Finally able to release something again! Geez, the last few weeks have been funny, but I had even less time than I expected I would have :S
I started a new job about a week ago, so that'll obviously eat some of my time as well, so releases will be a bit later than they used to be, sorry about it x)
There were hands grabbing her, pinning her down but she still felt so hazy that she couldn't bring herself to fight back at all. There was also this weird pain in her neck.
She heard something that sounded like rain and a strong wind blowing in the tree leafs. Waves of a wild ocean. Voices of the people she lost hissed her name.
"Max. Are you happy now?"
She was supposed to feel guilt, but instead there was just emptiness. A dark grey inside and outside of her. It was like her feelings were a layer over her eyes. Only grey everywhere.
As Max opened her eyes, there was the nostalgic blue. Blue hair. Blue hair that she loved, belonging to the person she loved even more. The hippies eyes blinked a few times as she realized that she was in her dorm room and not some twisted reality created by her nightmares.
The arm, Chloe's head was resting on, felt a bit numb, but the brunette didn't mind at all. Normally she would be the 'little spoon' but it looked like this time Chloe had nestled into Max for a change.
Nothing comes close to waking up next to her. Fuck my nightmares, this alone is worth like a billion nightmares at once.
After their... whatever that was last night, Chloe had convinced Max that it was safe to stay the night with her.
"Can I be sure that you won't have a chance of heart as soon as you see me sleeping next to you, miss you-need-to-have-patience?"
"Oh, come on Max! Do you really think I would jump at you in your sleep?" Chloe asked but only got a quirked eyebrow and an cynical smirk as an answer. "Okay. Maybe I would. But I hella won't! Do you seriously want to let your girlfriend to leave in the middle of the night?"
"Ohhhh, so that's what this is about. You're just being lazy."
The blue haired girl put one of her hands before her mouth as she tried to sound offended. "You're accusing me of the terrible sin of sloth? How dare you!"
Max snickered while giving her girlfriend a nudge. "Are you sure though? What if David finds you here?"
"Hmm? So he just bursts into the girls dorm sometimes? And especially in your room, to be exact?"
"Duhh, like aaallll the time! I needed to repair my door like four times already, because he kicks if he feels like it! Sometimes he even comes crashing through the window, you know?"
The blue haired girl rolled her eyes while a smile appeared on her lips. "He probably already heard about what I did to you on the campus anyways."
"You mean the assault like kiss you gave me on campus."
"Don't badmouth my great kissing skills now!"
Max showed an impish smile and said, "There's only one way to shut me up." And as commanded the punk shut her up... with her lips. A shorter kiss than before, but still just as wonderful in Max's opinion. As their lips departed she was already missing the sensation again.
Ahh, being corrupted is so good. Hella good!
"With all that sassiness you're making the waiting even harder, Maxaroni."
The brunette blushed upon hearing that, but still retorted with a shrug, "Hey it was you who pulled the chaste card, not me."
"Ouch... But yeah, you're right. Despite what everyone say the first time still should be something special. Especially for someone like you."
"Like me?"
With a high pitched voice Chloe suddenly tried to imitate her girlfriend's voice. "Me? Cute, smart, talented, best friend since childhood, and oh also a time traveler. But special? Me?"
"Dork!" Max said as she gave the giggling punk yet another playful nudge.
And now they were lying in Max's small bed, cuddled together so that Max didn't need to fear to fall out of the bed, being on the outer side of the bed.
Chloe the thief stole the wall side before I even had a chance. Probably better though, I'll stand up before her after all. She said she would try go out of my room after the morning chaos of everyone trying to wake up, so that she won't need to answer any questions of why she was in her girlfriends room. Also that'll lessen the chance to run into David.
Max sighed upon thinking about her girlfriend's stepdad.
Even if she still can't stand him, it has gotten better... Or at least I hope so?
As she tried to move her hand from under the blue haired head she noticed that something was suspiciously close to her chest area. A hand with blue fingernails. She narrowed her eyes and stared at it for a few seconds. She then let out another sigh and a smile appeared on her face.
