Chloe has a plan, and excited as we all are to be back together, we have to load up in the truck and start off south with little fanfare. It's about 3pm, and our destination is the Redwoods forest about an hour and a half south, so Chloe figures we can be there by 4:00 if we have the right music.

I'm happy to oblige.

I pull the first of my disks out of my messenger bag by the time we've pulled away from the bus station. Chloe glances at it for a second while we sit at a stop sign, and I'm busy switching it with the disk already - from what I heard, I'm pretty sure it's Dark Side of the Moon. Typical.

"Holy shit, mixtape 1? Dude, how many did you make?"

A grin crosses my face. "Oh, a few. I'm surprised you didn't make some yourself before going."

Chloe's eyes practically roll into the back of her head, which cannot be safe when you're in one of the heaviest cars on the streets."
"I've just been slowly driving myself crazy listening to the Arctic Monkeys over and over. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have settled for so many Oregon stops if didn't need to get out of the car so bad."

Since the truck is not properly designed for three full-sized people, I'm wedged between Rachel and Chloe in a seat belt apparently designed for ants. Bringing my bag inside with me for the disks and my camera was, in hindsight, probably a poor choice, eating into my little leg room. At the very least, with a seat so bad, neither of them could contest me having control of the music.

It's not until we're on the freeway that we really say anything more than the lyrics of the music. Chloe quickly settles into her lazy driving stance, leaning against the window, her head held up on her hand. Crescent City is small enough that it takes few directions to get out, and Chloe is a far more confident driver than Rachel or me.

Chloe chuckling is what breaks it, though. Shaking her head, she says, "You guys are totally crazy, you know that?"

Rachel and I exchange a glance, then her eyes flick over to Chloe. As she raises a finger to show that she has something to say, she replies, "I think we are totally cute."

Chloe snorts and says, "Okay, maybe, but you've got the Harley Quinn thing going on. Cute 'n crazy."
She spares us a short glance before transitioning into, "But, like, I know you know college apps are due at the end of the month. This just seems like kind of a shit idea if you want to be on top of that."

There's a few seconds of uncomfortable silence between us when she says that. I know she doesn't mean it rudely, but sometimes Chloe can come off a little harsh with her criticisms.
I clear my throat and say, "Well, uh, I kind of thought we'd be back by then. Plus, we brought homework."

Chloe grumbles a little. "I really wasn't planning on a time table, y'know? It's kind of against the whole point."

What exactly is the point?, I want to ask. Instead, I just tug on the bracelet that Rachel gave me, leaning forward so that Chloe is only in my peripheral vision.
I hate it when she's on edge like this. We probably should have told her about the plan as soon as we thought of it instead of ambushing her with it last night. Chloe is always one for surprises and impulsiveness, though, so I wasn't expecting this hesitation from her.

"And we get that, hon," Rachel replies, swiping her hair behind her ear and pinching her earring, rolling it between her fingers slightly. "We'll just bus back if we run out of time. You're the captain, I promise."
Rachel extends her arm a little over my head, and I think I see Chloe smirk. She switches hands on the wheel and meets Rachel in a pinky promise somewhere behind my back.

"Aye, mateys," Chloe says in her gruffest pirate voice. "An' any man who mutinies will walk the plank."

"Aye captain!" Rachel and I reply in unison, and we both laugh.

I lean back against the seat, settling in for the ride while the fourth song picks up. Chloe's grinning now, and that leaves me with a smile even as my laughter fades away. Chloe insists on being grumpy except in the moments when she's a smirking, sarcastic little punk, but whenever she smiles, it's like years are pulled from her face. Under her weak facade, she's a total kid, just like me. And in moments like that, you actually get to see how beautiful she is.

I look over at Rachel, and her smile is slowly melting into a smirk. When our eyes lock, she quirks an eyebrow at me, and I giggle a little. I want to take my hands out of my lap, try resting my hand on top of Rachel's, but I notice she's keeping her hands on her legs, too.

We're not quite there yet, and that's okay.
I'm exactly where I want to be.

