#lee!el

“Oh my god. You like someone!”

Max looked excited. Really, really excited. The tight grip she held on Jane’s wrists said it all. Her smile was teasing, almost like she knew something. Jane didn’t see how that could be possible when she herself still felt so confused.

They were having a sleepover. It was their mission to have one at least once a month; Max said it was criminal how long they had been apart, and this was the only way to fix it. Plus, they deserved it for saving the world. Late nights reading magazines, watching bad movies, and getting high off too much sugar. It was Jane’s new favorite thing.

It was also the perfect time to get something off her chest. A series of weird thoughts and feelings that she’s been noticing for maybe a month now.

“What does it mean when you think about someone a lot?”

Jane wasn’t expecting such a big reaction to such a simple question. But the more Max prodded for details, the more convinced she seemed that Jane had a crush. Which was, apparently, a very big deal.

“No.” Jane shook her head halfheartedly, “I…I don’t think so?”

Max gaped at her, “You definitely do. There’s a guy you supposedly can’t stop thinking about. And! You get a ‘weird fuzzy feeling’ when he compliments you? Jane!”

Maybe it was a little obvious, but she had never felt this way before. In all the romance movies Jane has seen, love always looked so big and dramatic. She never imagined it would feel like a gentle simmering in her chest at just the thought of someone.

“I don’t know. I guess I do?” She smiled shyly, twisting her hands out of Max’s grip, “I just didn’t think I would like him.”

“Hey, it happens.” Max shrugged, “One day you think a guy is kind of a weird, nerdy, loser, who may actually be stalking you. And then all of a sudden.” She mimed a firework going off with her hand.

Brows furrowed, Jane tilted her head, “He explodes?”

Max rolled her eyes, shoving Jane by the arm and sending her toppling onto the mattress with a little laugh, “You know what? Sure. He explodes.”

Jane giggled, fiddling with the hem of her frilly pink pajamas. This was exciting. She had a crush! Now that she understood, the fuzzy warmth in her chest felt twice as intense. Jane wanted to sit in this feeling forever.

Max cleared her throat softly, blinking in rapid succession when Jane looked over to her, “What?”

“Well?” Max waved her hands expectantly, “Who is it?”

“Oh, umm.” For reasons she couldn’t explain, Jane felt hesitant to share, a sudden shyness taking over her.

“Oh, come on!” Max grabbed onto her side, shaking Jane back and forth gently, “You can’t say all that and then not tell me!”

She shrugged, laughing when Max held up one hand in a fist as if planning to hit her.

Max thought for a second, crossing her arms as she observed her friend. Jane could only smile up at her, happily rocking from side to side where she lay on her back, “Is it the cute guy in your history class?”

“There’s a cute guy in my history class?” Jane blinked at her.

“I don’t know, that’s what Will told me.” Max shrugged, “You guys have history together, right?”

Jane nodded slowly, trying to remember every other student in their class. Will never told her he thought someone was cute. She would have to pester him about it later.

Smirking, Max leaned back against the bed with a playful sigh, “Well, it wouldn’t exactly be the first time you guys liked the same guy.”

Not this again. Jane covered her face with her hands, groaning into them, “Maaaax!”

“I’m just saying! It is actually unbelievable. You finally. Finally! Break up with Wheeler, and then Will likes him too?” Max made a face that would make someone think this is the worst thing she’s ever heard. It probably is. “Ugh!”

“It’s not his fault.” Jane quietly came to her brother’s defense, removing her hands from her face, “And I think Mike likes him too.”

“Oh, no, he definitely does. He’s just too stupid to figure it out on his own.” She sighed, “Someone’s gonna have to spell it out for him. You know Dustin thinks they’re already dating?”

Like magic, warmth seemed to seep through Jane’s skin like a tiny fire ignited by the quickening thump of her heart. She nodded, playing with the ends of her pajama shirt once again.

The room was quiet. Too quiet. No sound except the slow tick of Jane’s blue wall clock. She looked up at her friend, and Max was staring right back, a curious amusement drawn across her face.

“I almost forgot.” Max pressed a finger to Jane’s stomach, “You still need to tell me something.”

With a little wiggle, Jane shrugged. It felt like bubbles were floating inside her chest. Almost nervous, but in a good way. She kind of liked the attention, Max studying her with narrowed eyes like she was a puzzle to be solved. This was a new feeling too; a good one.

Two hands rested atop her belly, lightly ruffling Jane’s shirt. Now she felt bubbly for a whole different reason, but Max didn’t seem to notice, carefully considering her next steps.

“You know you're a terrible liar, right?” Max suddenly asked.

Jane pouted slightly, “Lying is bad.”

“But sometimes it’s necessary.” Max nodded, “Like when you, I don’t know, want to keep a secret from your best friend?”

She leaned down slightly, hands pressing into soft skin. Jane pulled her knees up, rubbing fuzzy socks against her comforter while Max held her in place with a calculating gaze. A silly little smile refused to leave her face.

“Because I think I figured something out.” She continued, “And when I ask you about it, whether you like it or not, I will know the truth.”

