Chapter 10: Thanks(for-)giving, part 1

A loud, continuous sound woke Chloe from her slumber. Groggily, she turned around with a big groan, refusing to open her eyes. She covered her face with her hand as a headache hit her with full force.

'Ugh! Stupid alarm! It's not even a school day and I'm absolutely not in the mood to make any dinner.'

The noise stopped. Just now Chloe tried to open her swollen eyes slowly, but as soon as the brightness of the day seeped through the small slits, the headaches got even worse, making her to close her eyes again.

'Holy fuck! Two hours of crying are definitely not good.'

The sound chimed again, but this time, Chloe opened her eyes rapidly.

'That's not my alarm, that's my phone!'

Ignoring the nail in her head, Chloe jumped up, fell off the bed and crawled the rest of the way to the desk in Max's room, where her phone laid. She grabbed it and gazed at the display, which showed Max's ID.

Chloe's heart began to race and she'd stopped breathing, as she opened her phone and took the call.

"Maxi! Max, is that you?"

"Hi Chlo!" chimed Max's friendly voice from the phone.

A tear of joy flowed down Chloe's cheek as she exhaled all the air she'd held in her lunges. "Oh my god. Thank you! Thankyouthankyouthankyou! Listen, I'm so sorry! I've been such an asshole and selfish and…"

"Chloe."

"…stupid and…"

"Chloe!"

"…an idiot and…"

"CHLOE!" yelled Max, making Chloe to shut up. "It's fine, okay? I'm not mad at you anymore."

Closing her eyes, Chloe took a deep breath to calm down again. "Thank you!" she sighed in relief. "So…uhm…How've you been in Seattle?" asked Chloe in order to start a conversation.

"Well…okay, I guess. But can we talk about this later? I'm about to visit some friends and gotta go now."

Chloe's heart dropped to her feet and her joy dissipated in a blink of an eye. "Yeah. O-of course. I-I mean…f-friends are important a-and…" she stuttered, almost losing her composure.

"Yup, very important."

The door bell chimed and some moments went by in silence.

"Someone rang at your door."

"Yeah. So?"

"Aren't you gonna answer?"

"Nah. Mom's still in town and I don't expect any packages, sooo…nope."

It rang again.

"Maybe it's important?"

"Or maybe not."

"Chloe…" said Max with an impatient voice.

"Hmm?"

"Will you just open this stupid door, I'm freezing my ass off!"

Understanding the meaning of Max's words, Chloe got up, almost jumped through the room door, stumbled down the stairs and ripped open the front door.

And there she stood. Max Caulfield, dressed in a thick, black jacket, the phone in her hand and a big and soft smile on her lips.

"MAXI!" Chloe cried out as she saw her friend's freckled face. She jumped at her, took the brunette girl into a very tight hug, and started to cry out of joy.

Max replied the strong hug, but soon groaned and patted on Chloe's back. "Ch-Chloe! M-my ribs."

Remembering her friend's injuries, Chloe backed away and gave her a wry smile. "Yeah. S-sorry 'bout that!" she said, while wiping away the wet lines on her cheeks.

"No biggie, they're almost healed, but still very sensitive." replied Max with a smile.

Both girls looked at each other for some time. Chloe could feel the bond between them. How her desire; her longing for Max finally got satisfied.

"Chloe." spoke Max and broke the silence. "I'm still freezing my behind off."

"Y-yeah. Right. Sorry. C'mon in." the blonde girl said, broke the gaze and signed her friend to enter the house, while trying to hide her blush by turning her head away.

"Strange, normally I'm the one who zones out." Max giggled, walked past her and took off her jacket.

Chloe closed the door and walked towards the kitchen. "Want some hot chocolate to warm up you butt?"

"You read my mind, Chlo!"

The blonde shrugged. "I just know you well enough, little cookie-monster." While she prepared a pot with milk and two mugs, she couldn't help herself, but glimpsing at her crush several times.

'Damn, she looks so cute! I still can't believe that she's back. But how did she get here and how has she been these last five weeks?'

