I apologize for the wait; school has been busy. I hope you all enjoy, so if you do don't forget to leave a comment!
Max and Victoria walked towards the parking lot, pulling their coats tight against their bodies to shield themselves from the bitter October winds that always plagued the coast of Oregon this time of year. Even with her beloved grey hoodie, Max could feel the chill cutting through her clothes, sending an unpleasant shiver up her spine.
"Are you warm enough in that?" Victoria asked as they rounded a corner. The parking lot was close by, and Taylor and Courtney could be seen standing idly by Victoria's car.
"Yeah," Max nodded, not all that truthfully, but she didn't actually own a winter jacket. She had forgotten hers in Seattle, and hadn't gotten around to asking her parents to bring it down for her. She honestly figured it would just be easier to buy a new one, but she had yet to do that, either. Maybe she would buy one today; she had a little bit of spending money in her wallet, after all.
"Then why are you shivering?" She asked with suspicious glance. Sure enough, max was struggling to suppress the slight shivers that shook her ever so slightly. As usual, it seemed as though Max couldn't keep anything from Victoria. She felt that the taller girl was always so keen and attentive to even the smallest details. Victoria, on the other hand, felt as though she rarely noticed such things, except, for some reason, when it came to Max.
Max offered a sheepish grin before holding her hands up in defeat. "Alright, you got me," she chuckled at Victoria's exasperated expression. "Honestly Maxine, we were just at my room, we could have made a quick stop by your room to pick up a better coat!" though her words sounded somewhat condescending, Max could tell that her friend didn't mean to sound that way. Especially because there was a slightly amused expression on her face.
"I didn't want to cause any trouble, and you looked like you were in a big hurry to get down here, and.." she trailed off slightly, somewhat worried by what her friend might think when she found out she didn't have a coat, and the reasons for it. "I don't own a coat; I'm not sure if I have the money to buy one right now." She confessed at last, simply mumbling the last words.
For a brief moment, there was a shocked look on Victoria's face. This information was clearly a shock to her. She always thought Max was well off. Sure, the shorter girl didn't wear clothes that were anything near the prices she herself wore, but she always used that polaroid camera. Film for those were by no means cheap. What money she had was constantly going towards that? She shook her head; it was clear that she would have to have a chat with her friend about proper budgeting and spending. Even being as wealthy as she was, Victoria was a master of saving money where she could. As a matter of fact, it was one of the reasons her parents gave her such a large allowance; they knew she wouldn't blow it all at once on something she would later regret.
"Then I'll buy you one," She offered.
"Victoria, there's no way I could let you–" Max was interrupted as they reached the other girls.
"Hey you two," Taylor grinned cheerfully at them, not realizing that she had been interrupting Max. "Ready to go?"
Max shot Victoria look that clearly said 'this isn't over' before she put on a smile and nodded. "Ready!" she replied, equally as cheerful.
"All right," Victoria interjected, retrieving her keys from her purse and unlocking her car. "Everybody in," she basically ordered as she slid into the driver's seat. Courtney went to get into the passenger seat, but Taylor snagged her by the arm and drug her towards the back seats, much to the other girl's protests. It wasn't that Taylor enjoyed Courtney's Company, in fact she found the other girl rather rude and annoying most of the time. Taylor was simply hatching a plan to get Max and Victoria to spend more time together. 'sorry Nathan,' she thought, 'I'm rooting for these two.'
Upon seeing the empty front seat, max hesitated, contemplating weather to offer the seat to Courtney. She looked as though she had wanted to sit there, after all. Max was snapped from her thoughts by Victoria, who was drumming her fingers impatiently on the wheel. "Are you coming, Maxine?" her demeanor seemed quite grumpy, but her voice betrayed her.
"Uh, yeah," Max nodded and slid into the car, fastening her seat belt right away. 'safety first' she thought as Victoria put the car in reverse and pulled out of the parking spot.
"Where are we going?" Courtney asked from the back, sounding somewhat annoyed.
"There's a new shopping center in Portland." Taylor suggested. "It's a bit of a drive, but I think it would be a lot of fun!"
"That doesn't seem like a bad idea," Victoria mused, before glanced at Max. "Are you okay with sitting in the car for two hours?"
"That seems a little long for such a spur of the moment idea," Max hesitated. "Won't we be back really late?"
"Well, its only one thirty now," Taylor said. "we'll get there around three thirty, which means we have plenty of time to spend there before coming back in time for curfew."
"Don't be such a stick in the mud, Max," Courtney piped up, only to have Taylor scold her quietly for being mean.
"Don't worry, Maxine, we can find something local if you'd prefer," Victoria offered, sending a reassuring smile her way.
"No, that's okay," Max finally said. She had been the one who had wanted to come along, so she thought it would be unfair if she put a damper on the group's plans. "Portland it is," She smiled back at Victoria warmly, causing the other girl to blush ever so slightly and hurriedly cast her gaze back to the road ahead.
"Yay!" Taylor cheered happily, fist bumping the air as if she had just won a victory. "Road trip!"
the other girls all laughed at her enthusiasm, even Courtney, who usually couldn't be bothered to share in such humour with the group.
After the laughter had settle down, Victoria reached out to the dash board and turned on the radio, switching her eyes from the road to the radio and back as she surfed for a channel until she was satisfied with her selection. The girls in the back sat in relative silence while max and Victoria chatted casually over the sound of the radio, which was playing some of the latest pop hits.
