Lights, Cameras, Maze Runner! (completed)

six (part two)

I follow Will to his trailer and sit on the ground with my back against a wall. He gives me a platter of three pancakes, two cups of butter and one cup of syrup. He then sits down with his own pancakes a few feet away, being silent as he promised he would. 

Will grabs his CD player off a shelf and sets it on the ground between us. The opening chords of a song I know all too well begin playing from the machine.

"Will, I never pegged you for the type to listen to 'Dancing Queen'," I say, slightly giggling.

He grins at me, taking a bite of a pancake. "I grew up on ABBA. My parents love them. Plus, this kind of music always makes me feel happy when I'm sad."

There's some truth there. It's impossible to be sad while listening to ABBA songs.

After about ten minutes of slow eating and attempts to not cry, I let a few tears slide down my cheek. Will notices and he starts to get up and help me, but I stop him.

"Please," I plead. "Let me deal with this on my own."

He sighs, looking conflicted. "Sorry to be so frank, but your face is getting more purple and swollen by the minute. I'm going to the medical tent and grabbing you a bag of ice."

I nod at him. "Thanks, Will." I'm lucky to have a friend like him. He leaves the trailer and returns about three minutes later with a sandwich bag filled with ice.

"Here ya go," he says awkwardly, handing me the bag. I press it to the place Connor punched and I instantly feel relieved of the pain.

"Will, this is such a relief," I drawl.

He grins. "I thought it would be. And stop staring at me like a teenage girl!"

"Will, I technically am a teenage girl." My eyes narrow. "And what do you mean by 'staring at you like a teenage girl'?"

He sighs. "Most teenage girls look at me funny because I'm the size of a baby giraffe and have eyebrows like Satan."

I burst out laughing and keep giggling for a long time. "The truth in that statement is so overwhelming!"

He blushes. "I know. I get that a lot." He lets me calm down before speaking again. "Kelsey, can we get real for a second?" Will asks, sitting down in front of me.

"Yeah, Will. What do you want to get real about?"

He looks at me. "I'm totally serious,'' he begins. "Listen, I know it's really not my place to comment, but I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. Connor is abusive and you need to break up with him."

It's my turn to sigh. "Will, please. Everyone's gonna be telling me what to do, but I gotta make my own choices."

"But, Kelsey! There's more you need to hear. I know I told you I would, but I actually didn't get Connor a cab from the club last night."

I raise an eyebrow. "Oh? And why is that?"

He gulps, and I know I'm not going to like his explanation. "I don't know if I should tell you..." his voice trails off.

"No. Don't pull that shit with me, Poulter. You're the one who brought it up, and you're the one who's gonna explain what happened. Don't leave me in the dark with this."

"Well, I guess I'll start from the beginning."

"The beginning is always a great place to start," I say sarcastically.

"Wow, the apple must not fall far from the tree, because you're almost as sassy as your uncle Wes," Will laughs. "But last night, around two hours after you left with Thomas, I was ready to go home. I was hoping your boyfriend was drunk enough so I could just get him home without him putting up a fight. Well, I didn't have to put up any kind of fight with him."