The street light illuminated the two girls as they walked along the dark urban area. They weren't walking in a straight line, however; rather dancing around each other, jumping on and off the kerb, laughing and joking with each other; in short, being friends.

"Oh my god, yes!" laughed Rachel as she swung around a lamppost one-handed. "Keaton's face behind you when you walked on stage was an absolute picture!"

"Ugh," said Chloe. "His face? I was absolutely shitting myself! I don't think I've ever been as legitimately terrified as I was then!"

"So was he!" screeched Rachel, laughing. "I mean, kudos to him for even entertaining the prospect of you going on stage. I mean, you didn't even know the play, let alone the lines!"

"Kudos to him? What about kudos for me? That dude owes me big time," said Chloe, and Rachel stopped swinging around the lamppost and looked intensely at Chloe.

"My dear," she said, imitating Mr Keaton's voice. "What if I told you that the entire fate of our production rests upon your slender shoulders?" Both girls broke out laughing. "I've never had an experience like that before onstage," she continued. "That was intense!"

"Yeah right, you were…" said Chloe, but Rachel interrupted her.

"No, you," she said. "Like, seriously." She began swinging again. "Ah, I love nights after a show!"

"Is it always like this?"

"Oh, totally!" said Rachel. "It's such a high. No more nerves, just the adrenaline." She stopped swinging again. "So, first-timer, ye virgin of the stage, are you proud of yourself?" When Chloe didn't answer, she continued. "I'm proud of you. You got pretty much everything spot on. I was… blown away. Seriously. You're… really quite talented, you know."

"Yeah," said Chloe. "I feel really awesome. If you'd told me this morning I'd be feeling this happy right now…"

"Yeah, you've gone through so much shit today…"

"Right now's pretty good," said Chloe, but Rachel didn't answer. She just looked expectantly at her friend. "Okay," laughed Chloe. "So the whole show was good. I admit it." Rachel held out her arm, and Chloe's heart started pounding in her ears again.

Go on, take it. Say something. This is your chance.

After a moment's hesitation, Chloe took Rachel's arm. "Actually, everything's been pretty magical since we started hanging out," she said, earning a warm smile from Rachel.

"Yeah, I agree," she said. "It feels like we're… complete now."

"Yeah, like we were missing something." At this, Rachel stopped swinging and jumping around and stood in front of Chloe, their faces only inches apart.

"Chloe Price, are you paying me a compliment?" she murmured demurely, and Chloe swallowed nervously.

"I… suppose I am," said Chloe. "I mean…"

"No, don't spoil it," said Rachel. "I like it." She leaned in ever so slightly and Chloe found herself mirroring, her heart pounding as their lips grew closer and closer. As they were about to touch, however, there was a sudden racket as two cats in a nearby garden decided to declare war on each other and Chloe and Rachel sprang apart, surprised by the noise, and the moment was gone. There was a flash of disappointment on Rachel's face, but as suddenly as it was there, it was gone. "So, what was your favourite part of the show?" she asked.

"The applause at the end was pretty cool," said Chloe. "But I think for me, it was when I was on stage with you and my nerves vanished. It was about halfway through the scene I think."

"Yeah, I think I know the exact moment," said Rachel. "I think it was just after you sat on the box."

"Um, that wasn't right, was it?" laughed Chloe and Rachel shook her head.

"No! You were supposed to head over to the wreck and stand there," she said, giggling. "But you remembered that after I… ahem…"

"… berated me? That wasn't in the script!"

"Well, I had to think of something!" said Rachel, laughing still. "Anyway, it worked. Nobody noticed. But if we're talking about that…"

"… oh no…"

"… why don't we mention pointing the… oh, what was it…"

"… please, no…"

"… oh yeah, the pointiest tempest, I think!" Rachel let out a huge screech of laughter and stopped walking. "I mean, what in the actual fuck was that all about?"

"I forgot the line!" said Chloe, defending herself. "I had to come up with something on the spur of the moment."

"William would turn in his grave," said Rachel.

"William?"

"Really? The author. William Shakespeare."

"Oh, yeah." Said Chloe, her face reddening.

"Well, I liked it. The pointiest tempest. I think I'll adopt it," said Rachel. "It will remind me of you every time I read that play." She looked at Chloe again and stamped her foot. "Let's leave," she said suddenly. "For real."

"For real?" said Chloe, slightly taken aback.

"You said you wanted to skip town and never look back. Like I said last night, let's do it."

"I know," said Chloe, chuckling nervously. "I've been thinking about that all day! But that was…"

"Don't say it was just a crazy thought," said Rachel, interrupting. "You meant it, I can tell. You want this. And so do I. We can do this."

"Yeah, but like, eventually," said Chloe, now more nervous than ever.

"Let's go now," said Rachel, taking both of Chloe's hands and shaking them. "Right now."

"But we can't…"

"Why not?" scoffed Rachel.

"Money?"

"You're a high-rolling criminal now," said Rachel. "We have money, don't we?"

"No we don't. I gave it back to Drew. He needed it more." Rachel's face fell.

"I guess," she said. "We could have used it, thought."

"No shit, but… man, I'm not looking forward to seeing Frank when he finds out."

"We'll figure it out, Chloe, don't worry about that," said Rachel. "Anyway, I've got enough to get us started. I always get birthday money. Or… should I say 'hush money'."

"We also don't have transport," said Chloe.

"You have that truck, right?"

"It doesn't even start, Rache!" said Chloe. "I was only seeing if I could fix it up."

"Well, can you?"

"I guess I can try."

"I know you, Chloe Price," said Rachel. "You'll figure it out. I know what you're capable of when you put your mind to something. I have full confidence in you. Look at what you did tonight. That was… very impressive."

