The rest of our week was as if we lived there.

Waking up, going out, getting food, and shopping were the things we did for this week—I finally got around to taking pictures. I don't know if they felt it too, but there was this strange tension between all of us. We all acted the same and did our usual thing, yet there was an unwelcome ambiance looming over us. I couldn't bring myself to talk about it or even briefly mention it; it has been a tough week for all four of us.

It's weird. There are multiple elephants in the room. Rachel and Chloe. Kate and I. Just Kate. Me.

On the very last night we stayed there, I woke up in the middle of the night and slowly got out of bed to go sit in the living room. I stubbed my foot once again on the way out, but the pain in my back from falling finally got to me and that was more intense.

The lights in the living room were on and lying on the couch was Chloe. She must be as restless as me. I don't blame her. She's having a tough time too. She looked to be staring at the ceiling and rocking her foot from side to side; she must have been there for a while.

"Hey Chloe." I greeted her as I went down the stairs.

"Hey Maxaplex." She sat up, letting me sit next to her. She swung her legs over my lap and let me rest my arms on her.

"Why are you awake?"

"I was gonna ask you that."

I shrugged my shoulders, "Not sure. This week died down fast…"

"It was hella intense at the start. You look like you have more to say."

I guess. My problems felt so small compared to hers. "After the whole incident between me and Kate, she told me to act like it never happened. That… That made me feel—I dunno how that made me feel. It just wasn't good."

"Ouch. Her little Christian heart couldn't take it."

"I think it's more than that."

"What does that mean?"

I exhaled, long and slow, "Before she told me that, she asked if I "saw something.'"

"What the fuck—"

"I saw something and I'm sure that's what it is. I don't wanna jump to conclusions, but I saw something on her arms. Like, there were c–cuts there."

"Holy shit… That's insane. That's crazy to hear about Kate. She seems… hella…"

"Innocent?"

"Maybe that's the word." She sat up, scratching at her head. Whatever it is, it wasn't something Kate would do. Then again, after saying she has depression, it wouldn't be so crazy to think about it.

Chloe hasn't looked me in the eyes. She looked so lost.

"You haven't… relaxed, haven't you?" I asked her.

"How obvious is it?"

"Like neon lights," I touched her arm, "You can talk to me."

She audibly sighed and ran a hand through her fading-blue hair. She was so stressed it was rubbing off onto me. She scooted closer to rest her head on my shoulder.

"Do you remember me waking that one time and I asked about that weird, shitty feeling I was having?"

"Yeah, then Rachel made you go back to sleep."

She faintly chuckled, "Yep. Tell me, Max, how bad was it?"

I gulped dryly. Now nothing wanted to come out. Come on, Max, open your stupid mouth.

"I totally remember getting them." She kept talking. "The drinks, but all I remember after that was the pain in my head. I used to get them from coworkers working at Hellbucks. Then I hit twenty-one and, fucking hello, I bought them. It's been fucking with me since Rachel told me about it and since we live together, you know something."

"Well… It didn't happen all the time, but I will never forget you crying all over me about Rachel and how much you missed her. It was weird, like, in your drunken universe, it felt like she was dead. "I miss her so much, I want her to come back, she didn't deserve this…" Even I was missing her, but in reality, she was a phone call away. You never listened to me; you allowed yourself to drone on about her."

"Why couldn't you tell me about this?"

"You acted so normal the next day, minus the migraine! What was I supposed to do? "Hey, you were crying on me like your girlfriend died yesterday, just so you know?" Chloe, I wanted to tell you, but something like that is traumatizing!"

She slowly groaned, running and scratching into her hair, "Why do I fucking ruin everything?"

"You and me both," I sighed sadly, "I'm sorry, Chloe. But, we're all here for you and we'll help you sober up."

"Won't help with working at the club."

"No, I honestly think it would be better! You would only be serving them. And, I know you hate your manager, but maybe if you push your rebellious side away, you would actually follow the rules."

She hummed in agreement, "I'll ask Dana for help too. I promised Rachel to, at the very least, drink less, but I'm really thinking about stopping for good."

"We'll help you with whatever you choose. Let's make a plan when we get home?"

Chloe lifted her head and nodded, "I'm hella ready."

I chuckled, "I believe in you."

We stayed quiet after that. It was complete silence, not even a ticking clock to fill the void. She was sniffling again, bringing her hand to her face from time to time, and shifting around. I have an idea.

"Hey…"

She lifted her head and her eyebrow, confused, and wondering what I was going to say next.

"I feel like doing something crazy."

She smirked, "Me likey. What's going on up here?"

She poked me in the forehead, causing me to laugh and rub my forehead from it, "Since Rachel and Kate are asleep, and I'm having a photography kick, I'm saying let's go out."

"Me fucking likey! Let's do this."


What a complete opposite to Rachel's photoshoot. She was daytime and bright and happy and she was posing around. It might be a hella cool project with Chloe's darker, possibly more grunge and angsty, photoshoot, to contrast. I wouldn't know what to name it, something like "You're the Day to my Night" or something cheesy like that.

We didn't even change out of our pajamas. I sneakily grabbed my camera and film out of my bag and we ran out of the house, through the sand.

