"You're looking awfully chipper today," Declan commented from his designated spot at the bar. He reached out for the milkshake Maze slid across the counter to him.

"Why wouldn't I be chipper?" Maze said, spinning around with a flare, hands clasped together against her chest. "It's sunny out... the breeze is just right..."

"And you're friends with Kassandra again," Brielle finished from down the way, a hand on her hip and the other resting on the counter in front of one of their regulars.

"Ah," the customer said, "I was wondering when you two would be back to terrorizing the town."

"We don't terrorize," Maze insisted with a scowl.

"Tell that to the graffiti on the bridge," the man said with a roll of his eyes.

Maze grimaced. Yeah... she and Kass might have put their initials on the railroad bridge over the river. And, now that she thought about it properly, that was rather romantic of them to do back in high school. As far as she knew, only couples put their initials on that bridge.

Another regular—a woman with a knack for flannel and monstrously-sized curls—said, "And the fence my husband had to replace back in 2010."

"That was an accident," Maze said. Maze, Kass, and Willa had attempted cow tipping. Emphasis on attempted. It made her feel psychopathic and she wimped out before they were chased down by the bull. The fence didn't fair well.

"And the—!"

"Alright! I get it!" Maze groaned, head thrown back. "I don't think I have the energy to do stuff like that anymore. I mean, who knows. University really sucked it all outta me."

"Sucked, huh?" Declan teased, and Maze glowered at him for his crude mind. Granted, her brain went there too—but she was at work with her mother in shouting distance.

"Now's the time to act out before you have to settle down. That's what I always say," the woman said, lifting her coffee like champaign for a cheer. And then, she gave it a little shake in Brielle's direction.

Brielle smiled and glided over with the coffee pot. "I don't know about that anymore. Don't want it to land on your permanent record when ya start job searching," she said.

As Brielle shifted the conversation over to internships and university, Maze drifted to the background and, eventually, through the kitchen door. She skated past the lockers only to double-back at the sound of distinct buzzing coming from her locker. She pulled the door open and slid her phone off of the top shelf.

12:45 K: Hey

12:45 K: Plans after work?

12:46 M: Whatever you have planned is my plan

12:46 M: Declan and I are leaving at 7PM though

12:46 K: Yeah I know

12:46 M: You know?

12:46 K: Yeah I'm coming with you guys tonight

12:47 K: Declan didn't tell you?

"I figured she told you since y'all are on speaking terms again," Declan said that afternoon when Maze got out of work. She skated in backwards circles as he sat on the curb, lacing up his own pair of skates with bright, neon pink wheels.

"It's not—Well, I guess you're right... We have been talking more lately," she confessed, but they talked the most when they were in person. Which only seemed to be when Maze delivered lunch or when they snuck away from their friends to talk.

So not very often.

"So are y'all, like..." he started, slowly, and when Maze said nothing—didn't look at him and kept skating—he trailed off. "Um, well, I'm glad you two are talking again?"

"Yeah, me too," she said.

Declan popped up to his feet, hands on his hips, and said, "Alright! I'm ready. Now where are we going?"

Maze led the way. They skated down the road to Hiromichi's shop where Kass was locking up the garage. And wearing a pair of jet black skates.

Declan turned to Maze and said, "When you suggested we go skating, you didn't mention Kassandra would be joining us."

Maze grinned innocently, hands clasped behind her back as she pushed away and teased, "See how it feels."

He gawked at her, only to clamp his mouth shut a second later with a sneer.

"Little shit," he said.

Kass swept forward, easing down the slope to the sidewalk where Maze and Declan were waiting. She had her hoodie tied around her waist, her plain black sports bra paired with matching, loose sweatpants. It wasn't nearly cold enough to warrant both a sweatshirt and sweatpants, but if Maze knew anything about Kass, it was that she had a high tolerance for heat.

"Hey," Kass said, slowing to a halt beside them.

"Hi," Maze said, beaming.

"God, just kiss already," Declan groaned.

