Chapter Eighteen
Maya
Two weeks had passed since Maya’s argument with her mum, and neither of them had mentioned her date since. Maya took that as a win. Both eager to prove their point, whatever contest the two always seemed to be tangled in had intensified, and the house had never been cleaner or more organised. Grandpa was back home, recovering slowly, which helped divert their focus, but mostly the two of them had managed to avoid each other.
Now Mum was away for work again. Maya also had a mountain of other things on her mind.
Jamie cleared her throat, giving her best presenting voice. “What is the name of the condition that causes an exaggerated inward curve of the spine, typically in the lower back?”
“Lordosis.” Maya traced the intricate pattern of the tattoos on Jamie’s forearm, feeling the soft hairs rise in response. Their January exams loomed closer, and while they helped each other revise…among other things…Maya found it particularly challenging to quiz Jamie about English Literature. “Who’s…your favourite poet?”
“That’s…” Jamie shivered as Maya’s nails drew more patterns across her skin. “Far too difficult a question.” She adjusted herself so Maya’s naked body slid between her legs. “Sorry,” she said, chuckling softly. “Leg was going a little numb.”
“It’s fine.” Maya planted a kiss above her navel and stretched. She eyed Jamie’s stack of books on her bedside table. The collections of poetry by Lang Leav and Caitlyn Siehl, Sylvia Plath and Rupi Kaur. Maya wanted to leaf through them, like she’d find answers about Jamie between the pages. In truth, she’d struggled with English Literature at school; she didn’t really get it. Science, though—science made sense.
Maya was still learning about Jamie. Yes, she was annoying and loud and ate more Starburst sweets than a ten-year-old—but she was quiet in many ways, too. She secretly hoarded football cards and collectable fifty-pence pieces and forced Maya to always check her change, just in case. Jamie would light up when she was discussing anything about her course. The meaning was lost on Maya, but the way Jamie spoke about words made her want to understand. When Jamie wasn’t training for football, she loved nothing more than reading. Her softness drew Maya in; Jamie made her feel safe. Things were still difficult at home, but since she’d seen Carly and got some closure, it’d given her a push she didn’t know she needed.
“Have you applied for any jobs yet?” Jamie asked, pulling Maya out of her daze.
Millton University had a lot of connections with clubs and organisations for potential jobs after they graduated—assuming they passed their exams and got a 2:1. In her second year, Maya had had a temporary placement with the local men’s cricket team, shadowing a physio. The role with the women’s football team had been snatched up so quickly, and the sting of rejection lingered.
She sighed. She knew if she didn’t put herself out there, she’d never do anything at all, but she didn’t want to think about life after university yet. Time moved too fast. “Yeah. I know I shouldn’t put it off anymore. It’s just…a lot.”
Jamie brushed her fingers through Maya’s dark hair, tucking a strand behind her ear. “It’s normal to feel like that. I’m scared too. The pressure of failing…” Her thumb caressed Maya’s cheek. “But we can’t just sit and do nothing.”
“How about lie and do nothing?” she teased, stretching herself across Jamie’s navy bedsheets.
Jamie let out a soft laugh and dropped her hand. Her gaze followed the naked curve of Maya’s body before returning to her face. “You’ve nothing to worry about.”
That was easy to say. But how could she stop all the pressure mounting in her head? She had to get this right, to prove her mum wrong, to make her grandparents proud.
That seemed pretty big to her.
“Hey,” Jamie whispered, tilting her chin with her fingers so Maya was looking into her big blue eyes. “You’re gonna be fine. You’re Maya Thomas. She’s a badass.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Sometimes.”
“I think Rollchester would disagree, seeing as you completely marked their striker out of the game yesterday. She didn’t have a touch of the ball.”
Maya propped herself on her elbow. “And I guess this is the part where you want me to mention those terrific two goals you scored?”
A grin tugged at Jamie’s mouth, and she gave a playful shrug. “Getting compliments from the captain never hurts.”
“I wouldn’t want your head to get any bigger. You won’t be able to run soon, you’ll be so weighed down by your gigantic ego.”
Jamie chuckled, but Maya sensed a change in her, the way her mouth dropped. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
“What is it?” she asked.
She sighed, tracing a finger lazily up her back. “I just keep thinking about the Harriers game.”
“It’s not for ages yet. We’ve got Christmas and the football tournament first.”
“I know.”
“Then what is it?”
Jamie chewed her lip, and Maya’s heart sped up in her chest. Was it an ex-lover on the team or just nerves? Jamie didn’t really speak about her time with the Harriers. Truthfully, Maya wasn’t sure she wanted to know about it; they were far past that point now. It felt like two different lives—the Jamie then and the Jamie now.
“There’s just a lot going on, isn’t there?” Jamie said, trying to sound chipper. “It’d be nice to get away for a while.” She snapped up straight, startling Maya. “Let’s do it!”
“What? Do what?”
“Go to the beach. Now. Let’s just go. We need this.” She jumped up from the bed, picking up her discarded clothes from the floor.
“We can’t just go to the beach.”
“Why not?” She pulled her Nike sports bra over her head—the woman was like a walking advertisement. “Oh, wait. Your grandparents?”
Maya hadn’t even meant that. She’d meant the idea of going to the beach on a whim. It felt like something Maya couldn’t do: be that spontaneous. Her mum was away for work, which made it difficult, but the way Jamie’s excitement fell from her face made her say, “Alright.”
“Really?”
“I’ll have to speak with Grandma first, though.”
Jamie leaped at her, knocking her back onto the mattress. “Oh my god, this is going to be so much fun.”
