Kailor: Fam. It has been...a ridiculous few months. I swear, if I told y'all half the stuff that's happened, you wouldn't believe me lol. So, let's just get to it! I love you all and thank you so much for taking this ride with me!
It's been a few hours since Pop called about the collapse and Chloe has been swept up in preparations ever since.
The campground up on the peak sent down their sign-in lists from the last few years and Mamma has been calling regular guests to let them know. Luckily, most people that come to Scarlet Peak every year show up closer to Christmas or the end of the month for New Year's. But they've gotten a few people coming in already, taking up the offer of a free room that Mamma had sent out for those who wanted to stick around.
The thought occurs to her halfway up to the second floor with a stack of sheets in her hands and she stops cold, Aubrey running into her back and barely keeping them both from hitting the floor.
"Jesus, Chloe, are you okay?"
Chloe turns around, nearly smacking Aubrey in the face with the sheets. "What if Headphones is here for Scarlet Peak?"
Aubrey blinks at her twice before her eyes widen. "Oh. You think they'll come here?"
"I mean, they have to, right? At least for tonight." Chloe clutches the sheets closer. "It's too late to drive all the way back home. And this place is free! Who would pass up a free room for the night?" She can feel herself getting giddy. It's something she does when she's stressed or upset and her voice climbs higher with her shoulders and the corners of her lips until she just looks confusedly happy. She tries very hard not to do it, but she always fails. Just like now. "Unless they know someone in town. Do you think they know someone in town? O.M.G. What if they know someone in town?"
Aubrey balances the box of shower supplies she's carrying between her hip and the wall so she can reach out and grab Chloe's forearms. "Chloe. Listen." She squeezes until Chloe's shoulders drop back down. "It's okay. If they do come stay here and you don't want to see them, we'll just avoid the inn until they leave. Mamma will understand."
Her nose crinkles and she wonders if that soft look in Aubrey's eyes is supposed to look as pitying as it does. "This is crazy, right? I mean, I'm a grown woman, worrying about if my crush is going to be dropping by or not."
With a shrug, Aubrey grabs her box of soaps and pulls it back up into her arms. "Crazy or not, I've got your back."
Chloe kinda sorta loves Aubrey a lot.
"Chloe! We've got a car pulling in!" Jessica's voice calls up the stairs and Chloe follows it back down.
They hadn't really been expecting a bunch of people. But then a group of twelve had shown up on their doorstep, needing rooms for the night. Headphones had been pushed right out of Chloe's head as she, Aubrey, and Amy ran from room to room, making sure everyone was settling in while Mamma and Jessica manned the desk.
The thought of her comes rushing right back as soon as Chloe gets to the front door, because she's right there. Bundled up and lugging a huge, straining backpack. And arguing with her girlfriend, it looks like. Chloe ducks back into the lobby. "Shit!"
"What's wrong?" Like magic, Aubrey appears at her elbow and peers over her shoulder. "Oh." She pushes Chloe behind the desk and yanks her arms down until Chloe is crouched beside Jessica's legs. Aubrey disappears and Chloe peeks around the edge of the desk after her.
Tall Girlfriend steps in, looking like a model in search of a runway, and gives Aubrey a dazzling smile. "Well, hello."
"Hello," Aubrey says back, her voice a little breathier than usual. From running back to the door, Chloe assumes. "Do you need help with your bags?"
Tall Girlfriend laughs. "I do love me some small town hospitality. And weren't you at the diner earlier?" The way she says it makes it sound like it's dripping with naughty intent. Chloe's insides burn hot. This woman already has Headphones, now she's blatantly flirting with Chloe's best friend?
And Chloe's best friend's ears are turning bright red as she mouths wordlessly at Tall Girlfriend. The longer the moment stretches, the happier Tall Girlfriend seems to grow until she's taking a bold step closer, cocking her head to the side.
Chloe punches Jessica in the foot.
"Ow!"
Aubrey leaps back from Tall Girlfriend like she's been shocked, hands fluttering up and out before they come together in front of her chest. Chloe pulls her head back behind the desk before Tall Girlfriend can see her.
"Sorry," Jessica says through a clenched-teeth smile. "Hitting your toe on this desk is a bitch."
Chloe squeezes her leg in apology, wincing.
"Um," Aubrey sounds flustered—which is something Chloe never thought she'd hear—and clears her throat before continuing. "Does your girlfriend need help with the bags?"
"My girlfriend," Tall Girlfriend says, drawing the word out a little. Chloe sticks her head around the desk in time to see Tall Girlfriend stride to the door and yell out, "Hey, does my girlfriend need help with the bags?"
"You brought a girlfriend? Which bag did you hide her in?" Headphones' raspy voice calls back a second later and Tall Girlfriend laughs, turning back to Aubrey.
"My friend is fine." Tall Not-Girlfriend shrugs and Chloe's insides light up like a Christmas tree. "She's mad at me for not buying her favorite snacks anyways." Stepping back up to Aubrey, she says, "I'm Stacie, by the way."
"Aub-Aubrey," Aubrey says, tripping over the word.
"Hi, Aubrey." Stacie moves closer, biting her lip in a way that is entirely inappropriate for being in the lobby of Chloe's mother's inn. But before she can do anything more, Headphones steps through the door and drops a suitcase between them.
"Down, Stacie," she says. Stacie pouts, but backs off, throwing Aubrey a parting wink. Headphones shoves the suitcase into her legs, making her grunt, then turns around and heads back outside.
"Stacie Conrad?" Mamma says and Stacie nods.
"Yes, ma'am. We called in about rooming a little while ago?"
"Aubrey. Darling." Mamma calls her over and drops a couple keys in her hand. "Rooms 214 and 215. You can take them up."
"What about B?"
