Just Me And You
Brrring.
Brrring.
Brr-
“What’s up, Chloe?”
“Uh. I just… uh. Thought I should be the one to warn you.”
“‘Warn me’? Did you commit arson without me again?”
“Victoria Chase is in the hospital because I hit her upside the head with a rebar.”
“...”
“...I’m not sorry.”
“You. Did. What.”
“She slapped Max.”
“...”
“Frankly, Rachel - I don’t care if she’s your friend. I don’t care if she’s the second coming of Christ. She slapped Max. And… you should’ve seen the conversation they had beforehand. Rachel - I’m not sorry. I’m sorry that you’re hurt - that you’re clinging to this bitch for no good reason - but I’m not sorry for hitting her.”
“...I know.”
Click.
Chloe rubbed her wrists where she’d been cuffed. Those damn things had always been uncomfortable - there were thin red indents where they’d dug into her skin.
She glanced up at her step father.
“Thanks.” She managed - though it came out a little flatter then was strictly polite.
“Don’t let me see you in here again.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She muttered - already walking off.
“I mean it, Chloe!”
She ignored him.
She stepped out of the police station, already prepared to walk all the way home. She knew David wouldn’t tell Mom about this, and asking her for a ride would spill the beans instantly. And she certainly wasn’t gonna ask step-douche for a ride. Rachel was… it was better to let Rachel be for a bit. It was easier to just walk, even if it might take an hour or two. And she was ready to drop.
She stopped, very suddenly, when she saw Max sitting against the wall of the station outside.
Max glanced at her.
Froze.
…
“...Can I…”
Chloe gestured weakly to the pavement next to Max.
Max - who slid a little to the side, like she was making room.
Chloe flopped down next to her.
There was a moment of strained quiet.
“...I’m not sorry.” She said, finally.
“I know.” Max muttered, pulling up her knees and setting her chin on them.
“She hit you. I wasn’t going to let that go.”
“Alright.”
“I’m not going to apologize for that.”
“Okay.”
“...I’m really not sorry.”
Max didn’t say anything.
“...D’you th-”
“Can I say something?” Max said - and her voice was quiet, but remarkably clear.
Chloe shut up very quickly.
“...Please.”
Max was quiet, for a moment.
Her head lolled back, so she was looking up at the stars.
“...Victoria was always mean to me.”
Chloe blinked.
“Even when I met her, she was mean.” Max said - and her voice was quiet, delicate - but there was something very deep there. “I… I had a crush on her from the moment I saw her. She was beautiful. But… she was so mean. Cold, and rude. Just… mean. Just mean. And I’d see her, sitting on the steps and laughing at people, making mean comments to her friends, and I thought… I dunno. I thought maybe she just needed someone to be nice to her. Someone who wouldn’t laugh along - but who would support her. I thought… I thought that there was someone good there. That there had to be.”
“I don’t know why. But I always thought that about mean people. That… that something good was there. That they were going through something, too. And maybe… maybe I was right. I don’t know. I still don’t.”
“Because Victoria never opened up. Victoria never let me call her nicknames, or hugged me, or… or just did anything nice, for the sake of it.”
“Maybe… maybe I thought I deserved it?”
The low light of distant streetlamps reflected in Max’s eyes - and tears began to gather there.
“I don’t know. I… I don’t know. Sometimes it feels like I don’t know much of anything.”
“But I just… I looked at Victoria, and I… I saw something good. I saw someone who needed help. I looked at everyone - and I couldn’t see just that cold meanness that everyone else saw. I couldn’t… I dunno. Maybe I just couldn’t understand why someone would be like that. Maybe… maybe I was just looking for a reason, that everyone was always so mean to me.”
“And I started to, like… put that suffering - that suffering I’d pasted onto Victoria, that wasn’t even really there - I started to… like, glorify it? I started to push down that little part of me, that said that Victoria was being rude. That Victoria was treating me in a way that wasn’t fair. I pushed it down - because Victoria was hurt, too. I made everything about how… how Victoria was suffering. I made it all about her - and she made it all about herself.”
Max started to cry.
“And it got worse when we were friends, y’know? I just looked at her - and I was able to push away the little nagging thoughts, about how this wasn’t how you treated friends. I was able to convince myself that… I dunno. That Victoria was just being nice in her own way, or something. That Victoria didn’t know what she was doing. That Victoria was my friend - that she must be doing what was best for me.”
“I… that was dumb, wasn’t it? I - I wanted to think people were good, that - that there was a reason for them being like this. I put them up on these pillars of misery that I’d made for them, and… and it was me that really pushed me down. It wasn’t Victoria, it… it was just me.”
“And - Chloe, I… I wasn’t even… I think I was starting to forget, what it had even been like. To be happy. To be supported. To… to let yourself think someone else is bad.”
Max turned to her - and her face was the perfect picture of a world crumbling.
“T-that doesn’t make me bad, right? I’m… I don’t want to - to want Victoria hurt, I…”
Chloe couldn’t have stopped herself if someone had put a gun to her head.
She pulled Max into her arms, and gripped her like her life depended on it.
And Max gripped back - like Chloe was the only stable thing in the world.
“I’m not a bad person, right?” Max muttered - and her tears stained Chloe shoulder as she gripped her.
Chloe pulled her closer.
“No, Max. You aren’t. Don’t ever think you are. You - you’re the nicest, bestest, most awesomest person I know, Max.”
Max giggled wetly into her shoulder - and hiccupped.
“T-that’s not a word, Chloe.”
Chloe gripped her tighter.
“I don’t care. It’s the truth, Max.”
“I… I just - I want you to know that…”
Max gripped her - and her voice was so quiet that, even so close, Chloe could barely hear her.
“T-that you gave me back my - my - I don’t know - my… my want to be happy?”
Max chuckled very, very weakly.
“T-that sounds dumb.”
“No… no, it’s. I get it.” Chloe said. Because she did.
“Max… I just want you to know - that, no matter what; you’ll always be my adorable, kindest, bestest, awesomest dork.”
Max giggled again - and sniffed very loudly.
“You’re s-such a dummy.”
“Really, Max.” Chloe said, as wisely as she could manage. “You’re the most wonderfulest, dopest, amazingest-”
Max started to laugh into her shoulder.
“S-shuttup.” She said, weakly.
“-Spectaularest, incrediblest, astoundingest person I’ve ever met.” Chloe finished, gripping her tightly. “And don’t you ever forget it.”
“...Thank you.” Max whispered.
Chloe leaned back - just enough to press a kiss to Max’s forehead.
And Max leaned into the contact, like a drowning woman - desperate for any form of affection.
“...You’re so warm.” Max muttered.
Chloe smiled at her, pressing their foreheads together.
“Feel free to use me as a heater any time, dork.”
Max giggled weakly.
“...I broke my promise.”
Chloe blinked.
“What?”
“I laughed. I said I would hold it back.” Max said - though she didn’t really sound all that sad about it.
Chloe leaned back - so she could look into Max’s eyes.
“Max - you never have to hold back with me, okay?”
Max looked right into her - and she looked so desperate, so hopeful, and yet so wary and cautious, that it tore at Chloe’s heart.
“...Okay.” She said, finally - and her voice wavered, but didn’t break.