A/N: I have risen from the grave! So sorry it took me so long but chapter 5 was (and still is) seriously kicking my butt. I still wanted to upload ch4 for you guys, though, so here you have it! Hope you enjoy this, I had quite a bit of fun writing it :)

4.

"...n't mean you should mix them together unless you want your internal organs to fail. Now, any questions?" Max' mind snapped back to reality. She had no idea if she had actually dozed off or if she had simply gotten so distracted, she had blocked out every sound around her, but there she was now, in the middle of science class, scrambling to keep up with a lecture she hadn't the slightest clue what it was about. Glancing around, she noticed that no one seemed too eager to ask Mrs. Grant any questions which could only mean one thing:

"Alright then, seeing you have all understood today's lesson so well, you wouldn't mind a pop quiz." A chorus of groans filled the room, not that it would do anything to prevent their impending doom. Max didn't care all that much, she knew she would fail no matter what so whining about it wouldn't make any difference. She ripped a piece of paper from her notebook, wrote down the date her name and the two questions Mrs. Grant asked them, and silently got up to hand it in. She could feel curious eyes burning holes on her back as she walked to the front of the class, but she couldn't bring herself to mind. She shrugged and threw a somewhat indifferent look at Mrs. Grant in response to the confused and concerned one she had received from her, and she quietly exited the classroom with her head lowered and her shoulders slumped.

It was one of… those days again. She wished she could just go back to her room and stay there forever, without having anyone looking for her or... texting her. It had been a while now that that word would bring a very specific face in her mind. She hadn't received a text from Victoria in almost two weeks, since the day the taller girl had woken up in her room after that Vortex Club party. It was painfully obvious that Victoria had been avoiding her but Max didn't mind all that much. The queen bee had said it herself, they were not friends; so why should she bother herself with what the girl across the hall did? Speak of the devil…

There Victoria was, walking towards Max, her two followers flocking around her. Their eyes locked for just a second before the taller girl averted hers, straightening her back and raising her nose as she walked by. She didn't have enough time to turn around and go to the opposite direction this time, so she worked on making herself as big and intimidating as she could without actually having to interact with the petite brunette. Max simply groaned and rolled her eyes; she was starting to get real tired of Victoria's shit. They had other things to do than to avoid one another like the plague day in and day out, what Victoria was doing couldn't only be described as idiotic and childish in Max' mind. If anything, she had thought that after helping her "enemy" out that night, she would drop the bitchy attitude at least when no one else was around. She didn't expect her to put up even more walls.

"Ugh, whatever," mumbled the hipster shaking the thoughts from her head. For someone who claimed not to care about Victoria, she was thinking about her an awful lot lately and it was getting annoying. She attributed the thoughts to her overtly caring nature, convincing herself that she would feel the same if Kate had been acting that way or even Warren. The young hipster grew a little sad when Warren's name popped in her mind. She may not have been interested in him the same way he was, 'he's so much better off with someone like Stella anyways, who actually likes him back,', but he was still her friend. She made a mental note to text him soon, see if he would be interested in spending a day at the Arcade or something like they used to. Somehow, the thought of spending time with him, however, didn't make her feel nice in any way, nor did it make even a small smile appear on her lips. She hated that. It felt like she was mocking him, hanging out with him only because she had to, not because she wanted to. It wasn't always that way, in the beginning, she did actually enjoy spending time with him, nerding out about movies and TV shows so cringy that she felt embarrassed to even mention in front of anyone else. He was, after all, the only person she knew who was into that.

'Ah, the joys of having only two friends.' Max felt a tiny smile forming on her lips as she thought that this could have easily been the title of her autobiography; along with a couple other things she had come up with lately that she would rather not think of right then. Sighing, she took out her phone from her front pocket and scrolled down to Warren's contact. She typed in a simple "hey". She deleted it. "How are you?", "long time no see", "wanna hang out after class?" all had similar fates before the girl shook her head and shoved her phone back in her pocket. She wasn't in the mood to hang out with anyone anyway.

Finally reaching her dorm, Max lied back down on her bed, not even bothering to check the time. She already knew she was skipping the rest of the day and she had zero regrets about it too. It was Friday and she never minded skipping gym anyway, seeing as she was probably one of the least athletic people she knew. The professor, whose name she couldn't even remember most of the times, had pretty much given up on her as well, which only made it easier to skip without a second thought. 'No regrets,' she thought and chuckled softly to herself.

