Mason's POV
Wow.
That's the first word that comes to mind when Maya opens the door.
She looks really pretty. Her hair's up in a ponytail, accentuating her face and showing her beautiful features.
"Mason?"
"Oh," I clear my throat and shove my hands in my pockets, "hey."
"What are you doing here?"
"I thought maybe you'd need a ride."
She slightly turns her head and gives me a small, confused smile.
"To the party." I clarify.
"Oh," her face lights up, "I didn't know you were going."
Well I wasn't going to let you blindly walk into Trevor's trap.
"A friend of mine is throwing the party." I say to her and she nods.
"Well, I was going to call a cab." She explains with a smile.
She should know better by now.
"I think we both know how this is going to play out." I smirk and she rolls her eyes. "You're going to go on about the cab and I'll just end up convincing you to come with me."
She chuckles and shakes her head. She seems hesitant and a few seconds pass before she replies.
"Okay, I'll get my bag."
She turns around and walks towards the kitchen. When she returns, she has a white bag slung over her left shoulder.
I move out if the way and she steps outside. She turns around and locks the door.
"Ready?" I ask and she nods.
Silence immediately fills the atmosphere as soon as we're in the car. The lack of distraction allows questions to gallavant through my mind.
What could be Trevor's intentions? Why did he invite Maya?
I tried to convince him to call her and ask her not to come but he refused.
"Don't you like music?"
It takes me a second to register where the question came from. I turn to Maya for a second to find that she's looking at me. Expecting an answer.
"I...I..." I clear my throat before continuing, "I do."
"It's just that you never play any. You don't even turn on the radio."
"Yeah." That's all I can manage to say.
How do I tell her the real reason I punish myself with unbearable silence?
"What kind of music do you like?" She asks.
"I like all music." I keep my eyes on the road. "Country, classic, pop, I don't know. Whatever's good."
I see her nod from the corner of my eye. She doesn't say anything more and silence settles between us again.
"Banks," I say and she turns to look at me, "have you ever even been to a party?"
"I've been to birthday parties." She nervously grins and I chuckle.
"No, a high school party. Like the one we're going to."
She shakes her head.
"Why are you going to this one? Now?"
"I don't know." I rest my eyes on her for a second. She shrugs and starts fiddling with her thumb. "Lilly and I always watched movies on Fridays and had like, a little girls night in. Now it's just me in the house. It kind of gets lonely. Yesterday I even went to bed early."
She sounds sad and I can't help the feeling inside me that just wants to cheer her up.
"You can always come to our house." The words escape my lips before I can even think about them.
"Really?" She looks up at me with a shocked expression.
I slowly nod and she smiles and offers me a "thank you."
***
Maya's POV
We arrive at Lucy's and the place is packed. I've never seen so many people or cars here.
The blue neon lights sign illuminates the parking lot. It's already full so Mason parks next to it, on the street. This place is small, how are there so many people here?
Like us, some people have just arrived and it seems like more are still coming.
We get out of the car and Mason leads me to the diner. I recognise a couple of the students loitering outside the place.
There's loud music playing inside. I don't recognise the artist of the upbeat song but it's really nice.
"Hey! Hey, Mason!" A boy shouts from behind us and Mason turns to wave at him.
When Mason opens the door, the loudness of the song amplifies and is immediately mixed with shouting teenagers.
The diner looks different, all the chairs and tables are absent. A miniature dance floor has been created with the space.
The booths are still here of course, with only a few people occupying them.
"Let's go over there." Mason speaks over my ear and points to the third booth. I nod and lead the way.
I sit down but he remains standing and Max comes out from the crowd and approaches us. He's got a blue cup in his hand and one of their school friends is with him. He's also got his own cup.
"Maya." Max says my name with a smile. I return it and nod.
"Mason." Their friend says. He turns to me with a confused look but quickly covers it with a smile.
Max says something to Mason that I don't hear.
"Maya," Mason bends down to speak into my ear, "I'll be right back. Stay here and don't take anything from anyone.".
