[HIATUS] Malls and Arcades | Max Mayfield

Chapter Five

「 "There's no end to the lengths I'll go to find her again" (Hunting High and Low, a-ha). 」
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The practice ended just as fast as Talia thought it would. After that, Talia's mom drove them to the arcade and then they went to the record store to sample Pink Floyd. It's safe to say that Talia now loves the band.

The whole time they were hanging out, Talia barely thought about what happened to Will. Except every time Max mentioned it, which was about a thousand times. But they couldn't ask the group what was going on because no one from the party wanted to talk about it.

Which leads them to do other things, like surveying trash for Dart. Which was just as disgusting as it was revolting.

But Talia did it because she was interested in finding Dart. Mostly because Max was interested, but also because Dustin lost the creature he considered a pet and Talia felt a little bad for playing a part in its disappearance.

It didn't last long, and all they found out was that Will was missing school today and Mike was still mad at them. No sign of Dart.

What a waste of time.

But it didn't matter as much as Talia thought it would because she got to hang out with Max during lunch. Max did want to hang out with the party to fuel her curiosity. But they weren't interested in having them in their party, at least Mike wasn't. Dustin and Lucas were apologetic that they couldn't hang out, but left as quickly as Mike did.

They tried to have as much fun as they could on a Friday spent at school. They talked about several things and even questioned if they should hang out later. Unfortunately, they could not because Talia had to do something. Something that may change this rough patch she and Haydn were going through.

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As much as Talia wanted to hang out with Max, she felt that what she was doing was more important. So, instead of heading to her house, like she was supposed to, she headed to Haydn's. It wasn't very far from her own and she had long since memorized how to get there. She also knew that today, he would be getting home later than usual because he had soccer practice right after school.

As she walked, she thought of what she was going to say. She knew she had to be clear and express concern because she wanted something to be done about this. She wanted them to know, and she wanted them to talk to Hadyn. She doubted that they wouldn't listen to her.

Talia knocked on the door and the exact person she expected opened it. "Hi, Talia! What's up?" Lindy questioned.

"We need to talk," Talia said simply.

"We do?" Lindy questioned as they let Talia in. They led her to the table, and they sat across from her. "What's wrong?"

Talia looked at Lindy, thinking back to what she wanted to say, and now found she forgot everything she had planned. She couldn't remember! She had done all that thinking and she couldn't remember! Her mind was too occupied with thinking of what if Haydn skipped practice and he walked in (which surely would never happen, he's never even thought of skipping practice). There was no way he would walk in, but Talia still, for some reason, doubted herself. Maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought she did. If he walked in, then any thought of salvaging their relationship would be ruined.

And it would be all her fault. Again.

"Could I have some water?" Talia asked as she fiddled with her hands.

Lindy smiled at her and Talia had to look away. "Of course!" They said cheerfully.

Talia didn't have much time to calm herself down when Lindy got up. She tried to think back to what she had planned before, but she was still drawing a blank. She was starting to feel scared that this wasn't the best idea.

A glass of water slid in front of her and she caught it, then took one big gulp, downing it whole. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" Lindy asked.

She couldn't take this anymore. "I don't think Haydn's in the right space. Space as in headspace. If - if you catch my drift."

"What's wrong with him?" Lindy questioned, their brows furrowing in concern.

"I don't know, and that's the problem. He usually tells me everything, but now we're not even talking." Talia bit the inside of her cheek, looking down at the marbled table. "I think one of you should talk to him. To see if he's okay."

She looked up and watched the expressions shift on Lindy's face. "You're right. We've been letting this sit in the dark for too long. We'll talk to him."

Talia smiled, feeling more relieved than ever. "Pinky promise?" She held out her pinky for confirmation.

Lindy wrapped their pinky around Talia's. "Pinky promise."

Why was Cinderella so bad at soccer?

'Cause she kept running from the ball!

I don't know how it's possible to be this busy when school hasn't even started yet, but here we are. When classes do inevitably come back to rule us all I may have to start posting once every two weeks. Which would be regrettable but I want my chapters to be as good as the can be :/

So, please bare with me ! [insert that one druski meme]