Is groping me becoming your new hobby now?
Even if she didn't mind the physical contact as much as she maybe should, it was still weird for the freckled girl. After all before Chloe there had been... no one at all. Of course here and there she had thought that someone was pretty, be it boy or girl. But she never even imagined herself kissing someone, not even speaking about sexual intercourse. There had never been someone as special as Chloe. And how could there be?
Dad found it always amusing how I would pout after he picked me up from her house, and laughed it off like it was nothing. But... looking back in retrospective I may have had a crush since back when we were kids. Would explain my missing interest in topics of love, or why I was so scared to call her when I moved to Seattle. Anxiety of rejection. Whenever I didn't want to talk about boys or love in general Kristen always nagged that the only thing I had space for in my heart was my camera... But photography was also one of the few things that reminded me of her.
The freckled girl blinked a few times, and felt baffled upon realizing that her feeling for the girl still sleeping next to her were probably way older than just one week. Or two. Her childhood friend was the first in so may things. First best friend, first love, first lover. Just after a week of dating Max was already at the point where the closer the two of them were to each other, the more she would despise the layers between them.
After a few more minutes of savoring the comfort of cuddling, she forced herself to stand up. With an inner groan she removed herself from the bigger girl and thought about what she had said last night.
"Wanting to make it special, hmm?" Max said out loud to herself.
Not gonna lie, it moved me when she explained why she stopped me. I felt... special? Ha, and she claims she's not good at this mushy stuff. Feels more like she mastered it already. I just hope I'm worth all the effort she is making... Right after thinking those thoughts she let out an annoyed, "Geez!" Max and Chloe just had a fight because the punk said stuff like that and now a few hours later, Max was doing the same thing.
She would probably scold me when she knew I'm questioning her choice of me being her partner in crime. Just like I did. Guess we'll have to accept that we're both idiots for falling in love with someone we don't deserve. She slightly shook her brown haired head and the smile returned to her face.
Her eyes wandered to the clock on her night table and her smile disappeared once again. She had not much time left until class would start. An annoyed "Ughh." escaped her lips as she tried to stand up to find some clothes to put on, while deciding that she wouldn't have the time to shower today.
Guess I'll have to do that after school then. I fucking hate going dirty in the day though... Fuck Mondays!
When she was ready to go her eyes wandered once more to the girl in her bed. The freckled girl groaned once more over the fact that she couldn't snuggle into the bed again and tried to be content with just watching how air went in and out of Chloe's mouth in a steady rhythm. The freckled girl thought that,even if it sounded weird, it created a feeling of reassurance when she saw how her girlfriend was breathing. Like it was the assurance that the punk was alive. Max still felt like she needed to make sure that the punk was alive. And Chloe was. Everyone was after all. This timeline was like the happy end for everyone.
Well except for all the the trauma and nightmares...
The hippie bent down to give her girlfriend a quick peck on the forehead. Right after she did so Chloe grabbed her pillow and nestled her head into it. Max could hear a faint, "Not yet, mom..." and needed to hold a laughter back, which got even harder when she saw that the blue haired girl was drooling in her sleep.
"Yurk, Chloe slobber." The brunette said out loud.
Now my pillow will reek of Chloe-drool... Because Chloe-drool is great after all... Maybe I'll even build an altar for the pillow and hide it in my closet... Ah! I should probably leave her a note or something.
And so she did after finding a dispensable piece of paper.
"TYL my sleeping beauty and don't get caught by the step-dragon wandering this lands."
In haste Max tried to doddle a dragon, but gave up soon enough.
Drawing was never one of my strong points. Where is Daniel when you need him?
Max made her way outside the girls dorm and with quick steps she moved towards the main entrance, not wanting to miss her English lesson. Moving past some students she could still feel the gaze of them behind her back.
If this is how Rachel felt all the time... Geez, I would've gone nuts...
