"Hurry up Bulldog, we're gonna miss the damn bus!"

"Coming!"

Chloe, jogging, catches up to Justin. With one hand she holds her khaki duffle bag propped up on her shoulder, her other grasping her Greyhound tickets. Destination: Portland.

Justin steps onto the bus and hands over his tickets. "Thanks," he mutters when the driver clears him.

Following close behind, Chloe smiles as she hands over her own tickets. "Thanks," she repeats and turns after Justin.

"Where do you wanna sit?" Justin asks, eyeing the seats.

"Anywhere dude, I'm spent," Chloe replies, shrugging.

"Right," he nods to himself and looks around.

A short, brunette girl catches his eye; sitting quietly in the back of the bus, her gaze resting outside the window she's seated next to.

"Aha," Justin smirks and struts his way forward.

With a groan, Chloe follows. "You're impossible dude, seriously? We're barely back in the states for a day and you're already on the prowl."

"Give me a break," he scoffs. "I spent four months sitting in the middle of a desert staring at your ugly mug each day, I'm desperate."

"Pfft, whatever," Chloe dismisses him with her hand, choosing instead to fall into a seat in front of the brunette.

As Justin approaches, the brunette girl shoots him a smile. "Can I help you?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if this seat is taken?"

"Nope," she replies and then shifts in her seat, hugging the window closer to allow Justin to sit down.

"Thanks," Justin says as he sits down, placing his duffle underneath his seat. "Uh, so what about the weather, huh?"

"It's nice," the girl replies with a smile. "I'm not used to the heat though; rain is more my type."

"What I wouldn't do to get some rain right now," Justin agrees with a nod. "I'm Justin, by the way."

"Max," the brunette states with her smile constantly present.

"Sun's nice though, I guess I'm a bit used to it - Sacramento born and all," Justin continues as he stares outside the window, spotting the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. "Damn, San Fran never fails to amaze me."

"Me too," Max replies as she spots the landmark herself.

"Californian girls never fail to impress either," Justin teases as he looks at Max.

Max giggles and shakes her head, speaking, "I'm from Oregon, not California. Thank you though."

Chloe shoots a quick glance to her side, spotting Justin hit a metaphorical stone wall.

"Ah, Oregon… right," he mumbles and then looks away momentarily. "So, what were you doing in California if I may ask?"

Chloe groans internally, taking a moment to plug in her earphones. With a flick of her finger, she shuffles her playlist and places her head against the lukewarm glass of the window beside her.

Get a hint, dude - jeez.

Momentarily the heavy opening riffs of Mötley Crüe's - Kickstart My Heart echo out in her ear, drowning out the conversation going on behind her and her thoughts all at once.

As the bus jolts to a stop, Chloe jolts awake from her short nap.

"Yo, Bulldog," Justin speaks up as she stands from his seat. "My stop."

Standing up with a smile, Chloe pulls Justin into a hug. "Gonna miss you dude."

"Not gonna miss you, that's for sure," he jokes - earning himself a punch on the shoulder. "Ow!"

"Screw you." Chloe moves back into her seat, watching her friend pick up his duffle and place it over his shoulder.

Justin walks his way down the aisle, followed closely by Chloe. "Hit me up when you're in town or something, I'd love to show ya around."

"Sure," Chloe nods and pats him on the back. "Doubt I'd have a reason to head down to Cali though."

"You never know," he continues as he steps off the coach, shooting her a quick glance. "Mi casa su casa, you're always welcome to come and visit."

"Dunno," she runs her hand over the back of her neck. "Maybe. I'll have to see my old folks first - would be nice though, thanks for the offer."

"Yeah," he smirks and then looks up at the sky with a frown, droplets of rain beginning to make their way down. "Great, I wanted rain and here it is."

Chloe laughs and then shoves him away from the coach playfully. "You get the sun sometimes at least, last I heard Oregon was in the middle of a freak snowstorm."

"Snowstorm?" Justin raises a quizzical eyebrow. "Global warming, that's what that is."

Rolling her eyes, Chloe speaks, "Yeah, whatever you say dude. Anyway - keep safe and call sometime, m'kay?"

"Sure," Justin replies and hoists his duffle up to correct it. "If I have time between my numerous dates, I'll see about it."

With a groan, Chloe turns around and makes her way back onto the Greyhound. "See ya dude."

Justin waves her away with a smirk. "Yeah, see ya."

Back on the bus, Chloe realises that quite a few more people have entered - most the seats are now taken. Making her way back to the seat, she slumps herself down and places her head against the window again.

"Hey," Max says as she makes a move to grab her camera bag from in between her legs. "Do you mind if I sit next to you?"

Chloe raises her eyebrow. "Sure, I don't mind," she shrugs and watches.

Max makes the quick transition, sitting herself down comfortably - her bag in between her legs again. "Thanks."

"No problem," Chloe replies and then looks up above the seats; spotting the onset of the last passengers boarding.

Whilst they wait quietly for the coach to start, Chloe notices that the seats behind them are both taken - bringing a question to the forefront of Chloe's mind about whether or not Max chose to sit next to her rather than another stranger.

"So, your friend told me a bit about you whilst you slept," Max begins with a smile.

Meanwhile, the coach jolts forward and sets off.

"He did, did he?" Chloe screams internally as she immediately unfurls Justin's plan.