It was dark. Max didn't know where she was, she couldn't tell. Everything around her was pitch black and she couldn't tell if it was because there were no lights or because she was blindfolded. Her entire body was numb and she couldn't move. Screaming was out of the question too, no sound would come out of her mouth. Panic; this felt like a good time to panic and that seemed to be exactly what her body had decided to do. She felt her breathing pick up until it became impossible to actually breathe and her heart beating so fast, she feared it was going to jump out of her chest. All sounds merged into a loud humming in her ears that only served to worsen her pre-existing headache.

Her head snapped to the side and there was a stinging sensation on her cheek. Someone had just slapped her. The action did one hell of a job at shutting her up as she drew a harsh breath and held it in her lungs for a few moments. She stayed there, feeling the sound returning to her ears as she slowly let the breath out. She could finally make out something else other than her own pulse and that caused her to hold in yet another breath. Voices; but not just any voices. A male and two females were also there, and Max knew right away who they were.

"N-no," one of the female voices cried. "Please," it begged while the other female voice was sobbing nearby. The male one laughed. Max felt sick.

"Please don't do this," came the other female voice, making the hipster's heart sink and her stomach twist even further. There was silence for a few moments and Max let herself breathe again. Just as she felt herself relax a little, a gun cocked and a whimper was heard, followed by a gunshot and a shrill scream that was cut short by a second gunshot.

Max' body shot up, her eyes looking around frantically as she took in her surroundings. Her room; she was in her room. It was just a nightmare.'Just.' Her face was drenched in sweat and she could feel her heart beating a mile a minute. She tried rubbing her face to wake herself up a little more, but her hands were shaking too much for her to do anything. She didn't know if she had screamed as she woke up and she couldn't bring herself to care either. She may as well be screaming right now, and she still wouldn't care. Trying to calm herself proved to be futile as her breathing only grew more rapid and shallow and she could now feel tears running down her cheeks. She thought there was a knock on her door, but she couldn't be sure; it could have just been her mind playing tricks on her. She didn't bother answering, she couldn't do that anyway. Next thing she knew, a pair of arms were wrapping around her shaking shoulders, holding her as she cried herself back to a dreamless, much to her relief, sleep.

There was a glass of water on her nightstand that Max was pretty sure wasn't there the night before. There was also a note sitting under it, and Max was certain it wasn't there the night before. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she grabbed the glass, drinking a little. She never liked drinking water so soon after waking up, the taste always grossing her out, but her throat felt like it had been rubbed with sandpaper and she couldn't help but be grateful for the gentle soul who thought to leave it there for her to find, the creepiness of the whole situation never registering fully in her mind.

The note was next. The paper was neatly folded, taken out of her own notebook as the little owl on the bottom corner showed; she loved that notebook, she would recognize its paper anywhere. So not only had someone come into her room without permission, they had had the audacity to defile her favorite notebook too. Max only knew of one person who would do that and, as she scanned the piece of paper, she realized her assumption was correct.

'You are lucky I wasn't asleep last night and your obnoxious screaming didn't wake me up. Next time, you should be more considerate of your dormmates before you start screaming bloody murder at four o'clock in the morning.

PS: Drink the water, it'll help with the sore throat you're probably nursing right now.'

It was written in perfect cursive, the same that Max had definitely seen before, quite recently in fact, and hadn't been signed. She knew right away who it was from, however. Not many people would talk to her in that condescending tone and even less could convey said tone through text. Victoria did have a caring side to her, but she sure had one hell of a way of showing it. Max briefly wondered whether Victoria would consider this as "paying her debt" to her for the other night; she seemed like someone who would think this way, even though Max would never even consider Victoria actually owing her anything for helping her out. It was when she went to place the paper back on her nightstand that she noticed a second postscript written on the back of it, almost as an afterthought and almost as if Victoria didn't really want it to be seen.

'PPS: My offer still stands, by the way, in case you were wondering,' it simply stated and Max had to rack her brain to remember what the blonde was talking about.

