she told herself. She was a great actress and would put those skills to use now.

“Do you guys have reservations?” the nerd in front of them turned and asked just as they were reaching the front of the line.

Maxine froze, suddenly wondering if she had just voiced her apprehension out loud unbeknownst to her.

Thankfully, Miles saved her the trouble of responding.

“Nah, man, I forgot to reserve online, so we’ll just have to wait with the lowly GP.”

Maxine had no idea what the fuck either of them were talking about.

“Ah well, sucks to be you I guess!” the nerd said just after his season pass was scanned at the front gate. Then, he turned and ran at what was likely the absolutely top speed he could muster, and disappeared among the crowd.

She blinked at his retreating back, then looked over to Miles, who was laughing to himself and shaking his head as he tapped at his phone screen before holding it up for the gate agent.

“She’s my bring-a-friend,” he said, motioning to Maxine.

The agent nodded as she scanned the barcode on the phone. Miles then swiped and tapped a few more times, and she scanned a second code and said, “Have a good time, guys.”

Once they passed through the gates, Maxine turned to him and said, “Are we running, too?”

Miles smirked. “If I’m totally honest, I would be running if you weren’t here.”

Maxine smiled. “If I’m honest, that’s kind of adorable.”

He felt his cheeks heat, and hoped she didn’t notice. It was the first hot day of the year after all, a high of 80 degrees, and the fact that it had lined up with opening day was some kind of miracle, particularly because it had been near freezing only two days before.

“I lied,” he then said, and she felt her brows fly up.

“Not to you,” he clarified, “To thoosie-boy. I do have reservations for the new coaster, but I don’t think it’s a good starter for you.”

“You have to make reservations for roller coasters?!” she cried as they continued to slowly stroll into the park. Maxine noticed tons of merch stores, a coffee shop selling Starbucks, and a huge fountain in the distance. The energy of the crowd around them seemed to pulse as 90’s music blared out of the speakers hidden through the bushes around them, and she had to admit, it was kind of a vibe.

He seemed to find her outrage about the reservations extremely amusing, chuckling as he said, “A brand new coaster opened today. That doesn’t happen often, and it draws big crowds, so for the first few hours, only people with reservations can get into the line.”

“So that’s why he was running? To try and be first in line?”

Miles nodded, and she noticed something flash across his face. Sadness? Regret? She wasn’t sure.

Before she could ask, however, he did something that completely distracted her from her previous line of thinking.

Taking her hand in his, he said, “Come on, we could probably be first on Nitro if everyone else is running to the new coaster.”

They didn’t run, but they did walk quickly, and indeed, there didn’t seem to be anyone moving in the same direction. She tried to ignore the way the feel of his hand in hers made her breathing short, and chalked it up to the speed-walking.

“So everyone has reservations? Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose?” she said with some effort as their speed increased.

“Most of the people who just went over there probably didn’t know about the reservations and are gonna find out in a second when they get turned away at the front of the queue,” he said, turning to her with a wide grin. “Sucks to be them, I guess.”

“Wow, you really know your way around a theme park,” she said, affecting a tone of faux-flirtatiousness which he matched in his reply.

“It’s not my first time.”

They walked briskly on in silence, still hand-in-hand, and Maxine wondered if holding hands with friends was a normal thing Miles did.

𓂃🖊

Miles felt relief flood through his entire body when he saw that there was no one yet in line for the ride, and continued pulling Maxine along. Into the empty queue and up the stairs they went, only to find the ride operators waiting around lazily, clearly not expecting guests yet.

He considered the back row; it was the best in terms of thrill level. On this particular coaster, though, the front row was the ultimate experience. Any time he rode in front, it felt like his own personal roller coaster. In this case, they might be the only people on the train, truly making it their own coaster.

Just as he stepped forward to head in that direction, he felt resistance and realized that Maxine had frozen in place. She was still holding his hand, but stood stock-still, her eyes had locked onto the lift hill, which they were standing right next to at the top of the staircase.

“How high is that?” she said, in a voice entirely foreign to him in the short time he’d known her.

“It’s a hyper coaster,” he said.

“In English?”

“Two-hundred and thirty?” he said, trying to make it sound like no big deal.

