Chapter 4: Reunion

The bus door opened, Finn came in almost running, took his ticket from the machine he had installed and went to sit in the front seats. Fern calmed down a bit knowing that the boy would not sit in the back seats so he could travel quietly until he reached the house where the party was taking place, he supposed that Marceline and her bandmates would soon arrive. They were waiting for him.

Finn on the other hand was distracted by looking at the mirror that the bus had installed on the roof so that the driver noticed if someone was stealing something of value to the passengers. He stared at the almost empty space of the bus. Who else could be up there at this time of night? No one except him and a guy like him but with the tips of his hair stained green... wait a second! He had seen that boy before! They had crashed when he ran out of school.

He turned to see that boy, he realized that they were watching and again tries to hide his face with the hood of his black jacket but that did not work.

"You!" Finn got up from his place and walked towards the boy "I know you ... you're the boy I saw leaving school"

"What did I do? Should I answer him or simply ignore him? I don't know"

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Finn asked, drawing Fern out of his thoughts.

"What? Y-yes, of course...I mean, yes, I was listening to you" answered Fern as if nothing had happened "whatever, what are you doing here at this hour? not that I want to know about that or anything but it makes me strange that every time I go somewhere you have to appear suddenly"

"I'm sorry if I'm bothering you but I could not sleep so I left my house to think a little," Finn lied, thinking that this boy would believe his lie but that did not happen.

"I don't believe you, I see your look and I know you're lying to me" Fern commented "you're bad to lie, are not you? What's more, I'm pretty sure you ran away from home to go somewhere without the permission of your parents"

"T-That's not true, I'm telling the truth" Finn replied nervously frightened the idea that that boy could get him in trouble, more than I was-I just left my house, I didn't escape to go nowhere why don't you believe me?

"Yes, of course I believe you, and as I said before, I think you're very bad at lying...but...I can teach you to lie properly if you want."

"No thanks, I had enough to see you when I left school and treat me badly. I don't even know your name! What's your name?"

"Does it matter my name? I told you I don't want to tell you, you shouldn't be so interested in knowing my name"

"I'm interested!" Finn almost screamed, Fern glanced at him, and then looked away in embarrassment "when you meet someone...you have to tell him/her your name, otherwise he/she'll never know who he/she's talking to, or when you'll meet again that person you just met and...and...That's why I told you my name"

"And who do you think you are to tell me how I should behave when I talk to a person? My mom? Ha ha ha, I don't think so" Fern replied with some sarcasm in his voice.

"No, but I'm just trying to give you some advice. I didn't know you were going to take it like that, I'm sorry" Finn said, when he said "I'm sorry" he did it in a low voice so that the boy with the green-tinted hair would not listen to him "by the way, where are you going to this at dawn?"

"I'm going to a party, my friends are waiting for me there," Fern replied.

"Don't you think it's a bit late to go to a party?"

"Hey, it's never too late to go to a party" Fern said a little annoyed at the boy's questions, turned his head to see the night landscape through the bus window.

After that, neither of them spoke again, occasionally exchanging glances, but that made Finn feel a bit uncomfortable and quickly turned his gaze back to another corner of the bus. He only hoped that his mother did not know that he ran away from home to go to the same party that the boy was sitting next to him, he was not like that, and he had never disobeyed his mother before and he was afraid that he would get into problems when return home.

"Hey, hey you!" he call the boy next to him bringing him back to the reality "J-just...I just wanted to tell you...my name is Fern. You asked me in the morning and I...well, I just wanted to answer"

"It did not matter, you said you did not want her to know your name so...I guess there was no need to tell me," Finn said with a shrug. Fern just laughed a little at the attitude of the boy "hey, don't laugh, I'm serious!"

"I'm not laughing at you, silly. I laughed at how badly you were trying to be cool" Fern replied, still laughing, a little annoying to Finn who hit him in the arm "hey, why are you hitting me?"

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

In that the bus stopped suddenly giving the boys the understanding that this was the last stop and the end of the route, Fern leaned against the empty seat in front of him and a few meters from the stop could see the house where was doing the party where Marceline and her friends were waiting for him.

"Uh, well...I think I got down here" Fern said, grabbing his electric guitar which was all the way beside him and headed out.

"W-Wait" Finn got up and took the boy from the sleeve of his green and black jacket to stop it -I'll go with you, I have nowhere else to go...and...I think it will be fun to go to that party together. What do you say?"

"I don't know. Are you sure you want to come with me? This may be too crazy for you" Fern replied.

"I don't care, I can take the risk."

"Well, as you say…and let's go" Fern said, Finn just nodded, both boys got off the bus and started walking to the place where the party was taking place.