Chapter Text
Charles always paid attention to the road,
even as a kid he watched the trees disappear behind curves, watched how the grass danced in the wind,
and on some occasions, he watched Max's eyes, watched how they glimmered when he saw a bunny or something that interested him.
Max always sat at the right side of the car, he would never sit on the left, he said that side was too scary.
Charles obliged, and let him sit.
Even as a child, Max always knew he was escaping this town the second he turned 18, even at the age of 10, max had an odd sense of knowing that everything good ends, like his time in Staunton, this historic town plagued with tourists and memories, Max knew it was no good for him, he knew that it all ended eventually.
Somewhere in his mind, Charles knew this as well, and cherished every moment he could with Max, he also knew it was too late to try and stop him from leaving. So every small town football game, every time they ran through the forest together, every late night call, every little league baseball game they lost, was cherished.
So through the ages– 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. They get to seventeen, and while Charles is trying to preserve this thought that Max might stay, Max is already looking forward, looking at colleges far away from Virginia.
While Charles is working nights at his fathers garage, Max is sitting in the corner of that cold garage scrolling on his laptop
While the distance is probably 5 feet at most, it feels like miles, stretches through memories and warped years.
Charles wipes his hand on a towel, and rolls out from under some ford, and right as he does, max closes his laptop and stuffs it in his bag, charles stays silent, just watching
A beat passes
“Ready to go?” Charles asked, his voice soft, accent barely heard,
“Um, yeah” Max responded, shaking his head and standing.
“Want to go watch the stars?” charles question, hopefully pulling max out of his thoughts
“Yeah, let's do that” max said with some hope in his voice, as they walk out to his truck, max stops in his tracks,
“Are you okay charlie?” this catches charles off guard, but yet he responds
“yeah, I'm alright, why?” Charles responds, a soft smile appearing, his voice falling flat, it goes unnoticed.
“No reason” Max smiles softly and continues walking.
Charles' smile fell, he has no reason to hold it, he's missing someone right in front of him
How stupid is that?
They sit down in charles’ ford f150, it was two doored, broken down and old, but it ran, and it got them around their town
The road to the abandoned lot was short, but in hindsight, every drive in Staunton was a short drive
As Charles drove, Max stared, not at Charles, no. not anymore but out the window, His laptop bag sat glued to his side, as it almost always was. Collage brochures peeking out from his bag,
The truck came to a halt. The only light came from the moon overhead, washing the trees and empty field in pale silver. They got out and laid in the back. The ridged metal dug into their backs, uncomfortable as always, but neither of them minded. It worked. It always had.
they watched the constellations float across the Virginia sky, stars scattered so thick they almost looked close enough to touch
Max watched the stars like they hold the future, like he's looking for what's next.
Always looking for what's next.
“I’m leaving soon.” Max spoke softly. Like maybe the ground wouldn't crumble if he was quiet enough.
“I know” Charles said, as he turned his head to look at Max, Max was still watching the stars. His eyes glossy, the stars reflected off of the tears that were yet to fall.
“Do you?” Max asked, his words had no threat behind them, just a simple question.
“Yeah” Charles' voice broke as he spoke, he felt pathetic.
Max's head finally turned, his brows furrowed with confusion
“Then why do you sound like that?” Max said, and it weirdly made Charles upset.
Why doesn't he get it?
While Max was already living in the future, Charles was still trying to hold onto the present.
Every college brochure felt like another step away.
Max hadn't left yet.
But Charles already felt left behind.
“You’re-” Charles cut off, sitting up, hanging his head between his legs, he cleared his throat before he spoke again
“You’re acting like you've already left.” Honesty hung in the sky, along with the moon.
“I miss you, and you're sitting right next to me” the truth poured out. And Charles couldn't stop.
“Its-” he looked at max, who was still looking at the sky, Charles’ tone turned hollow.,
What was the point?
“It's whatever” Charles shook his head once more, standing from the tailgate, and jumping down. He didn't spare another glance at max, he didn't need to, he knew he was still looking at the future.
The night passed, as often as it does, and as often as the pair do, they end up in the garage after the day died down. Charles has bags under his eyes, and Max is still scrolling through his laptop, not saying much. He never does.
Not anymore
And Charles, working on a Toyota, laughs from under the car, like a thought popped into his head
He rolled out and sat up, and spoke
“You know, I don't think of the future much.” Charles said with a blank face
“Someone has to, where will you go after high school?” Max said with a knowing tone
“I would leave if only I could find a reason.” Charles said as he shrugged his shoulders.
Charles' eyes were blank, empty if you would. Nothing but green irises
And Max still didn't notice.
And that's the part that Charles will never get. Why was Max so wrapped up in collages and leaving, he can't even see what's in front of him.
Charles sighed, and went back to working. His eyes grew glassy.. He refused to let his tears fall
Max turns 18 in 3 days. And while he might not have a college picked out, he already knows he'll be leaving in three days.
Three days to savor every moment.
The silence filled the garage, and then max closed his laptop and spoke,
“Let's go, I'm tired.”
“Yeah, okay” Charles responded, rolling out from under the car, his eyes low.
Max stopped, grabbing at Charles' shoulder, facing him towards him.
His eyes ran up and down charles body, like he’s analyzing every atom of his being
“You look like shit man” Max spoke, his tone serious. His eyebrows furrowed
“Thanks” charles tried to laugh it off
He changed the subject
“Tommorow let's just hang out… the diner? Then I think there's a game going on tomorrow”
Charles smiled quietly. He spoke with a tentative hope
“No more laptops, no more collages, let's just be us at this moment, right? Please?” Charles asked, more like pleading.
