Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Max woke up feeling much more refreshed than the last time she had slept. No nightmares had plagued her this night, which was most likely due to Chloe's presence. With a smile she turned to Chloe and opened her eyes.
Only to find Chloe gone. Instead Max found a Polaroid photo lying where Chloe should have been. Raising her eyebrows as much as she was able so early after waking up she picked up the photo and took a look at it. It featured Chloe, face directed at the camera, leaning over a sleeping Max and making the most ridiculous duck lips she had ever seen.
Dammit, Chloe! Max thought and placed it on her nightstand, then looked at the clock to see that is was past 11am already. Her parents would be off to work and a quick look at her phone showed that her Dad had left her a message.
We decided to let you two sleep in. Food is in the fridge and I left my credit card in the kitchen so Chloe and you can buy her some new clothes later. Just don't try to bankrupt me.
Try to take it easy for a while, you hear?
Thanks, Dad she send him back and got out of bed. She grabbed a towel and went into the bathroom to take a shower, all the while wondering where Chloe was.
As she headed down the stairs she could hear sounds coming from the living room and lo and behold there was Chloe, bumming it out on the couch and watching TV.
“Mornin',” Chloe greeted Max as she sat down beside her.
“I see you're already feeling right at home,” Max said with a small grin.
“I just can't have this beautiful TV go to waste, can I?” Chloe looked at her with a grin of her own. “So what's on today's agenda?”
“Something to eat and after that we're going to get you some new clothes. Dad's buying.” she watched Chloe's face grow serious. “What's wrong?”
“I mean, I'm already living here and now your folks want to buy me new shit?” she rubbed the back of her head. “Is that really OK?”
“My Dad wouldn't have offered if it weren't,” Max said and placed a hand on Chloe's shoulder, giving it a short squeeze. “Besides, how many times have I slept and eaten at your place in all these years? Just thank them later and that'll be enough.”
“Well if you say so.” Chloe sighed and smiled. “So you said something about food?”
“Follow me.”
After having eaten Max had gone to get Chloe some clothes to wear outside and even though the pants were a little short on Chloe, they would do for the day. On their way Chloe couldn't have acted more like an obvious tourist if she tried to, but Max could hardly fault her.
Seattle sure was different from Arcadia Bay, or even Portland for that matter. It kinda excited her too, seeing Chloe like this. They didn't even bother with the stores that Max had frequented and went right into a store that specialized in punk stuff.
Max then spend the next hour playing judge for Chloe's very own mini fashion show. All the while she texted with Kate, who was currently on her way to her relatives outside of Arcadia Bay.
Gotta admit I really thought the 'new' Chloe would be way less picky about her clothes, she thought andjust as she send another text she saw Chloe coming out from the changing cubicle with a new combination of clothes. Max made a so-so gesture, causing Chloe to pout for a second beforegoing back to try on something else.
After Chloe had finally decided on what she wanted Max was actually surprised in how reasonable priced it all was. Seemed like living on a tight budget had made Chloe adept at that kind of stuff.
It kind of explained her shitty car, too.
They then went to buy Chloe the other essentials, namely underwear and just a little bit of make-up. Non-animal based of course.
After leaving the last store Chloe hooked her arm through Max's. “Alright, I got my new digs and we've got plenty of time. Now show me around your turf, Max Payne.”
“This is hardly my turf, you know,” Max said and shook her head at the nickname. “But fine, I'll show you some of my hangouts.”
So they headed to Fremont, starting with the Troll. Upon arriving there Chloe looked at Max.
“Somehow...I'm not surprised,” she said with a cocked eyebrow.
“What's that supposed to mean?”
“Kinda figures that you'd hang out at...artistic places.”
Max sighed. “Yeah I know, instead of showing you exciting places I take you right into snooze-ville is that what you wanna says?”
“No...Well maybe last week I might have, but this place is very you,” Chloe said with that smile that made Max's heartbeat go faster every time and then jogged over to the Troll, sitting down on it's right hand. “Come on, hippie. Take a photo of me.”
“I thought I was supposed to pay you for modeling.” Max laughed and pulled out her camera. “Fine. Try to make a pose.”
Chloe laid down on it, holding the back of her left hand against her forehead in a very exaggerated pose as Max pointed the camera at her. “Now make me a star!”
Max froze as she heard those words.
“My turn now!”
“Make me a star.”
“Just make me look young.”
She closed her eyes at the memory. New, happy memories,she thought and opened her eyes with a smile and released the shutter. She took the photo and shook it a little while Chloe returned to her side. They looked at it and Max said: “Well, you have the honor of being my first, real model shoot.”
“By the end of the day you're gonna have an entire portfolio.” And it wasn't a joke. They had spend hoursdriving all around Fremont with Chloe posing at various places for Max.
As the day went on they went to visit some other places until Chloe managed to drag Max to the Sky Needle. Yeah, she definitely acted like an obvious tourist.
“Holy fuck, just look at that view!” Chloe exclaimed as she took it all in. In Max's opinion it wasn't special at all, but that was most likely because she had gotten so used to Seattle after all these years. She preferred the view over Arcadia Bay from the lighthouse...or at least she had done so.
Her expression darkened as her thoughts went back to all the destruction that she had caused. She knew that she was a selfish person, but as she looked at Chloe she knew deep within her heart that she would do it all over again if she had to. And that scared her to no end.With small steps she walked up behind Chloe and put her arms around her, leaning her head into the back of her shoulders.
“Max?” Chloe asked, placing a hand over one of Max's.
“Mhm?”
“Everything alright?”
“I'm a bad person,” Max said and felt tears welling up in her eyes. She was glad that no one else was around to listen in on them. “The town destroyed, all those people dead. All because of me. I could have prevented it, but that would have meant giving you up and I couldn't do that, not even when you told me to. Not after...”
“Max-”
“You should hate me,” Max said. “I was ready to let Joyce, and David and everyone else die even after you told me that they deserved better. Just because I couldn't let you go.”
“Don't say that!” Chloe said angrily and wrestled herself out of Max's hug, turning around on her heels to look at her. “Now listen. Don't you ever tell me that I should hate you.”
Max looked away, not bothering to stop the tears anymore. One of Chloe's hands cupped her cheek and turned her face so that their eyes locked. She had expected Chloe's eyes to flash in that anger that she had become so familiar with during the past week, but she also found something else, something she didn't recognize.
“I could never hate you. You're the nicest, most amazing person I know. And I'm telling you that I meant what I said at the lighthouse. I'll always be with you, no matter what,” Chloe said and pulled her into a tight hug. “It's too late to live with 'what-if's'. What's done is done. All we can do is move forward, right?”
Max sniffed and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Good.” They remained like that for a while until Max pulled back out of the embrace, brushing away her tears.
“That...sounded awfully mature, you know?” Max said, with a small smile.
“I, uh, like to think the years finally started catching up?”
Max snorted and started to laugh.
“The fuck was so funny about that?!” Chloe demanded to know but still grinned. “Yeah, well fuck you too, Caulfield!”
That only made Max laugh harder.