There is nothing you can do
That I have not already done to myself
Oh no, there is nothing you can do
That I have not already done to myself
Max watched, fascinated, on the verge of giddy, as the police got up off Chloe, walked backwards down the hall, Chloe was holding her, then standing up, walking backwards from the kitchen, then backwards up the stairs. Max stopped the rewind, laughing out loud as she climbed back on the couch where Chloe had originally left her. Her power was still there, even though she had said she never wanted to use it again, she didn't realize how much she missed it, had come to rely on it. It was no coincidence that the pressure she'd felt had gone away as soon as she had used her power. As far as Max could tell it seemed like it had built up, like water behind a dam that if it wasn't released it would burst through.
She wanted to dance with joy, or at least enthusiastically bob her head as she wasn't much of a dancer, but the sentiment was there. She felt better than she had in a long time. The stabbing pains she had felt getting progressively worse were gone as if they had never been there. Not even a dull ache remained. The room look exactly as it had before the cops had busted in, without the pounding in her heard, everything was eerily silent except for the sound of Chloe rummaging around frantically in her room above.
Oh fuck, the cops are on their way here. I have to tell Chloe. Shit, how am I going to explain this to her? She's going to think I'm crazy.
Chloe came flying down the stairs, her boots pounding down the wooden steps, panic clear in her voice, "It's gonna be alright, Max, I'm gonna grab some water. Hang in there."
"Chloe, wait, I'm alright." Max called out as Chloe rounded the corner into the living room. Max was standing up, trying to stop the older girl's frantic movements.
"Max?" Chloe asked, confused, her eyebrows knitted up, only moments ago Max had been writhing around, shaking and in tears with pain and now she was standing there...smiling? It didn't make any sense to her, there was no way Max was faking it, the younger girl had never been a very good liar but how was it possible she feeling better all of a sudden?
"We don't have much time." Max inwardly rolled her eyes, she had all the time in the world again but she only had a very short time to warn Chloe about what was going to happen in the next few minutes. A feat that would be a lot easier if the other girl didn't look so damn adorable when she was confused. "I need you to trust me and I promise I'll explain everything to you. But first I need you to be calm because you're not going to like what's about to happen."
"Max?" Chloe's mind was having trouble catching up, less than two minutes ago she was positive she was going to have to take Max to the hospital. Seriously, how was it possible that Max had recovered that quickly? She was still holding the pain pill in her outstretched hand, not sure what to do with it now that Max didn't appear to need it anymore. What did she say about the cops? What the hell was happening?
Reaching out with her good arm, Max pulled Chloe over to the couch, taking the pill from her and putting it in her own pocket in case she needed it later. She didn't want Chloe to be caught with any pills on her when the cops came. She sat the taller girl down before sitting next to her, taking her hand in her own. She wished she had enough time to tell Chloe about her rewind, how she knew what was about to happen. Unfortunately, she didn't have the time, as laughable as that was now, to explain everything before the cops would be knocking on the door. She had to hope that they'd built their relationship up over the last couple weeks that Chloe would trust her on blind faith until she could explain. The air was heavy with unasked questions that would have to wait to be answered.
Chloe looked down at their entwined hands but didn't pull her's away, though this was eerily a similar position they had been sitting in when Max had broken the news that she was moving to Seattle 5 years previously. At least Max wasn't sobbing between every other word this time but still the look on Max's face, which had been smiling a moment ago was now about as serious as Chloe could remember it being. It felt like a boulder had settled in her stomach.
"I really need you to trust me because we only have a few minutes. The cops are going to be at the door any minute now. I need you to be chill and go with them peacefully. I'm going to call Sebastian and we'll get you out as soon as possible." Max calmly said, hoping Chloe would see the truth of everything she was saying reflected in her eyes. Please believe me, please believe me.
Max saw the confusion in Chloe's own blue eyes, she still looked utterly confused, which was understandable, all things considered, but she needed her to catch up faster. Chloe stood up, letting go of Max's hand as she paced in front of the other girl.
