Moving Forward
In between Kate’s words and my crying, I must’ve fallen asleep because the next thing I know I’m waking up on my bed with a blanket covering me and the sun is peeking in though my binds. I look over on my couch and see Kate lying down with a pillow and blanket. I decide not to wake her since I don’t know how long I kept her up last night, I am great full she came over to stay with me though. I sit up and crawl over to my phone sitting on the stand and decide to re-read through my texts again to make sure I’m caught up with what’s happened.
Nathan was arrested almost immediately after he fired the gun, it felt like forever though. Jefferson was arrested a few hours later after Nathan ratted his ass out. I told Warren that I didn’t feel the same way he felt about me and thankfully he said he understood and was still happy we could be friends, I also told him he should ask out Brooke and apparently it went well. Mom and dad came from Seattle to attend the funeral and are staying at a nearby hotel. I met a girl named Steph who used to go to Blackwell with Chloe and she said she’d be staying with her parents for a little while after the funerals and that she wanted to get together and hang out if I was okay with that. Another friend of Chloe’s (Mikey), also here for Chloe and Rachel’s funerals, had said he would be staying with Steph and would also want to hang out. Apparently the three of them and Rachel used to play Dungeons and Dragons together, I would love to hear about that.
Joyce had let me come over and we talked for a while. When we were done, she had asked me if I wanted to go through some of Chloe’s things and maybe keep some things. I ended up packing a box: her ash tray, a few of our drawings, her old cell phone, some of her cd’s, her Pirate Power mixtape, a few of her shirts, and her pirate towel. A couple days later, Joyce texted me and asked if I could meet her at the Two Whales so she could give me something. It was a box and I was shocked to see what was inside:Some pictures she took of Chloe after I left, her leather jacket, her blue beanie, and William’s camera. I don’t know if I showed her just how great full I was that she had given me these. I decided to put a picture of Chloe flipping off the camera in my wallet.
Rachel’s funeral is gonna be held Monday and Mr. and Mrs. Amber had sent out an invitation to family and friends, I wasn’t invited because I didn’t know her. Kate and I had a tea session on Thursday and we didn’t talk but just sat there and drank our tea. I told her I didn’t feel like talking but also didn’t want to be alone so she told me to come over and we had tea and just sat there for a few hours. Thankfully, Victoria had deleted that awful video after everything that had happened. There’s a few more conversations with people like Dana, Brooke, Juliet, Daniel, Stella, Trevor, and Justin all asking how everything was and if I wanted to, we could talk. I told them I appreciated it. I did make sure to tell Trevor and Justin that it was okay if they ever wanted to talk to me since they were also Chloe’s friends. Kind of surprising was that Taylor and Courtney had messaged me and had said they were there if I wanted to talk. But the biggest shock of all I think we’re my texts with Victoria.
She had messaged me and said she was sorry about what happened and that she blamed herself for not trying to help Nathan. After taking the video down, she apologized to Kate and, to my surprise, Kate said she couldn’t forgive her right away but would maybe do so I’m the future. Victoria understood and said she was gonna try harder to be a better person. She had asked if we could start over and maybe, actually, be friends. I told her I would try, but I don’t know if we would be friends. She said she wanted to at least be on better terms and that, I could definitely do. So far her attempts with the other students weren’t going as well, probably because she still had her signature “Victoria Chase attitude”, but she was still trying.
After reading through my conversation for about 45 minutes, I hear a rustling on the couch and look over to see Kate sitting up and yawning while stretching her arms.
“I’m sorry I called you late last night.” I tell her in a small voice and a guilty look on my face.
“Don’t be, you’re my friend and you were nice to me even when people were saying mean things to me about that video. I’m really glad you called.”
Hearing her say that brings a small smile to my face, “Thanks for staying with me, it really means a lot.”
“Any time- and I mean it.” She looks at the clock and back at me, “I have to feed Alice, but I’d like to talk a little later if you want?” She starts to get up and gives me a smile.
I get up as well, “Definitely, I’ll text you.”
We make our way to the door and she turns around and pulls me into a hug, after a second I return the gesture. We stand there for a minute hugging, before she pulls away.
She leaves a hand on my shoulder, “I’ll talk to you later?”
“We definitely will.”
