"How about that weird stretch, over to the right?"
"That's a chunk of Orion. Probably the most famous constellation."
"What about that bull looking pattern?"
"That is in fact Taurus. Which is Latin for "The Bull"."
"Holy shit, I am starting to get this. How about those stars a little above?"
"Where?"
"Riiiight– raise your head. Right there."
"Oh. That's just a cluster-fuck of stars."
Chloe slowly turned her head with an unimpressed look in her eyes.
"What is that Latin for?" She asked with a sarcastic tone of voice.
Max looked down at the ground before her, not having the mental capacity come up with a witty response.
"It's Latin for 'a cluster-fuck of stars'." The night-sky above them had been the topic of interest throughout the entirety of their nighttime walk. Even when they walked past a barking dog with a chunk of what appeared to be fresh rat meat in its mouth, the topic remained the distant suns in space. It was remarkable how much of the sky was lit up however. It was a particularly quiet and warm night, so it seemed like the perfect time to get out of Chloe's room and take a nighttime walk.
"It's very peaceful tonight," Max vocalized her thoughts, giving in to the urge of breaking the five-second silence after playing a little with her white sleeves that were slightly longer than her arms, due to her borrowing one of Chloe's hoodies before they went out. A hoodie that Max had never seen her wear before. It was bright white and made of a hard, stretched out fabric, contrary to the black camera she was wearing around her neck with a strap. Max remembered declining Chloe's suggestion to bring the camera, but for some reason, she had insisted.
"Yeah. I figured you'd like it, after all that shit-drama with that douche and gramps." Chloe's steps became increasingly louder, slightly muffling her words. Chloe herself was wearing her new black-leather jacket, all zipped up to the bottom of her chin and also working some dark-blue jeans, which were on the verge of being uncomfortably tight. While Max was studying her friend a small stone was accidentally kicked a few feet ahead on the sidewalk.
"I am not picking sides here, but honestly, I don't get why he was so mad at your granddad for wanting an extension on the rent due date." Max felt as if she were speaking in a generic tone of voice. She had only recently gotten some information about the situation, so it was an expected topic to be brought up.
"It's not the first time I've seen him. Effing government sheep. He probably believes that if you're in a bad spot in life, it was your own choices that brought you there," Chloe answered with a surprisingly unbiased view.
"Funny how only people who have a comfortable life have that point-of-view. Stereotypical American mindset…" she continued with a more challenging opinion.
"Are you seriously okay with me staying with you guys during the vacation? I didn't know it would cause trouble. I can start paying rent?" The thought suddenly hit Max, that she might have actually been the cause of all the drama.
"Don't worry about it. It was my suggestion after all and we'll be fine. It's not like you're eating all our food and smashing our furniture, it's just that douche that doesn't know how to be a human being." Chloe quickly and effectively put Max's mind at ease to some extent. There was still a lingering feeling of guilt hanging around her however.
"What about your granddad? He seems chill… He handled the situation like a pro." Max tried to tone the questioning down but had trouble thinking of things to say. It was easier to just wander down the path that was placed ahead of you anyway.
"It's fucking weird. He has been a Christian his whole life and always made decisions with God in his mind, but when it comes to the people around him… I don't know. He told me that the way he chooses to live his life, shouldn't affect the way other people live their lives," Chloe shrugged and tilted her head slightly to the left.
"Pretty badass quote if you ask me."
Max looked down on her worn out sneakers and decided to keep wandering.
"But wasn't your dad a Christian as well? I think I heard him quote a few things before." Max often tried to be subjective when it came to religion and beliefs, even though she had a few opinions herself.
Chloe sniffled before placing her hand on top of the dark-blue wool cap she was wearing and pulled it down; making it cover the entirety of her forehead, hiding every blue bang that often escaped the caps capacity.
"It's sort of different, but the same. This is just my opinion so don't get all pissy, but get ready for a truth-bomb," Chloe sent of a smirk as she looked to her left in the direction of a lit up streetlight.
"Most Christians has their religion to kinda make sense of life, or at least help them guide them through their life. If the bible says that gays are bad, some people blindly follow that idea, because it doesn't affect them directly. They're happy straight people, so why should they care… if the bible says that atheists are to be converted to Christianity, then fuck me if some of them won't walk around spouting nonsense about how God will save everyone from their sins and shit. And why shouldn't they? If they believe God will look upon them with fucking glee if they follow his words, they don't have to think twice. It doesn't have any further consequences for them," Chloe took a short pause to catch her breath and think about the argument she was about to make. Max simply stayed quiet and listened interested, as she knew Chloe often had some surprisingly interesting– yet harsh- way of seeing things, and she did seem to have thought about this.