Maze went pink and would have complained had Kass not seethed an embarrassed, "Shut it, Peter Pan-lookin' ass." Kass' ears had gone bright red against her blonde hair. The fact that her hair was in a ponytail did little to hide it.

Maze ducked forward and pressed a chaste kiss to Kass' hot cheek.

She pulled away, hesitant at first as she watched the size of Kass' eyes double.

Kass turned to look at her, and their noses nearly brushed.

"There," Maze said. She turned a cheeky grin onto Declan, who's jaw was on the floor. "Shall we?"

Maze pushed ahead, her hands hooked around the strap of her cross-body bag and her ears rivaling the color of her ma's cherry syrup. Her head was a cacophony of why-the-actual-fuck-did-you-think-that-was-a-good-socially-acceptable-idea because of course Declan knew Kass' orientation. Of course he would jump to immediate conclusions.

But then, as she soothed herself down from a full-blown screaming session, she reassured herself that it didn't matter. Because she and Kass were together again, and that was all that mattered. If people knew the nature of their "togetherness", that was fine by her.

Right?

And she could deal with all the labels later. She still had to compartmentalize that shitshow.

She rubbed her hands feverishly over her cheeks. She could feel Kass and Declan's eyes on her as they trekked across the neighborhood to the industrial yard where the skating rink sat amidst fenced-in machinery and a mostly-empty parking lot. They used to frequent the skating rink when they were in middle school and Maze and Kass started to seriously up their skating game. It was for this reason that Maze knew that the rink would be empty at this time of the evening, but business would pick up at the exact time they would need to leave to snag Vincent's Corvette.

The skating rink was, at one point, nearly fashioned into an indoor-outdoor movie theatre. The foyer was constructed long before the vacant warehouse could have been renovated, at which point the owners went bankrupt and the half-finished project was picked up by the current owners.

The ticket booth was left the way it was and instead converted into the front desk where they paid their entry fees underneath the plexiglass barrier. It wasn't until Maze took out her wallet that she wondered if this was a date.

Was she supposed to pay for Kass' entry fee?

"I got it," Kass said.

"Oh! No, no, I got it—"

"Seriously, dude, don't sweat it," she said and before Maze could argue again, Kass took out a fifty dollar bill and slid it through the counter slot. Maze glowered at her, and Kass gave her a dull stare. "Fuck off. You're racing cars for cash. I can handle giving to charity."

Maze let out a startled laugh. "I'm not charity, you bitch," she said.

Meanwhile, Declan stared at them both with an eyebrow cocked. He pursed his lips when the cashier asked how many, to which Kass held up two fingers. Declan rolled his eyes and decided then and there that it wasn't worth it to keep insisting against the obvious: Maze and Kass were on a different wavelength than whatever they were on in high school.

The rink was just as Maze remembered it. Blacklights and neon strobes, LED strips along the ceiling and speckled, 90s-inspired black confetti carpeting that threw her instantly back to their elementary school days. She swooned at the arcade games, the prizes strung up on the wall, and the DJ booth at the head of the rink. She all but fainted against the railing, one arm braced against the ledge and the other reclined against her forehead.

"You're so dramatic," Declan said with a scoff, arms crossed.

"You don't understand—I've been dreaming of coming back here for years," Maze said.

"You sound like the socially stunted freshmen still stuck in high school," Kass teased.

Maze frowned at her. "I had a social life in college," she insisted. Before Kass could argue her on it, Maze pushed away from the railing, spun around it, and grabbed Declan's hand along the way. "Come on!"

She slingshot him across the empty rink. Declan took off with a shriek, spinning off-center, arms swinging like mad. Maze twirled after him, arms out with a bright smile on her face before she ducked low, coasting into a broad, backward arc that brought her back to where Kass was watching from the rink entrance.

Maze put her hand out with a flourish and said, "My lady."

"I hate you," Kass laughed and slapped her hand onto Maze's anyway.

Kass' hand was hard, slightly damp, and calloused against Maze's palm. She closed her fingers around Maze's colder, clammier hand. God, Maze thought, wishing she could wipe the sweat from her hands so it wouldn't bother Kass.