Max, stunned by the questions and the sudden change of topic responded
“Okay, yeah lets do it” Max smiled and walked out to his car, Charles went the opposite way to his truck. They parted ways, maybe going a few miles away but in three days time. They'll be parting ways, leaving one in Virginia and the other going thousands of miles away.
The next day came, and they met at the diner, the waitress already knew their order. And they joked and laughed over fries, and Max laughed more than he did in months.
A few conversations started about the future, and Charles was quick to shut them down.
And suddenly, the worries, the future, the collages, fade away, all of this stress that was built up behind Charles’ eyes, is gone, and maybe he can believe everything is going to be okay,
And Charles smiles with that thought
As they make more jokes, the laughing dies down, and max checks the time
“Oh shoot! We're going to miss the game, we gotta go!”
Max said with a level of urgency that was guaranteed not needed for a losing small town football game.
“Calm down M, we're leaving now” Charles laughed and shook his head, they paid their tab and left.
The sky was cloudy, the sun fading to black as they watched the game in the concrete bleachers.
As they watch, Charles stares off watching the game, but not really watching
Max glances over at Charles, watching how his jaw tightens, he watches his eyes glaze over as his thoughts pull him under.
Max grabbed his shoulder, getting him out of the fog, he looks over to Max, watches as his eyes scan his face.
“Where’d you go?” Max asked
“What?” Charles asked, taken aback from the question
“You disappeared for a second” max responded, worry carried his words
“Whatever” charles laughed softly and shrugged his hand off, and went back to watching the game
Max still watched, like maybe if he looks hard enough he'll know all of Charles’ secrets.
And that turned out not to be true, he went back to watching the game, his thoughts already replaced with thinking about the future,
The game ended, and of course Staunton’s team lost, and for the first time, they parted ways without a word. Just the rumble of the crowd, and the turning over of their engines.
And as Max's car approaches the curve of the road, Charles watches his taillights fade away.
Fade away like Max's presence in this town
Charles always liked watching the road, he’ll never like watching his best friend leave.
The next day, Charles ends up in the garage early in the morning, sleep has never been a friend to him. It came to him only during exhaustion. At least now. And when the sun hit mid sky,
Max popped into the garage, with a cardboard box. Charles' family kept some of his trophies up in this shop, and he has come to collect them.
Charles stands quietly and helps him without saying a word.
As Charles picked up a little league ball, it was signed by the pair, one word was written on it
“Forever”
In a child's messy handwriting, Charles analyzed the ball, every crevice held a memory,
“Max come here” Charles said, calling him over to see the ball
Max walked over looked at the ball and laughed
“Remeber that?” Max laughed
“Yeah, that was basically forever ago” Charles agreed
And then they start talking about their childhood, about the little moments that stuck in their brains.
From pranks they pulled to running around in the forest and getting lost.
The pair travels down memory lane, talking about anything and everything that they could remember.
“Do you ever wish we could do it over again?” Charles asked
“What, high school?” max asked thrown off by the question
“No” Charles says, he looked out of the garage doors, out to the mountains. Way past this town
“Before that” he admitted.
And Max didn't understand, so he just laughed it off, and as the sun goes down, they walk out of the garage and help put the box in the back of Max's truck, It’s already full with the rest of his stuff
And while Charles watches as Max tries to fit this box in his tailgate. The truck bed was overflowing now.
Trophies.
Boxes.
Old clothes.
Pieces of a life Max had already started sorting into "keep" and "leave behind.”
The thought angered Charles because he came to a realization,
There isn't room in those boxes for him
He shakes the thoughts out of his head, along with the tears out of his eyes.
Charles takes a deep breath,
“Ready for collage?”
“Yeah”
“Terrifed, but yeah”
And the thing Charles doesn't understand, is that he's not running away from him, he's running towards something greater then this town
A beat passes and max is again staring past the mountains,
"Keep in touch, yeah?" Charles said quietly. There was something desperate hidden beneath the words, something he hoped Max wouldn't hear.
Max smiled, sad and familiar.
"You know I will, Char. Don't worry."
The nickname rolled off his tongue like second nature, worn smooth by years of use.
Charles nodded.
He wanted to believe him.
Staunton sat tucked away in the rolling hills of Virginia, overflowing with memories neither of them knew what to do with. Friday night football games, dirt roads, scraped knees, old friends.
Max had spent years trying to leave it behind.
Charles had spent just as long trying to hold onto it.
And somewhere between the mountains and the memories, Charles had forgotten that one day Max would become another thing this town used to have.
The night fades once more, and for the last time, with max in this town.
The morning comes, and sleep did not come for Charles once more, so he gets up at six, and meets Max near the interstate. It was quiet for the morning, the rustle of the trees and the sound of something good coming to an end filled the air, max parked his truck, and got out yawning
“You came”
“I did” charles said flatly
Max looked at Charles, looked at the bags under his eyes and spoke again
“You didn't have to get up this early
“Yes i did”
Charles takes a step forward and speaks softly
“Keep in touch”
“I will”
And they hug, if Charles could make this last for an eternity, he would.
But it’s ending as soon as it began,
Max pulled back and looked Charles up and down once more.
“Bye” max nodded his head and turned to leave
And Charles sat there, watching his truck throw rocks as it leaves the dirt patch it was on.
And for the last time, he's watching Max's taillights fade into the curves of the road.
Charles always paid attention to the road
He watched the truck disappear around the bend
Then there was nothing left to watch
Just an empty stretch of virginia highway
Charles stood there for a long time anyway
Waiting for something that wasn't coming back.