"it was cool, I'll give you that," said Chloe, smiling. "Okay, so you have some money, I'll need to fix up the truck. I don't even know if I can fix it up yet, Rache," she continued. "What if I can't?"

"We'll catch a bus. Plenty of busses going out of this shithole." She took Chloe's hands again and started swinging them back and forth. "So, where should we go?"

"You could show me LA?" said Chloe immediately, and Rachel's eyes glistened as she agreed.

"Yeah," she breathed. "Perfect. Sixty degrees every night. You and me on the Santa Monica pier, gorging on food truck food, smoking up, looking at the moon shining on the waves."

"Our very own Santa Monica Dream," said Chloe. "Sounds good." She thought about it for a moment and pursed her lips. "There's a song in there somewhere," she said, smiling.

"And a beautiful blonde man will sit next to us and smile at you."

"Yeah, right," scoffed Chloe, but Rachel hadn't finished.

"He'll say," she put on a deep voice, "'I like your eyes, baby', and I'll say 'Back off, man, she's with me.'" The proclamation from Rachel gave Chloe the full warm fuzzies, and her heart started pounding in her ears again.

"You're so full of shit, Amber!" she said, laughing, but Rachel didn't laugh back. She just stared at Chloe with an intensity that made Chloe feel a little uncomfortable.

"I love this time of night," she said. "Don't you just feel like anything's possible?"

"Rachel, stop," said Chloe, tears in her eyes. "Please."

"Chloe, what's wrong?" said Rachel. "Are you okay?"

"Look, if you don't mean this, then please stop," Chloe said. "It's just making me feel like shit that this life you're describing isn't going to happen, and I'm really fed up of feeling like shit."

"Chloe, for fuck's sake, I've never been more serious in my life," said Rachel, still holding on to Chloe's hands. "What would it take to convince you?"

Chloe's heart stopped.

Now or never, babe.

What do you mean?

Really? I know you, remember? I know you've been thinking about this moment since yesterday.

I've no idea what you're talking about.

Yes. You do. Especially since it nearly happened about five minutes ago.

I… can't.

Coward. You know you want to. Hell, I know you want to.

"Um, how about, um.. you know…" Rachel furrowed her brow and looked at her friend. Chloe's face had dropped her usual bravado mask and was now a cloud of uncertainty. The penny dropped and Rachel smiled warmly.

"Oh," said Rachel. She took a step forward and, somewhat uncertainly leaned into Chloe. They both closed their eyes and their lips met. Chloe's eyes widened in shock, but just as she leaned into the kiss, Rachel leaned back. "Is that convincing enough?" she said, and dumbly, Chloe shook her head.

"Not rea…" she began, but Rachel put her hands either side of Chloe's face and drew her in for a far more passionate, meaningful kiss. Chloe stiffened her body at first, but soon leaned into the kiss, putting her hands on Rachel's back and pulling her in, deepening the contact. Both girls had their eyes closed as they enjoyed the sensation and emotions that were raging around both of their bodies as their connection deepened further when Rachel ran her tongue gently over Chloe's lips, asking for entry. Chloe's lips, more on instinct than anything sort of conscious decision, parted and her brain exploded into waves of pleasure as their tongues connected. Chloe was vaguely aware of time slowing down and all outside sounds ceasing; she could hear only the blood pounding in her ears. Finally, they broke off the kiss and looked at each other in a mixture of shock and excitement. Chloe was the first to break the silence.

"Holy shit!" she breathed.

"Right?" said Rachel.

"I mean, holy…" Chloe looked at Rachel. "Was that… real?"

"Believe it, Chloe," said Rachel. "It was real, and it was…"

"Totally fucking hot?" breathed Chloe, and Rachel nodded.

"Have you ever…"

"Not like that," said Chloe. "That was…"

"… you had the fireworks too?" Chloe just nodded and Rachel took her in her arms and they embraced warmly. When they parted, Chloe nodded at Rachel's arm.

"Nice bracelet," she said.

"Thanks. I've never taken it off," said Rachel, nodding down at her wrist. "My dad says I wore it home from the hospital, if you can believe that. I don't know why, but it's always reminded me that the world is a lot bigger than Arcadia Bay. But stop changing the subject," she continued, grinning. "Are you more convinced now?"

Chloe nodded, then looked up at the sky, frowning. Ash was falling from the forest fire that was still raging around Arcadia Bay. She held out her hands and Rachel did likewise. They stood for a moment, then brushed the ash off their hands and clothes. "What is this stuff?" asked Chloe, looking up into the sky still.

"I think it's a sign," said Rachel.

"Yeah, it's a sign alright. We're going out of business?" said Chloe, and Rachel pursed her lips together.

"You really watch too much Ghostbusters," she said, and Chloe grinned.

"Twenty points," she said. "That wasn't a difficult one." Rachel looked at her with fire in her eyes.

"I think we should leave tonight," she said, and Chloe took a step back.

"Really?"

"If you want to, I'm ready," said Rachel. She brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Money?"

"Leave that to me."

"Transport?"

"We'll go to the junkyard. If you can't fix the truck up, we'll catch a bus out." Rachel was practically bouncing with excitement. "We can do this, Chloe, we can really do this," she said. "Let's go sneak some clothes and stuff from my house."

"For you?" said Chloe, her head still reeling from the intensity of the kiss.

"You look damned hot in my clothes," said Rachel. "For both of us."

"Cool, let's do it," said Chloe, giving in.

"And then we get the hell out of here."

Chloe reached over and brushed some ash off Rachel's hair, earning another warm smile from her friend. "Sounds perfect," she said, and Rachel grabbed Chloe's hand, pulling her down the road towards her house. Chloe let herself be guided, her head still spinning and soon they were standing outside Rachel's house.

"Okay," said Rachel. "Commence Operation: Sneak Clothes out."