The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to hold hands. Why were they holding hands anyway? It made building momentum difficult anyway, so Maze slackened her grip until she drifted apart from Kass' side. She brought her fingers to the fabric of her hoodie, rubbing them idly against the fuzzy cloth inside her front pocket.

Maze coasted ahead, twisting with the momentum to send her skating backwards across the polished floorboards.

Kass brought her eyes up from where they had dropped to the floor—Or perhaps a bit higher than the floor? Maze wondered, an eyebrow raised tauntingly. Kass rolled her eyes and said, "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything," Maze said.

Declan twirled between them and swept Maze along, their arms linked and skates careening around the empty rink like two blades of a pinwheel. When they parted, Declan sashayed backwards, hips swaying with his shoulders as he crossed his ankles back and danced like he was born to bust a move at the local skating rink.

Maze laughed. She pushed a leg up and back like a figure skater, arms out and posture horrendous in comparison. She skated circles around Kass, who acted like she hadn't, in fact, been a skating prodigy long before Maze learned how to skate backwards.

"Oh, come on," Maze whined. "Are you just gonna go around in circles the whole time?"

"I'm comfortable just watching," Kass said.

Maze opened her mouth to bitch about it when she distinctly heard Declan laugh behind her. Heat flooded to her face. "Oh, that so?"

Kass' grin could kill. "Yeah, it is."

Maze put her hands on her hips, facing Kass. Kass had to push Maze by the shoulders so they wouldn't collide. "Have you always been like this?" Maze asked.

"Like what?"

"Flirty."

"Yeah, but you were always too dense to read between the lines," Kass said.

Maze swallowed hard. She wondered when their friendship started to even have lines to read between.

Kass sighed, looking off at the arcade games as she said, "Look—I know you're new to this so I'll tone it down—"

"What, like I can't handle it?" Maze said.

"Don't bite off more than you can chew, buddy," Declan sang. He clapped a hand against Maze's back, startling her as he butted between them to ask, "So... What's this about? You two dating or what?"

"It's—" Kass started, as if to say, complicated.

"Yeah," Maze said. She caught Kass' eye and promptly ducked her head. "Well, sorta. Yeah."

Kass strong-armed Declan out from between them and shoved him out onto the floor. He squeaked, arms flailing as Kass said, "And don't go shouting it from the rooftops with that loud mouth of yours, Peter Pan!"

"Did you say 'do' or 'don't'? Because I'll only take one answer!" he shouted back, cackling like the devil he was.

"He's going to tell everyone, isn't he?" Maze said.

"Yeah. Should figured you couldn't keep your fucking mouth shut," Kass said. "Couldn't lie before—can't lie now."

"If people ask, of course I'm gonna say it's true," Maze said. She twisted her hands around in the front pocket of her hoodie before thrusting them down with a huff. "You'd think not lying is the way to go."

"Naïvely speaking."

"What, as if you lie up and down town?"

Kass gestured like she was sprinkling salt into a pan. "Little ones here and there. Always have, always will."

Maze hummed, thoughtful, as she skated around Kass before sliding up beside her, coasting in step to the music. "How can anyone trust you if you lie?"

"Because if you lie, you gotta do it with integrity," Kass explained. Maze rose an eyebrow. "People have to trust that you have their best interests at hand. Lying for people, preventing chaos. Truth is what causes chaos."

Maze rolled her eyes. "Well, if that's the case, then why does everyone go up in arms whenever the government... or companies, or whatever. Lying about what goes in the food, et cetera."

"That's because big lies get found out eventually, but for a while there we could all live in blissful ignorance. I'm talking about small ones."

Maze thought about Vincent's Corvette and how she lied to save Bryan a shitstorm of a lecture. Or when her mother suspected that she and Bryan were going out racing.

"I suppose I do lie from time to time..." Maze hummed. She pointed an accusing finger at Kass and said, "Off the record, of course. But I only lie because the truth has bigger consequences. And I don't think dating you has... any consequences, honestly."

Kass threw her head back and laughed. "I'm quoting you on that one," she said.

