"How do you like school, Maia?" Shawn asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"I like it. Not that it really matters. They make you go whether you like it or not." Maia told Shawn with a smile.
Maia went back to looking out the window as Shawn focused on the road. None of them spoke, which was fine with Maia.
"I hope there are kids my age there, maybe even ones with gifts like mine. I wonder what Shawn does there. I wonder what his family is like. I wonder if he has any little sisters that would be my friends. I wonder if he will be my friend." Maia thought to herself as she watched the cows grazing on the dry grass.
"Music?" Shawn asked Maia. Unlike Maia, he didn't like the silence.
"Sure." Maia mumbled.
"First song that comes to mind. Go!" He said to Maia.
"The Call by Backstreet Boys." Maia said with a smile. They had played that song during quarantine, and she had really liked it.
"The Backstreet Boys?" Shawn looked at her questioningly.
"Play it or I'll sing it without the music!" She threatened through a huge grin.
"Please no! I'll do it, I'll do it!" Shawn joked.
Shawn handed his iPod to Maia so she could find the song. After looking through hundreds of songs, she found it. She pressed the button and pointed Shawn's iPod towards the radio. A few seconds later, the phone in the song rang.
"Listen, baby, I'm sorry, just wanna tell you, don't worry. I will be late, don't stay up and wait for me. I say again, you're dropping out, my battery is low, we're going to a place nearby, gotta go!" Shawn and Maia sang off key.
Neither of them knew many of the other words, but every time the chorus came up, they sang as loud as they could. After that, the drive went much faster.
"Maia, you have a boyfriend?" Shawn asked when a song had ended.
"Shawn, I'm only nine! What about you, though?" She looked up at him with the cutest face.
"I-" Shawn said as his phone rang.
The phone rang again.
"Maia, can you get it?" Shawn asked as he turned a corner.
"Sure." Maia said as she picked up the phone.
"Hi Shawn!" The girl on the other end said.
"This is Maia." Maia told the other girl.
"Oh, hi Maia. I'm Nikki." Nikki said.
"So, who are you?" Maia asked as Shawn playfully punched her on the arm.
"Where are your manners?" He whispered.
"I'm Shawn's girlfriend, well, ex-girlfriend. We never officially broke up, but when he ran away, I figured it was over." Nikki explained.
"Got it." Maia said thoughtfully.
"So," Nikki asked, "who are you?"
"I'm his new girlfriend." Maia told Nikki as she looked over at Shawn, who was laughing at her.
"Oh," Nikki said sadly, "you sound a little young."
"Apparently he's into younger women now." She said, still watching Shawn.
"Look, is he there?" Nikki asked, getting impatient.
Just as Maia was handing the phone to Shawn, he decided to sing along with "So tell me, am I sexual? Am I everything you need to rock your body, baby?" from "Everybody" by Backstreet Boys.
"Yeah!" Nikki said, as Shawn realized what he had just done.
"Nikki?" Shawn asked, as surprised as he was embarrassed.
"I was talking to your girlfriend. How old is she, exactly?" Nikki asked.
"Maia isn't my girlfriend," Shawn explained, "I'm watching her for her mom, and she's nine."
"Oh. Well, call me back sometime when you aren't babysitting." Nikki said.
"But I-" Nikki hung up, "need your phone number."
"Was that your girlfriend?" Maia asked Shawn.
"She used to be." Shawn said, gripping the steering wheel tighter.
"What happened?" Maia innocently asked.
"Ah, well, we went to the lake, where you and I appeared, and some stuff happened. And later I ran away. From home. That ended it." Shawn said, looking over at Maia with a sad smile.
"What's wrong?" Maia asked.
"I felt bad about going out with her. She was my brother's girlfriend, and I guess I stole her from him." Shawn said, still watching Maia.
"You better stop here." Maia said, looking at the tall building.
"Hmm?" Shawn said as he nodded his head towards the building.
"Yeah. There's going to be a car accident up ahead. We don't want to be part of the 3 injured and 1 dead." Maia said with a frown.
"Got it." Shawn answered as the pulled off towards what now appeared to be a very large toy store.
Shawn and Maia got out of the car and headed towards the large entrance. Once inside, they were greeted by over a million stuffed toys which lined the walls.