"What are you talking about? Are you fucking with me? How are you suddenly alright? I saw you Max, you could barely stand you were in so much pain!" Chloe threw her hands in the air at each question before turning to look directly at Max, pointing a finger at her. Chloe was still having trouble catching up with the fact that Max seemed completely fine within a matter of seconds, never mind about the cops, that barely registered at the moment. Max shifted under Chloe's angry glare. Chloe tended to lash out when she didn't understand something that she thought she should.
"Chloe, focus, that's not the point, the point is the cops will be here any second now. I promise, I will explain everything to you but I really need you to just go with them, don't say a word. I'm fine now, please, I need you to trust me. And uh, empty anything out of your pockets you don't want the cops to find." Max plead, reaching out for the taller girl who was clearly agitated as she kept pacing in front of Max, running her hands through her hair, her ever present beanie on the floor where it had fallen in her rush to get Max on the couch when they'd first come in.
"Seriously? You want to see if I have any weed on me?"
"No, I don't want you to get caught with any weed on you, that would make things so much worse. I know you have weed on you because you rolled a joint right before lunch."
"Are you trying to steal my weed, is that what this is about? I'll totally get you stoned, Max, no need to..."
"Chloe, we don't have time for this, just give me your weed and your bowl."
"There's always time to discuss weed etiquette, Max."
"Chloe. Weed. Bowl. Now."
Chloe opened her mouth to protest as there was a loud knock on the front door.
"Arcadia Bay Police, open up." A loud gruff voice yelled through the closed door.
Turning to look at Max, eyes wide with surprise and shock, Chloe looked at the smaller girl as if she had grown a second head. Chloe quickly pulled out her baggie of weed and bowl, tossing them on the couch next to Max. "How the fuck did you know, Max? What the fuck is going on? Are you like psychic or something?"
Max shoved the weed and the bowl between the cushions then shot up to her feet, grabbing Chloe's hand yet again, needing to keep them tethered together, to reassure them both everything would be alright in the end. "Trust me, please, Chloe, I'll call Sebastian, I'll explain everything to you, I promise."
"Explain what, Max? How you knew the police were on their way? That you knew the cops were coming and didn't tell me until the last minute? Or explain what the fuck was going on with your head and arm that suddenly went away?" Chloe looked at Max, her heart still hadn't settled from the fear of seeing Max in the state she had been in only a few minutes before, now the cops were at her door and Max knew they were coming. She knew. It was too much for Chloe to take in, she thought she was going to drop from a heart attack. Had Max gotten a call in the short time Chloe had been upstairs? How long had she known without telling her? Was this planned between Max and Sebastian with Chloe kept out of the loop? None of it made sense to her.
"What? No, Chloe, it's not like that, please, I didn't know until… well, until we got here and saw them." Max figured it wasn't lying and she would explain it to Chloe, she'd make her understand after they got through this. "My shoulder, the pain, it was like a spasm but it's fine now. I swear I didn't know about the police until I saw them, I would never keep something like that from you."
I would however keep what happened to Rachel, Nathan's involvement in it and Jefferson from you. Max felt like the biggest hypocrite right than but didn't have time to dwell on it,deal with the cops at the door first, then she could feel like an asshole later.
The knocking got louder. "We know you're in there, you need to open the door or we'll open it for you."
Chloe dropped Max's hand then took a step towards the door, turned around and took a step away. She grab her temples, looking at Max through squinted eyes. "This is hella insane… What the fuck do they want?"
Chloe didn't want to admit she was scared, to appear weak. The fear she felt bubbling up in her stomach was as an unwelcome guest as the cops at her door. Things were happening too fast for her, one minute she's convinced Max is gonna die and the next Max is completely fine and the cops are knocking at her door. And Max knew. That was what was tripping her up the most, how Max seemed so calm about it and knew, how had she seen them first? Maybe she looking out the window or something when they pulled up, Chloe was struggling to find a logical reason for everything happening all at once.
Leaning up, Max kissed Chloe's cheek, in the hope it might offer some comfort to the taller girl who was clearly losing her shit. "It's going to be alright, we knew this might happen. Please, Chloe, don't say a word and go with them peacefully."
Max squeezed Chloe's hand then walked towards the door, calling out, "I'm coming, one second."