She turns and makes her way down the hall, disappearing into her room. I close my door and lay back down on my bed and end up falling asleep for another hour. After sitting up and stretching, I grab my phone off the stand, again looking through my texts and decide to open up my texting app and start a new group message, adding Mikey and Steph to it.
Max: Hey it’s Max, do you guys maybe wanna hang out today?
I set my phone back down and head towards my cupboard where my clothes and shower supplies are. After grabbing my shower supplies, I make my way to the bathroom. As I round the corner, run into a familiar face.
“Hey, Victoria.”
“Hey Max, how are you?”
“It was a rough night but I’m doing better now.”
“Im glad you’re feeling better.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you later.”
As I make my way into the bathroom, she says from behind me, I turn around and she asks, “Hey do you… by any chance want to come back to my room after you’re done and I could make us some coffee?”
I give her a small smile, “Sure. That sounds pretty good.”
“Okay, great.” She returns the smile before turning around and disappearing behind the corner.
I must’ve stood in the shower for half an hour so after cleaning up, just letting the warm water hit me. After I turn the water off, I head back to my room and change into my usual t-shirt and jeans. I check my phone to see a few new messages.
Steph: Fuck yes!
Mikey: Yeah, I will
Steph: what do you wanna do?
Max: Idk, maybe just make it up as we go?
Steph: You could come hang out at my parents house with us
Mikey: We could watch a movie or something
Max: That sounds good
Mikey: See you later
Steph: I could pick you up if you want?
Max: That’s okay, I’ll take the bus, but thanks. What’s your address?
Steph: 953 Parkman lane
Max: Okay, I’ll see you later
I put my phone in my pocket and go across the hall to knock on Victoria’s door.
“Come in!” I hear her yell through the door and then I make my way in. “Hey, I just started it so it should be done in a minute.”
I take a seat on her couch, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” After a couple minutes of silence she grabs two mugs and pours the coffee into them and hands me one, taking a seat next to me on the couch. “Sugar or anything?”
“No thanks. I like mine black.”
She gives me a confused look, “It tastes so bitter, I don’t know how you can drink it like that.” She grabs some creamer that was sitting on the table and pours a good amount into her mug.
“Sometimes I drink it black, sometimes I put a shit ton of creamer in it.” I tell her shrugging and taking a sip of the hot beverage.
“Just depends on what you’re feeling, I guess.” Now she’s taking a sip of her half and half drink.
“Yeah.”
After a few minutes of us taking sips of our drinks in silence she asks, “What do you think is gonna happen here?”
I turn to look at her with a confused look, “What do you mean?”
“I mean… right now classes are canceled, we don’t have an arts teacher, and our principal was just put on suspension from the school board because of how he handled Nathan and ‘possibly’ taking payouts.” She puts possibly in air quotes but we both know he did.
I let out a sigh and set my mug down putting my hand to my forehead, “I don’t know. Honestly… I just don’t.”
“Are you thinking of leaving and going back to Seattle for school there?”
“I might but it’ll be hard to get in to a high school with photography since the school years already started. I’m just hoping they’ll get rid of Wells and have Ms. Grant become the principal. Then maybe they can find a replacement for the arts class. What about you?”
“I’m hoping the same thing. But if they don’t have a new arts teacher by at least November, I’ll probably go back to Seattle. My parents have been telling me they could get me in to a school there if I want.”
“Must be nice.” I say it a little meaner than I meant to. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“It’s okay.” Her phone beeps and she looks at it, “Taylor’s gonna be here in a few minutes, you could stay if you want.”
“Thanks but I’m gonna go to someone’s house and hang out there.”
I finish my coffee and get up. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“Thanks for actually coming by.”
“That wasn’t so bad, maybe we can do it again sometime?”
“I wouldn’t mind doing it again.”
We walk over to the door and she opens it to let me out. I walk back over to my room and grab my toothbrush and head to back to the bathroom. After I finish there I go back to my room and grab my bag, slinging it over my shoulder.
A few minutes later I’m at the bus stop just in time as it pulls up just as I get there. There’s only a few other students on the bus so I sit up front and put my headphones in. After about 30 minutes and a few stops, I get off the bus down the street from the address Steph gave me.
I ring the doorbell and a minute later Steph answers wearing a black beanie, a blue t-shirt, and gray jeans. “You’re here!”
“I’m here.”
She moves aside and puts her arm out, “Come in.”