"How did you get here?" Chloe asked Max, who was leaning with her back against the counter.

"My parents brought me. They just drove on into town to help Joyce with the groceries."

"So, your parents stay for the weekend, I guess?"

Max nodded. "Mh-hm. I thought it would be great, if you and Joyce have some company during Thanksgiving."

The milk cooked. Chloe took the pot and filled the white liquid into the prepared mugs. "Marshmallows?" she asked and got an arched eyebrow from her friend. "Just kidding. I still know that you want a shitload of Marshmallows." Chloe took a hand full of the white sweets, put them into Max's mug and reached it to the smaller girl.

"Thanks!" Max took the mug, blew a few times the emerging steam away and sipped on the hot beverage. "Ah, nothing beats Chloe's hot chocolate!"

Chloe took the praise with a mischievous smile, sipped on her beverage too and continued the talk. "How's Seattle?"

Max's expression became serious, while her gaze dropped. "Well, it is great there. I mean, Mecca of art 'n stuff, but without you…" She glanced at Chloe deeply. "…pretty boring and kinda lonely."

"Yeah, same here." replied Chloe, trying to suppress the need to tell Max how she really felt.

"But I took some self-protection classes!"

"Really?!" Chloe blurted out, almost spluttering on her hot chocolate, which made Max giggle. "Wow! The real Kung-Fu shit?"

"Not quite, it's called Wing Tsun and I learned just some basics. Care for a demonstration?"

Chloe gave Max a wide and impish grin. "Bring it on, Caulfield!"

"Alright. Let's get some space." Spoke the smaller girl and walked into the living room. Chloe followed her and both girls faced each other. "Okay, now slap me!"

"What?! No, Max! No way! I'm not gonna hit you!"

"Chicken?"

"No, I just don't wanna hurt you."

"You won't. Now hit me! Or should I dare you?"

Chloe let out a big sigh. "Okay, but only if you promise me that, whatever happens, we will stay friends."

"I cross my heart and hope to die." replied Max, drawing a cross over her heart with her index finger.

"Alright."

Gathering all her strength, Chloe took some deep breathes. Every fiber in her body screamed at her not to do it. She closed her eyes one last time, took a swing and let her flat hand shoot towards her best friend's cheek. But it was stopped before it even reached Max's freckled face. Her arm got pressed against her chest so that she had to stumble backwards, where she fell over Max's repositioned leg.

As Chloe lost her balance, Max tried to hold her, but instead both girls fell to the ground with a shriek. Chloe laid on her back and Max on top of her.

The two girls first giggled, but then just looked at each other intensively.

"Say, Maxi, is this a part of your self-protection move?" Chloe asked in a soft tone.

Max gave her a shy smile. "I-I don't know…maybe."

Chloe could feel, her friend's warmth, how her heartrate increased. How her breathing got heavier. She brushed a stray streak out of Max's face, giving her a very warm smile. Slowly, Max's face came closer, while she bit her bottom lip. Chloe could already feel her warm breath on her own nose. She leaned in too, ready to kiss the girl that she loved so much.

Suddenly, the front door was unlocked and Joyce, Ryan and Vanessa entered the house.

Surprised by the sudden appearance of their parents, Max and Chloe got up rapidly. Both were blushing beet-red and tried to make the impression as if nothing had happened.

Most experienced with the two girl's shenanigans, Joyce glanced at them suspiciously, arching one eyebrow. "I don't know what you two were doing, but if it involved burning down the house, I'll ground you for the whole weekend!"

"Chill, mom! Maxi just showed me some of her crazy self-protection-wing-ding…stuff."

"Hi Joyce! It's called Wing Tsun and involves no house-burning." added Max with a warm smile, her hands behind her back.

"Self-protection? I always thought that Chloe was your protection."

"After what happened, Maxine insisted on visiting a self-protection class. I was against it at first, but my daughter and my husband talked me against the wall." said Vanessa and rolled with her eyes.