Maze laughed, shouting about what Kass could possibly mean by that, but Kass was pushing off ahead of her in a race to see who could circle the rink the fastest. Maze kicked off of the wall in a breeze, careening around the curve in the rink and past a startled Declan who played the part of the flag boy when Kass and Maze crossed the finish line.

The three of them danced across the rink like absolute idiots, attempted to do the splits to the tune of Britney Spears in the background, played limbo in the middle of the floor with a pole lent to them by the DJ, and performed a conga line of three. They could be found screaming over beating Kass' high score from high school on the vintage Crystal Castles arcade game. Later, they could be found screaming at each other over the Hungry Hungry Hippos arcade machine when Declan seized victory over Maze, who slumped to the ground groaning while Kass called him a fucking cheater and a slut.

They cashed in their winning tickets at the prize booth. Kids from the area were starting to come in, and a birthday party was nearly in full swing by the time they escaped. Declan was now the proud owner of a Ring Pop and Kass had her arms around a ripoff Charmander the size of her torso.

Kass hiked the plushie under one arm like she was wrestling it into a headlock. She caught Maze's eye, and Maze looked away, beaming from ear-to-ear. A warm, fuzzy feeling flooded up from her chest. It might have had something to do with how utterly, ridiculously, fantastically giddy she felt at the arcade.

"You sure you're cool carpooling with us?" Declan asked as they gathered around his car for the trip to Vincent's place.

Kass opened the back door of the vehicle. "I'm getting in already, aren't I?" she said, and ducked down behind the door.

Maze claimed the passenger's seat. When she glanced back, Kass was getting settled directly in the middle of the backseat. Maze was struck by an oddly specific quirk of Kass' that involved never wanting to sit where she was supposed to. When they were kids, Kass used to always claim the middle seat—unless the backseat was cramped, at which point Kass loathed to be sandwiched between people. She'd squirm and insist that it felt like she was being burned alive at the stake, so Maze would often switch with her.

Kass slapped her hand over the aux cord just as Declan reached for it. "Not a chance," Kass said.

"You act like you've got taste but really it's all just Blink-182," Declan teased, wrinkling his nose up at her. He turned a smile onto Maze and nodded back to Kass. "To be fair, it's gotten better. She's mixed it up once or twice."

"I'm always mixing it up," Kass insisted under her breath.

"No, you aren't—"

"Yes I am," Kass insisted, slightly louder than before as she scrolled through her phone. She glared up at him, and he stuck his tongue out at her. Maze watched in fascination. "What music do you listen to these days."

"Oh," Maze hummed. Every song she listened to reminded her of Kass, so she... had started listening to country music because Kass never liked country music in all the years they knew each other. It was a relief to know that Kass hadn't changed in that regard. "Nothing... in particular."

"Liar," Kass said.

"It's not anything that I like. I just don't listen to music often. I listen to podcasts and shit," Maze said.

Declan hummed as he backed his car out and pulled out of the diner parking lot. "What sort of podcasts?"

Maze rubbed idly against her cheek, a guilty grimace on her face. "Conspiracy and car podcasts."

"You're such a fucking nerd, oh my God," Kass scoffed, half-laughing as Declan shrieked and giggled.

"Any chance those two topics overlap?" Declan teased, and Maze shoved him in the arm. He flicked on the volume so that once Kass assembled an appropriate playlist, it flowed through the speakers and around the cabin instantly.

Kass slapped her phone upside-down on the armrest between Maze and Declan. She remained leant forward with her elbows on her knees, hands clasped between them. Maze held her breath, just for a moment, in an attempt to slow down her heart. It had been racing and sending heat to her face in constant, consistent waves. Knowing that Kass was right behind her, likely watching her, kept Maze from relaxing into the seat.

She spent the trip to Vincent's place fiddling with the rings on her fingers. She had never sat in front of Kass and wondered if she looked presentable enough. She was still dressed in her diner uniform polo underneath her hoodie and her hair had been especially finicky that morning when she woke up. Kass could probably see evidence of that in her hardly-tamed bedhead. There were probably so many knots...