Right when she entered the school building she spotted something weird. Brooke and Warren arguing over something next to Brooke's locker. Over all the noises in the hallway she couldn't really understand what it was about, but then the two of them saw her as well and Warren suddenly rushed over to where the freckled girl was. For a moment the small girl expected him to invade her private space again and subconsciously had her hands already prepared to defend herself, but he didn't try anything at all, instead he looked kind of ruffled. Max also noticed that Brooke didn't have her usual annoyed expression when Warren talked to her.
He adjusted pretty quick... Well maybe he already expected to be shot down after how I treated him most of the times. And it seems Brooke did finally accept that I won't try to steal him away from her or anything.
"Hey Max, got time for a weird question real quick?"
"Uhm? Okay, I guess?" The brunette answered, while not really being sure what all of this was about.
He took the thing with Chloe rather well, but I still think I kind of hurt him... On the other hand it would've probably hurt him even more if I let a freaking storm destroy the whole town... He probably has a few questions about Chloe thought.
"What is better for a speed run? The Uchigatana or the Balder Side Sword?"
"Huh?" For a moment the brunette was dumbfounded by the question Warren had asked her. It was obviously not about anything romantic. Or at least she believed so. "What the hell is a bladder sword? Wait, is this one of those disgusting internet videos? If so, forget that I asked anything!"
He faked a gasp and shook his head. "I can't believe you call yourself a hipster nerd if you never played dark souls before!"
"For the record I never call myselfa hipster nerd... But well, I've heard about it, it's supposed to be really hard, right?" She retorted with a shrug.
"Naa, it's harder than most games today, but not too hard either." Brooke had come over to join their conversation. "Warren has a copy of the game you should really try it sometime. Maybe play it with this punk girl together? Me and Warren always switch once someone dies, it's pretty funny actually."
Hmmm. Gaming dates? Nice going Brooke.
But still, somehow this felt weird. The last few days had been all about time travel, death, love and stopping evil for Max and now just having a conversation about a video game... overwhelmed her. She didn't know what to say. The freckled girl was so dumbfounded for a moment that she started to laugh at herself.
Once all of this is over... maybe I can return to my hipstery nerdy life I once had... with extra Chloe as the main dish. Just need to find something in Wells's office like last time. It'll show the police that Nathan's father may not have been part of the dark room but that he's at least a corrupt asshole. He did say that without his funding there won't be a girls dorm, but I honestly don't believe that after thinking about it again. Now more than ever Blackwell is going viral for what happened last week. That means a lot of people are probably interested in investing in it. His threat about the Two Wales on the other hand... No, he needs to be stopped either way. A person that vile shouldn't have so much power.
"The question is simple. Slicy slice or stabby stab against a bunch of zombies?"
"I ehh- I would pick the stabby I think?"
"What? Why?"
"Well you just need to destroy the brain, don't you?" That simple answer made Brooke and Warren snicker.
"That's not how the game works, Max." Brooke then clarified.
"And how should I know that?"
But Warren didn't even listen to Max question. "Do you know how low the drop rate of it is? I would farm for days before getting it!"
"And you would still get back the time because Balders is so fucking godlike!"
But before she could listen to the rest of the argument, of which she didn't understand one word to be honest, the bell rang. Suddenly Brooke looked like she just realized something. "Wait a second, Max. What are you doing here?" The nerdy girl asked while getting her books out of the locker.
"What do you mea- Oh, fuck, don't tell me Mrs. Hoida is still absent?"
"Wells said that she'll be back next week." Brooke responded with a shrug.
"Great. I just wasted a healthy doses of sleep." The brunette groaned as she facepalmed herself.
Should have listened to my primeval instincts and snuggled more with Che...
"If you got time why not fill your lack of gaming knowledge. If you want to you can go to my room and play it for a bit." Warren suggested. "Just don't delete my saves."
"Sure, if you don't mind me entering the sacred realm of yours."
"Pff, you've been there like what? A hundred times? No, I don't really mind." Warren said before waving and leaving with Brooke in tow.
