"Drive" by Halsey
Max's dorm room was lit by the desk lamp and her floor lamp as she and Jane changed out of their street clothes and into the dresses they had each picked out separately. Facing away from one another, the mirror covered by a sheet, Max stripped down and changed into her prom dress, a pink satin strapless number that came to just above her knees with lace trim on the skirt's bottom. Following it up with matching pink gloves that came up to elbow, Max slipped on a pair of black stilettos that Victoria had been teaching her to wear for the past month and a black velvet choker with a quartz gem cut into the shape of a heart. Her hair already done and makeup applied before changing, Max nearly peeked over her shoulder but withheld her curiosity out of respect for her girlfriend. They had been together for a couple of months, but this was the first time they were this close to one another in such a state of undress. I am curious, but I'm also respectful. I don't want to do anything that will mess up what Jane and I have, though I don't think she would necessarily mind. Wowser. I'm really going to prom. With my girlfriend as my date. Double wowser.
"You dressed yet?" Max heard Jane ask, "Can I look?"
"Can I?" Max asked back, "But yeah, I'm dressed. How about we count to three?"
"Turn on three, or turn after three?"
"One…two…"
"Max, turn on three or after?" Jane asked, Max giggling a little at the nervousness of her girlfriend.
"Three!"
Max spun around with Jane following a couple seconds later after Max gasped, the former bluenette punching Max in the arm for messing with her in such a manner. Max, oblivious to the punch, drank in the visual before her. Wearing heeled ankle boots and a matching choker, an idea they'd had for weeks, Jane had swapped out denim and cotton for a silky black dress with spaghetti straps that ended in a miniskirt. Max blinked again, jaw slightly agape as she took in how beautiful Jane was. The light of the desk lamp behind Jane seemed to frame her like a halo and Max instinctively walked over to her camera bag, took out her camera, and snapped a photo of Jane smiling at her warmly as she held her arm in a manner that Max knew all too well.
"You don't need to be shy, JD," Max said as she took another photo, this time a selfie of the two of them, "You look amazing. I will clearly have the best girlfriend ever for a date."
"Yeah, but I've got the hottest," Jane said, Max yelping a little when her girlfriend squeezed her ass, "Seriously, Max. You are hella delicious looking right now. I kinda want to undress you and kiss you all over. …Can I?"
"What? No, not right now!" Max said with a laugh and a wink, "…But maybe later. For now, how about we just look each other over in quiet awe before being thrust into the prom environment?"
All the bustle and expediency of getting to the dance faded as Max looked into Jane's twinkling eyes and took hold of the hands waiting for her own to receive them. Fingers intertwining, Max and Jane's foreheads leaned against one another's as they closed their eyes and simply stood together in the middle of Max's dorm room. With most of her things packed away or gone altogether, the room had become somewhat lonesome to the brunette over the past couple of weeks; with Jane there, finally, it was as though new life had been infused into Max's remaining days at Blackwell. School part is done. Now it's just paperwork and the actual ceremony. Then, Cali-for-ni-a and my bae, Max thought as she brought her lips to Jane's and brushed across them in a slight kiss that left Jane's lips moving to catch hers. Parting her lips, Max gave her girlfriend a wet, open-mouthed kiss as she lapped her tongue against Jane's before her eyes popped open when Jane pulled away.
"JD? Something wrong?" Max asked, her sense of alarm increasing when the girl withdrew from her altogether, "Hey. Talk to me."
"Is… It's going to be like it has been since I got here," Jane said, arms crossed as she averted her narrowed eyes from Max in a flash of anger that quickly turned to pain as her lower lip came out a bit, "Max, I don't want to be a reminder of someone else."
"You're not," Max said, and it was true to her. She knew it wasn't the case for a number of people, that it wouldn't be the case for likely a number of her classmates, but they all just had to fucking deal with it, "If anyone gives you grief, you have my permission to kick their ass. Better yet, lemme at 'em!"
"Don't joke, Max. It isn't funny."
"I'm not joking, not really. I, uh, I know that some people are going to look at you and see…see Chloe…but I just want you to know that I look at you and see only you. Okay?" Max asked, crossing the distance between them to stroke her thumb in a circular motion on Jane's forearm as she gently took hold of it while looking into the violet-haired girl's eyes, "JD, you are you."
"That's funny, considering I'm still a fucking amnesiac," Jane said, pulling away again only to sit down on Max's bed, "I… Max, what would happen if I suddenly remembered who I was? Would all this be for nothing?"
"…Do you want us to be nothing?" Max asked, the tremor in her voice getting Jane's attention as the smaller girl's eyes began to water, "JD, I need you. You're… You are the only reason I feel like I have a chance in my life, a real fucking chance. I was lonely and in pain and you were there like it was meant to be. I can't let that go. I won't. Even if you wake up one morning and remember everything I will be by your side no matter what-!"
"Max, whoa! Dude, I'm not saying that I want us to be nothing!" Jane said, gripping Max's shoulders tightly as she eyed the anxious girl, "Chill, okay? I've just… I've had a lot to think about these past couple of months. Waking up on that beach, meeting you, getting some semblance of a life going. I don't want it to stop, but… I'm scared, okay? Being a ringer for your dead best bud doesn't exactly make me feel any better, either."
"Jane…"
"I'm… I'm sorry," Jane said, wiping a forming tear from her eye as she sighed, "Like I said – I've had a lot to think about."
"JD, don't apologize," Max replied as she cupped her girlfriend's face and tilted it down so that their foreheads were leaning against one another's, "We don't have to go to the dance if you don't feel up to it. We can just get into our jammies and chill here in my room. Order a pizza, get some sodas from the vending machine down the hall, and watch some videos I copied off of a friend's flash drive."
"'Jammies'? What are you, twelve?" Jane asked with a chuckle, missing the flutter of Max's eyes as her own were shut. Opening them up, she peered into Max's eyes through her own eyelashes and kissed the shorter girl on the nose, "Nah. We're both hella spiffy, and we even got matching hair color. It'd be dumb if we didn't go. Just… Don't leave me."
"Leave you…?"
"Stay by my side, babe? So that I don't have to face the staring alone?"
Taking her girlfriend's hand, Max smiled as she gave Jane an Eskimo kiss.
"Never."
The gymnasium located next to the Blackwell swimming pool was loud from dance music and the chatter of students when Max and Jane walked in. Dimly illuminated with tinted lighting scattered throughout the large space, neither girl attracted any unwanted attention upon entry and they carefully weaved through the scattered groups of people until they made their way to the bar area. While the Vortex Club had been disbanded after the events of last October, the dance's style and motif was still in line with the parties the club had once held. At least there's no curtain separating the students with some crappy VIP section, Max thought with a hint of relief and nostalgic awkwardness. Taking a Red Bull with cranberry juice for herself, Max handed Jane a Cherry Pepsi and tried to encourage her nervous girlfriend with a smile.
"C'mon, it's not that bad," Max said, elbowing the other girl gently in the side that got a sidelong glance aimed at her in return, "Wowser, JD. Death-stare, much?"
"…I just think that every time someone is looking at me they're staring, s'all. Sorry for being a crabby ass," Jane replied, taking Max's hand as she sipped at her soda before spying Max's own beverage, "What, I get the kiddie drink and you get the fancy-pants cocktail?"