"She likes it and we have less to worry about her. I'd call it a win-win for everyone." Ryan added with a smile.

"Yeah, she became pretty badass!" cheered Chloe.

"That's one dollar for the swear-jar, missy! Plus another one for not doing your chores." said Joyce, giving her daughter a sternly glare.

"What?! Since when did we reinstate this stupid swear-jar?" asked Chloe in surprise, her jaw dropped.

"Since you almost got us sued with your lose mouth." replied her mother, one hand on her waist.

Chloe crossed her arms in front of her chest and pouted. "That's bullshit!"

"And another dollar. I'll cut it from your allowance."

"Now cut her some slack, Joyce." said Max and giggled, making everyone look at her. "She was about to start, but I interrupted her. And don't forget that you came home earlier, because my parents picked you up." She looked at Chloe and gave her a warm smile and a wink.

'Did she just put her sweet ass on the line for me? Wow! She's changed somehow, that's for sure. Shit, I'd love to kiss her right now!'

"Alright." Chloe's mom agreed with a nod. "But the one dollar for badass stays!"

"Fine." Chloe sighed in annoyance and rolled with her eyes. "Can we now please order a pizza or something, 'cause I'm starving."

Ryan grinned and held up a plastic bag full of food boxes. "Luckily we brought some Chinese food!"

"Hell yeah!" The blonde darted towards Max's dad, ripped the bag out of his hand and started to unpack it on the table. "You folks get rid of you jackets and mom, you go change. I and Maxi are gonna prepare everything. Now off ya go!"

Ten minutes later, everyone sat at the set table, which Max and Chloe had prepared.

"Well, let's dig in!" Chloe spoke and grabbed her chopsticks.

"Not so fast, young lady!" intervened her mom, giving her a serious glare, which was answered with a pair of rolling eyes. The tall woman stood up and gazed at everyone at the table. "I want to use this opportunity to thank Ryan, Vanessa and Max for being here today. Since William passed on, you helped us through those difficult times, and that you are here today and for Thanksgiving, shows us that we're not alone." Joyce took a deep breath and paused for a short moment. "Ryan, Vanessa and especially Max…thank you! Thank you very much!"

"Yeah, thank you, guys!" Chloe added and gave Max a short glimpse, who smiled warmly, grabbed the blonde girl's hand under the table and gave it a soft squeeze. A warm feeling emerged from Chloe's stomach, ran through her entire body, increased her heart rate and gave her a mild blush.

"Now you can dig in." said Joyce and sat down again.

Chloe, still sunned by Max's touch, needed a few seconds to finally pick up her chopsticks again. She'd loved to hold her friend's hand some more, but Max needed it to eat.

Silence occurred as everyone started to eat the delicious food. Everyone, except Max, who had slight problems eating with chopstick and cursed silently every time her dumpling dropped back onto her plate.

"Y'know, honey, I can get you a fork." Joyce suggested with a smile.

"Thanks, but I'll manage…somehow." the small brunette replied with a forced smile and dropped the next dumpling right into the soy sauce, splashing it all over her hoodie. "Ugh, butterfingers!"

Chloe snickered, while Vanessa gave her daughter an angry gaze, because of her manners at the table.

Realizing, that Max was about to get in trouble, Chloe stood up and helped her. "C'mon Maxi, I'll help ya." She placed herself behind the smaller girl, embraced her with her arms and looked over her shoulder. Then she took Max's sticks, grabbed her hand softly and placed them correctly. "See, you have to hold them like this. Alright?"

Max nodded. "Mh-hm."

"Okay, let's get this dumpling into your mouth." Still holding her friend's warm and slightly shaking hand, Chloe lead it to the food. With small brushes and pushes she controlled Max's finger movements, until they managed to pick up the dumpling. "Gotcha!" she whispered into her ear.

Slowly, both girl's moved their hands upwards, the dumpling still between the two sticks. "Open the gates and prepare for landing!" Max opened her mouth and closed it again, after the food was inside.

"See, piece of cake!" Chloe said with a warm smile.

