He ended up getting a large Fiasco Lime and managed not to drink most of it on the walk back.

Apparently he had good timing because right as he was approaching the doctor's office, Mae was walking out. She looked angry, but as she looked over and saw him, her eyes went wide. She rushed over and nearly knocked him down.

"You brought me tacos?! And Lime Fiasco!?" she cried.

"Yes," he replied. "Though I just brought the one drink. I got extra large though, I figured we could share?"

"Fine by me," she replied immediately, taking it from his grasp and taking a large drink. "Can I have them now?"

"Yeah, we should find somewhere to eat…"

Mae plopped herself right down on the front steps of the doctor's office and patted the stone steps. "Sit."

"You sure they won't get mad?" Trent asked uncertainly.

"Don't give a fuck if they get mad, they can fuck off," Mae replied.

He shrugged and sat beside her, passing her the two tacos and pulling one of his own out. She immediately began applying hot sauce and digging in.

"Dude," she said, her mouth full, "if you ever propose to me, don't bother with a ring, just use a taco. Like a good one, though. I guess probably a handmade one? But I'll be honest, I'm a taco slut. I'll take any taco."

"Yeah but then you'd eat it right away and then how would people know we're married?"

"That'd be me saying yes! And who cares what people know!? People don't know shit and they don't need to know shit about me unless I tell them," she replied, quickly finishing off the first taco, taking a long drink, then repeating the process.

"Okay," he said with another shrug, and took a few bites of his own. Her second taco was gone in another minute. She frowned, looking longingly at his remaining taco. He laughed. "Yeah, you can have it."

"You sure?" she asked.

"I'm sure, I'm not that hungry," he replied.

"Thanks!"

She proceeded to eat the third taco.

"So what happened in there? You look, and sound, mad," he asked.

She grumbled something as she finished off the taco, then took a long drink and passed the cup back to him. "I just got the third degree is all." She sighed heavily and sneered. "I didn't have any friends in college, but sometimes I talked with people. A couple of girls told me about trying to get birth control. Like, it's easier now...sorta, like in bigger towns, college towns, but it's hard to get any sort of birth control. Like even the pill. Which is what I did get. But like, it can be such a pain because doctors don't want to give it to you."

"Why?" he asked.

"Cuz they're fucking jealous, or mad, or I don't even know why. They're mad because we're having sex? I don't even know! And it just happened to me! Doctor Hank didn't even want to do it! He got annoyed all of a sudden and started telling me all this stuff about like abortion and like prostitutes and then something about his daughter? Dude, I don't even know. He's got damage. I mean I've got damage, but man. I argued with him and I finally had to threaten to call my mom and I guess he's scared of my mom or something because he finally agreed and got me the pills. I don't know dude, it was just weird. Like it was really weird and uncomfortable." She stood up suddenly. "Fuck this place, come on, let's go see Bea."

"Okay," he replied, because she was clearly getting unhappier and honestly this was making him unhappy. Why should it be so hard to get birth control?

Bea was literally right next door, so they walked over after he finished off his own meal and threw away their trash as they walked inside.

"Bea!" Mae called, hurrying over to the counter.

"Mae," Bea replied mildly, though she had a genuine smile on her face.

"You'll never guess what I did."

"Probably not, Mae," Bea agreed, "you're a wildcard. Hard to predict."

"I-" She paused, glanced back at Trent, then leaned forward and started whispering in Bea's ear. Trent felt a kind of instant attraction to Bea the moment he saw her, not all that dissimilar from how it had felt when he'd seen Mae, but for a completely different reason. He wasn't sure what he'd expected when he'd heard Mae talk about her, but it wasn't this tall, slender, goth-looking crocodile wearing a black dress, and a…

Holy shit, was that a choker collar?

He had a real serious thing for goth girls.

"Mae!" Bea cried suddenly, looking directly at Trent and blushing. "You-I mean, really?"

"Yeah! Also-" she leaned in and started whispering again. Trent shifted uncomfortably.

Bea's eyes went wide. "MAE!" she cried, a look of incredulous shock and amusement growing. She looked back at him again with a surprised smile. She was definitely telling her about last night, and the stuff they'd done.

"Wait," Bea said, losing her smile. "Did you at least…" She sighed and then whispered something in Mae's ear. What was the point? Maybe there was someone in the back.

"...no," Mae murmured sheepishly.

"Mae!" Bea replied, her tone growing stern, crossing her arms. "That was stupid."

"No, it was awesome! You should try it!"

"I told you, I did try it. At math camp. The math was better."

"Ugh! Bea! Just-come hang out with us!" Mae replied.

"I can't," Bea replied simply.

"Trent, come here!" Mae said, beckoning him over sharply. He sighed and came over. "You two should at least meet. This is Trent. He lives in the house behind mine now."

"Good to meet you," Bea said.

"You too," he replied awkwardly.

"So what, you and your family just move into town?"

"Just me."

She opened her mouth, then closed it, frowning. "Wait...just you? In a house? How old are you?" she asked.

"Twenty two," he replied. "I inherited it."

Her frown deepened and she stared at him more closely, squinting her navy blue eyes a little. Then she sighed quietly and seemed to lighten up. "Well...that's good, I guess. Or not, I guess someone had to die."

"My great-uncle. He was cool, but I didn't really know him too well," Trent replied with an uncomfortable shrug. He was probably going to have to get used to that. "But I mean I am lucky in that I got this house."

"Yeah except it's in Possum Springs," she muttered.