After a decent amount of time had passed, max's eyes began to lazily droop as she started to nod off. Noticing her friend seemed to be on the verge of sleep, Victoria halted their conversation so that she could sleep soundly. The blonde drove in silence, looking over her shoulder in the rear view mirror to see Courtney sound asleep as well, and Taylor smiling smugly, returning her gaze.
"What?" Victoria asked, her eyes narrowing at the sight of her friend's expression. It always bothered her when Taylor got like this; it made her feel like she knew something Victoria didn't, and it drove her crazy.
"Are you going to tell her?" Taylor asked quietly as to not wake either of the other girls. The last thing she wanted was for Courtney to overhear this conversation, and she didn't want max to wake up, which would result in Victoria trying to hurriedly shut Taylor up.
"Am I going to tell who what?" Victoria responded nonchalantly, glancing once and a while at her friend in the mirror, but for the most part keeping her eyes on the road.
"Oh, playing innocent, are we?" Taylor laughed, sitting up in her seat to lean forward so that she could speak to Victoria more easily. "Are you going to tell Maxine how you feel about her?" she asked.
There was long moment of hesitation before Victoria finally responded. "I… I don't know what you're talking about," she said, taking one of her hands off the wheel to wave it dismissively.
"Come on, Victoria," Taylor sighed, placing her hand on Victoria's shoulder. "You're my best friend; you can tell me anything."
Victoria was tempted to deny the accusation once again, but held her tongue. Finally, she gave a resigned sigh, her shoulders sagging slightly. "I guess there's no way I can convince you that you're imagining things, is there?" She asked, hoping that her friend might just forget this whole thing, but no such luck.
"Nope!" Taylor confirmed, "Now, spill it,"
With a few uncomfortable grumbles, Victoria took a breath. "I… Like her… I guess." She said nervously, looking in the mirror to see her friend's reaction. She looked amused for some reason. "What?" Victoria asked.
"I'm surprised you actually admitted it!" she responded with a grin. "You're usually impossible to get to open up."
Victoria shot her a sour look, which only made Taylor's grin widen. It was at that moment that Max began to stir, and the conversation was abruptly halted, and Victoria turned the radio back to its usual volume once again.
Max let out a long yawn, arching her back as she stretched in her seat. "Are we there yet?" She asked sleepily.
Victoria couldn't help but smile, amused by the girl's childish question. "Almost, we're about half an hour away. Do you want to go back to sleep?" She offered to the girl. "I can wake you when we get there."
"No, that's okay," Max shook her head and smiled. "I actually wasn't planning on falling asleep, but I guess I did anyways," she said sheepishly, Victoria turned the radio down once again so that they could talk.
"That's okay, Maxine," She said, then after a moment she added. "I hope you slept well." Victoria had to hide her blush, for some reason feeling embarrassed by saying that, though she didn't know why.
"Thanks!" Max smiled warmly at her, though Victoria was to busy staring ahead at the road to hide her embarrassment to notice. "I feel refreshed and ready to go! Which is honestly surprising because I usually feel tired and cranky after naps, and I often fall out of bed."
Victoria had to stifle a laugh as the image of max falling out her bed and then starting a one-sided argument with her bed filled her mind. "Well, that's good to hear," She managed to say somewhat casually.
Max happened to change the conversation towards their plans for the evening, which Victoria didn't seem to mind. "Do you have any specific stores that you want to go to?" Max asked, redoing her pony tail, which had come slightly undone while she slept. No doubt due to her restless sleeping habits.
"I'm not sure what stores this new mall has, but I'm sure that it will have at least one or two high end clothes stores." Victoria said confidently as she pulled off the highway they had been driving on for so long. They were now rolling down a slightly smaller road, towards a city scape which stood out against the mountains behind them, which were once active volcanoes.
"Pretty, isn't it?" Taylor piped up from the back. Victoria looked in the rear view mirror to see that Taylor was looking out at the mountains through the front window. She also noticed that Courtney was now awake, and was staring out of the passenger window, obviously bored.
"They really are!" Max nodded excitedly. "They're so close, like you could almost touch them!"
"If we got close enough, you could," Victoria said, her eyes still glued to the road.
"That would be great, but I don't think we have the time to do that," Max sighed, sounding somewhat disappointed.
"Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?" Victoria let out a laugh as the city become closer and closer. Soon, they were driving through the streets of Portland, buildings on either side of them. Max had lived for five years in Seattle, so the city was nothing new to her, but the sheer size of some of the buildings never ceased to amaze her. Sure, almost none of them were as big as the ones that could be found in Seattle, but she stared in awe out the windows none the less.
"There's the mall!" Courtney spoke, for what seemed the first time in ages, pointing over Victoria's shoulder – much to her annoyance – at the large series of conjoined buildings that had just come into view to their right.
"I see it," Victoria nodded, waving Courtney's hand out of her face as she turned the car into the first parking lot she could find.
The girls all got out of the car, stretching their sore backs and limbs. Max even when as far as cracking her neck, which earned a laugh from Taylor as Courtney grimaced.
"Alright, everyone," Victoria spoke up as she grabbed her purse and locked her car. "Let's go Shopping!"
Hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think. Take care!