"But dude, we're driving to Seattle!"
Max, who was sitting on the passenger's seat, rolled her eyes. She couldn't share her girlfriend's enthusiasm. "Most big cities are the same, and you've already been to Portland."
"Doesn't count. We were on a mission back then. This time I can truly enjoy the sight of skyscrapers."
"I sure hope we will have the time for that. There's a good chance that this will end with me being exiled. But yeah Seattle is pretty nice."
"I and Rachel always wanted to come here someday!" For a moment Max was scared that this might destroy the good mood, but Chloe seemed to not even notice anymore.
Maybe she really did accept her death? It's getting better, that's for sure. At least that was what Max was hoping.
The call had been weird, just as one could have expected. Awkward silence, a word that nobody dared to speak out loud. But a Chloe was still mildly pleased that neither Vanessa nor her girlfriend had yelled at each other. But in the end, nothing had been sorted out. Now it had reached the point where it was just frustrating to Max. In short, it was nothing anyone would want to witness.
"Also, in Seattle will be way more going on than half a house party once a month, right?"
"You seriously asking me about the nightlife in Seattle? Me?"
"Duh, or do you see any other nerds that lived in Seattle for years?" The punk turned hat she could face her girlfriend with a toothy smile for a moment, before looking back at the road which they were driving on.
"... I guess not. It's just like any other big city though." Max raised her shoulders and let them fall again.
She knew that this was not true. Seattle had been amazing. There were so many places she wanted Chloe to see, but... not like that.
Not while my mom plays being an asshole.
"And that's where you are wrong, my little naive Maxissimus. It's not just another big city. Seattle is the biggest city." The punk stated, before mumbling, "In Washington at least."
It was a beautiful sunny day for November, of course, it was still chilly outside but being in the farm shell that was Chloe's truck, neither of them minded. To their left, they could see a pretty and romantic sunset, painting the world in a deep red.
Despite it getting dark the two drove a bit longer. They still needed to cover some ground if they wanted to reach Seattle tomorrow morning.
"It really sucks. I shouldn't have gone to class today, then we would've had more time." Max grumbled, already feeling a bit sleepy.
"Hey, you really shouldn't cut classes too much. Today is Friday, that means we got the whole Saturday and most of Sunday, aside from that hella intimidating conversation. And driving through the golden hour is hella cool as well."
"True… Haven't heard you say that for a while." The freckled girl noticed.
"Intimidating?" Chloe quipped back, trying to sound confused."
Max rolled her eyes even if she knew that Chloe was staring at the street. "Dork."
And with that, the two girls fell back in a comfortable silence. Despite her usual act, and the look of the truck, Chloe was a careful driver, never stepping onto the gasoline too much. The punk tried not to race to Seattle. They had time, and Chloe enjoyed those moments in between.
The road ahead was clear of traffic, so the punk turned her head around to say some half prepared sassy comment like she usually did, but was stopped by the sight of her girlfriend. Max, eyes closed, had her head laid against the window. The only movement was coming from her chest, as she was calmly breathing in and out.
She looks so at peace. Sometimes I forget how pretty Max can be. Chloe took a mental picture of her sleeping girlfriend next to her.
"We should find a place to sleep, huh?" The blue haired girl said more to herself than to the already snoozing girl next to her.
…
"Max? Hey, Maxi." It was hard for Chloe to wake up Max, destroying such an adorable looker.
But what needs to be done, needs to be done. For the greater good!
"MAX!"
"Mm. I'm here. Don't… yell… It's not like I-I slept." The freckled girl let out a loud yawn. "Where are we again?"
It was just right then that Chloe decided that trading sleeping Max for sleepy Max was acceptable.
"We're at a freeway motel, you little pudding of adorableness."
"Don't want pudding. Hate pudding." The freckled girl frowned after a moment. It seemed like even Max herself didn't get what she was trying to say. "Anyways, what are we doing here?"
"Sleep. Driving without sleep is not much better than while being drunk."
"Uh huh…"
The punk couldn't help it anymore. She shifted her body over to Max and gave her a kiss on her cheek.
"Hey… don't take advantage on me just because I just woke up."
"Feels more like you're trying to seduce me with your cuteness."
For that, the blue haired girl got shoved away gently by the smaller girl
"Shut up."
And so she did, but before showing her girlfriend her sassy smile again. She then took Max's hand, pulling the smaller girl out of the car.
…
"Good evening, girls." A relatively old looking woman greeted the couple as they entered. Brown hair, that was in some places turning gray already, brown eyes hidden behind glasses with dark circles under them, but the woman still had a friendly smile on her face.
"Hello." Max greeted her back while waving her hand shyly. Chloe simply nodded towards the woman.
"I'm Rosemarie, but everyone calls me Rose. So, I guess you want one room each?"
"Naa, one is enough for us both." The blue haired girl answered, a small grin on her face. This Rose frowned, giving the two of them a look which neither of them really got.
Maybe Chloe's appearance just makes her suspicious? The freckled girl tried to conclude.
"There's only one bed per room though."
"It's okay, we don't want to spend too much money. We're sadly not that rich." Max quickly said, having an idea what was going on with the woman named Rose.
As the freckled girl spook, the weird look on the receptionist's face quickly disappeared, which confirmed what Max was thinking. "Okay then. One room for you two coming right up for Miss...
"Oh, right. Name's Chloe Price. That cute girl next to me is Maxine."
And right then, the suspicious face was back again. Seemed like Chloe didn't get it the first time.
