Afterwards: A Life Is Strange Fan-Fiction <A Choice Story>

Chapter 26

I back up a little. She realizes I'm not there and opens her eyes.

"Kate! What the hell?!" I say in a surprised and angry way. She blushes hard.

"I thought-oh no. Max, I'm sorry."

"You thought what?"

"I always saw you hanging out with that girl with he blue hair, I just thought you were, well, you know." What the hell is even happening?

"What?! You mean you're-?" She nods before I can even say it. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just really surprising. "What made you think it was ok to kiss me randomly? Just because I hang out with Chloe doesn't mean I like girls, let alone like you like that." Do I like girls? I don't know, but now's not the time to even think about that.

"I just-I don't know. It was all in the moment, and I just, did it." I never saw this coming. I didn't even think something like this was even possible. Not in a million years.

"I never knew you liked girls. I mean, you're a Christian, and I thought-"

"Don't believe in stereotypes, Max. They're not always right." It's like Kate is leading a hidden life.

"...How long have you known you liked girls?" I try to ask casually.

"For a while now."

"Why keep it a secret? I am totally ok with it all, and I'm sure everyone else would have been too."

"You know how much Victoria and her friends would make fun of me? Plus my family would disown me, and I really didn't need all of that, especially after that video." That's fair. It is her decision to tell if she wanted to. "I've just been-after everything that's happened, I just thought I should try it." She takes a deep breath. "Ok, let me start over. I've had a crush on you, for a while. You were one of the only people who listened to me. After what happened on the roof, I knew you really cared about me. I thought I should tell you that I liked you, but that moment just seemed appropriate to me, but thinking about it now, it was just stupid." She sits down on the couch. I sit down next to her.

"Wow, Kate, I never knew." That's pretty flattering. Kate is so beautiful, and I'm just me. If anything, she's way out of my league. She nods.

"Yeah. So there you go. That's why I did it." It must have taken a lot for her to admit all of that. I know I couldn't openly admit who I like. Of course, I'm pretty introverted. "If you want to just forget all of this happened, I would be fine with that."

"That would probably be for the best. I don't want our friendship to be ruined or anything." She nods and gets the teacups. She hands one to me, and drinks out of the other. I can tell she's disappointed. I'm sorry Kate, I just like you as a friend. I take a sip out of my teacup. It's all a shock though. I still can't believe she did that. I guess I should try to forget about it, for the sake of our friendship.

"...So, how bad was that storm? I heard it was terrible." She says after a long time of awkward silence.

"Yeah, it was bad. I'm just glad Chloe and I made it out unscathed." It's good that Kate wasn't there. After that whole week, she probably couldn't stand to see her hometown being blown away.

"I prayed for everyone there. I hope they all made it out safely. I wonder what caused something like that. It was completely unexpected." I knew. I just didn't try helping anyone. My own problems got in the way. You're going to have to start putting other people's needs first, Max. "You know, I've heard that it might be part of a Native American prediction. I personally don't believe that, but I'm open minded."