February 2012
Camilla sighed for the umpteenth time as she waited, slumping heavily in her leather upholstered chair; her large office not only dripped with refined, expensive taste, but also showcased someone with a raging obsessive-compulsive disorder when it came to their personal space..
She most definitely did not relish the discussion she was about to have, but as the head of Field Operations, the responsibility fell onto her. She only hoped that what discovered was not nearly as terrible as some of the possibilities her darker thoughts conjured up; her temper was still raw and jangled after the falling out she had with Martinet over the violation of Max's privacy.
But this...this seemed so much worse. Still, she suspected - hoped - Reese had much kinder intentions.
If not, she was prepared to terminate him. Quite possibly in the literal sense of the word.
There was a knock on her office door.
"Come in."
Reese opened the door, shoulders slumped, and head hung as he walked in. A bearing not so much guilty as simply...battered.
Like a man who's been carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders for far too long.
He sat himself down at her desk without being asked, an informality that he had earned through years of working with her.
"What can I do you for, bosslady?" he quietly asked.
It was clear from his demeanor that he knew exactly what was coming.
Leaning in, and fixing him with a hard, but neutral stare, she began, "I'll come right out with it, Meredith. Max. Her memories. Have you ever tampered with them?"
He exhaled out: long, heavy, laborious. Paused overlong, before reaching into his jacket pocket, and pulled out a small bottle of prescription pills. "Why yes. Yes I have, Camilla." he said in a tone filled with half-playful bravado, half tired relief. "And if you would kindly pour me a glass of water, we can have a talk that is...way, way overdue."
Camilla stood, walking over to the mini fridge, and grabbed a bottle. He nodded his thanks, unscrewing the top, popping three pink pills into his mouth, and chugged all the water, forcing it down his gullet.
"Hah. Appropriate. Time for my damn ulcer medication. And now we get to talk about the reason for it."
"This is nothing to make light of, Meredith!" she spoke, warningly. Her tone rose, quiet but still threatening, "I'm sick to death of people taking advantage of Max. I'm tired of discovering how people in this organization are exploiting and abusing the poor girl, and..."
Reese snapped back, clearly on hair-trigger, "Well I am too! Okay? Fucking shit, I am tired of it too!"
Camilla didn't rear back, but didn't let up, "Then why? Why did you do it? I mean, clearly they were small changes. It actually took me a while to figure it out. Luck really, when I found out that Max's recollection of one of the experiments they've put her through didn't seem to match. I had to check on a few things, rule out every possibility that it was anything other than...than you using your abilities on her."
He spoke through clenched teeth, "Yeah. Yeah, let me guess. September of 2010? With the rabbits?"
She narrowed her eyes, breathed in hard through her nose. "Yes."
"Yeah! Yeah I...I found her. Afterwards. Curled up, in one of the alcoves. Crying. Because of what they did to her." Reese didn't look directly at her now, but she could see a dark anger slowly boiling in his eyes. "Because of what they made her do, tricked her into. That poor, poor kid."
He grit his teeth, then continued, "And you and I both know what the fuck those experiments were for. I mean, Jesus, kid barely turned fifteen, and they were already prepping her for potential wet work. Which we shouldn't be fucking doing. Ever." He shook his head, then looked out with a thousand-yard stare. "I...it just happened. It was an emotional reaction. I didn't do much, just tweaked it. Took the worst of the sting away."
A hand full of manicured nails came up, covering Camilla's face, as her head shook. "Oh...Meredith. This has always been your problem. Believe me, I understand that you have the best of intentions, but your impulse control is a bit la-"
"I know! I know, I know. Road to hell and all that." he interjected. "I know that my 'good intentions' is what got Barbara hurt, and why I ended up here in the first place. But you..." he shook his head, and thrust out an accusatory finger, his voice trembling. "We're not all real life Vulcans like you, Cammie. The rest of us just can't stand around and watch what's happening and not react!"
There was a hint of pain across her face, a soft raggedness in her voice as she paused for a few seconds, before remarking, "You can't...this has to stop, Reese."