Chloe stood there, not sure what to do, she put her hands in her pockets, then decided that it might look bad to the cops and took them out, she crossed her arms but thought that made her too confrontational. She shifted from foot to foot, stopping herself from pacing as her hands hung at her side, waiting for Max to open the door. She grabbed her beanie off the floor and pulled it on her head. It felt as if it took Max forever to walk down the short hallway. While still utterly and completely confused, she trusted Max, though they were going to have to have a serious talk after this.
The door creaked as Max opened it slowly, not wanting to startle the police on the porch, she had seen they were all too willing to use violence.
"Hello." Max opened the door, giving the police a friendly smile, despite the fact that she knew why they were there. She only opened the door enough to poke her head out, blocking the entrance with her body.
"Hi, I'm Officer Garland, these are Officers Kincaid and Walters. We need to speak to Chloe Price." the policewoman replied, she had one of those no nonsense kind of faces that tended to demand respect. Her black hair was pulled back into a tight bun, not a stray hair to be seen, her blue uniform was immaculately pressed, not a spot or wrinkle on it that Max saw, her mom would approve. Even the badge pinned to her shirt was polished so bright it reflected the light spilling from the open door.
"May I ask what this about?" Max wasn't exactly stalling for time but she was allowing Chloe a bit more time to pull herself together so she didn't look so sketched out when they came in.
"Can we come in?" Officer Garland held up a folded piece of paper, which Max assumed was a warrant, acting as if that gave her all the authority she needed, which in this case it did. Max didn't want to press her luck and hoped Chloe had taken the little extra time Max had gotten her to calm down some.
"Sure, come on in." Max stepped back, opening the door wide enough for the police to enter. She couldn't help giving Officer Walters a dirty look as he passed. He was the one who had kneeled on Chloe's stomach before the rewind.
"Chloe Price?" Officer Garland asked, behind her the other cops were watching every move Chloe and Max made, hands on their holsters. It was completely ridiculous and overkill as far as Max was concern, what could two unarmed girls do against three cops?
Chloe was leaning up against the back of the couch, arms lazily hanging on the back of the faded beige cushions, looking unconcerned about a room full of cops asking for her. She brought her eyes slowly up as she stood, giving the cops a once over, sizing up the situation, a bit impressed they had sent three cops just to pick her up. To anyone who didn't know her, she looked the picture of unconcerned but Max could see the way she was worrying her lower lip, one of her telltale signs that she was nervous. This wasn't Chloe's first run in with Arcadia Bay's finest but it was the first time they're come to her house so serious looking. Despite her calm exterior, Chloe's heart was doing double time in her chest, convinced everyone could hear it beating like a techno song.
"The one and only." Chloe said smirking, keeping her hands at her sides in full view. Max rushed over to Chloe, taking the taller girl's hand in her own to offer support. Chloe winked down at Max, playing it cool. Max wasn't sure if the other girl's bravado was for her benefit or Max's. Probably a little of both.
"We need you to come with us." Officer Garland's tone made it clear it wasn't up for debate. She reached for the handcuffs on her belt. It seemed as if the two males cops were there for backup but this was all Officer Garland's show. Though she knew it was coming, Max couldn't help the alarm that shook her small frame as she saw the cuffs coming out.
"Oh? Why's that?" Chloe asked, eyes narrowing out of instinct when it came to anyone in authority telling her what to do. Her jaw jutting forward in a small sign of defiance. Max squeezing her hand was the only thing that kept her from pushing it any further.
"We're arresting you for blackmail, malicious threats and unpaid parking tickets." Chloe snorted at the last one, seriously, they were going to toss in her parking tickets with charges that could very well be felonies? Officer Garland glared at Chloe, pulling her handcuffs out completely, reaching towards the blue haired girl "I assure you there is nothing funny about this situation, Ms. Price, you are in some serious trouble."
I could think about a hundred better ways to use those cuffs. Chloe had the sense to stop the thought from actually coming out of her mouth, but only barely. The smirk never leaving her face, Chloe's hand slipped out of Max's as she held her hands out in front of her. She knew the drill, better to make it easy so they wouldn't put them on too tight cutting off her circulation. The policewoman stepped forward, bringing one of Chloe's hands behind her back and then the other, Max winced at the clicking noise the cuffs made as the cop tightened them. The other cops stood on either side of Chloe.