"My door will always be open if you ever want someone to talk to." Victoria's voice suddenly echoed in her mind and Max seriously considered taking the girl up on said offer. She wasn't sure how she felt about talking to anyone, however. Shaking her head, she decided against it at least for now. Victoria was the last person she wanted to see, especially after that nightmare. At least she was okay in real life and that's what mattered after all. She did make a mental note to properly thank Victoria when she saw her. She could only hope the queen would actually be more approachable the next time their paths crossed.

Max had no idea what time it was. All she knew was that it was dark, was it because it was night out or because the blinds were shut, who knew? Who cared? She already knew what she was doing for the rest of the day and for the entire weekend, and that was sit in her room, nothing more. Of course, staying inside and doing nothing proved to have its downside as well, as her mind would inadvertently drift back to that god damned nightmare.

It wasn't the first nightmare she had had, not by far, and she knew it probably wasn't going to be the last either, but she really thought she was finally getting them under control. She hadn't woken up in the middle of the night in almost a week, and she hadn't had a nightmare as vivid as that in double that time. She would still jolt awake sometimes, but not screaming in fear and drenched in her own sweat. For the first time since she woke up, she had time to think about what it was she had dreamt about, and the answer left her feeling sick.

It was her back in the dark room with… him . She didn't think she would ever forget the sound of his voice or the way his slimy fingers felt against her face. They weren't alone, however. Victoria was there, begging for her life, and… Chloe. The second voice was definitely Chloe's and that send shivers down Max' spine. And not the good kind. On the one hand, she couldn't help but be kind of grateful she didn't have to witness her best friend -and Victoria- being shot by that monster again, but on the other she heard it; and her mind was all too eager to create the images for her. That was more than enough to cause bile to rise in the back of her throat. She shakily reached for the water, spilling some on herself as she swallowed a couple of mouthfuls, sweat once again forming on her forehead. Forcing herself to get up, she reached her stereo and put on the loudest song she could find. Music always helped to take her mind off things, and extremely loud music would be perfect to drown everything out.

Someone was knocking on her door. No, someone was pounding her door with all their might. Had she really fallen asleep with all that noise around her? Probably; she had no idea what had happened. 'Maybe I should start being worried about those memory lapses, this can't be normal.'Then again, nothing was normal to begin with.

"What the fuck, Caulfield?" Victoria was fuming. Her fist was raised, ready to start banging again, when the door she had been assaulting swang open. "Is it your fucking mission to make me hate you? Turn that shit down." She didn't wait for the hipster to talk, to invite her in or to even slam the door on her face; not that she would ever do that. The tall girl pushed Max aside and strutted inside, her finger slamming on the stereo's power button. She proceeded to rip the plug from the wall for good measure. Silence. Too much silence; awkward, overwhelming silence. Max' mumbled apology went unheard as Victoria stood there, in the middle of the room, arms crossed in front of her chest. Her expression was enough to tell Max that a half-hearted apology was not what she was looking for.

"Sorry," she muttered again, her voice quiet and her eyes not landing on the person in front of her.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Yes, Victoria was definitely not looking for a half-assed apology Max didn't even mean.

"Listening to music?" Max tried. "Look, I said I'm sorry, so you can go back to whatever it is you were doing. Won't happen again, don't let me keep you." The blonde simply stared, causing a sigh to escape Max' lips. "I don't know what you want me to say, Victoria," their eyes finally met, both sets were red though Max suspected it was for different reasons. Victoria had a strong scent of weed mixed with… lavender? following her around while she, well she had been crying her eyes out. She wondered if she looked as bad as she felt; she probably did. And then there Victoria was, looking as immaculate as ever, even in her goddamn pajamas and with a couple of pieces of hair sticking out of place. One more reason for Max to feel bad about herself. 'Wait though…'

"Vict-"

"I see you drank the water." Max' head turned to follow Victoria's gaze. Her eyes had fallen on the now half-empty glass on the nightstand.

"I… Yeah, thanks. It- It helped a lot."

Victoria huffed, "of course it did." A few moments passed and Max could feel the awkwardness suffocating her. This conversation was going nowhere. She felt uncomfortable, uneasy, tense, self-conscious and every other synonym she could think of. "Look, Max," another huff. The taller girl looked around nervously, as if making sure no one else was round. She hastily moved to the door and shut it before turning back around to face her classmate. "Last night… It was pretty scary, okay? I-I'd never seen you like this, the whole thing was fucked up. Are you… Is everything alright?" she winced at her own question, knowing that if everything was "alright" there would be no screaming in the middle of the night and no awkward one-on-ones surrounded by heavy silences in the hipster's room.

