Chapter Thirty-Two
Thirty-Two
By the time they finally left Miti Miti, their bill looked like a CVS receipt. Max refused to let Stella even look at it, although that didn’t stop her from thanking him profusely.
And she maybe was a little drunk.
She’d stuck to sangria because she didn’t want to get sloppy with Max, but those sangrias were stronger than she remembered.
Still, she was faring better than Kira, who was leaning on Effie for support as they waited for an Uber to come pick them up.
When their car arrived, Stella didn’t even bother trying to parse if they’d be making one stop or two.
“So,” Max said, after her friends were gone.
He stood in front of her, and Stella fell into him, wrapping her arms around his middle and resting her cheek against his chest. The wool of his coat was scratchy on her face, but she didn’t mind it as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer, his warmth protecting her from the cold.
“Comfy?” he asked.
Stella only nodded, and she could feel his chuckle.
“So, as I was saying, have you decided if you’re taking me home, or shall I order us two separate cars?”
Stella, in the chaos of the evening and after sangria number two, had completely forgotten about Max’s suggestion that he sleep over at her place.
Now that she was faced with making a decision, she was torn.
She knew Chelsea would make a huge fuss about her showing up at the apartment with someone for the first time, but she also didn’t want to let go of Max yet.
Max pulled back slightly so he could look down at her. “If you’re worried I won’t fit in your bed, I can promise you I’m quite bendy.”
Stella laughed, and Max smiled.
“Really, though, if you’re not ready for me to come over, I don’t have to,” Max said. “I would like to, but I don’t have to. I just want to get you out of the cold one way or the other.”
He ended this sentence with a quick kiss to her temple, and Stella grabbed his wrists, holding his warm hands to her cold cheeks.
“I want you to come over,” Stella said. She blinked up at him, and there was a heat to his gaze that made the night feel more like spring than winter.
“You’re sure?”
Stella almost laughed at the way he seemed to force out the question. It was clear that the last thing he wanted her to say was no, but he still asked, and how could she not love him for that?
“I’m sure,” she said.
Then, to seal the deal, she pressed up on her tiptoes and kissed him.
In the car to her place, Stella texted Chelsea to tell her she was coming over with Max and begged her to be chill about it.
Unfortunately, Chelsea did not respond, and Stella had no idea if that meant Chelsea was already asleep, although that seemed unlikely because it wasn’t even ten yet, or if Chelsea didn’t see the message.
This lack of knowledge made Stella incredibly anxious as she led Max up the two flights of stairs to her apartment.
It was weird to have him here. Stella didn’t want to be self-conscious about where she lived.
She loved her apartment building and neighborhood, one of the few remaining places in Brooklyn that wasn’t gentrified yet.
Sure, the building needed some repairs, and her landlord answered their requests only when he felt like it, but she knew most of the people on her floor well enough to at least give a friendly wave or nod, and she only needed to walk ten minutes to get to her favorite hair-braiding place and another five minutes to get the best oxtails in Brooklyn.
Max couldn’t see that just by looking at her dimly lit hallway or the size of her tiny apartment. She couldn’t help but wonder what he thought about it all. She stopped herself from asking, instead making a beeline to Chelsea’s bedroom as soon as they walked through the door.
She knocked on Chelsea’s door, but after waiting a moment with no response, she twisted the knob, opened the door, and peeked in. The room was dark so she squinted at Chelsea’s bed for a moment until she was sure there was nobody in there, then flicked on the bedroom light to be doubly sure.
Stella was relieved she wouldn’t have to introduce Chelsea to Max this evening, but she was slightly irritated that after the grief Chelsea gave her last weekend she was now AWOL. Walking back into the living room, she called Chelsea, who picked up on the third ring.
“Hiiiii!”
Stella pulled the phone back from her ear, and Max, who’d made himself comfortable on her couch, gave her a quizzical look. She shook her head and turned her back to him.
“Hi,” Stella said. “Where are you?”
From the background noise, Stella could guess Chelsea was at some bar or club, but Stella couldn’t even begin to guess what kind of bar was that loud on a Wednesday night.
