Max
Max sees everything happen.
They see Greta and Carson kissing. They see Carson following Greta. And they see Greta leaving with Dana.
What a mess.
After seeing all of that, they know they have to do something. There’s no way that this is going to make the team lose Carson again. They are not going to let that happen.
“Hey there, are you okay?” Max asks Carson, making them jump at the surprise of realizing they are not alone.
“I don’t know, Greta and i, she…”, Carson trails off and get lost in their head.
“Don’t worry about Greta, she was just trying you, wanting to know if you are into women”, Max tries to justify.
“Of course i’m into women, i’m a lesbian”, Carson says frustrated. “But i didn’t know she had a girlfriend, she didn’t tell me that before we kiss”
Carson is a lesbian? What the hell? Wasn’t they married to a man called Charlie?
“What about Charlie?”
“Our marriage is not like that, besides he is gone”
“What do you mean gone?”
“They killed him”
Max feels something break inside of them for all the pain they can feel in Carson’s voice. They are more confused than ever about the little things they are finding about the other woman, but they can tell their pain is real.
“You don’t say something like that without a drink, come on, let’s go”
They take Carson inside the bar and ask for shots. They drink and they dance. They let Carson break free for a while, sensing that’s what they were needing.
When the night it’s finally over Max doesn’t want to leave Carson by themselves, waiting for a bus. Carson has been stubborn and hard to convince because for them to someone give them a drive to Roscoe is too much to ask. Max finally convinces them as they promise to stay at their parents house.
“Where to?”, Max asks for directions, once they are inside their car.
“Harrison 5828”, in front of Leland Park”, Carson answers.
“Wait, is that the shelter?”
Max knows that’s the address of the shelter. They know because their uncle works there. What it’s Carson doing by living there? Why? How did they not know about this before?
“Yes”
“And you live there?
“Yes”
“Do you know how to say anything more than yes?
“Yes” they laugh. “Of course i do”
“Why are you living there?”
“Well, because it’s safe” Max is not sure they agree with them on that. People who live in a shelter change all the time. So Carson is probably getting to get to know and get used to new people all the time, people who they really don’t know who they are. Who can be good, but also can be bad. “And i don’t have money to pay for a living place, all the money i win at the bookstore i use to pay the university, so… Maybe if i stay in the team i can use the money from the games to pay for a room at a pension or something?”
Carson looks exhausted after that and not in the mood to keep talking, so Max turns on the radio. They sing as they drive, having a little moment of connection because apparently they like the same music.
They leave Carson at the shelter and then go to sleep at their parents house.
For the next few days Max can’t stop thinking about Carson. They try to catch them at recesses, lunch time, in the baseball practices or in the few classes they share. It’s like they need to see them to know they are doing okay. And for most part they look okay, maybe only except when they are arguing with Greta. There's a lot of unresolved tension between them and Max is not sure if that’s going to work in their favor or not.
The next baseball game they have is their time to be on the bench and Lupe to play. Before the game Max tried telling them to follow Carson’s lead and not Dove’s. But of course Lupe chooses the opposite and they lose again.
They party again, like they always do. This time Max can’t convince Carson to take her to the shelter, but they stay at the bus stop with them until their bus comes.
The next morning Max can’t stop thinking about how Carson believes a shelter is a safe place and how Charlie was killed. Who killed Charlie? They decide to google it and read the story. It’s hard to find it, like someone had wanted for it to be hidden and probably had to pay money for it. When Max finishes reading, they have had enough.
It’s time to make a place for Carson in the Peaches’s home.