He stands upright and I nod up at him. His friend is the first to leave then Mason and Max follow.
"Hey, can I get you anything?"
I look up to see the owner of the voice.
He's a red haired boy with freckles sprinkled across his nose and cheeks. His got a sweet smile on his face and a red cup in his hand.
"Uhm, sure." I nod and smile at him. "I'll order a soda."
"Oh," he chuckles, "they don't have sodas."
Of course they don't.
I mentally face palm.
"I'll get something for you." The red head with the red cup offers.
"Sure."
He returns a few minutes later with a blue cup in his other hand. He hands it to me and I mouth a thank you before bringing the rim of the cup to my lips.
I take a sip of the reddish drink and my eyes widen. It tastes really good. It tastes like strawberries and lemons. I guess that's the sour taste.
Remembering the glass of water I never drank because Mason interrupted me, I down half of the drink.
The red head chuckles and I look up at him.
"May I join you?" He asks.
I look up towards the door before nodding. Mason didn't even say where he's going. I'm not sure if he'll even come back.
The red head sits next to me and I drink the remaining half of the red liquid.
"What is this?" I ask with a grin.
"Roses." He says and smiles at me. "It's Mary's specialty. Would you like another one?"
I don't say anything and just nod. He calls some girl over and says something to her.
"Would you like more of that?" The girl smiles and I nod.
"Hey, I haven't seen you here before." The guy turns back to me.
"I come here sometimes, with my friends. We love the cheeseburgers here."
The girl returns to the booth with another glass. This time a red one that matches it's contents.
"Keep them coming." The red head says when the girl hands me the cup.
"So you've never been to any of these parties?" He asks and I shake my head as I take a sip of the drink.
His smile broadens and he brings his cup to his lips.
***
Mason's POV
"Did you make your delivery?" Trevor crosses his arms and glares at me.
"Of course I did, Trevor. Now what's the meaning of this?"
"The meaning of what?" He smirks and shrugs his shoulders.
"This little meeting, inviting Maya here." I say and my jaw tightens.
"I invited your little girlfriend here, M." Mary says I turn to her.
The seven of us are standing behind the diner. Mary, Max, Duncan, Trevor, Camila, me and this time with the addition of Justin.
All the teenagers that work for The Man. Well, his daughter doesn't do any of the incriminating work. She's only here to give orders.
"Leave her out of this." I glare at Mary and she smiles smugly. "I've done everything as I should. I'm not going to mess up."
"We don't trust you, Mace." Duncan speaks. Some family he is.
"You've given us reasons not to." Camila adds. Her voice is full of irritation.
"He says it won't happen again." Max directs his exasperation to Camila.
"Just, leave Maya out of this." I growl and Trevor's smirk grows.
"Or what, Wilder?"
Without another thought, I place my hands on Trevor's chest and shove him. He stumbles back but quickly regains himself.
"You asked for it." He growls and raises his fist, aiming for my face.
The blow hits me hard but his next words take away the sting and increase my anger.
"You don't want her ending up like Emma." He says with a smirk.
I jump up at him and start punching him. He falls to the ground under my weight and I continue punching him.
"Mason, stop!" Camila's voice shouts but I zone it out.
Trevor manages to push me off him but within seconds I'm back to punching him.
"Mason! Mason!" A new voice shouts and someone grabs me by my jacket and pulls me back.
"Stop!" This time it's Max and I turn to look at him, panting with anger.
My eyes move to Mary who's looking at the scene with excitement and amusement.
Trevor's still on the ground, groaning and attempting to get up. Camila rushes to him and gets on her knees to try and help him up.
"Fuck you, Wilder!" She turns to scream at me.
"Mason!" The voice that called me earlier returns and I turn to find Amelia standing next to Duncan.
"What?" I snap and she rolls her eyes.
"I think you should come and check on your girl. Tony's up to his old tricks."
Okay the chapter turned out to be longer than I expected so I divided it. Don't worry, I got y'all😆.