Fallin' for ya... and for you, and maybe you too?

chapter 6

"It worked", says Mack. She's surprisingly chill about it, considering. Brady expected tears or at least shouts to the sky,  not this kind of coolness, like she's not quite entirely there.

They're still in the water, gripping the board, their bodies mostly beneath the surface. And before their eyes stands the diner from Wet Side Story, in all of its glorious vintage vibe. If they listen carefully above the sound of the waves, they can hear faint music coming from there.

"Is that Lela singing, do you think?", asks Mack.

"Maybe. Only one way to find out for sure, though," answers Brady.

They start to swim towards the beach, helped by the waves that carry their board. They are close enough to the shoreline that they don't need to surf and soon they find themselves standing on the sand.

"Shall we?", asks Brady. "Or do you want to go alone ?"

"Why would I want to go alone?", says Mack. She's making her what-the-hell face, the one she always makes when he jumps to a very logical conclusion but she hasn't followed all the tortuous journey Brady took to reach it, which happens quite often.

"I don't know, maybe you wanted to make a big showy declaration or something !"

"No, Brady, no. I need you there, okay?" She grabs his shirt by the sides, twisting the fabric to bring him closer to her. "I can't go in there alone. And you're a part of this too." She adds, like an afterthought, "Please?"

The thing is, Brady was sold the moment she told him she needed him. The next logical thing to do is reach up, cusp her face between his palms and kiss her, so he does exactly that.

"I'm with you, Mack, you don't even have to ask."

"Thank you," she whispers in his neck.

"Though it might seem strange to bring your boyfriend along when you're going to declare to someone else," he jokes.

"Yeah, well, but does it make it more or less strange that the boyfriend also has a crush on the someone else ?"

"What? Me? A crush on Lela?"

Mack raises one eyebrow and waits. There's no point in denying the undeniable. He sighs, defeated.

"Only since the first time I saw the movie", he says.

"I know, when you were ten. This is basically fulfilling a fantasy for you, right?", she teases.

But she's right and they both know it.

When seconds pass by and neither of them say anything more, she takes a deep breath and turns towards the diner. Time to go, then.

The closer they come, the louder the music. They can tell by now that it's definitely not Lela singing but rather a man, in a splendid rendition of "Fallin' for ya". They exchange glances and Brady mouths "Tanner?". Mack shrugs. Only one way to find out.
They step inside the diner.

Inside, nothing seems to have changed since the last time they were here. The same booths and  tables along the walls, the same stage at the other end of the room, the same wooden floor. 

But the people are acting... different. Where there once were two separate groups, each occupying a different side of the diner, now stands a crowd where everyone mingles. It's still easy to tell who is a surfer and who is a biker, mostly by their respective amount of leather clothes, but they are all talking and laughing together. As they look at the stage, they take in the sight of Tanner crooning into the microphone, eyes closed and oblivious to the world.

One of the booths near the stage seems more bustling with laughter and crowded than the others. Mack and Brady hear a joyous cry of "Lela, no!" followed by an even more joyful "Lela, yes!" coming from there. With one glance and one smile, they come to a silent agreement and start walking towards the table.

As they make their way across the diner, all the laughter dry up, replaced by whispers and unbelieving stares. Just as Tanner hits the line "stumbled from another world", they arrive in front of the table where Lela presides. The silence from the rest of the room registers with the people at the table and as they turn to investigate what happened, they clear the space where their heads hid the person at the end of the table.

Lela breaks her conversation with the surfer girl on her right and levels her gaze towards the newcomers. Her mouths opens in shock.

"Mack ?"