"Dude, it's non-alcoholic."
"Dude, I know. It doesn't mean I can't grumble because you get a mixed beverage and I get a soft drink."
"Oh my God, JD, you're such a whiner," Max teased before turning and grabbing another Red Bull and cranberry juice, "Here. For the girl who is evidently too good for a Pepsi."
"Pfft, whatevs," Jane said, rolling her eyes before averting them so Max wouldn't see the pleased twinkle as she sipped at her mixed drink, "So, are we going to dance or just down energy drinks all night? Your room is sounding more and more appealing…"
"Well…, I was thinking we could maybe find my friends. Formal introductions and whatnot," Max said airily with a smirk on her face, "Formal introductions at a formal dance. Get it?"
"There should be laws against forbidding you from using puns. Like you would have to show people a permit or something."
The dim lighting made actually finding any of her friends harder than she thought it would be as Max took Jane's hand and began to wind herself around the scattered clusters of various students throughout the gym. In truth, Max only partly wished to be at the prom; she wanted something entirely normal that befitted a high school girl. Nothing about my school year has really been all that strenuous, but that week in October has stretched itself out to even now. This is the first social event on campus since, well, I guess that party on Thursday didn't happen because I changed the timeline by going back to October 7th. The Vortex Club party where Kate was drugged… That was the last party to be held on school grounds. Wowser. Looking over her shoulder at Jane, a nervous smile playing across her lips, she took in the darting eyes of her girlfriend and realized just how anxious JD actually was. She had known that Jane was rightfully concerned about traveling up to Arcadia Bay, but Max had convinced the other girl that it would be good for them to see each other in the flesh and that the opportunity to take her girlfriend to the prom was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Now that they actually were at the prom, however, Max did not feel too happy. She felt somewhat miserable at seeing how pained Jane's face was becoming. Stopping in mid-step, Max spun around on the borrowed stilettos and looked at Jane. With the added height of the heels, Max was nearly even with her girlfriend in terms of height.
"Do you want to go back to my room?" Max asked, taking both of Jane's slightly clammy hands as she looked up to see Jane's lip quivering, "JD, talk to me."
"I-I don't like this," Jane said, her eyes continuing to dart around until Max placed her hands on Jane's cheeks to get the other girl to focus on her, "Max…Max, I'm sorry. This is just-"
"It's too much. I know. Don't apologize, though, because it's my fault," Max said, a reassuring hand on Jane's shoulder as she leaned in to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek, "We'll go back, change into comfy clothes, order pizza, and chill. How's that sound?"
Jane's mouth opened to answer only to have her response drowned out by the uproar of Blackwell students cheering as the lights dimmed even further before "The Only Exception" by Paramore began to play. Max watched couples head to the center of the gymnasium to dance and grimaced at the teenage romance on display when she felt a hesitant tugging of her body toward the dancing area. Her eyes gazing on her arm as she was pulled further and further into the space with the song playing melodiously, Max's eyes followed up her arm to the blue-nailed hand that trailed along an arm of it's own before ending at a shoulder that was fringed with violet hair as Jane looked at her. The hesitation and anxiety seeming to be held in check for the moment, Jane's soft smile and gentle touch as she draped her arms over freckled shoulders brought a matching smile to Max's face. Hands on Jane's hips as the swayed and side-stepped to the music, Max leaned her head against her girlfriend's chest and smiled against pale skin.
"You didn't have to do this," Max half-argued, the petulance in her voice more for Jane's benefit than her own, "I'm totally cool with us going back to my room and chilling."
"Well…," Jane said in a low, husky voice to keep the conversation between the two of them, "Suppose I want at least this one dance with my babe on her prom night? I mean, I'm not exactly thrilled about the odd looks I've been getting since I got to this town. Right now, though? Hella couldn't care less. Got you in my arms to some chill music and we're dancing in spiffy threads. Epic win, all the way."
"I…I love you, Jane. You know that, right?" Max said as she pulled her head back to look Jane in the eye with a tender, loving gaze, "I'm pretty sure that I can't imagine my world without you in it."
"…Wow," Jane replied, eyebrows raised as a giddy smile trickled it's way across her face, "Um, I hella love you, too. Max, you…are…the only exception~"
"…Did you just serenade me here on the dance floor? Or, rather, try to?"
"I'm no Hayley Williams but I thought I'd give it a shot."
"It was sweet. Very mushy…and sappy…but definitely cute and sweet."
"Ugh. I was trying to be cool."
"D'awwww."
"Can it, Caulfield."
"D'awwwwwwwwww."
"…Jerk."
"Max? Maxine Caulfield, don't you dare try and take off before introducing us to your girlfriend," Victoria Chase's voice called out from behind Max and she winced at the use of her full name as she turned to see Victoria, Taylor, Kate, Dana, and Juliet all looking at her with an air of suspicion as Jane instinctively lowered her head so that her violet hair obscured her face, "Max? Why is your girlfriend hiding? We don't bite. Well, not too much."
"First, Max. Never Maxine, Tori," Max said as she defensively stood between her friends and her girlfriend, "Jane, well, Jane's…shy… Coming to the dance took a lot out of her and we were only doing this one dance."
"So, you're not hitting the afterparty up on the lighthouse?" Dana asked with a tinge of disappointment in her voice as Max bit her lip, "Maxie, c'mon. The dance is one thing, but bonfire and teenage debauchery is another!"
"Debauchery…?" Kate asked, eyebrows knit together as she winced at whatever mental image ran through her head.
"I'm taking Jane back to my room and we're just going to call it a night," Max said, her hand tightening its grip on Jane's as the taller girl did the same, her blue nails digging into Max's skin enough to alarm Max from the pressure, "Look, I'm sure that whatever you all have cooked up is amazeballs and everything but I for cereal need to get Jane out of her. Panic attacks are no joke-"
"A…A bonfire could be hella cool," Jane said and Max glared at her friends when their eyes lit up in mute disbelief as the spitting image of Chloe Price looked up at them from under violet-dyed hair, "Uh, hey. I'm Jane. Please…Please don't stare at me like that. I've gotten enough of that since I got to this town."
"Shit!" Victoria and Dana said in unison as Kate averted her eyes in embarrassment while Juliet looked down at her hands.
"Sorry," Dana said, taking the lead as she walked over to take Jane's other hand, "I'm Dana, Maxie's bestie."
"Hey!" Victoria and Kate cried out in unison, Juliet smirking at the objection and subsequent stare-down between the two blonde girls.
"This is your idea of a bonfire?" Max asked Victoria as the blonde pixie-haired girl scowled as a response to Max's smart-ass inquiry, "JD and I could do a better job with her barbecue down in Big Sur."
