Page 5 of Take Her On

Maya hadn’t planned on finishing so soon. She still had Carly—and Jamie—related frustrations to release, but she could hardly delve into that with her mother. She supposed she should make some effort.

She ducked in the car door, expecting a comment about dirtying her mum’s white car seats and leaving muck in the footwell. It was often easier to just run or get the bus places, but surprisingly, her mum stayed quiet.

Though they had similar features, the dark eyes, the small round nose—Grandpa even said their sulking faces were alike—the similarities ended there. Brushing aside the choice of hobbies and the style of clothes, Maya’s skin was darker—a trait from her father, someone she’d never met. She was the product of a holiday romance in Spain gone wrong. Her dad, whoever he was, didn’t even know she existed. But it didn’t bother her; she’d always had her grandparents, and that was the only family she needed.

Maya turned on the air conditioner to full blast, the hiss of the cool air kissing her skin like heavenly angels. Leaning back into the leather seats, she felt the vibrations of an upbeat song heavy on synth and electric drums pouring through the speakers. Her mum turned the volume up so loud, Maya’s seat trembled.

The noise was too much. Combined with the overcrowding thoughts in her brain, Maya’s head threatened to explode. “Can you turn it down?” she said, a bit too loudly.

Her mum adjusted the volume while the song kicked into the chorus, a man singing about how he just couldn’t get enough.

“You know, you’ve been a real grouch lately.” Her mum turned the music down further, letting the hiss of the air con fill the gap. “It’s not my fault Carly moved away. But you’ll see her at uni on Monday. It’s not the end of the world, darling.”

Maya squeezed her lips together as a blur of green trees streamed past the window. There was no point in even talking to Mum about how she felt. She would never understand. She’d tried to explain the football offside rule to her about a million times, and she still didn’t get that, either.

It’d been the same for as long as she could remember. Maya got fed up with repeating herself. She didn’t mean to snap, but she didn’t want to invite conversation. Not about this. Maybe she should’ve declined the lift home and tried to run out some of the frustration still simmering inside, but it was too late.

“How did you find me, anyway?” she asked, trying to divert the conversation. The last thing she wanted was to start another argument at home. The whole point of giving up her freedom was to make things easier for her grandparents. She just wished her mum would sacrifice some of her own work to do the same, instead of jet-setting across the globe.

“Grandma said you’d gone out training, so I thought I’d swing by the field on the way back from the airport and see if I could spot you.”

Maya let out a breath. The adrenaline had left her muscles, and tiredness was creeping in. She hadn’t even done a proper cooldown—another thing to not mention to Coach.

“Anyway,” her mum continued, a strain in her voice. “You’d better get showered and put a smile on your face. We’ve got company tonight.”

Great. That’s all I need. Forced to sit through a dinner with one of Mum’s work friends while they squeak and gossip over their co-workers.

Maya turned to face her mum, feeling her giving her the side eye. “Who’s coming for dinner?” she asked.

“The new family across the street.”

“What?!” She sat up so quickly she almost jarred her neck.

Her mum glanced at her as she turned left onto their estate. “The new family,” she repeated, as though Maya hadn’t heard her. “A couple and a daughter. She seems about your age.”

Maya’s heart leaped into her throat. “What? Why?” She heard the shrill edge to her voice. Her mum did, too.

“What’s wrong? I thought it would be nice to get to know them, seeing as you liked the Walters so much. I asked Grandma to pop ‘round.”

The car slowed as she manoeuvred to back onto the drive. Maya stared out at the house opposite. Jamie Mellor’s house. Jamie Mellor, who was coming to dinner.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

She squeezed her fists. “For god’s sake, Mum. You could’ve warned me.”

“I don’t see what the problem is.”

“Yeah, well, you wouldn’t. Why not call me first?” The slam of Maya’s door muted any response from her mum as she paced around the car and opened the boot.

Her mum climbed out of the driver’s seat, brushing her hands down her skirt. “What’s gotten into you lately?”

“Sorry I’m not as good as you are at pretending everything is fine,” Maya wanted to say. Grandpa was getting worse, her last year of studies was already proving stressful, and her heart was Carly Walter’s punching-bag.

“Thanks for the lift,” she said instead, avoiding her mum’s stare and heading to the door. She pushed it open, expecting her mum to come flying through after her with another lecture. Instead, the opening of the door cut the conversation inside the living room into silence.

Three pairs of eyes flicked over her, assessing the argument they’d most likely heard outside. One set of cool blue eyes was familiar. Her stomach plummeted.

A small smile grew on Jamie’s mouth as she looked her up and down. “Maya. What a wonderful surprise.”