Searching for an apartment in New York City, especially when they couldn't tour the places in person, had become a full-time job over the last two weeks since Max graduated high school. Max had opted to skip the ceremony, and instead the Caulfields and Chloe went out for a celebratory dinner on her last day. Almost immediately after they got back from that dinner, they had started researching available housing options, with very limited success.

"Max, did you see where that one is located? For that price? Hell no," Chloe declared, pressing her palms into her eye sockets in frustration. They had been talking for the past three hours about the apartments left on their list, and she was about ready to call it quits for the day. "I know we can't just toss things out for no good reason, but we need to have some standards."

Max sighed, shaking her head as she crossed the address out on their rapidly shrinking list of options. "Fine. What about the one with the weird bathtub?"

Chloe couldn't help but laugh as she remembered the details of that apartment - and its occupants. "Do we really want to deal with someone's boyfriend living in the same place as us?"

"Chloe." Max's tone was stern, but even she had an uncomfortable look on her face.

"I'm serious. I'm not even sure that girl was actually living there, anyways. The whole thing just felt off," Chloe countered, hitting the refresh button to see if any new emails had reached her inbox. Fat goose egg so far.

Max groaned, rolling over so she was laying face down on the bed. "Maybe we should just take Victoria up on her offer. It'd be nice to see her and Kate all the time," Max said, voice muffled from the comforter.

Chloe looked over at her, smirking at the minor display of distress. "Do you really want her father owning the building hanging over our heads?"

Max shrugged, turning her face to look at Chloe, and hopefully to breathe. "I really don't think Cam would care about us living in the spare bedroom," she commented.

"Still. It just feels...weird to freeload, you know?" Chloe had seriously thought about it a few times, just to avoid the frustration of finding a place, but really didn't feel uber comfortable crashing with Victoria and Kate. Although, at the rate they were going…

Max suddenly snorted, an amused look appearing on her face. "Like we're not freeloading right now," Max teased.

"Hey, your parents have a moral obligation to give you a roof over your head," Chloe shot back, groaning. "But, yeah, just feels weird taking that bedroom."

Max nodded, closing her eyes as the humor seeped from her expression. "I know. I just don't think we should forget that it's an option."

Chloe refreshed her inbox again, perking up when she saw a new email. "Hey, that Mel chick finally sent the pictures of her apartment." Max sat back up before resting her head against Chloe's shoulder as they slowly worked through the pictures. "Our bedroom'd be kinda small, but it's alright. I mean, it's probably not as fancy as whatever building Cam bought," she added, pondering what kind of apartment building a rich business man would buy.

"That one was, what, a half hour walk from Parsons?" Max asked, and Chloe could feel her frowning against her shoulder..

"Yup. Can't get much better than that, for that price." Chloe scratched the back of her neck, closing her eyes for a moment as she tried to remember the full conversation they had had with that potential roommate - after a while, they all started to blur together. "I also think she was probably the coolest person we talked to."

"She was really nice, and cool," Max agreed, starting to chew her lip nervously. "I don't know, do you think there's going to be any other options?"

"What, suddenly don't like her?" Chloe teased, bumping Max's arm with her elbow. "It's the dyed hair, isn't it? C'mon, black isn't that crazy."

Max was frowning, shaking her head slowly. "No, it's just…it's a really big decision, and a lot of money. A lot of your money." Max's voice was quickly becoming strained, panicking.

Chloe planted a kiss on the top of Max's head, sighing. "We don't have to decide this today, alright? Let's go get lunch."

Max suddenly giggled, leaning away from Chloe to look at her. "You know we can't just keep putting this off, right?" she asked, smirking.

"Huh?"

"You did the same thing yesterday morning, with breakfast," Max responded, biting her lip as she tried not to laugh at Chloe's blank expression.

Chloe couldn't hold back a scoff as she started pouting, crossing her arms. "Max, you know I make my best decisions on a full stomach." Max giggled again, and Chloe couldn't help smiling back at her.