At Vincent's place, Declan parked next to the driveway entrance, out of view from the house where Scorpion sat in all its glory out by the stoop.

"Maze," Declan said.

"On it," she said, and pushed out of the passenger's seat. She stood out by Declan's hood as she tapped a message away to Bryan, which was answered with a thumbs up. She gave Declan the go-ahead.

Maze jogged up the driveway to where Scorpion awaited her. Just as planned, Bryan left the keys in the decommissioned ash tray. Maze glanced up at the house where the broad living room windows were visible. She imagined Bryan was playing an excellently sharp depiction of the world's best son right about now via watching the football game with Vincent at the basement bar.

Maze and the Scorpion crept quietly out of the driveway. She put a hand against the back of the passenger's seat and backed out onto the road so that she faced Declan's car. He gave her a cheeky little wave as Maze passed him, slightly jarred. As far as she was concerned, this was between him and her—she didn't expect Kass to assist in stealing the Corvette.

Sure enough, Kass was down the road a ways, hands in her pockets, and nearly at Vincent's garage driveway.

Maze pulled up next to Kass and put down Scorpion's passenger window. As she slowed to a crawl, Kass opened the door and dropped into the passenger's side.

"You don't have to do this, you know," Maze said.

"Oh, I know," Kass said. She snapped her fingers, gesturing to the driveway as if to say, Onward, steed.

Together, they sped up the driveway to the garage where Maze resurfaced the memory of Bryan tapping in the key code. The door clicked unlocked and she spared a second to thank the Lord that Vincent hadn't changed the code lest she have to bust in through the back window.

She disappeared inside with a smug grin and thumbs-up in Kass' direction. She shut the door behind her, rubbing her hands together deviously as the adrenaline from breaking all the rules spiked through her. She flicked open the last of the garage doors, which lifted open and brought in the fading sunlight. Dusk settled in warm swaths of orange light across the canvas cover that Maze flung off of the Corvette in one graceful sweep. She bundled it up over the hood, folding it into a manageable square that she could set aside to cover up Scorpion in its place.

After swiping the key to the Corvette, Maze tossed them to Kass, who hopped past the garage door sensor and scrambled to catch them.

Kass swiped them just a foot from the ground and straightened to glare at her. "Thin ice, Maisy," she threatened, like she was about to give Maze a jab in the guts with the keys.

Maze jerked away, cackling, and hurried to fetch Scorpion. When the cars were switched and the canvas swiftly blanketed over their cover-up vehicle, Kass and Maze made a getaway in the Corvette down the driveway and out onto the road away from where Declan waited for Bryan to finish up distracting his father.

Maze glanced over her shoulder back at Declan's vehicle on the side of the road. When she twisted back around, she laughed, beaming ear-to-ear. She looked back to face Kass, who was behind the wheel beside her.

"So we're meeting Declan at the same place as last time?" Maze said, studying the straight diagonal of the bridge of Kass' nose before Kass glanced at her just long enough to meet Maze's eyes once—and then a second time just for good measure.

Maze's smile was just a bit wider that second time around.

"Quit looking at me like that," Kass said.

Maze tipped her head against the seat cushion and hummed. "Why?" she said.

"'Cause I might have to kiss your stupid face and I'm driving," she said.

Maze laughed. A part of her wanted to play along like this was some romantic movie. Then pull over and kiss me, she'd say, and Kass wouldn't waste a second to comply.

She wasn't exactly the coveted romantic she wished she was, though.

"Yeah, text him for me," Kass said at last, and so Maze pulled her phone out from the front pocket of her overnight satchel that was still slung over her back. She twisted it around into her lap and laid her phone on top of it as she tapped away a quick message to Declan.

He would take Bryan back to his mom's place and, thirty minutes from then, arrive on the outskirts of town where Kass and Maze would be.

It wasn't until he relayed his ETA to her that Maze realized something crucial: She'd have thirty minutes alone with Kass.

There was nothing inherently scary about that. It hadn't been awkward at the beach, nor was it awkward during the brief lunch breaks they shared. Those two scenarios, however, weren't so isolated. Their friends could see their rough, minuscule silhouettes from the beach. Mr. Peters was always in the office or working in the shop just within shouting distance.