"Don't say anything, I'm calling Sebastian right now." Max instructed Chloe, it didn't take a mind reader to see that Chloe had some smart ass remark she wanted to say. Chloe winked at Max instead as the cops lead her out of the house.
Max followed closely behind keeping on eye on Chloe, ensuring none of the cops got overzealous putting her in the back of the Police SUV that was parked in the driveway, lights still on. Nosy neighbors were out on porches and the sidewalk to see what was happening in small groups talking while watching the show. Max was too upset to be self conscious about the unwanted audience. It was all a bit much in Max's opinion, why did they need to send three cops in the first place? It wasn't like Chloe had a history of violence or anything. This was all a show for the Prescotts, of that Max was convinced.
Pulling out her phone, Max dialed a number she had memorized a week before, it only rang twice before Sebastian picked it up.
"Max, what's up?" Sebastian asked, fully alert.
"Sebastian, they just arrested Chloe for blackmail and threats. It was complete bullshit, they sent three cops and made a big show of it when they brought her out." Max said quickly, not pausing to take a breath, as she watched the SUV pull out of the driveway, craning her neck until it turned the corner and was out of view. The tone in Max's voice was more bitter than she meant, seeing Chloe manhandled the way she was before the rewind still had Max seething and shaking inside. She barely felt the chill on her skin as she stood out in the driveway.
Right now wasn't the time to breakdown though, Max knew, first thing was to get Chloe out of jail then finally tell her about about her power. The only thing was, Max wasn't sure if, or how, she'd tell Chloe about Rachel Amber. She wouldn't let Chloe be the one to discover Rachel again, there was no way she would allow her to go through that again.
"I'm be on my way in 5 minutes. Don't worry, Max, we knew they might do this. We've been working on the assumption that they would arrest Chloe so we wouldn't be caught unprepared. I'll be there in a few hours then see what we can do about bonding her out."
"Thanks, I have to call her mom and let her know what happened." Max replied, walking back into the house. "I'll get a ride with her and meet you there."
"Shit, that was fast." Sebastian was glaring at his TV screen where a reporter was doing a live report from in front of the Arcadia Bay Police Department. They were showing the cops pulling up slowly, then getting Chloe out of the SUV and walking her into the station. He was beyond pissed off, there had been a leak to the press, he should have known about it as well. What the hell was he paying his sources for if they weren't giving him the heads up on these things. "Ah, Max, yeah, that's not a good idea, I don't want you, Joyce or anyone at the station, there's already news crews all over the place. I think you're right, this was completely planned, there is no way all the networks would have gotten there so fast if they hadn't had a heads up."
"Wait, so I'm suppose to what? Sit here while they have Chloe and not go there to see her?" Max said, her tone clearly showing how much she didn't like that plan. "I can't let her sit there alone."
"I understand but they most likely won't let you see her until the earliest tomorrow, let me go there and we'll bond her out. She'll be home before you know it. I want to keep you as far away from the media as possible, Max, things are really starting to heat up with Nathan's hearing next week." Sebastian's office had been fielding dozens of calls, daily, the last couple weeks regarding this case. Luckily, they'd been able to shield the girls from the media scrutiny so far but he knew this was going to end that. Now they had footage of Chloe being lead into the police station in handcuffs, all bets were off on how far reporters and the tabloids would go to get a quote or a picture of the girls, who knew what kind of garbage they'd write. He'd seen it before, the victims demonized in the media especially when it came to a wealthy perpetrator.
"But, she'll think I abandoned her." Max replied in a small voice, guilt crashing down on her from the last time she'd left Chloe. She stared at the wine stain on the carpet, remembering when things were so much easier.
"I'll explain everything to her. Just, don't say anything to anyone, Max, they'll start calling and showing up at the house now that Chloe's address will be public record due to the arrest. I'm going to have one of my guys outside the house to make sure you're alright and to keep those vultures at bay, alright?" Sebastian was already in his car, pulling out of his driveway, glad he had already packed a suitcase for such a reason. He wouldn't get to Arcadia Bay until around 11pm, he was sure the cops, or more likely Prescott's attorneys, had the timing planned to make it as late as possible but early enough to make sure Chloe's arrest made the nightly news but not her release.