"Yes!" he hissed out through his teeth again. "This has to stop. WE!" And with that he rose to his feet. "We need to be stopped! I don't know who, or how, but someone has to stop us. Someone needs to look around, and see how...how evil we've become! Every day, I wake up hoping that sanity will prevail and that this'll all end. That we'll get down on our knees at long, long last." He reached up, covering his eyes momentarily. "and beg that poor girl to forgive us for what we've done to her. For what we continue to do to her now."
He turned away from the desk, rose up and started to pace, his hands alive with motion as he ranted, "And I don't mean just directly to her alone. You...you've seen my reports. About Max's parents? About the state of their minds after I visited them this past Christmas, you know? For their seasonal dose of forget-Max juice? And now they don't need me anymore; hell, as long as Max never goes back home again, they'll probably go through life never remembering they ever had a daughter. I warned the brass..."
"I...I know Reese. I've backed those reports. I've agreed with you all the way..." she said, with a conciliatory tone.
"But you didn't stop them!" he snarled out, wheeling around and pointing an accusatory finger towards her. He then dropped his trembling hand, and deflated somewhat. "And maybe you couldn't, God knows you went to bat and stuck your neck out for Max with Martinet a couple months ago, and for that I am eternally grateful. But you didn't have to go, under orders, and kill Max in their minds. Watch the cascade effect. See how she dies in their memory. But it...it's not too late. They can be saved, I know they can. You can save them! You're...you're the fucking smartest woman in the Western Hemisphere!"
"Reese, I'm sorry. I know this has been a tremendous strain on us all, but you need to calm down for a moment..."
"Every! Day!" His voice was lava hot, knocking off the empty water bottle from the desk onto the floor, petulantly. "We violate her! Every day! We add a few more brush strokes to this portrait of a stolen childhood that we're painting. A childhood that she will never, ever get back!"
He deflated as quickly as he exploded, meandering back into the chair in front of her desk, hunched over.
His voice was small, tears starting to flow in earnest. "Y-y'know? I'm glad you caught me. I'm glad you forced this out. Because I can't do this any more. I can't...be here, any more. And I'm sorry, maybe that makes me a coward...no. No it definitely makes me a coward. But I can't stay here, and watch what we're doing to her. What we're making. What we're letting her discovery turn this organization into" He shook his head and then wiped his eyes.
"You know, there was a time I loved to be here. Huh. One of the good guys. Like a superhero. I know I always go 'ahh ahh. I hate that term, I hate it.'. But I remember that first day that I met Max, and then the days immediately afterwards, when she was so convinced she was going to go out and save the world like Wonder Woman."
He shook his head, both sad and incredulous, "God, that kid. Too good to be true. All she wanted to do was run off and save the world. And now, she needs a hero. She needs to be saved. From us."
Camilla reached out, laying a hand on Reese's arm, pleased that he didn't flinch away.
"Mere. I didn't...I should have seen how bad it was getting. And for that I'm sorry. But I must confess, I'm surprised you simply haven't left DI at this point."
He snorted, shook his head, "Leave? Right, where do I go?" He paused for a moment, and then groaned, "I suppose, when you get right to it, there's plenty of opportunity for a guy like me, if he can shrink his conscience small enough to fit it into a bathtub and drown it." Looking back up, he added, "You're not an idiot, Davies. You know how this plays if I ask to 'leave'. Sure sure, off they let me go, gold watch and everything. Six months later, I'm dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Or...or a car crash. Isn't that how we do it these days? Mysterious car crash? I end up a statistic on some conspiracy website?"
Camilla closed her eyes tightly, briefly envying Max, as she wished she could stop, or at least roll back time, give herself a few extra seconds to think. Regardless, a plan quickly arose in her mind.
"I have an idea, Meredith. There's an opening. In Japan. I've been pushing Martinet to cozy up with Rising Sun, and it's finding fertile ground. We need a small liaison team to staff a DI branch office. To be blunt, you weren't exactly on my short list; at the same time, you're not unqualified either. But it would mean essentially giving up your life here and making a five year commitment."