He's still a good friend, isn't he? Maybe I'll really just do as he said and try that game out, it's not like I've anything better to do before my next class starts. Chloe is sleeping anyways, and I don't think It's a great idea to talk with David alone. Should wait for my little punk to make up and then after class we could ask him if we can catch him alone. Even if we planed to ask him tomorrow at the Price house, maybe we can be even faster than we planed. The early all of this is over the better.
As she entered Warren's room, she sat herself on one of the pillows which were lying on the floor, and turned on the TV which was connected to his gaming consoles. Max quiet liked his room, but it was nothing one wouldn't expect when seeing the nerdy boy once. A bed, a computer, a bookshelf with nearly every book of Asimov, and said TV.
The freckled girl always liked to get lost in all kind of things. Movies, books, games or even music, so letting herself go in a new game for an hour didn't sound too bad.
Well that's what you expect from a storybook-introvert, right? Okay, let's be careful in the main menu now, or Warren won't let me play his games ever again.
The game started with a weird cutscene. The brunette didn't really understand anything which was said in there. Something about dragons. Afterwards a character creator popped up with a lot of options. After about ten minutes she had decided on a character. Female, big, strong, pale skin, short blue hair...
I know, I know, but a game with Che as the protagonist can only be good, right?
But when the game finally started she wasn't amused anymore at all. Her Chloe-like warrior was dead. Well, undead, but it was still somewhat disturbing to see a zombie version of her lover. At first it was just weird, and she ignored it for the most part and focused on the game. Of course she got killed a few times by the first boss before understanding the trick behind it, and as she finally finished the first area, which was frustrating in itself enough, she had died many times over.
That in itself wasn't a problem either, but in this game it seemed that there was no game over screen. One just started from the last bonfire and had to do the whole level from the beginning, with all its traps and enemies. And if she failed she needed to start from the gameplay. Until she died again. And started from the beginning. And died again... This created a nostalgic yet bitter feeling inside of her.
Wandering around without knowing what the hell is going on while just trying over and over again to not make any mistakes... Fuck it, I can't even enjoy a stupid video game anymore.
Right at that moment her Handy vibrated and she saw that Chloe had written her a message.
Chloe: Where's my white knight at? Isn't ur English Prof still sick?
So even she remembered...
Max: You're knight waits in another castle. Warren's room. Wanna come over? It's room 109.
Chloe: On my way babe
Chloe: FYI gonna steal the step-dragon idea so hard.
Chloe: Kind of jealous that I wasn't the one who came up with it.
It just took about five minutes before the punk arrived at her room. A knocking sound announced the punk and the door swung open and revealed a grinning Chloe Price in all her glory.
She did find Warren's room faster than expected. Well she was attending here once so maybe not.
But as soon as Chloe's blue eyes found her girlfriend her expression changed. Her eyebrows furrowed together and her eyes were suddenly full of worry. Her head slightly tilted to one side as she asked, "You okay, Maximus?"
"Uhm. Good morning to you, too?"
"Sorry, but you look kind of ruffled... Please don't be mad at me anymore." The brunette was surprised because she heard genuine fear in Chloe's voice. It seemed that the bigger girl was still worrying, while Max on the other hand had already kind of forgotten the fight they had yesterday.
"I'm not! Chill Chloe. Everything is fine..."
The hipster girl could see how her girlfriend calmed down immediately after hearing those words. Her shoulders relaxed, and her mouth could form the usual small smirk again. But one eyebrow was still quirked upwards. "C'mon girl, if it wasn't my fault, then what upset you?"
Max sighed. It was kind of embarrassing to admit that a video game could trigger her like that, so she just pointed at the TV in front of her. She was surprised when Chloe suddenly snorted. "Don't tell me you're mad because it's to difficult for you."
"No, that's not it... It just... The character just died again and again, and it seemed as if the world didn't remember that he did." Max answered while pointing at the game. The punk needed a moment but then started to realize what her girlfriend tried to say. Chloe's facial features became softer and kind of sad.
"It reminds you of yourself..."
