Kate Marsh's Impeccable Instincts
“Hello, this is Kate Marsh?”
“Code red, Kate - I repeat, CODE RED.”
“Wha- Max? What is it, what happened?”
“VICTORIA TALKED TO ME, KATE.”
“...I’m on my way.”
She knocked thrice.
A pause.
The door opened.
Max looked about as horrible as expected. She was wearing a washed-out grey hoodie, her hair hung in tangled curtains and scraped her shoulders, and the bags under her eyes were thick as eyeliner.
“I brought coffee cake.” Were Kate’s first words to her - and she held out the tupperware container as a peace offering.
Max snatched it like a lifeline.
“I love you, Kate. Have I told you that today?”
Kate smiled. She couldn’t help it.
“Yes you have, Max. At least twice.”
“Well, twice isn’t enough. I love you.”
“Love you too, sweetie. Now - sit down and eat. You need the calories.”
Max rolled her eyes, a fond smile playing on her lips.
“Alright, Mom.”
“Eat your veggies.” She said - and she was only really half joking. Peas were good.
Max giggled, and Kate couldn’t help but laugh, too.
When Max was done scarfing down her coffee cake - and Kate had gotten her to wipe her mouth, slob that she was - she instantly launched into a rant.
“Coffee, Kate. Me and Victoria drank coffee.”
“Victoria and I.” Kate mumbled absently, pouring a cup of tea. Lucky she had given Max that tea set on Valentines - though, honestly, she ended up making more tea with it then Max.
“Coffee, Kate.”
“So you’ve said.” She put some honey in Max’s cup. She really needed it right about now.
“I don’t think you’re grasping the problem here!”
“Mm. You want milk?”
“Yes, please.”
“Good, because I was going to put it in anyway. You don’t get enough dairy.”
“I eat pizza!”
“Oh, I know, Max. Trust me - it was traumatizing.”
“...Coffee.” Max sighed, with a dopey grin.
She was like a love-struck puppy.
“Alright, what happened, hun? Fill me in.”
“Okay - okay, okay, okay. Uh. Uhm.”
“Take all the time you need.”
She set down Max’s teacup, and guided her palm to it. Max lifted it and took a sip.
And took a deep breath.
“...Okay. So. Uh. I was out in the courtyard-whatever-place-”
“Campus.” She told Max this at least three times a month.
“Right, campus. Whatever. I was out on the campus-grounds-whatever, in the morning before classes. And Victoria was just like - on the step? Drinking coffee? Like, I think a friend ditched her or something. She didn’t look angry or anything, but she had two cups of coffee, and she was just like. Sitting on the steps. Drinking coffee. And she had on this lipstick - it was like, this red-purplish colour, like velvet or something, so when she took a sip-”
“Focus, Max.”
Max’s eyes had already begun to drift, and her tone was taking on this dreamy quality that Kate recognized only too well.
This happened a lot.
“Right. Right, uh. Right. So I just like - went up to her? I was just staring at her lips, and then she looked up, and so I didn’t really - I just - panicked? Oh, but Kate, you should’ve seen her - the sunrise was like, right behind her, so the light touched the edge of her cheekbone-”
“Max.”
She couldn’t help the fond smile on her face - but she could certainly tear Max from her lovestruck follies.
“Uhm. Right. ...Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“Right, anyway. So I just like - tried to talk to her? I don’t even really remember what I said - just some stupid thing about, like, the lighting and how this would be a good shot. I felt so stupid - here I was, ranting about photography to Victoria, like a total fucking dork.”
“Aw, Max. You’re the best dork, y’know.”
Max smiled.
“Thanks, Kate.”
“Anyway - so, you talked to her? How’d it go?”
“Uh… you…”
“...Yeeees?” She hummed, twirling her spoon in her tea.
“You were right.” Max mumbled.
Kate smiled. “It’s okay, Max. You’ll figure out that I always am, one of these days.”
“Quiet, you.”
“So? What happened? Come on, don’t leave me hanging - you talked to her…?”
“But she just kinda stared at me for a second - have I talked about how her eyes-?”
“Yes, Max, you have.”
“Right, sorry, sorry. Uh. She just stared, for a second - and then she just liked… gestured for me to sit down?”
Kate blinked.
“What?”
“I know, right? I thought she was like, waving me off or something for a second, but then she like, patted the seat next to her, and rose her eyebrow - oh God, have I told you about how she-?”
“Max.”
“Uh. Anyway, she patted the seat and just kinda rose her eyebrow, in that like - ‘well?’ way. Y’know?”
Kate furrowed her brow.
“That’s… huh.”
“I know! But I sat down, obviously - and I was scared she was gonna get pissed off or something for a second, but then she just… gave me the other cup of coffee?”
Kate stared at her best friend - and, for a moment, she was just confused.
...And then she began to wonder.
“So, I took the cup, duh.” Max went on - and she was starting to talk with her hands again. “And then she like - God, she’s great - she said something like… God, I dunno! She just said something like, super clever and witty, and I was just - I - God, I’m hopeless, Kate.”
“It’s alright.” Kate said, patting Max’s hand sympathetically - even as her mind began to wander, and some odd dots began connecting. “We’re all hopeless sometimes.”
Max smiled.
“I know. Thanks. But - I just, like, stared at her?”
For a second, the words didn’t register.
And then she stared at Max.
“...Hun.”
“I know!”
“Max.”
“I know! I know. ...I know.”
“...Drink your tea.” She said, because she didn’t really have anything else to say.
Max did.
“...So anyway.” Max mumbled, once she set the cup down again. “Once I… managed to stop staring… I tried to say something smart. And Victoria… I don’t know. I don’t know. She’s like a closed box, Kate. A really beautiful, cold, polished closed box…”
“Max.” She said, for the… fifth time? It felt like the dozenth.
“Sorry. But we… had a conversation?”
“About photography?” Kate set her tea cup down, and thought.
“I mean, yeah. But - Kate. Kate.”
“Max.” She deadpanned.
“I talked to her. She talked to me.”
“That’s wonderful, Max.” She said - and meant it.
But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong here.
“I know, right?!”
She smiled at Max’s wide, giddy grin, and couldn’t really bring herself to worry.