Chapter 14 R&R

Max

April 19th, 2014

5:15 PM

10 Miles From Arcadia Bay

Kettle Lake Lodge

It had been six days since I was last present at the lodge. Chloe parks her truck in the driveway and we hop out to enter Rachel's hideout ten miles from the bay. When we're inside, we see the living room TV set on with South Park playing on the Comedy Central channel. Then we see Rachel in the kitchen putting cooking utensils on the stove and counter.

"Come in," she says. "You're just in time."

"In time for what?" I ask.

"Supper of course. I was just getting started cooking."

"Well I'm starving," said Chloe. "What are you cooking?"

"It's a special dinner of mine," said Rachel. "In honor of our reunion."

"Sound delicious," I say. "Is dinner ready yet?"

"No it's not ready yet," answered Rachel. "I just told you I just got started cooking. Dinner will have to wait."

"Oh no, really?" complained Chloe.

"Come on," says Rachel. "A special dinner takes time and patience."

"You want us to sit there and watch you cook?" asked Chloe.

Rachel chuckled.

"You're not watching me cook," she said. "Your helping me drink beer. Now sit your ass down."

"Fair warning, Rachel," I say. "I'm not much of a drinker as the two of you are. If I leave this lodge less than sober, it's on you."

"Tell that to my ex who drives you home everyday," she says.

"What are we having?" asks Chloe. "Canadian delicacy of some sort?"

"Uh, sure, exactly," said Rachel digging through the cabinets. "We have beef, we have bacon, we have beer. The foods of my people. Wish me luck."

"Drinks are on me then," I say. "A little taste of RR for the three of us."

Rachel grabs some beer from the fridge and we open our bottles together, ding them against one another and drink up. When I take my first sip however, I spit the beer out and almost choke on my first sip. My taste buds were less than used to handling alcohol.

"Jesus, Max," muttered Rachel. "Not on the damn floor."

"I don't think she's ready to drink yet," informed Chloe. "Like she said. She's not much of a drinker like we are."

"Yeah," I say with a cough. "Besides, we're all underage anyways."

"You'll get used to it no matter how old you are," said Rachel.

"If you need luck to cook us dinner, we're screwed," I said, adjusting to the alcohol.

"Screwed?" asks Rachel while she cooks. "Ah, you hurt me, Max."

I take another gulp of beer to give it another taste without coughing and spitting. Just starting to get used to the taste as I do.

"Relax, it's gonna be great," reassures Rachel.

"Guess we'll find out," said Chloe.

"So, remember how I saved you and Kate Marsh at Blackwell?" I ask Chloe. "And then - this never happened - I survived being Jefferson's plaything in a dark room? Then a tornado? Then a school shooting? All these close calls I've had only to be taken out by dinner."

Chloe doesn't answer. Just gives me a frown. The young blonde female just glance for one second while she shakes a frying pan around cooking a steak.

"Can it at least be quick and painless?" I ask.

Rachel chuckles.

"Funny," she says. "You think I hauled your butt out of a burning car from my bike just to poison you here now?"

"You and Chloe just kicked some terrorist ass," I say. "I gotta figure anything's possible."

"Huh," replies Rachel.

Rachel lifts her pan off the stove to see the stake being cooked. Chloe and I take a peak at the delicious frying meat with eyes to judge Rachel's cooking.

"Do we have hot sauce?" asks Chloe.

When the steak is ready, the three of us sit down and eat some steak Rachel cooked for us. Though I never liked hot sauce, Rachel only gives some for herself and Chloe. I had to admit, Rachel herself was a better cook than I expected. As much as her sainted reputation was on the living room carpet, so was her fine dining. After finishing the stake, me and Chloe thank her for the meal she made for our reunion.

"That was great," said Chloe to Rachel.

"Still waiting for the botulism to kick in," I say to her.

"Hey I thought it was pretty good," Chloe says to me.

"Actually it was pretty good," admitting I was kidding. "I'm impressed."

"Thank you," says Rachel. "I'm an enigma. I've got skills."

I stare at Rachel amusingly. Wondering what was enigma about her skills.

"For example, fistfight, me and Victoria," she asks. "I'd win, right?"

Chloe too stares at her ex amusingly.

"What if I fought dirty?" she asks.

"If you wish to fight dirty, Rach," says Chloe. "Maybe you'd like to dance dirty."

"Who me? Dance dirty?"