The voice is new and young. Chloe leans out again and sees Headphones' little brother standing beside Stacie with a bunch of shopping bags from Marcel's Supermarket in his hands. Was he there the whole time?
"We'll have one of the girls show her up when she gets in." Mamma flaps her hands, ushering them along. "Why don't you go up and start settling in?"
They don't put up much fight after that. Their footsteps move away and she knows as soon as they're gone because Mamma spins on her.
"Chloe! Up, up, up!"
"I'm up! I'm up!" she squeaks, dodging Mamma's swatting hands.
She can't evade that sharp eye though. "This is your chance!"
"For what?"
"To talk to Headphones!"
The thought hits like lightning, tracking across her skin and leaving sparks everywhere it touches. It is her chance. Stacie isn't her girlfriend. It's possible she doesn't have one at all. But, oh no. It's also possible she's straight. Or planning to become a nun one day. That's totes a thing people still do, right?
Mamma's hands are warm on her shoulders. "Chloe. I love you. But if you don't stop overthinking this and get out there right now, I will plaster that baby picture of you naked in the garden all over the inn." She gives her a quick pat on the cheek. "Get."
Chloe spins on her heel and hurries to the door. Mamma's not one to make idle threats.
It's cold outside, the snow slowly collecting to form a thin blanket on the town. Chloe tucks her cardigan tighter around herself, shivering.
Headphones is at the back of a white Galant, half inside the trunk. Chloe can hear her quietly cursing as she gets closer. But just before she can open her mouth to call out, there's a blur of golden fur and Shadow races past her.
And leaps on Headphones, taking her to the ground with a yelp.
Chloe surges forward, wrapping her arms tight around Shadow to pull him off. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! He won't hurt you!" She looks up, wondering where he even came from, and sees Amy doing a poorly executed moonwalk back around the corner of the inn.
"I'm fine," Headphones rasps, yanking her head back to dodge another swipe of Shadow's tongue. And she does look fine now, despite the startled yelp she'd given a second ago. For someone who's just been tackled to the ground by a strange dog that is nearly the same size as them, she looks remarkably composed. Still laying on the cold ground, but otherwise fine. And for the first time, Chloe makes direct eye contact with her and holds it.
She already knew her eyes were dark blue, but she's never seen them this close before. Never gotten to be looked at by them. And it sucks all of the air out of her chest so quickly that she has to tighten her grip on Shadow to keep the both of them upright. Because Headphones is pretty. Which, of course, Chloe already knew, as well. But where Headphones is pretty in the dingy lighting of the record shop, she's really pretty sprawled in the snow. Her leather jacket and dark hair contrast so sharply with the snow that she almost looks unreal. The thick scarf is off, tucked into her jacket pocket, and the tip of her nose is red, her lips a little chapped, her cheeks flushed. She is gorgeous and Chloe's kind of forgotten what she was supposed to be doing.
Until one of Headphones' eyebrows goes up and the beginning hints of a smirk lift the corner of her lips. "Are you debating whether or not to unleash your guard dog on me again, dude?"
There's a playful drawl to her speech that sparks up all that lightning along Chloe's skin again. Recharges it and her until she's buzzing and grinning like an idiot. "Maybe so." She backs up a few steps with Shadow panting in her arms. "Should I?"
"Depends who you talk to about me," Headphones says, sitting up and rubbing the elbow she must have landed on.
"Hm." Chloe drops Shadow and snaps her fingers. He immediately plops to the ground, tail kicking up snow in all directions. Chloe leaves him there to reach down and offer Headphones her hands. "I prefer to make my own opinions about things."
Headphones' fingers are cold as they wrap around Chloe's. Once she's up, she quickly takes her hands back and slips them into her pockets, awkwardly shuffling her feet. Whether it's because of the cold or because she also feels that electric tingle in her palms, Chloe doesn't know. But she's full-on smirking now so Chloe hopes it's the second. "What's the verdict so far?"
Why hasn't she talked to this girl before? This is so easy. So thrilling. Chloe takes a step closer, scrunching up one eye and shrugging a little. "Well. So far, all I know is you are extremely slow at unpacking." She glances pointedly at the bags still tucked into the back of the trunk.
Headphones scoffs, skirting around her and Shadow, who stays laying down but twists his head back to watch her. "Excuse you. First, this backpack is stuck." She points to a black bag in the very back, wedged behind a neatly wrapped up, but very large tent. "And, second, I was attacked by your beast."
"Excuses, excuses," Chloe teases, moving with her and bending to get a good luck at the backpack. "Looks like it's hooked to your tent right there." She points.
Headphones bends with her, sniffling a little. "Shit. Uh. Can… Can you, uh." Her hands flit in front of her, twisting and flapping as if she can pull the words she wants from the air. All that smirking confidence has suddenly fled and is replaced by a bumbling awkwardness.
Chloe somehow likes this version just as much as the first. That smirk and soft confidence had warmed her head to toe and this does too, though it goes deeper under her skin. Deciding to spare Headphones from having to figure out how to finish her sentence, she says, "Sure. Here, lean on the tent and I'll try to get your bag unhooked."
It only takes a few seconds once Headphones has dropped her weight on the tent. She pulls the bag out and, without pausing to ask, slips it over her own shoulder and reaches back in for the last suitcase. Headphones has to pop up on her toes just a little bit to reach the trunk lid and Chloe strangles the urge to squeal at how adorable it is. Somehow, she knows Headphones wouldn't appreciate it.
Speaking of "Headphones". "I'm Chloe." She sticks out her hand again.
Headphones' hand is even colder than before, her fingers trembling a little, but her shake is strong. "Beca."
Beca. It fits her. Sits on her just as well as the leather jacket and heavy, buckled boots. "Beca," Chloe repeats and finds it fits well on her lips too. "Welcome to Fernwood Inn."
