ok i'm not even going to bother apologising for taking so long with this because i know i suck i get too distracted with other life things but i will try not to take so long next time because i still have a few more chapters left for this story :) this is more of a short chapter, mainly to show how Max's thoughts are changing and... stuff ;) (about time hey) and please keep reviewing i love reading what you all think of it regardless of how that may be!
Sunlight crept through the windows, causing Max to slowly open her eyes. Her head was pounding, and it took her a couple of minutes to adjust to the light in the room.
She turned over to her side and only then realised she was in Caroline's bed, noticing her curled up amongst a mass of pink pillows, sleeping with her back towards Max.
Max's eyes blurred as she stared at her best friend sleeping peacefully. Memories of their drunken night before, and… damn, another kiss… came flooding back to Max... only the usual drop in the pit of her stomach upon remembering these things was missing.
Instead, she felt more at ease with the entire thing, realising it was only just a kiss, it was just Caroline, and this had happened countless times now… maybe she should just get used to it and stop stressing.
It wasn't the end of the world after all.
There was clearly something between them, much more than just best friends, and it was getting more and more difficult to keep those feelings hidden; to always push the urge of holding Caroline's hand away, or slipping her arm around the girls waist, or cuddling up to her in bed every night... ugh Blondie's making me want to cuddle? Damn.
Shrugging off too many thoughts for her still pounding head, she crawled in closer to Caroline, trickling her fingers softly up and down the girls back before reaching around and holding her close, revelling in one of their far too few stolen moments together.
Max closed her eyes, savouring the feeling of Caroline pressed against her body, breathing in the somehow always fruity smell of her blonde hair, and smiled to herself.
Again, she pushed the wondering thoughts in her mind aside, and tried to just allow herself to be caught up in the moment; to be simply just content.
Yet the thoughts still rushed in, until Max sighed and let them pass through. Maybe it is time to talk to her about whatever this is… yeah it's damn terrifying but what isn't? She's still here isn't she? She's not going anywhere… and neither am I apparently.
All other thoughts were lost as Max felt Caroline shift, turning slowly in Max's arms to face her. Caroline's eyes slowly fluttered open as Max watched on, a small smirk creeping up on her face.
"Morning, sleeping beauty." Caroline's lips slowly formed a smile also as she realised Max's arm was around her, holding her close and looking into her eyes with their noses mere centimetres from touching.
She let out a soft giggle that made Max smile even wider at the sound. "Morning Max… hmm what's the time?" Max lifted her arm from Caroline, feeling immediately empty at the loss of contact, and reached over to grab her phone.
"Nearly 10. You should totally just stay home today... I'm sure Han can handle the diner, it's always deader than usual this early in the week."
Caroline's eyes squinted at Max, unsure of what she just heard. "As much as I would love to Max, we kind of still need all the money we can get. It's your day off though, and I'm sure you can't wait for me to get out of here so you can be alone and smoke up your day away again on the couch and laugh at cat videos."
Caroline said this with a laugh, but Max detected a slight forcefulness to it and also noticed a hint of… annoyance? She wasn't too sure, but she was slightly taken aback at the sudden tone. "Well, I'd like my day off much more if you were here for me to be alone with."
The words came out before she could stop herself, and she saw Caroline's eyes widen in surprise. The girls stared at each other for a few seconds in silence, both unsure of where the sudden kind words Max had spoken had come from.
She was never that direct, so Max figured it just must be far too early for her brain to function properly if she was blurting out her thoughts so abruptly.
Before she could collect those thoughts, Caroline was turning over and getting out of her bed, heading over to the kitchen to prepare coffee. Max rolled her eyes to herself, knowing what she wanted to - and what she finally should - say, but was still afraid to nonetheless.
Well I'm never going to want to say this again so I might as well get it over with… "Caroline…?" she began, her voice only slightly louder than a tentative whisper, "you think we could, like, I don't know, talk or something about some... you know… stuff, before you go to work?" Great sentence there Max.
She couldn't muster up the courage to look up to see Caroline's reaction to this, so instead kept her eyes down, staring at nothing in particular but feeling her heart racing a thousand times faster than usual.