"No. Not really. It's more of a reminder of how I was dealing with you. Well, the other you. The one who died over and over again. I mean you've read the journal for the most part... Train, pistol or overdoses of morphine..." Or your own free will... "And I just rewound to the last safe spot. It's kind of ridiculous to get so emotional over a game, I know."
But the blue haired girl immediately embraced the smaller girl after hearing that. "No it's not at all. You saved my life, how can that be ridiculous?" Chloe said reassuringly.
Max's head rested laying against the bigger girl's shoulder now. "Is it weird if I still want to finish the game? I... I feel like I need to see it to the end. Like I did with you. And now we're here. In my... In our happy ending."
"No, not at all. Damn, I've heard that Dark Souls breaks people, but never that it triggered an emotional break down. Fucking scary that game."
"And is it weird that my player character looks like you?"
"What? Well, that's kind of awesome, but definitely not healthy for your trauma."
"Trauma... Never expected to have something like that..."
"It was probably the universe trying to bring balance to your otherwise perfect being." Chloe said with a playful wink.
Here she is again, with her Price-humor. It's helping though. The brunette thought as a smirk crawled over her lips. "Mushy-Chlo-Chlo?"
"I warned you, Caulfield. This is not going to be a thing now!" The punk said while waving with her pointer in front of the freckled face.
"I think the right way to phrase a fitting answer is that it hella will."
"God damn it." The bigger girl let out a sigh, but was in fact happy that her girlfriend was cheering up again. Chloe's arms crawled behind Max's back and pulled her towards herself once more. As she buried her face in the soft brown hair she asked, "Soooo, can I play myself?" and just a few seconds later added, "Uhu, that sounded kinky!" and could feel the hipster in her arms let out an amused "Pfff. But you know, what you said before about it not helping my trauma very much isn't true in fact. The only thing that does help is you." And after confessing the obvious she gave her girlfriend a passionate kiss, to the best of her abilities at least.
After a few more deaths in Dark Souls Chloe departed and Max quickly headed over to the classroom. But just until the moment she entered the room she didn't realize that this would be the first photography lesson since... him. She could feel how cold sweat formed on her forehead.
Calm down. It's not going to be Jefferson who's teaching you.
She spotted Kate who was sitting next to... Victoria, and already wanted to sit herself away from them when Kate waved her over with an inviting smile. "Morning Max!"
"Hey Kate. Morning Victoria." The freckled girl tried to stay polite and got an acknowledging nod back in return.
Okay. That's a few steps closer to friendly than it was before. Can't expect a full one eighty of her personality, can I? But still, I need to calm myself. No need for a teary breakdown in front of everyone... Geez, how the hell would I explain something like that. In this world he never...
"How're you doing today? You look a bit sleepy." Kate asked, probably noticing that her friend was feeling uneasy.
"Let's just say Mondays suck!"
Most students were already in their rooms by now so the hallway was rather quiet, with only a few silenced noises from the other rooms coming reaching the brunette. But Max still noticed the thump-sounds slowly coming closer. Thump. Thump. Steps. Mr Walker was coming.
"You don't say." Victoria notified from the other side. Thump.
Instead of reacting like she usually would Max tensed up upon hearing the arrival of her new photography teacher. The freckled girl could feel how her hand started to shake, but then she noticed something odd what surprised her. The all so perfect Victoria was showing signs of the same panic that was running through the brunette right now. Her eyes were darting nervously through the room, her hands were folded together and pressing so hard against one another that Max could see how the white of her knuckles was coming through. Thump. Thump.
Is she?... Just as scared as I am? But she was never in the dark room in this reality. She shouldn't have a trauma. Maybe her imagination and the reports were enough food for her nightmares though. Wouldn't blame her if that's the reason.
Thump. Thump.
This is not Jefferson. Don't judge him before you've seen him.
Thump. Thump.
In panic Max pressed her eyelids against one another. She felt the touch of a hand at her upper arm and knew that Kate tried to calm her down. As she opened her eyes again, she tried to give her friend a thankful smile. Kate smiled back but then pointed in front of them.
A man was standing there. Mr Walker had arrived.