Of course, to him, it wasn’t. Smaller coasters, like the one that had just opened, could be far more intense. Height wasn’t the only factor that made a coaster scary. And Nitro was, in most people’s opinions, a gentle giant. Fun and floaty, no inversions, no high-speed launches… a day at the park, really. (A park park, not a theme park).

He could see her throat bob as she continued to stare up at it.

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to—” he began, but she spun abruptly and cut him off.

“No. I want to. Let’s go,” she said, and pushed passed him to enter the queue for the front row.

Her hesitation had lasted long enough that a group of boys also arrived on the platform and made a beeline for the back row, sounding thrilled that it was available. This was background noise to Miles, however, as his attention was fully on Maxine. She strode right past him and through the air gate like she did this all the time, stepping onto the train, and over to the other side of the platform to put her bag in a bin before rejoining him.

𓂃🖊

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit motherfucker fucking shit.

Why was she doing this? What was she thinking? Also, what in the goddamn hell was wrong with her?

Affecting a faux-calmness, she pulled the lap bar —if you could call it that— towards her, and felt it click into place. It was not a bar at all, but more of a foam triangle with handles that went right between her legs and sat in her lap. Admittedly, it felt very snug, but she was unnerved in the extreme by the fact that nothing came down to go over her shoulders. When the ride operator came over and pushed it a click tighter, she winced, and heard Miles do the same.

“Damn. Stapled.”

“Stapled?” she inquired, amazed at yet another new vocabulary word for the day.

“When the restraint pushes you down so you don’t have room to float up off the seat.”

“Uh, that just sounds like the way it’s supposed to be, no?”

Miles let out a small laugh and said, “Yeah, well, us thoosies love floater air time.”

“Miles, please tell me you don’t actually call yourself that.”

“I don’t, actually, I’m sort of an outlier. I just thought it was funny.”

“Ha ha,” she said, momentarily betraying her fear with the tone of her voice. Before he could comment, however, the way-too-loud voice of the ride operator, who was seated feet from her, came over the PA.

“Alright, riders, welcome to the very first ride of the year on Nitrooooo!”

The boys in the back yelled and cheered so loudly you would have thought the whole train was full of high-schoolers. Miles did a little golf clap and smiled over at her. 

“Please keep your hands and arms inside the car at all times, and enjoy your riiiiide.”

Then, without further warning, they were moving. The first little dip out of the station was slow, almost weirdly so, and as they moved, she saw a flood of people entering the front of the queue.

“Hah!” she said, “You were right!”

“I’m known to be,” he replied, and she would have been charmed, but suddenly, they were clicking onto the lift hill and beginning their ascent.

The car leaned back slightly, and a massive landscape began to reveal itself around her. No matter how long she lived in Jersey, or how well she knew about all of the farmlands and forests, it still always amazed her to look out and see nothing but trees as far as her eyes could see. The sun was high and bright in the sky; it was an incredible day to be doing this.

She was just happy she hadn’t eaten breakfast, because she wasn’t sure it would have stayed in her stomach even up until this point.

As they climbed higher, she began to feel her body going into panic and slammed her eyes shut. Breathing deeply, she told herself it would be fine. Just like when she was a kid, she could just shut her eyes and time warp to the end of it. She could endure all the swoops in her belly, grit her teeth, and be done. Her knuckles were probably turning white where she gripped the handles, but she wouldn’t know, as she couldn’t bring herself to look.

Suddenly, she felt a hand over hers, lightly grazing those very knuckles.

“Maxine,” Miles said, in a tone so gentle she almost didn’t hear him over the clicking of the lift hill and the teens who were screaming in the back row as if they were already cascading over the ample steel hills she knew were in their future.

His thumb grazed her, and if she weren’t so utterly terrified already, she might have erupted in chills.

“Can I tell you a secret?” he said, and she peeked one eye open to look over at him.

Taking this as a yes, he said, “I used to be scared too.”

“I’m not scared,” she gritted out. Then, after a beat, they both laughed in unison, but hers turned into a whine after a moment.

“Okay fine, I’m scared, okay?! This is really fucking high!”

“I know, but I promise you… If you hold on too tightly, it makes it worse.”

“What?!”