"Yes you. Dance dirty. Like Patrick Swazye in Dirty Dancing."

"You want me to dance like dead actors from old movies now?"

"You could also dance like Zac Efron in High School Musical."

"You know what, I think it's time to turn up the music. Come to living room if you want to dance dirty."

Rachel gets off her seat from the dining room table and walks to the living room. And so does my girlfriend with her.

"Just when I thought we had enough mosh pitting for one day," I say getting off my seat.

The three of us go to the living room. Rachel off the TV she left on, brings a stereo out along with a CD disc, and sets it down so she could play the music. What we're about to dance to is something no shaka brah has dance to before. More or less.

"All right you two," said Rachel. "Get ready for the mosh pit of your lives."

When Rachel puts on the music, the music being played starts off with a very subdued beat. Then I realized what song it was now. It was a song Chloe and I always liked since our Elementary years.

Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

Chloe gasps.

"What is this?!" she asks in excitement.

"Still pointless aren't you?" asked Rachel.

"Fuck you! This song is dope! Preach it, sista!"

"Right back at ya. Come on. I'm insane in the brain. Let the mosh pit start!"

Chloe and I smile and giggle. Rachel stands up on the couch and decides to blow off some steam with her pot cigar while we all dance. This was now taking me back to how Chloe blew off steam in her room while dancing to her tunes that first day back together in Arcadia Bay. And now I got to see Rachel show off her true colors with a musical performance by the White Stripes playing Seven Nation Army.

I'm gonna fight 'em off

A seven nation army couldn't hold me back

They're gonna rip it off

Taking their time right behind my back

And I'm talking to myself at night

Because I can't forget

Back and forth through my mind

Behind a cigarette

And the message coming from my eyes

Says leave it alone

"Hey hippy!" shouts Rachel to me. "Take a photo and let's remember this all!"

I get out my camera and snap a Polaroid of her dancing off the steam. Now I have two pictures of two punks dancing and smoking. And to think I was no different from Rachel, she was no different from Chloe in a way she was. She really is her own club as Hayden once said. The two of us continue dancing with her as the music goes on and Rachel's weed is passed on.

Don't want to hear about it

Every single one's got a story to tell

Everyone knows about it

From the Queen of England to the hounds of hell

And if I catch it coming back my way

I'm gonna serve it to you

And that ain't what you want to hear

But that's what I'll do

And the feeling coming from my bones

Says find a home

"Come on, can't dance hippy?" asked Rachel dancing along. "My precious little punk can. Shake that boney white ass!"

"You mean my precious little punk can," I remind her.

"Don't worry, Rachel," said Chloe. "I taught her a few dance moves during our first dance together."

I'm going to Wichita

Far from this opera for evermore

I'm gonna work the straw

Make the sweat drip out of every pore

And I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding, and I'm bleeding

Right before the Lord

All the words are gonna bleed from me

And I will think no more

And the stains coming from my blood

Tell me go back home

When the song ends, Rachel takes a bow with her cigarette put out and we give her a round of applause. I whistle over to her as I would toss roses on her.

"Encore! Encore!" Chloe cheered, clapping her hands. "You light the room on fire!"

"Now I know how it feels to be part of the Amber club," I blush.

"You danced even crazier than the day we broke into that carnival of yours!" admitted Chloe.

"Thank you for your compliments," said Rachel. "Don't think our fun is over yet. I have another activity I'd like to propose."

"What is it?" I ask.

"Oh, I don't know," she said. "If any of you care for an early evening swim, the lake is open twenty-four/seven. What do ya say?"

She sounded too much like Chloe when I was asked for a midnight swim at the Blackwell pool. The two of them were two pees in a pod. Rachel's request was my pleasure.

Rachel takes us over to the pier outside the rear of the lodge and introduces us to her swimming lake. It was a pretty big lake to swim in. We could see a forrest on the other side from a distance as well as the sun setting down for the evening and seagulls flying in heards and hawking. With the view as bright as candy, we were given the best seats in the house.

"Well folks, here we are," says Rachel. "Kettle lake. The finest lake in Oregon to swim in. No sharks. No piranhas. No nothing. Just the three of us in rest and relaxation."

"Since when are there ever any sharks or piranhas in Oregon?" asked Chloe. "No one's even had experiences with those creatures down at Arcadia Shores."