“Thanks.” I make my way in and look around noticing that it’s bigger on the inside then it is on the outside. “Wow this is really nice.”
“Thanks. We’re hanging out down stairs in the basement.” She guides me a little down the hall and into the kitchen, then opens a door beside the fridge that leads down stairs. After making our way down, I notice the big tv mounted on the wall and the shelves of movies in the corner. Then there’s more shelves with even *more* movies. In the middle of the floor, about 10 feet away from the tv, is an ‘L’ shaped couch with a coffee table in front of it.
I look at the movies and back at Steph with a smile, “Wow this is… awesome.”
She returns the smile, “Thanks, my dad’s really into movies.”
Mikey gets up from the couch and raises an eyebrow, “Just you’re dad, huh?”
“Okay. Maybe I’m also really into movies too.”
“Now that’s more like it.” He looks over at me, “We’re really glad you asked to hang out.”
Steph gestures to the couch and all three of us sit down, “Do you have to be anywhere or can you stay a while?”
“No I don’t really have anywhere to be just have to talk to a friend later.”
“You want to stay for dinner?”
“Thanks but I don’t want to impose.”
“You wouldn’t be. My dad had to leave for business, so it’ll just be the four of us.”
“Uhm, yeah I’d like to.”
“We’re ordering out but we haven’t made a decision yet.”
Mikey chimes in, “I was thinking pizza but Steph wants Chinese and Mrs. Gingrich is fine with either so you have to be the tie-breaker.”
“Both sound good but… I’ll have to go with Chinese.”
“Looks like we have a winner.” Steph says looking between us.
I motion towards the face down UNO cards, “Who’s winning?”
“I am.” Mikey looks at the cards then back at me. “You’re arrival delayed Steph’s demise.” He adds with a grin.
“Dude, what are you going on about? I’m about to make this epic come back.”
He lets out a laugh, “Yeah right, I got 2 cards left and you practically have half the deck and it’s still my turn.”
“You probably don’t even have the same color or number to put down.”
“Oh I’ll guess you’ll have to find out.”
I hesitate a little before asking, “Uhm, are you two like together?” They look of shock on their faces says it all. “Sorry I just… never mind.”
Steph waves me off, “It’s alright, that’s not the first time somebody’s guessed that.”
Mikey quickly adds, “Yeah, don’t worry about it.”
My embarrassment slowly fades away as I motion back towards the cards, “Let’s see who wins.”
“She means ‘let’s see *me* win’.” Mikey adds with another grin looking at Steph. Then he picks up his cards.
She rolls her eyes and grabs her cards as well, “Yeah, okay.”
Mikey puts down one card, “UNO.” Then he puts down his last one, “I’m out!” He throws his hands up in victory.
Steph puts her cards down on the table and looks at them, “Fuck, I was so close.”
I put a hand on her shoulder, “I really don’t think you were though.”
She looks back up at me, “Hey you can’t be taking sides here.”
I put my hands up defensively, “I’m not, I’m just calling it how I see it. You had like half the deck.”
“Yeah, you can’t blame her for how badly you played.” Mikey chimes in, still in a joyful mood.
“Okay, you know what? I want a rematch then.” She turns and looks at me, “If that’s alright with you, then you could join in.”
“That’s alright with me, I wanna see if you can get your win back.”
Mikey starts grabbing the cards, “I’ll shuffle.”
Steph stops him and picks the cards up and hands them to me, “Would you do it?”
“Yeah.” After a minute of shuffling, I deal out the cards between them and set the pile down, flipping one card over: a red 6.
“Since you could use a little advantage, you can go first.” Mikey says pointing at Steph.
She lays a card down, “I got you this time.”
After a minute of them going back and forth with cards, I cut in, “You said you two used to play Dungeons and Dragons with Chloe, how was that?” They stop for a minute and look over at me before returning to their game.
After a minute of silence Steph says in a slightly sad tone, “It was really fun.”
“She was really destructive.” Mikey adds, also in a sad tone.
I can tell how much they cared about her, but I wonder why she never told me about them while we had those five days together. I can feel some tears forming in the corners of my eyes but I wipe them away before they can fall.
Then Mikey looks over at Steph and nudges her shoulder and she looks up at him, “You remember how she would always wanna hit everything in the dick?” He says in happy tone with some sadness still there.