Every word was emphasized by Max shaking her hands atop the squish of Jane’s belly. Little tingly feelings and nervous anticipation teased at Jane’s mind until she started giggling and couldn’t stop.

Max’s brows furrowed, chuckling softly as Jane pushed her hands away, “Are you ticklish?”

The question seemed to make Jane laugh even more. Still, she shook her head, “No…”

For a second, they sat there. One girl giggling up a storm while the other watches, unknowingly making it worse with her stare.

Max shook her head, an evil little grin on her face, "What did I tell you about being a bad liar?”

Then Jane was covering her tummy, trying to defend against the hands that quickly launched an attack over her midsection.

“Mahahahax!” She squealed softly, stomping her feet against the sheets and wiggling in place while fingers poked along her stomach.

“Were you hiding this from me, too?” Max easily avoided the attempts to block her hands. “We like keeping secrets now?”

“Nohoho! Ihihihi dohon’t!” Jane shook her head, grabbing hold of Max’s wrists. It didn’t stop the tickling, but it did slow her down just a bit.

Until Max stopped poking her, leaving her hands in place to wiggle her fingers against the edges of her belly. Jane’s legs kicked out, writhing around and bunching up the blankets.

“Then, tell me.”

“Whahahat?”

“You know what.” Max sped up her fingers for a second, making Jane shriek and roll over onto her side, facing her lavender walls. Following after her squirmy friend, Max sat up on her knees to lean over and look at Jane’s face.

“Is it someone I know?”

Her eyes shifted, staring at the wall and not making eye contact. Max scoffed at Jane’s refusal to answer, poking her side and watching her flinch.

She leaned down slightly to whisper in Jane’s ear, “Is it someone with curly hair?”

She knew. They both knew that she did. Max figured out who was occupying all the thoughts in her head. The boy that she suddenly seemed to think was really cute. Who had always been nice to her, but now it made her palms sweaty and her insides feel all fluttery and weird.

But Jane didn’t want to just tell her. It was dizzying, being playfully scrutinized like this. She wanted Max to drag it out of her. To tickle and tease until she couldn’t take it anymore.

So she shook her head.

Max pinched her side, and a short, loud screech seemed to echo through her room before she fell back into her typical giggling. Max huffed out a laugh, clearly shocked by the noise.

“Is this a bad spot?” Jane shook her head again, “You know, for someone who hates lying, you keep doing it.”

“Ihihihi aham nohohot!” But then Jane screeched again when Max began squeezing up and down her side.

“Let’s see…” Max sighed, pausing to rest her hand unmoving over Jane’s side, “Is he kind of nerdy?”

Jane barely got to shake her head before a series of rapid squeezes right in the middle of her side had her jolting with a bubbly laugh. Max’s knees pressed against her back, a solid reminder that there was nowhere to go.

Max stopped again, waiting for Jane to calm down before asking, “Does he really like Star Wars? Like wayyy too much?”

Once again, Jane says no, and Max takes it out on her side. It left her feeling twitchy, somehow worse than continuous stretches of tickling. She could stop this only by answering correctly, something she refused to do. Max knew that, and was toying with her, basically saying, ‘How long are you gonna keep this up?’

Wild giggling didn’t die down at all as Max geared up for her next question.

“What about video games? Most guys like those, right?” Max laughed when Jane visibly hesitated before giving the tiniest shake of her head.

“EEEHEHAhahahahaha!” Max tasered two fingers into her ribs as well this time, her own little way of upping the stakes. Jane’s arm flinched back to cover herself, only to be chased away by a quick poke at her belly.

“Does he like sports?”

She started to shake her head instinctively before registering the question. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Max eyeing her knowingly, “If he’s not a nerd, he must be into sports.” She shrugged.

Jane didn’t look away as she nodded, giggling while Max sighed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She smiled, somewhat proud of Jane’s stubborn defiance.

“Mahahahahahax!” This time, when Max started squeezing her side again, she didn’t stop. Not even when Jane squealed and kicked, sunny laughter bouncing around the room.

Max ignored her, pushing up her pajama shirt to skitter over her stomach while tweaking her ribs. Jane screamed, trying to pull her shirt back down. “MAHAHAX! EHEHahaAHAHeha!”

She sighed, as if this whole thing was one personal inconvenience to her, “You know, it honestly seems like you like this. Or you love lying to me, either one.”

“IHIHIHI’M NAHAHAT!”

“Of course you’re not.” Max nodded sarcastically, “You definitely like some jock guy I’ve never met and not one of our close friends. Right?”

This was the closest they’d come to saying it out loud; the not so secret identity of the boy she liked. Jane felt flushed, leaning forward slightly to press her face into the cool sheets. She shoved Max’s hands away from her belly, only to squeal when nails pressed into the skin just above her hip.

Max leaned down towards her face again, “Right, Ellie?” She whispered, making Jane hike up her shoulder as soft breaths tickled her neck. The words seemed to crawl inside her ears, fluffing up her brain with little feathers.

“Ehehehehaha!” She flopped over onto her belly, clenching her arms by her sides. Hearing her nickname made Jane feel like a warm puddle of syrup stuck to her bedsheets.