"Sure they have," says Rachel. "Only ten percent of them have anyway. Anyway, last one in the water is a rotten tomatoe."

"You mean rotten egg?" I ask.

Rachel instantly removes her clothes leaving nothing else on but her bikini and blousers on and races her way on the pier to jump in the water.

"No fair! You cheat!" nags Chloe.

"You heard her," I said. "Let's do this."

While we take of our clothes, Rachel dives into the water with her arms and legs bonded together.

"Canonball!" she shouts, plummeting into the water.

The beautiful blonde was now floating in the lake. Waiting for her friends to give her company.

"Come on in! The water's fine!" she shouts.

Our clothes are completely off so we could now swim in our bras and blouses. Chloe and I race our way over to the pier for a divein.

"You heard the lady," said Chloe. "Your last, your rotten!"

"Not if your last and rotten first," I said.

Chloe beats me over to the end of the pier and dives in landing on her belly and face.

"Bellyflop!" she shouts.

Chloe is the next person to plummet into the water and float with Rachel. I'm the last person left standing on land.

"Fish out of water, Maxiroo!" shouts Chloe, swimming with Rachel. "Your now a rotten egg!"

"This rotten egg outta make your clean water dirty!" I shouted performing a canon dive into the water.

I splash water into Chloe and Rachel's face as I'm the last one to plummet into liquid. The three of us laugh out loud together. We're complete trio swimming in Kettle Lake.

"There's an otter in my water," says Rachel happily.

We appear to be rehashing the moment between Chloe and I during that night in the Blackwell pool. Only this time, there's a doe and a butterfly with a bluejay swimming in the golden hour. A couple of timeless teens having the moment of our lives together.

"Look at us!" says Chloe. "We are whole again! I've never felt so gleefully in my whole life! Max and I are together again! And to top it all off, I've got Rachel in the hood with my little doe!"

"And to top it all off, my little angel with butterfly wings and I are whole again!" I say splashing water into Chloe's face.

"Butterfly wings?" Chloe questions, with water in her face. "Where's your antlers Ms. Jane Doe?"

Then I get splashed with water in face from Chloe.

"I'm no animal biologist, but does don't have antlers!" I say back splashing more water to her.

"You wanna know what's better than antlers? Butterfly wings!"

I get more water splashed onto me.

"Do you wanna know what's better than both antlers and butterfly wing?" asks Rachel. "The wings of a bluejay!"

And then Rachel splashed a big wave of water onto us for one final blow. I feel the water soak my air down and we all have a good laugh together. Finally, we calm ourselves down by floating our backs on the river and gaze into the golden sky. I catch my breath. Letting my hair sink into the lake and my body float like a goose. The three of us form a circle while we levitate on the water with our behinds and stare off into the scarlet clouds of the golden hour. The view was beautiful for this moment of happiness together we all deserved after a week of struggle. That we did.

"Hey, Rachel," says Chloe.

"What?" she responds.

"I never thanked you for coming back for me," says Chloe. "For coming back to Arcadia Bay when you were still alive."

"From the look of things, you moved on with your life with Max knowing I had died. I can't blame you for how you acted that day. The damage had already been done to you. Your sincerely welcome."

"You didn't just come back for Chloe, Rachel," I say. "You came back for me. You chose to be there for me and Chloe knowing that we were all in danger. And your the bravest person I've ever known to accomplish what I could never. Because of you, Chloe and I are together again."

"I know, Max," said Rachel. "Your a brave person yourself. The two of you are fighters just like me."

"Life is good knowing nothing can ever break you apart," said Chloe. "Even though a single tragedy can occur to you once in a lifetime, you'll always keep moving forward from the fear of losing someone you love to find hope after a long struggle finding it. Just like what happened to Daddy. Just like what happened to Nathan. Hope is the only thing stronger than fear."

"What happened to William and Nathan," I say. "It'll never happen to any of us, Chloe. Not anymore. I'll always be your partner in crime."

"As long as your my partner in time."

Note: I hope it was a cute chapter to read guys. We're almost through with the second act of this episode now. It'll get even more exciting as the third act is underway. There's only one more chapter left before the second act is complete. So sit tight and stay tuned for the rest of the chapters to come for completion. There's still a long road ahead of us.

Until next time, stay golden.

P.S. If your wonder why there hasn't been another flashback of Rachel in the Dark Room yet, there will be in the next two chapters. Thank you for your patience friends. I appreciate it.