(Parts of this chapter has been deleted or edited to not break any rules. Please check my profile description to find out where to find the original chapter)

The question hung above her, taunting her with a repetitive poking. There were answers, but none of them could compare to what she felt was necessary to say. Words simply couldn't express her feelings.

"There is a lot of things that makes me happy Chloe," Max was outside of her body, talking without a thought, begging to her mind that she could manage a proper answer.
"The way you intentionally yawn loudly in the morning," she saw images flashing before her.
"The way you make a commotion every time a bee gets too close to you" it felt like a dream.
"The way you kissed me back when I pressed my lips up against yours" Now there were too many things to mention, but only one important thing remained.
"The way I know that you would take a bullet for me" She looked at the smile on Chloe's lips and felt her whole body smiling back.

"I…" Chloe felt hesitant, wanting to say the very thing that her heart pushed up against her throat with every beat.
"You're awesome Max" a heavy feeling of despondency passed through Chloe, having avoided saying what she felt.

Yet, without a pause, a soothing voice subdued those feeling with the words "You're awesome too"

Suddenly the atmosphere around them was stuck, silencing them both. It was obvious what should've had come next, but Max categorized her inability to kiss the girl before as pure shyness. Any other reason could be problematic. However, her thoughts washed away when she felt Chloe's thumb gently stroking her wrist. The pressure point relaxed her body, making her take a quiet breath as she took a small step closer and just as she did, Chloe gently pulled Max's hand closer and placed it on the right side of her stomach. She felt her friend's warm and wet skin, almost burning the palm of her hand. She lifted her head slightly, noticing the unmistakable lusting face of Chloe and could not deny her of her wishes for a second longer. With her other hand, Max grabbed her friend's upper arm and pulled her closer before brushing her lips up against Chloe's. It was not her intention, but she knew she was teasing her friend to unbearable limits as she breathed warmly into her mouth. She could feel her impatient trembling and the breath she let out onto Max, sounded like a whisper of burning passion. Finally, Max took a firmer grip with the hand she had on Chloe's stomach and separated her lips slightly while pushing them up against the pair before her. It felt like an explosion when they were both finally caught in the kiss they were sharing. In rhythm, they switched between who opened their mouth slightly and every now and then, switched their heads to the other side. The sound of every separation of their lips, for whoever short it was, created the smacking sound caused by the intake of air through their closed lips. However much Max wanted to just get lost in the moment and simply respond to her body, her mind rushed in and analyzed the possible moves to do. The Involvement of tongue was one, sliding hands through her hair was another. She was quick to put those thoughts on hold however, as she solely focused on enjoying the intimacy that was being shared with her. After a few muted moans from the blue-haired girl, Max felt the hand on Chloe's stomach being slowly moved downwards. However, the exact direction was unknown, but in the moment her heart made a beat in synch with her open-mouth kiss, she followed the lead and moved it down her abdomen as Chloe subtly spread her legs while Max continued with her hand down her friend's groin. She shortly felt a patch of hair, until her middle finger was hidden between Chloe's legs.

Chloe moved her head backward and took a quick breath, almost as a gasp. Her face got redder just as she let go of her grip on Max's hand and placed both her arms around her with her hands on Max's hip and continued to move them upwards, partially lifting her white shirt, exposing her stomach. She placed her head on her right shoulder while taking deep breaths. Max couldn't help but to give in to the arousal as well and kept her mouth open while letting out air, as she slowly moved her hand around, instantly feeling the shared warmth between them.