I stayed behind, readying my camera as Chloe ran and spun around, cheering and screaming like she was queen of the world, taking a few test shots. We felt the cold breeze against our skin, relaxing us and making the photoshoot more exciting for us. To get the conversation out of our heads, we hopped and cheered beforehand. I nearly forgot that I wanted this to be a photoshoot.

"Okay, okay," I grabbed onto Chloe's arm, stopping her in her tracks, "I have an idea, but I need you to be okay with it."

"Sure, anything." She placed her hands on her hips, sweating and breathing heavily.

"I was thinking, since I did a photoshoot for Rachel, I wanted to do one for you. I was thinking a more serious one, but I could totally go the same energetic route."

"Please, I'm a punk ass, edgy fuck!" She emphasized the f, "I'll be a grungy and emo shit for ya any day."

She was still in a tank top and her plaid pajama pants, making her more homeless than an "emo shit." Under the streetlights, though, it was more mysterious that way. She interacted with the streetlight poles and lifted her arms as she looked up at the sky, as if she was reaching for the full moon. The pictures worked best in near-darkness and that was when the flash was very useful. If Chloe still smoked, these photos would add more angst. It was still very similar to Rachel's photos, though.

"Race you to the water!" Chloe called out and started sprinting off.

"Hey, wait!" I chased after her. Fully clothed, she ran through the water and splashed around. I stayed on the sand and let my eyes adjust to the darkness, so I could take my shots. The film was going to have a harder time developing with all the movement she was making.

"Come on Max, get your flat ass over here!"

"I'm having enough fun standing here! Keep going!"

That wasn't a lie; I haven't been taking enough pictures. It was almost therapeutic, if I could call it that. It might not have been as angsty as I wanted, but Chloe was happy. After taking the same amount as I took of Rachel, I yelled out that I was done.

"For fuck's sake," she came out of the water and started to strip down, "You're getting in there. Put your shit down!"

I hesitated. I was taken aback when I noticed she was not wearing a bra at all; I instinctively snapped around to not look at her.

What a gay disaster thing to do! Turn back around!

"Grow up, Max!" She grabbed my forearm to turn me around again, "Come on, what are you, a chicken?"

She started to cluck and flap her arms at me.

"Fine, you asked for it!" I started to take off my shirt and shorts, placed my camera on top of them, then ran after her.

The first thing I did was push her down, making her completely soaked.

"Come here, Caulfield!" She grasped my wrist and dragged me down with her, drenching me too. I wiped the water from my face and spit out some that got into my mouth.

"Oh shit, remember when we snuck into the Blackwell pool?" She reminisced.

"How could I forget?! David almost caught us!"

"Hey, we were never caught!"

David was her stepdad, whom she completely hated and wanted nothing to do with him. Back to the swimming pool thing, it was more of Rachel and Chloe's idea; Chloe's crazy ass just wanted to break into school for shits and giggles. That was how we tell that story, but we really were convinced someone was after us and we wanted school records, which somehow lead to the pool. We got up from the water and started to splash water at each other.

She was grinning and laughing her heart out as she grabbed me, lifted me up, and then spun me around. We continued to play around; time felt frozen while we were out there.

When we had to get out, our fingers were prune and our skin was covered in goosebumps.

"That was fucking awesome!" Chloe praised.

I wasn't sure where to stare at her. She looked incredible in nothing but her black boy shorts, soaking wet, and shining in moonlight. So fucking gay, geez.

She continued, "Thanks for taking me out here. I really needed it."

"No problem," I nodded at her as I put my shorts back on, "One last hoorah, right?"

"Hell yeah." She nodded back, "You're giving me that look again."

"What look?"

"The lovey-dovey look." She smirked at me, still shirtless.

"Put your damn shirt back on!"

We walked back to the house and went back in, thankfully, Rachel and Kate were nowhere to be found on the first floor.

"Thank god," Chloe sighed in relief, "I would die right now if Rachel was here."

"Me too. Let's just shower and sleep for the rest of the night. We have a long drive ahead of us."

Chloe groaned, "Fuck, I know."

We both went our separate ways and I went straight for the bathroom. We were spending so much time with Rachel and Kate, I kind of forgot that it was just us hanging out before. It felt nice doing that again.


The next day, we all woke up around noon, packed all our things, and left on another road trip back home. We fixed and cleaned the house to the best of our ability, returned the house key (which Rachel ran off and then came back again), and left. Rachel seemed to be in a better mood now, probably because she didn't have to stay near where she nearly disfigured someone's face (and getting all her anger out to Chloe).

"That was fun, right guys?" She asked all of us happily.

"Yeah, I had fun traveling around and seeing some cool places." Kate replied first. There was some… sadness? I could hear it in the way she answered, but she was smiling.

I want to ask her what's wrong. Now isn't a good time, but she looks really upset. Did she not want to go home? I brushed it off for now. The subject needed to change, fast.

"Hey Rachel, Chloe and I took these last night!" I reached into my bag on my lap and took the stack out, handing them to her. I watched as she flipped through them, even though most were blurry, she was still chuckling at seeing each one.

"I'll forgive you for being outside so late," she turned to look at me, grinning and shuffled to the next picture, "Do these go with mine?"

"That was the idea."

"I really like this one," Rachel took a closeup photo of Chloe under the streetlight, handing the stack back to me, "I'm keeping it."

I nodded, "It's all yours."

After that, the rest of the trip was filled with radio music and small talk, leaving behind the craziest days we ever had.