MAX
Would things be different now?
Max was apprehensive as she climbed onto the bus. Her palms were all sweaty.
She'd never lied to her mom before, but this morning she told her that she might be going to a friend's house for dinner.
"What friend?" Vanessa had asked. Jeff looked over the top of his newspaper, eyebrows raised.
"Victoria." Max said. It was the first name she could think of. She hoped Jeff, having lived in this town his entire life, didn't know the Victoria she was talking about — no way would he believe that she would be friends with Max.
Jeff went back to reading.
"It's nice you're making friends here," said her mom, clearing away her plate. When Max brushed past her, she took the Tylenol she'd stolen from her dad's place out of her pocket and pressed it into her mom's palm. If Jeff saw, he'd probably flip the table, so she tried to keep it discreet. He didn't like getting help from other people. Her mom slipped it in her pocket, face expressionless as she stared at Max.
"Have fun at dinner tonight, Max. Not too late, okay?"
Max shrugged. "Sure, mom." This was her reward — her relationship with her mom was pretty much just transactional now. Max was okay with it. "Bye!" she called over her shoulder, heading out onto the street.
Chloe was leaning against the window when Max got onto the bus. She had her eyes closed, and in the sunlight her skin looked almost translucent. And they called Max a ghost.
"Hey," said Max, waiting for Chloe to notice her. Chloe's eyes flickered open, and she stood up slowly to let Max slide into the window seat. "Tired?"
"Yeah. That was the longest weekend of my life."
"Same." Max dropped her bag at her feet with a thud. She pulled a tape out of the front pocket of her backpack and passed it to Chloe.
"What's this?" Chloe asked, turning it over in her hands.
"Only the greatest songs ever written." Max replied. Chloe looked at the label on the tape. The Beatles.
"Thanks," Chloe smiled slightly. Just enough that her eyes crinkled at the sides. Just enough to make Max's heart flutter. "You're still coming tonight, right?" Chloe asked, frowning.
They both instinctively slid a little lower in their seats, away from Victoria's suspicious stare.
"Yeah. I'm kind of excited, actually. But I also want to puke. Your mom is terrifying."
"She's alright. She'll like you, I know it." Chloe said. Her eyes flickered away from Max, back to the outside world. Traffic.
"You don't sound too sure about that." Max started to lean into Chloe's side, and then remembered where she was. She sat up straighter.
"I'm sure." Chloe said, looking back at Max, taking her hand. Max blushed. She was so casual about it.
"Does she even know I'm coming?" Max asked, turning to look at Chloe.
"Yes," Chloe said. There was a pause. "no. But she'll be fine with it, I'm allowed to have friends over. My mom only has one rule: if I have boys over, I have to keep the door open."
"Boys?" Max teased, bumping her shoulder into Chloe's.
"Well, probably girls too, now. She definitely thinks I'm… Anyway, it's Jennifer's fault. Sorry she ruined that opportunity for you." Now it was Chloe's turn to tease. Max's face burned.
"Shut up, Price." Max muttered, withdrawing her hand.
"You walked into that one."
CHLOE
Chloe was, for the first time, not worried about leaving Max when she got off the bus. She'd see her in a few hours anyway. She was more worried about worsening the whole Jennifer thing. If she brought Max home — when she brought Max home — it would be like admitting that she was… well, a giant lesbian. She'd think about that later.
Her classes passed without incident. For most of the day, she daydreamed about the endless possibilities of a real, actual, sort-of date (was it a date? Could one truly classify anything where family is present as a date?). And for once on the bus ride home, Chloe didn't feel like she had to soak up as much of Max as possible before she saw her again, because Max didn't get off at her usual stop. That's when Chloe realised that her palms were sweating, so she unlaced her fingers from Max's and let her hand rest on Max's thigh instead. It was different. It was nice. She couldn't help but glance around every few seconds though, in case someone saw. She made eye contact with the annoying kid opposite more than once. Thankfully, he didn't look down.
They got off the bus with most of the other kids. A lot of the cool people liked to hang out in Nathan's garage after school. Max and Chloe hung back a bit as the others dissipated in groups of twos and threes, laughing loudly and shoving each other.
"I'm sorry I look so dumb today." Max said, looking down at her giant sweater and her green ribbons and the chipped glass flower she had pinned to her jacket. Her backpack was hanging on one arm.