Justin.

"Yep, said you were from Arcadia Bay," Max continues with her smile, staring at Chloe. "I went there during my senior year, attended Blackwell Academy."

"Woah," Chloe shoots her a quick glance. "You went to Blackwell? When?"

"Oh… 2013?" Max wonders for a second, bringing a finger to her lips.

Chloe watches the small gesture, doing her best to not bite down on her lip.

Okay, that's cute. That is adorably cute. God hella damnit.

"Right. I finished that hellhole in 2012," Chloe replies and then looks away in an attempt to stop the oncoming blush. "Whole town is a wreck."

"I thought it was nice," Max scrunches up her nose and looks around the bus quickly. "Lots of good places to photograph."

"Photographer, are you?" Chloe smirks.

"Yep," she giggles.

Chloe screams internally at how perfect the giggle actually sounds.

"So, you're from Oregon?" Chloe asks and looks at her, spotting the freckles peppered on her face. "Where from?"

"I was born in Olympia, lived in Portland for a few years," Max smiles (and subsequently incognito melts Chloe's heart at how perfect that is too). "When I was 12 I moved to Seattle though, my dad got a new job offer so we packed up and left."

"Cool," Chloe looks away to hide her ember hot face. "I've lived in Arcadia my entire life."

"Oh, that's so cool-"

"Nope," Chloe shuts her down rather rudely. "Place is a hickhole, one of the most conservative backwaters in the US of A."

"Didn't seem like it when I was there," Max shrugs and looks away again. "I've always wanted to live in a small town like that."

"Why?" Chloe raises an eyebrow.

Max shrugs again. "Dunno. I guess I like the appeal of the small, tight-knit community like that. Besides, some of the views there were amazing too - especially the lighthouse."

Chloe smiles. "Yeah, that was an upside in living there I suppose. The lighthouse was my chill out zone whenever I got pissed off and needed to vent."

"There was also this really cool junkyard-"

"American Rust," Chloe cuts her off and laughs. "Sorry, I know what you're talking about. I used to hang out there too."

Squinting in concentration, Max jumps up in her seat as she remembers. "Oh my dog! I remember now - there was a small cinderblock hut there with writing on the wall!"

"Chloe was here," Chloe smirks as she speaks, looking outside her window. "Yeah, that was me."

"Wowser," Max whispers. "The world is a small place after all."

"Yeah," Chloe replies and locks her gaze on the passing Sacramento skyline.

"There was another name there-"

"Rachel," Chloe cuts her off again and smiles.

"Who is she?" Max asks, looking at Chloe.

"An old friend," she speaks and looks back at Max momentarily. "Left Arcadia around the same time I did, moved to LA with her boyfriend. Last I heard she scored big with some modelling gig or something, living the Santa Monica dream or whatever."

"Oooh." Max forms an 'o' with her mouth as she spots the look of hurt on Chloe's face. "You didn't-"

"No," Chloe answers. "We had a falling out after our graduation. For years we planned to take a gap year, go on a road trip down the west coast and beyond. Day after we received our diplomas she said that she doesn't wanna go anymore, I tried to persuade her and we argued - she left. Next day I tried to apologise but her parents said she already left for California."

Max listened, watching Chloe's face go through a range of emotions as she spoke.

"I left for Portland the following day, partied a bit myself, got coerced by some dude to join up and serve the cause," Chloe finishes. "Four years later, here I am."

Unsure what to say anymore, Max chose to stay silent.

Chloe kept quiet for a few minutes before shooting a glance at the brunette again. "So, what about you?"

"Huh?" Max raises an eyebrow.

"Friends. You got any that you left behind in Portland, Olympia, Seattle?" Chloe smiles as she asks the question.

"A few," Max admits with a sigh. "Most of them I kept up with though, a few still live in Portland so we go out once a while to catch up."

"You live in Portland?" Chloe raises her eyebrow, intrigued.

Max smiles and nods. "Yep. I've got a job as a photojournalist for a small newspaper, I take independent work on the side though - broaden my horizons and whatnot."

Chloe laughs.

"What's so funny?" Max asks.

"Oh, nothing." Chloe runs a hand over her eyes with a finishing chuckle. "You sound like my mom."

"I do?" Max raises an eyebrow and then giggles.

"Yeah. She was always nagging me about the whole 'broaden your horizons' crap - told me to go to college, take the gap year and go on the road trip by myself." Chloe looks down wistfully, giving herself a smile to assure herself. "She wasn't so fond of my running off to Portland and signing up, but oh well - she accepts it now."

Max smiles and giggles herself, opting to look around the bus for a bit.

Chloe constantly shoots her glance at the girl whenever she's looking away.

Deep down, Chloe almost swears that there's a damn butterfly swarm roaming her nearly empty stomach.

A/N:

Another AO3 import, the full thing is available there right now however it'll be fully published here over the coming week. This is a first-meet & fluff fic.

Premise: AU, It's 2016, Chloe has just returned from a military deployment overseas.

Originally this was an experiment for me to get used to concise and & present tense writing, become much more when I found out I loved writing this AU. Hella fluffy, yo.

Also I intentionally skipped out on the more gritty stuff such as PTSD because I wouldn't want to insult anyone with my inexperience of traumatic events, hopefully y'all understand.

- :) WinTTY