"You mean piece of dumpling." Max answered while chewing.

"Yeah." the blonde giggled softly, not realizing that she still held Max's hand.

"Chlo, I-I'm gonna need my hand back, if I want to practice my new learned chopstick-skills."

Chloe coughed and let go of Max's hand. "Y-yeah…of course. " She returned to her seat and continued to eat. For a short time she glimpsed at Max and then at her mom, who looked at her with an arched eyebrow, making her blush.

'Dammit, Price, cool down, will ya? Doc Mortensen said that I shouldn't overdo it. After all, now that she's back, I'll have all the time to do some reconnaissance. But what bothers me is, does mom already know that I crush on Max? She looked at me like she knows something or have I been just too obvious? Ugh, I wish we'd be 18 and could just elope, without receiving any shit from our folks!'

"How are things going with the insurance company?" Ryan asked to break the next upcoming silence.

Joyce's expression became sad as she sighed. "Not so good. They still refuse to pay William's life insurance, because he allegedly hasn't paid his last rate, which was due one week after his death."

"Ever thought about taking legal actions?" asked Vanessa.

"Easy said then done, Van. Money's tight as it is. I'm barely able to pay the mortgage on the house and if Chloe wants to visit Blackwell next year, she has to do it with a scholarship. I already asked the bank for a loan, but…" The blonde woman let out another sigh. "I just don't have the money for a lawyer."

"And what if we borrow you some?" All eyes were now fixed on Max, who instantly sunk a bit deeper in her seat. "I-I mean, dad, you told us that you just got your company a new project and received a bonus. So, what if we loan Joyce the money for the lawyer, and after she's got the insurance money, she can pay it back."

Now all gazes wandered and fixed on Ryan, who was taken by full surprise. He coughed. "Well…" he started, but paused for a minute as he looked at his wife's almost angry glare. "I-I think…"

"Ryan, you know that this money is for Maxine's college-fund." spoke his wife.

"Mom, dad, i-if you want to put this money into my fund anyway, than I'm gonna give it to them."

"Maxine, you're just 13 and…" Max's mom was about to say, but got stopped as Ryan put his hand on her arm.

"I think, Max is right, though, sweetheart. It is her money anyway and if she wants to use it to help out Joyce and Chloe, then this is her decision. Besides, the chance that Joyce will get the payment is very high, so I don't see any problems there."

"Fine, you two are never listen to me anyway. So, do what you want." the brunette woman replied, waved with her hand and pouted by focusing on her meal.

"Darling, you know that this isn't true." Ryan put his arm around his wife's shoulder and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "After all, you managed to convince the two of us to keep Max with us in Seattle."

Chloe let her chopsticks drop onto the table. Her hands were shaking and she stared into empty space. "E-excuse me." she merely whispered with a shivering voice, jumped up and ran upstairs. She slammed her room door shut with a loud bang and leaned against it, covering her face with her hands as tears began to flow down her cheeks.

'Why? Why is this happening? What have I done to deserve this? Haven't I suffered enough? Everyone on this fucking planet hates me and wants to see me in pain. Well, life, here you have it. I'm done. First you took away my dad, then you brought me back my love, showed her to me one last time, only to take her away from me again. Thanks, asshole!'

Her thoughts got interrupted by a knock on the door. "Chloe, can I come in? We need to talk." chimed Max's voice from the other side of the door.

Normally, Chloe would've expected to feel sadness and disappointment, but instead she felt anger. Deep burning anger. "What is there to talk about, huh? You're gonna bail on me again, that's all. Now fuck off and leave me alone!"

A strong and sudden push opens the door and let Chloe stumble forwards until she lost balance and fell, landing in the middle of her room. "What the fuck!"

"Dammit, Chlo, why are you always so stub…holy shit!" said Max while she walked into Chloe's room, but stopped immediately as she gazed at the chaos. "Wh-what happened to your room?"

"Refurbishment." the blonde replied boldly, giving Max an agitated glare.