"You look like you always look." Chloe said. She reached out to grab Max's bag, but Max pulled away.
"I always look dumb?"
"That's not what I meant." Chloe laughed. She tried to to take the bag again, but Max didn't let her.
"It's what you said," Max muttered.
Chloe wanted to ask her not to be mad right now. Like, any time but now. Max could be mad at Chloe all day tomorrow for no reason, if she wanted to.
"Max," Chloe sighed, reaching for the backpack again and missing.
"You sure do know how to make a girl feel special," Max said.
"I never claimed to know anything about romance." Chloe said. Max wasn't mad mad, because she was sort of smiling. It was the thing that she did when she didn't want to smile but couldn't quite help it. Good. And hey, Chloe realised, decoding Max's weird emotions was getting kind of… easy.
"That's not what I heard," Max said, and Chloe found herself back in the present, "I heard that you have boys in your room. Boys plural."
"I did," Chloe said, "but they did not teach me anything about romance."
They reached the porch. Max looked like she might bolt. Chloe wanted to take her hand, just to tether her to something solid until she'd crossed the threshold.
"I meant that you don't look any different from how you usually look," Chloe said, "which is good, because you always look nice."
Max rolled her eyes. "We both know that this," she said, gesturing to herself, "is not nice." Max made air quotations around the word 'nice', as if her disparaging tone/withering stare combo wasn't enough.
"I like the way you look." Chloe said indignantly. She was half-whispering, in case her mom was on the other side of the door.
"I don't look nice." Max whispered back.
"Fine. You dress like a hobo." Chloe said.
"Oh really?" Max started to smile.
"Like you just joined the cast of Godspell."
"I don't know what that is."
"It's terrible."
"And you love it?" Max said.
"And I love it."
Chloe fumbled with her keys for a second, and then opened the door. It creaked ominously. Or maybe that was just her imagination.
"Let me just tell my mom you're here." Chloe said, before stepping inside and leaving Max an anxious mess on her front step.
"Mom," Chloe called, striding down the hall, "Mom!"
"I'm in here!" she heard her mom from the kitchen. The radio was playing; Joyce was humming along as she washed the dishes. Her right foot was tapping against the linoleum.
"Uh, Max is coming in a few minutes. So just… be cool." said Chloe. Joyce stopped washing.
"Max? As in the Douglas girl?"
"Caulfield. And Yes. Be cool."
"I'm cool." Said Joyce, waving Chloe away with a soapy hand. "Now, don't leave her standin' there on the porch."
Chloe opened the door.
"Come in," she said, stepping to the side. It was weird and formal and Chloe wondered why she suddenly couldn't speak normally. Max stepped inside, looking like she was going to throw up everywhere.
"I hate meeting new people." she whispered.
"You'll be fine." Chloe whispered back with a smile. She walked into the kitchen and hoped Max would follow her.
"Mom, this is Max." Chloe said. Max waved shyly.
"Max! It's so nice to finally be able to put a face to that name. We've heard so much about you!"
"Oh, um… it's nice to meet you too, Mrs Price." Max looked at the floor, and then back to Joyce.
"Please, it's Joyce. You kids want anythin'? Snacks? Pop? I'm making dinner for Jen when she gets home from dance class, you can—"
"We're good, thanks, mom. We're just gonna go study." Chloe said, ushering Max out of the room.
"Okay honey, just leave the door open!"
Damn. That meant her mom totally knew.
MAX
Max's heart was beating so quickly she thought she might pass out. It was like a small hurricane in her chest.
"I hate meeting new people," she said again, once they were safely up at least four stairs. Chloe looked over her shoulder.
"Why?"
"Because they never like me," Max replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it kind of was.
"I liked you." Chloe said.
"No, you didn't. I wore you down." They reached the top of the stairs.
"I like you now," Chloe said, snaking an arm around Max's waist. Her heart sped up again — they'd never been this close, and so casually, God. Max hoped Chloe couldn't feel her heartbeat. She wriggled away. Chloe frowned.
"I have to go." Max said, taking a step down the stairs.
"Max, you just got here." Chloe scowled, and Max felt a chill pass over her. She folded her arms across her chest.
"I know, but…"
"It's like you decided you'd hate this before it even happened. You won't even give it a chance!" Chloe whisper-shouted. Her mom wasn't totally out of earshot.