He nodded, so slowly, as if all his remaining energy had been expended in his outbursts. "Th-thank you, Camilla." he said, so tiredly. "Seriously, thank you. I didn't...really have much of a life to speak of here anyhow. Japan sounds, intriguing at any rate." Slowly pulling himself back up in his chair, he added. "More importantly: it's far away. But I won't forget this. I mean, we've been close teammates for years now, and I know I've taken a bullet for you on at least one occasion but." He blinked, petering out, before repeating. "I won't forget this."
"You don't...I don't think you owe me any gratitude, Mere. But yes. I think it would be better if you stayed within the system." She leaned back in her chair, narrowing her eyes, "This situation with Martinet is going to come to a head. Not today. Not tomorrow, but I don't see how this continues indefinitely." She paused to steeple her fingers. "Ah, the only real complication to getting you the Japan posting is that it'll take me a couple of months. I need to work on the Director a bit. Make him think it was his idea all along."
"Could help you with that, you know." Reese mumbled.
Camilla shook her head sharply, frowning. "You don't mean that, Mere."
He fixed a hard stare on her. "For that son of a bitch? Don't be so sure." His face then softened. "But okay. Two months? Yeah. I can...I can make that. Now that I know a way out is coming. Plus it gives me time. There's something I want to do for Max. Two months should be enough."
As he started to rise up from the desk, Camilla kindly chastised him. "Don't push it, Reese. I mean it. Don't go out in a blaze of glory, not when I'm about to spend yet another share of my ever shrinking political capital, only to muck it up."
Giving a crisp, albeit mocking salute, Reese replied, "No ma'am! I promise. I'll be a good boy from this day on." He then groaned, gripping at his abdomen. "Fuck. Uh. If you'll excuse me." He turned away from her, starting to depart from the office. Stopped, turned and said, "She's going to need you more than ever, Camilla. You and Rodriguez. You two are the only friends she really has left in this place, once I'm gone. Everyone else either humors or gives her a wide berth and Nikki? Don't know what's up her ass. I'm...I'm sorry I'm not strong enough. To be the hero she needs."
With that, he was gone.
Half an hour and half a bottle of whiskey later, Davies found herself standing before her picture shelf, staring at an old framed color photo in her hands. A smiling, happy, seventeen year old version of herself, still spotty, in braces, and holding a thumbs up, posing in front of the rest of her far older teammates.
The caption underneath read: "S.O.A.P Archives - Doctor Camilla Davies and team, Project Opticon. Inaugural Design Kickoff, Planetary Awareness Network, 9/1993"
"Not so smart now, are we?" she asked herself.
Placing it back on the shelf with precise care, and lowering herself back into her seat, she drained the rest of her glass, and then opened up a new window on her computer screen. One that was heavily encrypted.
A few minutes later, a connection was established with the other side.
GAKUSHA: Konbonwa, Cammie-chan.
SAVANT: No time for flirtation tonight, Shimiko.
GAKUSHA: Business then?
SAVANT: Chess.
GAKUSHA: Of course. And which of our twenty concurrent games shall we continue with?
SAVANT: #8675309
GAKSHUA: I see. It has been some time since you made a move on that board. I seem to recall making the opening play.
SAVANT: I needed time to weigh my potential options.
GAKUSHA: I understand. What is your next move?
SAVANT: Queen to Knight 4.
GAKUSHA: I see. And you are sure? This is the move you wish to proceed with?
SAVANT: Yes. It would seem I'm losing too many pieces from the board. Time to shake things up.
GAKUSHA: There are some that would consider it an illegal move.
SAVANT: Doesn't mean it's not a good one. The right one.
GAKUSHA: At the very least, we agree it is a bold gambit. Perhaps we could continue this game offline?
SAVANT: Say, in two months time? It looks like I may be taking a trip to RS. With one of the new liaison staff. He is...quiet the chess player himself.
GAKUSHA: Hmm. I see. The cherry blossoms will be in bloom then. And I think I can get a bottle of that sake you are so fond of.
SAVANT: ...Did I not mention no flirting? :-)
GAKUSHA: Your fingers say one thing, your emoji, another.
