It's that time of the year again, their favourite time. A time in which the scent of pumpkin pie candles fills every room, scary decorations are a must, and bowls of candy are dispersed throughout the household: Halloween.
"Dude, this is going to be hella fun." Chloe said as she watched Max finish painting their abomination, also known as a beast mask.
This year has taken an unexpected turn, a new tradition has made its way. Of course, they're still taking part in their annual scary movie marathon with pirate hats, but they've opted to do something else beforehand — a prank.
"It better be, we've been at it for 2 hours. But I'm almost done, so we can scare someone with it tonight." Max said giddily as she painted its eyes red.
"Holy shit yes! Who should we scare?" Chloe replied, excitement and mischief filling her eyes, a sight Max knew all too well.
"Warren? Bet he'd be a funny reaction." Max said with a chuckle whilst dipping her brush in paint, making Chloe's stomach do a turn.
She hated how possessive she was of Max. Chloe obviously thought that Max was allowed to have friends besides her, but she just can't seem to control her general uneasiness and irrational rage whenever her friend brought up Warren. She felt like a terrible friend for feeling this way, oftentimes wishing she could just turn off this feature about herself, but alas, she couldn't.
"Um yeah sure." Chloe said awkwardly. Awkward is better than pissy, she thought.
"Hope I don't make him piss his pants." she added with a challenge in her tone, obviously meaning the opposite.
"You should, it'll make a funny video. I'll be recording it after all." Max said with smirk.
"Can you even record with this dinosaur?" Chloe said as she took ahold of her polaroid camera that was resting on the table.
"Woah this is heavier than I thought." Chloe added as she spun it around to see all of it.
"Hey, don't insult my baby. And no I can't actually, which is why I have—" Max said excitedly as she went through her side bag. "—this! Ta-da! My parents got it for me as a late birthday present!" she added, whilst whipping out her brand new vintage recording camera.
"Oh wow Max! This is sick!" Chloe exclaimed as she took it from her hands delicately.
"I know right!" she replied with a bright smile which in return, made Chloe smile as well.
They fell in a comfortable silence as Max continued painting the mask, pulling a serious concentration face; her eyebrows scrunched and her tongue stuck out on the right side, it didn't help that she had a bit of black paint on the tip of her nose, which made her look adorably childish, Chloe noticed this and quietly chuckled to herself; she was definitely in the zone.
Max looked up when she saw the flash and heard the click of the camera.
"Ah, how dare you!" Max giggled, a bit embarrassed about her unintentional modelling, her face heating up as she saw the shit eating grin on Chloe's face.
Chloe wiggled her eyebrows as she shaked the polaroid picture.
"Hey, I'm getting better! You look cute." Chloe said, smiling down at the picture, showing it to Max while resting her elbows on the table. "Can I keep it?" she added.
Max scrunched up her eyes a bit in order to see it, she was surprised by how cool the candid shot looked.
"Wowser, you are getting better, Price. Sure, want to add it to your shrine?" Max said jokingly, her lips curving into a side smile.
The sentiment made Chloe unexpectedly bashful.
"Uh, no. Just keeping it as a memory." Chloe stuttered, putting the picture to the side.
"So, are you done yet?" she added childishly, propping herself up in the chair in order to be closer to Max.
"I am actually. What do you think?" Her friend replied as she turned the mask so that it'll face her, revealing a grotesque, gremlin-like face; its mouth opened wide with sharp yellow teeth and a red tongue, complimented with green skin, wrinkles, and red, bloodshot eyes.
"Oh my god, I bow down to you, Super Max. This is hella sick! Warren is going to piss himself!" Chloe said, barely able to contain her excitement, taking her friend into a hug. "But seriously, you are so talented." she added, kissing the top of her head.
Max smiled from ear to ear. "Thanks, Chlo."
Max plopped down on the sofa as she waited for Chloe to dress up, drawing circles with her fingers on her new camera. Oh guess I should text Warren, she thought. She was always a bit cautious while texting Warren, she didn't want to send him the wrong signals. After much deliberation, this is what she settled with, short and to the point.
Hey Warren, you busy?
His reply was instantaneous.
Warren: Yo yo what's up Mad Max? Nah, do you really expect a nerd like me to be busy on a Friday night?
Max: Haha okay, just wanted to see if you could meet up with me in the parking lot tonight?
Warren: Oh sure! When?