Chloe chuckled at her phone for a moment as she quickly sending a response back to Steph before locking her screen and setting it back down on the table, eager to return to her food. She still thought that this diner wasn't as good as the Two Whales, but it was starting to grow on her, one greasy burger at a time.

Max's eyes were fixed on Chloe's phone, a little frown on her face. "Who was that?"

Chloe shrugged, starting to gnaw on a fry. "Just Steph, checking to make sure we're still doing Firewalk next week." Just the thought of the show had Chloe grinning, remembering how much she had missed live music.

Max's mouth formed into a comically perfect "o" shape as she processed the response. "Oh, I forgot about that."

"Well, fortunately you have one of their biggest fans sitting across from you, so you don't have to remember," she joked. Chloe was about to shove more of her burger into her mouth when she noticed Max's shoulders slumping slightly. "Hey, you okay?"

Max shrugged, leaning against the table. "Yeah, just...last time I went to a place with a huge crowd and loud music, it..." Max trailed off, and it took Chloe a second to remember what she was referring to - Chloe had, after all, never actually attended the End of the World Party.

At least, not in this timeline.

"We don't have to go, the tickets weren't that expensive," Chloe said quickly, shrugging nonchalantly and finally taking a bite of her burger. She'd really rather go to the concert than skip it, but she wouldn't admit that to Max, not when she seemed so upset about it.

"No, you want to go, I'll be fine." Chloe raised an eyebrow doubtfully as she chewed, and Max groaned. "I'm serious, I can't avoid crowds for the rest of my life." Although Max sounded confident, Chloe could see the way her eyes were darting to and fro, trying to avoid eye contact.

Chloe swallowed quickly, hoping she wouldn't suddenly choke on her food. Me almost dying from a burger would just be the cherry on top right now. "You sure?" Chloe asked cautiously, eyes narrowing as she studied Max's face.

Max made eye contact this time, nodding. "Positive."

"Alright." She waited a beat, looking at her plate, before looking back up at Max. "You're a hundred percent positive, right?"

Max gave her a blank look from under her bangs. "Chloe," she muttered, her tone a mix of disgruntled and amused.

"I'm just checking." Max had started chewing on her lip again, though, and Chloe put down her burger. "Hey, look, Steph and Paige are gonna be there. We'll be with a group, you know?" Max nodded, avoiding contact by glancing out over the diner. "Worst thing that happens, someone spills an overpriced beer all over us."

Max finally turned to look at her, doubtful. "That's the worst thing that could happen?"

Chloe shrugged, picking up a fry. "Well, I mean, one of the band members could decide to crowd surf and turn us into pancakes because we're the only ones trying to catch them."

Max laughed, although it was short and lacked humor. "Okay, Chloe."

"Maaax," Chloe replied, leaning across the table to grab her elbows. She gave Max a little shake as she watched her girlfriend starting to chew her lip. "What do I have to do to take your mind off it?"

Max was quiet for a moment, staring down at Chloe's hands. "I don't think it's that simple," she finally said. "I mean, I'm still trying to journal everything and talk through what I can with Dr. Harriss, but some of this stuff just…" Max trailed off with a little shrug.

"Needs time?" Chloe offered, sliding a hand down one of Max's arms to grip her hand.

"Yeah." Max nodded a few more times as she stared at their joined hands before looking back up at Chloe. "But I want to at least try, you know? Maybe it won't be so bad."

"It's your call," Chloe responded, gently rubbing her thumb over the back of Max's hand. "I'm not gonna force you to go. It's not like I haven't seen them before."

There was a determined spark in Max's eye as she nodded again. "I'm sure. I want to try."

Chloe watched her for a moment before bobbing her head as well, holding back a sigh. "Okay."

They were quiet for a few minutes as they turned back to their meals. "So, did lunch give you any inspiration on what apartment to pick?" Max asked as she saw Chloe shoving the last of her food into her mouth.

Chloe groaned as she tried to chew her food enough to be able to respond. "Seriously Max?" she complained, ignoring Max's giggling at her response.