More time together (Grahamfield)

A new team begins

Seattle, October 13th - Thursday

11:59 a.m.

For a calm and sensitive girl like Max Caulfield, moments of loneliness and hush had always been seen as precious [and necessary] opportunities to heal and recharge her batteries.

Until now.

On that morning, silence, instead of home, felt like an empty cavern, echoing the countless doubtful thoughts that swirled in her mind.

How much of her secrets should she tell Warren? And how? Should she hide some facts from him? From where should she begin? Was that a good idea at all?

All those questions, along with the embarrassment of the whole spending-the-night and "pretend boyfriend" thing made her feel uneasy, but were nothing compared to the fear that haunted her the most: the considerable possibility of Warren not believing her.

In an attempt to divert herself from her internal turmoil, the girl moved her eyes across the living room, eventually fixing her gaze on the chiming clock on the wall. Realizing her friend would arrive in Seattle in less than one hour, once more she tried to reassure herself: 'He believed me once... There's no reason to think that he won't believe me this time'.

Once more, though, an inconvenient insight disturbed her mind: for good or for bad, that Warren she was about to meet wasn't exactly the same one from the other timeline.

....

12:59 p.m.

From a distance of 30 yards, Max passively watched the bus from Arcadia Bay parking at the bus station; the several hours she spent thinking and rethinking about all the issues she had been dealing with made her mind feel blank and drained.

The hissing sound of the bus door opening startled the girl, making her jump slightly. 'This is a mistake, I shouldn't've asked him to come here', she thought as she slowly approached the vehicle with uncertain steps, only wishing she could reverse time once more.

It was like that until she spotted Warren coming out of the bus: seeing him grinning and waving made any feeling of regret about her decision vanish in a heartbeat. Before she could even register, her mind was now busy with a rather trivial doubt:

'How should I greet him? A handshake would be weird... A nudge on the shoulder, maybe?'

'Or should I... hug him? We hugged at his house, to say goodbye, a few days ago... We're friends, friends hug all the time, right? Ugh, I can't believe I'm actually thinking about this...'

Distracted by her internal monologue, she would probably bump into him if it wasn't for the sound of his voice greeting her:

"H-hi, Max...", he said in a light tone, just barely hiding his concern, as he softly rubbed the left strap of his backpack.

"Hi, Warren", she greeted him back, shyly opening her arms for a hug.

Unluckily, at this exact moment Warren leaned down to catch the bus ticket that fell from his hands, never acknowledging Max's gesture. When he lifted back, she quickly brought her hands to her hair, absently combing it with her fingers.

Before she said anything, he anxiously asked the question that had been burning in his mind since her last phone call: "So... What do you want to tell me? By the way... Is there anyone threatening you or something?"

"No... No one knows that I know what I know. Look, this is a really long story, I thought we could have lunch and then head to a calm place, what do you think?"