Chasing Sunsets
Crossposted from Archive of our Own.
Maybe it had been a bad decision to go to a bar at 9 PM on a Friday night to ask for directions. But in terms of 'bad decisions', that specific one had to have been at least around seventh or eighth place when weighed against all of the other bad decisions that May Maple had made that week.
In first place, the worst decision? Probably had to go to packing her entire life into her car on a whim to move to a town she'd never been to, almost entirely across the country. The second-place worst decision was ignoring everyone who told her not to make the first bad decision. And in third place? Not deciding to buy any CDs for the few-days-long drive, most miles of which had little to no connection. It had just been May, the wind in her hair through the open windows, the azure horizon, and her mom's long-lost and forgotten CD case. If she had to listen to one more eighties rock mixtape…
She'd made a few bad decisions, sure. But maybe a few bad decisions were just what she'd needed. It was something new, at least, and that had to count for something. Whether it was something good or not had yet to be seen, but May had a feeling that she'd see soon enough as her car drove along the worn road and into a small town- and hopefully into her destination, though she tried not to get her hopes up.
She gave it a 60/40 chance that she was in the right town, given the fact that hours ago, she'd given up on the map that she'd bought at a gas station the day before. She'd been relying on her own sense of direction, which wasn't promising.
Her car grumbled along the packed red dirt road that, upon reaching the town, turned into clay-colored cobblestones under her tires. Her headlights illuminated what looked like the town's official welcome sign through the murky twilight- Welcome to Oak Ridge! Built on Community and Fellowship. The board's once-colorful chipped paint appeared to be heavily sunbleached and the board was worn around the edges, likely weathered by the dust and wind, if May had to guess.
"Well, found the right town," she mumbled to herself, feeling pleased to have gotten to the right place despite her map situation. That damn map had been useless. Her GPS had broken or lost signal or something, so she'd had to buy a paper map of the unfamiliar state from the gas station. But the map's compass had gotten torn off at some point (likely from her refusal to neatly fold it back up when she wasn't using it), and there were no letters or numbers to go off of to guess which way was 'up'- only lines for roads with the occasional symbol (to which she wondered what the point of the map even was. Ugly decoration?). She'd had to ask the cashier at the gas station to mark down roughly where Oak Ridge even was, and the best he'd been able to do was gesture at a rough area. She'd spent half her drive pulled over, trying (and failing) to triangulate her location on the map.
It hadn't been an easy drive.
But she'd made it to the town just fine on her own. Now all she had to do was ask directions to the town's inn while she sorted out a living situation.
May slowly drove past the town welcome sign and down cobblestone roads into some sort of town square. She pulled up behind what looked to be a bar or saloon of some sort- amber lights glowed from the inside, indicating the presence of other people.
Deciding that this building seemed the most lively and was likely her best bet, May pulled into… well, it wasn't a parking lot, it was a patch of dirt out back. But if there was no road, then hopefully there'd be no tow trucks either, right?
She put her car in park and leaned her head back against the car headrest, collecting herself for a moment.
This was it. She was really doing this. She'd actually driven that entire way, all the way from the opposite coast. She had all of her important things in plastic totes and bags in the back of her car, and there was no going back now.
This was it.
"I can do this," May muttered to herself. She'd been doing that a lot lately, talking to herself- maybe the several days of driving alone had started to have some sort of effect on her. "I can do this."
May's spine cracked as she stretched and twisted, shutting the car door behind her, map hastily folded and shoved into the pocket of her hoodie. She lightly kicked the car as she exited the driver's side, and it shook a bit more than she'd have liked for it to.
"That's… fine, probably," she mumbled. For what wasn't the first time, May wondered if she should have thought this through a bit more.
No going back now. This is it. I can do this.
She took a deep breath of the dry, dusty air, a light spring chill settling in her lungs. The air still held onto the slightest wintry bite, just barely prickling at her fingertips and nose.
Slowly, she circled around to the front of the building, relishing the chance to stretch her legs. As she got closer, she could hear the ever-growing chatter and clinking of glasses from within the wooden walls. A hanging sign on the front porch read, 'The Oak Barrel'.
The sign creaked a bit as May brushed past it, as did the wooden steps she walked up. The bar had a nice wrap-around porch, despite its aged and creaky disposition. Though, it seemed like 'aged and creaky' was a pretty good way to describe the entire town, porch and all.
