AN:
GrumpyCat42: Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's how it happened in Canon. But that's the lovely thing about fanfics, right? The world is mine to play with, bwha ha ha! :)
Aitorhdz16: Thanks! And she's here next chapter. I'm writing her a 'tad' different from how she is in game, so I'm a bit nervous about how that'll turn out. Hope you like her though. :)
So, I've never picked up a single human being in a bar or anywhere else, so I'm not really sure how to write that. As always, please review, let me know if I got even close. :)
Today's title comes from this song. Thought it fit. Gonna see if I can't keep this song-title gimmick going for a while. :)
watch?v=6_zOKuCBCrY
Thanks, fanfic-folks. You guys are awesome.
The next morning was fucking cold. Some 'low pressure' something or other had drifted in over Oregon and dropped the temperature by about a bajillion degrees. But meh, the cold never bothered me anyway.
Yeah, I saw Frozen, so what? Kickass movie.
I was in my usual tank and jeans combo, with my beanie down to my eyebrows and waiting, totally calm and patient outside the Two Whales.
Kate was late.
Like, really late.
Like, really, seriously, worryingly late.
Ok, so, it was only by like 15 minutes, but still, I can worry if I want… fuck it. I pulled out my phone and shot off a text.
Chloe - Hey K8 U OK? UR RLY L8
It was about ten minutes of frantic pacing and muttering enough swearwords under my breath to make a sailor blush before I got a response.
Kate - Hey Chloe, I'm so sorry. I got delayed a while, but I'm free now. Be there in 5.
Chloe - K CU SN
Shit. Something bad must've happened. Bet it was the fucking queen bee-atch and her cronies again. Victoria had made it her mission to give Kate as much shit as she could over this video.
I'd had to stare her down a couple times now after she tried bitching at Kate with me around. Guess she'd decided to go for her alone now, huh.
"Hey Chloe!"
I felt a hand on my shoulder, jolting me out of my little melancholy mood and scaring the ever loving shit outta me. Not that I'd ever let on, Chloe Price has a reputation to keep up and nerves of steel.
Ok, fine... so, I screamed like a fucking five year old and flailed around, falling to the floor and who or whatever the fuck it was that put their hand on me jumped back.
Ow...
I rubbed the back of my head and looked up at Kate, who was peering down at me from her all of 5ft nothing with a concerned look on her face.
"Chloe, oh no! Are you ok? I'm so sorry, I was just excited to see you and I didn't think and I..."
I interrupted her word-vomit with a wave and a mumbled "It's fine."
Had to cut her off fast when the floodgates opened or she'd talk us both to an early grave. Don't get me wrong, it's cute for the first couple of minutes, but after she talked about nothing for a straight half hour, I learnt to stop it fuckin' quick or else.
The back of my head felt wet. What the fuck? Its freezing and I manage to find a puddle?
I pulled my hand back and found it a sort of pretty reddish colour. Huh.
"Chloe, you're bleeding! We've got to get you inside and I can clean that up for you. I did make it happen, right?"
Kate immediately grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the diner, chatting all the way.
The non-bloody hand, I mean. That would be gross, otherwise. Fuck, she must move hella quick, we just, like, blurred right up to the door.
The door flapped as we entered, that stupid double-hinge thing making it swing back and forth wildly. Mom looked up from behind the counter, her usual grin falling as she spotted me, hand on the back of my head. "Oh lord, Chloe darlin', are you ok? What the hell happened?"
I waved, kinda at her. From the puzzled wave back that the guy on the end of the bar threw back at me, I mighta missed a smidge.
"Hey Mom, nothin' much, just a little head wound. Bleeding a bit, but I'm fiiiine. Got any waffles?"
Mom leaned down to look in my eyes. "Chloe. You are not 'fiiine'. You hit your head, you gotta go get checked out." She turned to Kate.
"Look, darlin', normally I wouldn't ask, but I can't leave right now. Wouldya take Chloe to the med centre? It's just around the corner. Tell him I sent you and he won't charge you anything."
Kate nodded. "Of course, Mrs Madsen. I'll call you with any news."
Mom sighed dramatically. "Good lord, Kate, how many times do I gotta tell ya, it's just Joyce to you, hun. But thanks. You take good care of my daughter."
Shit!
I squeezed my eyes shut and flinched when a light suddenly beamed straight into my fucking skull. I heard a wearied sigh.