Chloe insists that we have enough time for a "half-day" hike when we arrive, despite the fact that we definitely did not make it by 4:00.

I've only ever seen the redwoods from a profile view, driving down the coast of California with my parents. Even that was years ago, before we even moved away from Arcadia Bay, and I don't think I could properly appreciate the scale. Even while we were still in the car, I don't think the size of the forest really sunk in.

Rachel takes a deep breath as soon as she's outside, holding her arms out to best expose herself to the fresh air. "God," she says, "it's good to be back."

Chloe's on her phone while we get our packs prepared, trying to find out more details about this so-called Boy Scout Tree Trail. There are three other cars in the small lot at the trail head, so it should be a pretty peaceful walk.

"Okay, so," Chloe begins, sitting on the edge of the truck bed. "Looks like we're climbing Howland Hill, then ending up in Fern Falls. This super-special tree or whatever is there, and then we turn back. We should be out of here before eight. Rache, you got a jacket?"

Rachel scoffs and waves the notion away. "This is California, Chloe. I'm good. Plus, you know I run hot."

It's already plenty warm for me, so I tie my hoodie around my waist, glad for the absolute mountains of sunscreen that we all brought, although I know these forests are supposed to cut out most of the direct sunlight.

Once she sees that we're all ready, Chloe remarks, "'aight, let's go!"

"Oh, holy shit, is that it?"
Chloe points ahead on the trail where an unusually wide redwood sits. I can see that a small sign has been nailed into it, even though I can't read it from this distance.

"I think so . . ." I reply.
It's not until we're pretty close that I recognize what is off about the tree's size - it's subtly warped towards the center, as if two redwoods grew together and merged. Even by the scale of the redwoods, it's enormous in girth.

There's something about the forest that warps your entire sense of scale. When you look up between the redwoods, it looks like you're tracing the perspective lines of the world, like they'll all bend inward towards a central focal point. It's one of the few times that you really become aware at how your vision is warped by position, almost as if you are the center of things and the tops of the trees bow before you.

"I wish there was enough space you could take one of those, like, leaning against the Eiffel tower pictures." Chloe genuinely seems to pout as she recognizes this isn't an option.

"Well, we could go for the opposite approach," Rachel offers.
Chloe and I both look at her, expectant of an explanation.
She gestures forward at the double redwood. "We'll stand back, you go up right next to it, and everybody can be like, 'whoah, big tree.'"

"But then I seem weak and small," Chloe says, pouting even more.

"What if you fought the tree?"

Chloe turns towards me, hands on her hips for a second in thought. Then, she snaps her fingers into a quick finger gun - "That. That's the sort of thinking you're here for. Lemme at it."

Rachel and I stop on the path while Chloe dashed on ahead, quickly shrinking against the giant redwood. There are a few points where I think she's right up against it, like an optical illusion, before I use the ground and realize she still has several paces to go.
She's diminutive against it by the time she's leaning up against it, apparently awaiting a 'cool guy' shot like she's been hitting Facebook with a few times a day. Rachel pulls out her phone as I take out my polaroid, trying to get as much of the massive tree(s?) in the frame as possible. Of course, it's completely useless - even if I backed up to the point I could first see the tree and rendered Chloe effectively invisible, I'd only end up with a portion of the tree in my viewfinder.

I'm still framing my shot when Rachel calls, "OKAY, NEW POSE!" And Chloe pivots, lifting her fists like a kickboxer before delivering one slow blow to the trunk of the tree.

Click, and out prints my invisible photo of Chloe.

Rachel's still fiddling around with filters, and I'm waving the warmth out of my photo, when Chloe calls to us, "THIS THING IS FUCKING HUGE, BY THE WAY!" and begins to walk around it, disappearing from sight after a few more seconds.

"Ooh, that one," I say, pointing to a 'noir' filter.
Rachel sighs gently, "Always a sucker for black and white, aren't you?" and her face turns away from her phone, planting a kiss on my cheek, warmer for the ambient heat.

