Chapter 5 #2
“Yes!” Emmy squealed, seeming to have recovered. “Yes, do you mind? I mean, it shouldn't take that long.”
Except, Maggie knew it would.
“Whoa, Mary are you going on this drive too?” Diana asked, folding her arms over her chest.
Mary looked back at her, her face tight. “It’s a two person job, and I was hoping—”
“Wait, I know,” Emmy said, as if being struck by genius. “You two are just talking about how you’ll be parents, right? You don’t need the library for that.”
Maggie’s stomach began to sink with the request she knew was coming.
“Diana, would you mind giving Maggie a hand? It will go much quicker with two people and then you two can talk. I mean I need Mary here immediately to come home with me and help me pick out the perfect outfit.”
“To sit down in?” The words seemed to genuinely fall out of Diana’s mouth and Maggie had to bite the inside of her mouth and frown to ensure she didn’t laugh.
Ignoring Diana’s question, Emmy just clasped her hands together and gave Maggie puppy-dog eyes. The thought made Maggie think again about Diana’s comment about a puppy peeing itself and Maggie suppressed her snort.
“Yeah, of course, Em, I know how important this is.”
Emmy squealed again and Maggie was surprised that her voice could even go higher.
She wrapped Maggie in her arms in a little hug and then pulled back to say, “Thanks it really is Maggie, I mean it’s my future we are talking about here!
” Mary beamed at that and from her peripheral vision Maggie saw Diana openly roll her eyes.
This put a smile on Maggie’s face that she knew would be interpreted as her genuine happiness for Emmy. “Thank you so much we gotta go!” And with that both girls had bounded off, leaving Maggie with an unimpressed Diana.
“You don’t need to help me, McDonald, just stand there and do whatever it is you do,” Diana said over her shoulder as Maggie looked on, a little dumfounded.
“Well you helped me, so I can help you, plus we never even really talked about the project,” Maggie said, shrugging at Diana who had turned around, rake in hand.
And they hadn’t at all. Instead they had spent a good portion dancing around after Maggie mentioned not knowing anything about the Spice Girls.
Apparently, Diana’s sister was obsessed.
Maggie allowed herself to get lost in the bubbly pop rhythms about girl power, and even came around to making fun of the whole exchange with Emmy.
Maggie couldn’t even be defensive anymore because the whole situation was ridiculous.
She had told Diana that she didn’t have to help her, and that she’d do all the work by herself, as she had done many times before when asked by Emmy, which seemed to be a lot lately.
Diana had insisted and once they realized they still hadn’t actually talked about the project, Diana had suggested she come over to her house because she had some things she wanted to do before it got dark.
Maggie was absolutely not passing up the chance to get an up-close view of the Blake property, outside of the visitor sections.
But that wasn’t all either. She liked spending time with Diana.
The mysterious and reluctant “It Girl” wasn't at all what she had expected. She had stayed and helped Maggie, and made her laugh when she was incredibly frustrated by once again having to do the work of her fellow cheers. And then there was this air about her. She couldn’t explain it, but there was something about Diana—even though she made little digs at the whole cheerleader thing, Maggie felt like Diana would never judge her, and genuinely wanted to see the real her.
And she felt like she could show it to her.
So of course, she’d jumped at the chance to help Diana.
Except what she hadn’t expected was the things Diana wanted to get done were chores, there was no other word for it.
“I like to help the staff out, my parents don’t hire enough hands and it’s too much to ask the existing staff to do everything. Besides it gives me a chance to think and unwind,” Diana had said when she explained that she would be raking up fallen fruit.
“No I can help, it will go faster if it’s the two of us,” Maggie said.
“A common theme this afternoon,” Diana said, but then shrugged and picked up another rake and handed it to Maggie.
After about fifteen minutes Diana finally said, “You know I think this would go a lot faster if uh, you didn’t do whatever it is you’re doing.”
Maggie felt her face flush, and looked from where she had been raking to where Diana already had a neat pile of rotting fruit. “I’m sorr—” Maggie began to say but when she looked up into the other young woman’s face she stopped.
Diana was smirking at her, her cheeks rosy and her eyes wide and bright, and Maggie’s worry of impending criticism vanished.
Diana burst out laughing, and then Maggie was laughing too.
“I just wanted to help but yeah, I suck at this I guess,” Maggie said, and she was surprised to find she found that fact hilarious.
She never liked being bad at something. It often came with too many consequences, but Diana’s laughter was light and warmed something in Maggie she wasn’t sure had been warmed before.
Diana walked over to her still laughing, and as Maggie looked up at Diana some of her hair fell into her eye.
Diana took her hand and brushed it away, her touch sending goosebumps up her skin.
Maggie didn’t particularly like being touched, except she did then.
Diana’s touch felt unlike anything she’d felt before, and she was surprised to find herself not wanting it to end. It was all safety and heat.
“It’s okay,” Diana said, her hand still lingering just behind Maggie’s ear when she’d tucked her hair. “Maybe we will just have you practice or maybe you can put those cheering skills to use while I rake instead.”
Between the heat of her touch and the intensity of those navy eyes looking at her, Maggie couldn’t form words.
Her eyes drifted to Diana’s mouth as warmth continued to course through her, settling in her chest. As Diana pulled her hand away, all Maggie could do was smile, even though she suddenly felt like she had lost something she was only beginning to understand.