Max: 7 pm? So, in like 30 minutes? ^_^
Warren: Why am I not surprised? Your white knight shall come soon-eth:-)
Just as Max was typing her sarcastic response, she heard a low thud coming from the bathroom that Chloe was in, chuckling to herself when she heard the punk silently curse.
"You okay there Chloe?" she asked.
"Yeah, yeah I'm good." Chloe replied whilst opening the door and coming out, fully dressed up. She saw Max sitting on the sofa with her back turned, and an idea sprung into her mind.
She stealthily walked towards Max, and shaked her shoulders.
"BOO!" she shouted, which made the girl jump, and widen her eyes as she saw Chloe in her full costume; her gremlin mask and a black onesie.
"Fuck you, but you look great!" Max said, putting her recording camera in her side bag whilst standing up.
"Hell yeah I do! I'm so excited." Chloe said, taking off the mask and fanning herself with her hand. "Although it's really hot in this thing."
"Yeah, sorry can't do much about that." Max said apologetically, not hiding the fact that she was openly staring at a dewy Chloe.
"So, did you text Warren?" Chloe asked, a bit self conscious because of Max's gaze.
"Oh, yeah, we'll meet in the parking lot in like 30 minutes. We should get there before him." Max said, opening the front door and Chloe followed suit, heading outside to her truck.
Once Chloe parked, she turned off the engine. They both got out of the truck, and closed the doors.
"Okay, here's the plan. You'll hide behind the truck, and I'll be behind that tree recording everything. I just told him that we'll meet in front of the truck, so when you see him you jump out and do your thing. Got it?" Max said.
"Got it. Bossy Max is my fav." Chloe winked as she got into position.
Max blushed and went behind the tree, getting her camera ready in the process.
The pair looked at each other as they heard footsteps, they nodded at each other and looked at Warren approaching the truck.
Warren looked over the truck and scratched his head, reaching for his pocket, grabbing his phone to text Max.
Max gave Chloe a thumbs up to show that she was filming and Chloe smiled, putting her mask in and running towards the boy, both of them feeling a rush of adrenaline.
Warren heard footsteps getting closer and looked up from his phone, seeing a grotesque face creeping towards him. He shouted, dropping his phone, and ran towards the end of the truck. "What the fuck!" he said, kneeling down with wide eyes; feeling his heart beat in his throat, tripping as he saw the figure getting closer.
Chloe followed him and took away her mask as she reached him. "Happy Halloween." she said in spooky voice, laughing heartily.
Max stopped recording, and couldn't contain her laughter; revealing herself and joining Chloe.
"Oh my god." Warren said running a hand through his hair, followed by a chuckle once he catched his breath. "I give you props, that was awesome."
"Hella yes! You should have seen your face." Chloe said, imitating his face comically, earning a laugh from everyone.
Max reached her hand and helped Warren up.
"Sorry, I'll make it up to you somehow." Max said.
"Well, there's a haunted house thing tonight, we can go together, like as a date." Warren said. "I mean, you do owe me one, after all." he added with a sheepish grin.
"Err um, I just don't—" Max stuttered, trying to find a way to turn him down gently, she liked him, but just not in that way; she looked over at Chloe for help, who was staring daggers at Warren. The punk caught Max's look, and decided to step in.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Warren. We're going to the haunted house together." Chloe said, putting her arm around Max as she emphasised the last word. Max looked at Chloe, surprised by her statement.
Warren looked at both of them, stunned.
"Oh, I didn't know you two were, you know. Okay it's fine, I can take the hint. Uh, see ya soon Max." he replied awkwardly and left.
Max sighed in relief as he left, and turned her gaze at Chloe, who was still glaring at Warren in jealousy, keeping her arm around her tightly.
"So, we're a thing now, huh?" Max said jokingly, tugging her friend's sleeve.
"Yeah, sorry. I couldn't think of anything else to say." Chloe replied, the mere thought making her ears tinge red.
Max smiled at her friend, and gave her a side hug.
"It's fine, you're my partner in crime anyways, so it wasn't a complete lie." she grinned.
"Yeah, and you're my partner in time. Although, I bet you'd be too chickenshit to go to the haunted house anyways." Chloe replied with a mischievous smirk.
"No way, Price. I'm not scared of those things, you are." Max said, poking the punk's shoulder.
"Try me. Let's go see who the biggest chickenshit is. Spoiler alert: it's you." Chloe said as a matter of factly, grabbing one of Max's hands and dragging her to the truck.