“Red as Sin,” Chelsea said. “I decided to come out and try my luck since you were so successful.”
“Isn’t your phone supposed to be off in there?”
“Oh, you’re so right, gotta go, be home late, bye!”
And then Chelsea was gone.
Stella stared at her phone for a minute in disbelief. She could feel irritation morphing into anger inside her, but she didn’t want those feelings to ruin her night with Max, so she forced herself to take a few deep, long breaths before she turned back to face Max again.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yup, fine,” she said. “My roommate is out so we have the whole place to ourselves.”
“Oh?”
“Yup,” Stella said again. “It’s probably for the best because, as you can see, my place isn’t that big, and if she was here, she’d hear everything.
I mean, if we were going to do something.
Not that I’m assuming we will do something.
Just that whenever she has company I tend to hear everything, so—”
“Stella.”
At some point, Max had gotten up from the couch and was now standing in front of her, the hint of a smile playing on his lips.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Do you want to show me your room?”
“Oh, yes, right this way.”
Max moved aside so she could step past him and lead him the short distance to her bedroom.
She opened the door and thanked whatever god was listening that her room wasn’t a complete disaster zone.
Her bed wasn’t made, but it was free of any piles of clothes or miscellaneous items. The space was cluttered with her tiny bookshelf in one corner, overflowing with so many books she was confident it would break any day now, and her dresser in the other, a variety of knickknacks and photos sitting atop it.
Next to her bed was her little night table, with a precarious extension cord filled with chargers for her phone, computer, and portable battery charger.
She also had a cup of water there, and she had no idea if that was from this morning or a week ago.
It also suddenly occurred to her that having water by so much electricity was probably an accident waiting to happen, and she rushed over to move the cup to her dresser.
Max was still standing in the doorway, taking it in, and she wondered how it all looked to him.
Probably like she was living in squalor or something.
Her closet was barely closed, and Stella could see the clothes piled up in her hamper threatening to break free, but there was no use in trying to hide that now.
Instead, she sat down on the edge of the bed and watched Max do a small circle around her room.
“Is it fair to say you like pink?”
Stella didn’t know what she thought he’d say, but it definitely wasn’t that.
“It is,” Stella said. “Though honestly, I don’t even really notice it anymore.”
The it being the fact that everything in her room, from her sheets to the cup of water to her extension cord, were all millennial pink—and yes, that shade of pink specifically.
Stella would occasionally go for a slightly darker shade if there was no other option, like her rose gold laptop, but otherwise, she liked the softness of millennial pink, and if she had to buy something and could get it in that color, she always did.
“Are your toys also pink?” Max asked.
A shocked laugh escaped Stella.
“Um, yes, most of them are,” she said. “I forgot I told you about those.”
“I couldn’t forget even if I tried,” he said. “And I haven’t tried.”
He was towering over her, his gaze intently focused on her, and Stella wasn’t sure what to do. Rise to meet him or let him come down to her? Max ended up making the decision for her by getting down on his knees so he was eye level with her.
“Can I see them?”
“My toys?”
Max nodded, and Stella considered it briefly.
“They’re in my night table,” she said. “Top drawer.”
Max needed no further instruction and grabbed them from her drawer, setting them out on the bed between them. Stella only had three, which in comparison to Chelsea’s collection wasn’t a lot, but it somehow felt that way seeing them set out like that.
There was her trusty rabbit, her rose, and that wand Cardi B used in one of her music videos. That one was the most expensive, but Stella had to admit that it was worth every penny.
Max scanned each one and then looked at Stella.
“You’re right, I am bigger than these.”
Stella rolled her eyes and shoved him, although of course he barely budged at the contact and instead grabbed her hand, kissing her palm in that way that always sent tingles down her spine.
“I want to see you use one of these,” Max said.
“Right now?”
“Yes, if you’d like to,” Max said. “I want to see how you come when I’m not around.”
The simple request made Stella’s legs tighten with anticipation, and without letting herself overthink it, she stood and pulled her sweater over her head and unclasped her bra.
She reached for her jeans, but Max moved closer, unbuttoning them for her and helping her slide out of them along with her panties.
In record time, she was standing completely bare in front of him.