Where Do You Go When Home Isn't Home
They drove all night after the storm. Got as far away from the destruction as they could before Max could tell Chloe couldn’t drive any longer. “Che” Max started in a soft tone “We really need to call it for the night, we don’t even know where we are going and you are practically a zombie at this point.” Chloe had opened her mouth to protest, but seemed to have lost the energy to form the words. The truck chugged and sputtered to a stop at the side of the dark rural highway they had been on for miles. As the key left the ignition the lights slowly faded away and allowed the night to bleed through them. Max could hardly hear her breathing over the sound of the rain hitting the metal roof above us. That slow comforting sound of her presence could almost make Max light headed.
“Uh Max?” Chloe’s words pierced the silence as Max heard her shifting on the bench seat next to her. “You’re going to have to make some fuckin’ room for me to lay down here. If I have to keep my legs folded up like that any longer I’m going to lose my shit.”
“Oh, yeah sorry, my mind wondered off.” Max nervously said before shifting herself carefully to lay on her side. Chloe laid down next to her on the bench seat of the truck. This was the first time she became aware that they haven’t been this close to one another since the morning after they went for a swim. She could feel Chloe’s breath on her face now and she couldn’t help but shiver.
“You cold?” Chloe asked quietly.
She didn’t even have time to answer before Chloe pressed herself against her and wrapped her arms around her.
Keep it together Max
Max buried her face in Chloe’s shoulder and attempted to sleep. The sound of her best friends breathing and the smell of the cigarettes and salt quickly lulled her to sleep, but they couldn’t keep her nightmares away. She woke up time after time to choke back tears until sleep took over her again. However, it wasn’t a nightmare that woke her up that morning, but instead an odd feeling that she hadn’t felt before. As she started to collect her thoughts she realized what that sensation was. As she opened her eyes she found out just what the feeling was. Chloe, who was still laying next to her, had her leg wedged between Max’s thighs and her hand under Max’s shirt pressed to her bare stomach.
I can think if a lot of worse things to wake up to.
Unsure of what to do she just blankly stared at the sleeping Chloe next to her. She looked so peaceful while she slept.
I could lay like this forever
However, Chloe began to stir next to Max before dragging her hand slowly across her bare stomach. Max sucked in a deep breath and shivered again. Chloe rubbed the sleep from her eyes and slowly opened then.
“Morning Che” Max choked out.
Chloe groaned and buried her head into her best friend’s neck “Can we sleep awhile longer?” she asked.
Max giggled and shook her head slightly “as much as I wish we could we really should get up and come up with a plan.”
The next thing she knew she was on her back and Chloe was looking down at her with her signature grin.
“You’re lucky you’re so god damn cute Caulfield” she said as she stared down at Max intently.
She felt my face heat up and could only imagine how badly she had to be blushing at this point. She opened my mouth and then closed it once again trying to think of a clever response, but was met by Chloe’s laughter.
“You’re too easy Maxi-pad.” She said before sliding off of Max.
The friction of her jeans against her was distracting and she hardly noticed the door had been opened until Chloe slammed it shut behind her after she slid out. Her gaze followed Chloe as she reached into the bed of the truck and grabbed a duffle bag of clothes. Watching as she pulled out a black tank top and her usual pair of ripped jeans and quickly began to strip off the clothes she was currently wearing. Max couldn’t help but stare until Chloe noticed her. Her eyes quickly darted down to her lap to avoid eye contact, but it was too late. Chloe made her way back to the door and had pulled it open.
“You know Caulfield if you want to see me naked so bad you could just ask.” She said huskily with that shit eating grin of hers.
“You’d like that wouldn’t you Che” She worked up the courage to say, but looked anywhere but her best friend.
Chloe leaned up into the truck and loomed over her placing a finger under Max’s chin and forced her to look up at her. Max could feel her hot breath on her face. “I can think of a lot of things I’d like you to do” She whispered with her smug grin.
Max sucked in a sharp breath and held it as Chloe closed more distance between them, but she was gone just as soon as she had gotten there erupting into a fit of laughter. “What’s so funny?” Max asked in a weak tone.
“You. You’re just too easy.” Chloe responded before grabbing a flannel and a pair of ripped jeans from the bag and tossed them at Max “Get out here and get dressed Hippie”
Max grabbed them and slowly slid out of the truck turning her back to Chloe. Reluctantly she pealed her shirt over her head. She could feel eyes on her, burning into her back. Max unbuttoned her jeans and quickly slid them off quickly replacing them with the new pair so she wouldn’t be so exposed for long. The new shirt soon followed, but it was kinda big on her and the jeans were a little long clearly belonging to Chloe. When she turned around Chloe was just standing there with that same smirk staring at Max wiggling her eyebrows. Max rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly. “Let’s get going you perv.”
Chloe chuckled, rounded the truck and got in the driver’s seat. Soon they were driving down the rural highway again. They drove for an hour or two before we stopped to get some breakfast at a run-down truck stop. Apart from two old truckers watching the news on an old TV the place was deserted. So there they were, sitting in a booth at a truck stop in a town we have never heard of as if it’s normal. Chloe is wolfing down her food like it could be her last meal, but Max can hardly bring herself to eat. A few bites here and there are all she can stomach before she heard Chloe speak up.
“Yo Earth to Mad Max. Come in Max.”
Max looked up from her plate and grumbled an apology with the most conviction she could muster, but it wasn’t enough. They fall into silence for a moment before Max speaks “Chloe….Do you think anyone made it through that storm?” Chloe looked at her for a moment before sliding out of her booth and sliding in beside Max. She wrapped her arm around Max’s shoulders and studied her for a moment. Max couldn’t quite read her expression for the first time in what felt like forever.
Chloe finally answered “Have you turned your phone on yet?”
She avoided the question, but Max couldn’t blame her. She knew Chloe had to be wondering if Joyce had made it through the storm by now. She dug her phone out of her pocket and looked at Chloe for a moment before holding the power button. As it light up and reached the home screen it began to endlessly ding as messages and notifications flowed in. Missed call after missed call from her parents flooded to her notifications screen. She knew she needed to call and let them know that she was as okay as she could be and that she wasn’t alone regardless of how much she really didn’t want to try and explain any of it to them. She squeezed past Chloe to leave the booth and exit the truck stop. As she made the call Chloe could see her pacing back and forth past the glass door. The first few minutes seemed to go well from her view other than a few tears that feel from her best friends beautiful eyes, but her expression began to sour. Max began to gesture with her free hand and Chloe was sure she could see her hands tremble.
Chloe got to her free and dug money for their meals out and dropped it on the table before making her way out of the truck stop. Max could see her approaching and hung up the phone to end the argument.
“What’s up Maximo? Are your parents alright?” Chloe asked.
Max sighed and shook her head “They gave me a week to get home.”
Chloe swore she could feel her heart hit the ground it sank so far. Soon Max was being consumed by her best friend’s arms and pulled in tightly. She held on just as tightly as she buried her head into Chloe’s chest. “I won’t go Che. I’m already home” she said, but it came out muffled by Chloe’s warm skin. Chloe pushed her away and looked down at her with a questioning look, the pain in her eyes was plenty visible. “You’re my partner in crime Chloe. Home isn’t home without you anymore. Besides, you said I’m your partner in time. Time never leaves us even if it does move backwards sometimes.” She said softly. That’s when she knew that she was in over her head. She was, in fact, in love with a beautiful ghost from her past.