Trent found himself in the incredibly odd position of driving back home with Chris sitting next to him in the passenger's seat.
It was quiet for several long moments.
"Uh...Mae," Chris said, eventually breaking that silence.
"What?" Mae replied, her voice low.
"I never really said it, but...I'm sorry. For attacking you back at the Pickaxe."
"Mmm…" Mae grumbled. Trent waited, genuinely very curious about how she would handle this. "I...accept your apology, but I don't forgive you. And I'm not sorry for punching you in the face."
"Wow, Mae," Bea said.
"I get it, honestly and...I can't blame you for doing what you did. I did for a while, though. I was really mad. But...I've been doing a lot of thinking and...yeah. Also, to be honest, it's actually impressive. You're, like, crazy brave. I'm like three times your size. Almost no one has actually swung on me, and a woman has never done it before you, or since, I guess."
Mae was quiet for another moment. "Chris, I want to take the opportunity to impress upon you just how important Trent is to me. He is my soulmate as far as I'm concerned. I have had a shit life. I mean a really shit life. I'm a ridiculously short, weird-looking, pansexual girl with serious mental health problems and shitty social skills, and I grew up in Possum Springs. I have to live with the fact that I lost my shit and put an innocent kid in the hospital. I'll feel bad about that until the day I die. My only other romantic relationship didn't go anywhere.
"Before last year, my only real friend was Gregg. I fucked up my friendship with Bea. I fucked up my other friendships, and I got no new ones when I went to college, which I had to leave because of my fucking mental health problems. I went through a lot of shit after I got back. I figured I was too fucked up to have a relationship, that I was too fucked up to be loved, I was more or less ready to be alone for the rest of my life. And then I met Trent. From the beginning, we weren't just hooking up, we weren't just dating, okay? He fucking got me, he understood me in a way like no one else in my entire life has. He loves me, and I love him more than life itself.
"I would fucking die for him. I would fucking kill for him. So I want you to keep all that in mind if you ever try to hurt him again. And the same pretty much goes for Bea, for Ann, for Gregg and Angus, my friends and my family. I know you're trying to get your shit together and honestly? I respect that. I've spent a long time trying to get my shit together, too. I was a huge asshole and it was so fucking hard to fix that. It still is sometimes...that's all I've got. That's it."
She stopped speaking abruptly.
"Fuck," Chris muttered.
"What?" Mae asked.
"I just...I don't even know what the fuck to say to that. I also didn't know most of that. I mean I knew about the kid you put in the hospital. Everyone does. But...I don't know. I don't even know what to say. I'm sorry. I feel like even more of an asshole now. I'm just...so fucking angry all the time. I'm so fucking angry that I'm alone. I hate it. And...fuck. I mean, well, I'm fucking jealous of what you have. And that just...hurts."
Mae was silent for another long moment, then sighed. "I mean, I get that. I'd be jealous too. I was jealous, and bitter, and so fucking angry all the time, because I just wanted to be with someone. Fuck. I dunno, dude. It seems like you're figuring it out."
"It sure doesn't feel like it," he muttered.
"I don't think it will for a while. It's like losing weight. You'll lose ten, twenty, thirty, fifty pounds, and still look in the mirror and think 'what the fuck? I don't look any different', only you don't realize that you got a fucked up perception of yourself, and it's actually super obvious to other people when they look at you. I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere with my 'stop being an asshole' routine, but I did. I totally did."
"How'd you stop?"
She snorted. "Flicked my ear. Every time I had an asshole thought, I reached up and flicked my ear. It hurt. I don't have to do it anymore, you know, for the most part. It gets easier with time and practice." She paused. "This is such a weird fucking conversation. For a time, I was pretty sure you were gonna be my sworn enemy. But now here you are, saving my lover's life...I'm still mad at you, but...I don't hate you."
"That's actually a good way to put it," Bea murmured. "I'm still really mad at you, Chris...but I don't hate you. I did for a bit. But...I guess Trent and Ann taught me that hate is corrosive."
"Well, I'm glad you don't hate me," he replied awkwardly.
They pulled into the driveway and parked a moment later. Candy parked next to them. Everyone piled out of the cars.
"You said you wanted to speak with your sister?" Candy asked, looking at Chris with an oddly speculative gaze.
"Yeah, I would," he replied.
"All right. I'll go tell her, and she can decide if she wants to speak with you," she said, a little curtly.
"Thank you."
"One more thing, Chris Whitmore," she said. "This, these people," she spread her arms to encompass the group, "this is my family. And I don't tolerate people who hurt my family. I know where and how to bury bodies...that's all I'll say."
"Yes ma'am," he murmured awkwardly.
She nodded once and walked back along the side of the house, making for the backyard. They began to head inside, but then Bea stopped suddenly.