"Look, Miss Price, I'm not exactly thrilled at the circumstances either, but if you wanna get better, stop bloody moving. You've only got a mild concussion, so it could be worse. Least it ain't Lupus."
The doc was sitting on his stupid plastic swivel chair, a brown cane propped up against his leg, shining the fucking bat-signal into my head. He picked up his cane and pushed off from the bed I was sitting on back over to his desk. He started typin' some shit into the computer and askin' me a whole buncha irritating questions about my head and how it felt.
"Why are you asking me all these fucking questions? Can't you just give me a pill and let me go?"
He grimaced, running his hand across his stubbly grey beard. "If only, the government says I gotta fill in one of these report things for every damn thing I do. Apparently, 'keeping it in your head' is not a proper filing system. Meddling bastards."
I grinned. "Tru dat. So, how am I, doc? Hella fit like a fiddle, right?"
He peered at over his computer and just raised one grey, grizzled eyebrow. "Hella? Seriously? Kids today..."
Kate giggled from off to my left, holding her hand over her mouth to try keep it quiet. The doc eyed her from his chair. She giggled even harder.
"Look, Miss Price, you seem to be ok for now. You got a concussion from your little fall, so I'm gonna need to get someone to stay with you for the evening. Make sure you don't die in your sleep or something."
Kate hopped to her feet and stepped forward. "I can do it. Least I can do for getting you in this situation, right?"
The Doc finger-shot at her with a little *pyowng*. "Well then, guess we have a deal. Now, scat. My show's on soon."
I hopped off the bed. "Sure thing, doc. We're gonna... woah!" Fuck, I felt hella dizzy. Doc might be right about the, y'know, concussion thing.
Kate rushed over and took my arm before I collapsed or something equally dramatic. I leant into her far more than I really wanted, but fuck it. The room was spinning and she made it not so fuckin' wobbly. I'm stubborn, but I'm not insane.
We hobbled out of the room, waving bye to the doc and getting a grumpy waft back and headed out to the parking lot, getting into my old truck.
Kate drove. I wasn't really in any condition to.
Kate was a sloooooow driver. 5 to 10 miles under the speed limit at all times, slowing before every single fucking turn, the goddamn works. (Sorry, Kate!)
Was hella cute, really. She was all concentrating on the road, head low on the wheel, totally focused on where she was going.
Kinda ignoring me, but it was cute enough that I forgave her.
We got back to my place in around 30 minutes, like, double the time it would've taken me. She helped me out and we worked our way into my house and into the front room. She dumped me on the couch where I landed with grace, style and very little pained moaning. "Stay here a second, I'm going to go grab you some water."
I grinned up at her. "Yes ma'am. Right here."
She skittered off into the kitchen and I heard the faucet go and a whole lot of clattering and thunking around.
I heard her call in. "You feeling ok, still?"
Sweet girl. Always thinking of everyone else first.
"Yeah, I'm good. Surprisingly comfortable on this piece of shit couch."
She laughed. "Good to hear. You make sure not to move, remember what the Doc said. I've got to look after you till at least tomorrow."
Her voice was firm, uncompromising. She appeared at my shoulder, looking down at me on the couch, shaking a fucking ladle at me.
"So stay. Let me take care of you. Or I'll get mean and have to do something to punish you. Not entirely sure what though. I never was very good at that stuff, not even when I had to look after my sisters when they were young. Never could do that whole discipline thing."
She trailed off at the end, clearly realising her rambling threat did not have the impact she really wanted it to, before smiling at me and pushing me back down on the sofa when I tried to sit up.
"Staaaay. I mean it." She poked me in the shoulder with the ladle.
"Gotcha, Katie. Really. I'm staying right here."
She smiled at that and went back into the kitchen. Long story short, she made us some waffles and sat with me for the rest of the day, chatting about all sorts of shit.
Pretty sure we were talking about what kind of furniture we'd like to be at one point.
Kate wanted to be a chair. Weirdo. Everyone knows, tables are where it's at.
We moved up to my room when Mom and Step-Douche got home, playing some of my old music CDs. Low volume, to keep the douche happy. I sprawled into my desk chair and Kate perched on the end of the bed as we listened.
She'd never even heard of Syd Matters, can you believe it? Or Mogwai.
She wasn't really into most of what I liked, which didn't surprise me. Kate definitely seemed like more of a mainstream type. Pop and that kinda stuff. Not really my thing, but each to their own, I guess.