"It's only when the Bible says something that doesn't fortune them, that they start to interpret the words differently. Oh, it's nearly impossible for rich people to get into heaven? That must be a fucking metaphor. There is no way that I would have to give up my precious money to get into God's temple. Remember when we had slaves? What'cha think the bible has to say about that? It literally says that it's okay to have slaves, as long as they're foreigners, but everyone ignores that… My point is, they handpick the things that the bible says to benefit themselves. Their morals have to be in line with the freaking rules the bible shits out, or else they either ignore it or give it a different meaning."
As Max looked at Chloe, she could see that she herself, thought that it was a daring thing to say. She had to admit that some of the things sounded thoughtful, but the point might have had come better across if it was worded differently and made clear that the statement only applied to a very small amount of people, rather than all.
"That is not to say, that I don't understand that reasoning. If you followed the bible completely, you would most likely be sent to jail in a matter of seconds, because you killed some dude that used God's name in vain or something. That's why I like my gramps belief. He doesn't believe in the bible… why should I believe in a bunch of stories that were passed around thousands of years ago, he'd say."
It was noticeable how the rather serious topic was close to reaching its end. Chloe sighed out the last few words "But he believes in God. He believes something greater than him is watching over him… and I honestly like that idea."
Max stared at her friend for a couple of seconds, wondering how to start her response. She had never thought Chloe had such direct opinions about the matter.
It must be because of her granddad and David. They probably argued about something similar in the past, so she probably felt forced to have an opinion on the matter as well, in order to feel relevant to the situation. Or maybe because of what happened… she feels lost?
"Wow, Chloe. Never thought you even cared about religion," Max had to admit, actually feeling slightly baffled that she hadn't seen that side of Chloe before.
"I don't really," Chloe was quick to answer as if she was expecting Max to say those exact words.
"I just look up to gramps. David often tried to shove religion down my throat, so I kind of associated religion and God with anger and annoyance. I know he had good intentions, but gramps showed me that he uses religion to make the world seem less frightening. Which is an ability most people would like to have I imagine," she let out, almost giving up halfway.
A few moments passed, with the only sound being a flickering streetlight nearby.
"I'm sorry Max; I didn't mean to get weird. You're just the only one who will actually listen to my pent up frustration," Chloe eventually said, placing both her hands down into her pocket and looking away at no particular interest.
Max knew that Chloe always shied away when she was paying even the slightest compliment to her. She paid no mind to it, as she actually found it rather endearing.
"I think a lot of people would like to hear your thoughts, you just need to express that serious side of yourself more often." As soon as Max said those words, she recalled she had said a very similar thing before. Though Max did often give Chloe advice, she had been trying to become more aware of not sounding like a caring mother.
"How about you fuck off?" Chloe chuckled while turning her attention towards her friend with a pleasant smile.
Ahh, friendship.
"Or you can just continue to be a mean blueberry," Max responded quietly, but with an equally wide smile.
"Shut up with whatever nonsense you're cooking up and look up into the sky!" Chloe suddenly exclaimed excitedly while grabbing Max's arm.
Shaking her head slightly while blinking a few times, Max felt surprised by the sudden request but did as her friend asked. However, just as expected, the sky looked the same. Indeed, it was beautiful with the dark-blue color and shiny stars scattered around. Nevertheless, there was no spaceship flying around. No comet about to crash down. Nothing out of the ordinary.
"See it?" Chloe whispered, almost as if she was keeping a secret.
Max turned her head to look at her friend who looked like a child who just took her first bite into a candy bar.
"All I see are your breathtaking eyes," Max let out with a smile and a raised eyebrow.
"For the love of God, Max," Chloe sighed, clearly amused.
"Don't use God's name in vain," Max was quick to respond, as she suddenly could feel her mind getting tired.
"For the love of fucking booty," Chloe changed her response, giving her friend a slight push.
"The stars," she continued.
"Directly above us. The stars spell out M-A-X… Max!"
