"So, Mae…" Trent murmured as they walked along the sidewalk, heading for the Snack Falcon.

She sighed softly. "I know," she said.

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"Why do you do all this stuff? Everything you've told me, all the...not good stuff. Why do you steal? Why did you trash the bathroom at that donut place? Why did you play baseball with lightbulbs? Why do you climb on people's roofs? And why did you do that, just now?" he asked. Trent tried not to let it all come out at once but now it was, and he realized it had been bugging him, and the more he thought about it, the more it bothered him.

Mae was quiet for a long time. They pretty much had the sidewalk to themselves at this point. People were either all at work or at home, or just indoors.

"I don't really...know," she said finally. "I mean, I know why I did that, back in the Pickaxe. I thought that asshole was going to hurt you. And I don't-I can't tolerate that. Back in school, I saw too many people get fucked with. Gregg especially, sometimes even Bea. I hate it so much, not just because you're all my friends, but because it isn't right. There are people out there who are actually real assholes and they deserve to get fucked with, but no one ever fucks with them and they're always the ones doing the bullying. Like...we've been through enough, but also we shouldn't have to go through that stuff. I...I don't know. I think it might be a trigger now, seeing people get bullied, I get so pissed. But when it happened to you, like...I-I kinda lost it. I'm glad you stopped me, because I really would've done it," she murmured uncomfortably.

"That's-you see how that's a big problem, right?" he asked.

"Yes. I do. And I'll try to get it figured out. I know I shouldn't, and it's not like-I mean, when I say I would've done it, I didn't mean like kill him or anything. But I don't know, would it be so bad if he got stabbed in the leg or something?"

"Yes, Mae," he replied. "The guy was a jerk off and I don't know, maybe I'm with you in that he deserved a solid punch in the face, but you can't come at people with tools. You stab someone in the thigh? Half decent chance you hit a femoral artery and that kills people. They'll bleed out fast."

"You can die from a leg wound? Like quickly?"

"Yes."

"Like how fast are we talking here?"

"Less than five minutes."

"Holy shit, I didn't know that-how do you know this?"

"Horror author," he replied.

She laughed softly. "Okay, makes sense." She sighed and shook her head. "Okay, yeah. I get it. I'll be careful."

"I appreciate it, Mae." He waited a few seconds. "So you really don't know? Why you did all that other stuff?"

She sighed softly. "I...don't. It's like...I feel super, super shitty sometimes. Like there's a pressure inside me, and it's got to be released, somehow, someway, and my body just starts panicking...that's some of it. I guess it's like...I get so fucking depressed and I'll do fucking anything to make it stop. But some of it, the crimes? I guess it's more like...who gives a shit? Everything's fucked anyway, why not do stuff that feels fun?"

"Hmm," he replied.

"Hmm what?" she asked.

"What?"

"That felt like a loaded 'hmm'."

"I'm not sure," he admitted after a moment. "I guess I just don't feel like that's the whole truth."

"You think I'm lying?"

"No, Mae. I think you're being honest, I just think maybe you don't even know the full answer of why you do it."

She thought about that. "Yeah, I guess not."

They arrived at the Snack Falcon not much later, and found an unfamiliar face behind the counter. Mae frowned. "Can I borrow your phone?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied, passing it to her as he went looking for Bea's favorite drink. It had taken a bit, but he'd finally ferreted out that it was a region-specific soda called Mister Mule, specifically Mister Mule Blue. He found a twenty ounce bottle of it in the cooler, grabbed one, hesitated, then grabbed another.

That sex had been really fucking good, and she'd taken a shot in the mouth for him. Trent had no illusion that any of the women he was hooking up with actually enjoyed the taste of his stuff, and were taking it in the mouth as a favor to him.

And he thought that should be repayed however it could be. Sometimes that meant reciprocal oral, sometimes it meant two bottles of soda.

"What's up?" he asked as he rejoined Mae by the snack area. He began hunting around for hot fries. He knew she liked those, too.

"Trying to figure out what Angus and Gregg are up to. I wanna try and work in some time with them," she murmured as she kept texting with his phone. "Is that cool with you?"

"Yeah I'd be down," he replied. "Just don't forget about our other engagement."

"Other?" she murmured, glancing up. He stared at her for a few seconds. "Oh! Yeah, with Mr. Chaz and Selmers, don't worry. We got time."

"Cool."

He found the hot fries and then accepted his phone when she passed it back, apparently done with her texting. She looked happy.

"You want something?" he asked, looking around.

"Well…"

"Go on."

"Thanks!"

