"Dude, this so surreal," Mae muttered as they walked down an aisle of the Ham Panther.

"Why?" Trent asked. "We're like shopping."

"I know, it's super weird. I always imagined doing stuff like this with my girlfriend, or you know, whoever. Just...it felt kinda like a dream. The more time went on, the more it was like it was never gonna happen. And now it's happening, it's still like a dream, I guess."

"I know how you feel, actually...throw some stuff in there, if you want."

"What? Dude, no I'd just throw in dumb shit like pizza rolls and mini tacos and two forty-eight packs of Lime Fiasco."

"I mean that all sounds good to me."

"Yeah but like it's your money and your place and your groceries."

"You're gonna be hanging out at my place a lot presumably, so you have a vested interest in the food that I'll be stocking. So grab some things."

She sighed. "Okay. I don't like feeling like a leach though."

"Mae, come on, you aren't. Just...let me do nice things for you."

"Okay. I mean, I can't argue with that."

They kept making their way through the store, winding their way through the aisles, grabbing whatever came to mind. He bought cereal and bread and milk and bacon and eggs. It did feel surreal, shopping like this. Trent had spent too long being broke, having to carefully select whatever he put in his basket, and now he could afford it all. He knew that he couldn't go on like this forever, but he was enjoying the freedom of having actual money.

As they reached the frozen food section Mae seemed to really come alive and she spent several minutes racing around, peering into every door and opening several of them, grabbing something from inside, running over, dropping it into the cart, then running back off again. Trent laughed and just watched her go.

She looked good today. Something about the way her hair was, the light seemed to really catch the red highlights. Her eyes were almost sparkling with sheer delight, and that seemed to help highlight all the attractive things about her. And there was something great about the way her clothes sat on her, that coat she was wearing, unzipped, the way her shirt under it fitted against her body, and the jeans she was wearing…

"What the fuck are you looking at?" she asked as she came back over with a pair of frozen pizzas.

"You," he replied. "You're so hot."

"What?! Shut the fuck up, loser!" she snapped, looking legitimately confused and caught between a silly grin and frustration and embarrassment.

"Yeah, you're just really hot right now," he said, grinning.

"Oh my God! Stop!" she hissed. "You're embarrassing me!"

"No one else is around," he replied. "I'm not allowed to tell my girlfriend she's hot?"

"Not when she's me!" she snapped.

"You want something else? Pretty? Beautiful?"

She exhaled sharply. "Trent!"

"Cute?"

She looked up suddenly and her eyes flashed with real annoyance. "Call me cute and I'll claw your eyes out."

"Wow, okay."

She sighed and reached up and flicked her ear. "Sorry."

"What would you prefer, Mae?" he asked.

"I don't even know, man. It feels weird, you telling me I'm hot at all. I feel like trash. And I don't know if that's gonna change...I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be difficult. I guess...thanks. I'm glad you think I'm so hot."

"I'm not lying, you know," he said. "Like, I really mean it. You look good."

She looked down at herself. "Your standards are so weird, Trent…" She twisted her lips, then looked back up at him. "What about me?"

"I really like your hair," he said. "I like the red in it. I like your eyes right now. Seeing you happy is like...it's nice. And those clothes. I like that shirt on you. Although...I'm gonna be real with you, Mae: you're gonna have to change soon."

"I've been changing my socks and underwear every time I came home!" she replied.

"And I appreciate that. Just…"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. I'll bring some clothes over tonight...uh, unless that's weird? That's a thing I've heard couples fight about…"

"It's fine," Trent replied. They started heading back through the store to the front. "I think it makes sense to bring some stuff over. I'll make sure there's room."

"Thanks." They got to one of the aisles and started putting everything up on the conveyor belt. Trent still felt weird about this part. He'd never quite gotten over the strangeness of making the switch from coming to the store with his mom and basically just tagging along, and doing this for himself. He had the vague notion that he was doing something wrong, and anyone looking at him was silently judging him, or at least waiting for him to notice his fuckup. It was a pretty shitty feeling and he'd learned to just ignore as best he could.

They got everything swiped and bagged, and he balked at the final count: a hundred and fifty bucks. Trent hesitated for just a few seconds, then swiped his card and paid for it. It was more than he was used to, but this was his first real shopping run, he was buying all the basic staples. Or at least that's what he told himself.

