Chapter 2
Chapter 2
The sound of her camera made Max open her eyes. In front of her the bucket with the blue butterfly on it that she had just taken a photo of. She plucked the Polaroid from her camera and looked at it for a second. Why was she back in the bathroom?
What am I doing? Max wondered, letting the photo fall to the floor, her body moving on it's own.
She heard the door open and soon the all too familiar monologue of Nathan started. Max stayed hidden and when she heard Chloe enter she slumped to the floor. Dammit Max, stand up you need to help Chloe!
But her body didn't respond. Rather than standing up to help she buried her face into her arms, listening to the argument until Nathan pulled out his gun.
“Nobody would ever miss your punk ass, would they?!”
“Get away from me you psycho!” she heard, followed by a gunshot and she regained control over her limbs once more. Max scrambled to her feet and jumped out from behind the corner...
...To find another Max standing over Chloe's bleeding body, instead of Nathan's pistol she held David's gun in her hand. Chloe laid sideways, her cold, dead eyes staring directly at Max. Her hand went to her mouth as she fell to her knees in shock.
“You know that it had to be done.” the other Max told her, a cold smile on her lips as she turned towards her. “All those people won't have to die now just because you fucked up time and space for your precious punk.”
The smile was gone in an instant and she pointed the gun at Max now. “There's a heavy price to pay for what you've done. So, how would Victoria put it? Oh yeah, fuck your selfie.”
She pulled the trigger.
“No!” Max shouted and sat up abruptly. From besides her she heard a gasp. Reflexively Max turned to the source of the sound to find Chloe sitting on a cot beside the one Max was occupying, leaning down to pick up the cigarette she must have dropped just now.
“Jesus fuck!” Chloe exclaimed, inspected the cigarette and put it back between her lips. “Don't scare me like that, Caulfield!”
Max just looked at her for a few seconds, just to make sure that she wasn't dreaming, then jumped forward and hugged her. She smiled when she felt Chloe's arms circle around her. “A nightmare?” Chloe asked.
“Mhm.” Max nodded and nuzzled her face into Chloe's shoulder. She ignored the smell of smoke on her. She was just glad that Chloe was here, real and most importantly alive.
“Wanna talk about it?”
“No.” Max shook her head. “I'm OK. You're here, that's enough.”
She let go of Chloe and leaned back a little to look at her. Really look at her. In the past she had always been Chloe, her BFF, when she looked at her. But things were different now. They had changed.
Their eyes met and Max was glad that they had a little space between them because there was no way in hell that Chloe wouldn't notice her heart doing Olympics level somersaults. How come it had taken all these years to notice just how beautiful Chloe's eyes were?
Or how kissable her lips were.
Max wondered if Chloe was thinking along the same lines right now.
The buzzing of her phone broke the spell and Chloe let go of her, eyes darting to the side and her right hand going to the back of her neck while Max silently exhaled and pulled out her phone while sitting down properly again.
“It's my Dad," Max said. "I gotta take this one.”
“Sure.” Chloe got to her feet and stretched herself. “Gonna go stretch my legs a little. By the way, they're handing out some food soon. Probably gonna taste like ass, but whatever.” With those words Chloe left the tent.
“Hi, Dad.” Max smiled slightly after Chloe as she left.
“Max. I was getting worried when you didn't call the entire day.” Max blinked and took a peek outside where the sun was already setting. She slept the whole day!
“Sorry, I was more tired than I thought,” she said and followed Chloe suit and left the tent.
“It's OK. So your Mom and I were talking and we think you should come back home.” She knew that this would be coming. And they were right, nothing that was holding her here anyway.
Nothing, except Chloe.
“Dad,” she said before he could say anything further. “I know you want me back home but I can't. It's...I just...It's Chloe. Joyce and her lost everything to the tornado and I can't just abandon her.” Not again she added silently.
“I see...” her Dad became silent for a moment. “Hold on a second.”
She heard how he put his phone down as she walked a little bit. She spotted Joyce sitting with David and gave them a small wave. She waited for a little bit until he was back on the phone.
“Is Joyce with you?” he asked her.
“Uh, yeah,” she said a little bit confused.
“Could you let me talk to her for a bit?”
“I guess...” she blinked and walked over to Joyce and David. “Sorry Joyce. my, uh, Dad wants to talk with you.”
Joyce eyebrows rose in surprise and took the phone from Max. Max saw a smile grow on her lips. “Well I'll be...It's good to hear your voice, Ryan. How's Vanessa?”
“I'll let you two talk,” Max said and went to look for Chloe. She found her after a few minutes, staring into the sky, the cigarette she had been smoking long gone, a thoughtful expression on her face. With a small smile Max opened her bag and pulled out her camera. The sound of the Polaroid made Chloe turn around in surprise.
“Did you just snap a picture of me?”
“Yup,” Max said, smiling a little to herself and shook the photo a little.
“Shouldn't you be paying me for being your model?” Chloe asked with smirk and walked over to her to take a look at the photo. “Dude, just look at that sweet ass. Hawt dayum.”
“You're ridiculous.” Max chuckled, yet couldn't help but agree.
“You're glad that I am.”
“Yes, I am,” Max said and put about the photo and her camera. They walked back together and joined David and Joyce where they were sitting.
“Here you go,” Joyce said and handed Max her phone.
“What did he want to talk with you about?” Max asked.
“You're leaving for home tomorrow,” Joyce said and Max felt her heart sink and she noticed Chloe's expression growing dark. “I agree with Ryan and Vanessa. It's better that way. Chloe,” she looked at her daughter, who made it a point of looking down at her hands. “You're going with her.”
Max and Chloe looked at each other in surprise. “Mom? The fuck?”
“Watch your tone, young lady.” Joyce warned her, but couldn't hide the amused twinkle in her eyes. “Ryan and I discussed it and he said you could stay with them.”
“Are you sure?” Chloe asked.
“Chloe. There's nothing here anymore but ruins. It's going to be a while until repairs will start, if at all. A lot of people already left the town anyway after the Prescott's pretty much took over. I don't think there's much of a future here anymore. And it would put my mind at ease knowing you're with Max and her parents instead of here,” she gestured at all the tents. “Don't worry. David and I will manage.”
To emphasize his wife's point David put his arm around her shoulder, and gave them a smile. Chloe and Max looked at one another and shared a small smile of their own.
They left at noon the next day. Not before Max went to say goodbye to her friends though. Warren had been down a for a moment when he heard the news, but had regained his usual cheerfulness quickly enough as they hugged.
She promised Kate that she would text her everyday and that they would eventually make good on their promise on a tea trip.
Dana hugged her tightly and wished her well.
She even managed to get a hold of Victoria, who too was being picked up today by her parents.
“See you around, Maxine,” she had said before getting into the car and with a small chuckle Max refrained from correcting her.
The lighthearted mood from earlier quickly dissipated though when Chloe drove them through town and Max had to see once more just how much had been destroyed. Leaning her head against the window she just looked, committing everything to memory so that she would never forget. This was her burden to bear, and she would do it for the rest of her life.
They had just passed the empty Two Whales when Chloe stopped the car and Max felt a hand brush gently against her shoulder. Slowly Max turned to look at her. Chloe gave her a comforting smile and a look that said that everything would be alright eventually. And despite everything that happened, Max believed her.
Giving her a smile in return she sat up straight and looked at the road ahead. No looking back,she told herself as they passed the town sign.