Chapter 6

Burn it down

The room was dark, the only light coming from a table laptop in the corner of the room, with the slight sound of music making its way through the wall most likely from a room down the hall. Naruto fidgeted slightly with the tie he was trying and failing to put on, it also didn't help the slight feeling of nervousness that was building its way inside of him. He couldn't understand why, he's gone on plenty of dates with Chloe in the past. After another failed attempt to figure out how to tie a tie, he let out a groan of defeat as he sat down on his bed as his mind began to wander to other thoughts. To say a part of him was worried would be an understatement, as he pulled his phone out to see if he got any new messages but as he saw the empty notification bar, he tossed his phone onto his bed as he stared at his ceiling. It wasn't uncommon for Chloe to go off and do her own thing from time to time and he respected that, but he still couldn't help but feel as if something was wrong. He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard a light ring coming from his laptop, he let out a groan as he sat up and made his way towards the small device. As he got closer, he saw a familiar name appear on the screen as he pressed the answer button.

"Hey mom." He said as he was greeted by an image of a red-haired woman.

"Hey sweet pea I just wanted to check up on you and make sure everything is going well." Kushina said as a smile appeared on her face as she noticed the tie. "you look fancy, what's the big occasion?" she asked, gaining a slight blush from Naruto.

"it's me and Chloe's anniversary today and we're going out for supper at a slightly fancy restaurant, and as you can see, I'm kind of not ready for it." Naruto said as he raised his hand to show off his tie which got him a slight giggle from his mom.

"first things first lose the tie you look completely fine without it." She said with a grin as she continued on. "Secondly you remind me so much of your father right now. Did I ever tell you about me and your fathers first anniversary?" Naruto shook his head as an answer as she continued on. "Your father was so nervous that when he came to pick me up, he could barely say a sentence without stuttering, but even so he tried his best and from that moment I knew he was the guy for me." She finished as he could see the slight faraway look in her eyes as she told her story, which made a smile form on his face.

"the moral of the story is that as long as you try your hardest, I'm sure she will love it, I would even tell you about what happened later that night back at his place." She said with a slight blush forming on her face. Naruto couldn't help but shiver at the mental images that appeared in his mind as he heard her story.

"Mom, too much information!" he yelled as he tried to shake the thought out of his mind.

"maybe and I know that you, being a good boy, wouldn't be doing anything like that because you're far too young to be doing those sorts of things." She said in a more motherly/serious tone getting a slight gulp

"Mom what happened to letting me have some privacy?" He said in hopes to get his mothers mind off that topic, but in doing so noticed the time in the corner of his screen.

"Oh crap, sorry mom I have to get going if I don't want to be late." Naruto said as he got up ready to leave. After saying goodbye he began making his way out of his room, he still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that was growing inside him. Nevertheless he still left his room with a smile on his face as he thought about the upcoming date.

Chloe groaned as she slowly woke up, her eyes slowly adjusting to the sunlight within the car. 'Wait why am I in a car?' she thought to herself as she raised her head to get a better view of her whereabouts. After taking a second to take in her surroundings she noticed the outside of the car seemed to be slightly foggy making it impossible to see any landscape features that might help her find out where she is, or at least help her find out where their going.

'Okay Chloe think what was the last thing you remember doing before blacking out' she thought to herself. The last thing she remembered was kissing Rachel, Rachel storming off afterwards leaving her confused and angry. She remembered using the baseball bat she found to smash random things in the junkyard that was up until she saw something she hadn't seen in a long time, her dad's car, the very same car he used to drive her to school in. the same car they would go for drives as a family in, the very same car that her father died in sitting right in front of her in the junkyard. She remembered all the anger she kept inside, all the confusion she had about Rachel, just seemed to fade away leaving her tired. None of that helped her now, however she couldn't shake the feeling of being in this car before, the whole interior felt so similar but from where? She froze when she heard the driver start humming the song that was being played on the radio.

"-just called to tell you that I miss you my old friend. Burning the midnight oil again" The man hummed along with the song as it played, Chloe couldn't help but watch the man hum as he drove without a care in the world. Almost as if the man could tell she woke up he adjusted the rear-view mirror before turning back to look at her. The only thing Chloe could do was gasp as she recognized the person in front of her.

"Looks like you decided to wake up sweetheart. I was beginning to wonder if you would sleep through our whole trip." William said in a joking manner.

"Dad?" Chloe muttered in confusion.

"The one and only." He replied as he turned forward to continue his driving.

"But how your-" she started. "Dead? Yeah, sorry sweetheart sad to say I am dead." he cut her off and answered her question at the same time.

"But if you're dead, how are you here. Wait, am I dead?" she asked as she looked down at her hands to see if she could see through them.

"No Chloe you're not dead, you're just sleeping in our old car." he responded with a smile on his face. "This is all inside your mind. Me, this car, and even the song on the radio, it's all you." he explained to her, as she slowly came to understand what was going on. "But i got to say nice choice in the music you got here, one of my favorites." he said jokingly as he started to hum again.

"So, want to talk about it?" William asked simply after waiting a couple minutes for Chloe to understand what was going on.

"What?" she responded in confusion.

"About the reason why you called me here, something about a relationship?" William clarified as he turned to look at her. 'What was he talking about a relationship? Is he talking about Naruto?' she thought to herself

"Are you talking about Naruto?" she asked.

"Partly yes and partly no. How is he now anyways? You're not being too hard on him, are you?" he answered. she could see him look out the window at something. She followed his gaze to find what he was looking at outside the car, much to her surprise she could see Naruto walking on the side of the road looking straight ahead as they drove past him.

"I think you wanted to talk about your new friend. Rachel, was it?" William said in an attempt to keep the conversation going which got Chloe's attention. Chloe sat quietly as she turned her gaze to her hand, which were resting in her lap. The quietness seemed to answer Williams' question as he turned to continue his driving.

"I don't know what to think about her?" Chloe answered honestly.

"Do you like her? As more than a friend I mean?" he asked, gaining no answer from her.

"Chloe, how about this old man gives you some advice that might help." he said, gaining her attention once again. "Rather or not, you feel the same way for her as she does for you, it's obvious she's going through a lot of pain right now and might need the support of a friend." he finished as Chloe thought about what he said.

"So I should go to her?" Chloe asked as she looked out the window only to see Rachel standing by a large tree. The only thing Chloe could do was watch as they continued onwards.

"Are you forgetting another important promise that you made?" William asked which made Chloe think back to the day's Prior events. It only took a moment for her to remember what he meant.

"Oh god, I forgot all about our anniversary. Naruto's going to be so pissed!" Chloe yelled as she ran her fingers through her hair stressfully. The reality of the situation seemed to set in as time passed and it only made things worse. On one hand she could go to Rachel and see if she was okay, which would most likely Break Naruto's heart. On the other hand, she could go to Naruto and act as if nothing happened, but by doing so would leave Rachel alone when she needed someone the most.

"It's certainly a sticky situation you're in. You could go to the person that's been with you when you needed them the most, or you could go to the person that you've just meant that needs you." William said as the car came to a slow stop, Chloe watched as William turned to look at her. Before Chloe could say anything, the sound of a truck driving towards them cut her off as she looked only to be met with darkness.

Chloe gasped as she shot up, her hands running over her body to make sure there weren't any sort of injuries. After taking a second to calm down she noticed the setting sun in the horizon. Chloe sat staring at the setting sun as she tried to think about the two choices in front of her. After taking a few seconds to think about each option as she dusted herself off and stood up. After taking a few seconds to calm the feelings that were telling her to stop, she ran in the direction of her decision not fully knowing what was waiting for her or what damage her decision will cause.

The cold night air felt good against Rachel's skin as she stood in front of the giant tree, she saw earlier that day. She could only stare at the big tree in front of her as her mind kept repeating the image of the 'couple' from when her and Chloe were playing their little game. 'Chloe' she thought to herself, her mind repeating what happened at the junkyard over and over again. Apart of her knew she fucked up her newly formed friendship, all because she couldn't control her emotions. Did she regret kissing Chloe? No not at all, if anything she really liked the feeling of Chloe's lips on hers. But even with her feelings it didn't stop her from feeling like an asshole. After all Chloe was in a relationship with someone who truly cared for her, what right did she have to try and break that? Maybe it was her selfishness but she would be lying if she didn't admit that small part of her enjoyed the fact that even for a moment, Chloe only thought about her and no one else. Her thoughts were cut short as she heard footsteps walking toward her as she turned to see who it was. A part of her was surprised to see Chloe walking out of the darkness and into the moonlight.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked as she turned back to the tree.

"I could ask you the same thing" Chloe responded. There was an awkward silence between the two before Rachel decided to break it.

"I'm sorry Chloe." she said simply.

"It's alright, all I wanted to know is why the sudden change? I mean, we were having a great time hanging out right?" Chloe said but Rachel could hear the slight hint of sadness in her voice. Rachel wasted no time in turning to look at her.

"It has nothing to do with you Chloe." she stopped before turning her head back towards the large tree. "Do you remember that couple we saw here earlier?" she asked, getting a nod as Chloe watched her reach into her pocket and pull out a small photo before handing it to her. It took Chloe a minute before the revelation hit like a truck as she looked at Rachel for confirmation.

"Oh shit" was all Chloe could say as the situation finally became clear.

"I always looked up to him, but to see him doing that just made me so angry." she paused as anger began to fill her eyes. "Seeing him there with someone, who definitely wasn't my mother." she stopped before turning to Chloe and extending her hand out. After staring Rachel in the eyes for a few seconds she hesitantly hands the photo back to its owner. Chloe watched as Rachel stared at the photo for a few seconds before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a lighter. Before Chloe could say anything, the photo was already lit and the small glow of fire could be seen within the darkness of night. With a simple flick of the wrist the burning photo fell into the garbage can in front of them, setting a blaze to the contents of the metal container. Chloe let out a slight sigh in relief as she watched Rachel slowly turn and walk towards her, but that relief was short lived as the blond quickly turned around and kicked the flaming trash can over causing the flames to spread to the nearby grass. All Chloe could do was watch as the flames spread to nearby trees, as that happened all she could do was mutter one word.

"Fuck"