"Hey," I say, and turn.
My hands are full, but I still manage to lean forward and kiss her. She reaches up and places her hand on my cheek, and we sit still in the kiss. It's amazing how quiet that moment is - all of the ambient noise of the cities and freeways are gone completely, the loudest noise I can hear just the ringing of my ear left from blaring rock in the car. It's the antithesis of our kiss in the light house I think, the air and the world so still, not electric, just warm.

There's a little pop in the end of our kiss, and then Rachel smiles while our faces are still so close.
"Good choice," she says, nodding. "Noir will do."

"- LIKE HOLY SHIT!" Chloe yells as she arrives on the other side of the scout tree. "IT'S SO BIG, I BET IT'S A METAPHOR FOR GOD! WHO IS ALSO MY DAD! AND THE FINAL BOSS!"

Rachel gives me a side eye. "Do you know what she's talking about?"
I take a few seconds to consider, swiping under my nose to clear the debris of thought and sweat. "Gatsby, I think. And definitely Final Fantasy."

Rachel's head quirks to the side while she tries to remember what that is, some of her hair spilling over her shoulder and disregarding her constant attempts to push it behind her ear. "Is that . . . that shitty sci-fi movie?"

I can feel it as my eyes go wide, my whole body freezing as I stow away my camera. Every muscle in my body is suddenly rigid in horror. Did she seriously just call Final Fantasy . . . shitty?

"What - did - you just say?"

Rachel's curious eyes tell me that she has exactly no idea what she has just done.
I stand up straighter, pressing my fingertips together just under my chin, and take a deep breath.

It's long past sundown by the time we've dragged our sleeping bags and a tarp out onto the beach, reasonably certain that it's illegal to sleep here but even more certain that we haven't seen a cop car since we left the redwoods. The tarp is large enough that our bodies can (mostly) fit on the top, our pillows forming a little triangle in the center while the rest of us sticks out like spokes onto the sand. The stars along the coast are not as visible as I would have hoped, but they're way clearer here than you can see anywhere in Arcadia Bay, especially the beach.

I know Rachel's into zodiacs, and while I'm mildly familiar with astrology from internet quizzes, and maybe a bit more familiar with Astronomy from Cosmos, I can't say I'm great at finding constellations. I'm good at finding shapes in the stars, sure, but the whole thing just feels . . . tricky.

There's one thing I can do, though. "Well, that's Ursa Minor, I know that. So that makes that the north star." I reach up, hoping they can see where my finger is pointed.

"That's . . . the little dipper, right?" Chloe asks.

"Mmhmm, that's right," Rachel says, reaching up while I drop my hand back down. Her hand trails across the sky a little, as if tracing a line against the heavy blue-black canvas. "And that's Ursa Major to the west."
Rachel pointed up towards the moon. "Sorry you can't really see it with the moon like this Chlo, but you're Pisces right next to it. You can kind of see that little square there, yeah? That's part of Pegasus - it's a really easy way to find Pisces."

"What about Virgo?" I ask. I'm not even entirely sure what Virgo looks like, but my birthday just passed, so maybe that means it's really visible?

Rachel lets out of a bit of a sigh and a, "Oh, sweetie." There's a few seconds of pause before she explains, "The sun's still in Virgo, so we can't see it."

"Oh." My face grows warm in embarrassment, even though I know there's no way I would have known that. While I don't think astrology is necessarily hokey, I definitely haven't taken the time to learn much about it.

Rachel's birthday passed not that long ago - back in July - so I figure by the same guiding principle that Leo isn't going to be visible near the middle of the night. But, it's been a few months, so does that mean it was visible earlier, or it will be visible much later.

"What about Leo? When can we see it?"

"Well, it's October, so Leo should be in a good spot just before dawn."
There is a short pause, and a moment of rustling, and I realize Rachel has turned on her side to look at me. I turn onto my stomach, affording me an excellent look at Rachel's hair, pooled underneath the moonlight. Chloe's eyes are rolled back to look at us, fingers laced underneath her head to let her look straight up.

"If you'd like, I could wake you up at like five - you could get a pretty good look at Leo. Lots of cool stuff happens before dawn in October."

