More time together (Grahamfield)

Life is... an emotional roller coaster

October 14th, 2:21 p.m. - on the road

Twenty minutes had passed since the bus left Seattle's bus station. Twenty minutes of Warren gazing through the window in absolute silence.

At first, Max thought that he was only admiring the landscapes of the city. However, after a while observing his body language, she sensed that something wasn't quite right.

After a moment searching for words to initiate some small talk, the best she was able to come up with was a shy "thank you" to the nail-biting boy, not getting any response though.

At this point, his evident restlessness made her start questioning (again) if sharing her secrets with him was really a good idea:

'Poor Warren, maybe it's just too much for him to bear... Am I being selfish? Like, he had no idea of what he was getting involved with when I asked him to come here... I didn't give him any option-'

Suddenly, he turned his face away from the window, lifting his head to look towards the bus driver while straightening himself in the seat.

"Is everything okay? You, uh, look a bit nervous", Max remarked, starting to get really concerned about his behavior.

"I'm not nervous, I'm just... feeling really stupid right now", he answered, still staring at the front of the bus.

Surprised by his response, she couldn't help bombarding him with her emerging insecurities: "Stupid? Why is that? Do you regret coming here? I'm sorry for getting you involved in this situation, I only-"

"No. Please, don't say that... It's kind of the opposite, actually", he sighed in a concerned tone.

After she asked what did he mean, he made his point, speaking as quickly as he usually did when he was brainstorming:

"I just realized that I could go to the police by myself and tell them everything, especially about Rachel... And you could stay here, with your parents, in safety. So, I thought maybe I could ask the bus driver to pull over and-"

'Oh, I guess he White Knight strikes again', Max sarcastically remarked to herself before shooting at him:

"Are you cereal? I asked you to come here because I wanted to return to Arcadia Bay as soon as possible, remember?"

As he stared at her face with a perplexed expression, Max replayed her own words in her head, concluding that they didn't sound very nice - moreover, they represented only part of the truth.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that... I mean, of course I wanted to leave Seattle earlier, but I also wanted to tell you about the power and all as soon as possible...The last time I saw you in the other timeline I promised that I'd make the right choices from then on, so that's what I've been trying to do", she explained, hoping that he would understand - even though he knew only half of the story.

"It's okay. You know, I feel really honored to be given the opportunity to help you through this... And I'm usually good at finding solutions to problems, but I must confess that I have no idea of what to do in this case and this is freaking me out! It's been 24 hours since you told me everything, and all I did until now was playing pinball with you... Really helpful, eh?", the boy clarified what was going on in his head, sounding quite frustrated at himself.

"Don't be so hard on yourself", Max comforted her friend, relieved to reconfirm that she could count on him. "Seriously, I dropped this bomb and you did the most helpful thing you could do to me... You listened and believed me, and I'll never forget that", she thanked, making the boy blush slightly: