She had been expecting Steph to roll up five minutes ago, but Chloe was still the only person sitting at the table. She was tempted to text Steph, but if she was still driving, Chloe didn't want to distract her. Seattle traffic was dangerous enough without adding cell phones into the mix.
A few minutes later, she finally spotted Steph's Fiesta pull into the parking lot. She could clearly see Steph and her white beanie as the car moved through the parking lot, but it wasn't until it parked that she saw a familiar black-haired girl step out of the passenger's seat.
Well, good thing I got a booth. She didn't necessarily mind that Steph had decided to bring Paige - after all, she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Paige since they first met a month ago. She watched the two of them walk up to the front door, Steph being the first to notice her waving at them once they were inside. Chloe got a chuckle watching Paige striding towards her with long steps, Steph almost jogging to keep up.
"Hey Chloe!" Paige greeted warmly, letting Steph slide into their side of the booth first.
"Hey," she responded automatically, glancing over at Steph for a moment. "How was the drive?" she asked, although she definitely had her suspicions on why Steph had arrived later than planned.
"It's Seattle traffic. Hate it more every day," Steph joked, pulling her jacket off carefully to avoid hitting Paige. Her head bobbed towards the menu as she shoved the jacket into the corner of the booth. "What's good here?"
Chloe shrugged, giving the menu a quick glance herself. "Burgers are pretty good. No Two Whales, but fills the pit. Max and I haven't found anything bad on the menu, though."
Paige had picked up the menu on their side and squinted at it for a second before reaching up to the top of her head. Her eyes grew wide in panic for a second as she patted her hair a few times before groaning. "Shoot, I left my glasses in the car."
Chloe quickly put three fingers up, grinning. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Paige watched her for a second, processing, before she started laughing. "Steph, you're right. She is an idiot," Paige commented, ignoring the exaggerated gasp Chloe had made. "I'm farsighted, I can see you just fine," she added, shaking her head.
Slowly, Chloe put down two of the fingers, so only her middle finger was still lifted. "What about now?"
She rolled her eyes, although she was still grinning. "Steph, can I get the keys?"
"Right, yeah." Steph squirmed for a bit to pull the keys out of her pants before handing them over. "Holler if you need help seeing them," she commented, fighting off her own grin.
Paige scoffed dramatically as she got to her feet. "You two are ridiculous," she muttered as she headed towards the door.
"Hey, I hope you don't mind that I brought her," Steph said under her breath as Paige walked away. "I should have asked, I'm sorry."
Chloe tried to keep a neutral expression on her face as she clasped her hands in front of her on the table. "It's fine, don't worry about it." Chloe only half meant it - as nice as it was to see Paige, and as fun as it was to work risqué jokes into the conversation at Steph's expense, she had been looking forward to some Steph time.
She felt a little selfish the more she thought about it - she had spent many of her Seattle days hanging out with Victoria and Steph (individually, of course), and she couldn't help but feel like both of them getting girlfriends was cramping on potential Chloe time. Not that she wanted them to be single or anything. At least Paige doesn't live with Steph.
Not yet, anyways.
Steph waved her hand in front of Chloe's face, causing her to jump. The brunette's face was full of concern, studying her. "You okay? You look distracted."
"It's nothing," Chloe mumbled, looking down at her clasped hands.
Steph made a frustrated noise before leaning back on her side of the booth, crossing her arms. "That kid is a piece of shit," she spat, shaking her head.
It took Chloe a minute to realize what Steph was getting at. Of course, Steph would assume the Landon situation was still weighing heavily on her mind. She felt a scowl growing on her face at the thought. "Yeah, he is," she mumbled, nodding slowly.
Steph was watching her carefully, but before she could say anything else, Paige was walking back up to the table. As soon as Steph saw her coming, her arms came loose and her whole expression lightened. "Hey you," Steph said, a little smile appearing on her face..
Paige waved her hand as she slid back into the booth, glasses clutched in her fist. "Sorry, they had fallen out of my bag and under the seat." Paige fidgeted for a second to get comfortable, looking between the two beanie-clad girls expectantly. "What did I miss?"
"Nothing really," Steph said quickly, eyes cautiously darting to Chloe.
Chloe snorted, shaking her head. "Me throwing a pity party for myself."
"Oh. I'm...I'm sorry." Paige was watching her with concern now as well, and she didn't like it at all. Pay no attention to the woman behind the curtain. "Everything okay?"
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it," Chloe mumbled. For a moment, she wondered if Steph might have already told Paige about the bully situation.
Paige nodded, looking down at her glasses. "Okay." She finally put her glasses on, looking around the table for a moment before her eyes settled on Steph. "Oh hey, so that's what you look like," she remarked, the corners of her mouth flitting up.
"Eh, she's alright, if you're into brunettes," Chloe quipped, feeling a grin gradually replacing the scowl on her face.
Steph looked back at her with an annoyed stare. "Chloe, you do realize Max is-"
"Precious and adorable? Yes, I do."
Before Steph could come up with a suitable comeback, the waitress came around to bring them water and take their orders. Chloe had a hard time from starting to tease Paige for ordering a salad at a diner, of all places. Maybe Steph needs to rethink her taste in women.
"So, Chloe," Paige started, shifting on her side of the booth to pull of her own jacket. "What do you do? You know, for fun, and stuff?"
Chloe shrugged, scratching the back of her neck. "I'm not much of a hobby person. Although, I do like having sex with my girlfriend. I do that quite a bit."
Paige had unfortunately just taken a drink of her water, and was suddenly struggling not to choke. Steph, meanwhile, laughed loudly. "Oh, I so wish Max was here to hear that," Steph commented, and Chloe couldn't help but grin at the idea of Max turning beet red from that comment. Steph's humored expression, though, quickly turned into a frown. "And bullshit, you're a fantastic artist, Chloe. That's something you do for fun."
Chloe shrugged again, tracing nonexistent patterns on the wood table. "I mean, kinda, I guess?" It was a hobby she had certainly been neglecting lately, between her focus on coursework and her irresistible girlfriend. "I'm alright," she admitted, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious.
Steph was giving her an incredulous look. "Dude, you designed your own sleeve. That's pretty damn cool in my book."
Paige's eyes had grown a little wider, glancing between Chloe's arms as if trying to figure out which jacket sleeve was hiding her tattoo. "Really? Can I see it?"
Chloe and Steph locked eyes for a moment, both clearly thinking the same thing. "I probably have pictures somewhere," Chloe said cautiously, wondering if there even was a good shot on her phone. She was pretty sure she had posted a shot on Facebook when she and Rachel went out to get their tattoos in the first place. If nothing else, Max probably has a million photos of it...
Paige was frowning, eyes now flitting between the two of them. "But you said-"
"I blacked most of it out," Chloe explained quickly, glancing at Steph, who was looking pointedly into her lap.
"Oh." Paige was quiet for a moment, staring at her glass of water. "It's it because of..." She trailed off, clearly not wanting to bring up Arcadia Bay as brazenly as she had last time they talked.
Chloe swallowed hard, head dipping so her chin almost hit her chest. "Yeah, sort of."
"I'm really sorry, Chloe." Paige's voice was soft and genuine. It reminded her a little of Kate, except she didn't feel like a child attempting to avoid getting in trouble around Paige.
Chloe rested her forearms on the table, trying to shake off the darker thoughts running through her head. "So, reverse. What do you do for fun?"
Paige leaned back for a moment, gazing up towards the ceiling thoughtfully. "I mean, besides doodling in my notebooks? I make a mean batch of peanut butter cookies."
"Oh my god, yes, they are seriously amazing," Steph gushed, gazing longingly into the distance. "I don't know what the hell you do to make it so good, but you have to give me the recipe."
"But then you wouldn't have a reason to come over," Paige commented, a playful smile on her face.
"Oh, I think Steph has plenty of reasons to come over," Chloe stage whispered, before feeling a foot smashing into her shin. "Ow, what the hell was that for?"
"Sorry, my foot must have slipped," Steph replied, with an almost perfect amount of sincerity in her voice.
Chloe couldn't help but laugh, leaning further forward towards Steph. "Listen here, you little shit-"
Before Chloe could lay out her planned threats, the waitress came around with their meals. With two burgers and a salad on the table, Chloe's attention quickly shifted to the odd one out.
"Seriously, how can you not eat meat?" Chloe asked before taking a large bite of her burger. Like every time she had come to this diner, she felt a small amount of disappointment that it wasn't as good as the burgers of her youth. Good, but just not quite the same.
Paige was rolling her eyes, carefully drizzling her salad with dressing. "I just don't like the idea of an animal dying so I can survive," she responded. "It's not for everyone, I know."
"She captures bugs in her dorm and releases them outside. The whole floor uses her as their non-lethal exterminator," Steph added slyly, giggling when Paige shot her an exasperated look as she set the little cup down.
"Hey, I 'saved' you from that spider above your bed, in case you forgot," she shot back, a smug look appearing on her face.
"It wasn't that big of a deal," Steph muttered, looking slightly embarrassed and quickly focusing on her plate instead.
"I literally heard you scream from down the hall," Paige teased, nudging Steph with her elbow.
"Is that all that happened with the bed, and screaming whilst in it?" Chloe asked, attempting to keep an innocent expression on her face. She was just about certain that her smile was more shit-eating than innocent, though.
Steph's cheeks were starting to flush bright red at the insinuation. "Yes," she shot back, almost hissing. Paige, meanwhile, appeared to be fighting off a smirk.
Chloe waved a fry in Steph's direction. "I mean, dude, I know how bad your bed squeaks, I can only imagine when you're- OW, Steph, seriously!" I'm gonna have a shit ton of bruises at this rate. Worth it.
"I'm just gonna, you know, kill you one of these days," Steph responded matter-of-factly, shrugging as she reached for the ketchup.
"Hopefully only in D&D," Chloe suggested, before realizing she probably shouldn't be giving her any ideas.
Steph was still giving her a dark glare as she uncapped the bottle. "Oh, I'm thinking about it," Steph muttered before picking up her burger and focusing on it, as if it was the only thing she cared about in the building.
Paige started snapping rapidly, pointing towards Steph after a moment. "Oh yeah, when are you planning on doing that?"
Steph shrugged, still staring at her burger. "I'm almost done with writing it. Figured I'd do it over the summer, seeing as we'll all still be here."
"You ever play before?" Chloe asked, watching Paige carefully spear vegetables onto her fork.
"No, I've only heard this chick-" her head jerked towards Steph, who had just taken a rather large bite, "-talk about it nonstop. It sounds like fun."
"Oh, it's hella fun," Chloe agreed, snickering at Steph's furtive glance towards Paige as she tried to chew faster. "Especially when this one's running the game."
"You've never had another DM, Chloe," Steph pointed out after a brief struggle to swallow. "You wouldn't know any better, anyways."
"Don't care. You're a great DM," Chloe persisted, pointing at Steph. "I'm talking about you, Gingrich."
"Yeah, yeah," Steph muttered, shooting her a rather cold glare. "You're just trying to be sweet so I don't kill your character in the first encounter now."
"You wouldn't," Chloe replied, leaning back nervously.
"Oh, I would. With pleasure." Steph's voice was dripping with dramatic malice, and Chloe couldn't hold back a chuckle.
"Paige, tell your girlfriend to be nice to me." Both of the girls stared back at her with a mixture of confusion and embarrassment. Steph, in particular, had frozen with her shoulders lifted. Fuck, are they not dating? She shifted to lean against the table with her elbow, frowning. "Am I just reading the room wrong, or..."
"I mean, we have been on a few dates," Paige commented slowly, glancing over at Steph. Steph's shoulders relaxed as she spoke, looking back up at her with a shy little smile.
Whelp, my jobs' done here. Chloe slumped back in her seat, hands behind her head as she smirked. "Well, I now pronounce you girlfriend and girlfriend. You may kiss the gi- ow, Steph, knock it off! That really hurts!"
"You're an idiot," Steph replied, although she looked quite pleased with herself.