Chapter 11. The healing game.
Four times already, but it surely looked like there wouldn't be a fifth in a row.
Since she had dropped Max off at downtown (a very generous term for the non-metropolis that Arcadia Bay was) Chloe had returned unsmoked cigarettes to the packet four times. The most curious aspect of the situation was that she had done it unconsciously and had only realized it now, sitting on the swing in her backyard, freshly out of the shower. Opportunely enough, she was still as skinny as ever, otherwise, her ass would not have fit on her old swing.
Not intending to explore the real meaning behind that gesture, she lit the cigarette, lift her legs and gently swung.
In an hour or so she was supposed to meet Max.
Before leaving for whatever errands she had to run, she had suggested having dinner somewhere near the pier noting that she had not yet been there since her return. Chloe informed her that, as with so many other matters in Arcadia, things had not improved since she left. Faced with Max's angry frown, she was forced to clarify that she meant the town's economic situation, not her life, and proceeded to expose how the Prescotts were wiping out all business in Arcadia Bay. Their long tentacles reached every corner of the Bay tainting the town with their greed, the maritime companies were acquired by one of their affiliates and subsequently closed down, all jobs lost. The wharf was no longer so full of life as she probably remembered from their childhood walks with William.
Naming her father elicited a weird reaction from Max, she froze and looked away. If Chloe didn't know better, she could have sworn that her response was one of sheer shame as if Max somehow blamed herself for William's death. After a short period of bewilderment, she recovered, insisting on grabbing some food somewhere in the harbor, her only argument being that she had something to do there. Chloe simply nodded.
Not that she had many options after all.
She showered and changed clothes without getting Max out of her head. For many reasons, admittedly, although mainly she was focused on the bizarre knowledge Max was displaying. Before she offered all the answers she had been holding back Chloe's mind had reviewed each and every plausible scenario to finally come to the only explanation that could account for everything.
Alien abduction.
On leaving Arcadia Bay, a UFO had abducted Max, taken her to their home planet and provided her with insight into what was happening during her absence before returning her to Earth. It might seem an insane idea at first, but under close inspection, one could only conclude that it covered all fronts.
Max's lack of contact? checked.
Unexplained information? surely. Involving some kind of alien technology but checked.
Not many details of her life in Seattle? checked.
Max's unbridled interest in recovering her best friend? leaving aside her own undeniable and irresistible punk appeal, checked.
Anal probes? not sure, but certainly discretion was highly advisable in that matter.
There was still the other option. That Max's story was just as she had told it. The move affected her a great deal, more than Chloe anticipated, she went through a very painful period, never stopped thinking about Chloe (although it seemed that this was a constant in both contexts) and she had returned to Arcadia Bay at the earliest chance to reunite with her. She had yet to explain the reason for her strange insight about Chloe's life, certainly she would probably provide a coherent explanation later that same night.
Chloe kept swinging, reflecting on the subject.
Nah, I'm sticking to alien abduction, it's hella cooler. Absolutely nothing can beat the fact that your best friend has been kidnapped by aliens.
Whatever the circumstances, Max had come back and gifted her the one thing nobody had been able to offer her.
Hope.
The future was no more a huge canvas on which to capture her failures and to her own amazement, she was foreseeing bright times ahead.
Spirals of smoke swirled back and forth following the swing motion.
Chloe smiled.
The first thing Max did after stopping by her room to drop off her purchases was to check on Kate. A brief stop for a quick exchange and Max turned to room 221.
Victoria opened the door and performed the following actions in rapid succession: gave her the once-over, swiftly changed her expression from disbelief to deep irritation, snorted, and tried to slam the door in her face. All this happened in a fraction of a second, but time was on Max's side. She stretched her arm and prevented her from closing the door.
"Not you again, " Victoria said through clenched teeth.
"Tori, let me in, let's not make a fuss".
Defeated again with the same trick, Victoria took a step back and let her into the room without trying to hide her anger.
Getting ahead of the situation, Max spoke at once as soon as the door closed behind her "I promise you, this is the last time I'm gonna repeat the same move".
"You better" Victoria replied without leaving the openly hostile tone.
"I feel filthy Tori, but there's no other way I could talk to you in private".
"I advised you never to use that name, only my friends are allowed to call me Tori".
"Oh, I'm aware of that".
"You are not..."
"You are mine, though" Max interrupted without letting her finish the sentence, with her it was invariably safer to play offense "I consider you my friend and I want you to consider me as one".
"Keep dreaming, that's never gonna happen" Victoria paused slightly in an attempt to contain herself, either way, her next words sounded decidedly like a threat "this nonsense of yours is no longer funny and it has to cease at once, I don't even care if you make a scene anymore".
"I told you I won't use that again, I just wanted to talk to you alone".
"You are warned for the last time, spit out whatever it is you've come to say and get the fuck out of my room and my life".
Max took a couple of steps to Victoria, still keeping a safe distance "I know why you came to my room yesterday, you wanted to ask me why I lied to Taylor".
"That's not..."