"Uh-uh. No," she said flatly, looking at Chris. "I appreciate you saving Trent and Gregg, but I'm not going to stand for you coming into my home. That's over the line. That's too far."
"All right, that's fair," he replied. "I'll wait out here."
"...thanks," Bea murmured.
"I'll wait, too," Trent said.
Bea sighed, but otherwise held her peace.
"I have to pee," Ann murmured.
"Yeah, me too," Mae said.
"You all go inside, I'll be right here, and then once we got things sorted with Claire, I'll come inside," Trent said.
"Uh, wait. Gregg," Chris said. "Uh...I wanted to talk to you about something."
"What?" Gregg asked uncertainly, holding Angus's hand.
"I, uh…" Chris looked uncomfortably at them all, then sighed softly. "Guess I just gotta do this in front of everyone. Um. I...have shouted some mean shit at you from my car a couple of times over the years. Because I knew you were...gay. And that was really shitty of me. And I just wanted to say I'm sorry."
Gregg looked at him for a long moment. Finally, he shrugged. "You saved me and Trent, so we're even. That's all I want to say. Just...don't be an asshole again and shout shit at someone just for being gay. It's not like I chose this, but even if I did, that's no one's business and I'm not ashamed of being gay. Come on, Cap'n, I need a toke."
"Me too for once," Angus murmured.
They all headed inside after that, and soon Trent found himself alone in his front yard with Chris. Again, it felt incredibly surreal.
"Oh my fucking God this sucks so fucking hard," Chris muttered, sitting down on the front step and lighting up a cigarette. "Fuck."
"That was commendable," Trent replied, "but...you didn't think there'd be consequences?"
Chris sighed heavily, exhaling a heavy cloud of smoke. "I mean yeah, I started putting that together at some point, that there were going to be consequences besides people taking a swing at me. To be honest, I'd rather Gregg have just kicked me in the nuts or socked me in the jaw instead of this. This just sucks. I'm...ashamed. I'm embarrassed. I'm guilty. I didn't realize it was going to hurt like this, or this badly."
"Well, I don't mean to sound like I'm unsympathetic, especially after tonight, but...you gotta take your lumps, I'm afraid."
He heaved another weary sigh. "Yeah. I guess I do."
Another uncomfortable moment passed between them.
"So why'd you do it, really?" Trent asked.
"Save your ass?"
"Yeah."
"I mean...it was the right thing to do, right?"
"Well, I certainly think so, yeah. I think most people would agree."
"I wanted to do the right thing for once. I mean people say doing the right thing feels good, and I just...want to feel good again."
"Did it?" Trent asked.
"Honestly? Yeah. It felt great."
"Well, that's good at least, I guess. Hopefully that was the 'doing the right thing' feeling good and not the 'beating someone down'."
"...some of both, I think."
"Fair, I guess." Trent looked at him. "Do you still hate me?"
Chris looked up, surprised, then looked away. "I...don't," he replied awkwardly. "I did for a while. I really fucking hated you. But now, I don't know. I don't hate you. I don't how the fuck I feel about you. You just confuse the shit out of me."
"What's so confusing?"
"Like...I don't know, man. I'm not sure how to say it without sounding like a dick."
"I wanna hear it."
"...all right, fine. You look so...underwhelming. Honestly you look like a pussy." Trent crossed his arms. Chris sighed. "You asked. But I mean, I saw you punch that dude. Guys who look like you don't get in fights, you don't pull chicks like Bea. I know it sounds like I'm being a huge dick right now, but you've gotta understand, this is how it was in school, man. And after, too. It was-the world was the way it was, and nothing ever really made me question that. Guys like you were either single virgins or ended up with weird chicks like Mae or nerdy chicks or whatever. They sure as hell didn't pull three fucking girlfriends and a side chick. And now you're writing books, and you got like a thousand people to show up and buy them? You must've made like ten grand today. Do you have any idea how insane that is?"
"I do, actually," Trent murmured. He heard something, faintly, and glanced over. Claire was standing at the edge of his house, mostly hidden. Chris hadn't heard her. She put a finger to her lips and then stepped back, out of sight.
"It's nuts," Chris continued. "And it's just like, I've got so many advantages. I'm fucking six four, I'm pretty jacked, I think I look pretty good. I dunno, I never really had a problem getting girls in high school, or even after that. It was kind of rare that I was single. But it always went to hell, and I never really felt like I could truly trust any of them. It always felt like...they were just waiting for me to fail, waiting for me to be weak. So they could use it against me. And, shit, I don't know. I guess you kind of scare me, because if you look like this, but you've done all this crazy shit, and pulled these chicks, then maybe I'm completely wrong in how I view myself, too."
