Max woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. Rubbing sleep out of her eyes, she checked her phone to see a picture of Chloe. She immediately picked up.
"Hel─" Max was about to say until Chloe interrupted.
"MAAAAXX! GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS!" Chloe hollered, making Max wince.
Max looked over at the calendar pinned on the wall next to the window.
"It's a Tuesday." Max teased as she got out of bed and moved to the calendar. The day had been marked with a big red circle. Underneath were the words, Chloe's birthday!
"Guess again, Caulfield!" Chloe said, her voice was full of excitement.
"Hmmm," Max pretended to think this through even though she knew that Chloe knows that she was just teasing her. "Oh! It's your birthday!"
"Ding, ding, ding! And the winner is Maxine Caulfield!" Chloe said and Max could picture Chloe in her bedroom, doing some next hand motions as if she was a real announcer.
"So do you remember your promise?" Chloe suddenly asked.
Max leaned against the wall, tipping her head towards the ceiling and closing her eyes as the memory came to mind.
"Crap, where the hell is it?" Max muttered as she basically tore her dorm room apart. She stepped over a pile of textbooks that littered the soft blue carpet to recheck the desk drawers. Max was so caught up in her wild hunt that she didn't hear Chloe come in.
"Looking for something?" Chloe asked, startling Max who ended up dropping a stack of old photographs. Chloe was sprawled all over Max's bed and she held a photograph of a blue butterfly.
Max moved to snatch the photograph from Chloe, but Chloe held the photograph away from her. "I was looking for that!" Max said. She tried to appear mad but to Chloe it seemed more like a cute pout.
"Aww, you're so cute when you're mad." Chloe said. She grinned from ear to ear as a faint blush appeared on Max's cheeks.
Max tried to snatch the photograph again, but this time Chloe pulled it behind her.
"Nah-uh, you're not going to get this back just yet."
Max rolled her eyes, knowing exactly where Chloe was going with this conversation.
"What do you want?" Max braced herself for the worst possible answer. It was usually a risk to ask such a daring question to Chloe Price. After all, who knows what she might want someone to do. It could range from something like doing a stunt while surfing to breaking into a store and stealing something.
"A promise. I want you to promise me something." Chloe said. A mischievous smile appeared on her face.
"A promise? Like anything?" Max asked. Chloe nodded and said, "It has to be good though."
"I promise you a lifetime of fun?" Max suggested.
Chloe stared at her like she had gone mad. Max laughed but stopped when she got hit by a pillow.
"I promise to always be your partner in time as long as you'd be my partner in crime."
Chloe seemed to contemplate about this for a few moments. Then she shook her head.
"Too cheesy, even though I do like the sound of that."
Max pondered for a minute until she remembered something. In a few months, it was going to be Chloe's birthday!
"I promise to get you whatever you want for your birthday." Max said and smiled at the familiar sparkle in those striking blue eyes.
"Now we're talking!" Chloe revealed the photograph and Max nearly jumped for it until Chloe put her hand up.
"I don't want a gift; however, I want something better." Chloe said.
"Chloe, what else could you possibly want?" Max asked. She was starting to get fed up with this ridiculous game.
Chloe dramatically sighed as she slowly sat up. "I want you to promise to do whatever I want on my birthday, no matter how crazy the idea is!"
"Chloe…" Max said. She remembered the last time she made this promise and they ended up doing community service for six months as their punishment.
"Do you want this back or not?" Chloe said as she waved the photograph in Max's face.
"Fine, I promise to do whatever you want on your birthday, no matter how crazy the idea is. There, happy?"
Chloe slapped the photograph in Max's hand and gave a devilish grin.
"Well it was more like you blackmailing me into it." Max muttered, but Chloe heard it anyways.
"Hey, it was a negotiation!"
"Far from it."
"Anyways, I'm coming to pick you up and then we're going to swing by the hardware store for some supplies."
"Okay, can you tell me what we're going to do?"
"Nope! You'll have to wait and see." And with that the call was cut off.
Max had a bad, bad feeling about this as she got ready for the day.
The hardware store was huge with giant aisles full of all sorts of equipment and materials. They strode past the building section and straight into the décor section.
"Don't tell me we're decorating someone's house." Max said as they slowed their pace in the painting aisle.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Max." Chloe said as she stopped at the huge collection of spray cans.
Max rolled her eyes and crossed her arms as she watched Chloe pick up a black coloured spray can. Chloe turned around and gave Max a look.
"Aren't you going to choose a colour?" Chloe asked.
"I don't know what I'll be drawing yet." Max said. Blue eyes scanned the spray cans, taking in the variety of colours.
"How about this?" Chloe whipped out the photo of a blue butterfly out of nowhere.
"How the hell do you keep getting that?!"
Chloe winked before saying, "You're not the only one with superpowers."
It was nearly evening when Max and Chloe wandered into a dark alleyway. Both were wearing dust masks and carrying spray cans.
"Okay, you do that side, and I'll do this side. Then when we're both done, we'll turn around to see each other's artwork!" Chloe said, her voice slightly muffled from the mask. She shook her spray can vigorously and turned to face her side of the alleyway.
Max shook her blue spray can and took out the photo from the pocket of her jeans. Then she began to spray.
"Alright! Let's turn around in 3!" Chloe began to count down. "2! 1! Turn!"
Max blinked a couple of times at Chloe's drawing.
"Hey, this is pretty accurate stuff, Max!" Chloe said while admiring the beautiful butterfly that covered the bumpy brick wall.
Max cleared her throat, not quite knowing what to say as she stared in shock. Chloe slung an arm around Max's shoulders and she grinned.
"I know, it's so gorgeous that you just don't know what to say, huh?"
Max facepalmed and said, "Chloe…why?"
Chloe stepped away from Max and stood beside her 'artwork' with a big smile across her face. Max knew what she was going to say and braced herself for the terrible incoming pun.
"I guess you can say that I'm just dicking around tonight."