She did like Angus and Julia Stone though. Probably the lightest of my musical reper...
Repper?
Repo?
Ribbledibblethwibblefarble?
...
Collection. My Collection.
Anyway, yeah, she liked them. Of course she did, Rachel liked them, after all. She always had so much more in common with everyone than me. I offered to burn her a CD of some stuff, and she accepted with a blush and a shy grin.
"Thanks Chloe. You're, you're always so nice to me." She paused, taking a long, deep breath.
Huh? Where the fuck is THIS going...?
"I don't really have that many friends, not even in my church. Most other people just see my faith and back off. I only ever really got along with my sisters. Everyone else... not so much."
Another deep breath.
"I always thought I never really would have any. Friends, I mean. Uh, what I'm trying to say is thanks for being my friend. It means a lot."
Shit. Never thought she'd have as shitty a time with people as me. She's always so nice, you'd think people would like that. I spin around on my desk chair, hop off and crash down next to her on the bed, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her down.
"Sure thing, Katie kat. We're buds now, right? Gotta stick together."
She fucking BEAMS at me. Crap, I wanna find whoever didn't tell her how awesome she is before and punch them. Lots.
She nods her head for a second, eyes unfocusing. "Wait, I know this one! What is it?"
I smirked. She'd picked a hella good one to recognise. "Its Youngblood Hawke. We come running. Hella sick tune, right?"
"Yes! It's so catchy!"
"I'll put it on the CD."
We chatted for the rest of the night and most of the next morning, then went to the Two Whales for breakfast. Kate got a call then, telling me she had to go.
I think it was her Mom, from the pained sounding sighs from Kate and the muffled yelling through the phone.
I gave her a lift back to her place. Her house was a typical suburban shithole near the outside of Arcadia Bay. Garden was fucking pristine, flowers, trees and a fucking 'water feature' to match. I never understood these places. Why would you buy a house you can barely afford, so you can go to a job you hate so you can pay off your architecturally inflated socio-geographic penis.
Probably a compensation thing.
I looked at some of the other houses on her road. One of them had pillars.
DEFINITELY a compensation thing.
She got out and knocked on the door. Her dad answered, hugged her before bringing her in. Least the girl had one actual parent.
I watched her go inside before driving off to this shitty bar where they didn't card me. Place was a dump, but at least I could drink there. I waved to the bartender and got a nod back and a glass of something brown pushed towards me. I downed it in one and tapped for a refill. Damn, that stuff fucking burns!
There were more folks in here than usual tonight. Must be a special occasion.
Then again, this place isn't exactly the sort of bar you take the folks to. Pretty sure the food from this joint would kill ya before you finished it. Half the reason I liked the place.
My eyes drifted along the bar, across the faces of every grim faced fucker say along it and I swept over to look at the tables and booths dotted around the...
Wait.
Was that...?
I flicked my eyes back over to the bar.
Well now, what have we here? A little lost rich boy?
Nathan fucking Prescott, moneyed up little prick he is, just does not drink in a shitty bar way outta town. And yet, there he was, bold as fucking aluminium? Steel?
Meh. Whatever he was, he was chatting up some blonde chick leaning on my damn bar! The bruise on his nose from the day we met was pretty much gone and what was left gave him a kinda rakish look, like a prettyboy merc from an old movie or something.
Heh. Looks like he's trawling for new prey. Not gonna find any A-List Models here, buddy, just trucker bitches and drunk bitches. I watched him smile and charm the blonde bimbo in her too tight top and too tight shorts. She giggled and leaned into him and I shuddered. Poor girl had no idea who she was flirting with.
I don't even know what made me do the stupid fucking thing I did next, but I did it.
I drain my drink and unbutton my top a little, trying to plump up my pretty much non-existent cleavage.
That taken care of, I walk up to the bar, swaying as I went. When I reached the bar, I deliberately bumped into him. The girl shrieks, so I know I knocked his drink all over her. Re-fucking-sult.
He whirls on me, leaving her spluttering and wailing behind him. He looks like he's about to flip out, so I lean into him and put my hand on his arm before he can start. He didn't seem to recognise me, so I guess I knocked the fucking memory of me right out of his head when I kneed him there.
"Oh, I'm sorry, it's so crowded in here."
I glance down at his now empty glass and put my hand on his arm.
"Oh no, did I spill your drink? I'm so sorry, do you want me to get you another?"
He grins at me, the girl behind him forgotten as he fucking drags his eyes down my body. Perverted asshole.