"I don't fit into your life. I mean, look at your house." It was pristine. Fresh flowers on the console table, doilies, little glass grapes in ceramic bowls on the windowsills. "I'm just this weird girl from a shitty family who doesn't belong here. And I'm leaving, Chloe. "
"Fine." Chloe said flatly. She didn't look at Max as she ushered her back down the stairs and out the front door.
"Leavin' so soon honey?" Joyce called from the kitchen.
"Yeah," Max answered, "I don't feel so good." This wasn't entirely a lie.
Max walked around the neighbourhood for a few hours, until it had been long enough to have had dinner at a friend's house, like she had said she would. She did end up going to bed hungry, though.
CHLOE
Max was already there when she arrived, glaring out of the window. The air was frosty around her as she gave Chloe the literal definition of a cold shoulder. Chloe sat down beside her with a heavy sigh, announcing her presence without announcing her presence, and then folded her arms. Max wanted to play it like this? Fine. Chloe had reasons to be chilly too.
They passed the entire half-hour drive in total silence. It seemed to take longer than usual. Chloe would occasionally glance Max's way. Max also glanced at Chloe — she knew, because she had caught her. Max stopped looking after that. It wasn't until they arrived that the silence was broken.
They were filing off the bus, and had just made it onto the pavement, when Nathan started to jeer.
"Hey," he said, shoving Max so she stumbled a little. Max kept her head down and continued walking.
"I said," Nathan paused as he moved in front of Max, "hey, you dyke bitch. Where are your manners? It's impolite to ignore someone."
Max stared at the ground. Chloe felt herself moving before she had processed anything at all.
"What the fuck did you just say, Nathan?" Chloe spat. Nathan looked up in shock, which quickly turned into a sneer.
"You mean the part where I called your girlfriend a dyke bitch, or the part where I call you a dyke bitch?"
Someone snickered. Probably Victoria. People were starting to gather — Chloe Price versus Nathan Prescott? Nobody wanted to miss that.
"Watch your fucking mouth—"
"Or what?" Nathan said. He had forgotten about Max almost entirely. He sauntered up to Chloe, close enough that she could feel his hot breath on her face. "What are you gonna do, Price?"
Chloe didn't answer. Instead, she swung her fist and hit him square in the jaw. Nathan recoiled, staggering backwards. The crowd jeered. Chloe shook her hand, already feeling the bruises forming on her knuckles. Nathan laughed.
"Is that all?" he shook his head, smiling joylessly. "You know something? I didn't believe the rumours until now. Everyone told me that you were a fucking queer—" he spat blood onto he pavement, "and I didn't believe them. I thought you were better than that. I thought no, no way, not Chloe Price. Not the girl that I grew up with. But they were right. You are a queer." By the time he had finished his speech, he was close enough to hit Chloe. Which is exactly what he did. He slapped her, in front of everybody, which was somehow worse than a punch.
The small group around them had become a veritable pack, all clamouring for blood. They hissed as Chloe clutched her stinging cheek.
"You can't hit girls, man." Someone called from the audience. Nathan laughed.
"You can if she's a homo," someone called back. That got a laugh. Nathan swung again, his fist slamming against Chloe's jaw. She was bleeding, she could taste it. Chloe looked up at Max, who caught her eye. She was crying. She also looked… scared. For her, or of her?
Rage ignited in her chest.
"Leave… my… girlfriend… alone." Chloe breathed, head still reeling from the punch. Chloe swung her fist again, hitting Nathan square in the nose. There was a sickening crack as her fist made contact.
"Miss Price! That's quite enough, thank you." A loud voice boomed from across the courtyard. Principal Wells forced his way through the crowd. "You, you, you and you, my office, now."
Chloe couldn't stop her leg from bouncing as she waited, slouching on the uncomfortable bench in the front office. The secretary glared at her over her cat-eye glasses. Chloe wanted to yank them off her stupid, sour face.
"Can you stop that?" Nathan barked from across the room. He was holding an icepack to his nose, his head tipped back. It made Chloe feel a little better to see the blood that had dried down the front of his shirt.
"Suck my dick, Nathan." Chloe said. She definitely wasn't going to stop tapping now. She looked over at Max. Her hands were clasped in her lap. She hadn't looked up in ten minutes.
"Was that for me," Max finally said, "or for you?"
Silence. Chloe somehow began to feel a creeping guilt.