This was alone.

Completely isolated.

Just the two of them.

Maze put her hands to her burning cheeks, and it was evidence enough of where her mind went. The thought of being alone with Kass wound her right back to the cornfield, Kass' truck, the rocks on the peninsula. That wasn't exactly private though, was it? They were outside of a diner in the truck, and within screaming-with-all-your-might distance from the road beyond the cornfield.

There was no telling what would happen once they reached their destination.

Kass cleared her throat.

"So did you date at all? In college."

"Not really," Maze confessed. "I don't think I've ever been 'date material'."

Kass rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious! That isn't supposed to be an attention-seeker, oh-poor-you comment."

"I get it," Kass said. "And I can see it. Just filling in the blanks between then and now, I can see it."

"Gee, thanks."

Kass laughed. "It's not a bad thing—"

"Yeah, well, it sounds like a bad thing considering we're giving dating a shot. The old college try," Maze teased, and Kass shoved her in the arm. "But what about you? Did you date at all?"

"I tried twice," she said, raising two fingers and sparing Maze a brief glance.

"Didn't work out."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"The fuck're you apologizing for? What, are you gonna tell me now that you've been sabotaging me the whole time?"

"No!" Maze cried, cackling.

They laughed and, when it simmered away, Kass pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyes on the road. "You kinda did, though," she said. She flicked on the blinker and eased the Corvette into the parking lot of a vacant nature reserve on the outskirts of town. "You kinda sabotaged all of my relationships."

She parked haphazardly between three spots so they could make a quick getaway when Declan was bound to show up.

Maze swallowed hard. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't realize—"

Kass sucked in a deep breath, pressing a closed fist to the bridge of her nose like she would rather punch herself in the face than listen to Maze apologize. "I—fucking know you didn't realize. It's not fine, but it's not your fault."

They both fell silent until Kass took a deep breath and dropped her hand down, eyes opening again. "It took a while for me to realize that I shouldn't have—We shouldn't have even been friends after a while. I was selfish. I—idolized you too much. I projected. It wasn't fair to you."

"I'm glad we're friends, though," Maze said.

"Yeah, but I shoulda backed off the second you and Peter Pan almost became a thing—"

Maze rolled her eyes. "He was just using me for the Mustang. Don't label that like it was anything more."

She was almost laughing—until her eyes drifted back to Kass, who was staring at her. Kass' brows were tense with guilt. Maze's smile dropped.

"Why're you looking at me like that?" she said.

Kass opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out, at least not at first. She dropped her eyes to her hands and sighed, "I think it might have turned into something. But I told him to back off. He still wanted the Mustang though, if that changes anything."

Maze could have laughed, but she didn't. "What does that mean? What did you tell him?"

"It was a long time ago. I barely remember what I said but—It was at a party. I think I was pretty wasted and he was asking for advice about you. Trying to get in your pants or something and I just told him, 'The best way to do that would be to fuck off and never talk to you again.' Paraphrasing here—"

"Kass..." Maze had never heard that tone of voice leave her throat before. Reprimanding, disappointed, but still... fond. Were it anyone else, she might have stopped at "disappointed".

"I'm not like that anymore," Kass went on, quickly. "It's—I was pretty insecure back then because I really didn't want to lose you to... fucking Peter Pan. Are you kidding me? I still can't believe you had a crush on him, and I knew it then, too, which made the whole fucking thing worse. Knowing you, you woulda brought him everywhere with you and I'd just be—"

Maze reached for Kass' ponytail. She pushed her fingers through it, her fingers running along the back of Kass' head. Maze cut her off with the light pressure of her lips against Kass'. She leant over the parking brake, her free hand following the position of Kass' arm where her hand rested against the top of the steering wheel. She closed her fingers over Kass' as they kissed, slowly, and listened to the sound of their breaths sucking in and exhaling when their lips drifted apart.

Kass' eyes were wide, pupils warping the color of her bright irises into jet black. The air outside of the open car windows was a cool, crisp blue beyond the yellow hue of the Corvette's headlights.