She grabbed a bag of potato chips, a twenty ounce of Lime Fiasco, and, after some consideration, a bag of tiny cookies. He paid for everything and they started walking back to the Pickaxe.

"Hey," he said.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Mae started giggling. "Shut up," she whispered, then kept giggling. "I love you too. Ah...oh man, that's another thing I thought was BS."

"Love?" Trent replied.

"Yeah. I mean, I knew it existed. But like...I didn't think I'd get the...the fuzzies."

"Fuzzies?"

"Yeah. Like. You know. Warm fuzzies fluttering in my stomach, or my chest, or...lower, sometimes. I don't know, when you say stuff like that, or I catch you looking at me with that little smile on your face, it just-it makes me feel warm and shivery and fluttery. It feels so good. I'm starting to feel that way about Selmers, too…" She hesitated, a small look of worry coming onto her face. "Is that going to be a problem? I know you're okay for us all to…" She looked around. "To you know. But it's-I mean, I'll fall for her, too. I just will."

"This whole thing is going to take some getting used to for me, Mae, but it shouldn't be a problem. She's great. She deserves to be loved. You both do."

"So do you," Mae murmured. She poked him suddenly. "You don't think I see it, but I do."

"See what?" he asked.

"You don't think you should be happy. You don't think you deserve us. Because of what your mom said to you in the kitchen that one time."

Trent froze. He stopped so fast he almost dropped what he was carrying, his mind instantly snapping back to that cold, dark memory.

Of his mother, fighting with him in the kitchen after they had gotten back from picking up dinner at McDonald's. They'd gotten into an argument on the way home. He'd made a passing remark about a bullying problem he was experiencing at school and it had made her mad. He saw now that it almost certainly had made her so mad because she felt that it was a failing on her part, that it made her look bad that she couldn't or wouldn't handle it, and all she knew how to do was get mad at him about problems, and they'd gone back and forth.

And finally, in the kitchen, after about five minutes of solid silence, with him being goddamned fifteen and holding back tears, trying so hard not to cry, she was still so angry and she'd looked over at him and said You're such a fucking pussy, how could any woman ever want to date you? He could hear her voice even now, seven years later.

"How do you know about that?" he asked, looking directly at Mae now, some strange kind of fear rising in him. "How do you know about that?"

Now Mae looked frightened. She swallowed. "I...I mean…"

"I never told you that, Mae. I'm sure I never told you about that because I never told...what did she call me?" he asked.

Mae shifted nervously. "I don't…" She looked away.

"Mae."

She slowly looked back at him. "Pussy," she whispered.

"How do you know that?" he asked, his voice low but intense, the fear growing.

"I don't know," she replied. "I just...I just knew it. I don't know. Shit. I wasn't even thinking, I just-it just came to me."

"Fuck," Trent whispered.

"Are you mad?" she asked.

"No, I'm scared...come on. We need to get to Bea," he muttered, and started walking again. Something else was bothering him, something that had picked at him very, very distantly ever since it had happened that one night Ann had begun crying. It had bothered him off and on until finally he'd stopped thinking about it. But now it came back in a flash. They were close to the Pickaxe when he stopped and looked at her again. "How did you know Ann was crying?" he asked.

"I...had a dream, a nightmare," she replied.

"You've had nightmares before. They never wake you up, Mae. Never. It's almost impossible to wake you up. Why did this one nightmare, that happened to correlate with something happening in real life, wake you up?"

She stared at him for a long time. "I don't know," she said finally. "What the fuck does that mean?...maybe I heard her crying in my sleep?"

"Maybe," he admitted. "But with what just happened, how did you know?" he asked again. "What was it like? What happened when you asked that question?"

"I don't know," she repeated. "It was like...following a chain of thoughts? I was thinking about you, and how you looked when you're sad, because you were trying to make me happy, and I hate it when you look sad. I feel guilty. And then I thought of you making a joke about how you don't deserve us. And then...another joke, and another, and then I thought about how all of us have cried to you, but you've never cried to us, and then-that was it. I suddenly got this memory of you in a kitchen, trying not to cry, and your mom saying that to you...but it was like a memory, almost like I was there. It felt natural...what the hell is it?" she whispered.

"...do you believe in mind-reading?" he asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "Do you?"

"I mean I do now. Because that's exactly what just happened. I've never told that to anyone, Mae. And you just described it perfectly. You read my mind. What the fuck-how did it happen?"

"I wasn't trying to if that's what you're asking," she replied. "Oh God, I'm gonna puke…"

"Okay, okay, let's...let's calm down," he murmured, more to himself than to her. "Shit. Let's go drop this stuff off with Bea."