"Refurbishment?" the smaller girl asked with unbelief. "Okay Chlo, cut the crap! What the fuck is wrong with you? Since the day before we had our fight you're acting just strange. Talk to me, Chlo!"

"Why do you even care? You did a hell of a good job ignoring me for the last five weeks." yelled Chloe and stood up.

"Because you hurt me, Chlo! You hurt me badly." Max's eyes welled up as she shouted back. She took some deep breathes and continued in a calm and shivering tone. "It took me three weeks to stop crying. Three weeks to figure out why you did what you did. And I realized that I didn't want our friendship to end this way. I wanted to talk with you about it in person. Not on the phone. So I talked my parents into visiting you and Joyce this weekend. And now I'm here and I wanna know, do you really want me gone? B-because if you want to, at least tell me why. What did I do wrong?"

Realization struck Chloe like a lightning, making her answer in a quiet voice. "It wasn't you, Max. But it doesn't matter now." She turned away, embracing her body with her arms. "You're going back to Seattle in a few days and will soon forget about me."

Chloe could hear how the debris cracked under Max's steps as she walked towards her. A small hand grabbed her shoulder firmly and turned her around, making her look into a pair of blue, watery doe-eyes. "You really think that less of me? You really think that I'd just abandon the person that matters the most to me?" Chloe just averted her gaze again, but her head is turned right back by Max, instantly. "Chloe, what is going on? Since that day you're not the person I knew. Please…" Max brushed over her friend's cheek, while tears emerged from her eyes. "Talk to me. I'm so worried about you."

Chloe just stared at Max's freckled face. Her lips trembled. Her hands were shaking. Pure panic engulfed her mind as she realized that she couldn't avert telling Max about her feelings anymore. She embraced Max's face with her hands, softly and pressed her lips onto hers.

The whole world seemed to have stopped as Chloe felt Max's warm and soft lips. But as soon as she noticed that Max wasn't returning the kiss, she backed away and looked at her. Only to see that the smaller girl stared at her with eyes wide open. Tears were flowing down her cheeks in a constant stream as she started to sob. Max shook her head, turned around and ran out of the room.

"Max, wait!" Chloe yelled after her, but only got the slamming of a door as an answer.

'Well done, Price. You just fucked up again!' she thought, buried her face in her hands again and cried out her desperation.

'Why did I kiss her?' Chloe asked herself in her thoughts. She was lying in her bed, gaze fixed on ceiling, while she played with a cigarette between her fingers. 'The doc warned me not to be too fast forward and now everything went to shit. Great, Chloe! Just fucking perfect!'

She turned her head and let out a sigh as she realized that it was already way past midnight. 'Almost 1 am and I still can't sleep. Maybe I should go out and take a walk. Justin told me that smoking helps to calm down.' The blonde looked at the cig in her hand and scoffed. 'Never was interested in this shit or any other drugs, except mom's wine, but I think it's time to leave the comfort-zone and try something new…maybe it really helps.'

About to stand up and get dressed, a soft knock on the door made Chloe stop in her movement. "Chloe?" a quiet voice chimed from outside.

"Maxi!" Chloe gasped, walked to her room door and opened it.

Max stood there in her pajamas, her right arm touching the left one. "C-can I come in?"

'Okay, Chloe, seems like she's about to give you another chance. Now keep cool, apologize and try to minimize the already done damage.'

The taller girl stepped aside and signed her friend to come in. "Y-yeah, sure." Max entered with small steps, while Chloe closed the door. "Listen, Maxi, I'm sorry about the…" she started as she turned around to face her friend again, but was interrupted as Max surprisingly stood right in front of her, embraced her cheeks softly, tip-toed and kissed her.

A mixture of different feelings rushed through Chloe's mind, ranging from 'What the fuck?!' to 'Hell yeah!'. At first, she didn't know what to do, just standing there, stiff and not moving a limb. But as time passed by and Max still hadn't broken the kiss, Chloe wrapped her arms around the smaller girl's back and pulled her closer.

Neither of them knew how much time had passed as they finally broke this magical kiss. Both girls rested their foreheads against each other and giggled, sharing some short and soft kisses from time to time.

