AN: And we're back with another chapter. This one is about Chloe and Kate and the thin plot threads that connected them in the game, which I have to believe would come into play at some point if they ever were involved in a relationship. Victoria isn't the only one issues in this department.
Note that these stories don't follow any sort of chronological progression. I write them where they need to be. If you've read the mainline Arcadia Gays series you can probably figure out where everything fits; I'm doing my best to reference both the game and the Arcadia Gays continuity.
This will likely be the last story for a while, unless people really want me to continue. I do have a vague Max/Victoria concept but it'd take some work to develop it. Please do let me know what you think!
The Two Whales diner. It feels like Chloe has been here a thousand times before, and right now she wishes that she was anywhere else. She watches as a familiar scene plays out. A phone is ringing. The buzzing ringtone sounds both faraway and loud all at once, reverberating inside Chloe's head like a jackhammer.
"Don't even answer," she hears herself say. "We got places to go and people to do… Come on, before mom starts some more shit. Let's bail."
No. No, you idiot. You don't know what you're asking.
Max looks up at her with a worried expression. "It's Kate Marsh, from Blackwell…"
Ignore her, Max. Be the better and stronger person like you always are. You always are.
"Big whoop. You don't call me once in five years and now you're all over some beeatch you see every day at school? I see how you roll. So go ahead, chat up Kate Marsh from Blackwell. I've got other people to hang out with too."
Liar! Asshole!
This time Max doesn't brush her off. This time Max visibly wilts under her hostility; she stands there helplessly until the phone goes silent. Chloe feels like a bully. Chloe wants to scream. Instead she has to watch herself smirk in satisfaction. Being able to guilt trip Max makes her feel special, makes her feel loved, and she's owed that for a change, isn't she? Who cares about some bitch at Blackwell that she's never met? Chloe deserves Max more than anyone else.
"I feel bad about Kate," Max confides on their way out.
Chloe sighs in exasperation. "She'll survive you not taking that one call."
Wait! Don't go!
They walk out of the diner as the scene burns away like so much film. Chloe reaches for their retreating forms, tries to call out to them, but she's just a spectator here. A ghost.
There is a rooftop now. Chloe recognizes it from her brief time at Blackwell, and all the times she's visited since then. She remembers sneaking up here to smoke weed with Rachel. The memory playing out now, however, is not hers. She wasn't here for this. She couldn't have been here for this. She never saw Kate Marsh on that ledge, her beautiful face red from crying, her spirit broken.
"Kate, your life is still yours. And we can get through this together," Max pleads. "Let me help. Like I helped by erasing all that crap people wrote on your room slate…"
"Thanks for that," Kate says coldly, "but I needed you more when I called to actually talk. That's when I needed a friend."
This isn't right. This isn't how it went. Max told me. She wouldn't lie.
Max looks stricken. "I was with Chloe and she was having a serious problem too. I'm sorry."
Oh Max, that's not true. I was just being possessive, and needy, and, and such a fucking child.
"Apparently her problem is worse than mine. So why even bother with me? I'm done anyway."
Kate pivots and turns. Then she falls, like an angel.
No!
The Arcadia Bay cemetery. The name on the tombstone before them pierces Chloe's heart. Max is crying, blaming herself, and that's bullshit but Chloe finds that she can't tell her so. The guilt has turned her tongue to lead and everything is wrong and this can't be happening—
With a gasp Chloe awoke in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. Max stirred besides her, mumbling in her sleep. Victoria had an arm draped across the hipster girl and was actually drooling a bit. Neither of them showed any signs of waking. Her heart still hammering in her chest, Chloe looked around for the one person she desperately needed to see right now. She found Kate curled up on the edge of the bed, slumbering peacefully. Chloe let herself breathe at last and brought a hand to her chest in relief.
Kate was okay. Of course she was. Max had answered that phone, and she and Chloe had visited Kate in the hospital together that week. Well, Max had done the visiting. Chloe had just stewed in her own guilt and shame outside the door, too much of a fucking coward to go in and apologize herself.
Running a frustrated hand through her hair, Chloe slipped out of bed and over to the window, which she pried open for some fresh air. Reaching for a cigarette, she didn't even realize that her hands were shaking until the damn thing wouldn't light properly.
Fuck. That dream had been about as bad as they had ever been. Chloe had been having the nightmares on and off ever since that awful week; she still wasn't sure if it was just regular trauma or some side effect of Max dragging them back through time together. Chloe had never talked about it with the others, not even with Max, who she knew had it much worse than her. Compared to the way Max was suffering, Chloe just didn't think she had any right to complain. Max would be hella pissed if Chloe said that aloud, of course, which was a big part of why Chloe kept her silence.
The best therapy would probably be to make amends, Chloe decided. She took a drag on her cigarette and began to put her mind to work on ways she could make it up to Kate.