She opened the heavy wooden front door, warm light spilling into the night air from inside. The clinking of glasses and the dull cacophony of conversation halted for a moment as she stood frozen in the doorway- taking in the sight of the people taking in the sight of her. The only sound, for a split second, was the twang of some country song she half-recognized on the radio.
She noticed something, looking across the small crowd of people looking back at her. Apparently the locals had gotten the cowboy memo. She had not.
Despite wearing the world's most normal outfit, a hoodie and sweatpants, May felt like the odd one out. Before her was a sea of denim and leather, tassels and hats. She stood out like a sore thumb despite being sensibly dressed.
May suddenly felt like the town idiot, and she'd only been in town for all of ten minutes, and known the townsfolk for all of ten seconds.
She had half a mind to walk back out and to find the town's inn on her own, but that would make her look like even more of an idiot than just standing there frozen in the doorway already had.
Slowly, the chatter picked back up after what felt like an eternity. May steeled herself and walked in, the door's creak painfully loud behind her.
She tried to ignore the chatter of the townsfolk around her as she navigated her way through small, round, crowded tables. The chatter was lightly hushed and curious, questioning the stranger in their midst. May took it that they didn't get company in town very often- which made sense, given how out-of-the-way the town was, but surely they knew that it was rude to stare and whisper. Right?
Once more, she wondered just how big of a mistake she was making.
May awkwardly slipped between the crowded tables and chairs, trying to act like she didn't notice the eyes on her as she looked for a good place to sit down and regroup. Most tables were full or partially occupied already- she kept walking and found herself at the back wall, at the barstool seating.
She settled into one of the few sparse, empty stools in the middle of the countertop, trying her best to politely ignore the person she'd had to sit next to. She reached into her pocket for her paper map and unfurled it halfway, placing it on the empty counter in front of her. Before anything else, May figured that she should mark her location on the map.
She spun the map to the left. Nope, that wasn't right. Maybe north was that way…? She spun it upside down, but no, that road hadn't been going that way when she'd entered town-
A voice sounded from her left- the man she'd sat next to. "You know, maybe if your map didn't have the compass and the top half of Marigold County torn off, then you'd have an easier time navigating."
"Hm? Oh, uh, probably," she agreed sheepishly, looking up and- oh.
Her eyes met those of a stranger. They were like shards of green glass; sharp, catching the light in the dim, warm glow of the lanterns on the wall. The bar lighting illuminated the angular planes of his face in a soft, enchanting way- it was enough to distract from the shock of his hair being green as well.
She wondered what it was that was so distracting about her own face that had him looking just as lost, if only for a second.
She was abruptly brought back to the moment as the bartender dropped a glass in the sink, shattering the moment of eye contact along with the glass.
The stranger's gaze flicked down to her map at the startling noise, his face suddenly unreadable. "Let me guess," he started, peering at the map. "You're lost and trying to get directions, and your map's no help?" As he spoke, slight southwestern twang to his voice, he spun her map around until it was facing north. He fished a pen out of his pants pocket and circled a small area on the map. He labeled it Oak Ridge in messy, compact handwriting- half cursive, half print, letters slanting tightly upwards and to the right.
May took his brief moment of focus as an opportunity to get another look at him without him noticing. Sharp features, sharper gaze. He couldn't have been any more than a couple years older than her- 24 or 25, maybe? He was dressed for the spring chill- black denim shirt, sleeves rolled up to his forearms, pants tucked into dark brown boots. He smelled lightly of the hard cider in his glass, warm and deep and spiced.
Suddenly, she remembered that he'd asked her a question. You're lost and trying to get directions, and your map's no help? "Oh! Actually, I'm not lost. I was just trying to figure out where on the map this town is."
He gave her a disbelieving look. "You meant to come here?"
"Yeah, why?"
Was it really that unbelievable that she'd managed to get there all on her own, intentionally, even with the map being useless? Sure, her sense of direction wasn't great, but she was competent and had good instincts. May wasn't sure that she appreciated the incredulity in his voice.
Maybe her slight indignance was just due to sleep deprivation and irritability after the long drive, but she found herself holding back a frown.
He shook his head. "It's just that-…" he trailed off, taking a sip of his drink before placing it back down on the countertop next to her map. May's eyes traced the ring of condensation on the lacquered wooden countertop from where his drink had previously been. "How did you even hear about this place?" he finally asked, dropping whatever his previous train of thought had been.
Briefly, May considered lying. 'Oh, I've got family here', 'It was in a travel brochure', 'I have a friend who passed through and mentioned it', but she had a feeling that any lies would be easy enough to disprove.
