Chloe sighed as she carried her bag from the truck to the motel room door, following closely behind Max. The trip was off to a pretty good start, all things considered. They'd gone on kind of a leisurely drive through the national forest east of Seattle, stopping occasionally to just take a look at the scenery. For dinner, they'd ended up at yet another small town diner, but Chloe honestly kind of liked the feel of those sorts of places. After all the fancy food she'd been having in Seattle, she kind of wanted just a normal sandwich in a normal dive.
Now here they were, checked into a cheap little motel. Maybe that had been, like, the unconscious reason Chloe'd picked it, because it was cheap and out of the way, like the place she and Max had crashed at on that first night after the hurricane.
So much of the last few months had kind of just melted together, but that night was burned into Chloe's memory. After they had gotten out of Arcadia Bay, she'd just kind of spaced out, driving here and there as the whim took her. The destination wasn't important to her, so long as it was away. When they'd finally stopped, she had been able to keep herself together long enough to get Max into the motel room before she'd locked herself in the bathroom to sob and puke. After that, she'd gone out and chainsmoked like five cigarettes and cried some more. Sleep had come quick once she was actually in bed, at least, and if she'd had any nightmares, she didn't remember them.
The next night had been a lot better, she remembered. She'd felt so much more at ease when she'd heard from Mom, like she could breathe again or something, and Max had seemed pretty relieved about her Blackwell email. Chloe and Max had held hands for the rest of the day, and Max kept staring at her with this goofy look on her face, but Chloe hadn't wanted to press. After the friggin' rollercoaster that week had been, the last thing she wanted was to kill what little happiness she had by getting all mushy and loveydovey. Not after what had gone down with Rachel when she'd tried that with her.
But luckily, Chloe hadn't needed to press the issue, because Max did. It was like something out of a dream, with the brunette stepping out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam and sitting down on the edge of Chloe's bed. The whole time Max spoke, Chloe hadn't been willing to let herself believe what she was hearing. It seemed too good, too perfect, like she was gonna wake up all of the sudden still up on the cliff, pinned under rubble and bleeding out.
But it had been real, and that night Chloe and Max had finally banged. Ugh, no, not banged, really. "Made love" was how Max had described it, but that was so dorky, though. There should really be a word for passionate love sex that didn't sound like something your mom would say, Chloe thought. Reverse hate-fucking, maybe? Screwing from the heart? Whatever. It had been amazing, and had meant the world to Chloe.
"Chloe, close the door!" Max chided, laughing a little. Chloe had been lost in thought, and hadn't even noticed that they'd gone into their room. Derp.
"Eh, it's not even really that cold out," Chloe replied as she shut the door behind her. Really, she kind of wished it had been colder. It would have given her and Max more of an excuse to snuggle up close. Not that they really needed the pretext, at this point, but she loved the added desperation that came from clinging to each other against the cold.
"Cold enough that I might need some cuddles," Max noted, shifting back and forth and looking cutesy, "Like, a lot of cuddles." Chloe raised her eyebrows and smiled.
"Oh? Well, I mean, I don't want you to spend all night shivering," Chloe teased, "Guess I'll just have to hold you extra tight." She started towards Max, who shuffled over to meet her. The two of them stood there in the middle of the room for a minute or two, holding each other close.
"I like these little backwoods motels," Max murmured, settling her head on Chloe's shoulder, "Is that weird?" Chloe shrugged a bit, careful not to jostle Max too much.
"Maybe sort of," she replied, "It reminds me of the first time we, um…" She trailed off. It wasn't that she was embarrassed by the sentiment or the subject, really, it was just that she still wasn't sure how to say it right.
"Made love?" Max finished for her, voice quiet and wistful. God, that still sounded so dorky. But fuck it.
"Yeah," Chloe agreed, "The first time we made love."
"Dork," Max teased, leaning back slightly to grin up at Chloe, "Now I've got you saying it!" Chloe scoffed but smiled, leaning in to snag a quick kiss.
"It still feels like a weird thing to say," she admitted, releasing Max and sitting down on the edge of one of the beds, "Doesn't really feel weird, though. I'll grant you that."
"Well, thanks for that," Max laughed, hanging up her coat and coming over to sit next to Chloe, "Now come on. Cuddles!" She scooted closer to Chloe and began to nudge the taller girl's shoulder with her head. Smiling, Chloe lifted an arm and put it around Max, holding her tight. After a few moments, Max swung her legs over Chloe's, shifting up into her lap. In response, Chloe wrapped both arms around the smaller girl, squeezing her close.
"I wish every moment could be like this," Max murmured, nuzzling her cheek against Chloe's neck, "Like, I've been sitting here for an hour, and you're still so warm and so cozy." Chloe felt a little drip of something warm against her collarbone.
"Max, just live the moments in time with me," Chloe whispered back, tilting the brunette's face up towards her and wiping blood from under her nose, "I'm not going anyplace. There will be plenty of time to snuggle, you don't have to make more."
"Sorry," Max mumbled, blushing and glancing away, "I still have moments when I can't quite believe you're real, and I just wanna cling to you, y'know?"
"I get that," Chloe conceded, examining Max's face to make sure she was alright, "But don't go overboard with time stuff, okay? I don't like being the worried one." Cupping the back of Max's head in her hand, Chloe gently lay the petite brunette out on the bed and then crouched next to her.
"Besides," Chloe went on, lightly brushing a few strands of hair from Max's face and starting to cover it in kisses, "If you stay in any one moment, then you might miss an even better one coming up."
"Mmmmm…" Max sighed, running her hands through Chloe's hair and along her neck, "Good point." Gently, she guided Chloe's lips to hers, and the taller girl sank happily into the kiss. After a minute or so of tender kisses, Chloe softly pulled away and sat up.
"So, think it's cold enough that we should take a hot shower?" she asked, smiling down at her Max. With that nosebleed just then, Chloe didn't want to push Max into anything rigorous quite yet.
"Definitely," Max replied, pushing herself up into a sitting position, "But I'm still feeling a little faint from rewinding. You might have to help undress me." Chloe grinned and then gave an exaggerated sigh.
"Always more work with you, Max," Chloe teased, standing and helping Max up off the bed, "And I bet you'll want me to be holding you the whole time so you don't fall down, too."
"Yeah, probably," Max replied, falling backwards into Chloe's arms about halfway to the bathroom, "I'm gonna need to be pressed up against you pretty much the whole time."
"Good," Chloe whispered, dropping her teasing tone and speaking honestly again, "Right where I want you."
"And right where I want to be," Max murmured in reply.