Dodging a half-feigned swatting hand, Max snorted when she laughed as Victoria simply looked at her with an expression of mild irritation and resignation before walking off. The "bonfire" turned out to be a slightly larger-than-normal campfire with a couple coolers full of various alcoholic beverages. The crowd was also much smaller than expected, namely it consisting of Max, Jane, Victoria, Taylor, Dana, Kate, and Juliet. I should've known that it would be like this. Just us up here, Max thought as she sipped at her wine cooler while taking in her surroundings. She didn't visit the lighthouse much, not after Chloe's funeral. It felt like a betrayal to Max, at first; being there after her prom with Jane, however, felt more like an awakening. She felt like she had just taken a step forward rather than simply hang around in some in-between haze of mourning and moving on. Especially having made the trek with Jane earlier in the day. Watching Jane talk to Kate, Max walked over and bumped her hip against Dana's to get her friend's attention, returning the taller girl's amused smile with a toothy grin of her own. Kate had opened up to Max after Chloe's funeral, but having to deal with what Mark Jefferson and Nathan Prescott had done to her left Max not wanting to overindulge on Kate's selflessness. What had initially been just a friendly visit with Dana became a strong bond that resulted in them become best friends. Juliet hadn't even been fazed, thank Dog. Don't think I could've handled any kind of friendship drama.
"What up, Maxie?" Dana asked, a cheery smile on her face as she took a jello shot offered to her by Victoria, "Ooh, look at you with your wine cooler. Such a grown-up."
"Oh, whatever," Max rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless at Dana's baiting tease, "Not all of us feel like getting hammered just because it's prom night. Or any other night. How does Kate feel about your indulging the shots?"
"Kate's chilling over there with her wine and your bae so it's not like I'm going to have to take a penance or whatevs," Dana said with a groan, "Don't be so damn sour, Max! We're graduating! Leaving this place and all it's drama behind! Be happy!"
"I am happy, jerk," Max retorted, lips pursed with an eyebrow cocked, "I just don't necessarily need to express it as though I'm running around because I'm on fire."
"Oh, don't look now but our mutual girly friends approach," Dana said before she took another shot and pulled Kate in for a kiss that startled the blonde, "Hi, you!"
"H-Hi, D-Dana," Kate stammered, face a deep shade of red as Jane walked up and let Max come up behind her to wrap her arms around the taller girl's waist, "D-Don't!"
"Don't what?" Max asked, brows knit in confusion as she felt Jane chuckle, "Jane…?"
"Don't look at me, babe," Jane said with a smirk as she looked over her shoulder to whisper to Max, "Kate doesn't like PDAs so Dana teases her with them when Kate doesn't see them coming."
"You going to drink anything?" Max asked, tossing her empty wine cooler in the trash, "I-I think…yep, there they are!"
Producing two cans of Cherry Pepsi, Max took Jane by her free hand and led her to the sole bench that faced out toward the ocean. Sitting down, Max snickered when Jane folded her legs underneath her and snuggled up close. Popping open both cans, Max sipped at her soda while Jane simply held hers. This was what Max had wanted with Jane – time alone. They had had it intermittently ever since Jane had come to Arcadia Bay, so even in spite of their company behind them both girls felt like they had the hilltop to themselves as they sat together on the bench and watched the moonlight and starlight play on the water's surface. Nudging Jane with her chin, Max smiled when she saw the other girl smirk and ran a hand through Jane's violet hair, her own returned to its original brunette state.
"Gonna keep the violet?" Max asked, running her fingers gently through Jane's hair to the sound of Jane purring as she smiled contentedly at the affection being given to her.
"Thinkin' 'bout it, babe," Jane said in a distant voice, the mild euphoria on her face an indicator of how much she was loving Max's fingers running through her hair. Shifting around, Jane laid her head in Max's lap and leaned over to kiss the part of Max's tank-top that covered up her belly button, "Pet me more."
"You're…You're adorable," Max said with a grin as she brought her second set of fingers to the task and began to vigorously massage her girlfriend's scalp, "This good? How about some of this?"
Fingers still in JD's hair, Max began to massage the other girl's temples and the world seemed to come out of focus around them as both girls only saw each other in this moment of shared comfort. Everything that Max felt was presently bent toward the violet-haired, contented girl lying in her lap. Love, kindness, a sense of heartwarming – Jane both provided Max these feelings and caused Max to generate them. It left Max feeling as though she had come home after months of being away. A welcome contrast to the near-daily reminders that her best friend was gone and the school she was in served as a reminder of terrible things that had gone on. She tried not to dwell on the darker times before she had met Jane, the crying herself to sleep at Chloe's grave or how the halls of Blackwell seemed to echo to Max with memories of things that had never come to be. No midnight swims or "just entering", Max thought as she ruffled her girlfriend's hair. The girl who looked so much like Chloe. The violet shade of dye was a start, Max knew, in Jane distancing herself from the deceased girl she resembled. Max wondered on top of that just how far Jane would go to distance herself from Chloe's memory.
"JD?"
"Mmm?" Jane's eyes were shut and the lip-biting expression of bliss on her face seemed to sour for a moment as she opened her eyes to gaze up at the apprehensive tone in Max's voice, "Babe?"
"A-Am… Is this, this stuff here at Arcadia Bay… Is it too much?" Max asked, "For real. Not just the place and some of the people here, but all of it – am I making things worse?"
"Wha-? Where's this coming from?" Jane asked, concern lining her face as she thinned her lips in a slight grimace while sitting up, "Max, why would you even think something like that?"
"…I brought you here, asked you to come. I knew that it'd…it'd be rough. Knew that people would fucking jump on us when they saw you," Max said, eyes misting as she sniffles, refusing to meet Jane's gaze, "Sure, some things have been nice. You being here, just seeing you through something that isn't a computer screen or hearing your voice through a phone call. And my friends have warmed up to you…"
"Kinda," Jane added, "I think there's still a little wigged out. I am the hella walking dead-"
"Don't even joke about that!" Max cried out, the shrillness of her voice surprising the both of them as they glanced over their shoulders to see that the partygoers were starting to leave as if on cue. Quietly clearing her throat, Max sniffles again, "I-I can't…I don't even want to think about losing you."
Jane slipped her hand into Max's and wove their fingers together, Max squeezing the hand that had reached out to her own. She looked into Jane's clear eyes with her own murky ones and leaned her forehead against the taller girl's shoulder as she began to cry. It wasn't fair; being with Jane on her prom night should be nothing but blissful happiness. Max envisioned some imaginary LGBT teen romance movie where the girls end their prom night with candlelight and kisses that fade to black. Instead, their happiness was fractured into small moments that almost had a secretiveness about them that neither of them could share. It's like this whole damn town won't let me forget. I'm not forgetting Chloe. I'm not. But I can't mourn forever and I just want something good again. Is spring break and a handful of fond memories over the past couple days all I'm allowed? Bullshit.
"Max, what are we doing?" Jane asked as they crept into the dorm building, Max trying to hush her girlfriend with a finger to her lips, "Eugh, your fingers taste like chemicals and weak-ass appletinis. What are we doing? I thought you said that the curfew tonight was later – why are we going into stealth mode?"
Max took Jane's hand and lead her up the stairs quietly, flashing her girlfriend a plaintive look that told Jane to just play along with whatever she had in mind. Hearing a frustrated sign and grunt of resignation, the brunette led her violet-haired companion cautiously up the stairs and to the door leading to her floor. Cracking it open just enough to get a good view of the empty hallway, Max sighed in relief. No one from the party had come back, her and Jane's back-and-forth not leading up to an impromptu intervention or whatever her friends might cook up. Swinging the door open wide, Max held onto Jane's hand the entire time as she quickly made for her room.