"Well, I mean...in a way, you aren't wrong," Trent said.
"What's that mean?" Chris asked, looking up now.
"I mean, that's kind of what we've been trying to tell you, Chris. Getting jacked and being tall aren't the automatic win you think they are. Sure, they help, in some cases more than others, but you need more under the hood, man. I mean, as much as you want things, the women you're dating want things, too. And relationships take work. You can't just show up and look good. You gotta be nice. You gotta be considerate. You gotta compromise. You gotta do shit. And sometimes it won't work out. That's just how it goes."
He sighed. "Yeah. I just want...psh, it sounds so fucking bitch to say it, but I want to be loved."
"Fucking Christ, Chris, everyone wants that. And I think you'd get a lot farther if you give some love in return. You can't just treat your girlfriend like a check mark. Jacked? Check. Cool car? Check. Hot girlfriend? Check. That's not how it works. Not really. If you want something that means something, you have to show your heart." Trent considered it. "Okay, lemme put this in terms you'll get. If you want to find a girlfriend and have a relationship with her that's meaningful, you gotta be a pussy sometimes. Or, at least, what you think of as a pussy."
"That...makes a weird kinda sense," he muttered.
They both looked over as Claire decided to make her appearance then.
"Claire," he said, standing up abruptly. "Hi."
"Hello, Chris," Claire replied. "Trent."
"Hey, Claire," he said.
"Before anything else: are you two all right?"
Trent nodded. "We came out all right."
"Yeah, they didn't do shit," Chris replied.
"All right, good. Candy told me you wanted to talk? Also, Trent, I know you must be exhausted, so, unless he gives me a compelling reason not to, I can drive my brother home," Claire said.
"I really appreciate it," Trent said. He turned to face Chris and gave him another measured look. Finally, slowly, he extended his hand. "Thanks, for what you did tonight."
Chris shook his hand. "You're welcome."
Trent couldn't think of anything else to say, so he just headed inside. He almost literally ran right into Mae as he came in.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
"Yeah," Trent replied as he shut the door. "Were you listening?"
"...yes."
"Huh. That's not really polite, Mae," he replied.
"I know."
He sighed. "Whatever. Um. I need to sit down and smoke a little weed, because holy fucking shit it has been a stressful day. It's…" He glanced at the clock on the wall. "One AM?! How the fuck is it-whatever. Fuck me sideways."
"Get your ass in here," Bea said from the living room.
Trent gratefully walked in after kicking off his shoes. He found her and Ann sitting on the couch, which was folded out already. Gregg and Angus were seated in the recliner together, passing a pipe back and forth. Trent fell happily onto the couch.
"Here is your pipe, my brave boy," Ann said.
"That sounded a little weird," he said. "And thank you."
He sat up and let her light it, then puffed on it several times.
"Weird how?" Ann asked.
"I dunno. You more sounded like a mother than a girlfriend."
"You got a mommy fetish?" Mae asked, laughing.
"Uh...I don't think so," Trent replied.
"You had to think about it, interesting," Bea murmured.
"Shut up," he said, then stared at his pipe. "I promised myself I wasn't going to do this until we'd saved the house. But...today was way more stressful than I thought it would be."
"I think it'll be okay," Ann said.
"Yeah." He took several puffs, paused, took a few more, then gave the pipe to Mae and laid back down, groaning. "Fuck. That was a lot."
"Are you really okay?" Bea asked.
"Yeah. I'll be okay. Um...are we good for tomorrow? Bea? Angus?" he replied.
"We're fine," Mae said, passing the pipe to Bea.
"Yep," Angus agreed. "Been going over all the instruments, making sure everything's in tune, we have our setlist, been coordinating with Jackie...man, this feels so insane." He looked at Bea. "You and Jackie really gonna do some Linkin Park songs?"
"Yes, afraid as I am to become gender-bent Mike Shinoda," Bea murmured.
"You can't be Chester?" Trent asked, then sighed heavily. "Goddamnit, I'm never going to get over that he killed himself."
"I think most of us won't," Gregg muttered.
"Oh come on, I know I've shown you some of Jackie's songs," Bea replied, "and you heard that fucking scream of hers. Chester screams, Mike doesn't."
"Good point," he agreed, then yawned. "Fuck I'm tired."
"Yep," Bea murmured. They looked over as they briefly heard the faint sounds of Chris and Claire talking. "Okay, babe, level with me. Did it really play out like that? I mean Chris seriously saved your ass?"
"Honestly? Yes. No one exaggerated anything."
"I wonder why," Ann murmured.
"It was the right thing to do," Trent replied.
Bea snorted. "Like that's ever been a proper motivator for him."