Max wasn’t even surprised when Jane once again found a way to avoid answering her question. She sighed loudly, smiling at the giggles that tapered off into the sheets.

“You’re so stubborn,” She muttered, placing her hands onto Jane’s back and laughing softly when she jumped. Max tapped her nails at the sliver of available skin. “Maybe you need this spelled out for you.”

A singular nail dragging down the small of her back had Jane crying out in pitchy, desperate squeals. Already wiggling from side to side, she grew frantic when Max started calling out letters.

“D.” Max paused, holding Jane down with her free hand as she traced the next letter, “U.”

“STAHAHAHAP!!” Her face felt hot, legs kicking rapidly as Max dragged out pronouncing, “S,” slowly slithering one nail down her spine. “EEAHAHA!! STAHP! STAHP!”

This was beyond mean—evil and targeted in a way that could only come from her best friend. Jane reached up towards the head of her bed, faltering slightly as Max crossed off a “T” along her exposed side. She grazed the corner of one of her pillow cases.

Max hummed quietly, trailing her fingernail up along the center of Jane’s back. She almost couldn’t believe such a tiny touch was enough to make her usually quiet friend go insane like this. Although Max knew it had to be more than just the tickling, very aware of the way Jane’s laughter grew louder the more letters she got through. It was cute, honestly, how shy she seemed to be about her little crush.

Swirling her finger in circles to dot the “I,” Max was interrupted by a soft thump against the side of her head. She flinched with a quiet, “Oof,” looking down to see a pillow resting beside her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jane flipped over one final time, still in hysterics with her back pressed against the wall.

“You hit me…” Max looked slowly between her friend and the weapon she used, a pretty light pink pillow.

“Ihihihit tihihickled!” Jane looked up at Max with a nervous shine in her eyes, curling her knees up to her chest and wrapping herself in a tight hug. “Ihihihi’m sohorryyy!”

Max narrowed her eyes, picking up the pillow, “So you hit me?”

Jane’s spine dug into the wall, “Mahahax, pleheheahehese- AAHAHA!” She screamed when a soft pillow repeatedly thumped over her, hiding her head in her hands.

Max only hit her a couple of times, not wanting to be too mean. When she tossed the pillow to the side, Jane was still giggling, hands raised to protect herself from another attack. Pushing a hair out of her face, she shook her head with a little smile, “You can relax. I’m done.”

For a moment, Jane still looked wary, waiting for a sudden movement. After it seemed she was truly in the clear, she rose on shaky arms before launching herself at Max, the two of them landing back on the bed with a thump.

“What the-” Max braced herself for retaliation, relaxing when Jane simply wrapped her in a hug, nuzzling more quiet giggles into the side of her neck.

“You’re soho mehean to mehehe…”

Max smirked, rubbing along Jane’s back gently, “Isn’t that why you love me?” She laughed when Jane shook her head with a little whine.

Jane slowly calmed down as Max rubbed away the lingering tingles. Only to stiffen up when Max offhandedly mumbled, “I can’t believe you like Dustin.”

“Maaaax.” Jane pressed closer, head bumping against Max’s chin and making her chuckle.

“No, it’s cute! I just wasn’t expecting it.”

Another quiet moment passed between them until Jane finally whispered, “I like his curly hair…it looks soft. And he’s really nice to me.” Max knew Jane was smiling from the way she wiggled in her arms slightly, “He makes me laugh, and he thinks I’m smart. And he likes that I take all my Calc notes with a glitter pen, even though we’re supposed to use pencil.”

Max couldn’t help but coo, imagining Jane blushing in their math class after Dustin complimented her notes. They’re such dorks.

“Well, you know,” Max pulled away slightly, just to look at Jane’s face, “For Dustin, calling someone smart is basically the same as saying they’re super hot.”

“Max!” Jane squirmed, going all pink just like Max knew she would.

“It’s true!” Max smirked, “He probably likes you, too.”

Jane faltered, plopping her head back down on Max’s shoulder, “I don’t know. I think we are just friends.”

“Hey, you don’t know that. He could be at his desk right now brainstorming cheesy pick-up lines to use on you.” Jane giggled slightly, and Max continued, “Having a crush should be fun. Don’t even worry about it.”

A happy little hum muffled into Max’s sleep shirt, Jane clearly feeling a bit better. Then, quietly, she asked, “How did you know I liked him?”

“El.” Max laughed, “I said his name and your whole face went bright red.”

“No, it didn’t.” Jane looked mortified, with wide brown eyes and pink cheeks that only got darker as Max kept laughing.

Max pinched her side, giggling at Jane’s mousy squeak, “Now you’re saying I’m lying?”

Jane squished her face into Max’s chest, mumbling, “I wish you were.”

Giving Jane one last squeeze, Max pushed herself up, separating from the hug, “Okay. I think we’ve talked enough about boys for one night.”

“Can we paint our nails again?” Jane sat up as well, flapping her hands, “Joyce bought me some new colors!”

There was something so endearing in the little things Jane got excited about. Max chuckled, “Sure. That’s perfect actually, I brought some music I wanna show you.”

An excited little squee is all Max heard as a flash of pink rushed off the bed to gather her nail polish.