"We're leaving," Max said once she had closed the door behind them, locking it before leaning against it with her chest heaving in deep breaths. Pulling out a joint, Max lit up and looked at the expression on Jane's face, "I have a prescription. Anxiety. You know this, after eating my bag of gummies. Feeling pretty damn anxious now."
"Well, don't expect me to smoke a bowl or whatevs with you," Jane said, shuddering, "Still remember how my latest fruit-flavored trip went. Hella no."
"Wait. We're leaving? What the fuck are you talking about, Max? You're bailing on school? So close to your goddamn graduation? Have you lost your mind?"
"Keep your voice down!" Max said in a half-whisper as she pulled out her suitcase and a duffel bag and tried to open her dresser drawers only to have them kept shut by Jane's hand clamping over each drawer she tried to empty, "Quit it!"
"Stop me, hippie!"
"Jane, this isn't funny."
"Neither's what you have in mind, dude."
Staring down Jane for a moment, Max slumped her shoulders and flopped onto her bed with Jane lying down next to her, the concern on her face easily visible in the dim lighting emanating from her desk lamp across the small room. Touching that face, feeling the kindness in a way that was both tactile and emotional, Max pressed her forehead against Jane's and sighed. She wanted to make Jane understand, to help her realize just how tough that it was for Max to still be in Arcadia Bay.
"My… My friends mean a lot to me," Max started, curing a violet strand of Jane's hair around her finger as the laid face-to-face with only inches between them, "After…everything happened, we all kinda just dropped the high school drama bullshit and found that we were just lonely in our own individual ways. They mean a lot to me, but not enough to stick around."
"I thought I could get past all of it, that week in October and…Chloe being gone," Max said with a bitter scoff that had Jane arching an eyebrow, "I watched my best friend die after saying goodbye to her without her even knowing that had ever happened."
"The time travel thing, right? You… God, I can't even imagine," Jane said, lips bending into a frown, "I hella don't want to even try. Am I a bad girlfriend for that?"
"You're a smart girlfriend."
"Damn straight."
"So I watch her die and then it's suddenly five days later and I'm at the lighthouse where you and I had just been not even half an hour ago. Where I had reconciled with her. Where I had said goodbye to her, before she died. I'm thrown into a world where Chloe had to die, and I was expected to just deal with it. Life moved on and I tried. People don't know this, but I've actually packed my bags to just up and leave on multiple occasions."
"Max Caulfield, teen runaway," Jane half-teased, wiping the tears from Max's eyes before she gently kissed the damp spots.
"School's done. I'm halfway gone from this place already," Max continued, "My parents have most of my stuff already back in Seattle. Movies, books, stuff like that. Clothes and my laptop are all I need. The rest we can pick up along the way."
"Max…"
"Don't, okay? Just…Just back me up on this. This place, the town and…just all of it… It's a mausoleum to a future I don't get to have, to a friend who's dead but will never leave. To memories I sometimes wish I could just claw out of my head. Let me take you back to Big Sur. I don't even need to stick around for commencement – I already said I wouldn't be there for the ceremony. Diploma's getting mailed to your address."
"My address? Quite the gambit, Caulfield. Well played," Jane said before climbing out of the bed to begin to undress.
"Jane?"
"…If this is your last night in this town, I want it to end on a high note. The only tears I want to see are happy ones, if any."
Pushing Max down onto the bed so that she would stay in place, Jane straddled the smaller girl and leaned down to kiss her as Max unclasped Jane's bra. Shrugging it off, Jane arched her back a little and Max took in the sight before her. They had never done anything like this, not even with Skype; Max had always worried about someone on campus hacking into her computer through the network for a free show. Jane's lean, tight body revealed the beginnings of a six-pack that Max had no doubt came from all the surfing and running that Jane had been doing ever since she'd been down at Big Sur. Her arms were long with subtle definition that held Max's arms in place; Max just looked up in wonder at her girlfriend. She's so beautiful. Like a statue, carved with precise hands. Wowser, I want to feel my hands on those abs, slide them up to her…wait, are those…?
"Nipple piercings? You got your nipples pierced?" Max asked, her eyes wide in momentary shock with a grin stretched across her face that left a previously-lustful Jane suddenly awkward and bashful as she let go of Max's wrists to cover up her chest.
"Did ya have to say it like that, babe?" Jane asked, her line of sight averted so that she couldn't see Max's face, "You make it sound like I was turned into a cyborg or something. I…I thought it looked hella badass in this magazine I read so I thought I'd give it a try…"
"Hey," Max said, sitting up with Jane still on her lap, "Hey."
Max hooked her index finger and thumb onto Jane's chin and slowly turned her girlfriend's face back towards her, the brief resistance the violet-haired girl put up melting when she caught sight of the smile on Max's face.
"It was just a shock, that's all. I think it looks super-sexy," Max said, snickering a little at Jane's eye-rolling and accompanying groan, "No, for cereal. You're, um, hot. Like, beautiful and amazing and I kinda want to just nibble away at you."
"W-What's stopping you then, hippie?" Jane asked, biting her lip before crying out in surprise when Max leaned up to kiss the hollow between Jane's breasts.
The feeling of teeth carefully raking across skin sent a shiver through both girls and they were quickly in nothing but their underwear. Max moaned for a second when she felt Jane's panty-clad sex brush up against hers and their mutual wetness had Max sliding her hands around Jane's waist and up her back as she pulled the taller girl down and began to flick the tip of her tongue across the pierced nipples. Feeling Jane arch her back so that her chest was pushed a little closer to Max's face, Max reciprocated the move by gently sucking on one nipple why using a free hand to play with the other. The effect was immediate, Jane eliciting a long, breathy moan as Max pulled her down with the one hand still clamped onto her back until their bodies were pressed against one another.
"M-Max…," Jane panted before giggling a little when Max locked her legs around Jane's waist.
Max swirled her tongue around the one nipple and nibbled at it before switching, not wanting to focus her attention on one single spot of her girlfriend's body. Lapping at the other nipple, Max ran her fingertips down Jane's abs and purred at the feel of how toned her girlfriend was. With Jane propping herself up, Max's other hand was free as well and she used it to tease Jane by running a finger around the waistband of her girlfriend's panties. I can practically feel the heat coming off of you, Jane, holy fuck. Your entire body is like a goddamn hot piece of coal, or a furnace, Max thought as she paused in her movements to look up into Jane half-lidded eyes. Realizing that Max had stopped, those same eyes snapped open and blue met blue as their gazes connected.
"Can I…? I mean, if you want to go further-," Max half-stammered out only to feel Jane's body lean into her further, "…That a yes?"
"Fuck yeah, it is," Jane said with a Cheshire grin before their lips connected when they met each other halfway for a kiss.
Jane's tongue swirled in sync with Max's as they moved simultaneously so they were lying on their sides. Only pausing for breath, the kissing continued with moans of ecstasy and delight as their lips almost seemed to meld into one another. Max felt a hand press against her own abdomen but she didn't open her eyes; taking off her panties with a series of quick movements, Max reached over and untied Jane's bikini-style underwear so that their bare sexes were exposed to the cool air in the room. Feeling the heat coming off of each other, each girl instinctively scooted closer as they both slid a hand down to play with the other girl's slit.
"Jane…"
"Yeah?"
"…Fuck me…"
"That is the plan, man."