This brings a small smile to my face and Steph’s too, “Oh my god. Do you remember the first time we played and she tried to attack Duurgaron but ended up rolling, like a one, and she chopped your feet off.”
“Wait, did that actually happen?” I can’t help but laugh a little.
He looks over at me, “Yeah, but then she saved my ass from getting executed and sacrificed herself.”
I look between them, “What was her character?”
Steph looks at me then quickly answers, “An elf barbarian named Calamastia.”
“An elf barbarian..” I think for a minute before finishing, “I could see that.”
“She said you two used to play together?”
“Just a few times. We’d play video games, watch movies and tv, and play some board games and do other stuff but we really liked playing pirates together.” The memories of us dressing up and going on adventures together brings a smile to my face and I feel a tear running down my cheek.
“… okay?”
My thoughts are interrupted by Mikey as he and Steph are both looking over at me with small smiles and a big worry on there faces. “Sorry, what did you say?” Then I wipe my cheek.
“You started smiling and teared up a bit, are you okay?”
I sniffle a little before answering, “Y-yeah, I was just thinking.” I put my head down and start fidgeting with my fingers.
Steph puts a hand on my shoulder which brings my attention back up, “What we’re you thinking about?”
“Just about how we would dress up and go on these adventures together.”
Mikey leans forward with his elbows on his knees, “Seems like you two had some pretty good ones together.”
I can’t help it, but my eyes start watering a little more and I wipe my eyes with my sleeve, “Yeah, we did.”
After a few minutes of us sitting there in silence, Steph takes her hand off my knee and looks down at the cards sitting on the table, clearing her throat she says, “What if we call this game a draw and do something else?”
Mikey looks over at her with a questioning look, “What did you have in my mind?”
She smiles and gets up heading over to a cabinet and comes back a moment later with something behind her back, “Let’s watch a movie.” Then she pulls out a dvd in a clear case. “Blade Runner, for Chloe.”
Mikey straightens up in his seat, “I like that sound of that.”
I quickly add, “Yeah, me too.”
“Mikey, can you put the cards away and Max, can you go upstairs and get us some drinks from the fridge while I get the TV set up?”
“Yep.” Mikey gets up and starts clearing off the table.
I get up and look between, “What drinks do you want?”
Steph looks over her shoulder as she makes her way towards the TV, “Coke for me, please.”
“Root beer, please.” Mikey quickly adds.
“Coming right up.” I go towards the stairs and make my up into the kitchen and into the fridge grabbing their drinks and a Dr. Pepper for myself. A minute later I’m back downstairs, I hand Mikey his and put mine and Steph’s down on the two coasters already out. A moment later, Steph walks over to the wall and flips a switch turning the lights off, leaving us with just the tv to light the room. She takes her seat in between Mikey and I and we’re all spread a few feet apart on the couch. Then a minute later, the movie starts playing.
About two hours later, the credits start rolling and Steph gets up to turn the lights on and she comes back and takes her seat on the couch. “I still remember when Chloe wanted buy a copy of the director’s cut from me.” She says with a grin. “Then I gave it to her for free and we became friends after that.”
Mikey looks over and says, “I think we started to become friends during our first D&D session together when- actually when she came to get her dvd.”
“She and I met when I was 5 and she was 7. We were at the playground and she had some chalk and was drawing on the concrete. I stood there for about ten minutes before I worked up the nerve to ask if I could draw with her and when we were talking it turned out that we only lived a few minutes away from each other. Then we became best friends.”
After a minute, Steph looks between us and says, “Sometimes it’s the little things.” The basement door opens and we turn towards the steps and Mrs. Gingrich walks down.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt but I was gonna order dinner and was wondering if everybody had made a choice yet?”
“Hey, mom. Uhm, we were thinking Chinese if that’s okay.”
“That sounds good to me.”
“I asked Max to stay for dinner too if that’s still okay?”
“Of course it’s okay.” She walks over to me and puts her hand out, I get up and shake her hand. “It’s nice to see you again, Max.”
“It’s nice to see you again too, Mrs. Gingrich.” I reach down and pull my wallet out of my bag and start to open it before she stops me. “Don’t worry about it. You’re our guest.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” Then she pulls out her phone, “I’m gonna write this down just so I get this right, what does everyone want?” After we all tell her “Thank you”, she makes her way back upstairs and closes the door behind her.
