"Mitchell, fucking lift," Chloe complained, shoulders straining as she tried keep the couch - and herself - from slipping back down the steps.
Paige made an exasperated noise, glaring back down at Chloe as she continued pulling on her end. "Chloe, I am trying. Snide comments aren't helping." Paige groaned again before stopping, causing Chloe's midriff to slam into the couch arm. As she wheezed slightly from having all the air forcefully expelled from her lungs, she heard Paige start swearing. "Down, down, I need to adjust my grip."
Chloe carefully set her end down, leaning against the couch to keep it immobile while she rubbed her stomach. She was still out of breath from the second flight of stairs, but Paige had finally reached the third floor landing - they were on the home stretch now. "Max, we should have brought your dad," Chloe complained, gazing up at her girlfriend.
Max shrugged from the railing, standing next to Steph as they watched the entertainment below them. "He offered to come," Max commented, trying not to smile. Steph, meanwhile, was constantly snickering, obviously enjoying the struggle.
"I know. We should have taken him up on his offer." She took another deep breath before pulling at the bottom of the couch again, lifting it just high enough that the feet wouldn't hit the stairs, while Paige did the same on the top. "Now, PIVOT!"
"Chloe, you can't just keep saying 'pivot', you don't even need to turn anymore," Steph remarked.
"Fuck off, Steph, you're not the one carrying a couch," Chloe shot back, finally reaching the top landing and setting the couch down with a thud. "Oh thank god," she muttered, leaning against the side of the couch with a dramatic sigh. It was tempting to sprawl out onto the couch right here, right now, blocking the stairs be damned.
"Need us to take it from here?" Steph asked, watching Paige stagger back from the furniture while shaking her arms out. "I think you two need a break."
Paige was nodding, exhaling heavily as she leaned next to the doorway of the apartment. "Yes please," she responded, her head tilting back to make contact with the door frame.
Steph rubbed her hands together as she took Paige's place, Max quickly sliding up next to Chloe and rubbing her back. "Okay Max, if you have any hidden muscle hiding under that hoodie-"
Chloe snorted, shaking her head dismissively as she stood upright. "As if." Max's head quickly turned to fix her with a glare, and Chloe shrugged sheepishly, leaning down to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Babe, I'm just being honest."
Steph counted them down, and the two of them were able to move the couch into the apartment with relative ease. As they were moving, Chloe joined Paige against the wall, offering up her hand for a high-five.
"Ow," Paige said weakly as their hands smacked together. She was still shaking out her arms, rolling her shoulders every now and then for good measure. "We're definitely going to be feeling this tomorrow."
Chloe nodded, groaning as she stretched her arms above her head. "Of course she couldn't have gotten a ground floor apartment," Chloe muttered, sighing.
Paige pointed straight up, a smirk spreading across her face. "Hey, at least it's not the fourth floor."
Chloe shuddered at the thought of struggling with another flight of stairs. "No thank you, three was enough. Is everything else out of the car?"
Paige nodded, pushing herself off of the door frame and heading towards the open door, Chloe close behind. "Yeah, I think Max grabbed the last of it when we were still trying to figure out how to turn on the first floor."
"Are you talking about the car?" Steph asked as they stepped into the apartment. It was still rather barren, plain white walls surrounding the couch and the disassembled bed frame in the corner, but Chloe knew it wouldn't be long before the studio apartment turned into a nerd cave. "Yeah, we got the last of it."
"When does your job start again?" Max asked, poking around some of the larger boxes out of curiosity.
"Two weeks. Plenty of time to get settled in," Steph replied, sitting down on the couch with a sigh of relief. "Holy shit, I'm definitely done with stairs for the day."
"And you weren't even the one doing the heavy lifting," Paige replied, shooting daggers in her direction. Steph winced a little, although Paige's expression quickly softened as she leaned against the wall next to the couch, using one of her hands to tug at Steph's beanie.
There was a thud, followed by a clattering noise as Max accidentally tipped one of the largest boxes over. Most of it was clothing and a few books, but a skateboard of all things rolled out and gently tapped Chloe's shin in way of greeting.
"Steph, since when did you skateboard?" Chloe asked, bending over to inspect the board. It was a plain black board, and there was some delam going on, but the wheels looked completely clean, as if they had never touched the ground before that moment.