Mae had indeed thrown a lot of stuff in there.

But whatever, it would make them happy, and she apparently hadn't been paying close enough attention to the fact that he'd bought all the ingredients for tacos. Which was nice, it could hopefully be a surprise.

They finished up and headed outside.

The ride back was less awkward than Trent thought it might be.

He'd had several awkward, uncomfortable encounters with his other girlfriend's parents, and he'd always had the impression they were disappointed in her choice. Ultimately, she'd agreed with them. His reception from Mae's mom had so far been guarded, but warm. The better an idea he got of the broader situation with Mae and her parents, the more he understood this reception. She was guarded because Mae was…

He imagined she required someone unique to actually date her and keep her best interests in mind. Mae wasn't the kind of person you just sort-of dated.

But more than that, Candy was no doubt painfully aware of how difficult Mae might make some things. She had almost no filter, although he could tell she was genuinely working on it. She had a tendency to do crazy shit, including stealing and smashing giant lights with a fucking baseball bat. She had at least one serious psychological condition, and slept a lot. By her own admission, she probably couldn't hold down a job.

As more than one person had put it, including herself, Mae was a handful.

On top of how naturally protective she'd be as Mae's mother, Candy no doubt was also doubly concerned that the person who filled the 'significant other' slot in Mae's life be, among other things, good at it.

Patient, he imagined. Whoever did it would need a lot of patience.

Trent wasn't sure how much patience he had, but he got the idea that he was going to find out over the next few weeks.

Not that he had any delusions about himself, though. It wasn't like he was a saint or anywhere in the same galaxy as perfect. Mae would need to put up with him, too. He had shit days and miserable days and antisocial tendencies.

Although those seemed to be fading. When he thought about it, it shocked him how much he'd been around people, people he didn't really know yet, since coming here. Trent supposed it should be obvious, but it was a surprise when it occurred to him why: he liked these people. He liked Bea's gothic edge and no-bullshit stance, he liked Ann's subdued chill, he liked Mae's insanity, mostly. Based on the little interactions he'd had, he liked Angus's reserved calm and Gregg's wild energy. It was strange, he'd known people with each of these personalities in his past, and he'd had reasons to dislike them all before.

What was different?

As they pulled up in front of his house, it abruptly occurred to Trent what the difference was.

Everyone he'd met so far was real.

No one was a fucking poser, no one was putting up a front. None of them were saying or doing things because they were overly concerned with how it might be perceived. And yet, at the same time, none of them seemed to wander too far into the territory of: I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks of me. Which was really just code for being an asshole. None of them were jerks, or if they were, it was on accident, and they usually owned it and apologized.

Why? What caused that?

Maybe it was Mae. Bea had said people tend to clam up in Possum Springs, especially around newcomers, and he believed it. But all of these people were friends of Mae. Maybe she was the connection, the thing that made them all act authentically.

"Wow, this place is so nice," Candy said as he showed her inside. "But that makes enough sense. From what I understood, your great-uncle was pretty well-to-do."

"What did you know about him?" Trent asked. "We talked often enough but I never really got a sense of what he actually did or anything."

"He used to work the mine, I believe," Candy replied. He noticed Mae freeze up at the mention of the word mine but she quickly dropped off the bag she was carrying in the kitchen and then headed back outside. "But they closed that down awhile ago. I swear at some point he worked up at the social administration building. That was more recent. I'm not sure about the in-between. I'd have to check, but I think he was in charge of collecting taxes or something."

"That'd make sense. Uh, why don't you look around and see if there's anything you want? Most of the stuff I'm giving away is in the basement," Trent replied.

"What are you holding onto for sure?" she asked.

"Uh, the bed in the main bedroom upstairs, the couch and recliners out there, also the dresser in the main bedroom. Everything else...I mean except for one thing I promised to give Bea I guess all the rest of it is open for debate."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"Yeah. I mean it's all my stuff legally speaking and I'm not necessarily in love with much of it. It's not really my style, but I can tell it's mostly good stuff and I think people would like it. Bea's helping me sell it off."

"That's very nice of her. You know, if you want, I know a few people who would pay a respectable price for it. Especially if they knew it would be helping out the man dating Mae."