"You didn't have to save me." Max muttered. Annoyance pricked in her chest.
"But I did."
"I don't need some X-Men hero, Chloe. Why couldn't you just let it go?"
"Because I love you." Chloe said it fiercely, because it was true, she did. Also, now that she had said it once… well, it was like the floodgates had opened.
"If you loved me then you'd be able to see that you hitting Nathan fixed nothing. You made it exponentially worse, actually." Max finally looked up. Her face was streaked with tear tracks. Chloe sighed. She was debating admitting to Max that she did also hit Nathan for her own selfish reasons when she was called into the Principal's office.
Her mom was so mad that she wouldn't come and collect her. They had to call Chloe's dad at work. The school nurse had said that she'd be fine, but she could feel a black eye beginning to form. If she thought about it too much, she could still feel his hand on her cheek.
The drive home was silent.
"Your mom is going to hit the roof when she sees you. She was at your grandma's house, crying."
"It was just a few punches, dad." Chloe said quietly.
"Don't say that when you arrive. She'll kill you."
It was true, Joyce was furious. They were sitting at William's parent's house, which was next door to their own. Joyce was fuming at the kitchen table.
"Chloe Elizabeth Price," said Joyce. Uh-oh, full name. Her grandma interrupted.
"Now dear, she's had a hell of a day. Harold, get the girl a steak, would you?" She inspected Chloe's face. Chloe tried not to wince when she poked and prodded, as grandmas do. It was with the best intention.
"I'm not wasting a steak on that." said her grandfather, who returned with some Tylenol and a glass of water.
"No more fighting," Joyce said.
"Joyce… it was one fight. Go easy on her, she was sticking up for some girl getting picked on."
"She's not just some girl," Chloe snapped, "she's my girlfriend." Chloe hoped, anyway.
There was a collective breath drawn in, and a beat of silence. The football match that her grandfather was watching in the background droned on.
"Is it the Douglas girl?"
"Her name is Max Caulfield, mom. Caulfield."
"No more girlfriend," said her mom, folding her arms, "you're grounded."
MAX
Three days without Chloe, and Max already wanted to curl up beside Muffin on the top bunk and never leave her blanket cave again. It was like the outside world was somehow more bearable when Chloe was around to make fun of it, and now she wasn't and Max hadn't noticed until now how much Chloe really shielded her from everything. Including Nathan, which in retrospect, she was grateful for. She shouldn't have been mad. In fact, she should have been mad even before that. Max had spent a lot of time regretting the past week of her life since she'd had nobody to distract her from it all.
If that wasn't bad enough, her home life had pretty much imploded after the Nathan thing. Jeff didn't care, except for the fact that people thought his stepdaughter was a lesbian. He was getting shit for it at the bookies, apparently. Her mom was furious.
"You were fighting? At School? Maxine what were you thinking? You know we can't afford that kind of trouble in this house. Think of the example you're setting for Maisie. I knew that your little friend would get you into trouble like this. I don't want you seeing her anymore, you hear me?" Vanessa was furiously putting plates and cups away, slamming cupboard doors as she talked. Jeff was at work. It was the only time that she ever made noise.
"Mom, I wasn't even fighting. It was Nathan. I didn't do anything, I swear."
"I don't want to hear it, Maxine. Go to your room."
The following days passed in a terrible grey blur. Lonely bus ride, classes, lonely bus ride, dinner, homework, sleep. It was exhausting. She was nervously anticipating the day that Chloe would come back. They hadn't really made up, but Chloe wouldn't still be mad. Would she?
When Max rang the doorbell, a gentle-looking man answered. It was hard to believe that he was Chloe's dad, but the more she looked, the more she could see the similarities.
"Hi," she said nervously, "I go to school with Chloe. I have her books?" William was smiling widely. It was kind of creeping her out.
"Are you Maxine?"
"Max."
"Max, right. One second." He said, and then left the door open. She could hear him talking to Joyce in the kitchen.
"Come on, Joyce. Just for a few minutes."
"Fine." Joyce replied, coldly. William came back.
"Come in, you can give them to her yourself. I'm sure she wants to see you."
Don't be, thought Max.
"Hey, Sugar Ray," said Chloe's dad as he knocked on her door, "someone's here to see you."
