𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐃 ━ max mayfield

1│RED, RED WINE

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❛ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴄᴋᴇᴅ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐎𝐍𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʀᴇᴅ, ʀᴇᴅ ᴡɪɴᴇ ꒱


❝ MAKES ME FORGET THAT
I STILL NEED HER SO ❞

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Jessie didn't talk to Max for the rest of the year. In fact, she didn't talk to any of the party even as summer vacation rolled around. Sure, the redhead had tried to talk to her and had even so much as sat at the same table during lunch, but Jessie was quite skilled at holding on to grudges. Whenever Max attempted to have a conversation with her, the brunette iced her out and kept on pretending like she didn't exist. Eventually, Max gave up.

It didn't help that Jessie believed that she was in the right while the other girl was in the wrong. Jessie was used to so-called friends not being who they said they were but she liked it better when she knew that they were putting up a front. Max had seemed entirely genuine and they'd even shared secrets— secrets!— that they wouldn't have normally told anyone. But, Jessie had been fooled. She should've seen it coming, really.

Who would want to be friends with her, after all? The outsider, the weirdo, the loony.

She was better off on her own. She always had been and now she knew that she always would be. She'd gotten to have too many friends, anyway. It was almost scary how easily she could drop them; if she didn't make the effort, neither did they.

Now, it was almost the end of the second week of summer. Jessie usually took odd jobs during her vacation to help pay for the house and food. This summer was no different and she could usually do three or four per day depending on the task. She was up at the crack of dawn and asleep long after the sun had gone down; almost when it was time for it to rise again.

While normally she'd grumble about her lot in life, this summer was different. She welcomed the distraction of work which kept her from thinking about the stupid boys in the 'party' and a certain redhead. Instead, she kept herself entertained by keeping her radio near her as she occasionally switched it different frequencies while she worked. Sometimes she caught snatches of the boys' conversations but she usually ignored their voices.

Today, she was on the hunt for a new job since she'd finished painting Mrs. Wood's fence. At eight in the morning, she stopped by Old Man Humphrey's house and knocked on the door. His house was as nearly run-down as her own but she'd heard from Lucas last year that he paid well. Besides, it looked like his lawn hadn't been cut since the boy did it last summer.

Jessie bounced on the balls of her feet as she waited for the elderly man to open the door. It took several minutes but it finally opened to reveal a dark interior as the man himself opened it just wide enough to see out. "Wadda you want?"

"Hello Mr.— er, Humphrey. I was wondering if you had any jobs that needed to be done around the house."

The older man hunched over and peered down at her near-sightedly. "Who'd you say you were?"

The brunette winced uncomfortably. While most people already knew her and tended to slam the door in her face, for those that didn't she tried her best to stall in introducing herself. She cleared her throat. "I, uh, didn't. I'm-I'm Lucas' friend." The words felt bitter in her mouth. "Jessie."

"Lucas?"

"He mowed your lawn last year," she reminded him helpfully. "You know, about this high." Here, she held her hand above her head. "His last name's Sinclair."