SAVANT: Hah, very well then! We shall see you in April.
GAKUSHA: I look forward to it. Ja nye.
SAVANT: Cheerio.
APRIL 2012
"I...I can't believe you're really going away! I didn't want to believe it, I mean."
Max and Reese stood together in one of the transit lobbies, waiting for Davies to come and take him away on their trip to Japan.
He bowed his head, and then looked up, trying to give her a brave smile. "Yeah. Yeah well...times change, kiddo. People change. Situations open up. I mean...I mean even your life is gonna change. You won't be down here forever. I-I promise you that much."
She frowned and turned away. "Sure fucking feels that way. If it was anyone else but you saying that, I totally would call bullshit. And even you...even you're running away from this place now! From me!"
Reese turned away, cut to the quick. Max swiftly looked to soften the blow, and whispered, "I'm...I'm sorry, that was a shitty thing to say. I just...you're one of the only friends I have left, and I'm losing you. This place just keeps taking and taking from me. But anyhow...I didn't mean it. After all the shit they put me through, they made your life almost as bad, I figure. With...with my parents...and."
She bit her lip hard, trying to choke back the lump forming in her throat. She really was going to miss him. Even after he confessed part of the reason why he was leaving, what he did to her memories. She couldn't stay angry at him, especially not when she took into account the truth he was trying to protect her from.
"Yes, Max. You do. Because it's the truth. I'm..." he winced, as if swallowing something bitter, and shook his head. "I'm...God. Leaving you alone with Nikki for two weeks."
"Yeah, Agent Wright, who fucking hates me! It wouldn't be so bad, but Alanna is off on vacation."
"Well look, don't worry, Davies had a nice long chat with Wright. About behaving. And Villanova promised to spell so much girly time with you, and then there's Albertson, and you get along with him too, right?"
Max shrugged, "They're okay I guess. Kimmy...well, she can be fun. Yeah. Albertson puts up with me. The others though? I'm not stupid. I can see. All these people don't like me. Act like I'm some kind of mo- like I'm a freak. Like they can fucking talk."
Reese said nothing to that. After a few seconds, he gripped her shoulders and leaned in, whispering, "Max. Listen to me very carefully. I have a gift for you. I made it myself. But it's not a physical thing. I couldn't risk it being something they could take away from you, or break or...but I have to ask you to trust me. If you never do so again, I need you to believe me when I tell you that I'm giving you only a good thing. Please."
She blinked, uncertain at the sudden descent into seriousness. She pulled back a bit and nods. "I trust you, Reese. You're one of the few I do."
Nodding, he pulled her close, as if embracing her farewell, and whispered. "Here it comes. Try not to act so surprised, when it's over. They're watching us."
There was a curious tingling sensation that ran up her spine, then pooled into her brain. Like a tunnel opening up into her mind, Max suddenly found herself splashing deep into memory...
She looks out through eyes that are not her own. Sees Meredith in the mirror, a shy, soft smile on his face.
"Hi Max. Welcome to your gift. I'm taking a couple weeks off, before I go to Japan. Two weeks in which I am going to have the time...of your life!" He points at himself/herself in the mirror.
"Twenty four hours of the best highlights. I hope you enjoy it. Hope it makes the days to come bearable for you. It's the least I can do for you now. The very least."
A quick flash, and she's running free on the beach, in his body, the sand underneath their toes, the sun on their face, the water splashing, cool and clean on their legs. "California, huh? Right? Good start, yeah?" he says to himself. Then dives into the water and swims, smashing through waves. Picking up colorful shells and studying them for a while. Renting a jet ski and cruising back and forth. The jet ski picks up speed, going faster and faster...
...suddenly she's on a rollercoaster, inside, along for the ride.
"Oh God! Maaaaax!" He's screaming out to himself. People must think he's a madman. "Did I mention that I hate these thiiiiings?! Never...never trusted them OH GOD!"
Loops and inversions, twists and turns. Her stomach is tied up in knots. She feels the bile rise to her throat...