Snorting at Jane's rhyme, the chortle took a swift turn as it became a cry of surprise and pleasure when a single finger slipped itself into Max as she rubbed her fingers along the outside of Jane's sex to play with her girlfriend's "lips". Feeling that single finger wiggle around inside of her sent what felt like a hot jolt of energy through Max and grabbed Jane by clamping onto the nape of her neck and pressing their bodies against one another's as she began to grind her hips in sync with Jane's hand movements. With the finger wiggle turning into two fingers pumping inside of her, Max slipped her middle finger into Jane and began to pump herself as she used her thumb to play with the other girl's clit. Both girls broke the kiss as they began to pant from the welling surges running through them before Max abruptly pulled her finger out. Jane barely had any time to react before Max sat up and brought one of Jane's legs over her shoulder as she began to scissor the violet-haired girl, rubbing herself directly against Jane to her confused girlfriend's sudden and complete delight.
"M-Max…I think I'm…"
"Hold…Hold on, we can… We can come together…!"
"Max, I can't hold on! What the… Ugh, oh fuck don't stop!"
"I'm not, you egg! I'm trying to catch up w-with…holy…holy amazeballs…!"
"Max! Oh, holy shit! MAX!"
"Jane! Jesus fuck, Jane!"
When Max woke up it was still dark out, and her eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness of her room. Scratching at an itch on her arm, Max nearly jumped in her disorientation when an arm wound its way around her waist before her senses came to her fully. Jane. She's here, with me. We… Oh. Oh, wow. I-I don't know what came over me. Holy shit! Turning as slowly as she could so as to not wake up her girlfriend, Max grimaced before flashing an exasperated smirk at her amused surfer punk. Smiling at her knowingly, naked save for her underwear, Jane pulled the two-person sleeping bag up to their chins with her free hand as she pulled Max in for a kiss. Even though she was only a silhouette at the moment, Max still thought that Jane was beautiful in that moment. You don't need eyes to see how amazing someone can be. Jane Doe, you make me happy that I went to Spring Break by myself. That, and so much more. Max would wonder, from time to time, just how different the past couple months might have been if she had opted to not go down to Cali for her spring vacation. Most times, it still ended up with Max leaving before school was officially over; the despair that plagued her from time to time, the intense emotional pull that Arcadia Bay had over her, was the real source of her anxiety and why she had needed to get her parents to renew her old MMJ card and prescription.
"Whatcha think' bout, sista?" Jane whispered softly into Max's ear as she leaned her forehead against the brunette's, the scent of lilac from the shampoo they had shared in their post-sex shower still in her hair, "Thinking good things?"
"Thinking a lot of 'what if' and 'maybe', actually," Max said, her lips thinned in a grim line that caused Jane's bottom lip to stick out a little, "But nothing with the words 'regret' and 'Jane'. I could never regret you, not ever."
"D'awww, you wuuuuuuv me…"
"Oh, stop."
"You want to kiss me."
"Cliché teasing is cliché."
"Nerd."
"Hobo."
"Oh! Jerk!"
"Bum!"
"I don't think I like this game," Jane said with a chuckle before she kissed Max on the nose, "My widdle hippie really wants to move into my shack, eh? It's a room, Max, with barely a bathroom. I mean, the shower's outside for fuck's sake."
"So? It'll be us, together. Besides, it isn't like that is going to be where either of us spend the rest of our lives, dingus."
Max uncoupled Jane's arm from her waist, ignoring the feigned whimpering and puppy eyes as she sat up to get her phone off the nightstand. Flicking her finger across the screen to turn it on, she checked the time. It was not quite four in the morning – early enough that they could have a head start but not say goodbye, late enough that no one would be awake to stop them. I should at least see if anyone is up, Max thought with a resolute sigh as she climbed out of bed and put on an oversized shirt and boyshorts. Her bra hung over the desk chair, she simply didn't care enough to put it on. Not like I'm packin' anything that would require significant cuppage…
"I'm going to see if anyone's up, say my goodbyes. You want to get your stuff-"
"Dude, I packed before I joined you in bed. You nodded off hella fast, and I was still buzzing from sexy time with my bae," Jane said with a dorky grin as she jerked her chin in the direction of her packed luggage sitting next to Max's, one pair of clean clothes laid out for each of them, "I got us both all set up to roll on out of here if you're dead-set on it."
"I'm totally dead-set," Max said as she pulled her bedhead into a ponytail, "Hasta la vista, Arcadia Bay."
"Come with me if you hella want to live," Jane replied, meeting Max's Terminator paraphrased quote with one of her own, "I'll get dressed and tidy shiz up. Sleeping in a two-person sleeping bag has its perks, not gonna lie."
Max snickered and quietly opened the door, laughing outright when she turned around to see Jane flashing her bare ass from within the sleeping bag. Closing the door to the sound of her girlfriend giggling, Max tip-toed across the hall to see if Victoria was awake. To her surprise, and a little bit of relief, she heard footsteps in response to her slight tapping at the door. Stepping back as the knob turned, Max smiled apologetically at a bleary-eyed, disheveled Victoria Chase. Letting Victoria give her a once-over as she was looked at from top to bottom, Max waited until her friend cocked an eyebrow and swung her door open the rest of the way to let Max in.
Taking a seat on the couch, Max watched Victoria look out into the hallway for a moon before closing and locking the door behind her. When Victoria looked down at her from in front of the door before she walked over and sat in her bed, Max waited until the sleepy girl patted a spot on the bed to go and join her. They sat there in a sleep-addled silence that was mostly contributed by Victoria's head bobbing as she fought to stay awake. This is wrong. She's half-asleep and I'm about to drop a bomb on her that will make it impossible for her to-
"…You're leaving, aren't you?" Victoria mumbled as she began to wake up in earnest, seeing the conflicted look on her friend's face, "C'mon, Max. You know you can't hide that kind of shit from me. Especially me."
"Yeah. Y-Yeah, I'm leaving. I'm loading up my truck with what I need from my room and taking Jane back to Big Sur. I'm not coming back," Max said, only just managing to get the words out before she nearly choked on her own breath, "You saw this coming, huh? I'm that predictable?"
"You… Nothing's been the same since October, but you especially changed. It's like you went from shy to forthright in an instant. Even when… Even when Chloe was shot by Nathan, you were still quiet. It was after the funeral that I first thought you might bail shortly thereafter," Victoria said, putting an arm around her friend as Max did the same, "Y'know, as shitty as it sounds, I'm glad that at least we became friends out of all that misery."
"The misery is still here, Tori," Max said, lying her head on Victoria's shoulder, "At least for me. Kate… She had that done to her and she's bounced back better than I have."
"I know, right? Smoking pot, drinking booze occasionally – it's like you're a teenager," Victoria teased, winking when Max's head turned with a suddenness.
"Oh ha ha, Victoria. You're so funny. Sooooo funny."
"I am something of a delight," Victoria said approvingly, nodding, "I'm also right. Max, you're eighteen and you were a first-hand witness to the type of shit that is usually reserved for movies and TV shows. You were in the bathroom when your childhood best friend died. Fuck, we all thought you were going to leave after that Saturday following the funeral. You were screaming and tearing your room apart for what felt like the entire day. It took David Madsen coming to visit to calm you down and even then you nearly kicked him in the balls."
