"Are you ready? We're going to be late for X-Max."

The punk smiled mockingly, seemingly proud of her pun. Leaning against the bathroom door, with the brunette inside, she tapped lightly against it.

"Come on, what's taking you so much time? You're really worse than girls. Oh wait…"

On the other side, she could hear Caulfied's laughter, which made her smile, in spite of her mishap. Sighing, she hated waiting.

"This is my revenge for all the times you were late. Deal with it, you need to work on your patience Chloe."

The brunette's tone was teasing, as if she was proud of making her wait. Grunting, the bluenette walked away from the door, letting herself fall dramatically on the couch. The two girls were expected to go to Joyce and David's to celebrate Christmas together. Max's parents would also be there. Turning on the TV and her console, she decided to continue her run on Mass Effect 3. A good half hour later, Max finally came out of the bathroom and the punk had not even noticed, being too focused on her game. She sat near her, despite Chloe taking up most of the space on the couch, lounged in a funny position. Leaning to kiss her forehead, this was only then that the blue-haired girl deigned looking at her girlfriend who was smiling softly at her.

"Wow."

Dropping her controller in surprise, the beauty of the woman who shared her life for three years now hit her in full. Max had slipped on a stunning ruby-red dress with short sleeves, perfectly embracing her forms, and widening at the end. Her make-up was understated, the brunette was never too into the whole thing, but it was enough to highlight her eyes and take the punk's breath away who had not put as much effort into it, putting on some black pants, a shirt and a bow tie that was hanging loosely because she didn't know how to tie it. Standing up right away, she admired Caulfield, though she was used to seeing her every day, she sometimes forgot how lucky she was to have her in her life. The brunette then looked upon the poorly-tied bow tie, drawing a small smile, hardly surprised, as she moved to help her tie it properly.

"You're hella gorgeous Max."

Smiling at Chloe's compliment, she continued to work on the bow tie, casting a curious look at the game in the backgroung on the TV..

"So how is your game doing? Still fighting the Reapers?"

The punk started to smile widely and teasingly.

"You're the one I'm going to reape if you know what I mean."

"Wowser Chloe!"

Bursting into laughter, proud of her stunt, the brunetter could not help but smile at the pun, after all this time she was used to it, but it seemed as though Price always managed to surprise her. Kissing Max softly on the cheek, the punk's lips started trailing down to her neck, giving the brunette some trouble with finishing up with the bow tie, letting out a long sigh, she couldn't help but shiver under the bluenette's kisses.

"We have to go Chloe, our parents are waiting…"

Sighing warmly against her neck, she did not seem to stop, nibbling at her girlfriend's skin.

"Do we?"

"Yes."

"We would have had more time if you weren't that long you know…"

Pushing the punk slowly, Max smiled at her, enjoying Chloe's frustrated look.

"Don't be so sulky. We'll have all night for us after seeing our parents."

A large smile drew on the punk's lips, who seemed to have quickly forgotten her sorrows.

"All night huh? Well you're going to have to keep your promise Caulfield, I'm not forgetting that one!"

Laughing warmly, Max rolled her eyes, amused before straightening up. The punk followed her, turning off the console and TV to quickly grab her jacket while the brunette did the same, dressing warmly to go out. Stopping for a moment in front of the full length mirror near the entrance door to their apartment, Max fixed her eyes on her reflection, joined by Chloe who embraced her from behind. In two years, the girls hadn't changed all that much, Max had kept the same haircut, except for a small blue strand among the otherwise brown hair, as for the punk, she let her hair grow out and was now sporting a sidecut, still loyal to her electric blue. It didn't take long for the photographer to pull out her polaroid, and immortalise the moment between them. The punk drew her girlfriend closer, as she turned slowly, moving her fingers smoothly on her face to capture her lips tenderly, which seemed to delight the bluenette. Finally pulling back, Price could not help but ask.

"Do we really have to go? You're way too hot in that dress to have the right to keep it that long..."

Smiling partly in amusement and partly in desparation, the photographer gave Chloe a chaste kiss on the lips.

"You really are a romantic one, aren't you?"

"Anything to please my lady."

The punk proudly drew a large smile, the type that Max was unable to resist. Opening the door, grabbing the bags full of presents for their families, she held the door, waiting for her girlfriend.

"See my lady? I can be gallant."

Walking out, amused, Chloe shut the door behind them.

"Thanks my dear. Is that only because you want to take that dress off?"

"Yup, definitely. All night. Remember."

"I won't be able to forget it since you're only talking about that!"

Laughing heartily regardless, the young woman rolled her eyes once more, exasperated. Chloe shrugged and grabbed her girlfriend's hand as they entered the elevator, going through the building, and the car park, before climbing up the punk's truck, still faithfully working.

3