An idea struck him suddenly and he decided to throw it out there before he forgot again. "Hey, I'm going to want to like sell off some stuff from the house. A lot of it is old stuff I probably won't care about. Do you know the best way to do that? I was thinking maybe a yard sale but...I dunno, it's almost the end of the year…"

"I can hook you up, actually," Bea said, suddenly interested. She leaned forward and it was very difficult not to glance down the front of her dress. It was tight but the cleavage was there. "Although, like, won't your family be mad? Even if they don't care about sentimental value old people usually at least will care if there's money involved."

"My family can fuck off," Trent replied simply.

"Huh. Okay then. Lot of that around here, honestly. But so, it's all yours? As in legally? You have documents proving you legally own everything in that house?" she asked.

"Yep," he replied.

"Okay. Cool. I can work with that, man. But I want twenty percent for making this happen."

"What exactly will happen?" he asked.

"I know a bunch of people in town. Between my dad and the people he knows and the people that work for this store, let's just say I know a shitload of people who would be into buying old sturdy furniture and stuff. Which I assume is what you have. If it's crap I can't help you."

"No, it's nice stuff."

"Then cool. And I can get them to pay not bullshit prices, too, if you go through me."

"Deal," he replied, offering her his hand.

She blinked in surprise, looked down at his hand, then back up at him, then slowly reached out and shook it. "Wow, I thought for sure you wouldn't take that."

"Why? I mean, it's fair. Sounds like a lot of work, honestly," he said.

"It will be," she said, "but I'm used to people trying to fuck me over."

"He's nice," Mae said.

"Huh. Damn. Should've asked for twenty five," Bea muttered.

"I mean, negotiations don't necessarily have to be over," Trent said with a shrug.

"Really?" she replied.

"Yeah. I don't really want to screw anyone over and I mean if I feel like you're not trying to screw me over and you're doing your job well that should be appropriately compensated," he said.

"Also, you were totally right about the boob thing, Bea," Mae said suddenly. "I'm pretty sure you can totally convince him if you just let him see your boobs and maybe touch them."

"Mae!" he cried as Bea laughed awkwardly.

"What?!" she yelled back.

"You're making it weird!"

"I always do that!"

Bea sighed heavily, then pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips, studying him. "So wait, like, are you dating or what?"

He looked down at Mae, who looked up at him. She shrugged.

"What a Mae answer," Bea muttered.

"I mean...probably, yeah," he said.

"Probably yeah," Mae agreed.

"And so you wouldn't have a problem with your boyfriend feeling me up?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"No. You're one of my best friends!" Mae replied.

"Yeah but like-I mean that's not…" She put her chin in her hand and studied him again. "I mean, yeah, I'd sell my body for a bit, if it's to someone I trust…" she murmured.

"...this is getting, uh…" Trent said.

"Hot?" Mae asked.

"Uncomfortable."

"What, you don't believe in sex work?" Bea asked.

"No, I mean, I do, just...I'm not sure."

"Just that it's a sensitive topic and you've probably been conditioned to feel weird about it. It's cool. But hey, if you're down and Mae's down then I'm down," she replied with a shrug.

"Yeah I just...holy shit, I am getting into the wildest conversations since moving here," Trent muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I feel caught. I don't want it to feel like I'm, I dunno, taking advantage? But I also really want to touch your boobs."

"And I'm offering, so it's not taking advantage. Don't make it weird," Bea replied.

"I...okay."

"Cool. I'll come by your place to look over the stuff. I need, like, a list of the stuff and what condition it's in. Where did you say you live?"

"Right behind my house," Mae said happily.

"Oh. Right. That makes it easy, at least. I can't come tonight, but I can come tomorrow. I'm off tomorrow. Hopefully. I'm supposed to be. So I'll come over and maybe show you my boobs, if you really want that," she said.

"Why wouldn't I want that?" he asked.

"Well...I mean, you got Mae and her boobs are just...man," she replied, flicking her gaze to Mae with, he noted, a bit of bitterness, probably a bit of jealousy. He sensed some tension between the two of them, but then again he'd seen tension between literally everyone Mae came in contact with.

"Size isn't everything," Trent said.

"Well I personally agree," Bea replied, looking back at him and smiling. Was she actually flirting with him? She was really attractive.

"Good for me," he said, laughing awkwardly.

"Oh whatever with your size, your thing isn't small," Mae said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh really?" Bea murmured.

"Yeah, but you are," Trent replied.

"Hey fuck you, man! I'm not small!"

"You are short, Mae," Bea said.

"Oh whatever." Mae crossed her arms.

"So tomorrow?" Bea asked.

"Tomorrow," Trent replied, nodding.

"Cool. I'll be there. Sometime around noon if I can swing it."

"Ugh, too early," Mae complained.

"Oh shut up, you can just sleep and I'll do things with your probably boyfriend," Bea said, grinning again, then losing it slightly, giving Mae a slightly nervous look. Probably thinking the same thing he was: Mae was asking a trick question or joking or somehow not being truthful about this. But Mae just shrugged.

"I don't care what you two do as long as you let me sleep," Mae replied.

"Huh. Okay. Well if there's nothing else then I gotta politely kick you out. I need to go deal with inventory," Bea said.

"Okay. Come on, Trent. Let's go home," Mae said.

"Uh, all right," he replied.

"Mae, oh my God, you need to get better about being polite to people. You can't just tell him to go home and call his home your home," Bea said.

"That's not what I-oh whatever!"

"What a couple," Bea murmured as they walked out.