"I love you, Maxi!" Chloe whispered.

"I love you too, Chlo!" Max replied and laid her head onto her love's shoulder. "Gosh, I missed you sooo much!"

"I missed you like crazy!" Tears of joy were running down Chloe's face and she started to sob as all of her worries; all of her fears; and all of her doubts finally fell off her. Max joined in with the crying as the same negative feelings dropped from her tiny heart as well.

"Chloe?" Max asked, after some more time had passed and both had stopped crying.

"Mh-hm?"

"Sorry that I freaked. It was just…"

"It's fine, Maxi! I would've done the same."

"C-can I spent the upcoming nights in your room? I-I just don't wanna sleep alone and wanna savor every minute with you. Besides, some dork slept in my bed and didn't change the sheets for weeks."

Chloe broke the hug and laughed. "Guilty as charged!" Then she blushed and looked away. "I know, kinda creepy, but…I don't know, it just…"

"Chloe…" Max interrupted, making the blonde girl to raise her sight again. "It's okay. I…uh…I-I borrowed a shirt from you."

One of Chloe's eyebrows arched. "Borrowed?"

Now Max was the one who looked at her feet and blushed. "A-and used it as a pillow every night."

An awkward silence filled the room, but was soon broken as both girls first giggled and then erupted into loud laughter.

"Well, I guess we're both pervs." Chloe snickered after they stopped laughing. "Better turn down the noise or else my mom will go all berserk on us. How about we use the opportunity that I finally cleaned up my room and build a pillow-fort?"

"Sounds great!"

"Maybe some leftovers?"

"Om nom nom!"

"Little cookie-monster!"

"Your little cookie-monster!"

"And how about a movie?"

"Cuddling will suffice."

"Sounds like a great plan. Let's do it!" With these words, both girls left the room silently and searched for everything they needed to turn this night into a perfect night.

Forty-five minutes later, the fort was build and most of the leftovers eaten. Both girls now laid in their comfy pillow-fort. Chloe on her back and Max on her side, cuddled closely to her girlfriend, head on the blondes shoulder.

"Chloe?"

"Hmm?" she hummed, already a bit drowsy.

"About Seattle…"

"Max, I don't wanna talk about it right now. I haven't felt that relaxed and happy since you left and…" She sighed. "Fuck, I just wish that this very moment never ends."

Max lifted herself up and looked at Chloe. "I know. Actually, I'm feeling the same, but I need to get it off my heart."

Exhaling deeply, Chloe opened her eyes and looked into Max's ones deeply. "Okay, spill!"

"My stay in Seattle is only temporary, until the end of this school year. I'm still a student at Arcadia Junior High and I still wanna attend Blackwell. After everything went to hell, my mom literally freaked. She blamed everyone. Me, you, my dad, my school, Jasmine, Blackwell, Arcadia, and insisted to keep me in Seattle. And after you…well, pushed me away, there weren't much arguments left against it. I don't know how many hours we talked and fought about this topic. But eventually, we found a way. My dad made a deal with Hargrove: I'll stay an enlisted student in Arcadia Bay and am therefore able to stay in the talent-program, but my teachings will be done by a private-teacher in Seattle. Of course, I still have to write the tests and exams of our school. But after this school year is over and the program is about to start, I'm gonna move back to Arcadia Bay and then…" She leaned forward and gave Chloe a long kiss. "I'll be at your side, forever!"

A slight smile formed on the blonde's lips. "So you're definitely moving back?"

"You can bet your behind on it! I'm even planning on visiting you regularly."

Chloe let out another sigh, but this time out of relief. "Y'know, Maxi, I think you did the right thing, telling me about it. I-I'm actually relieved." She closed her eyes and pulled Max closer. "I think we should catch some sleep now, 'cause tomorrow is gonna be a stressful day."

"Yeah." Max replied and laid her head back on Chloe's shoulder. Soon, both girl were breathing steadily, sleeping close together, finally at peace.