Chloe
When I wake up early the next morning, I find myself incapable of moving my upper body. My eyes pop open, immediately scanning my little cab, looking for something out of place. When I realize what it is, I blush. Max is pressed against me, her hands resting on my stomach lightly. I blush even more, remembering that I told Max my feelings last night.
Speaking of last night, that was some batshit-fucking-crazy shit last night. Did I really kiss Maxine fucking Caulfield, my crush since forever? My best friend? My partner in Time? I yell at my subconscious. I try to think back, to try to remember if I'd had anything to drink-or if I got high- last night. I didn't, so this isn't some high-induced delusion.
Holy fucking shit! I hella kissed my best friend! And I hella liked it!
"Chloe..." Max's voice interrupts my train of thought, and my eyes travel to the brunette, concerned I woke her up. She just mutters my name again, and nestles deeper into my chest. I blush harder, convinced Max can hear my heartbeat thundering inside my rib cage.
Hesitantly, I stroke Max's hair, afraid to wake her up. Max sighs contently, and I freeze, my fingers going still in her soft hair.
"Oh, why'd you stop? That felt nice..." Max sits up, pulling away from me. I feel so cold now that her body heat isn't keeping me warm. I blush at the internal commentary, then I realize only a moment later that my hand is still wrapped in Max's hair. I pull away, but she traps my hand between her cheek and hand.
"Chloe, I need to tell you something. But I don't want it to fuck up our friendship, okay?" Max avoids my eyes, so I use the hand that is pressed against her cheek to force her to look at me.
"Max, nothing could ever change our friendship. Do you understand?" Max nods, then inhales deeply.
"So, you told me how you felt about me last night. But I didn't tell you how I felt about you, right?" I nod, and Max nods too, before continuing, "Okay. I've liked you for a long time, Chloe, and when I moved away, I realized that you were the one I missed most, not the Two Whales, or my old house. You. And I sat in my room one day, and wrote a twelve-page letter to you. When I finished writing it, I took it to my mom and told her to send it out. 'I did,' she told me a couple days later," When Max stops to inhale, I see tears shining in her eyes. "And then I found out Mom wasn't sending out the ones I'd already wrote. And this was a couple days after I found out I got accepted to Blackwell. I figured it'd be useless to send them out then, so I kept them. I have them still, if you wanna read them. I just want you to know… I never forgot about you. Chloe, you were the only thing keeping me alive at that point."