Maze pulled her forward, over the parking brake, and closed her mouth hard and fast against Kass'. Kass pulled her hand out from beneath Maze's to grab at her shirt, her breath hot against Maze's tongue as they panted together, lips red and shining in the headlights.

Maze had never kissed anyone with this level of desperation. The demand for more surged up in a hot fire from her gut, trembling through to her fingertips where she clung to Kass' hair. Every inch between them needed to be filled, which prompted Kass to all but snarl against her lips, "Fuck this—" before climbing over the center console.

Maze reached down and dragged her hands over Kass' slim waist as she helped ease Kass over the gap. They were kissing again in an instant and Maze pushed her hands up along the waistband of Kass' sweatpants. She inched them up, fingers grazing the skin above Kass' waistband until her hands were flat against Kass' skin.

Her thumbs arced down along Kass' hipbones to squeeze her dense obliques. Kass shuddered against her lips, her ass lifting up from Maze's legs as she pushed a hand against the seat just above Maze's shoulder. "Thin ice, Maisy," she warned, eyes sharp in the dim light.

Ticklish? Maze thought, and it reminded her of the beach.

She pushed her hands up further, keeping her touch light and feathering along the surface of Kass' skin. The sweatshirt bunched up under her hands. Her thumbs grazed underneath the elastic band of Kass' sports bra and there, Kass released a shuddered breath. She raised her hands over her head so the two of them could shuck her sweatshirt off, which Kass flicked haphazardly to the side with one hand.

"God," Kass said, shoving her hands up into Maze's hair. Maze's head jerked back, a smile on her face as Kass ruffled her hair to and fro, back and forth, and every-which-way. "It isn't fair."

"What isn't?" Maze said. Her lips were still tingling—in fact, every damn part of her was tingling (though, one certain part she wasn't willing to admit to).

Kass nipped at Maze's lips, pulling her bottom lip down before she licked her way down Maze's jaw. "You're so—fucking—unreal. It isn't fair," Kass ground out between bites to Maze's throat.

Maze laughed, almost nervously, and said, "No I'm not."

"Shut up."

"I'm serious," she giggled, rubbing her shoulder up against a particularly sensitive spot Kass was nibbling on. Kass pulled back when Maze reached up to tug on the collar of her shirt.

It was the seatbelt scar, painfully and obviously marked by broken blood vessels and the like. Kass studied it, eyes flitting across the mark and what she could see of it.

After a moment, Kass' hands found the hem of Maze's shirt. Maze immediately stopped her. They stared at one another, breathless, until Kass dropped her eyes back down and rolled up the hem of Maze's shirt. There was a patch of skin the shape of an iron pressed over her pelvis and up onto her stomach. It was dark red and nearly purple, and the skin along the edges was puckered. The sharp tip of it, however, dragged a trail of stitches that looked like a wrinkle over her abdomen.

Kass laid her palm over it. Her hands were warm—hot, even—and the sound that came out of Maze's mouth could only be described as erotic. She slapped a hand over her mouth, laughing, and Kass gawked at her just before smacking her upside the head.

"Please tell me that was intentional."

"I don't know! Maybe!" Maze cried, laughing hysterically.

Kass grabbed her by the head and shook her back and forth, seething, "You're such a little—" before a pair of headlights swept into the lot and directly over them.

It was Declan's car, and the only reason Maze could tell that beyond the lights was because of the horn that blared at them.

Maze startled with a curse, dropping her hand over her eyes as Kass sighed, "Fun's over," and got out of the passenger's seat.

Maze plucked up Kass' sweatshirt and held it out the window, saying, "Hey, don't forget this."

Kass waved her off and stepped around the hood of the car and glared at Declan over the lights. Declan flicked the lights off and back on, grinning like a maniac as he leant out the driver's window and shouted, "Let's get this show on the road, girls!"

"I am the fucking show!" Kass shouted back and smacked her ass.

Maze groaned, covering her face with Kass' shirt and slumping out of sight from Declan's phone, which was likely recording the entire affair.