Hatchetfield.

You're Only a Teenager Once

As they enter the small café, Max, Steph, Ruth, Pete, Richie, and Grace all find a booth at the side. It's 9pm and way past Grace's bedtime and curfew... why did she agree to this. They just got back from the old Waylon House, thank god Pete told Max that the floor was unstable. Grace, Steph and Pete sit on one side of the booth while Ruth, Richie and Max sit on the other. Ruth sits between Max and Richie, slightly leaning on and looking up at, Max though he's completely uninterested.

"So.... How are we, nerds?" Steph asks, looking around at the awkward faces around the table.

"Well, Ruth and I caught up on a season of Attack on Titan-" Richie explained, enunciating every T in the sentence.

"Is that like... a show.." Max asks, sounding genuinely intrigued. Richie launches into his grand speech about the Attack on Titan lore, Max enthralled at the pitch. After a bit, Grace speaks up.

"It is 9:30 at night. We should be asleep, recharging our bodies. I'm getting out of here." She puts her hands on the table, rising herself up as she slides past Steph and Pete to leave.

"Grace, I drove us here..." Pete replies as Grace stops in her tracks, sitting back down, now next to Steph. As she sits down, her hand finds Stephs, she keeps it there for a minute before quickly retracting it.

"So. What's everyone's favorite VeggieTales episode?" Grace asks, genuinely excited to share her passion.

"I.. like the one with the lions?" Ruth says, "My parents made me watch it, didn't do much..."

"VeggieTales? Grace, Ruth what the hel- heck ... are you on about.." Steph asks. Even though she doesn't really like Grace, she knows how much saying the "h-word" gets to her. It's small to her, but makes all the difference to Grace.

Max chimes in, "IT'S VEGGIETALES STEPH?? DID YOU EVEN HAVE A CHILDHOOD??"

"I.. I guess not?"

"I haven't watched VeggieTales either, Stephanie," Richie says, making sure to accentuate the T in "haven't".

The group works shockingly well together, Max brings a nice intensity to the group, and has generally stopped bullying everyone. There will be moments where he just forgets that his words actually affect them, but he apologizes. At the end of the dinner, they all get each other's numbers.

"Oh Christ!" Grace bursts out, "Oh Heavenly Fatherly Lord of Heaven! It's 10:30, I've never been up this late at night!"

"Grace."

"Yes, Richie?"

"I've never gone to sleep earlier than 10:30."

The group all share a laugh (except for Grace,) and give each other their goodbyes. Steph hugs Pete goodbye, Ruth sees this and develops an evil master plan. She hugs everyone goodbye. Multiple times. For like a minute each.

"Ruth.. RUTH."

"Hi pete!" Ruth says, squeezing him as tight as she possibly can.

"LITTLE TOO TIGHT HERE," Pete exclaims, trying to push her off him. She takes the hint and moves off. Richie's scared to say goodbye. He's never had this many people talk to him, ever! He doesn't hug anyone, doesn't shake hands, until Max comes over.

"Bro!!! You're Zeke, right?" Richie nods. "That is SO cool! We really do need you there. By the way! I was, uh, WONDERIN, if I could watch that show with you at some point?"

"Attack on Titan? You WANT to watch Attack on Titan? With ME??" Richie's bewildered. Is Max Jägerman.. A friend? He likes having friends. A lot more than he thought he would.