"Will they let her out tonight?" Max was almost afraid of the answer, she couldn't imagine Chloe being stuck in jail for any amount of time.
"I'll know more when I get there but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure she's home in time to eat her weight in pancakes with you in the morning. I'm going to call a few of my staff and get things going, like I said, Max, we knew this would probably happen and have already prepared for it. I had hoped they wouldn't be this stupid but if that's how they want to play this, we're ready, alright? I'll call you back as soon as I have any more news for you. Hang in there, Kiddo." Sebastian said hoping to alleviate some of Max's anxiety, the last thing he needed was for her to have a panic attack when she was alone right now.
"OK, please, tell Chloe I wanted to be there. Why I can't be." Max responded, already resigning herself to sitting at Chloe's house waiting for the other girl to return.
"I will, Max, I know it's a lot to ask but please, don't worry, I have this under control. Take care." Sebastian ended the call with Max and immediately called his assistant.
While not caught off guard, Sebastian was never caught off guard when it came to a case, he was mildly shocked that they had decided to pursue charges against Chloe. That opened the door to more of Nathan's wrongdoings than it would hurt Chloe's credibility. It wasn't making sense to him at the moment, that was the troubling part of it all that he wasn't about to share with Max or anyone outside of his assistant. They had to have more than just those text messages but he believed Chloe when she said there wasn't anything else so what was their angle here?
"Robb, I need you to contact our guy at the Arcadia Bay PD and find out what the hell is going on, they just arrested Price and it's all over the news already. Why the hell weren't we given the heads up on this thing? I need you to email me all the info we have have so far about Price, background, past run ins with the cops, everything our PI dug up then call him up and tell him to dig harder, we can't have anything coming up we don't know about, tell him I want her looked at harder than a Supreme Court Nominee, same for Prescott, I want it all. Oh, and pull Marcus off the Benson case and put him with Charlie on the Rachel Amber/Jefferson investigation, there is something hinky going on. My gut is telling me Jefferson, Rachel Amber and Prescott are somehow all tied together, too much overlap. If the cops won't do their jobs, we'll do it for them. Could you call the hotel I stayed at last time in Arcadia Bay and reserve the suite for the next three weeks, I don't see myself getting out of there any sooner." Sebastian shot off as soon as his assistant answered the phone. Robb was the best assistant Sebastian had ever come across, thorough, never missed a thing and smart as hell. He knew that every request he had just given would be followed to the letter, that was how Robb was.
"Got it," Robb replied quickly, already taking notes and sending emails out to the relevant people, "I'm rescheduling your appointments for the next few days and switch as many as possible to video conferences. Once we have a better idea of what's going on for the rest of the week, I'll take care of those as well. I sent you the initial reports from Charlie on the background of Jefferson, you're right, there's something off about this guy, besides the fact he's a pompous ass. I forwarded all the files on Amber's disappearance from the police to Charlie yesterday, though there's not much, they hardly did the basics to look for her beyond taking the initial report, sloppy, lazy police work there. Charlie is going to talk to the parents tomorrow, again, see if they can give him anything else. There were a few interesting emails between the school Principal, Wells and Prescott's father after the disappearance, Nathan seemed a lot more agitated and aggressive a few weeks after. That could be due to missing her or something else. I'll set Marcus up on tracking Prescott's movements during the summer along with Jefferson's, look for overlap or anything there."
"Great, tell Charlie and Marcus to meet me at the hotel tomorrow afternoon, around 4pm, I want to pool everything we have, you can conference in. There is something else going on here, something that these girls have inadvertently gotten caught up in, I don't know what yet but everything is pointing to the Prescott's and that damn school." Sebastian knew first hand how boarding schools full of bored, rich kids could be. He'd gone to an exclusive boarding school himself. He doubted that spoiled kids with ungodly amounts of money had changed much since his days. Anything he found at Blackwell wasn't likely to be too surprising, he'd seen pretty much everything back in his school days.
"You got it." Robb replied, making more notes and sending more emails. Being Sebastian's assistant for over 5 years now (a record at the firm) they had found a rhythm where they were on the same page without needing much discussion.
"Thanks, Robb, I appreciate it. Talk to you later." Sebastian hung up knowing that most, if not all, the reports he'd asked for would be waiting for him when he got to the hotel.
As he drove, the Oregon landscape flashing past his window, the grey highway stretching for miles ahead of him, he was going over everything he knew so far, trying to piece it all together. There was something he was missing and it was gnawing at him. He needed to figure it out and how Chloe and Max were mixed up in it.
Chloe glared at the back of Officer Kincaid's head as he drove the SUV to the station, Officer Garland sat next to her while the other cop, Walters sat up front in the passenger seat. So far she'd been able to keep her mouth shut even though she had about a thousand things she wanted to say with these assholes starting with why the fuck they felt the need to handcuff her. It was hella hard to keep her balance whenever the SUV turned a corner, even with her seatbelted in. The SUV was a step up from the cop cars she'd been in before, at least she had legroom. The interior was black with vinyl seats. There was a glass partition between the front and the back area that was slid to the side to allow an opening for the officers to talk back and forth. Between the cops in the front was a shotgun that was mounted to the dash next to a computer that Chloe saw had her record up on the screen. She grinned at the mug shot, she had been so high when they took it last year, her eyes were bloodshot as she gave the camera a smirk.
She had been caught spray painting on the wall in the alley behind the hardware store for the third time. They had taken her in to teach her a lesson, she'd gotten a $200 fine and 30 hours community service. That part was hella lame. David had threatened to kick her out but Joyce had put a stop to that even though she had barely spoken to Chloe for almost a month afterwards. Despite all the trouble Chloe had gotten into that was the only time she'd actually been arrested. Even then she hadn't spent anytime in a cell, she'd been able to sign herself out on a signature bond. Something told her that this time she wouldn't be so lucky, the three all business cops sent to get her was the first clue.
"Unit 894 in route transporting one, female, caucasian, 19, Price, Chloe, E. for questioning, ETA 19:20, over." Walters reported in on the radio that was on his shoulder.
The radio on the dash crackled with a static filled reply, "Roger, Unit 894, instructed to bring through the front entrance, over."
The two male cops in the front flashed excited smiles at each other while Garland scowled in the backseat.
"Ready for your close up, Garland?" Kincaid joked, looking at his colleague through the rearview mirror. Next to him, Walters was smoothing down his dark brown hair and straightening his shirt.
Garland's scowl only deepened as she stared straight ahead. She was clearly not as excited as the two up front.
Chloe's confusion only grew as they got closer to the police station. About a block away from the station she started seeing news vans for all the major stations and even the 24 hours news channels. What the hell is going on? Did something major happen I don't know about, did they catch some serial killer or something?
As they pulled up to the front of the station, Chloe had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, the realization slowly hitting her as Kincaid slowed down in front of the crowd of reporters and gawkers. They all got excited like feeding time at the zoo as the SUV stopped in front of the entrance.
Are they seriously all here for, for...me? Whoa this is hella fucked up. Chloe didn't know if she should be terrified or excited. The reporters were all jockeying for position, to be right in front of the SUV's doors, mics held out, the flashes from all the camera's were not unlike strobe lights at a rave.
"Get your game faces on, it's showtime." Kincaid said as he turned off the engine and opened his door, walking around to stand in front of Chloe's door. Walters got out on his side, quickly wiping the grin off his face before facing the press.
"Don't get cute, keep your head and eyes down, mouth shut, walk fast." Officer Garland sternly whispered after the other two cops had left the vehicle. It sounded more like she was trying to help Chloe rather than telling her what to do. It dawned on Chloe that Garland maybe wasn't being a hardass because she had something to prove but because she found this entire situation as fucked up as Chloe did.
The female officer exited on her side and walked around to open Chloe's door, the other two cops walked ahead to grab the door though making sure to leave room for the reporters to get pictures and video of Chloe stepping out of the SUV. It almost felt like she was rock star as the noise of the crowd increased close to deafening levels, questions coming at her from every direction, the clicking of cameras. Yeah, if it wasn't for the fact that she was in handcuffs, being directed by the strong grip of the female officer on her arm, it would have been hella cool but this was the exact opposite of cool. It was a freaking nightmare as she caught some of the questions out of the cacophony of noise. Suddenly, the 20 feet to the doors of the police station felt like 20 miles.