"I'm scared," she said quietly.

"It'll be okay," he replied.

"I don't know if it will."

"I'm here for you, Mae. It'll be okay."

She didn't say anything as they walked into the Pickaxe. There was still no one around and Bea looked bored behind the counter, but her face lit up as they came in. Then diminished somewhat. "What's wrong? What happened? You two looked freaked."

"Is anyone here?" Trent asked quietly.

She shook her head, stepping closer. "No, we've got the place to ourselves again. What is it? Did someone say something to you? Something happen? Did Chris come at you again?"

"No, nothing like that. Mae...just read my mind," Trent muttered awkwardly.

Bea opened her mouth, then closed it. She looked at him, then over at Mae, then back at him. She began to say something, then stopped. Finally, she hugged herself. "What?" she managed.

"I didn't mean to," Mae said.

Trent shook his head and put the stuff he'd bought her out on the counter, because it occurred to him to do so and he knew he'd forget if he didn't do it now.

"Thanks," Bea murmured distractedly, glancing down briefly at it. She shook her head finally. "Okay, what? What actually happened?"

"We were talking, and Mae was trying to comfort me, and she mentioned something, just in passing practically, that she could not possibly have known about. A direct memory I have that I have not told anyone about. Literally the only two people who knew about it were me and my mom," Trent replied.

"You're sure you didn't mention it in passing or something?" Bea asked.

"No," Trent replied flatly. "It wouldn't have come up in causal conversation. It's-it's a very painful, personal memory. It's...humiliating. That's why I never told anyone. Not even Mae."

"I'm sorry," Mae whispered, "I didn't mean to. But she was wrong, okay?"

"What'd your mom say to you?" Bea asked quietly, concern etched clearly onto her features.

"I…" He sighed. "She called me a pussy for crying and getting bullied, and said no woman would ever want me."

"Oh my God, Trent," Bea said, coming around from behind the counter and hugging him. "I'm so sorry, Trent. That's fucking bullshit."

"Someone could see," he murmured.

"I don't care. That was wrong of her Trent. Jesus, your mother. No wonder you wanted to get away from them."

"I'm okay," Trent said, clearing his throat. He hugged her back, and then Mae when she hugged both of them. "I'll be fine. I'm just freaked out."

Bea and Mae let go and looked at each other.

"Okay...let's take this at face value: Mae read your mind. I think we should test this."

"How?" Mae asked.

"What number am I thinking?" Bea asked, crossing her arms and staring at her.

Mae glanced uncertainly at Trent, then to Bea. She concentrated on her for a moment, then, uncertainly, asked "Nine?"

"No. Not even close," Bea said.

"So what does that mean?" Mae asked.

"Maybe it's conditional, somehow. Fuck I don't know the rules," she replied.

"I don't want to think about this anymore," Mae said. She sighed. "Can we drop it?"

"I…" Trent hesitated. This was a pretty big deal. But she looked like she needed some time. "Yeah," he replied, "we can drop it."

"Thank you. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It isn't your fault."

Mae looked at Bea. "Can we borrow your car?"

"...is Trent driving?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Yeah, okay," Bea replied, heading back behind the counter.

"What?! Really? Zero hesitation for him?" Mae asked.

"I trust Trent," Bea replied simply as she grabbed her purse and fished out her keys. She got one off the ring and set it down on the counter. "Why do you need it?"

"Gregg and Angus want to get some fantastic yums with us," Mae replied.

Trent glanced at Mae, then at Bea. She shrugged. "That makes as much sense to me as it does to you," she replied.

"Donuts! Fantastic yums!" Mae cried, throwing up her hands.

"Oh. Donut Wolf. Yeah, okay. Just make sure you're back by five. That should be plenty of time," Bea replied.

"Cool!"

"Yep. Thanks for this," Bea said, twisting the cap off one of the bottles.

"Well, given what you did for me, I figured it was more than fair to get you your favorite soda," he replied.

"How'd you know it was my favorite?" she asked, eyeing him with suspicion that he couldn't quite tell was real or mock.

"I pay attention to my-to you," he replied.

She laughed awkwardly. "Okay, fair enough...thanks."

"You're welcome, Bea."

"I'll...God I want to come see you guys, but there's just so much to do. Urgh. I'll be over soon, okay? I'm gonna make time."

"Whenever you can, Bea. I mean, you know I miss you," Trent replied.

"Yeah! It'll be awesome!" Mae declared.

"It will, it has been so far...uh...good luck with, you know, everything."

"Yeah, we'll need it," Trent replied, eyeing Mae.

"Come on, let's go," she said, taking his hand.

They headed out.