Silence lingered on until Max couldn't take it anymore, so she quickly looked up to see Caroline staring at her with a bewildered look on her face. "Caroline?" This seemed to shake the girl out of her trance.
Blinking rapidly, she finally seemed to find words. "Um, Max I... I don't think it's a good time… I mean, I've got to get to work, so maybe we can… talk later or something." Before Max could respond with more than a look of confusion, her eyes followed Caroline as she practically sprinted to the bathroom, nearly tripping over her own feet.
Well that was weird. Blondie always wants to talk… Max didn't know what she had done wrong now, all she wanted was to talk things out, even if she hadn't quite worded her request like a normal human being.
And this time it was her that brought it up, didn't that count for anything? Should she have just kept her mouth shut, like she had always done before?
Rolling her eyes to herself, she got out of bed and made some coffee for herself, forcing herself to not ponder on her now rampant thoughts.
She sipped her coffee in the kitchen, savouring the bitter flavour as it seared down her throat. She saw Caroline emerge from the bathroom, dressed in her work clothes and looking flustered, eyes darting around the room.
"Yo Blondie, you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost, and as far as I know the demon that used to live here got scared of me the second I stepped foot inside and hasn't been hovering about since."
Usually this would elicit a small smile from Caroline, or at least a playful eye roll, but this time her reaction was entirely mute.
"Yeah Max, what? Oh, right, no, no ghosts, I just-" Her words were interrupted by the beeping of her phone, alerting to her a text message had been received, which Caroline simply glanced at and promptly ignored, throwing it back into her bag. "Um... yeah, I just uh, need to get to work. Might see you later okay?"
As she grabbed her bag and headed for the door, what she said had caught up to Max and she darted over before Caroline could leave. She reached out and grasped Caroline's shoulder, spinning her around to face her.
"What do you mean might? Why are you being so weird?" Max was really confused now, and her unusually high pitched tone of voice made it clear she wasn't even trying to hide her confusion. What made it worse was when she saw how pained Caroline's eyes looked. They were glistening with tears, but at what point that morning could've caused such a response?
Max felt a fluttering in the pit of her stomach, and recognising it as panic she tried to even out her breathing. She couldn't let herself get worked up over something she wasn't even sure was happening, but she could see Caroline looked hurt and that in turn made herself feel horrible - especially not knowing what had caused it.
Caroline opened and closed her mouth, clearly about to say something but now seeming to ponder on whether she should or not. Sighing, she finally replied, "I don't know, I'm just a bit confused okay? Maybe it's too early still... I think I'm stupidly hungover or something, maybe we drank too much... I don't know, I just, I have to go, okay Max?"
Max heard the desperation in her voice, and immediately realised what Caroline was doing.
She was running out; running away from Max, running away from having to talk things out. She was doing exactly what Max had done to her countless times.
It sucked. It really, really sucked.
"Oh." was all Max could manage to say. Thoughts swirled around her mind, but she couldn't even pick one out to make sense of this time. "Um, yeah, right. I'll uh, see you later then. I'll be here. Im not going anywhere, Caroline."
She stared into Caroline's eyes as she said this and hoped Caroline would understand what she really meant, and by the way she looked down with a hint of a smile, Max was sure she did.
"Okay. See you later, Max."
"Later Blondie!" she managed to call out as Caroline exited the door, closing it behind her. Max stood in confusion for a moment, still unsure of that whole encounter and why Caroline was acting that way.
She had really thought Caroline would be jumping for joy at the thought of finally talking things out together, whether she had to get to work or not, it was all she had been wanting for weeks now, and Max was always the one to shut it down.
Now the tables had turned, and Max cursed herself for ever making Caroline feel the way that she was feeling now. Max was set on making things right again between them. She had to.
She was scared of course, not even knowing where to start when they did talk, but after everything they had been through together, they could get through this too.
Maybe it would be hard, sure, but it could also be the best thing to ever happen to them. Max took a deep breath, closed her eyes and for the first time in a very long time, she finally felt optimistic at the prospect of what was yet to come.