She stared down at her hands, mindlessly tearing tiny rips in the corner of the paper in front of them. "I threw a dart at a map of the country and told myself that I'd move to wherever it landed."
At that, he gave her a real, genuine laugh- a surprising, warm and clear sound that May sort of wished she minded more than she did. "No, really," he insisted, little breaths from his laugh interspersing his words. "How did you know Oak Ridge even existed? Finding this town is like finding a needle in a haystack."
May said nothing, just continuing to add tiny rips to the side of the map. Silence danced between the two of them as the man awaited an answer that wasn't coming.
She'd been telling the truth.
She had really been that desperate for a spark of anything. Adventure. Newness. Excitement. Anything but the same hometown roads that she knew too well. Anything but the same four walls of her room, anything but the same roads of her commute. Anything that felt like freedom.
The man's face shifted from amusement back into disbelief as he took in her silence. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she could see the corner of his mouth trying to not quirk upwards. "Oh my God," he said after a moment. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"Maybe."
His gaze remained trained on her, scrutinizing her features with an almost uncomfortable intensity. He looked at her like a puzzle he couldn't quite figure out, or a language he only half-knew, a punchline he didn't quite get.
He also looked at her like she was out of her damn mind, which she very well may have been.
Before the moment could stretch out too long, he shook his head in incredulity with a smirk, leaning back a bit and taking another sip of his drink. "Well, you'll fit right in here, I can tell you that much."
At that, it was her turn to look at him in disbelief. Was he antagonizing her? The hell was that supposed to mean?
Exhaustion and irritability getting the best of her, May spun her bar stool around to the side a bit to face him head-on. "What does that even mean?"
The man opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, his eyes narrowed in a glare directed over May's shoulder. She turned around to see another person sitting next to her in the one empty seat to her right, between her and a blue-haired woman.
This new man waved his hand dismissively at the other's glare. "Don't mind me, Drew."
Drew. May had a name for the green enigma next to her. It fit him, somehow.
Drew rolled his eyes at the other man, though he didn't seem to hold any real animosity towards him. "I always mind you, Gary."
Gary feigned offense, dramatically placing a tanned, work-worn hand over his chest as if wounded. "Really, man? After everything we've been through?"
"What have we been through, other than you incorrectly insisting that you're better at riding horses than I am?"
May sank back in her seat a bit, unsure how to deal with being physically in the middle of what seemed to be a useless and fairly common argument between people who were strangers to her.
The blue-haired woman to Gary's right, two seats away from May, caught her eye and shook her head in amusement, the message clear. Ignore them.
May shot the woman a small smile.
"'What have we been through'?" Gary mimicked. "Well, to start, there was that time when we were ten, and Ash put a tarantula in your backpack. Who removed it for you?"
"You, to chase me around with it," Drew answered coolly.
"Technicalities. And what about that time that Zoey pushed you off of the pier? Who jumped in to save you?"
"You didn't jump in to save me, you were laughing at me and tripped over the edge of the pier and fell in." Drew called over to the woman. "Dawn, you were there for that. Back me up here."
Dawn shook her head and rolled her eyes again. "Nuh-uh. Leave me outta this."
May watched the conversation like a ping-pong match, a bemused smile finding its way to her lips as she figured out the vibe. So, they were all old friends. She found herself relaxing a bit.
Gary continued. "Okay, but those are all things that we went through together, so my point stands."
"That's not how that works-"
"So! Who's the girl, Hayden?" Gary interrupted, his dark hazel-green eyes meeting hers. It didn't have the same effect that Drew's eye contact had on her. Rather than being piercing, paralyzing, Gary's eyes were calculating and intelligent. May had a feeling that rather than actually caring about being introduced to her, he'd just figured out the best way to change topic from what was apparently the numerous ways he'd annoyed Drew since childhood.
May seized the opportunity to get back on topic. "I was just coming in here to regroup and fix my map, but while we're here, could one of you please point me towards the town inn? I'm planning on moving here and I need a temporary living situation while I figure it out."
At that, Dawn frowned. "Oh, we don't have an inn."
She froze. "Wait, what?"
Dawn gave her a sympathetic look, dark blue eyes reflecting the lantern on the wall. "We don't have an inn," she repeated, "But I'm sure we can figure something out! How long do you need to stay somewhere?"
"Until I can find a house to buy around here."
Next to her, Drew tilted his head a bit, that same perplexed bordering-on-amused look on his face. "You can't just show up somewhere without even checking if they have housing available."
