The Fast Lane [gxg]

Priority Points System, Coming to a Store Near You

a/n: A bit longer of a chapter :D Thanks for waiting! I've been listening to this bop for DAYS on repeat.

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"It's about thirty miles to Vincent's place from here," Kass said from the front seat of the Corvette. They were parked in a sandy lakeside parking lot after spending the morning at the car wash while the rest of their friends watched from afar, shaking their heads at the fact that they were preparing to commit an actual felony. Whilst washing the car, Maze, Declan, and Bryan all felt vaguely like they were being scolded by their parents for taking the family car mudding rather than a bunch of millennials judging them.

Kass dialed the odometer back to the number it was at whilst sitting in the garage back at Vincent's house and then subtracted another thirty. When that was done clicking, she sat back and said, "Alright, done. No joy-rides on the way, got it?"

"Yes! Thank you, Kass," Maze said, and Kass gave her a sharply disgusted look like Maze had just told her to go fuck herself.

"Thanks for doing this, dude," Declan said as Kass stepped out of the car, muttering, "Whatever." As she turned away, Declan spun around to Maze, thrilled, smiling wider than Maze had ever seen. She laughed and barely managed to prepare herself before he threw himself at her and spun the two of them around from the momentum.

Maze teetered, arms slung around his shoulders as he cheered, "We fucking did it! Week one on our track to victory!" He thrust a fist up like a superhero, one arm still squeezed tight around Maze's waist.

Kass gave them a thoroughly repulsed look and said, "Disgusting."

Maze caught her smile faltering. Kass' comment felt too genuine to be joking, and for a brief second, her heart fluttered painfully in her chest. Did I do something wrong?

Declan stuck his tongue out at Kass, though, and it made Maze wonder if she had just misinterpreted something.

Kass walked off and the moment she did, Maze found herself yearning for the next time they'd see each other. Maybe they could hang out during Kass' lunch breaks, or Maze could even deliver food from the diner. Maybe they'd hang out by the river after work tomorrow, or preferably sooner. It'd been a while since she had snuck onto Kass' roof at night—but Kass didn't live at the Lyons' household anymore.

Maze thought about it all through the drive back, all through that night she spent lying awake in her adolescent bedroom. There, she would stare at posters of her favorite bands and movies from high school as the light pollution from Chicago and the street lamps turned the slanted ceiling into a hazy blue.

And then, the sun came up and Maze threw her blankets down. She sat up in her bed and stared across the room where her mini box TV from middle school sat collecting dust over her plethora of old game consoles.

If she was going to hang out with Kass in here, the thought of being surrounded by all of her childish aesthetics made her almost too embarrassed to cope. Who even knew if Kass liked this shit anymore anyway? They hadn't even covered those bases yet—what bands Kass listened to now, if she still played Legend of Zelda, if she still had all the maps they had drawn together. Maybe Kass didn't even play video games now. Maze got to work. Besides, her shift wouldn't start until ten.

Her ma was awake and making coffee when Maze came down hauling the twin mattress she didn't even fit on down the stairs. She carried it over one shoulder, awkwardly squeezing it through the archway as Eleanor stared from the kitchen, eyes wide.

"Morning," Maze said.

"Any... particular reason why you're carrying your mattress?" she said.

She perched it against the living room couch, slightly out of breath. She put a hand on her hip and said, "I'm thinking about swapping it for the guest bedroom bed. Since I don't really fit on this one."