Um...Happy late Valentine's Day?
Yeah...I finally finished this one but at least I finished a holiday fic for once! Now to note this takes place post game...And I love Pricefield, but I wanted to stay true to what I felt was the real ending...Sorry.
Disclaimer: Life is Strange does not belong to me...This is just a fanfic written by a fan.
It was a couple days before Valentine's day and Max Caulfield couldn't find it in herself to look forward to it. But Warren left her a text asking her if she wanted to do stuff with him on "hearts" day, as he cutely called it. She could feel Chloe teasing and saying "speak of the devil."
That was the whole thing, though...
She could still feel Chloe even after all these months. Kate encouraged Max to see a counselor a few times but Max felt that this was something no therapist could begin to describe due to her power she refused to use.
Max replied with "I'm not in the mood Warren." through text. 2 minutes later Warren replied with "Oh, that's alright." and "I hope you'll be ok. :(" As if not to sound passive aggressive, not that she suspected he would. He was an actual "nice guy" who also knew Max had a weight on her heart.
Guilt overcame Max as she sighed and quickly grabbed her phone to hide any passive aggressiveness she felt.
"I'm really sorry. :(" She replied.
Max turned to her laptop and her phone lit up and beeped. "No prob," she saw and left her phone to rest.
Max clicked on her usual search engine to find it was decorated with red and pink, and anime characters. More usual shoujo heterosexual romance, but she and Chloe loved manga when they were young.
"Anime sure has become more popular, I'm not sure how to feel about that." Max thought.
But with a slip of her finger, she clicked on one of the anime pop-up and was directed to a comic-manga of sorts. With a bubbly pink haired anime girl finding the courage to give a red haired anime boy with sullen eyes a box of chocolates. Max stopped when the red haired anime boy and his friends talked about White Day.
Max heard of that before, she went to Wikipedia to find out what White Day was all about. When she pieced it all together she sat up in her computer chair and crossed her arms. And then there was a familiar knock on her door.
"Max, are you alright?"
Max closed the Wikipedia window. "I'm coming Kate."
When Max opened the door she managed to smile slightly at Kate wearing jeans and a neon pink shirt with a swirly yellow sun on it. Kate was wearing more casual clothing nowadays.
"Hey Kate."
Kate cleared her throat and took a step back. "Hey Max, um…"
Max frowned.
"Don't worry I wasn't going to ask you about…" She quickly said.
Max placed her hand on the back of her neck and looked down. "It's ok…" She said softly.
"Actually we wanted to ask you to spend time with us while we prepare for the Valentine's party. You don't have to help us but you could keep us company, and there will be food."
Max was flattered, but she had something else in mind. "Actually, I wanted to use the home economics room, but first I need to buy some chocolate."
Kate tried to not gasp too loud. "Really?"
"I'm sor…" Max held her arms out trying to explain.
"No! It's ok, Kate lept forward. "In fact, I will help you. You need someone to help you with grocery bags."
Max thought for a moment. "That I do."
Kate pulled out her phone. "I just need to call the others to tell them I need to take care of important business."
Max would've told Kate that it wasn't a big deal but she blushed slightly.
Kate waited eagerly for the school bus to take them to the store. Max was still feeling a bit out of it, but the shopping outlet also had the tea shop they went to. Maybe a little tea couldn't hurt either, Max thought.
As they sat on the uncomfortable bus chairs Max looked away, sometimes looking at her phone.
"You're going to make something for Warren aren't you?" Kate lit up as she said that.
Max paused for a moment. "Actually, I wanted to make something for...For Chloe."
"Oh," Kate simply put.
"But making chocolate for Warren is a good idea as well," Max added.
The thing was, Max liked Warren but she loved Chloe, nothing would change that. Max held off from telling Kate about Japanese Valentine's day.
Kate still gleefully looked at all the pink and red decorations, placing a few in her own shopping basket. Max drooled slightly at the ready made chocolate, but money was a thing so she placed regular dark bar chocolate in her basket.
But thinking again anything could go wrong for her, and this was a special occasion.
"To hell with consequences," she thought as she added semi-sweet chocolate chips to her basket, her favorite. Another bag of dark chocolate chips and another bar of milk chocolate.
Then she looked through the heart shaped molds. Kate stared at some of them as well.
"They're so cute," Kate squeaked.
Max smiled and placed the little heart mold in her basket.
"I guess there is something special about making chocolate hearts by hand, even if these ready-made chocolate hearts look so good," Kate said.
The two girls paid for their items and road back to school on the old school bus. Max held her bag close to her heart. The faint smell of chocolate filled Max with slight bliss and seemed to make Kate even more peppy.
"I would love to help you make chocolates Max," Kate said.
She didn't even ask, but even so, Max wouldn't be able to say no.
"I appreciate it," Max said with her head down, stroking the heart on the candy bar with her fingers.
As the two girls walked through the hallway for the home economics room a lot of the students in the hall seemed to be high on happiness with giggles galore. Kate joined in here and there. Max regretted not bring her music player with her but she tried to smile a bit.
The hallways were being decorated in red and pink. Max admitted it looked nice, it shocked her because she usually wasn't fond of pink and red put together.
"Hey you two," Dana waved. "Looking for someone special?"
"Not in particular," Kate said.
Max held the materials close to her as she and Kate turned for the home economics room. For once the room was completely clean. Max felt bad for ruining the serene-ness but she promised herself she wouldn't make too much of a mess.