May felt her jaw clench. No matter how pretty he was, he was hitting all the wrong buttons. She wondered if she'd done something to offend him.
She spun her chair around to face him again, and she took absolute delight in the way his eyes widened the slightest bit. But as soon as she'd seen it, he smiled at her again. Did he take joy in winding her up? May jerked her chin up to meet his eyes. "Well, pardon me, it's not my fault that your town doesn't have any zillow listings online-"
"We don't have any wifi-"
"-Again, I don't see how that's my fault-"
"-And when did I say anything was your fault?" he responded smoothly, not missing a beat. "Tell me where I said it was your fault."
At that, May paused, racking through the last minute of their exchange. Infuriatingly, she came up empty-handed.
May and Drew both missed the amused yet somewhat questioning look that Dawn shot Gary. 'What was that?', Dawn mouthed silently, referring to the seamless back-and-forth she'd just witnessed, the easy rhythm that May and Drew's conversation had.
Gary just shrugged in return, mouthing, 'I can't read your lips.' He leaned back to watch the show.
'Remind me later,' Dawn mouthed.
An eye roll. 'I still can't read your lips.'
Drew, hearing May's silence at his insistence that she tell him where he said anything was her fault, just smirked, knowing he won the argument. May's face heated up in anger, but before she could snap back at him, he spoke up again- voice calm and collected. Unexpectedly apologetic.
"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. I'm sorry if anything I said got you all fired up."
Against her will, May felt the annoyance deflate. "No, I'm sorry. I've had a really long few days of driving, and I'm just… overwhelmed, I guess. I just need to figure out where I'll stay, or if I need to find another town to try out."
Drew leaned forward on the counter a bit, pensively tapping his fingers on the rim of his glass. He shot a look over at Dawn and Gary, snapping them out of their silent analysis of the scene that had unfolded in front of them. "Hey, guys- wasn't the last outsider to move here Delia? About twenty-five years ago?"
Getting a nod from Dawn, he returned his focus to May. "Honestly, I want to help you, but I'm not even sure how you would go about finding a house here. This isn't something that happens often."
At that, Gary gave a thoughtful hum. "I could ask Gramps about it when I get home. I'm pretty sure he's the one who helped Delia out, and he knows everything about how the town works."
"If it's too much trouble, I'm sure I can find another town-"
"No way!" Dawn said. "Look, we help people out here. If you're moving in, then you're one of us, and we're going to figure something out."
"You mean it?"
"Oh, absolutely! Besides," she continued, sly grin on her face, "You can't just leave me here with these two." She playfully waved a hand at Drew and Gary. "Having another girl in town will be so nice."
Gary stuck his tongue out at Dawn, who stuck hers right back out at him. May liked Dawn, she decided.
"I'm sure we can figure something out," she confirmed, smiling at Dawn.
Gary cleared his throat, bringing their odd little group to attention. "Okay. It's getting late, and you've got to be tired after driving. And honestly, I don't want to face your annoyance like Drew did- I have a vested interest in getting you some rest." He diffused the joke with a lopsided grin. "So, how about tomorrow, we meet over at Delia's for breakfast and figure it out then? I'll ask Gramps about housing tonight."
"Delia's?" May echoed.
"Yeah! Oh, you're going to love Delia, she's so sweet. She runs this great little sit-down restaurant cafe, Palate town!" Dawn said excitedly, enthusiasm palpable. She excitedly twirled the little paper umbrella in her drink as she spoke.
"I do enjoy little sit-down restaurant cafes," May admitted.
Gary swirled his beer bottle around a bit, his cattleman's hat casting shade over his thoughtful face. "Okay, so we've got that sorted out. Drew, you wanna draw her a town map on the back of her shitty state map, and mark down where Delia's is?"
Drew picked up his pen again, and his eyes met hers again. Asking permission silently.
She nodded a tiny bit.
He nodded back in acknowledgment, flipping her map upside down and starting to draw out a map on the back, labeling things in his distinctive handwriting as he went along.
"And for tonight, can you just sleep in your car one more night?" Gary asked.
At that, Drew's voice came out appalled, shooting a deep frown at Gary. "Come on, man. You can't just ask her to sleep in her car."
"No! No, it's fine," May interrupted, slightly surprised that Drew was offended on her behalf- especially after their minor spat earlier. "I don't want to intrude in anyone's house, and I've already slept in my car the last few nights."
"I can't let you sleep in your car-"
"You don't get to 'let' me do anything," she corrected. He just rolled his eyes.
