"You sure don't want coffee?" Max asked, earning a shy smile from the girl sitting in front of her.
"Nah, I'm good. Been drinking a lot of caffeine over the past few weeks, and I don't want to mess up my stomach," Kate spoke, taking a sip of her warm cup of tea in her hand. "Aren't you, uh, supposed to cut some off of your system, too?"
Max chuckled, running her hand through her hair. "As much as I want to, I've sort of devoted my life in the name of coffee and photography." She looked back at the counter, noticing that Joyce was still cooking their orders. "Gosh, I'm so freaking hungry."
"It's only been ten minutes, can't you just wait any longer?" Kate said, giggling at her friend's behavior. It has truly been quite awhile since the two ever had the chance to get together and chat.
The incident that took place in Blackwell revolving Kate nearly jumping off from the girls' dorm rooftop, and Max who came in just in time to save her seemed to leave a skid mark on both parties. After a couple of weeks in the hospital for recovery and rehabilitation, as well as frequent meetings with her psychaitrist, Kate was finally allowed to leave. Everyone in Blackwell welcomed her back with full of warm hugs and lots of apologies, in which Kate wholeheartedly accepted. Even when Max told her that everybody was only being total hypocrites, it didn't make Kate think any further. She was just glad the nightmare was over.
Max sighed, tapping her fingers impatiently on the table. The hangout for today was to go and have lunch with Kate at Two Whales, and talk about whatever pops up in their mind. If a simple order would take this long, she would've cancelled today's plans.
Looking up at Kate, she noticed that the other girl was on her phone, presumably texting with someone as she had a slight smile on her face. 'My, my. Look at you, Kate. Way better than before.'
"Are you gonna just sit there and stare at me the whole time?" Max raised both of her eyebrows as she heard Kate calling her out. Before she could respond, Joyce stepped in with two of the girls' meal.
"Sorry for taking too long, girls. Had to fix some things up with them truckers over by the counter," Joyce smiled apologetically and turned to Kate, ruffling her hair. "Welcome back, Kate. Nice to see you your lovely face again."
Kate blushed, smiling shyly at the older woman. "Thanks, Joyce."
After Joyce left to mend the other customers, the two girls start digging into their food. The only good thing about Two Whales was the cooking; Joyce can make any mainstream food taste even better than it should be. That, and the atmosphere. Max loved the homey and nostalgic vibe the diner gave off, it almost felt like she was at place. As if Arcadia Bay didn't make her feel at home, which it didn't.
Kate was busy eating on her belgian waffle when she heard a laugh coming from Max. She looked up, quirking an eyebrow. "What is it?"
Max giggled, shaking her head. "Nah, it's nothing."
Kate whined, her lips forming into a pout. "Come on, you're being mean..."
Max raised both of her hands in defeat, smiling the whole time. "Alright, alright." Taking a sip of her coffee, she sighed before giving Kate a nod. "You."
Kate looked at Max, a baffled look plastered upon her face. "What?"
Max shrugged, playing with her food. "I don't know, it's... After all the crazy shit that happened, I could never thought I'd see you again. The real you. I mean, look at you now, you're beaming bright like the freaking sun. You hella smile more, you laugh a lot than usual... did I just say 'hella' again, are you kidding me?"
Hearing Kate laughed, Max decided to continue. "The point is, I'm just really glad you're back. I really do. Y'know, I could be your best bud and we would make an awesome duo called 'The Awkward Photographer and The Nun'."
"A nun? Really, Max?" Kate rolled her eyes. "You just went from being funny to downright offensive real quick."
"Zero to a hundred, Katie, real quick," Max rapped, doing weird hand gestures as she tried to impersonate the black rappers in music videos she watched online. "Mad Max is in da mafuckin' house errbody, and imma ready to fuckin' smash this shit, y'know what I'm sayin'?"
Kate couldn't help but to let out a series of loud laughter, unable to control herself when Max kept unleashing her inner ghetto that has long been held secret until now.
As much as Max knew how immensely embarassed she was right now, she didn't care a single bit. She was just glad Kate's finally back. Being the real 'Kate' she comes to grow a fond of.