AN: Sorry, its been a while since i've uploaded a chapter, so I apologize in advance to anyone that may be disappointed by this fact. As usual, I hope you all enjoy!
The four girls walked towards the entrance of the mall, their hands shielding their eyes from the harsh wind that made them tear up as it chilled them to the bone. Max had the thinnest clothes, so naturally out of the four she was the coldest, and her shivers showed that.
Victoria gave Max a concerned look before they finally reached the heated interior of the mall. The girls are stood der the vent blowing hot air for a few moments to warm up before venturing deeper into the mall. They had only passed a few stores before Max's attention had been snagged by a camera store. There was no way she could afford anything in there, but it didn't hurt to look longingly through the aisles.
The others went to follow, but Taylor grabbed Courtney by the arm and began dragging her away. "Courtney and I are going to check out some of the clothe stores, we'll catch up with you two later, bye!" And with that, she was gone, a loudly complaining Courtney being dragged along behind her.
Victoria blinked in surprise for a moment before realizing what Taylor was doing. "That bitch," She mumbled, hesitantly following Max into the store. She observed some of the newer models of cameras and high end equipment, but her attention wouldn't stay on the merchandise. Instead, she found herself glancing over at Max more and more often. She couldn't stop herself; the way Max's ponytail was a little messed up from the wind, and how her cheeks were still rosy from having been in the cold. Her big blue eyes scanned the rows of technology, soaking it all in as she moved through the store. Victoria almost struggled to keep up. She herself would usually stop by each item that caught her attention, carefully reading all the provided information about the piece. Max, however, cruised through the aisles, stopping for mere seconds at each item, nodding thoughtfully before moving on again, as if she already knew all there was to know about them. Maybe she did; Victoria knew max was a big photography nerd, even more so than herself, which was saying something.
After a few minutes, when Max had seen all that there was to see – which was quite a lot – she finally seemed to realize that the two of them had separated from the others. "Where are Taylor and Courtney?" She asked, looking up at Victoria.
"They said that they wanted to look at some other stores." Victoria explained as the two of them left the photography store.
"Oh, I should have asked where everyone wanted to go first; running in there like that was rude of me," She said, feeling guilty about not having thought of the others she was with.
"Don't worry too much about it, Maxine." Victoria said waving her hand dismissively through the air, as if trying to wave away Max's apology. "I get the feeling that Taylor would have dragged Courtney off anyways,"
"What makes you think that?" Max asked as they walked towards the next store, the windows of which were filled with dozens of board games and trivia boxes.
"Oh, I'm sure that they wanted to go gawk at cute boys or something," Victoria lied, before quickly changing the subject. "Should we go in here?"
"Sure!" Max nodded, and the two stepped into the store. Dragons Den, it was called. It seemed a fitting title, since many of the walls were filled with various fantasy role-playing board games. There was even a giant case full of replica swords and axes form popular games, situated behind the counter where the cashier stood.
"Wow," Victoria said as she looked around in awe. "This place is way to nerdy for me; I've never heard of any of these!" she picked up a large board game, examining the back.
"I think you're right," Max nodded thoughtfully as she examined the shelves. "I recognize a few of these, but only the major titles. I don't think I've heard of any of the others."
"Looks like the hipster nerd is stumped," Victoria teased, nudging her shoulder.
"You're right," max laughed, "I'm a hipster nerd, that's the reason I don't know these,"
"Do you think there are any normal board games?" Victoria asked, putting the game back on the shelf. "You know, for us mere mortals?" she flashed a grin in Max's direction, and it was returned with a small laugh and a smile.
When she finished laughing, Max looked around the store once more, spotting a few shelves of standard, family themed board games. "Over there," She said, grabbing Victoria by the wrist and dragging her across the store towards the shelves.
Victoria blushed fiercely when Max grabbed her wrist, pulling her along, though thankfully her blush was hidden from Max, who was facing away from her as they walked. Max's hand was warm on Victoria's wrist, and it stirred up butterflies in her stomach and made her feel all fuzzy and warm. She shook her head, snapping herself out of this state just as they reached the shelves, where Max removed her hand. Victoria was disappointed when her friend's hand withdrew, but she straightened herself, donning her usual confident posture as they looked through the shelves.
