A/N: Bit of a short chapter, this one. But I think that you'll like it. Maybe.
Momijifan Low-Ki: When your teenage daughter who lives away from home tells you she has something important to tell you, I imagine that pregnancy would probably be the first thought.
Rayne Ariana Maranochi: I'm at that stage myself, haven't told my parents because I live away from home and think it needs to be done face to face.
Phoenix0899: Damn. That's pretty high praise, I hope I continue to live up to it. Pricefield talks and snuggles coming up.
Aaron Leach: Thank you.
HollyToney: Thank you, I'm glad to have been a source of inspiration. I will read your story as soon as I can get some time to do so.
Charles the Second: Thank you.
aimeekiwi93: The short chapters are to prevent storydeath. Seattle is about three weeks after butterfly, two weeks after waking up in hospital. So the Saturday before Halloween.
Darquan0: Good point, I missed that. I had to correct it. Twice. Thank you.
Fritz: Max's mom is mildly religious. Nowhere near the level of Kate's family, not enough to be outright homophobic, but enough for Max being gay to slightly 'jar' her view of reality. It's mostly surprise really.
Shippy(1): Thank you
Shippy(2): Here is MOAR, as you put it.
Just as a final note, most of you will probably be aware of this, but for those that aren't: Reviews can really help an author's motivation. We get no financial gain from this, we sustain ourselves entirely on positive feedback. Critical feedback helps us improve ourselves and our stories. Thank you all so much for your support and advice. I hope that you will continue to read, enjoy and in turn review my work. As you may have noticed, I make a point of replying to each and every review, even if just a 'thank you' to let reviewers know that their feedback is appreciated.
"This house is hella big." Chloe says, flopping down on the couch to my life. "Like, big enough to park a car in."
"Chloe, what did you do?" A note of concern enters my voice. Chloe hardly helps assuage my fears when she looks away, embarrassed. She mumbles something under her breath. "What was that?" I say, fairly confident that I have heard her, but looking for confirmation anyway. She refuses to meet my eye.
"I got lost looking for the bathroom."
"And where did you end up?"
"Your parents room."
"What? That's nowhere near the bathroom."
"I didn't know that, did I?" She sighs, "Your Dad was in there, and he tried to give me 'the talk'."
"'the talk'?" I ask, the only 'talk' I can think of is the one Mom gave me when I was thirteen, having read in some parenting newsletter or other that this was the appropriate age to broach such a subject with your child. That talk had turned out to be largely unnecessary, not that either of us had known it at the time, some of it was still applicable, but the majority had relied on the premise that I would be bringing a boy home.
"Yeah, the 'you hurt my daughter and I hurt you' talk." She grins at me, "I don't think he knew what he was doing, was only doing it because he'd seen it on TV, and I definitely don't think he was expecting to have to have it with a girl."
"Oh, god." I say, covering my face with one hand.
"Funny," Chloe says, "I was expecting you to be wearing less clothing when I made you say that."
I am mortified, and can feel my face reddening behind my hand.
Chloe simply laughs, and places her arm around my shoulders, "You know you're adorable when you're blushing?"
"Shut up." I tell her.
"Hey, everything worked out. I told your Dad that I have no intention of doing anything to upset or hurt you. Mostly because I'm terrified of what my Mom would do to me. He seemed happy enough." We sit for a moment, then Chloe reaches forward and grabs the remote off the coffee table. "Let's see if there's anything good on this monster." She says, serious moment apparently over.
Two hours and three episodes of Twin Peaks later, and it's dark outside.
"Well," Chloe says, yawning, "That was fun. But I need to sleep now."
"We can use my old room." I say, "My parents never got around to converting it into my Dad's man cave like they planned to."
We move quietly through the house so as not to disturb my parents who went to bed about an hour ago. We enter my room, I switch on the nightlight and Chloe deposits her jacket on the back of my desk chair.
"Nice bed." Chloe says, poking her tongue out suggestively. I merely roll my eyes at her childish antics. I begin to undress, dumping my hoodie and jeans on the floor, too tired to really care. I turn back, and see that Chloe is bending over to pull her own jeans off, and is still wearing her beanie.
I am taken by a sudden burst of energy and mischievousness. I lean across and grab the beanie off her head.
"Hey!"
I dance backwards out of her reach, poking my tongue out mockingly.
"Max, give me back my beanie."
"Make me." I say, cheekily.
"Oh, I'll make you." She says, a glint in her eye. Before I have time to question what she means, I am pinned against my bedroom wall, wrists held above my head, Chloe's breath hot on my face. My heart races and Chloe's beanie drops to the floor. There is a tension between us, we both want this. She kisses me and the tension is broken. She captures my mouth in hers, gently biting my lower lip. She breaks the kiss and I arch forward, wanting more, held back by her hand on my wrists. Instead, Chloe begins kissing my jaw before moving down the left side of my neck. I am aware of every sensation on every inch of skin that she kisses. stopping only when she reaches the neckline of my t-shirt.
She releases my hands and drops hers to the hem of my t-shirt. She pulls it up over my head and drops it to the floor alongside her long-forgotten beanie. She stops. I follow her eyes and realise that she is staring at my scars. This is the first time she has seen them. She reaches out a hand, stopping short of actually touching. She looks up into my eyes.
"This is..."
"Yes." There are so many more words unsaid, but we know them.
"Max." She says, "Are you sure you want this?"
I nod. Apparently this is not enough.
"I need to hear you say it."
"I want this Chloe, I want you."
"Ok."
She reaches around behind my back and unhooks my bra, leaving my breasts exposed. Her other hand hikes my legs up around her waist and she carries me over to the bed, laying me down gently. She resumes her kissing where she left off, trailing down my collarbone, between my breasts, over the scars. When she reaches my navel I feel more alive than I ever have before. I can feel every fibre of the sheets beneath me, every ridge on Chloe's fingertips, strands of her hair tickling my belly, and when she pulls down my panties...
"Oh, god!"