"I don't expect you to ever admit it, anyway, we both know it's the truth" Max interrupted again "You see, I don't want you hurting anyone like you've done to Kate but I don't want you to be hurt either".
"This is about Kate's video," Victoria said with relief, finally glimpsing some sense in the whole picture.
"No. You'll remove Kate's video yourself when the truth comes out. Fortunately for you, she's a better person than either of us and I'm confident she'll find a way to forgive you, I'm more worried about you finding a way to forgive yourself".
"I don't..."
"I remember perfectly what Taylor said, she actually said she was alone".
Victoria tensed up straightaway.
Touché.
A couple more steps, Max was right next to the other girl, she reached out her hand and placed it on Victoria's shoulder "I would have hurt me too... I know there is a nice girl under all your hostile crap, come on, try and be nice with the people around you".
Small gestures often mean a great deal, like for instance Victoria not forcefully pushing away Max's hand or the latter girl gently squeezing the former's shoulder.
Victoria remained motionless, staring at the other girl, slowly Max took her hand off her. By tacit agreement, both girls decided not to say anything and remained silent until a close conversation was heard on the other side of the door, followed by a couple of knocks "Tori are you in?". Without a word, Max moved away from Victoria, positioning herself closer to the door, at the same time leaving enough space for it to open up safely.
"I'm here, come on in". Victoria said without breaking eye contact with the other girl.
Taylor and Courtney were surprised to discover Max in her friend's room. Taylor directed a friendly smile, but to everyone else's surprise, Courtney approached and after casting an enigmatic gaze switching between them, gave her a half hug, half squeeze awkward salute.
"What are you doing here?" Courtney asked without a trace of malice in her voice.
"Mr. Jefferson handed me a message for Victoria, I heard music in her room so I crossed over to give it to her".
"Weird choice as I was also in class... no message for Taylor who also was absent?" she added with a mocking smile.
"No," Max replied after a slight moment of doubt "It was about a personal assignment".
Courtney gave her a mischievous eye, luckily for her, Taylor decided to intervene at that moment. "Max...I didn't really said much yesterday, but I wanted to thank you for asking about my mother".
"It's okay, I mean, I'm sure you already did being friends Victoria and Courtney, anyway it's important to know people care about you".
"Yeah, sure" Taylor replied without much conviction "Today was very nice and I want to thank you... even if you had nothing to do with it" she corrected herself immediately, turning her response into utter nonsense "Mum's fine, she was so happy that I visited".
Victoria looked at her two friends. The duo had ridiculed Max as much as she did, yet, they were clearly befriending her. More than that, in Courtney's case they seemed like good friends already. Max confused her, she had suddenly initiated an absurd crusade for unknown reasons and she was the subject of her efforts. Protect her, be friends with her and a whole series of nonsense. No matter what, the worst part was, she knew what she was doing. Every single one of her moves had been smoothly executed, she knew perfectly well what she was doing ... and yes, she was right. Taylor word's were a punch to her guts, and the reason why she went to her room the day before.
Regardless of all that, there was a superior truth that invalidated all her efforts. Max had no right to fix the mess her life was, Victoria didn't deserve it and she wasn't going to grant her that satisfaction.
"It's been great to see you and I'm glad your mom is OK, but I'm done with Victoria, I have stuff to do, see you guys later".
Taylor and Courtney bid her goodbye affectionately, Victoria chose to keep silent, before she left, however, she called her "Hey Max!".
Max turned and offered her a small grimace before answering "I know, I know... Fuck me, right?".
"Yeah, that's it, fuck you".
It had been a long time since Chloe walked by the harbor, still, truth be told, she had fallen short in her diagnosis. It was certainly a weekday in low season (i.e. all year round except for June-August) but it wasn't that cold yet and the day-light was still generous, in any case, the whole area was dead. The two friends had to find a fast food joint on one of the side streets to have dinner.
With their stomachs full of greasy pizza and the extra coffee Max had insisted they should drink, they were sitting on a bench in front of the ocean when Max made her strange request "Can you help me count the boats?".
"Uh?".
"The boats, I want to count them, you don't think any of them is still out on the sea, do you?".
"No, I don't think so, it's too late. Before you is the hella magnificent fleet of Arcadia Bay after the Prescotts have put their dirty hands in the local business".
"I count fourteen, see if you count the same".
...
"Twelve, thirteen...and fourteen. Double-checked it, fourteen it is, why it's important?"
"You'll see," replied Max enigmatically.
"Pfff whatever, I'm already used to it".
"I'm sorry, just a little bit more and you'll understand".
"Yeah, sure. What now?".
Max checked her cellphone and loosened up on the bench "the eclipse will start soon, let's just stay here".
Chloe glanced at her, downcast. "Max, you know unscheduled eclipses are not a thing, right?".
"Then you'll know I'm a complete nutcase, and you can stop being my friend, but if ...".
"I'm not gonna stop being your friend, whatever the fuck happens with the eclipse" Chloe barged in.
"Well... if I'm right" Max tried to continue.
"Loony bin material or not we're still gonna be friends".