"Everything will be fine, I'm not that much of a messy person." She said aloud in her head.
Max placed her ingredients on the counter and went to the bottom cabinets for a shiny mixing bowl. She took a moment to stare at both the stove and the microwave with disdain. And then turned to the other cabinets for other ingredients she might need, vanilla extract and milk...Her mind trailed off. She also heard Kate grabbing ingredients behind her.
Max stared at the microwave again and placed her hands on her hips. Then with the wheels turning in her head, she grabbed a glass bowl. "Here goes nothing," she thought.
She unwrapped the dark bar and broke it apart as gently as she could. Some parts were bigger than others and smaller parts squished on her fingers. Max groaned in her head.
She placed the bowl in the microwave and trembled before she pressed the button. The bowl was in for what felt like 5 minutes when she really did it for 10 seconds just to be safe.
"If I keep this up I will have the best consistency in one hour," she thought.
Max then remembered she forgot a spoon and jolted for one. But was surprised to see Kate handling a pot on the stove. She turned to Max.
"Wait a minute," Kate said.
Kate ran for the bowl. "I can help you with that."
Max didn't argue. She was fascinated by Kate placing the glass bowl on top of the pot like that. Considering she broke a beaker in science class that was graciously cleaned up by Warren.
"Microwaves can cause health problems anyway," Kate said.
Max smiled at the beautiful sight of perfectly melted chocolate that Kate stirred.
"This will make amazing chocolate hearts," Max said gleefully.
Of course, as gently as Max tried to poor in chocolate to the mold with a tiny spoon the first chocolate heart looked like it was sprouting out tentacles. In frantic embarrassment, Max tried to "remove" the chocolate tentacles into the next mold but the second chocolate heart looked too thin. By the time she finished filling the mold she shoved the mold into the fridge and turned away trying to keep a straight face. She walked to Kate who was busy melting more chocolate cheerfully.
"Now that I think about it I should've bought a nice heart shaped box as well," Max rubbed her temple.
Kate smiled at her. "I am sure we can find one," she removed another bowl of perfectly melted chocolate.
The sun was starting to set and Max had to admit it was a lovely afternoon. Just her and Kate and the smell of chocolate. But then the sound of the door being opened aggressively.
Max's smile quickly soured at the sound of familiar footsteps and breathing.
"Ugh! It's Victoria," Kate whispered to Max.
Kate reached for her own mold and continued, not wanting Victoria to stand in the way.
"Well if it isn't Max Caulfield and Kate Marsh," Victoria said in a taunting tone.
Victoria still walked over to the two girls to hover like a helicopter. "Oh how cute, making chocolate mud pies, how junior high of you two."
Max turned from Victoria and went for the fridge.
"Well, you better not be planning on giving chocolate to the new teacher, Mr. Barkins."
Kate's nosed curled. "Why would we?"
Victoria seemed to always have a thing for older adults.
"Yeah Victoria, he's kind of creepy," Max said in an almost concerned tone.
But Max could at least confirm that he was creepy in the way he worded his sentences and how he approached other people, but not in a sociopath way.
Victoria scoffed. "Creepy is a term used for boys like Warren, not adults like Mr. Barkins."
Kate found herself glaring as she stirred more chocolate. Max stepped up to Victoria, but she couldn't find it in herself to be mad.
"Hey, Warren is as nice as can be," Max said in as dominantly as she could.
Victoria stepped up and locked eye with Max in a way that caused her to internally curl up. She held up her hands in protection a little bit.
"That little creepo touched me while he was drunk!"
Victoria cried in disgust. She was about to stomp away but her aggressiveness scared Kate a little, who was only trying to civilly put a mold of chocolate in the fridge. Kate yelped and tossed the mold in the air, landing on Victoria's smooth face.
The head diva screamed again.
"What the hell?!"
Max got a better look but her concerned face quickly turned into a shameful cheery one.
"You look cute with hearts on your face Victoria," Max said.
She exaggerated a little, they didn't look like the best-shaped hearts.
Kate grabbed Max's arm and laughed. "Very cute!"
Victoria's eyes glowed in anger and Kate's laughter quickly disappeared.
"But I am really sorry, I didn't mean it," Kate cried.
"Hey!"
Victoria gave the third high pitched shriek but it was only Warren carrying shopping bags. "I figured you girls could use some help."
Warren also seemed concerned for Victoria with how she looked. He gently took some chocolate off her face with his finger and tasted it. "Mmm. Good."
Kate smiled. "Thank you, Warren-"
She was cut off by Victoria's growling.
"Don't touch me you creep!"
Max and Kate ended up laughing again.
After visiting David and Joyce again Max finally went to Chloe's grave stone. The Valentine's day morning was a bit breezy and quiet. She swept away leaves from the gravestone and got down on her knees.
"Happy Valentine's Day Chloe..."
Max placed the heart shaped box in front of the gravestone. It had red and black velvet and a blue polka dot ribbon that Max decided to put on at the last minute. Warren and Kate thought it was the most adorable thing.
"I had to get you something..."
Max thought she was going to cry again so she closed her eyes for a few moments. But she only thought of what it would be like if Chloe were still here, whether it be romantic or just friendship, it would've been beautiful.
Her eyes fluttered open a bit with tiny tears that fell out but her vision returned to her she saw a familiar blue butterfly fluttering on the heart shaped box.
Max managed to smile a little.
"...You again."