"So we're doing this again, hm?" His shoulders were relaxed, and he leaned forward a bit.
"Depends. What are we doing?" She tried to keep her tone disinterested and cool. Not betraying her interest in his answer.
He shrugged. "This."
"What's 'this'? I swear, you're doing it on purpose!"
"Doing what?" he asked with another confused laugh, eyebrows upturned in lighthearted confusion.
"Annoying me! On purpose!"
Gary and Dawn had fallen silent once more, but May barely registered their presences as she awaited Drew's response.
"Well, are you going to just sit there and let a stranger get under your skin like that?"
"You're doing it again right now," she replied briskly. But it was different from earlier. Any real annoyance had faded with his earlier apology. This was more like a game, a tug-of-war of wits that she wasn't sure how she'd entered. It almost felt like a rivalry of some sort, albeit over nothing in particular. They'd just fallen into an immediate push-and-pull, a back-and-forth.
She didn't mind it, though he wasn't going to hear that from her.
Drew's eyes crinkled at the corners from his crooked little grin, and she swore up and down that 'annoyed' wasn't the only emotion he was trying to make her feel. He was enjoying this.
"Stop that," she said.
"Stop what?"
"You know what you're doing!"
He leaned in more, mindlessly, unintentionally, with ease and subtlety. His green eyes once again met hers and he asked, voice low, "I swear to God, I don't know. Care to tell me what I'm doing?"
Ignoring the way that the room heated up under his steadfast gaze, in the way that he absolutely refused to be the first one to look away no matter how fiercely she upheld eye contact, May just turned her seat away from him pointedly. She faced Gary instead, who had the expression of a little kid on Christmas morning. "And what's your deal?"
Gary paid her tone no mind whatsoever. "Oh, nothing. It's just that I've never seen Drew flirt- ow!"
Dawn, removing her pink cowboy boot from Gary's shin, shot May an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry about my colleagues. Gary was literally raised in a barn, and this is the most socializing Drew has done all week."
"I was not raised in a barn, I was raised in a house next to a barn," Gary huffed indignantly, rubbing his leg, undoubtedly where a boot-shaped bruise was forming.
"I can believe both of those things," May responded to Dawn.
She snickered. "Tracks, doesn't it? Oh, stop giving me that look, Drew. It's good for you to be out here with everyone instead of gardening with your cats or out with the horses." At that, May lit up, back still to Drew. She loved animals- horses were intimidating and unfamiliar, not quite her speed, but she'd grown up with cats and dogs. Dawn continued, snapping her out of it. "Tell you what. We'll pack up for tonight and then tomorrow you'll meet us at Delia's 9 AM. We'll get you breakfast and then get you all sorted out to live here. Sound good?"
"I'd love that, thank you, Dawn! And trust me, I'm fine with sleeping in my car. Is it okay to leave my car right around back…?"
"Of course! This is a safe town, everyone knows everyone. Except for you, I guess, but we'll change that real quick!" Dawn's enthusiasm was contagious- it was nice, to feel wanted. Dawn continued. "Though… I'm not sure if you noticed on your way in, but our roads aren't really meant for cars. It's all dirt and cobblestones. Tomorrow, if you walk to Delia's, we can talk transportation, too- most of us ride horses to get around across town."
There was the first seed of doubt.
"I'm sure I can manage on my own two feet, no problem." May looked down at the drawn map that Drew had finished- he'd marked the bar, Delia's, Oak Ranch, his and Dawn's house, the post office, and a few other important landmarks and buildings. The bar was a pretty far walk from Delia's, but May was horseless and intended to stay that way. It'd have to be fine. That was a problem for tomorrow morning. "I really can't thank you all enough. I'll see you guys tomorrow morning," she confirmed.
"One last thing," Drew said before everyone stood up to collect their things and leave. "Do you have a name?"
"Hm?"
"You know. A name. The thing people call you."
She ignored the sarcasm. "May Maple, but you didn't really introduce yourself, either."
After a moment's pause, he simply offered, "Drew Hayden."
"And I'm Gary Oak," Gary piped in, interrupting. "You know. If you were going to ask, which I'm sure you were just about to." He theatrically extended his hand for her to shake. She didn't take it. "Mayor's grandson, horse wrangler, rancher, cowherd-"
"Asshole," Drew muttered, though once again it held little to no real annoyance.
"-And asshole." Gary shot May and Drew both a flippant grin while Dawn shook her head behind him.