A loud sigh came out of the woman's mouth before she explained, "Listen, girls, no offense you seem nice and all. Maybe you should go to Joe's Motel. It's just about ten minutes away from here. Just follow the main road."
The blue haired girl frowned on that. "What? Why? We have the money, we can even pay up front if that is your problem."
Rosemarie slowly took off her glasses, and now she was looking Chloe right into her eyes. With another sigh, she stated, "Let me be blunt then, I don't want folks like you in my motel."
"Like us?" Chloe was getting angry. Max could see the rebellious fire in the bigger girl's eyes.
"Let's leave Chlo." The freckled girl tried to calm her enraged girlfriend.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I cannot let her do something stupid! She's going to kill the receptionist! She could already picture it. Glasses shattered on the floor, Rosemarie holding her bleeding nose. Max prepared herself to rewind so that-
"You're right," Chloe said. "Let's get out of this shit hole of a motel."
"I… Y-Yeah. Fuck this." The brunette spoke her mind not noticing herself as perplexed as she was. Though, she quickly gathered herself, took Chloe's hand, and pulled her out of the motel.
"You okay Maximus?" The blue haired girl looked at the smaller girl, worried about how Max just acted.
"I? I'm just freaking relieved."
"Relieved because we got kicked out by a homophobic motherfucker?"
Realizing how confused the taller girl was right now, Max couldn't help but laugh. "Che, I seriously thought you were gonna kick that woman's teeth in."
Chloe hesitated for a moment with her answer. That pause did not go unnoticed by her girlfriend, who immediately realized:
She's fighting… For me.
It was touching. She was trying to change, trying to be a better person. It was time to leave the past. Time to accept the present.
"She wasn't really worth it, literally. I have to keep my boots clean since we decided to do our little spontaneous trip to Seattle. Can't afford new shoes, y'know?"
"... Thank you."
"For not hitting an old woman? Sure." Chloe shrugged it off like nothing, turned around and started walking towards her rusty truck again.
Max rolled her eyes, knowing that she would need to be more direct if she wanted to get through Chloe walls of stubbornness. She stopped the bigger girl, grabbing the back of her blue jacket.
"No, you idiot. She deserved a good beating." Max said quickly before Chloe had time to turn around. "You are amazing." The freckled girl stated, facing the ground as she was too embarrassed to look up to her girlfriend.
"Not rea-"
"You keep on trying every single day. Y-You, don't always achieve what you want, yes even fall face first on the floor sometimes. But that doesn't stop you from standing up so that you can try again in the end."
"Max I-"
"You're the strongest person I know Chloe Price... And I… I want you to know that I'll always love you, even if you should fail sometimes. So, don't be scared to do mistakes. Learn from them. Don't repeat them anymore. And I just keep on rambling, don't I?" As she spoke the name of her loved one, her eyes found the taller girl's, and they stood there for a moment simply staring at each other.
"You're such a dork." The punk retorted after all of that, a chuckle in her voice. Then, her face sobered up quickly. "I couldn't keep on keeping on without you, you know that don't you?"
Now it was Max who was smiling. "Good. One more reason why you have to stay with me then."
"Yeah, I don't even have a choice in that matter."
"You bet you don't." And after a small sigh, that freed the brunette from all the tension in her body, she added: "Sorry for being so serious all of a sudden."
"I might know a way how you can atone your sins."
"Oh. How?"
A long drawn out "Well…" was followed by Chloe pressing her lips against the smaller girl's. The punk then whispered in her girlfriend's ear: "Like that."
Right at that moment, before neither of them had a chance to say anything else, they heard a voice yelling: "Didn't I tell you two gays to get out of here?!"
"Fuck off, bitch." Chloe didn't hesitate to flip the receptionist off.
The two girls ran the rest of the way, not looking back but hearing angry screams from the lovely Rosemarie.
Back in the punk's noble steed, the two girls didn't hesitate to drive away from the hostile woman. They landed back on the road they came from and decided to follow Rose's idea. They would just sleep in the next motel which was supposed to be only ten minutes away.
After a bit over half an hour, both girls accepted the fact that the elderly woman wasn't just an asshole but also a liar. No houses, no signs, nothing. Just the road in front of them.
"That cunt. Ten minutes my ass." Chloe grumbled angrily to herself. She was getting sleepy now too, which didn't help her driving skills or her mood.
"Just forget it, Che. Let's park somewhere and sleep in the car for the night." Max suggested. After another ten minutes of frustrated driving, Chloe was forced to accept her girlfriend's idea, parking the truck on the side of the street. For a moment the two girls's sat there dumbfounded. Neither of them had anticipated to sleep in the truck, but they still made the best out of it.
Chloe used her and Max's jackets as a pillow, while the freckled girl could use the punk's chest as one. Their limbs were twisted awkwardly to make it fit, and it was uncomfortable- "As fuck!" The blue haired girl stated her opinion on their situation. Then, something weird happened.
Max started laughing.
"This is so typical, I can't even…" The small girl couldn't even finish her sentence, tears building up in her eyes.
"That's not funny! Stop! You're the worst!" Chloe said, trying to sound serious. The trying wasn't much more than that because the blue haired girl couldn't stop herself from joining her girlfriend.
It was probably a good thing that nobody was driving past them at that moment. He or she would've been pretty confused why two girls were laying on one another laughing like maniacs.
At some point, they calmed down though and decided it was time for some shut eye.
"You think we can leave the lights on… Sorry…"
"You think that they bother me? I've probably gotten as used to them as you have by now, really." Chloe clarified with an eye-roll. The punk then pecked Max's forehead. " Love you, you little dork. G'night."