"Nah, it's fine. Not like I can't afford another. Hell, I could buy this whole fucking bar with pocket change!"
He shouts that last bit and sweeps his arm out across the room. A couple folks look over at him annoyed, but quickly look back to whatever they're doing when they realise who it is that's disturbing their drinking.
I look down at my feet, flicking my eyes up at him and I give a shy little smile. "Wow… I bet you can get away with doing all sorts of things…"
I squeeze his bicep and trail my hand down his arm with that last line, half expecting him to push me away. If anything, his boyish grin gets bigger. You know, it's too bad the guy looks like he eats puppies and kittens for lunch. He might be kinda hot, otherwise.
"You bet I can, babe. We own this town."
Christ, seriously? Arrogant prick. Then again, it was kinda true, so...
I laugh, airily, trying to do that femme fatale thing from the Bond Movies. "I like a man who knows what he wants. I don't think I've seen you in here before. What's your name?"
He leans in towards me. Probably angling for a better view down my top. "I'm Nathan. What can I call you?"
"The name's..."
Shit, I can't tell him my real name! Think of something, think of something…
"Max. I'm Max."
He leans in further and murmurs in my ear.
"Hey Max, so, how about we take this back to my place?"
Booyah, another point for Price!
I pull away and smile. "I'd love to. Meet you outside?"
"I'll be waiting. Don't take too long." He shoves his hands in his pockets, dumps his empty glass on the bar and heads outside without looking back.
I wave the bartender over and, checking that nobody was watching, slipped him a twenty. "Just the usual, Bart?"
He wandered off to the other end of the bar and picked up a bottle of Jack, coming back over to me. He handed me the bottle, quickly putting a small baggie in my other hand that I whipped away into a pocket.
I turned from the bar and went out to find Nathan.
My back hits his door as we fall together, kissing frantically and pulling at each others clothes. He fumbles for the handle and we fall back into his door room, him landing on top of me, making me grunt with pain. What? The guy was heavy. Sure, most of it was muscle, but still.
He kissed his way down my neck, murmuring sorry into my pulse point as he went. I stopped him as he got to my collar, pushing his shoulder gently. "Are we really gonna do this on the floor with the door open?"
He blinked and grinned. "You are such a chick."
I opened my eyes in mock surprise, looking down at my rack.
"Really? Are you sure?"
He laughed, before getting up and pulling me to my feet. I let go and look around the room. "Nice place you got here."
There was a double bed pushed against the wall to the right of the door, and a desk beside the window, next to a bunch of shelves. The left wall had a huge fucking TV that dwarfed the one Step-Douche had bought. There were some expensive looking surround sound speakers dotted around the room. I walked over to the wall opposite the window, running my finger along the shelves and looking at the three pictures there.
Oh, Repertoire! That was the fucking word! Crap, that'd been annoying me for hours. Anyways...
The fucking things had spotlights on them. Who the hell has spotlit pictures in their house?
He moved to the bed and lay down on it, one leg swinging off the end as he watched me wander around his room. "Eh. Its a shithole, but its my shithole. Nothing like my room at home."
I laughed and brought out the black bottle of Jack. "Well, does the shithole have any cups in it?"
He waved over at the shelves. "Cupboard on the right, babe. Make mine a double."
There was a stack of plastic cups in the cupboard.
I pulled the top two, careful to keep everything I did hidden inside the cupboard, then poured a shitload of whisky into both, quickly tipping the stuff from my little baggie into one of them, giving it a little shake. I stood up, put them on the shelf and moved over to his speakers. There was an IPod docked into it.
I tapped it on and scrolled down his playlist. Ew, Good Charlotte. No wonder the guy was such an asshole. I picked something at random and turned up the volume. It was some techno club song I didn't recognise. Heavy on the bass, low on everything else, y'know?
I straightened up, starting to dance along to the beat, when I felt two arms wrap around me from behind and Nathan started kissing my neck again. "Now, we've got music, lighting and booze. Wanna get the party started?"
"One more drink, then hella yes."
I went went back over to the shelf and grabbed the two cups, handing one to Nathan and bringing the other up to my lips, downing the whole lot and throwing it off into the corner before advancing on Nathan, who'd gone back to lounging on the bed. "Now, where were we?"
He smirked. "Well, I don't know about me, but you're about to be on the floor."
He held up the empty plastic baggie. Shit. Oh, Shit.
