Chapter 16: Winged Wolf

MAX CAULFIELD POV:

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! Why could I only think of those two words? He loves me and Chloe? It somehow made no sense and yet made all of the sense in the world.

"Max?" I could barely hear Chloe over the sound of my own thoughts, "Are you broken?"

"Holy shit."

"Well, she's not broken," Chloe shrugged.

"I…" Aaron moved toward the door, "I should go."

"No," Chloe ran to him and grabbed him gently by the shoulder. "The three of us are in this together."

"I just destroyed a friendship," Aaron held back his tears.

"This isn't some bad soap opera." Chloe moved in front of him, "We can work this out, but we have to do it together."

At this point, I broke out of my stunned state and hugged Aaron from behind, "We're both here for you."

Suddenly, he disappeared, and Chloe and I were alone.

"What was that?" Chloe asked.

"He stopped time and got away. Maybe I should rewind and start over?"

Chloe put her hands on her hips, "How fucked up is it that this situation is normal?" She walked over to the couch, jumped on it, and said, "Rewind away."

I sat down in my own chair, and held out my hand and concentrated. Whispers and strange noises filled the air. Within a few seconds I was several minutes in the past.

"Max?" Chloe stated snaping her fingers in front of me, "Are you broken?"

"Honestly? I've never felt better," I said.

"R-really?" Aaron asked.

I stood and approached him, "You think I would be mad at you?"

Aaron rubbed the back of his neck, "A little, I didn't sleep with your best friend."

I smiled one of Chloe's smiles, "This isn't some bad soap opera. Whatever happens in the future, we'll face it together."

"Um... wow," he mustered, "that was-"

"Cheesy as hell," Chloe interrupted.

Aaron surprised me by wrapping his arms around me as I turned to scold Chloe. "Thank you. I don't know what I would've done if-" Chloe interrupted by joining the hug, sandwiching me.

"Heh. Look at me. I'm a Max sandwich." I said in an effort to diffuse any remaining tension. Laughter from both sides of me reflected my success.

"Well well well." The three of us quickly un-hugged each other to face the source of the voice. It was Chloe's step-father. "The three of you look closer than ever."

"Mr. Madsen," I said awkwardly, "what are you doing here?"

"Well, I live here," he explained, "and I clocked out early."

"Oh…"

"How much of…" Chloe gestured to the three of us, "did you see?"

"Enough to know that I don't want to be involved," he said walking to a chair. He sighed deeply as he sat down.

"Um.., I said, "should… should we leave?"

"I would," Chloe answered without hesitation.

With that, the three of us went outside and sat on the stoop. "Yeah… this isn't the best place for relationship discussions."

"I don't know," Aaron stated, "this is a really cozy neighborhood."

"Yeah, but this," Chloe gestured to the stoop and the doorway, "doesn't feel like the place where we should discuss the future."

"It's kinda public too," I added.

"Want to go to the junkyard?" Aaron asked.

"That's not that romantic." I said as I rubbed my arm nervously.

"Oooooooooh," Chloe playfully nudged my arm, "Maxine Caulfield, Queen of Romance."

"Please stop."

"I can see the cover now," she continued, "I'll be kissing your left cheek, Aaron will be kissing your right. And you would have this look somewhere between confusion and ecstasy."

"That's a pretty wide gap," Aaron chimed in.

"The best kind of gap." Chloe nodded approvingly at the carnage she'd caused, then suddenly stood up. "Lucky for you losers, I have a better place in mind to talk this shit out."

"Where?" I asked, both curious and concerned.

"You'll see," Chloe replied with a coy smile as she moved down the driveway outside her house.

I glanced at Aaron, who looked just as confused and intrigued as I felt. We all piled into Chloe's truck, heading to our mystery location. It didn't take me long to realize where we were going when I saw the lighthouse in the distance. The journey over was surprisingly quiet, broken only by the sound of Chloe tapping her fingers against the wheel. I kept glancing over at Aaron expecting him to have disappeared again. He didn't, although he looked incredibly awkward still.

Chloe parked the truck up at Arcadia's sorry excuse for a beach, jumping out as soon as we rolled to a stop. I got out next, followed by Aaron a few seconds later.

"Ah," Chloe took a big lungful of air. "Nice to be somewhere that doesn't smell of stale piss and beer."

"Ew." I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "So much for creating a romantic atmosphere."

Chloe scoffed loudly, sitting down in the sand. "You guys would evaporate with embarrassment if I tried too hard."

I opened my mouth to protest, getting a stern glare from Chloe. "Okay, maybe you have a point."

"She definitely does…" Aaron muttered as he cautiously sat down, leaving a space for me.

I joined them, my shoulders gently brushing against both Chloe and Aaron. We sat like that for a while, just watching the waves wash over the shoreline and then recede.

"Um…" Aaron finally said, hesitating as he failed to find the right words to express his thoughts.

"Wow, we have a real master of words with us, Max." Chloe chuckled, her comment making Aaron turn a light shade of pink.

"I just… what happens now?"

"We figure this shit out." I gently nudged his shoulder. "Together."

Aaron let out a deep sigh. "I've never been in this… situation before."

"Neither have I," Chloe said with a shrug, leaning back on her hands. "Pretty sure Max hasn't, either. Unless she did some wild and crazy shit in Seattle that I don't know about."

"No way." I shook my head firmly. "This is new but… it's not a bad thing."

Chloe nodded in agreement. "I can only see the positives. I have two easily embarrassed dorks to tease now."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Two easily embarrassed dorks who have time wrapped around their little fingers and could easy team up against you."