Her enthusiasm was infectious, and Maya couldn’t fight the huge smile on her face as she pressed her weight on top of her. She fought off Jamie’s attempts at tickling and pushed her onto her back. Jamie’s eyes dipped, and a ping of pleasure fired between Maya’s legs.
“We don’t have time for that right now,” she teased. “Come on.”
Less than twenty minutes later, Maya pulled up on their street and shut off Jamie’s engine. Her driving had improved a lot in the previous few weeks, even though she’d just been driving the same routes back and forth. A few days ago she’d stalled the car in the middle of a roundabout and knocked the wipers on max speed, all to the beat of Madonna’s “Material Girl”. But apart from that, she’d say she was doing pretty well. Her pedestrian tally was still at zero; that had to count for something.
“I’m gonna nip into my parents’ house to get a few things,” Jamie said, scratching at her neck. “Meet you out here in five?”
“Alright.”
As soon as Maya walked through the front door, Grandma ambushed her, eyes wide and the ever-present red tea towel held at her hip.
“Is that Jamie again?” she asked knowingly, her white eyebrows raised.
Maya hung her bag of study books over the banister, trying to act cool. “Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t.”
There was no use hiding things from Grandma. She’d not missed the amount of time Maya had been spending with Jamie, and the fire warming her cheeks was pretty telling.
“Do I need to inform the Witch Club yet? Linda can prepare a tip-top fertility brew. Her Cockerpoo had fourteen pups, you know—”
“No need for a fertility brew yet, Grandma.”
And being Linda’s guinea-pig certainly didn’t sound appealing.
A smile pulled at her grandmother’s mouth, and she bounced her eyebrows again. “You sure? You seem pretty smitten to me.”
“Grandma.” Maya resisted the urge to roll her eyes, knowing it would get her a clip with the tea towel.
“When are you going to invite her in?”
Maya opened her mouth to speak, but Grandma cut her off with a wave of her finger. “And don’t say it’s to do with your mother, because we both know she’s not here.”
Grandma had agreed not to discuss Maya’s new relationship with her mum, after she’d explained she wanted to take things slowly. Clearly, regarding the mention of Linda’s fertility brew, the message was getting distorted somewhere in the airwaves.
“I know young love makes you want to bottle it and save it all for yourself, but I’m getting old, dear. I want to see you happy.”
That struck a nerve. And dammit, Grandma knew it too, judging by the way she was aiming puppy eyes at her.
“You’ve met her already, Grandma. She sat right there on the sofa.”
“Mm-hmm. And a lot has changed since you couldn’t stand to look at the girl. Isn’t that right?”
If only you knew, Grandma. If only you knew.
So much had changed since Jamie had stepped foot in this house, but Maya couldn’t explain why she’d kept those parts of her life separate. She knew Jamie wanted to meet her grandparents properly, but she still had reservations. It felt like a huge deal, like it’d open the doors to weddings and U-hauls and bloody Linda’s fertility brew. She just wasn’t ready yet. The idea that this could end the same way things did with Carly was playing on her mind too. The last thing Maya wanted was to be an unsuspecting doormat again.
She decided to steer the conversation in another direction. “Do you have any plans tonight?”
Grandma wasn’t having any of it. “Me, your grandpa, and hours of soaps to catch up on. He’s delighted.” She gave me a pointed look. “And you?”
“Do you need any help with anything?”
“Nope.” She grinned. “What do you two have planned? ”
Maya sighed. “Jamie asked if I wanted to go to the beach—”
Grandma clapped her hands together and squealed. “A romantic getaway? How lovely!”
Maya’s eyes did roll then, and Grandma flicked the tea towel at her. “Not a romantic getaway,” Maya said. “Just…a little road trip. We’ll be back later. I have classes tomorrow.”
“Your grandpa used to take me to Blackpool all the time. That was very romantic. Lots of visits up the Blackpool tower, if you catch my drift.”
“Grandma!” Maya’s hand flew to her mouth, and she laughed. This woman was ridiculous. “I don’t want to know that.”
She shrugged. “When you know, you know, dear. Love is funny like that.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself.” She shook her head. “Anyway…I just wanted to check if you needed anything. Or Grandpa?”
“We’re fine. We have the leftover macaroni you made last night. Nothing to worry about here.” She shooed Maya with the towel. “Now get going. Be young. Have fun.”
Grandma had really blossomed at the idea of Maya having a social life that didn’t revolve around football training and studies. Maya just needed to permanently erase that Blackpool Tower comment from her brain. She was barely able to grab her sunglasses and coat before her grandmother practically shoved her out the door .
Jamie rested on the hood of her car, watching Maya descend the steps with amusement. “I assume we’re all good to go?” She grinned and waved behind her, and Maya spun to catch her grandma spying on them through the window. She wanted to make fun of them for their enthusiastic waving, but it was actually really cute.
“As long as I’m back by midnight.”
“Okay, Cinderella. A whole evening with you to myself? Lucky me.” She slid off the hood, and they both climbed inside the car.
The scent of Jamie’s car was a comfort, but Maya felt a little guilty about leaving her grandparents. She looked up and spotted her grandma, still spying on them through the window, and some of that dissipated. Grandma wanted her to go. She needed to stop overthinking it.
Jamie was right—they both needed this. A break from the stresses of exams and football and sickness and mothers. Thinking about seeing the sea sparked excitement inside her.
“You ready to go?” she asked, letting her eyes roam over Jamie’s jawline, and her cute little chin dimple.
“Absolutely.” Jamie reached out to cup her cheek then stilled, as if remembering Maya’s hawk-eyed grandma in the background. Instead, a huge grin stretched across her face. “But I’m picking the music.”