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Keep Going Pt.3

***
"You don't want to die."

"What? Yes, I do."

"No, you don't."

"What are you talking about?"

"You save me, Ryan. You saved me," Maya said, still catching her breath.

"I don't want you on my conscience!"

"What conscience? If you went over with me, you'd be dead, too. That makes no sense," Maya says.

***

"Dinners served," Nick said, missing what had just happened.

Maya ignored him, "you wouldn't have saved me if you didn't want to live yourself."

"You don't know me," Ryan shot back.

Maya raised her eyebrows at him but Nick interrupted them again, "all right, you two dare devils. Two double cheeseburgers and some milkshakes. Coming right up, special delivery." Nick starts to climb over.

"What are you doing? No!" Ryan yells.

"Do you want to eat or not?" Nick asks.

"Not like that. Stay back."

"Okay, okay. Maya, meet me halfway?" Nick suggests, reaching the box out toward them.

"I can't, Nick. I can't risk letting him go," Maya told him, looking over anxiously.

"Okay," Nick popped back inside. Maya knew he'd figure something else out.

"Admit it, Ryan. You saved us," Maya said, knowing that she was probably getting on Ryan's nerves, but she wanted him to live. She needed him to.

"I saved you," he said.

"Okay, let's try this again," Nick says, setting the food on the ledge and pushing it to Maya with a broom.

"Okay, I got it," Maya said, picking up one of the burgers and giving it to Ryan, "those near-death experiences, they really make you hungry, huh?"

"Hey, uh, Ryan, by the way, happy birthday," Nick said after a long pause.

"It's your birthday?" Maya asks.

"Yeah, don't remind me."

"I...I'm sorry," she paused, he had lost his dad on his birthday, "I didn't mean to..." She sips at her milkshake, Ryan had waved her off about the other one. "I usually eat much healthier than this but under these circumstances...nothing beats a good burger."

"Yeah, just like mother used to make," he says, sarcastically in response to Maya.

"Where is your mom? You haven't mentioned her."

"She died. It was cancer when I was 12," he told her.

"I'm sorry," she told her, recalling the heart ache of losing parents.