“I’m serious, look… You don’t have to put your arms in the air—”

“The operator said not to!”

“I know,” he said, and she resented the laughter evident in his voice, “they have to say that. But listen… You gotta let your body be loose. Like a rag doll. Otherwise, all the nervous energy gets trapped. I promise, Maxine, it’s gonna be a totally different experience for you if you let go.”

“I am holding on!”

“Yeah, that’s fine, hold on, just ease up on the white-knuckling. Try to let your body go limp. And open your eyes, or you’ll miss everything.”

“That’s kind of the idea!”

“Alright, well, I can’t make you. But you’ll be missing out.”

Maxine hated the way he wasn’t actually pressuring her. He wasn’t calling her names or even teasing her at all. Just stating what was true, according to him.

She felt her own stubbornness kick in, and not the kind that had her stick to her guns. Rather, she felt a stubbornness to prove to him that she could do this. With a deep breath, she fully opened her eyes, but instantly wanted to slam them shut again. They. Were. So. High.

There was no going back. No getting out.

Abruptly, she recognized that the feeling wasn’t so foreign to her. It was akin to the moment she’d just experienced in the coat closet with Enrico. Almost being caught. Knowing she needed to snatch the memory card at all costs. That feeling of being right on the edge of either failure or victory. In those moments, she always knew how to reach for victory. She’d trained herself to do so. To never give up on the goal. To make it happen no matter what.

Thus was her mindset as they crested over the top of the lift hill and she looked down at the almost drop. They seemed to hang suspended there for a long moment, and as they did, Miles flung his arms into the air and cried, “Here we goooo!”

The last car clicked off of the lift hill, and they were plummeting. Maxine’s grip was as tight as could be as they began their descent, but next to her, Miles was whooping and… laughing? What was funny about this?!

They reached the bottom and went immediately back up, onto what seemed to be an even higher hill, and Maxine felt the horrible swooping sensation erupting and clenching in her belly. At least she had her eyes open; that was a step. However, it also meant that she could clearly see the entire layout of the ride they were about to coast through, and it was way longer than she realized. She snuck a glance over at Miles, and he looked like a kid in a candy store, face in a wide smile, laughing with uncontrolled glee, arms still straight up in the air. How could he not hold on?Experimentally, she loosened her grip on the handles, and when they went up and over the next hill, she told her body to go limp, just as Miles had suggested.

Suddenly, the swooping sensation in her belly lifted and was replaced with… euphoria?

They rounded a turn, and as they headed for the next big hill, she let her fingers loosen completely. By the time they were falling down the other side of the hill, her arms floated up, and she could not believe the sensations flowing through her body.

“Alright, girl! There you go! Woooooo!” Miles shouted next to her.

A shocked giggle erupted out of her, and she joined in the cheering for a moment, but mostly, she screamed her head off. She could feel what would have been pent-up energy being released as she screamed. She could feel the lack of any tension in her body giving way to bliss. She could hardly believe it.

𓂃🖊

Miles could hardly believe the day they’d had together. Their ride home was mostly silent, as they were both too blissed out and exhausted to speak.

She had more than kept up with him. That initial ride on Nitro had acted on her like the first hit of a party drug, and she turned into an absolute fiend. She was still nervous, but on every ride, she managed to let go and absolutely enjoy the shit out of it.

They even got on the new coaster, which was not much to look at, but actually pretty intense, with multiple launches, and floater air time like he’d never experienced before.

Just as they were pulling up to her apartment, she turned to him.

“Miles, can I ask you something?”

“You just did,” he said, voice gravely from yelling and tiredness.

She made a face at him, then said, “Were you gonna skip the new coaster if I didn’t wanna go on it?”

His sheepish smile was answer enough.

“Miles! I can’t believe you’d do that! Trevor said it’s the first new coaster that’s opened at this park in five years!”

Miles rolled his eyes. Their annoying thoosie friend had caught up with them later in the day, and Maxine, now flooded with adrenaline from her first-ever enjoyable coaster ride, had plied him with questions.

“Yeah, well, I’m a firm believer that you don’t make people ride what they don’t wanna ride. I also wasn’t gonna take you on something I didn’t know well yet.”

“But you gave up the chance of being the first to ride it!”