They browsed for a short while, occasionally holding up a game for the other to see, before setting it back down again. Eventually, Max came across a game labelled Settlers of Catan. "I remember playing this with my friends back in Seattle," she said, holding it up for Victoria, who came over and peered at it over Max's shoulder.
"What is it about?" Victoria inquired, examining the artwork that was spread across the top of the box. It looked interesting enough, and it said it was for 2-4 players, which meant if they wanted, they could play with some of their friends.
"Basically you're trying to colonize a new land by setting up towns, cities and roads. You have to collect recourses to build." Max explained the overall theme of the game very briefly. "Look, they even have the expansion pack here, which lets you play with a bunch of people!"
"You seem very excited about this game," Victoria observed, looking at max thoughtfully."
"Well, it just made me think of how fun it would be to have a board game night with some friends," she said, blushing slightly at how childish she thought she sounded. Did any people her age even play board games? She wasn't sure.
Victoria looked thoughtful for a moment. She was thinking about if she should offer to buy the game for her. Max never said she wanted it, simply that the idea of having a game night appealed to her. After a few seconds of silence, Victoria plucked the box from her friend and grabbed the expansion pack, setting it on top of the original game. She had more than enough money left in her personal spending budget, so there was no harm in getting these.
"What are you doing?" Max asked, puzzled as Victoria held the boxes in her arms.
"What does it look like?" she replied with a shrug, turning to walk towards the checkout. "I'm buying these,"
"You don't have to do that." Max objected, trying to take the boxes in order to return them to the shelves.
Victoria clearly had other plans, as she held the boxes just out of Max's reach. "Honestly, Maxine," She sighed dramatically, though a small smile could be seen tugging at her lips. "Let me treat a friend to a gift now and then," Max look as though she was about to say something, but Victoria cut her off. "No arguing! Let me do this, it's the least I can do to thank you for being such a close friend."
Max huffed and crossed her arms. "You don't need to thank me for that," She said, but other than that, she offered no more interference as Victoria marched towards the till, setting the boxes down on the counter. She followed her blond friend to the checkout, where she was already paying the man that stood at the cash register. Once she had her receipt and the boxes were tucked into a shopping bag, the two girls left the store.
"I wonder where Courtney and Taylor are?" Max said, mostly to herself, as she reached for her phone. Three new messages. The first two were simply texts from Taylor, asking to meet them in the food court when they were done in the game store, but the third… Max's breath hitched in her throat as she read the first line.
Unknown: Hey, Max, its Chloe…
Max felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Victoria giving her a worried look. "Maxine, are you okay? You look like you're about to freak out!"
"Sorry, I'm fine, it's just…" She paused and finished reading the message.
Unknown: Hey, Max, its Chloe…
Unknown: I'm sorry, so sorry, about what I asked you to do the other day. I hope you don't hate me because of it.
"It's Chloe," Max told Victoria. Her friend's face softened, and Max felt her squeeze her shoulder slightly. "I'll give you a moment, if you need it."
"No, it's okay," max grabbed Victoria's sleeve as though she was worried she was going to leave her. "Please, stay… I just need to respond; it will only take a minute." Victoria nodded and kept a close eye on her friend as she turned away to hurriedly typed up a message to send back.
Max: I could never hate you Chloe, it just made me so sad when I found out how you felt. I could never do anything to hurt you. I just want to be your friend again.
Almost immediately there was a response.
Unknown: I know, and it was awful of me to ask you to even think about doing something like that. All I could ever want is to be friends again. Can we hang out soon? I promise it won't be so depressing this time.
Max: Yes, we can hang out again, very soon. I've missed you so much.
Unknown: I've missed you too. I have to go try to eat, but we'll talk later, okay?"
Max: Okay, take care.
Before slipping her phone back into her pocket, Max added Chloe's number into her contacts, so her messages were no longer simply labeled unknown. She looked up to Victoria and put on a smile. Hopefully things would get better. "Okay," she said. "I'm ready to get a move on."