"Oh, I totally forgot I had that," Steph commented, leaning forward and swatting Paige's hand away from her hat as Chloe set the board back on the ground and hopped on, working her way around the apartment. "I never really got the hang of it."
"Sure looks like Chloe did," Paige smirked, shifting to lean against the couch as she watched.
At that moment, Chloe hit a rough spot on the floor, nearly losing her balance and only keeping herself upright by grabbing the nearby kitchen counter. "Hey, watch it, I don't want to lose my security deposit because of you," Steph complained, arms crossing as she glared.
"Not my fault your floor is stupid," Chloe commented before stepping off the board, popping the board up to grab it by the nose and trying to pass it back to Steph. "Just needs some glue and clamp it down until it's dry, and it'll be good as new."
Steph shook her head, waving a hand in Chloe's direction. "I really don't think I'll ever use it. Consider it an extra thank you for helping me move."
Chloe nodded, gazing back down at the board. "Sweet, thanks, Steph."
Max had stepped closer to Chloe, inspecting the skateboard herself without taking it out of Chloe's hand. "I've always been a little jealous of your skateboarding abilities," she commented, a hand moving slightly as though to take the board.
Chloe bit her lip to hold back a snicker as she passed the board over. "Hey, I tried to teach you before, you were just too chicken to even get on the board."
"Was not!" Max quickly responded, flushing red as Steph and Paige giggled at her expense. The start of a pout quickly morphed into a bashful grin as she turned away from Chloe to look at the board in peace. "Okay, maybe a little, but I was on the board before."
Chloe could remember Max having been on the board before, but instead of continuing her teasing, she stepped behind Max and put her arms around Max's waist, ignoring her little yelp. "How 'bout this, once we're home, we go down to that park down the street, and get you up and moving."
"It's not going to work," Max muttered, examining the board as if trying to ignore Chloe.
"Try me," Chloe whispered into her ear, feeling Max shiver slightly.
Paige coughed pointedly, trying to hide a laugh, and both Chloe and Max jumped a little - Chloe had momentarily forgotten there were other people in the apartment, and apparently Max did as well. "Get a room," Paige muttered behind her hand, glancing towards Steph, who was smirking.
Chloe took a big step back from Max, letting her arms fall as she turned to look at the other couple. "Well, if we leave, I suppose you two will christen the apartment, right?"
Steph was laughing, bouncing onto her feet quickly to push the two of them towards the front door. "Chloe, get the fuck out."
"You're not going to let go of me, right?"
"Never. I'm right here." Max was still looking down at her feet, shaking slightly, and Chloe had to bite her lip to prevent herself from laughing. "Max, you have to use your foot to push."
"I don't want to," Max said quickly before giggling nervously. "I know, I know." Both feet were still stationary on the board, hands tightening around Chloe's arms, as if the idea of moving at all was terrifying.
"We can stop, if you want," Chloe offered. She really didn't want Max to do anything she didn't have to, and there was nothing wrong with baby steps. She certainly hadn't learned how to skateboard in one sitting.
A little determined look settled across Max's face as she shook her head. "No, I want to do it." Biting her lip and still holding Chloe's arms for dear life, Max finally lowered her right foot to push against the ground. She barely got herself moving, but it was enough that Chloe had to take a step to stay with her.
"There ya go!" Chloe crowed, feeling a wild grin spreading across her face. Max seemed a little surprised with herself, kicking against the ground again before a satisfied grin spread across her face. As soon as she went to put her foot back on the board, she started tipping backwards, yelping as Chloe pulled her upright. "I got you, don't worry."
"I feel like a baby deer," Max complained, steadying herself on both feet before reaching her foot down again.
"Well, you're the cutest baby deer, that's for sure," Chloe commented, walking slowly alongside her. Max's grin kept spreading, and Chloe couldn't help but smile as well. "You're doing so-"
It was as if the skateboard had been waiting for that moment - Max's foot came down on the board a little too far back, and the board suddenly shot out in front of her. Chloe was barely able to keep her promise and catch Max, who reflexively screamed. "You spoke too soon," Max panted after her feet touched the ground, both of them starting to giggle as the skateboard came to a stop a few feet away. "Can we stop for a bit?"
Chloe nodded eagerly, quietly grateful that Max had finally let go of her forearms - she was sure there would be bruises from her girlfriend's grip. "Sure."