Max entered somewhat sheepishly. Chloe's room was, quite frankly, a mess. Posters everywhere, graffiti on the walls. She didn't even have a sheet on her mattress. Max gasped when she saw her face. It looked so much worse than it had before. Everything was purple, or yellow, or swollen. She wanted to cry. Or to kiss her. Both were good.
She sat down beside Chloe on the mattress. It was weird, seeing her like this.
"I'm sorry," said Max before Chloe could speak. "I… thank you for standing up for me." Chloe's expression remained unchanged. Max's heart began to flutter anxiously. Was she breaking up with her? She wouldn't blame her, if she was.
"Did I ruin everything?" Chloe said softly. Her voice was a lot more shaky than Max had expected. Her heart broke a little.
"Every-what?"
"Every-us." Chloe replied. Max put her hand on top of Chloe's.
"No way. You ruined your face though."
Chloe sighed. "Sucks."
"It's okay. You were too cute for me anyways." Max said with a smile.
"You think I'm cute?"
"Of course." There was silence for a while, but it wasn't like their frosty bus silence. It was comfortable.
"They're still going to tease me," Max said, eventually, "but you can't punch people every time someone says I'm weird or ugly. Promise me you won't try."
Chloe looked like she was about to protest, but she must have changed her mind because she replied with "I promise."
"Because I don't care about any of it. It doesn't matter. If you like me… that's enough."
Chloe smiled. "How many times do I have to tell you that I don't like you…"
Although school was miserable, nobody bothered her. She did find more crude scribbling on her exercise book, but she ripped off the cover and threw it in the trash. She could afford another brown paper bag.
On Monday morning, when Max got to her bus stop, Chloe was already there, waiting for her.
CHLOE
Her eye went from purple to green to yellow. She was still grounded.
"How long am I grounded for?" She asked her mom over breakfast.
"indefinitely." Joyce replied, pouring her cereal. Chloe sighed.
"Until you're sorry about the fight." Called William from over his newspaper. He was sitting at the kitchen table with Jennifer.
"I am sorry." Chloe said. She wasn't.
Somehow, punching Nathan in the face had made their bus rides even better. Nobody even looked at them now. Sure, people talked, she knew that much, but not to their faces. Never to their faces.
"It was pretty hot, actually." Max admitted one morning with a laugh.
"I should get into fights more often."
"No. Please don't." Max answered. She seemed to smile a lot more these days. It made Chloe happy.
"So…" Chloe said, "I was thinking,"
"Oh no,"
"I was thinking… I want you to come back to my house."
Max looked shocked. "But you're grounded."
"Yeah…"
"Dad, how long am I grounded for?" Chloe asked. It was almost Christmas break, and that would mean three weeks without seeing Max.
"Until your mother says you're not." Replied her dad without looking up from the car engine. "Spanner, please." He held out his hand expectantly. Chloe put the spanner in it.
"Mom says forever."
"Then I guess it's forever."
"Dad…"
"I've got an idea. You can be ungrounded as soon as you learn to drive stick-shift. Then you can drive your girlfriend around wherever you want."
"What girlfriend?" said her mom. She was in the living room, but they had left the garage door open.
"Hey, honey. I told Chloe I'd unground her if she learned how to drive."
"I can drive, dad." She growled.
"Can you drive stick-shift? No." William said, turning back to her mom.
"No way. You're grounded until you stop thinking about that Caulfield girl. Everyone keeps telling me she's trouble." Joyce had moved into the doorway now, where she was standing with her arms crossed.
"Mom, is this really about her? Or is it about me?" Chloe said. She pushed her hair out of her eyes, leaving a black grease mark on her forehead. She saw Joyce's hand twitch, maybe fighting the compulsion to wipe it off.
"I don't like her. She comes to my house, she cries and leaves, next thing I know you're gettin' into fights with your childhood friends, you're in trouble at school, your face is all beat up…"
"You can just say that this is about me liking girls, mom."
"It's not that—"
"But it is that, mom. Well, tough shit. It's how I am."
"Language," William warned.
"Chloe Price, I am your mother!"
"Wish you weren't." Chloe mumbles, pushing past Joyce and storming out of the house. She needed to think. She went to her grandma's house instead, where she was greeted with cookies and a sympathetic smile.
"You're ungrounded." Chloe's dad said when he came to get her.
"What?" Chloe almost couldn't believe it.
