It feels like no time at all before Max and Warren pass the slightly-rusting sign that says We Welcome You to Arcadia Bay! in ornate lettering. From the rolled-down windows of Warren's car, Max can hear the sound of the Pacific's waves crashing on the shore as it mingles with Warren's voice. She finds the combination charming, even for how...enthusiastic his voice can sound.
"Okay," Warren says, and even though she can't see his face all that well given how late it is, and how far apart the lights on the highway are, Max would easily bet on him smiling. "But what's the best line?"
"In all the Ape-verse?"
"In all the Ape-verse."
"Warren, is that even a question?" Max clears her throat. "'Take your stinking paws off me, you damned, dirty ape,'" she growls through gritted teeth.
Warren laughs. "You always were so mainstream for a geek, Max."
"Oh, right. And what's your favorite line, O pop culture connoisseur of mine?" Max rolls her eyes, just as big a smile on her face as Warren's—at least she assumes.
"Alright then, Mad Max...how about…" Warren drifts off, clearly trying to come up with the most obscure quote he can think of.
"Do I need to start singing the Jeopardy! theme?"
"Got it! Escape from the Planet of the Apes. Zira. 'Because I loathe bananas,'" Warren imitates in his best—but still hilariously subpar—British accent.
"That was glorious, Sir Warren, White Knight of Arcadia Bay," Max retorts with her own ridiculous accent. "I have been bested by a true gentleman and scholar."
"I'm not even gonna try to do an accent this time," Warren says, and they both start cracking up.
Max suddenly thinks, consciously and clearly, about why those sixty-or-so miles from the drive-in felt like nothing getting back to Arcadia Bay. How great it is, how easy it is, talking to Warren. It isn't some epiphany, or unexpected revelation from On High. Max knows this already, and knows she knows it—but it's still something she's never really spent much time actually thinking about, especially with all that's been going on with her powers, and with Chloe, and with all the stress that both her powers and Chloe have been putting on her. Ever since she came back here from Seattle a few months ago, Warren was what kept her from feeling all that lost or alone at Blackwell—which was no easy feat, considering how quiet Max was, is, and how cliquey the whole place felt when she got here. All the memories of hanging out with her few friends—Dana, Kate Marsh, but especially Warren—flood back to her in this moment. And for just a few seconds, Max wants nothing more than to just look at Warren's face, happy as it always is. She feels...is giddy the right word?
As they start navigating the circuitous roads of Arcadia Bay, Max sees the silhouette of Warren's head turn in her direction. "Hey, thanks for 'going ape' with me tonight," he says.
"Of course! How could I turn down seeing some sci-fi badassery with you?" answers Max. She looks at the console of Warren's car to see what time it is. Of course, she thinks with a grin. Warren's wayback machine predates clocks, too. She takes her phone out of her pocket and checks the time. 1:54 AM. A good mile or so up ahead, she sees the neon sign for the Two Whales Diner, bright and blue as ever. "Hey, Warren. I realized we never got to do that dinner you so astutely proposed we have before the marathon. Shall we act on that plan now? Who says two in the morning is too late for dinner?"
"Wow, Super Max! We gotta be psychically linked or something. I haven't had a Two Whales burger in so long, I've started dreaming about them. Let's go ape on some burgers!"
Max rolls her eyes again. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that awful pun." But something about what Warren said just now—about the psychic link, maybe?—she feels that giddiness flood back into her all of a sudden. All of the negativity that these past few days have brought her seems to drop right out of her mind. Spending the night with Warren has made Max feel like she could fly above all that and just laugh and be free, with Warren, at least for this one night. And she knows that she has to remember tonight. Almost instinctively, she takes out her camera and snaps a picture of Warren. The flash is bright, and he looks so funny and—giddy, too?—in that moment, turning with his mouth agape, shocked by the light.
"What was that for?" he asks, giggling.
"Posterity, documentation...what can I say? You know I'm a shutterbug," Max says with a wide grin, taking the Polaroid out of the camera and waving it a bit before putting it in her bag.
Warren only laughs some more in reply as they turn into the parking lot. As he puts the car in park, and goes to open the door, Max can't help herself as she says suddenly, without thought, her face suddenly serious. "Warren, I...I don't think I've ever really said this to you, but...thank you, for everything these past few months. It...you're great, and I...I guess I, uh, really, really like you. Just wanted you to know."
The dome light in Warren's car casts interesting shadows on his face as he smiles blissfully, but there's something serious in there too, among that bliss, and the word chiaroscuro floats by in Max's mind.
"I really like you too, Max," Warren says, no jokes, no playfulness.
Max feels her heart skip a beat, relieved, and the carefree smile returns to her face as she exits the car. She watches him come around to her side, and before he can say anything else, or start walking toward the diner, Max grabs his arm and kisses him on the lips. He puts his hand on her other arm, and they kiss again. And again, this time with her hand resting gently against Warren's hip.
Then, just as quickly, they separate and he's looking at her, stunned. She laughs, and he does, too. A few seconds pass before Max can finally ask, gesturing at the diner, "Well, shall we?"
"You already know, Max! I'm still craving that burger hardcore."
"Well, let's go," she says with an eyeroll, and Warren cautiously puts his arm around her as they walk.
For a second, Max thinks about saying something else, but decides against it.