Chapter 7: 07

The bar out the back was little more than a dingy old pub that shrank. Maxine had walked around the block a bit to make sure she arrived exactly at 7, but it looked like she was a little early, which at least meant she could choose the table. She parked herself facing the door, the better to spy on patrons when they finally came in.

Tori arrived wearing the same dull grey outfit as earlier that day, but with different shoes, snake-print and pointed with mirrors on the inside of the heels. Flash. Maxine took the shoes as a sign that Tori let herself live a life that was at least a little bit interesting. How she got from the bright, sweet, friendly 14 year old Maxine once knew to this tense person hidden in baggy grey clothing was, well, not entirely a mystery given how the show had ended, but Maxine had missed a few steps along the way and she couldn't wait to find out what they were.

Tori froze a few steps from the doorway once she saw Maxine. Was that her habit? Maxine grinned in greeting.

The tall women from the photographs appeared behind Tori and shoved her forward. Maxine narrowed her eyes and drummed her fingers against the table. The woman was nothing special and she didn't see why Tori had to put up with it.

Tori visibly steeled herself and shuffled over.

"Hello," Maxine said, looking up, not moving to stand.

"Do you have her shoe?" the other woman said.

"What was your name?" Maxine asked.

Tori looked down at her feet and rubbed at the back of her beck. "It's okay, Becky," she said, voice almost too soft to hear. "She's an old friend."

"How old?" Becky asked, eyebrow raised.

"I've known her since she was 14," Maxine said, confidently erasing the many years they weren't in contact from her mind.

"Then why have I never heard of you?" Becky asked.

Maxine laughed and looked at her drink. "Have you considered sitting down?"

Tori plopped herself in a chair, hands clenched over a taupe handbag, immediately but Becky was slower about sitting herself down. Maxine ignored her to look at Tori's hands. Still boney, but the nails were manicured in a blandly natural polish, even if a few of the nails were bitten to the quick. It must have been a long time since she last transformed.

Maxine looked up to Tori's face instead. She looked slightly anxious, but... Maxine considered her at length, smile going soft. Maybe she was just anxious to get to know her again.

"Did you ever keep in touch with the other girls?" Tori asked.

"Sort of," Maxine said, waving a hand. "I talk to Astra all the time. She lives with her sister in the south eastern suburbs, so it's a long train trip, but worth it. Judy never returns my calls, but I'm sure you've seen her on the news. Big money, no need to care about us working scum."

Becky rolled her eyes.

"Um, Astra doesn't go visit you?" Tori asked.

Maxine laughed, and then felt awkward about it. "I mean, we wish, but her ambient power keeps getting stronger and we haven't figured how to put a pause on it yet. And she doesn't have a car. If she goes places she hasn't been a lot it's chaos everywhere."

"That's..." Tori inhaled a huge breath. "That's terrible, that's terrible."

"So you're one of those," Becky said.

Maxine nodded. "I'm one of those," she said, still looking at Tori. "I don't know what happened to most of the one episode girls or anyone who auditioned and didn't get picked. You know, there were a lot of them. I traced where the alien prince went for a while, but lost track eventually."

"Well, I... I don't use that part of myself anymore," Tori said. "I can't."

"Can't? Actually cannot or..."

"Why would she want to?" Becky asked.

"I wasn't talking to you," Maxine said, finally favouring her with a look of disdain.

"I can't... I can't be... I'm going to the bathroom," Tori said, rising to her feet and rushing off.

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Maxine watched her go, wary.

"She doesn't need any of this," Becky said.

Maxine turned to look at her, eyebrow raised.

"Tori finally has a normal life living like a normal person instead of doing all that freak stuff," Becky said. "She doesn't need you bringing any of that back."

Maxine smiled very wide, picked up the steak knife from the utensil cup in the centre of the table, and stabbed her left palm with it, right through a tendon. "Whoops, my hand slipped."

Becky shoved herself back from the table. "What are you doing?"

Maxine pulled out the knife, wiped off the blood, and brought her hand up to watch it heal. "If she's a freak, she's a freak like me. Maybe she doesn't need you making her feel bad for what she is."

"You don't know what she went through."

"I know exactly what she went through. I know every bit of horror that happened to her. You couldn't begin to imagine the things I know."

By the time Tori returned the knife had been wiped off, and Maxine had returned to ignoring Becky's glares.

"Did I miss something?" Tori asked.

"Not a thing," Maxine said, smiling wide.

"I think we should leave," Becky said.

"But I didn't get to have a drink," Tori said.

"We can drink at home," Becky said, already rising, hands on Tori's handbag.

"We could catch up again another time," Maxine said. She stood and handed Tori her business card.

"Analyst. I always wondered what it means when someone's job title just says analyst," Tori said, with a little laugh.

"I'm pretty much just a civil servant," Maxine said.

"Hurry up," Becky said.

"We could meet without your girlfriend next time. Maybe I could bring Astra if you want," Maxine said.

Tori gasped then smiled. "Really? That would be..." Then she clamped down on every bit of joy in her facial expression and just nodded.

"Leave now," Becky said, voice flat.

"I'll call you," Tori gasped out, running out the door.

"If you don't I'll call you," Maxine called out.

She still had Tori's shoe, after all.

Once they were out the door Maxine went to the bar and smiled at the bartender, a lovely lady she was pretty sure she'd spent a really good weekend with a year or two earlier, and drank happily the rest of the night.

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