Max felt confused as if she had just awoken from 20 hours sleep. Once again, she looked up into the sky, paying close attention to the placement of the stars. A good few seconds passed and she was yet to see anything that looked like any letter whatsoever.
"You crazy dude," Max said with a low voice as she looked at the girl beside her with a hazy look.
"No, I– goddammit. Give me your camera." Chloe scootered around Max, gently slapping her around her shoulders and arms for whatever reason. From an outside perspective, it looked like Chloe had reached the peak of drunkenness while Max had just finished a clean blunt. However, Max was simply tired and Chloe was simply bat-shit crazy.
"Alright, alright, stop hitting me," Max almost whined as she took a hold of the black strap in order to lift it over her head and give it to her energetic friend.
At the very moment that the camera was in Chloe's possession, she looked up at the sky to confirm the stars were still there. Apparently, they were, as Chloe sat down in front of Max before, in fact, lying down on her back on the sidewalk. It seems as if she wanted the perfect shot.
"Okay, look into the lens," Chloe requested while holding the camera in front of her right eye, pointing upwards.
"You're like a Japanese tourist," Max sighed before looking into the camera with dull eyes but a bright smile.
"Wooow. Racist much?" Chloe chuckled as she shuffled around on the ground, trying to get into the proper position.
"Too bad you're not wearing a skirt," she said before stopping her movements and placing her finger gently on top of the shutter release.
"Could get the perfect panty shot." And just as those words were out of her mouth, a quick flash appeared, lighting up Max's wide grin, her glistering eyes and her faint freckles. Even though she had gotten used to it, Max had to blink a few times due to the flash of bright light.
"Come on, don't be such a dikfor," Chloe let out while rolling from one side to another to get enough momentum to push herself up from the ground.
"What?" Max questioned, feeling as if the last word was just random mumbling.
"Dikfor," Chloe repeated, as she finally was able to get on her feet.
"What's a dikfor?" Max asked, thinking it was some slang word or something.
"Dude, if you don't know by now, you never will." And then it became obvious. Even before Chloe pulled off a proud smile, Max could see obvious trap she had walked into. Even worse, she had heard the dumb joke before… it just slipped out.
"God is going to strike you with lighting for that one."
Chloe looked as if she had tattooed the words "Master of Jokes" onto her forehead, as she kept looking smog as a hell, refusing to let Max wash away her success. Sounds of footsteps became louder, making both the girls look up. A man in his late twenties, wearing a black jacket going down to the top of his knees– similar to a trench coat, but of a thicker material- was walking at the other sidewalk in the opposite direction. He held his shoulders close to his head while having his hands down into his pockets. He looked like he was lost in own thoughts as he kept his attention on the ground below him; only when he was just beside them did the man look up. He had messy, shoulder-long hair, with a dark-brown color. It was too dark to make out much else, but for a single second, he stared directly into Max's eyes with an empty look before looking back down at the ground again. It wasn't long before he was out of sight behind them.
"Can I just please see the picture?" Max sighed heavily, resisting the urge to plant her face into the palm of her hand.
Chloe took a while to answer, as she looked into her friend's eyes with her lips locked in an upwards arc.
"First, you have to admit that I am the king," she looked surprisingly serious and further considering revealed that she probably was.
"Don't you mean the queen?" Max had no more sighs left in her body and was now left with a lazy mind and body that could barely mumble out words.
"King." Chloe stood her ground. The gentle breeze was making her blue bangs sway slightly, exposing both her eyes clearly, showing off her confident look. If Max's wasn't so tired, she would have done some mental considering regarding her desires when she noticed the girl before her with this great detail.
"Just… give it." Max had to keep herself from yawning.
"Admit it."
"No. Give it."
"Kiiing."
"Give iiit!" Max suddenly took a step closer to her friend and reached out for the camera, but Chloe reacted quickly and managed to take a step back before her devilish hand took ahold of her precious possession.
"Say it!" Chloe demanded with a soft laugh.
"No!" Max denied as she took another swift step closer, trying to grab the camera again.
"Wah!" Chloe let out, evading once more. These continuous actions let to Max having to chase Chloe around in the street; both of them laughing, doing everything in their power to get their will. The next couple of minutes was spent with Max playfully chasing her friend, having a wide smile on her face as it reminded her of when they were kids. Of a simpler time. No drama. Just friends… maybe even more.