Shortly, Max tried to finish a single thought, but these ordinarily occupying thoughts of her seemed blocked off. Chloe's respond to Max pleasing her, filled her with an inordinate amount of fervent delectation, only wanting her friend to hug her tighter with an impassioned embrace. Max felt the sensation of being overwhelmed, not having any experience in such intimacy, but rather, she used the knowledge she had gathered through videos, text, and personal experimentation. She felt her friend's fingernails being pressed into her back and eventually felt the wetness from Chloe's front body, soaking through her shirt in the loose hug. With every slight twitch Max made with her finger, Chloe responded with either a moan or a tensing in her lower-body. In pure arousal, Chloe bend slightly down and took a quick breath through her nose, lifting up her bare chest and squeezing it against Max. The sensation was driving Max crazy and she could feel herself getting hot as she continued. In a moment of lust, she lashed her right arm around Chloe's hip and forcefully grabbed the lower part of her back, instantly making Chloe arch her back, and placing her left hand on the side of Max's stomach and the other down the length of her thigh before moving her head in front of the girl and immediately kissed her. When Chloe carefully began sticking her tongue out every time before she closed her mouth, Max began speeding up the motions and began moving her right hand around Chloe's back. The single time that Max managed to quickly close her lips down on her friends tongue, Chloe made an effort to participate with her hands as well, as she placed her right hand underneath Max's bra strap and the other moving from her hip up to the side of her covered breast. Taking a small step to the left made a short splashy sound, feeling as if she had just stepped in a puddle. Both their bodies tensed and for a second, Max forgot to move her hands around. The heat around them had soared, making Max exhale, nearly panting as Chloe pulled her head back and looked at Max with a few drops of what could have been water skating down her forehead, but was more likely to be sweat. Her hair had dried slightly, now beginning to curl in various ways. Her face however, was clear from her blue bangs as the look she sent Max could be read clearly. She looked embarrassed to actually see the person in front of her, but one thing Max noticed on Chloe's face was the one thing that hauled all her bodily desires and made a wave of thoughts rush through her mind. The redness brought a slight sickness to her stomach. Now that Chloe's face had been cleaned and her hair removed, the bruise on her cheek was clearly visible. It looked sore, making Max wonder why Chloe didn't mention it. Even worse, it looked like the skin had a small wound covered up with dry blood. In a crucial and brief moment, she tried to let it go. Tried to focus on what was happening at the very moment, but every time she managed to block it away, the mental images of Chloe getting punched to the ground broke through, leading her to think about their situation with Ethan. How he may have played a part in what happened at the diner and how much danger they potentially could be in; even more, now that a bunch of information had gone online. The information they haven't even tried to track down and delete if possible. Her speeding heart was now pumping anxiety through her body and she felt stuck in her mind, making her retract her hands, feeling indifferent by the layer of heat on her fingers. Chloe had quickly caught Max's woeful expression and insecure body language and forced her arousal down.

"What's up?" She asked through a breath and removed her hands as well.

Max took a second to answer, trying to collect herself.
"I can't stop thinking about Ethan"

Chloe subtly squirmed her face and pulled her lips to the side.
"Hey, if that helps…"

Max closed her eyes and sighed.
"Not like that… about the situation we're in"

Quickly changing her expression and taking a quick breath, Chloe titled her head to the right.
"Oh, thank God," She let out relieved, but quickly flinched.
"I mean, it sucks yeah, just glad that… you know"

"That I wasn't thinking about him to get me going?" Max couldn't help but give off a gentle smile.

Chloe gave a single nod and smiled as well.

"Don't worry Chloe. I was all caught up in you. In the moment with you," Max placed her focus on the wall behind her friend and placed her left hand on her right arm. "It's just when I saw your bruise that I kinda got distracted"

Chloe met Max's focus by stretching her head to the side, entering her field of sight.
"How about I dry off and then we'll check around to see if we can find anything about that information shit and then we'll make a plan to make it the least uncomfortable for you?"

"Thanks Chloe, but I want you to be alright with everything too. It's me that he's trying to fuck with… I just feel bad for dragging you in" Max felt happy, hearing Chloe's concerned words and how she set her needs in front of her own, but with every sliver of joy that passed through, a stronger feeling of guilt subdued it.

"Click, click Max" Chloe oddly responded while flicking a finger on the side of Max's head.
"You didn't drag me in. I'm like… I would crawl my way through literal shit to be a part of this. It's not your problem Max. It's ours and that's just how it is" she gently tapped her finger once more and gave off a reassuring look.