Whatever Max wanted to said lost all relevance to Chloe's blunt statement so she decided to drop the issue. The next few minutes were spent amid giggles, remembering memories of their shared childhood. That lasted until Max, who had not lost track of the sun the whole time, saw a small darkened spot.
Reaching into her bag, she pulled out two slightly odd looking sunglasses, and handed Chloe one of them "here, have one".
"What do you want me to do with this? Elton John meets Arcadia Bay Punk Princess?".
"I don't know anything about that, but you have gorgeous eyes and I don't want you to harm them, staring at the sun when there's an eclipse is not safe". Max replied as she put on her glasses "they're brand new I bought them this afternoon".
"Max, I told you...".
"You better see it for yourself, please put your glasses on first".
"With a sigh of resignation, Chloe lifted her head up without putting on her glasses "... motherfucker MAX! there's an eclipse".
"No shit Sherlock , seriously, the glasses".
With trembling hands, Chloe required several attempts until she successfully adjusted the glasses and looked back at the sun as if she didn't quite believe it "that's fucking impossible".
"We can already rule out the fact that I'm nuts, right?".
"I guess so... I mean, yeah right, I'm sorry, this is hella awesome. "How could you?..."
Max made a dismissive hand gesture "you've brought the Blackwell's keys?".
Chloe tapped her jacket pocket, the metallic sound confirmed she hadn't forgotten.
"I'm a bit on the too much pizza side and we have to wait until night time for our little trick, how about this, after the eclipse we go for a walk to wash out dinner and then Blackwell?"
"Sounds right".
"For now...just enjoy this with me," she said as she scoot over towards her "We've been apart for five year, I want to make up for lost time. Yesterday we saw the snow on the beach, today this, and I'm planning to experience the rest of this week's freaky stuff with you".
"You knew it was going to snow yesterday?".
"I know a great deal and I can assure you every single thing in that infamous message is gonna actually happen".
Before Chloe could answer, Max's phone went off the same way the day before. She pulled it out of her tote bag, checked the caller ID and put it away again.
"Don't tell me, it's this Warren guy" Chloe said with obvious annoyance.
"Yup".
"That guy couldn't be more obvious, he's so fucking into you".
"You know what? I think you're right" Max replied with total ease.
Max's phone started buzzing. The text alert wouldn't stop, which came in handy for Chloe in order to keep her from making some overly revealing comment.
Suddenly a different text alert sounded. Chloe looked at the other girl in amazement, Max raised her arms in a clear gesture that meant she had nothing to do with that text. Chloe removed her cell phone from her pants pocket and looked at the screen.
"It's Kate". Chloe glanced at Max hesitantly.
"Come on, text her back, don't keep your friend waiting".
Without a word and at the same time not losing sight of what Max had just implied, Chloe busied herself typing on her phone while she kept talking to Max, detailing her conversation "she's asking me about the eclipse, she's freaking out...pretty much everybody at Blackwell in fact...Oh, she's asking me where I am... I'm telling her I'm with you...telling her we had dinner together". Suddenly, Chloe blushed and put away her cell phone "that's it, I'll talk to her later".
"What did she ask you?" Max replied amused at the sight of her strange reaction.
"Just... you know... stuff".
(Insert cricket sound).
Lying on the bench, with the last rays of sunshine hidden behind an inconceivable eclipse, Chloe reflected on her life.
She was sitting next to her best friend, who also happened to be her first and biggest crush. Meeting her again had brought all those feelings to the surface again, at the same time she still had unresolved issues with her former non-girlfriend who turned out to have been sleeping with half the male population of Arcadia Bay on the sly. Meanwhile, another friend (she had friends, in amazing plural) was asking indiscreet questions via text, questions that she didn't want to answer not to create herself false expectations.
But wasn't that what was supposed to happen? Pure teenage drama in all its glorious misery. There was something comforting about the ordeals of late adolescence, the kind of life she was supposed to be living at her age and not the nonsensical race to nowhere in which she was stuck.
The heartwarming sensation that she was experiencing could only mean one thing.
Chloe was healing.
It could take a long time, she might not even be totally fixed in her entire life, but Chloe took a quick look at the freckled girl sitting next to her and knew she was healing.
God, what a fantastic feeling.
The sun had already set, there was nothing else to do there. Chloe got up and gently pulled her friend's arm. "Let's go for that walk".
It was already night time when the two girls got into the truck and headed for Blackwell.
Rolling through the streets of Arcadia Bay , Max pulled out her cell and began to type
Max: It's chilly outside.
Victoria: Now you're playing the weatherman? already tired of being the retarded shy hipster geek?
Max: You should stay in.
Victoria: The fuck you mean?
Max: I know you are set to go meet someone, please don't go. It's for your own good.
Victoria: Get lost.
Max had no clue whether Victoria would heed her recommendation. There was nothing else she could do, so she proceeded to answer all the texts she had received during the eclipse finishing just as Chloe was taking the turn into Blackwell.
"We're here" Chloe announced.
"Are you ready?".
"I honestly don't know".
"Good, 'cause I have no idea how you're gonna take this".
Notes.
Probably not what you were expecting, but this chapter needed to be.