She grabbed the board as they walked towards the park's swing set, the sun lazily setting ahead of them. Chloe saw Max's fingers twitching, probably wishing she had her camera to take a picture - it was a very picturesque moment. Chloe propped the board up against one of the poles supporting the swings before taking a seat at one of the non-broken ones, facing the fading sun.
Max sat next to her, gazing at the sun with a strange look on her face. "You okay?" Chloe asked, reaching out with a foot to bump one of Max's.
Max nodded, starting to chew her lip. "Yeah, just thinking."
"You've been doing a lot of that, lately."
Max laughed once, a rather hollow laugh. The bit of humor quickly faded though, replaced with a surprised expression. "We're really doing it. Going to New York. I'm actually going to school for photography." There was a hopeful lilt to her voice as she turned to look at Chloe, blue eyes flitting over her face. "It still feels surreal."
Chloe nodded, looking down at the recycled rubber below her feet. "I get it. I mean, I'm out of Arcadia Bay." Her words came out with a bitter tone, and she sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that."
Max shrugged, reaching a hand over to slip her fingers between Chloe's. "It's okay," Max said quietly, thumb starting to rub against the back of Chloe's hand.
"We still need to find an apartment," Chloe muttered, kicking at the rubber chunks. "I have enough saved from the house still that we shouldn't have an issue with a deposit or anything, but still, we have to find one, first."
"Or just stay with Vic and Kate," Max pointed out, her thumb still tracing circles on Chloe's hand.
"Or that." Chloe took a deep breath before exhaling loudly, staring into the sun again. "Just, holy shit, it's all happening so fucking fast."
Max started swaying her feet, legs short enough that she didn't have to worry about hitting the ground. "I know what you mean. I'm excited, but at the same time, it'd be nice to just sit back and enjoy the moment sometimes."
Chloe looked down at their joined hands, nodding. The last seven months felt like a blur at this point, and not for the first time, she wondered if it was the seven months she had deserved. She could think of a long list of people who deserved better than what they got, that was for sure.
"Hey, stop that," Max murmured, shaking her hand gently.
Chloe looked up at her, frowning. Max was gazing back at her with a soft look in her eyes, smiling slightly. "Huh?"
"Wondering if things were different," Max answered, giving a casual little shrug.
Chloe felt her heart pound a little harder than usual. Dear god please don't tell me she's suddenly started being able to read minds. "What are you-"
A coy smile played with the corners of Max's mouth. "Chloe, I know you. I don't need super powers to know what you're thinking, sometimes." Max pulled their joined hands up to her mouth to give the back of Chloe's hand a kiss, before continuing to trace the back of it with her thumb. "It's you and me, right? We're Max and Chloe, remember? And I love you."
"Love you too," she murmured, throat feeling tight as she struggled to swallow. Chloe coughed once, trying to ignore the burning in her eyes and turning to look at the sun instead. "So, one week of school left, how're you feeling?" she asked quickly, hoping to avoid crying in the middle of a public park.
Max shrugged, using her free hand to play with her hoodie strings. "Fine, I guess. Only have two exams left."
"Any…other issues?"
Max rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Landon's out for the week again. His parents went on some vacation and took him with," Max responded, voice slightly strained.
"Weird skip the last week of school," Chloe said cautiously, making a mental note to thank Victoria next time she got the chance. Not that the bastard should be rewarded for being a piece of shit. Knowing that Max didn't have to deal with him, though, was still a relief.
Max was shrugging, gazing back towards the sliver of sun still visible. "Still, one week left, and then I'm all yours, all summer." There was a smug little smile spreading across Max's face as she spoke, glancing over at Chloe with the slightest tinge of red appearing on her cheeks.
"Hell yeah you are," Chloe responded, grinning back at her. She used her feet to pull herself closer to Max, planting a kiss on her cheek. "It's getting dark, we should head back," Chloe commented, slowly getting up from the swing and groaning as her joints popped. She had to let go of Max for a moment to avoid them getting tangled in the swing chains, but Max's hand quickly found hers again before they stopped to grab the skateboard.
As they walked hand-in-hand towards the Caulfields' house, with the sun finally disappearing and the stars coming out to greet them, Chloe couldn't help but think that she was the luckiest girl alive.