Over the next week Chloe made herself the captain of the Marshfield ship, booking them tables at the fanciest tea houses in the city, surprising them with tickets to the Seattle Symphony, making sure that they were placed closest to each other whenever the four of them cuddled up on the couch for a movie. Her modest savings took a beating but Chloe refused to ask Victoria for help; this was her penance, and she was determined to take sole responsibility.
It wasn't easy to watch Kate and Max spend so much time together without her, but it was the most fitting solution that Chloe could think of. In many ways Max was the most precious thing that Chloe could share with Kate, and it was her own childish possessiveness, her onetime need to monopolize Max, which had almost helped drive Kate off that ledge. Learning to let go, learning to trust and share, was probably healthy for her. It wasn't about punishment. At least that's what she told herself.
Max made sure she still spent some time with Chloe and Victoria, which was a comfort beyond belief, but Chloe laughed off all her questions about setting her up with Kate. Kate, meanwhile, gave Chloe some curious looks but otherwise said nothing. The fact that the two were so clearly enjoying their extra private time made the whole thing easier for Chloe. Chloe knew that Max would never truly abandon her for anyone, and she really did love Kate in her own right, so she just grit her teeth and pressed on with her mission to be as selfless as possible.
One day Kate came up to her after dinner. "Chloe, I was wondering if you'd like to do something together this weekend—"
"Funny you should ask! I got you and Max a reservation at Altura. It's supposed to be amazing, you guys are going to love it. My treat."
"Oh." Kate looked disappointed for some reason. "Thanks Chloe. You've just been so good to us lately that I felt bad that we haven't been including you."
"Don't be stupid, I'm happy if you're happy! Go out and have fun!"
Chloe flashed a smile that she hoped wouldn't look too forced. Kate returned it hesitantly, but there was confusion and maybe a little hurt in her eyes. Suddenly feeling awkward, Chloe excused herself and locked herself inside the sanctuary of her room. Hella lame, but how the hell was she supposed to explain all of her messed up feelings to Kate? Max and Chloe had only recently dumped the whole time travel thing on Victoria and Kate. It wouldn't be fair for her to burden Kate even more. Chloe sighed and opened her drawer, reaching for one of the joints she kept there for emergencies.
A few minutes later her phone began to ring.
Exhaling smoke in frustration, Chloe was about to shut the damn thing off when she saw who the caller was: Kate Marsh. Her body went rigid. She couldn't deal with this right now, she was too stressed, she was too unprepared, she was too high! The ringtone went on, heedless of her paralysis. Realizing that the call was about to go to voicemail, Chloe panicked and snapped into action.
"Hello?"
"Hi Chloe. I thought I'd call you since it didn't seem like you wanted to talk face to face."
"I'm sorry Kate. My bad, really. I wasn't trying to avoid you on purpose."
"Really?" Kate sounded relieved. "Oh, well that's good, because I kind of wanted to ask you something."
"You can ask me anything."
"Do you not… like me anymore?"
Chloe nearly fell out of her chair. "What?! Why would you even think something like that, Kate?"
"I'm sorry! It's just, you've been trying to get me to spend all my time with Max lately and I can't help but feel like it's because you don't want to spend time with me."
Chloe slapped her face and groaned. Of course her attempt to fix things would only mess them up even further; that was just her luck, wasn't it? The luck of a girl who died half a dozen times in a week. Kate remained silent on the other end, waiting for an explanation. Chloe sighed. Fuck it. There was no getting around this one.
"That's not true, Kate. I think I might've been an idiot and gave you the wrong idea. Listen, there's something I need to tell you, something that Max left out of her story last time. That… that day you were on the rooftop, do you remember making a call to Max?"
Kate listened patiently as Chloe told her everything. The unwittingly cruel words Chloe had spoken in the diner, the way she had blown up at Max over it, the hospital visit where Chloe had waited outside the door feeling terrible about herself. The nightmares. The secret fear Chloe harbored, that somewhere, in some timeline out there in the ether, her nightmares were real.
It was the first time Chloe had ever opened up about any of that.
When she was finished, Kate spoke softly. "You're more like Victoria than you think, Chloe. You two won't forgive yourselves, even when you know that I will."
"I probably should've just been straight with you from the beginning. Like I said, I'm an idiot."
"I think you're being really hard on yourself, Chloe. I never would've wanted you to hurt like this because of me. It's so sweet that you've been trying to make up for it by sharing Max, but Chloe," Kate's voice sounded very small all of a sudden, "I would've been just as happy if you shared more of yourself. When I made that call I was desperate for someone to care about me and Max happened to be the only one I could reach out to. These days I rely just as much on you, and Victoria. And I want you to rely on me too."
There was a soft knock at the door. After a moment of hesitation, Chloe ended the call and walked over to turn the knob. Kate entered and pulled the taller girl into a hug before standing on her tiptoes to kiss her. Chloe wrapped her arms around Kate and returned the embrace as the phone slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor.
She was feeling better already.