"Everything's great, Victoria, thanks," Max muttered, unable to keep some hints of sarcasm from her voice. "Don't let me bother you."

"You're not- Ugh, dammit, Max!" Victoria's arm shot out and grabbed Max' own dragging the brunette to the bed and making her sit down. "Talk." Victoria took a seat next to her and all but ordered, albeit in a more… gentle, even kind of worried tone.

"I… I don't know, Victoria, I'm not in a very sociable mood right now."

"No shit, Caulfield. If I had to wait for you to be in a "sociable mood", I'd be old and gray before having a decent conversation with you. Now look," Max opened her mouth to respond but was stopped by the blonde's index finger against her lips, "let's make this easy for both of us. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I do still owe you one from last time and, if anything, I never forget those who have helped me. I may be a bitch, but I'm not heartless, Max. So how about I sit here and listen to you go on and on about whatever's bothering you? No matter how stupid you think it may be, I'm willing to listen. And let's say that, as a rule, whatever is said or happens in here, stays in here. Try and trust me when I say that Vegas rules apply and will be followed; nothing you say will ever leave this room. So what do you say?" Max had to admit that she was finding Victoria's offer quite tempting and she felt herself nod before she had time to decide otherwise. The small action caused Victoria to sit up a little and nod smiling subtly. "Good. Let me just run to my room for a second and I'll be right back for our little cœur-à-cœur." She paused with her hand on the doorknob. "Don't you fucking dare lock me out, okay?" she said and Max was left staring, confused by the playfulness in the girl's voice. She was starting to believe she had woken up in an alternate reality because the Victoria she was dealing with right now had absolutely nothing to do with the Victoria she knew for so long, hell, it had absolutely nothing to do with Victoria from that morning. All too soon, the door opened again, revealing the taller girl who was now carrying some cigarettes, her lighter, an ashtray, and… a blanket?

"Uh… What…" was the only thing Max managed to say before Victoria plopped herself on the bed and draped the soft blanket over their legs.

"I figured that, since I'm not blabbing to anyone about this, you're required to do the same," she stated. "I also figured that we should get more comfortable and this is my favorite blanket for situations like the present." 'Nerd.' "The cigarettes don't need an explanation, they are mandatory. I may be willing to share if you want me to, though I highly doubt you've ever smoked anything in your short, sheltered life, let alone weed," finished the blonde as she got more comfortable, her back now resting against the wall.

"I have too smoked," Max protested as she followed suit and leaned back as well.

"Being around people who smoke, doesn't count as smoking, Lamefield," Victoria chuckled as she brought the joint to her lips and inhaled deeply to light it. "You could loosen your tongue a little, though." She offered the blunt to the brunette who eyed it cautiously. She hadn't realized that that's what Victoria meant when she said she was willing to share. "I don't have all day, Caulfield. You either want this or you don't." Max quickly grabbed the cigarette, brought it to her lips and took a deep breath. She held it in for a second before exhaling, coughing only once while doing so. Victoria eyed her intrigued. "Well, color me impressed. I didn't think you had it in you, Maxine."

"Max," the girl corrected before going to take another drag. A soft, pale hand stopped her, however.

"Take it easy there, Max. I need you to be coherent for now, remember? You can get high off your ass after we're done talking." The hipster ignored her. She wasn't nearly relaxed enough to be going through this so she took another drag. She inhaled deeper this time, held the smoke in her lungs for longer. She didn't cough at all this time and she closed her eyes as she felt a strange dizziness setting in. It felt weird; almost good. She could see why people enjoyed that sort of thing, the way her head was turning and her ears were buzzing, it made her want to laugh. She felt Victoria taking the joint from her, but she didn't care. She was good now, she didn't need any more. Victoria blew out some smoke in her general direction, causing her to open her eyes and look at her. With the shutters closed and the light in the room kept to a minimum, the blonde looked very pretty. Gorgeous even, Max thought, and was surprised not to have realized that sooner. 'Woah, what the fuck, Max.'