I can't quite understand why, but something about her voice makes me shiver. It's quiet and low and sweet, like her giggle when she backs away from a kiss. I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk like that to me. I'm not sure I've heard anyone talk like that at all.
"Y-yeah, that sounds nice."

Rachel gives a little hum in response, and then turns back onto her back. I look at her shadowed profile for a few more seconds before following suit.

"Y'know, it kind of pisses me off how big space is."

I crack a smile at something so typically Chloe. "Yeah? Why do you say that?"

She gestures up at the sky for a second before waving it away dismissively. "Well, I mean, come on. It's so fucking big. We're never going to know everything about it. And I don't mean us three, or us seven billion, I mean us, Homo sapiens. We've got no chance."

"I don't think you unlock an achievement for getting it all, Chlo." Rachel sounds amused.

"I know. I just mean . . ." Chloe trails off, apparently not entirely sure what she means. After a moment, though, she says, "Like, when I was a kid, I was so sure I was going to see everything. Start traveling as soon as I was eighteen, just don't stop until I had seen it all. But now I'm nineteen, I'm seeing some cool stuff, but fuck if I'm ever going to see Venus."

"It's one of those things that makes you feel human," I reply.

"Huh?"

I try to collect my scattered thoughts for a second, push them out in a coherent sentence. "I mean, here on Earth, we like to think about how big we are. We try really, really hard to matter. I know I do. As much as I love taking pictures, I know I want to matter because of it."
I swallow, and there's a short pause. "But I'm never going to. Not in comparison to space. No one is. So I guess I kind of know what you mean at being pissed at space."

Slowly at first, and then outright, Rachel begins to giggle to herself. "You guys have a funny way of looking at it."

"Yeah?" Chloe asks. "Why's that?"

Rachel quiets her giggling before answering, "Well, because space isn't big. It's infinite. And nothing will ever matter to it, or have any meaning. Pisces is a fish because we say so. You'll never matter to Venus, sure, but you could matter to LA and that would be more than anything matters on Venus. I mean, you matter to me, and I'm more important than Venus as long as we say so."

I can tell Chloe is mulling it over as she grumbles a response, "It's not just the mattering, though. I'm not like you two with wanting to be famous. It's more like, the more I do, the more I am. I don't think I need anyone to know. I don't need to be put in the stars for killing a hydra but fuck do I want to kill a hydra."

I'm not sure I understand what Chloe is trying to say, but the way she lots Rachel and me together feels weird. For so long in my head, I've thought of this little trio as me and Chloe with shared history and Chloe and Rachel with shared history. Being lumped together with Rachel and separate from Chloe is . . . unfamiliar.
Rachel and Chloe. Chloe and me. Me and Rachel. I finally get each of those in pairs, I think. But who are Rachel, Chloe, and I? I don't know yet.

Chloe lets out a long sigh, maybe just aware of how we're talking past each other as I am. I think the stars have a way of making ordered thinking fall away, and it's showing.

"Guys?" Chloe asks hesitantly.

"Hmm?" Rachel hums.

"Why'd you come? For real, why'd you two come after me? I know you can manage a week or two without me. So why?"

It's a pretty good question, honestly. I only knew it as a feeling deep in my gut, the culmination of so many thoughts and feelings that had been surrounding me for days. I hadn't really questioned them beyond the fact that it felt right. I had worked far harder on finding all the justifications for why it wasn't the wrong choice when I talked to Mx. Dog and Victoria and everyone.

What had it been, really? What gave me this crazy idea?

"Well, I dunno," I confess. "I was just looking at your Facebook feed. I wasn't jealous, really - I was happy that you were having a good time. But I. Fuck, I guess I wanted to share it with you, kinda. This feels important. And I'm not missing it."

"We're star-crossed," Rachel says. It takes me a few more seconds to recognize that those words came from me. "That's what Max said when she brought up the idea. And you know what? She's right. This is a prototype run, because we're sticking together, Chlo. It's destiny."

"Huh," Chloe grunts, and I snort at her anticlimactic response.