"Your mom and I, we had a talk. Anyway. you're ungrounded. And she's sorry for everything she said."
"Is she?"
"Yes. She just wants what's best for you. She thinks she can help you pick out a… girlfriend, like she helps you pick out clothes."
"She doesn't help me pick out clothes." Said Chloe, looking down at her outfit. Decidedly punk rock.
"She used to."
Chloe shrugged.
"She wants you to invite Max over for dinner." William said.
"Why, so she can make her feel weird and then we break up?"
"No," William replied, "so that we can get to know her. If she's important to you, she's important to us. Besides, she is kind of weird, isn't she? Isn't that why you like her?"
Chloe was ungrounded. She couldn't wait to tell Max.
MAX
So, she was going for dinner. Again. Somehow, impossibly, she had gotten herself back into this situation.
Chloe's dad put the leaf into the dining table, and Max sat right next to Chloe. Her heart was pounding the whole time, and she barely touched her food (which was probably a bad idea, considering she hadn't had a good meal in at least two weeks now) but she was happy. Cautiously happy, at least. And they watched a movie together, Max sitting on the floor with Chloe with their backs resting on the sofa, and Max kind of weirdly felt like… everything was just right. Like she belonged there. Which was weird, because if you'd asked her five months ago if she's ever belong anywhere she would have said no — yet here she was. Belonging. When Chloe surreptitiously took her hand, Max didn't pull away. She could feel Chloe's thumb tracing little circles on it, and then her eyes got all heavy and when she opened them again, the credits were rolling and she was leaning on Chloe's shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the world. Their hands were still clasped together. Max bolted upright, and Chloe cast a sideways glance at her, smiling. God. Max hoped she hadn't been drooling.
CHLOE
Max had a crease in her cheek from how she had slept against Chloe's jacket. It can't have been comfortable, but she had slept through most of the film. Chloe didn't mind, and her parents barely noticed. She did get an eyebrow raise from Jennifer, though.
When Max stood up to leave, William insisted that Chloe walk Max home.
"Thank you for dinner, Mr and Mrs Price. It was lovely. I had a great time." Max said. It didn't even sound like she was being sarcastic.
Max stepped onto the porch. Once the door had closed, Chloe saw her sag a little in relief. It was like all the air had been let out of her. Chloe wanted to hug her.
"You can't walk me home," Max said, looking up at Chloe, "you know that right?"
"At least let me walk you a little way."
"I don't know…"
"Nobody will see us. It's dark."
"Okay," she relented, but she put her hands in her pockets. They walked slowly together.
"Your family is really great," Max said, after a minute.
"Hey, I want to show you something. Come with me." Chloe grabbed her arm and pulled her down a darkened driveway, behind a pine tree.
"Chloe, this is trespassing."
"It's not. This is my grandparents' house."
"Well, what is it?"
"Nothing, I just want to be alone with you for a minute."
"Seriously? That is so lame, Chloe Price."
"I know." Chloe turned to her. "Next time I'll just say Max, follow me down this dark alley, I want to kiss you."
Max took a breath. She was surprised. Chloe was finally figuring her out — she knew just how to catch her off guard now.
"I'll say, hey Max, come hide behind these bushes with me, we need to make out like right now."
Max didn't move, so Chloe thought that touching her would be okay. Her face was soft, she was close enough to see most of her freckles even in the dark.
"I'll say Max, follow me down this rabbit hole…"
Chloe put her thumb on Max's lips, just to see if she'd move. She didn't. They were so close now. Inches.
Max pulled back at the last second, their lips almost touching.
"I've never done this before." she whispered.
"S'okay." Chloe said.
"It's not. This is gonna be terrible."
"It's won't be."
"You'll regret it."
That made Chloe laugh, so she had to wait a second before she kissed Max.
Max's lips were soft and warm and Chloe could feel her shaking a little. Her nervousness steadied Chloe, it made her feel like she knew what she was doing, even though she'd only ever kissed Nathan before.
Chloe pulled away before she wanted to, and Max looked up at her with flushed cheeks. Chloe's grandparents had left their porch light on, and Max caught all of it in the right way.
"Um…" said Chloe, somewhat sheepishly. Her confidence had evaporated. Max looked down.
"Okay?" Chloe said. Max nodded.
"Come here," she said, "I want to show you something." Max laughed. Chloe lifted her chin.
The second kiss was even better.