Miles shrugged. “Priorities. I told you I’m not really a thoosie. I just play one on TV.”

She laughed to herself and looked out the window. Then, her eyes were drawn upward, and she abruptly opened the door and climbed out.

“Eash, what are you doing up there?!”

Miles got out of the car as well and looked up to see her roommate sitting out on the fire escape with his laptop and a beer.

“I was enjoying the quiet until you two showed up.”

“I told you not to go in my room when I’m not here, dude.”

“The door was open! Also, it’s a mess.”

“What? I didn’t leave the door open!”

Miles bit his lip, considering whether to leave them to their argument. He’d been low-key hoping their day wouldn’t end here, but she clearly had other things to deal with. Before he could make a move, Eashan called out to him.

“Hey man, want a beer? Come in!” he called, then climbed back through the window.

Maxine growled in frustration, then turned to him. “You don’t have to,” she said.

“Do you not want me to?”

“Oh,” she said, blinking, “No, I mean, yeah that would be… yeah, come in.”

Without another word, she grabbed her keys out of her bag and approached the door, before noticing that it was propped open. Probably because of the broken buzzer, someone had left it ajar so they wouldn’t have to come down to let guests in.

When they’d painstakingly climbed the three flights up to her apartment, Eashan was waiting at the door with two beers and a grin.

“Welcome back, kids, how was your day at the park?”

“It was good. Thanks, Dad,” Maxine said sardonically, grabbing the beer and pushing past him.

Miles graciously accepted the drink, thanking Eashan as he walked in behind her. The living room had a cushy L-shaped couch that looked incredibly inviting after the day they’d had.

Before he could plop down into it, however, he heard a loud scream, realizing only then that Maxine had disappeared into her room. Then, before they could rush in to see what was wrong, she emerged, rounding on Eashan. 

“Here, take this,” she said, handing him back the beer. “I have to go. Use the chain lock on the door when we leave. I’ll explain later. Miles, let’s go.”

“Wh-wh-what?!” Eashan said.

Miles was barely able to sputter out his own question before she was grabbing his shirt and dragging him over to the door. Placing his beer on a side table, never even having had a sip, he followed her out the door and down the stairs.

“You wanna tell me what’s going on?” he said.

“I’m hiring you, I need a ride to Matawan.”

“You need a— what? Back to the vet?”

She was descending so quickly, he really had to focus to keep up.

“Not the vet, my boss’s office is a few doors down— shit!” she cried, and he saw that she was going through a flood of messages on her phone. She had turned it off after the first few rides when she realized it had a low battery, and in all the excitement of the day, had only just turned it back on.

“Maxine, wait, hold up.”

“I can’t hold up, it’s an emergency,” she said, and he was alarmed to hear emotion choking her up as she spoke. 

Banging open the front door, she flew down the front stoop, nearly losing her footing, and Miles sped down after her. Reaching her just in time, he hooked an arm around her hip to steady her.

“I’m fine, come on,” she said, wrenching herself free and climbing into the passenger seat of his car.

Not wanting to add to her stress, he simply obeyed, walking around to the other side of his car and getting in.

Her phone was to her ear as he began to drive, and he could hear the line ringing. 

“Come on, come on, pick up. Pick up, Brooks,” she muttered to herself.

He wanted to ask if she was okay, but knew it would be a stupid question. Instead, when she put her phone in her lap and pressed her head back against the seat, he reached over and took her hand in his. Surprisingly, she let him.

“Look,” he said, quietly, “You don’t need to tell me what’s going on, but I just want you to know I’m here for whatever you need. Any way I can help.”

She let out something that was between a scoff and a laugh. “I’m not sure there’s anything you can do besides driving as fast as you can.”

“Understood,” he said, then released her hand so that he could put both of his on the wheel, once again finding himself in the position of hurriedly driving her to Matawan.

A/N: Big chapter, I know! In retrospect, the first 1400 words should be tacked on to the end of Chapter 3, but we will deal with that later when in edit-only mode 😄

Thank you endlessly for reading and commenting, you have no idea how much it makes me light up when you guys comment. I would love to know...

What do you think happened? What messages did Maxine get? etc?!
and/or what was your favorite part of the chapter as a whole?

See you next week!