Max wanted to let it go, but it kept pushing from the inside. Her concerns becoming problems.
"But aren't you scared that this will just… break us?" She looked up at Chloe, clinging for a sincere answer.
"That it will break… whatever there is between us. And if that bond breaks, it will destroy our friendship in the progress?" She saw Chloe thinking about an answer, seeing her blue eyes flickering slightly from side to side.

"No" Placing a hand on Max's shoulder, her eyes stopped, standing perfectly still, looking confident.
"What worried me was that we would never get to where we are now. That we would be stuck, just pretending… limiting ourselves and denying what could be, just because it would be scary. Because it is scary"

Max only had a second to smile, before Chloe continued.

"And in terms of how much clothing I am wearing right now, on a scale from zero to ten…" Chloe quickly looked down.
"I'm hella naked"

A muffled chuckle was forced out from Max, as she quietly found herself blushing again, feeling the heavy atmosphere being lifted ever so slightly.

"And in terms of feeling warm while being naked, on a scale from zero to ten," Chloe began, but Max couldn't help but taking a wild guess.

"You're hella cold?" Max had indeed thought about how it was somewhat chilly in the bathroom and must have been even more so for her wet and naked friend.

Chloe looked up again and pressed her eyebrows together the best she could.
"Nah, I'm like a four"

For a moment, the two girls shared a laugh. It shortly numbed the awkwardness and misery that had surrounded them. "I'm gonna dry off" Chloe eventually said with a smile, moved her head closer to Max and planted a kiss on her lips, telling her to take it easy just before she began looking around for the actual towel.

Max nodded, feeling her socks beginning to dry. "Alright, and… sorry about bringing all this up. I really enjoyed it until then" she felt she had to, at least, apologize for not bringing a satisfactory ending to their first intimate activity.

"It's fiiiine" Chloe jokingly stretched the word as she grabbed the towel Max had dropped on the side of the bathtub. "But next time," she said a little louder. "I'm gonna get ya'"

It played out slowly as Max gave off the last smile and stepped out of the bathtub to let her friend dry off. Taking off her socks, she thought of the conversation they just had and felt bad for what she was about to do, but however confident Chloe had been, Max knew that she was breakable, downright fragile. It was a necessity.
She wanted to make one last remark before she walked out of the bathroom, but everything that she wanted to say had already been said. The remaining words floating around in her head would do no good.
Quietly, she walked straight back into Chloe's room and scanned it, trying to find her phone. She remembered throwing it somewhere, but her eyes kept focusing back on the damage she had done to Chloe's PC. Scattered pieces on the floor that had to be cleaned up and a confession to be made. It was hard to tell how Chloe would react, but if there would be a sliver of anger or sadness in her reaction, Max agreed with herself that she would buy her friend a new and better PC. As she went through the imaginary conversation in her head, her eyes spotted Chloe's phone lying on the table, next to some papers and an empty bottle of soda.

Hopefully, Chloe doesn't mind if I make a phone call with her phone.

She took a step forward, being careful not to step on anything with her bare feet.

Why would she?

Not wanting to have another thing to apologize for– like a giant phone bill– Max planned her words ahead of time as she grabbed the black smartphone. Even though Max's own phone had a customized cover, she felt glad that Chloe didn't buy into all that. The phone looked so much smoother and fancier without a giant cover, supposedly protecting the phone. She pressed the small button on the side before sliding her finger across the screen to unlock it. A background picture of chains hanging from a worn-out wall popped up, with some apps in front and the time clearly being shown. 10:58 pm. With her thumb, she opened up the dial screen and began typing in numbers. Just after pressing the call button, did she hold the phone up to her right ear and looked out the window in front of her. The street lights were lighting up the pavement below, the stars were hidden, but present. A light turned off in the house ahead.

"Hey Max"

Hearing the voice, Max let her head fall down and took a breath. I felt odd to hear his voice in a time like this and it felt even odder when she opened her mouth to speak.

"Hey, Dad. I have something important to ask of you"