I look over at Steph and can’t help but think how closely she resembles her mom. “You look a lot like your mom.”
She looks back at me, “A lot of people say that. You should see Mikey and his brother, they look the same.”
“That’s true, we do look very similar.”
Steph asks, “Do you look more like you’re mom or dad?”
“Uhm, a little of both I guess? I don’t really look like one more than the other I think.”
“Show is a picture.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I wanna see if you look more like one than the other.”
“Alright.” I pull out my phone and scroll through my photos until I find a picture of the three of us and hand my phone to her.
She zooms in and starts moving her finger around studying the picture, “You’re right.” Mikey’s standing next to her and she tilts my phone for him to see.
“Definitely both.”
She hands me back my phone, “You’re mom looks pretty badass in a pantsuit. Is that her style or does she just wear them occasionally?”
“Uhm, mainly for work and special occasions. I’ve only seen her wearing a dress in pictures.”
“Nice.” Then she mumbles something that sounds like “That’s kinda hot.”
“What was that?”
“Oh nothing just… that’s kinda cool.”
“Right, *cool.”* Mikey says grinning and nudging her shoulder.
She looks embarrassed a little, “Dude, shut up.”
I start smiling a little, “I know what you said-“ before I can finish she interrupts me.
“Sorry, that was weird.”
“You’re fine.” I try to follow it up with a joke but as soon as the words leave my mouth I instantly regret it. “Besides your mom’s not so bad either.” But my worry doesn’t last long.
Mikey barks out some laughter and puts his arm on Steph’s shoulder, she lets out a sigh and smiles, “Oh my god. I guess I had that one coming.”
I shrug a little, “Yeah, maybe.”
“Can we… change the subject please?”
As if she had heard, Mrs. Gingrich calls from the top of the steps, “The food will be here soon!”
“Uhh-why don’t we go wait up stairs in the kitchen…” then Steph mutters, just enough to hear, “to save me from further embarrassment.” She starts to go up the steps and we follow.
Half way up, Mikey whispers just enough for us to hear, “Oh, I’m *never*
letting you forget this.” And then he starts laughing again.
Steph stops,-we almost collide on the steps-and she turns her head back with an impish grin, “Now I’m gonna have to try out some new torture methods on Elamon.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Steph turns back and we make our way into the kitchen just in time for the doorbell to ring and a few minutes later we’re all sitting at the table and eating. After about an hour of eating and talking, we clear the table and throw away our trash.
“Thanks for dinner and hanging out but I should get back to Blackwell.”
“I can drop you off.”
“That’s alright, the bus runs a little late so I can take it back.”
Steph puts her shoes and a jacket on before grabbing her keys, “I wasn’t asking.” She then looks over at Mikey, “You coming for the ride?”
He shakes his head, “Im gonna get a shower while you’re gone. It was nice hanging out with you, Max.”
“You too.” I turn and head towards the door and make my way out.
“Hey if you see my mom and she asks where I am, tell her I took Max back to her dorm.”
“I’ll think about.”
“*Right.”*
After getting in the car, she pulls out of the drive way and we make our way to Blackwell. After about 20 minutes, she pulls into the parking lot.
I turn and give her a smile, “Thanks for the ride.”
She returns the smile, “You’re welcome.”
As I turn and grab the door handle to open it she cuts me off. “Are you going to the funeral on Monday?”
I pause for a moment before turning back to her, “I don’t think so. It’s for friends and family and I didn’t know her.”
“I know but… I think Chloe would want you there.”
“Maybe she would but I’m not sure.”
“I understand but if you change you’re mind I can pick you up and you can come with us.”
“I‘ll think about it. I had a nice time today.”
“Me too. See you later.”
“Bye.” I get out of her car and lean down and give her a wave before closing the door. She turns around and pulls away.
A few minutes later I’m on my floor, and making my way towards my room when I pass Kate’s room and hear her playing the violin. I stop outside her door and listen to her for a minute with a smile.
I open my door and set my bag down next to my bed, along with taking my shoes off. I open the box I packed with Chloe’s things and pull out the Pirate Power mixtape. I walk over to my HiFi and put the disc in and turn it up a little bit and then change into my pajamas. Laying on my bed, I close my eyes and slowly drift off to sleep.