Californication

33. The Apology

You crammed yourself back into the car, feeling a little too icky. The seats were warm, the air was warm, you were warm it was awful.

And what didn't help was for a full twelve hours, you were going to be sat with two teenaged boys, who were equally as hot and sweaty as you. It was going to be torture.

Still, you opened the window and stared out the Californian scenery, watching the dust balls roll across the empty roads.

"Y/n," It was Will's voice that broke the silence, "You alright?"

You turned back to him. He was sat in the middle just like last time.

"Yeah fine." You said, looking at Will's concerned expression, "You?"

"Yeah, I wanted to apologise." Will said.

Apologise? Apologise for what? You couldn't think of anything Will could ever do wrong.

"For what?" You asked, too drained to put enthusiasm into your voice.

The van went over another lump, shaking everyone in the back and throwing the conversation off for a minute.

"You alright back there?" Argyle asked.

"We're fine." Mike replied immediately.

"Yeah fine." Will added afterwards before turning back to you.

You looked at him intensely, patiently awaiting his response.

"I wanted to apologise for last night." He lowered his voice and didn't quite make eye contact.

Your smile faltered. You enjoyed last night, the fire, the talk, the company. It was all lovely, how could he say that? How could he apologise for something that was nice.

Maybe it wasn't nice for him? Maybe this was his way of saying he preferred Mike? Maybe this was his way of telling you he didn't like you back?

"Y/n, you alright?" He asked, placing a hand on your shoulder concernedly, "You look like you've just had an aneurysm."

"Yeah... yeah.. I'm fine." You replied, "Last night though.... you have nothing to apologise for."

You both kept your voices low so no one else could hear.

"I do." Will said, looking a little frustrated with himself, "I shouldn't have told you all of that, about the mind flayer, about still feeling him, about the... cold. I can't just unload all my crap onto you, it's just... it's just not right. And all that you said about me telling Johnathan, I promise that is the first thing I'll do when we get to Utar. You were right about everything. I promise I'll listen to you more. I'm sorry Y/n. You're... you're just great."

Will gave you the most awkward yet the most genuine smile, giving you no choice but to pull him into a hug. A hug that felt so good.

You always felt so safe around Will, you couldn't explain the feeling you felt but you didn't want it to stop. You loved being around Will, you knew that for certain.

"What's going on back there?" Jonathan's voice shocked you, forcing you to pull away.

You and Will went a little red but Johnathan just smirked, so did Mike. You just tried to avoid the awkwardness by staring out the window, and watching as the Californian scenery faded in and out, closer to the cityscapes of Nevada.