"I guess it was this time. I also think that he wanted to be on the good guys' side for once. And he realized that, in this scenario, Gregg and I were the good guys."
"You are totally good guys," Mae murmured.
"Hey, Mae...come here," Trent said. She looked at him for a second, then crawled over and laid down next to him. He wrapped an arm around her. "I really appreciate what you said in the Jeep. And I feel the same way about you. And I'm also proud of you for not just tearing into Chris, because that would have been easy and satisfying."
"Thanks," she said awkwardly. "He's a dick, but...I know what it's like to be an asshole who's trying to stop being an asshole, at least."
"Yep," Gregg said.
Trent yawned, then abruptly snorted and chuckled.
"What the fuck are you giggling about over there?" Mae asked.
"Just thinking about your dream of sucking off Fiasco Fox," he replied.
Gregg burst out laughing. "What!?"
"Oh come on, you gotta remember that, Gregg," Mae said. "Remember when I had that, like, mini-meltdown in high school cuz I realized I was bisexual? Well, pan. Well, that was later. But you remember? Outside of the Clik Clak?"
"...oh yeah!" he replied, then began laughing harder. "Oh man! I forgot! You dreamed about sucking Fiasco Fox's dick!"
"Fuck off, Greggory Ambrose Lee!" Mae snapped.
"Your middle name is Ambrose?" Bea asked.
"No!" Gregg snapped, stopping laughing immediately. "It isn't!"
"It totally is! It's on his license!" Mae cried, laughing now.
"All right, Margaret Zofia Borowski!" Gregg replied.
"You fucker!" Mae snarled, sitting up.
"Hey, that's fair game, Mae," Trent said.
"Your middle name is Zofia? How the hell did I not know this?" Bea asked.
"Learning the deep Mae lore now," Trent said, chuckling.
"What's your middle name, fuckface?" Mae growled, looking at him.
"Clarence."
Mae snorted. "That's hilarious."
"Why are all middle names embarrassing?" Ann murmured.
"Angus's isn't," Gregg replied.
"Angus?" Trent asked.
"Logan," he replied.
"Oh. Yeah. What the fuck? That just makes me think of Wolverine," Mae said.
"I mean Ann's isn't. Bea?" Trent asked.
She sighed heavily. "Well since we're all showing, mine's Aurora."
"...wait for real?" Mae asked.
"Yeah. Also, for the record, I don't think Zofia is embarrassing. I think it's actually like a really cool middle name," Bea replied.
"So is Aurora!"
"No it isn't! Ugh, God, I never tell anyone because it makes people think of like fucking astrology or something and that is so not me. I hate zodiac signs and astrology and all that pseudo-science bullshit," Bea growled.
They looked over as there was a light knock at the front door, then Claire came in.
"Hey everyone," she said.
"What's your middle name?" Mae asked.
"...Claire."
"Oh. Uh. Duh. Right. Sorry, ignore me."
Claire laughed. "What the fuck?"
"We're discussing middle names, Mae forgot you go by your middle name," Ann said.
"Oh, fair enough. Okay, so...is everything cool in here? Everyone doing okay?"
"Yeah, we're good," Trent replied. "I mean, right? Gregg?"
"I'm cool as a cucumber," Gregg said.
"What the fuck? A cucumber?" Mae asked.
"They're cool! Fuck off!" Gregg replied, then started laughing.
"Oh, you're all smoking. Well, that makes sense. I would too if I got jumped. Um, so, I've spoken with Chris. Nothing, you know, groundbreaking, he just...needed someone to talk to. And he is being, like, weirdly reasonable. I'm still not used to it. Anyway, uh, I'm gonna drive him home, and then come back and go right to bed. So...goodnight everyone."
"Goodnight," they replied to her.
"Text me when you get to Mae's parent's place. So I know you made it," Trent said.
Claire smiled and walked over to him, then leaned over and gave him a kiss. "I will. And you are very sweet."
"So very sweet," Bea agreed.
"Later," Claire said as she straightened up and then headed back outside.
Trent began to say something, then yawned loudly. "Fuck. I'm tired."
"We need to go to bed now," Bea said. "Because we have another really long day ahead of us tomorrow."
"Yeah...all right," Trent said, slowly sitting up. He carefully got to his feet, then lost his balance and fell back onto the folded out couch, laughing. "Uh...shit. I'm a little high. And a lot tired."
"Come on, handsome, stop hogging their bed," Ann said, getting up and helping Trent to his feet.
"I'll help!" Mae said, popping up, then lost her balance and fell back onto the couch. "Uh...maybe not. I'm high, too. And tired, too."
"Come on, everyone," Bea said, helping Ann get Trent to his feet, then hauling Mae up.
They exchanged their 'goodnights' and then began heading for the stairs.