"Oh...I mean, I'd welcome the help, but I feel weird about, uh, nepotism. If I'm being honest."

"Nepotism is sort of a force of nature in Possum Springs," Candy said. "You can go against the tide if it suits you, but everything will be harder. I actually understand what you mean, though. I don't like it much myself, though mainly because we, as a family, have been on the receiving end of the more negative effects of nepotism. But, let's just say, turning it away isn't exactly a luxury we have any longer."

"Oh. I understand that," Trent said. "I've been there."

"Haven't we all? Well, I'm going to go have a look around."

"Okay. Thanks again for driving us back."

"You're welcome."

She started walking through the house and Mae came back after a bit with the last of the groceries. "Is my mom just...wandering around?" she asked.

"Yeah," Trent replied. "I said she could have a piece of furniture or two if she wanted it. I figured it'd be nice to help out your family."

"You're too nice," Mae said after a moment of staring at him with her arms crossed.

"Maybe."

She sighed. "I guess it's better to be too nice than too mean."

"I think so."

They put the groceries away and then went to sit down in the living room.

"What are we gonna do tonight?" Mae asked.

"I think I'm gonna go over this place again, start getting my stuff sorted out, start making it mine. And also I want to get some proper lighting down in the basement and start taking all those pics Bea wants me to."

"Wait, like...dick pics?" Mae asked.

"What? No. Like pictures of the furniture-why would I go into the basement to do that?"

"I dunno, cuz you're embarrassed?"

"But I'd be setting up proper lighting?"

"I mean it's dark in the basement."

"Mae you're so fucking weird-"

"Can I have this lamp!?" Candy called from upstairs.

"Probably, lemme see!" Trent called back.

He got up and headed upstairs. She was in the study, investigating one of a pair of fancy-looking lamps, set on either side of a big desk that he was also going to get rid of. He was surprised Bea hadn't wanted this desk, but the one in the basement was pretty solid, too. It was going to be such a bitch getting everything out of there.

"Yeah, sure," he said. "I'll carry it over to your place."

"Thank you! I'll drive around and meet you at the back door."

Trent unplugged it and picked it up, then started following her downstairs.

"You want a lamp?" Mae asked.

"Yes. I've been intending to buy another one for the bedroom and this would be absolutely perfect," Candy replied.

"Okay."

"Are you spending the night here again?"

"Yeah," Mae replied. "I like it over here. And I think the bed is helping my back, actually. It's more comfortable."

Trent tried to keep a poker face as he felt a brief stab of panic. This topic was a sort of razor's edge, he found, when it came to talking with significant other's parents. It was okay to acknowledge that they were spending the night over at your place, but you had to be careful not to acknowledge that you two would actually be sleeping in the same bed, or any of the other stuff that was obviously going to happen as a result of spending the night.

Like sex.

Lots of it.

But Candy didn't seem to care. "Okay, dear. Maybe you should grab your medication if you're going to spending more nights over here. And some clothes."

"Yeah, I was gonna tonight...thanks, mom," she mumbled.

"You're welcome dear. Tomorrow night, I'm making dinner. I was thinking you two could come over and eat dinner with your father and I, and then we could all come here for a bit and your father could look around and we could get to know this boy you're dating."

"I…" she sighed heavily. "Yeah, I guess that's fair. No way to avoid it, huh?"

"Absolutely none at all, dear," Candy replied with a smile that was somehow both motherly and delighted.

"Very well, I surrender to your mothering ways."

"Twenty Four Hours A Day Mom," Candy replied.

"Yep. I'll see you at home."

"See you there. And thank you again, Trent."

"You're welcome, ma'am."

She headed out the door and he shut and locked it behind her. "I don't got anything to, like, worry about, with them, do I?" he asked.

"No, I don't think so. My dad is chill and my mom is...weird, but also mostly chill. Don't worry, you should do fine. I know it sounds lame, but just be yourself. Honestly, I'm the one who gets off easy. I don't have to meet your family...right?"

"As far as I'm concerned, yes. If you have to meet them, absolutely be as weird and rude as you want. They deserve it," he replied.

"Okay!...now I kinda want to meet them, just to fuck with them," she said as they headed through the back door with the lamp in hand.

He laughed. "Yeah, I admit, it's tempting."

They made their way across the backyard.