"Guess you two really can't get along without me, huh? Thought you two had really hit it off last week with the project. I mean, fuck, the theme was bonds - with how into photography you two are, the picture could have been you two getting married and I'd be like, 'yeah, that makes sense.' Too bad."

I think I'm back to an embarrassed flush, but I don't say anything. Instead, Rachel just wordlessly rolls in her sleeping bag, and I see her settle her head on her folded hands, looking over at the top of Chloe's head.

"Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"I got offered a contract in LA. And . . . I took it."

Now it's Chloe's turn to roll around, so that her and Rachel's faces are only about a foot apart. I figure it's my turn to stay out of things, so I stay still, just letting their voices bounce back and forth. I'm tense, afraid of what Chloe might say, but I know now that Rachel is resolute. Chloe, hurt as she might feel, is loyal. She'll understand.

"Wait. Shit. When?"

"The end of the semester. Start of January, probably."

There's a short pause, but I flinch when it's broken.
Chloe's voice is laced with frustration. "Why didn't you tell me? I should be picking up shifts at the Two Whales or something, getting ready or-"

"Chloe."

"Yeah?"

I'm surprised at how firm Rachel's voice sounds, just like when she told me she was taking the offer up at the light house. "I don't want you coming with me. Not until you've graduated."

"What - the - fuck? Why?"

"Because graduating is important, Chloe. Until you get a Bachelor's, that's all you're going to be able to list on resum-"

"Fuck my résumé. We both know I can't afford anything but community college, and nowhere I'm going to work is going to care. I need to look after you."

"And I need to look after you."

There's a moment of quiet after that. There's something that strikes me as odd in that last chord. I've always liked to think of loving someone as being in harmony with them. I've never doubted since I got back that Chloe and Rachel love each other, but their feelings always seem to push them in different directions instead of the same one.
I'm surprised to find that both of them seem right to me. I like to joke that Rachel is the mature friend, but I think they're both trying to do the right thing for the right reasons. Love leads people in the right direction, I think.

The frustration's gone from Chloe's voice. Now it sounds pleading. "Babe, this is our plan. I'm ready. Let's go together."

There's a deep-breath huff from Rachel. At first I think she's going to say something hard again, shut down the conversation. But she takes another breath just like it, and I realize she's hesitating.
"I'll . . . think about it, Chloe. I want what's best for you, I promise."

There's some shuffling, and I think Rachel is offering her pinky again.
My suspicions are confirmed a few seconds later.

"Yeah . . . okay. Promise accepted."

There's a small crinkle of sound, and I think one or both of them has cracked a smile.

The light house returns to me, as unavoidable in my mind as it is in Arcadia Bay.
"You know," I say quietly, "wherever we end up, I hope we end up there together."

A few seconds later, and Chloe has pulled herself up to me, hanging over me with her bullet necklace falling somewhere between us. She's got that shit-eating grin on her face, and I know she found a way to get an ego boost out of what I said.
"Ya jealous?" she asks, almost purring.

"You wish," I reply, pinching my face in disgust. I reach up to boop her nose, but she slides back towards her sleeping bag.

"Rachel, I think she's jealous."

Rachel rolls onto her side, and I turn enough that I can see her. She's smirking a little.
"It's all right, Max. You can stay over and sleep in my bed as long as you want."

God, how does Rachel always manage to catch me off guard and make me feel like a little kid? The flooding blush is polluted with satisfaction. Over the past few days, I've discovered I really, really like sleeping with Rachel, even if it doesn't make for the most restful sleep. The waking up is . . . well.
I hope she's not joking.

"Hey now, that's not-" Chloe begins.
I interject quickly, charged with pleasant-but-totally-formal surprise, my best imitation of Joyce, "Why, Rachel, that sounds so nice - thank you! A trip to LA could do me good."

Chloe pouts, "You two are. Disgusting. Intolerable."

"Yes," Rachel replies, holding a finger up in the air in vaguely Chloe's direction. "But we're cute."

"Jealous?" I ask, a self-satisfied smirk settling on my face.

"Oh, shuddup."