"Chloe, did you threaten to kill Nathan Prescott?" Now I kind of wish I had.
"Was the gun in the bathroom really yours?" If it was my gun, Max would never had been hurt, asshole.
"Were you and Nathan Prescott lovers?" I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.
"Did you and Max Caulfield plan to kidnap Nathan Prescott?" Is that what that little fucker is telling people?
"Is it true you were stalking Nathan?" He wishes, the loser has to drug girls to get them to pay any attention to him.
"Where you the one that actually shot Max?" Chloe's steady steps faltered at the question, as she almost turned her head to look incredulously at whoever had asked her that, catching herself, she gritted her teeth and kept her head down. How could anyone ever think she would do anything to hurt Max, just the thought of people thinking that made her stomach churn. The only thing that kept her moving forward was the firm hold Officer Garland had on her arm as she stepped up the pace to get Chloe into the building, they were moving at almost a jog to get Chloe into the building faster and away from the press.
As the doors closed behind them, Chloe could still hear them shouting out questions but thankfully couldn't make out any individual ones, they all blended together to add to the general noise.
Chloe didn't realize she was shaking until Garland lead her over to a counter. "Are there any sharp objects in your pockets or weapons on you?"
Chloe shook her head no in reply, making a mental note that she really needed to buy Max a pony or something for Christmas at this rate.
The officer patted Chloe down, emptying her pockets. She placed Chloe's cellphone, keys and some change into a bag then wrote her name on it before handing it over to a bored looking woman behind the counter. She then lead Chloe over to a bench and sat her down.
Garland gave her a sharp look that was tinged with concern, "Stay here, I'll be right back."
Chloe's entire body was trembling as she tried to get her breathing back to normal, it felt like she'd ran a marathon. Walking through all those reporters was one of the most intense things she'd been through since her father had died and Max left. Obviously, the Prescott PR Team was in overdrive to put anything out there to make her and Max the villains.
She was well aware that was a possibility, Sebastian had warned them enough, but until that point it had been an abstract idea in the back of her head. Her and Max had been avoiding the news and papers since Max had gotten out of the hospital. Now though she thought they needed to keep better track of what was being said. She felt anger rising up in her as she thought of the questions they'd been throwing at her. What else was being said that she wasn't aware of, that she needed to set the record straight on? Did people really think her and Max had been in on some elaborate plot? How could anyone look at Max and think she had one mean or deceptive bone in her body? After a few minutes she wasn't sure if she was shaking from adrenaline still or from anger. More than anything, at that moment she wanted the cuffs off, her hands were starting to fall asleep. Her leg was bouncing up and down with pent up energy, normally she'd be pacing but unable to do that, her leg bounced like a jackhammer. Her shoulders were starting to ache from the uncomfortable position. Her wrists protested as she tried to wiggle them to get some circulation back in her hands.
Taking a deep breath, Chloe finally looked up, her eyes focusing at all the activity going on around her. There were cops coming and going, a few other people sitting on other benches, handcuffed as well, at least that wasn't a special treat just for her. One guy was clearly drunk as he swayed around on the bench. His head would droop down before he'd jerk it back up, like a kid caught sleeping in class. Chloe was feeling seasick just looking at him.
Officer Garland was talking to an older man with grey hair, looking quite like a stern grandfather. Chloe recognized him as Chief Foley. He came into the diner often enough to be on a first name basis with Joyce. When she was a little kid he use to pull quarters out from behind her ears and other little magic tricks to entertain her whenever he saw her at the diner, that was before he was the chief though. Maybe he can make these cuffs disappear.
Chloe wasn't going to fool herself into thinking she'd get any special treatment just because the chief of police had known her since she was a little kid. No one got to any position of power in Arcadia Bay without the Prescotts putting them there. Officers Kincaid and Walters were talking with a couple other cops, laughing at something Kincaid had said.
