"Holy shit, Chloe!" Max exclaimed, leaping from the truck and grinning widely. "This. Is. Epic!"
Chloe smirked proudly at the eager girl, "Yeah, isn't it?"
They were standing together on a large hill. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, and Max stood to watch it while Chloe grabbed their bag from the back of the truck. Max turned around at the sound of the small thump that the bag made on the dirt.
"Cold?" Chloe asked Max later, once the sun had set and the two were huddled in the truck.
The brunette shrugged a little. "Bit. But I'm good. You're here after all."
After a few moments Chloe got out of the car for a smoke, leaving Max to her thoughts.
So we got out of Arcadia. But we don't know who lived, and who… didn't. But I saved Chloe. And that god-awful rewind power is out of our lives.
Chloe had climbed back into the car and her slamming the door behind her in typical Chloe fashion startled Max from her thoughts.
"Maxie?" she asked, "You good?"
"Hmm? Fine." Max nodded, "Just thinking."
"What about?" the bluenette questioned curiously.
"Life. This situation." Max shrugged, cupping her elbows and hugging her arms close to her body as she buried her feelings. Chloe had suffered enough. She didn't need to hear these thoughts.
"Max," Chloe pressed her. "Hey. You can tell me anything."
"It's really not anything, Chlo," Max promised the other teen. "If it was a big deal I would let you know. I'm just dwelling."
Chloe let the subject drop and sat in silence. "Get some sleep, Maxie. I'll keep driving for a bit."
The next morning, Max was driving the truck and Chloe was passed out in the backseat. The sun was rising and Max let out a yawn, wondering how on earth she was able to see the sunset and sunrise in the same day and not be totally exhausted.
Birds started to chirp outside and Chloe groaned sleepily. Max glanced at her in the mirror. "Morning Chlo. Did you sleep alright?"
Chloe grumbled, "Shut up, Caulfield."
Max smiled to herself. She's adorable, she thought, going back in her mind to the moment they'd first left Arcadia Bay.
Chloe and Max sat in silence in the truck, leaving the destroyed Arcadia behind them. Chloe drove, staring numbly forwards.
"Max," she murmured after a moment, "Rachel… she's really gone."
The other girl nodded, "Yeah she is." She reached over and gently rested a hand on Chloe's shoulder. The blue-haired girl didn't react, but didn't push Max away either. "She's gone, but we won't forget her. And we'll keep on living because she would've wanted you to." Max could see that Chloe was on the edge of a breakdown.
Chloe nodded softly, watching the road and gripping the wheel. "Can we stop? Just for a minute?"
"Of course, Chlo. Pull over," Max said reassuringly.
"Hey Max?" Chloe asked as she got out of the car. "Can… Can I have a hug?" Her voice shook and she sounded sheepish.
Max could swear she felt her heart break for her friend. She hopped out of the truck and pulled her into a hug. She felt Chloe's shoulders shake and rubbed her back, letting her break down and cry in her arms.
It took awhile for Chloe to calm down, and when she did, she was pale and drained. Max gently fixed Chloe's hair. "Come on, I'll drive for awhile."
Chloe managed a weak smile. "Great. Also, you give hella good hugs,"
Max smiled back, glad to see a bit of the old Chloe back.
As they moved to get back in the truck, Chloe had grabbed Max's hand and pulled her back. She wrapped an arm across Max's shoulders and pulled her in close, placing a gentle kiss on the brunette's lips.
Max was pulled back to reality by a click from the backseat. She looked at Chloe in the rearview mirror. "Open the window if you're going to smoke in here," she said. Chloe flipped her off but complied. Max chuckled a bit and kept driving along.
It took awhile for them to reach another big city. Max looked on her phone to see where they were. They were in Medford, Oregon. "Can we find a cheap hotel?" Max asked Chloe pleadingly. "I'm so tired of sleeping in this damn truck."
"Of course we can, Maxie," Chloe was cheerful and Max suspected her good mood was connected to the vague skunkish scent pervading the truck.
They stayed in Medford for two nights to rest up, then moved on. Chloe drove while Max sat shotgun fiddling with her camera. The brunette suddenly lifted the camera and took a picture of Chloe, who was bobbing her head along to the metalcore CD she'd put on the truck's radio. Chloe's eyes darted over to look at her when she heard the click and Max shook her head at her. "Eyes on the road, Chlo-Chlo."
Chloe gave a grin and looked back at the road. "Y'know Maxie, these pictures don't come free," she teased.
Max rolled her eyes. "You are a real piece of work, Price." She glanced down at the picture that her camera had spit out and noticed there was two pictures there. Shrugging it off, she tucked both pictures into her bag without glancing at them. It wasn't unusual for her camera to accidentally hand out a blank picture when she took one, especially if it had been a while.
"Hey, Maxi-Pad, lemme see that picture," Chloe said, stopping at a stop sign on the deserted road.
"Got it," Max smiled and reached into her bag, grabbing the picture off the top and handing it to her.
Chloe looked at the picture. "Max, I didn't know your camera had a timer!" she said eagerly, grinning.
"What? It doesn't, why?" Max was dumbfounded.
"Look at this." Chloe showed her the picture. It was the two of them standing on the hill where they'd been a few days before, looking like it was taken from the truck.
Max stared, eyes bugging out of her head. "Chloe… I didn't take that picture. I didn't touch my camera that whole night."