"…I-I wasn't in my right mind, at the time," Max said, remembering the horror of seeing Chloe, kissing Chloe, watching Chloe die, and burying Chloe all happen in what registered to Max as only a few moments, "If I leave it here, all the horror, I have a chance. I just… I can't stay here any longer. Any paperwork the school needs me to do this final week, they can email to me."
"And what about everybody else?" Victoria asked, eyebrow arched as her lips shaped into something that was part scowl, part saddened frown, "Do not tell me you're dumping your single Bon voyage on me, Caulfield. Don't you fucking dare."
"I'm not!" Max said, throwing her hands up defensively, "At least, if anybody else answers their door I'll talk to them. If not, well, I'm not out to drag people out of bed. Which reminds me – it's 4am, Tori. What the fuck are you doing awake?"
"Bitch, I never went to sleep," Victoria joked, pointing over at the anime paused on her TV, "Can't believe you got me into Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. I still like Advent Children more. At least it has actual Final Fantasy VII characters in it…"
"Spirits Within is a great sci-fi movie, so don't knock it. Besides, you'd still be some closet nerd if it weren't for me. Hiding your anime figures in shame, not realizing or knowing that Taylor likes the same anime you do."
"Oh, so it was all some grand plan, eh?"
"My single run at matchmaking," Max said, puffing out her chest to the laughter of Victoria, "So."
"So. You're really bailing, huh?" Victoria asked, a sad smile on her face as she pulled Max in for a hug, "I nod off after you head out into the hall, I'll wake up to find you already in Cali. Maybe I'll see you there. Sweet-T is begging me to apply to UCLA with her."
"You should apply with her. Don't break up something that clearly means a lot to the both of you," Max said as she squeezed Victoria in the hug before sliding off the bed to head for the door, "Also, JD is going to teach me how to surf so the next time you see me I might be a little more toned up."
"L-O-L, a hot Max Caulfield. We'll see."
"Tori?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"For what, Max?"
"For treating JD like a person and not a reminder. The prom, well, it was hard for her. You made it a lot easier."
"Max, she's your girlfriend. And she is so not Chloe. I went to school with Chloe. The girl in your room? Definitely not her, appearances not meaning everything and all that."
"Later, Tori."
"Later, Max."
Two Whales was quite for the point in time just prior to the breakfast rush. The odd customer or more, a trucker or someone else traveling on business, usually were left to their own devices when it came to having the run of the dining area. This morning, however, two girls sat in a booth near the corner alongside the jukebox and whispered conspiratorially amongst themselves. It was six in the morning, the Sun was only just beginning to soften the dark sky with a golden hue, and Max Caulfield was looking outside the window of the old diner for what she thought could be the last time. Sighing, she turned her wan gaze from the window to try and present a brighter disposition in front of her girlfriend.
"Don't bullshit a bullshiter, babe," Jane said, sipping at her coffee, "What's up?"
"Thinkin'."
"Yeah, I got that. Thinkin' about what?"
Max responded with a sigh and smiled apologetically when she saw Jane roll her eyes as she leaned back in her bench seat and sipped at the lukewarm coffee. They had been at the diner for the better part of an hour, their breakfasts of waffle and omelette already washed down with a pot of coffee shared between the two of them. Big Sur, while not an excruciatingly long drive, was still taxing and Max was going to need to be extra awake for heading down the coast at an hour she was more accustomed to sleeping through. The drive, while on her mind, did not circumference it; her thoughts were on the car that was approaching from a familiar turn along the street and its occupants. This would not be like the school, a single farewell to a weary Victoria while everyone else still slept. The stealthy movement of luggage and bags down the sparsely illuminated hall and into the stairway, and then returning to her door to slide the room key under so that it was in what had only just been her room; Max had only come up with her idea for Two Whales as Jane had been pumping gas into Jezebel, and now that it was about to come to fruition she was a little timid at the notion of what was about to happen.
"…I'm thinking that this is going to blow up in my face," Max confessed, watching the muscle car pull into the parking lot. Jane, seeing Max's eyes shift their gaze to follow something, turned in her seat and jerked her head back to look at Max after spotting the familiar vehicle, "Please don't be mad. I… I just have to make things right with them, and they need to get used to the idea of you and me."
"Babe, I'm not pissed," Jane said, an encouraging smile on her face, "I'm more surprised than anything. Thought you wanted to leave Arcadia Bay quietly, without stirring anything up?"
"Changed my mind."
"I can see that," Jane said, craning her head back to see as David dropped off Joyce at the door to the diner, "I can see both of 'that'. Aaaannnd, they just saw me. Lovely. Fan-fucking-tastic."
Max lowered her head onto the booth's table, her forehead against it's smooth surface as she heard the clacking sound of Joyce's heels and David's boots like they were the footsteps of doom. I will take this bullshit, though I do not know the way, Max thought as imagined herself as Frodo with the conversation about to ensue being her own private little Mount Doom. That means JD is Sam. Max couldn't help but snort at that thought as she felt Jane slide up next to her and knew without looking that the Price-Madsens were now sitting in the bench opposite herself and JD. Lifting her head, Max flashed a pallid-looking Joyce and a tired David a weary smile of her own before sitting up straight. It wasn't until she felt Jane hand reassuringly on her leg that Max cleared her throat to speak, though part of her was still contemplating vaulting over the table and making a run for it with Jane.
"Uh, hey Joyce. David," Max said, rolling her eyes at her own verbal inadequacy, "So look, um, you don't have to worry about me or Jane because I'm leaving Arcadia Bay. I've…We've been waiting here at the diner because I wanted to say goodbye."
"Max, honey-" Joyce started to say only to stop mid-sentence when Max cut her off.
"David told me you were sobbing for hours, Joyce. Hours. There's no way that I'm going to be okay with that, being part of the reason you feel so miserable, but at the same time I should get to be with who I want to be with wherever I am," Max continued on, raising a hand when David looked like he was going to say something, "Cornering me at the parking lot, hiding in the kitchen – I get that I should have told you two more about Jane, but I honestly just hoped you could look past the obvious and see how happy I am."
"The obvious?" Jane asked, eyebrow cocked.
"That you could pass for Chloe if you really wanted. I don't want you to, but I'm just saying you could," Max said, taking the hand on her leg and squeezing it, "I prefer my girlfriend 100% pure JD, though."
"Damn straight."
"Can I say something now?" Joyce asked, the slight irritation in her voice subduing Max's need to direct the conversation as she mutely nodded under the gaze of her deceased best friend's mother, "Look, Max, I won't lie to you. Part of this whole situation is…unsettling. That isn't anything on you…Jane, not personally."
"Gee, thanks," Jane muttered, eyeballing David when he glared at her warningly, both of their eyes narrowed.
"Y'all are getting' upset when there's just nothin' doin' to this," Joyce said in frustration, swatting her husband on the shoulder, "David, Chloe…is gone, and Max has been more happy these past couple of months than her entire time back in Arcadia Bay that we've seen her. Look at what we're doing – we're driving away another girl that I think of as a daughter."
"Hold on, Joyce," David said, taking his wife's hand as he looked Max square in the eye, "You can't tell me that you couldn't have done a better job with this. Keeping something like…like Jane from us-"
"But you did know-"
"We knew what you wanted us to know, Max," David said in resignation, sounding tired and not wanting to fight, "You kept us out of the dark about who Jane bears a resemblance to and fed us inaccurate intel. You intentionally didn't tell us, and that's not something someone with nothing to hide does."