I looked over to the cup I'd thrown into the corner, then back to his smug face, each getting blurrier and blurrier every time I did. "You bas… you bastard!"
He jumped up from the bed, getting right up in my face. "Nobody challenges me. NOBODY! This is what you get for protecting the Marsh girl."
That was the last thing I saw before my vision went black.
I came to a little later, blinking my eyes. I felt the wall behind me and a sheet under me. There was a really bright light on me and everything felt kinda fuzzy and really out of focus. I saw the outline of something moving towards me from the direction of the light. I blinked and shook my head, trying to clear the kinda dull feeling in my head.
As the thing got closer, I could kinda make it out. It was Nathan, on his hands and knees, crawling towards me with a camera up to his face. I wriggled, finding my hands were tied together.
"Quiet now."
His voice barked out. I stopped wriggling, keeping him in my line of sight as I tried to blink the blurriness out of my eyes.
He smiled. "Now, now. Don't panic. I just want to take a few pictures."
He moved in closer, clicking the camera every step.
I shifted, trying to get my feet under me and keep track of my limbs, which all kinda felt like they were stuck on 8 different people.
He got right up close, the lens of his stupid camera like, right next to my face. When he was close enough, I pushed off the wall and barrelled into him, knocking him over.
I kicked him in the stomach when he landed. "Fuck!"
I didn't wait for a second. I just ran at the door, thudding into it when I found it fucking locked. I kicked at the thing, again and again until the lock broke, then I ran out, stumbling my way out of the building back home.
Shitshitshitshitshit. I fucked up, big time. Letting that creepy asshole get the better of me like that, stupid, stupid, stupid!
I thudded backwards into my bedroom wall. Shoulda known better.
I slid down it to curl up on the floor. Shoulda DONE better.
Damn it, Chloe, always the screw up, aintcha?
Bet Max would've done better. Hell, I know Max would've done better. Smartest person I ever met. Waaay too smart for the likes of me.
But, she's gone now, right? Gone like Dad, Gone like Rachel…
…
Shit. Things were desperate, so I did the one thing I'd forbidden myself ever to do.
I called Max.
I listened to the phone ring. Once. Twice... Three-ce?
This is a baaad idea, my brain singsonged. Shut it, Brain! You need this. Like you said, she's the smartest person we know, she'll know how to get us out of this fine fucking screwup we're in.
Aren't you forgetting something? My Brain asked, sarcastically.
No…? What?
SHE LEFT! SHE LEFT US! She left Mom, She left Arcadia, She left YOU!
She left me…
Wait, listen.
...Answering Machine. Fucking Answering Machine. Damn it. Of course she didn't pick up. Bitch didn't give enough of a shit to answer me, but that didn't stop me from leaving a message anyways.
"Hey Max, it's, it's Chloe. Um, I don't know if this is still your number, but it's the last one I got, so…"
I sighed.
"You probably won't be surprised to hear this, but I screwed up, big time and I don't know what to do. I need help."
I got up from the floor and moved over to lie on the bed, running my hand through my hair.
"I saved some girl, Kate, from this rich prick kid trying to cart her off and do fuck knows what. Then, y'know me, can't keep myself from making hella stupid decisions, I thought I could try drug him and search his room for proof of what he did.
I choked up, trying not to cry.
"But he, he, he drugged me instead, the little bitch. I think he was gonna try… to… FUCK. I feel like I'm being crushed under, just, the fucking weight of all this."
"This is a bad ideaaa" My brain singsonged again.
Quiet!
"Max, I'm sorry. You left me and I want to hate you so much, but I just can't. I need you. I need you to come back. I need your help, first mate Max, I need hella help."
I took a deep breath.
Come back?
Help?
Fuck, she wouldn't even pick up the damn phone. I felt that old defensive anger flowing up, red haze over everything, like the world was out to get me all over again.
"You know what? Fuck that noise. You don't care. You didn't even pick up the fucking phone. For all I know, you're sat listening at the other end, just waiting for me to shut up and go away. You don't care now, you didn't care when you left. So forget it. Forget it! You hear me? Forget it like you forgot me!"
My voice rose to a full fuckin' yell at the end of it and I may have thrown the phone at the wall, hard enough to dent the damn thing where it collided with a thud.
It slid to the floor and the screen cracked.
Bit like you, eh Chloe?
…
...broken…
I cried myself to sleep that night. Yet, I still dreamt of freckles and long brown hair.