"My name's Dawn Berlitz. Now, we're all good for tomorrow morning, then?" A small chorus of yes's echoed. "Alrighty then!" She picked up her purse from the ground. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." She slid a bill on the counter towards the bartender and made her way to the door.
Drew was the next one up, sliding his own money on the counter and drinking the rest of his drink. He turned to leave, but gave May one last incredibly green look. His gaze flicked from focusing on one of her eyes to the other, back and forth like the swing of a pendulum, before he turned to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, May." He offered a small nod and made his way through the sea of tables and chairs.
He gave one last look over his shoulder before he exited through heavy wooden doors.
"Gee, Dawn and I will see you tomorrow too, Drew," Gary called out sarcastically next to May, but she paid him no mind at all. She was too busy being mad about a single irrefutable fact; she liked the way Drew said her name, painting it in deep shades of his scarlet drawl. Somehow dragging it from one syllable to two, lazily, in no hurry. He said her name the same way one would drink the last drop of sweet tea. Savoring it.
He had to be doing it on purpose… right?
Next to her, Gary raised an eyebrow and shot her a sly, sideways glance. "So, can I ask you a couple questions about all of that, or…?"
"Absolutely not. Ask Drew, he's the one with a problem."
For a second, Gary looked as if he was about to argue, as if that hadn't been what he was referring to. But evidently he must have thought better of it- a skill that May was honestly a little surprised that he possessed, based on how he'd playfully heckled Drew. Gary seemed a bit calmer without the others around to feed off of. "Yeah. I suppose that's certainly a way to put it, isn't it? He's a good guy, I promise, just… Drew."
"He is pretty Drew, isn't he?" May said, barely even talking to Gary anymore.
He just laughed. "You and I are gonna get along just fine. I think you'll get along with most everyone here, actually. You're going to like Ash and Tracey. Probably Misty, too." Gary got up and stretched, leaving his money on the counter. "Alright. You've got a car to sleep in, and I've got a couple calls to make. Smell ya later."
And with the final member of their strange little quartet headed out the door, May figured out what Drew had meant when he'd said that she'd fit right in.
Everyone in town was weird.
Gary sped up as he exited, and as the door shut behind him, she caught a glimpse of him running to catch up with someone to talk- Drew or Dawn. She wasn't sure which of those options unnerved her more, or why.
She folded up the map on the counter, shoved it back in her pocket (stealing the pen Drew had left along the way), and she made her way back out to her car.
As May climbed back into her car, clearing off the backseat and tossing stuff into the trunk to make space to sleep again, she reached for the notepad on the passenger's seat. She took Drew's pen out of her pocket and settled down on the backseat.
Her pen hovered over the notepad for a moment.
Hey mom, she wrote. I know I promised I'd call, but the connection out here isn't great. As soon as I get to the post office and find an envelope, I'll send this over.
I found the town, I'm here and safe. I'll probably have been here for a few days by the time you get this- sorry about that. I know you were really hesitant about me moving out here, but I promise, it's going well so far!
Well, maybe that was an overstatement, but her mom didn't need to know the details. May put the pen back down on the paper.
The townsfolk are mostly pretty nice and welcoming. They seem more than happy to help me get settled in. The drive wasn't too bad either, just long and boring.
She hesitated again. It seemed too short of a letter to send, but there was nothing else to say yet. May sat and thought for a bit, trying to find some details to fill the empty space with, but she came up with nothing. With a sigh, she wrote out the last couple sentences and hoped her mom wouldn't be too disappointed with how short it was.
P.S.- I found your old CD case, the one you lost a couple years back. I hope you won't miss it too much, but I can always send it back to you. Love you! Say hi to Dad and Max for me.
May tore out the page and folded it up, putting it in the glovebox for later. She also went ahead and set her phone alarm an hour earlier than when she needed to make it to Delia's- she'd need the time, what with the long walk.
She laid back as comfortably as she could, propping her head on a pile of clothes as a makeshift pillow. She hoped sleep would come easy- she had a feeling that she'd need it for whatever tomorrow held.
But it was nice to feel like tomorrow actually held something. Like she had something worth chasing after again. She didn't know what it was. All she saw was a vague, glimmering spark of hope; something more, something bigger, something better. It wasn't a light at the end of the tunnel, just a faint sparkle on the very next step.
She didn't know what that spark of hope was, but she'd chase it.
End note: I'm not new to FFN but it's been a solid ten years or so since I've used it. I'm mostly active on Ao3 (and this fic is caught up to chapter five over there as of posting this chapter), and if you comment over there I'm always happy to chat! I also use tumblr, same username.