"…I know," Max admitted, her own morale dropping as she felt her hand go slack in Jane's, "I…I didn't want anyone freaking out…"
"Well, regardless, it happened," David replied, his tone softening at seeing how distraught Max was quickly becoming, "But I'm not mad, Max. Disappointed, sure. I just wish you felt you could've been more upfront with us."
"How… How could I have been upfront with you?" Max asked, the disbelief obvious on her face and in her voice, "Look at how you reacted! Both of you! It might have made this weekend easier, but it probably wouldn't have changed your initial reactions!"
Max wanted to keep going, but found an elbow lightly jabbing her and glanced over to see Jane looking at her expectantly. Knowing that look, Max mentally conceded to let Jane her girlfriend speak her mind. Dog knows she has every right to say something, Max thought, She's the one on edge most of the weekend because people keep looking at her weird and treating her funny. She deserves a lot better.
"Look," Jane said, eyes closed as she sighed before they opened up towards Joyce and David with a fresh determination, "I'm Max's girlfriend, okay? You two obviously care about her, and we make each other happy, so that alone should be all that you really need to know. I know from what you just said and from what Max has told me over the past couple of months that you two have become like a second set of parents to her, but even then Max decides for herself who she wants to be with."
"As for your issues with me…," she continued, undaunted by the look on the adults' faces as they sat across from her and Max in silence, "I'm not your daughter. I'm not Chloe. My name is Jane and yes, I know how much I look and sound like her. I know that it unnerves you, but imagine how it feels for me to come into this town knowing how I look and sound. There's a reason Max didn't want to share too much about me, and your reactions make that painfully obvious."
"…Jane, we didn't mean anythin' disrespectful by-" Joyce choked out, surprise etched on her face from how calm the violet-haired girl was.
"I'm not some replacement for your daughter. Max loves me for me, and if you think otherwise even a little bit then you are not only disrespecting Max but both myself and Chloe."
The words hung in the still air as Max looked at Jane with an expression of complete shock, matched in kind by both Joyce and David as they appeared to have nearly reeled from the impact of Jane's words. Wowser, Max thought, I thought I was hard on them, but Jane was merciless. Not harsh for the sake of being harsh, but truthful to the point of harshness. Still… Damn. Reaching across the table, her hand opening slowly and tentatively, Max took the trembling fist of Jane and clasped it. Feeling the hand pull back a little instinctively, Max looked at Jane until the other girl cast her a sidelong glance and the tension lifted a little when Jane's fist unclenched and their fingers wove together.
"I'm leaving Arcadia Bay because it's time," Max said with a rush of air as she let it all out in a huff of breath, the tension ebbing from her body as she leaned against Jane in the bench seat, "I stayed longer than I had initially wanted, and it's gotten to the point where I just can't be here anymore. I'm gone once Jane and I head out that door."
"B-But Max, what about graduation?" Joyce asked, stunned.
"I'm not going. Finals were earlier this week so technically the actual school part of my Blackwell experience is over. I already told my parents and the principal that I wouldn't be attending the graduation ceremony, so the diploma is getting mailed to the forwarding address I left. Jane's address."
"You're moving to California?" Joyce asked, eyes wide as she looked at Max, then at Jane, and back to Max.
"I've already been accepted to a school in the Big Sur area, CSU Monterey Bay, and Jane lives close enough that I can make the drive easily. Plus, there's bound to be work for a photographer-slash-barista. I worked at a coffee shop in Seattle – Cali should be a piece of cake!"
"Do your parents know about this?" David asked, his tone neutral but his face openly displaying his continued disappointment. I'm not some wunderkind, David, Max thought when she saw the look on his face, I can only try to meet my own goals and expectations. You…You mean well, but you don't know how to show it without it coming off wrong. You do try, though. You try.
"I'm sure they'll know the second one of you call them up," Max said with a look of resignation, "I would prefer to tell them on my own terms. They already know I'm going to CSU; finding out that I'm moving super-early, however, I would like to be my call and not yours."
"And just when would you tell them?" David pressed.
"…Once I'm at Jane's place-"
"Our place," Jane interjected.
"…I did a lot crazier stuff than you or Chloe ever did when I was your age," David said after a moment's silence, "Lot crazier. Cross-country road trips on my old Harley, working odd jobs here and there along the way to make some spending cash for motels and cheap food. Shit, if I had the opportunity you have right now, I'd be taking it."
"David…?" Joyce asked, a wry grin on her face as her husband chuckled a little.
"Max, you're a grown woman and you have made solid decisions since the day I met you. You're always squared away and you know to stay within your lane. Can you just promise me one thing?"
"Name it," Max said, surprised when David reached over to take her free hand in both of his own.
"Can you call us? Keep in touch with us? You are like a daughter, to both of us."
"No problemo," Max said with a relieved smile that only brightened further when Jane planted a kiss on her forehead.
Epilogue
Months later...
The early morning greeted Max with the sound of surf and seagulls as she woke up in her and Jane's bed in the beach shack that had become their home over the past few months. The walls repainted with swirls of blue and green, paper lanterns hung from the ceiling with two surfboards leaned up on the wall next to the front door. Her photo memorial wall expanded to take up an entire wall of their small dwelling, Max smiled at the successful transplant of her pictures from Seattle to Arcadia Bay and now to Big Sur. Shots of her and Jane surfing and scuba diving, Max using the GoPro her parents had bought her as an early birthday present, dotted the wall along with new shots of cookouts with familiar faces. Kate had come down a couple times and they kept in touch daily through texts and Skype, but Victoria and Taylor came over nearly every other weekend since they were attending school in California as well. Victoria had gone so far as to enroll in CSU Monterey Bay as well, liking the photography program just as Max had. Having a familiar face sitting next to her in class helped Max come out of her cocoon a little further, and she had gradually made a couple new friends over the first semester.
"Mmm…," Jane grumbled as a shaft of sunlight aimed at her face with its amber warmth, "Too early…sleep more…"
Looking over at the taller girl, Max smiled and planted a kiss on the cheek of her girlfriend to the reward of a smile creeping across the sleepy girl's face. Jane had proved to be the greatest blessing Max could have hoped for, the perfect blend of warmth, attitude, love, and humor for her. They played off each other so well it had become something of a running gag amongst the people in town who knew them, the "new old couple". Sighing quietly as she carefully got out of bed, Max walked over to the bathroom and splashed her face with a handful of cold water from the sink before glancing up at her reflection.
"Howdy, stranger," Max said with amusement. The bags under her eyes had receded a bit, and her complexion was healthier for it. Sticking the tip of her tongue out, Max toyed with the lip ring Jane had convinced her to get, "Just remember, Max. You can always just take the damn thing out."
Eyeing herself in the mirror further, Max smiled at the extension of her butterfly tattoo, a deer now chasing the blue morpho from her shoulder blade. Likely not the last tattoo she would get, Max figured that she was only just about 19 – she had all the time in the world. Running a hand through her bedhead, she took a towel off the rack and her shower supplies. The shower, an enclosed stall outside, required a brief walk out the back door. Knowing the sand would likely still be a little cool from the night, Max slipped on her flip-flops and knelt down in her oversized tank-top to squat right beside her sleepy girlfriend.