"So. Whenever you're ready." The queen bee's voice coaxed her from her thoughts. The young hipster stared at her for a moment longer, trying to put her thoughts in a somewhat logical order, trying to figure out what was safe enough for her to share and what not.

A couple of minutes later, she opened her mouth and just- talked. About everything. About safe to share stuff and about things she never even dreamt of telling Victoria, ever . She talked about how her nightmares had been keeping her up almost every night, how she was barely able to function anymore, be it in classes or in general, how she had been hanging out with Kate, making sure she was okay. That caused Victoria's breath to hitch in the back of her throat. 'Good.' She talked about visiting Chloe's mom, about how she wanted to help her get through the grieving process because that would be the least she could do since she was such a coward and didn't stop Nathan when she had the chance to, how everytime she closed her eyes she could see him back in the bathroom, gun in hand. She talked about Chloe; god did she talk about Chloe… Not only the grown up version of her, no. She went all the way back to their pirates era, and their 'let's create a manga' era, their times creating mixtapes for each other and their promises of never letting anything get between them. She shared about their falling out, about how she had been stupid and scared and never talked to Chloe again after moving to Seattle or later when she came back. As the words flowed from her lips, she felt her chest getting lighter, less constricted; it felt good. And Victoria listened. She never once interrupted or made an unnecessary comment, she never looked at Max like she thought she was being ridiculous or crazy; her eyes burned with interest, she had even leaned closer to the other girl, as if by reducing their proximity she could provide some sort of comfort. And it was working, Max hated to admit it, but it was working. Never, in all the time she knew Victoria, had she felt so comfortable being around her. It was as nice as it was weird.

By the time Max was done, there were tears streaming down her eyes, and she could feel the tell-tale signs of a headache settling in. Her stomach wasn't doing any better either. Victoria, already in the process of lighting her third joint, hadn't spoken yet. She was the first to break the silence, however.

"So you're telling me," inhale, "that, for whatever shitty reason, you still haven't been to a fucking therapist?" exhale. The brunette didn't bother to reply. "Please don't tell me you're one of those people who believe a therapist is the same as a psychiatrist cause if you are, I might have to punch you in the face."

"Therapists are… really fucking expensive and I don't have that kind of money." Max didn't know if she felt relieved that Victoria wasn't talking about everything that she had just heard or maybe a little annoyed at the apparent lack of visible interest. It was probably the first, though.

"Get a better excuse, Caulfield, I'm not buying it," the blonde got up, walked to the desk and grabbed a pen that had been sitting there. "Look, this is my therapist's number. I've been seeing him for years, he's been a huge help. Especially… well, now." She grabbed the young hipster's arm and wrote down the number. "He's highly recommended and the first session is free so you really got nothing to lose," she finished adding two little x's after the last digit. Max could only stare.

"You could have used a paper…" she mumbled mostly to herself as she felt Victoria's soft grip disappearing from her arm. Her skin felt hot where it had just been touched.

"Where's the fun in that?" came the amused voice, causing the hipster to roll her eyes.

Silence fell upon the two girls once more, this time more bearable, however, more comfortable, soothing even. They sat there, Victoria had closed her eyes as she leaned her head back against the wall and blew smoke towards the ceiling and Max stared at her for a moment. She seemed so calm and relaxed, it honestly made her feel a little uncomfortable. She was not used to this version of Victoria. Not that she couldn't get used to it, of course. It was a nice, refreshing change of pace.

"Stop staring, I can feel your eyes on me." Max froze. 'Shit.'

"Sorry," she muttered in a quiet, embarrassed voice and was quick to copy the taller girl's stance. The two stayed like this for a while longer, each lost in her own mind, both of them content not to say anything. Neither of them could hide her disappointment when Max' phone vibrated, drawing them both out of that blessed state of serenity. "I should take this," the brunette whispered, her voice a little rough and throaty.

Victoria nodded as she got up and gathered her stuff. "Well, that's my queue, I guess. It was… it was nice talking to you, Max. You're not so bad after all." She winked playfully and walked to the door. "I wouldn't be too opposed to doing this again sometime if you're up for it." And with that, she was gone. Leaving behind a smell of weed and lavender that, in the next few months, would become Max' own drug.

A/N: So have you guys played Before The Storm yet? I haven't but I heard my baby Victoria is in it and she's really smol and awkward. And bitchy as ever.