Chloe's ear itched, she rubbed her it against her shoulder, not quite able to hit the right spot. With a grunt of frustration she threw herself back against the bench, slouching down with her legs sticking out, attempting to look like she didn't have a care in the world.
"OK get up." Officer Garland said as she stood back over Chloe. She looked up at her through the blue hair that had fallen over her eyes, her face a practiced mask of boredom but made no move to stand. With a sigh, Garland grabbed her arm, not roughly, only enough to help Chloe stand up. The teenager wanted to ask what was going to happen now but kept her mouth shut, Max's words repeating in her mind.
The officer lead her into a small room that was every cliche cop show come to life. One way mirror along one wall, boring off white walls, small metal table with a chair on either side. Before Chloe sat down Officer Garland uncuffed her hands. She gratefully rolled her shoulders while flexing her fingers and shaking some feeling back into her hands.
"Have a seat, do you want some water or anything to drink?"
Chloe looked at her as if it was a trick question, a way to break her stoney silence, get her talking. Would asking for a Dr. Pepper be a sign of weakness, that her silence was easily broken in exchange for a sugary, carbonated beverage? Deciding her pride was worth more, regardless of how great a cold Dr. Pepper would taste at the moment to her dry throat, Chloe gave the female officer a curt shake of her head and sat down at the table, hands splayed out in front of her on the cold surface. Not even bothering to hide her eyeroll, Officer Garland walked out of the door, firmly closing the door behind her.
It was an interrogation tactic, Chloe knew that, leave her alone in an empty room with her own thoughts to start imagining all the terrible ways this could go. Nope, fuck that.
Chloe started thinking about Max, more so about what Max was keeping from her. She knew that there was something Max was holding back from her, had been since the hospital. There were times she'd catch Max looking at her as if she had something she needed to tell her but then would stop herself. Then there were the other looks Max would give her, ones that made her heart skip a beat and her stomach flip. She was noticing those looks more and more lately.
It was no secret that Chloe had a thing for Rachel Amber, maybe even was in love with her, definitely infatuated, that being said, Chloe had stopped pretending months ago that Rachel was going to suddenly change her mind, look at Chloe and decide that she was the one for her, even before she disappeared. If it hadn't happened already, it never would. That didn't stop that small glimmer of hope from burning in the back of her mind no matter how often she tried to snuff it out. There would always be a part of her that would be enamoured with Rachel Amber. Despite popular opinion, though, Chloe was not that much of a masochist to pine away waiting for Rachel to suddenly decide she liked making out with Chloe more than the guys she was with.
That being said, she wasn't completely oblivious to the way her heart sped up when she would catch Max giving her that look, the way her breath would catch at times when she would see Max being all Max like and adorkable, the heat that would creep up her neck when helping Max change her shirt, the way she replayed the kiss over and over in her head at night before falling to sleep. Or how they seemed to fit together perfectly and she slept better than she had in years when Max was snuggled up against her. No, she hadn't been ignoring all that, per say, more like she was pushing it to the back of her mind, letting her subconscious deal with it all while she concentrated on other things, such as making up for getting Max almost killed and getting past all the Prescott bullshit.
She'd told herself that everything seemed to fit for them so well because they'd known each other since they were toddlers, they were just really comfortable with each other. It was no big deal that they both seemed to seek out some type of physical contact with each other all the times. At least that's what she told herself usually but when she was stoned or worse, drunk, and being completely honest with herself much more confusing and scary admissions would come to mind. Things that she felt could completely ruin their friendship if she fucked it up. Which, again, being completely honest with herself she knew she would because she always fucked things up. She couldn't lose Max's friendship again after finally having the girl back in her life. She wasn't stupid, she was almost positive Max had feelings for her, more than friend feelings, this wasn't an unrequited thing, it was more of a she couldn't go on if Max left her again thing. Something that was a lot more likely to happen if she acted on the way she was feeling.
Maybe it would be easier to think about all the Prescott bullshit rather than this.
Chloe leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes as she tapped her foot to some song that had been stuck in her head for days. This day had been an all around shitfest. She just wanted to get the fuck out of there and make sure Max was really alright. She started playing the entire Mindless Self Indulgence record, If in her head. She knew the drill, they'd keep her waiting a while. Maybe she could catch a nap.