"Hey, you," Max said with a soft grin as she bent down to kiss her girlfriend good morning before nuzzling her with an Eskimo kiss, "What's on your agenda for today, JD?"
"Sleep," Jane said with a yawn before looking up at Max with a lazy grin, "Come back to bed."
"Would that I could. I have class in a couple hours."
"Hours, babe. Hours. There is plenty time for a few more winks."
"I want to go to the coffee shop, see how my prints did yesterday," Max said as she lightly tickled Jane's side, "I had yesterday off and I have today off, too. Kinda need to know how much bacon we'll be getting off my touristy shots."
"You always make a killing off your photos, Max," Jane said, stretching before she propped herself up by her elbows to get another kiss, "Wait. Did you say you have today off? Dude, why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I wanted it to be a surprise…?"
"But I don't have today off, Max."
"Yeah, you do. I called Margaret last night. You got the day off from the drive-thru."
"You're shittin' me. Marge gave me the day off?" Jane asked, wide-eyed, "But you have class-"
"I have a class. One. I'll be in class from 10am to 10:50am, and then you and I have the day to ourselves. Now, lemme shower and I'll fill you in."
"Care to have company?"
"I need a shower, Jane. Not sexy time."
"Boo. You suck, boooooooo."
Stepping out through the back, Max wound around the side and entered the shower stall. Closing and latching the wooden door shut, she hung her shirt and underwear over the side before pulling the chain that let loose with a rainfall-like shower of warm water. Splashing her face again to become entirely awake, Max pulled out her mint and tea tree oil body wash and lathered up her front while letting the water pelt her back with rivulets of water. Turning around to rinse off, Max took the loofah that hung off a hook and squeezed some of the body wash onto it before she scrubbed at her back and spun around to quickly rinse off there as well. After washing her hair with lavender-scented shampoo she pulled the chain to switch off the water and dried her hair before applying the dry conditioner. Running her fingers through her now shoulder-length hair, Max pulled it into a simple ponytail and wrapped herself in a towel as she headed out of the stall and around the shack to get back inside.
The smell of eggs, bacon, and coffee filled the single-room building as Max returned from the shower and shed slipped on a pair of jeans. Slipping on a bra after tossing her sleep shirt onto the bed, Max pulled a black and pink plaid shirt and had it half buttoned-up when Jane came over with their breakfast on one plate. Being handed a fork, Max stuck the utensil in her mouth to finish getting dressed before taking taking her hair out of its ponytail and hastily comb it in the bathroom while Jane made whimpering sounds in their living room area as she sat alone with the untouched breakfast.
"Coming, coming," Max said, smirk on her face as she flopped onto the old love seat they had found at the local Goodwill a few weeks ago, "This smells awesome. Did you use the spice rack I got you?"
"Hella yes, I did! That shit is hardcore," Jane said with a grin of her own as she dug into the pile of eggs with a plastic sport they had kept from a local seafood stand, "A little paprika, little garlic, and some minced onion. Add a sprinkle of salt and peppa and this shit is rockin'!"
"But how's the coffee?" Max asked as she gingerly took a sip of the steaming beverage and smiled in appreciation, "Ya did good, kid. Ya done did good."
"D'awww, high praise from the coffee master," Jane said, her grin widening in spite of the mouthful of egg and toast, "Hush and eat, now. You got your class and I, evidently, will be spending my alone time cleaning up the place or whatevs. You want anything special for lunch, babe?"
"I'll bring something with me. What d'you want?" Max asked.
"Um, fish tacos from that restaurant near your college? Ooh, and the nachos with extra guac!" Jane exclaimed after swallowing down her mouthful of food, following up her request with a sip of coffee.
"Gotcha. Fish tacos and guac-y nachos for my violet-haired girl," Max said with a nod, stabbing a forkful of egg for herself as she squeezed half a ketchup packet's contents onto her food, "I'll run by the coffee shop and collect whatever bank I made off the prints, head to school, get us some lunch, and head back home. Oh, I gotta stop by the dispensary, too. My prescription's running low."
"No pot snacks this time?" Jane asked, a slight grimace on her face, "I keep forgetting because they look so normal."
"JD, I put 'Max's pot snacks' on the bags," Max said, her voice shaky as she was trying not to laugh, "I'll just put them in one of the drawers of my desk."
Taking a single hit off of her e-hookah, Max smiled and inhaled the vapor before leaning over to kiss her girlfriend. We've been together for six months today, JD. Do you realize this? A half-year anniversary lunch with tacos, nachos, and some required post-lunchtime sexy fun. Just what the doctor ordered, Max thought as she took a couple pieces of toast and made herself a small egg and bacon sandwich. Wrapping the small breakfast sandwich in a napkin, Max got to her feet and walked over to sling her camera bag over her shoulder. Sandals, torn jeans, and plaid shirt – finishing the ensemble off with a pair of sunglasses to shield her eyes from the California sun, Max gave her girlfriend one more kiss before heading out the door.
Around noon, Max rolled into the restaurant Jane had mentioned and pulled into the drive-thru to order. An old fast-food chain that had been closed down and renovated, the new owners ran a seafood place here near campus and a stand out on the beach. Their favorite restaurant to go to when Jane's place of business wasn't looking all that appealing, the aquamarine old McDonalds building smelled of fried clams and hushpuppies as Max pulled up to the window to pay for the food and collect the meals. Having already stopped at the dispensary to fill her prescriptions, thankful she was still covered by her parents' healthcare plan until she was 24 if necessary, Max lit up a joint in the restaurant parking lot as she pulled out onto the street. The faint buzz calming her nerves down, the university always sending her anxiety up a couple of notches, Max drove the ten minutes it roughly took to get from the university area to where she and Jane lived. Parking the truck in front of their shack, Max smiled when JD opened the door. Clad in surfer shorts and a white tank-top, Jane walked out to the truck and helped Max with their lunch.
"Get some surfing in?" Max asked as she collected her camera bag and their drinks, two styrofoam cups full of cherry slushie, "Don't tell me you spent the whole time in the house, Jane!"
"I didn't. Chill, babe," Jane said, wagging her finger as she looked at Max over her shoulder as they walked along the sidewalk, "Went surfing for a bit first, then showered and made the place presentable."
"Presentable? It's just you and me, JD."
"It's also our six-month anniversary, kiddo," Jane quipped, opening the door to the dim illumination of candlelight inside, "Happy us, babe. Love you."
Author's Note -
Here we are, the end of yet another story. I feel like everything is coming to a close. First Press Play, now Lost and Found. Me going on hiatus from FanFiction, working solely on the What If comic for a while to take a breather. I need the breather, though. I don't know how to pace myself so I put out this...mind-boggling amount of stories out a relatively small amount of time and now I need to step back and take some time to breathe.
Thanks to everybody's who has enjoyed not only this story, but all the stories that I've put out thus far. Positive remarks, constructive criticism - it's all been appreciated. There've been days these past months where all that kept me going was flipping through the reviews from my stories and seeing how I managed to touch people's hearts with my words. It means a lot to me to invoke that kind of response because I put my heart and spirit into what I write and I know that it shows.
As for the future, well, who knows?
Stay hella, Cinnamon Rolls, and thank you :)