"Tag team, huh." Chloe waggled her eyebrows. "Sounds like fun."

"Oh…" Aaron swallowed hard, his face reddening even more.

"Quit it, Chloe." I shook my head. "We're supposed to be talking about this seriously."

"I'm being serious here." Chloe looked at them both, her usual glint of mischief completely overshadowed by determination. "The three of us. Together. Enough of the guilt and running away." Aaron visibly recoiled when she said that. "Let's make it official."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" I asked.

Chloe held out her arm, tapping the sleeve tattoo. "You two get inked. Doesn't have to be anything this intense, although it would be hella hot."

"I…" Aaron glanced at Chloe's tattoo nervously, "don't think I'd be ready for that. Not something so big, anyway."

"Then we can get something small. Matching." Chloe tilted her head, deep in thought. "What to get is the question."

"I think Aaron and I should choose," I quickly stipulated. "The design and where it goes."

"You guys are no fun… but fine. One condition, I get to veto something if I think it's lame." Chloe held out her pinkie finger.

"Deal." I wrapped my finger around Chloe's, the action mirrored by Aaron.

"Well," Aaron drew a clover in the sand, "What about a clover?"

"Veto," Chloe stated, "though I like the idea of the theme of 'three.'"

I drew a triangle, "What about a triangle cut into thirds with our initials in the segments."

"Very interesting," Chloe nodded.

"Veto," Aaron stated.

"Hey!" Chloe exclaimed, "I'm the one who vetoes."

"Sorry," Aaron shifted, "but I'm not sure about the shape. You want to make a suggestion, Chloe?"

"No thanks, I like to watch."

Aaron began to draw in the sand again. He drew a three way venn diagram in the sand.

"Oh hold up," Chloe stated, "you might just have something." She crawled forward and 'erased' most of the pieces of the circles, leaving three interlocking football shapes in the sand.

"A trinity knot." Chloe raised her hands in victory and fell backwards into the sand.

"I…" Aaron smiled, "I love it."

"Trinity knot it is," I agreed.

"Hell yeah," Chloe chuckled to herself, "I can't wait to see you two crying like little bitches."

"You really making it sound appealing…" Aaron muttered.

"Hey, it's worth it. You get two girls, after all." Chloe stood up and dusted off her hands. Her gaze drifted to the far end of the shore, noticing a small beached sailboat. It looked abandoned. "Well, shit. Let's go check that baby out!"

Before getting a reply, she sprinted across the shore, kicking up sand behind her. I shook my head, standing up to chase after her. Aaron trailed behind, eventually catching up with us. Chloe was already at the helm, pretending that she was on a real pirate ship.

"Avast, ye scurvy landlubbers." She spoke in the most exaggerated pirate accent she could muster. "This here ship be the property of the mighty Captain Bluebeard. Most fearsome pirate to sail the seven seas."

"Room for a first mate?" I asked with a grin, glancing at Aaron as he clambered aboard. "Or maybe two."

"Aye, I think there may be." Chloe pointed out to sea. "Our first adventure awaits!"

Aaron looked at the boat, frowning at the general state of disrepair. "I don't think she'll be ready for an adventure any time soon."

"Not with that attitude. My dad taught me a few things about fixing shit." Chloe paced around the ship, assessing the damages.

"Shame you default to blowing shit up normally," I said.

"It's more fun, but we could blow a lot more shit up all over the world with a boat." Chloe shooed a disgruntled crab away with her foot as it scurried across the deck. "With some cash and time, we could get this ol' girl up and running in no time."

"Well," Aaron glanced at the torn sails and multiple holes in the deck, "maybe I can pick up a few shifts at the Two Whales. If we're really doing this whole 'together' thing, I should probably start paying rent. David might kick me out, otherwise."

"Nah, he wouldn't do that…" Chloe paused, then shrugged. "I think."

"I still feel bad for mooching off him and Joyce. Besides, any extra money I get can go to restoring this boat to her former glory." Aaron fondly patted the warped mast.

"I think it's a great idea," I said. "It would be nice to have a joint project."

Chloe nodded. "In that case, all that's left is to name her. I cast my vote for THE THREE WAY."

"NO!" I yelled; my face started to burn with frustration and embarrassment. Chloe laughed evilly.

Aaron, who was blushing as well, said, "What about POSIDEON'S KISS?"

"Oh no no no no NO," Chloe stated, "this is a pirate ship, not a goddamn yacht."

"Actually, at this size, it would be considered a sloop, a very common among rich pricks," Aaron added.

"Don't ruin this, please," Chloe said genuinely.

Aaron threw up his hands in defeat, "Alright… alright." Several minutes of extremely inappropriate ship names from Chloe passed. Then, Aaron asked, "What about WINGED WOLF?"

"Sounds pretty badass to me," Chloe said with a grin putting one arm around me and the other around Aaron.

"Yeah," he agreed, smiling in a way I'd never seen him do before. Completely at ease. "I like that. A lot." When he looked at me, his expression changed to one of confusion because of the surprised look on my face. "What is it?"

I fished a drawing from my backpack, "Last night I had a dream of this."

Chloe, who had come down from the ship, and Aaron were shocked at my drawing of a winged wolf.

"I don't believe it," Aaron stated.

"This is fucking destiny," an evil grin creeped across her face, "all will cower before the WINGED WOLF."

Special thanks to Nothing You Can Prove for helping me with this chapter. Thank you so very very much. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.