...the taste of which is replaced by the two-in-one of them munching away on a deep dish pizza. Addressing himself to a mirror, he says, "Chicago. Max, when you get out, you HAVE to go to Chicago. Really excellent deep dish. Accept no substitutions." They eat. They wash it down. All manner of foods and drinks. The different gourmet highlights become some of her absolute favorites, of this whole experience.
Suddenly she is sitting in a chair. Watching exotic dancers. Of the male variety. Feels the blood rise to her cheeks. He's looking down in the reflection of the table and says, "When I was a kid, I had Skinnymax movies to get me through puberty. You don't even have the Internet. Just the crippled version they give you. Um...I'm assuming you like guys? I hope so, because this is really creepy and weird for me, no matter how you slice it. But if it gets your motor running, you are more than worth it, kiddo.
After a few minutes, the scene shifts. More dancers. Different venue. Female. Meredith is obviously having a better time of it. Max is more intrigued this go around. There's arousal, and she can't say exactly which source it's coming from: him or her.
"Hey! I have no idea how you're gonna end up swinging kid, so I'm letting you pick and choose. However you go with it, you do what makes you happy. Because that's all that counts in life, Max. You make you happy!" A topless waitress looks over at him/her. Assuming they're drunk.
It's hours of eating junk food, and playing video games. Reading comics, and watching baseball games, and betting on blackjack. Meredith lives for both of them, pushing himself to the limit: bungie jumping, hang gliding. Overcoming his fears, for her sake.
Her eyes tear up, as she sees her parents. But not in the same house she grew up in. She's watching through Reese's eyes, in a car from across the street. They're outside, preparing for the spring garden. It must have been only few days ago.
"They're safe, Max. I promise you. We just moved them to rural Washington last month, to keep a closer eye on them. I...I wish I could go see them for you. But...I'm sorry. I can't...because you don't want to see them, Max. Not after what they did to them. Not after what *I* did to..."
He looks away, unable to finish.
The hours spiral on.
Twenty four hours of ups and downs, lefts and rights, chills, spills and thrills.
The final hour consists of a tour of her old haunts in Arcadia Bay, and a few places she's never been inside. Meredith drinks enough for both of them. Max can't stand the taste of the alcohol, but understands the appeal of drinking once the warm giddiness sets in.
It's late at night, near the end, and Reese is soaking up what booze remains in his bloodstream with eggs, toast and coffee. She knows the place well.
The Two Whales.
He stares at the cloudy drink in his mug, at his wavering reflection, and whispers low, "Max. Let me leave you with one last bit of advice: Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body. When the end finally finds you, whatever and whenever that may be, the last thing you should be saying is, 'Wow! What a ride!'
His eyes dart up, and focus on one bluenette, sitting by herself in a booth at the back.
"Oh...oh shit. That's her."
Max can feel the indecision. The famous Reese tendency to get carried away, go with the moment.
They rise up, coffee cup in hand, and slide down in the booth across from her.
"Are...hey. Are you uh...Chloe Price?"
The woman across from then narrows her eyes suspiciously. Cants her head to the side. "Maybe? Who the hell are you?"
A long pull of coffee is had, and then Reese finds a little more of that courage he's so convinced he's surrendered. "I'm...yeah. My name's...Harold. Vakarian. I'm...I'm an instructor at a school in Seattle. Max Caulfield is in my history class."
Her scowl softens, just a bit. Curiosity gets the better of her, but she still regards him with deep-seated suspicion. "Oh yeah? Huh. That's nice."
"She...uh. She talks about you, you know? All the time."
This does get her honest attention. Her guard drops, if just a touch.
"No...no shit. I...well I just figured she forgot about me. I mean hell, she talks about me like I'm so great, then she should find the time to write, or call, stop doing whatever it is that's so awesome in her life and let me back into it?"
Max can feel the tears starting to well up, behind eyes that aren't her own.
"NO...no no no. Oh God...no. Please. You have no idea. None. Whatsoever. It's..." He drains the mug. "Chloe this. Chloe that. This one time, Chloe and I...and did I ever tell you how we met? And I wish Chloe were here, she'd really be interested in that, and..."
He suddenly chokes back a hard sob, trying to hold it together.
Chloe's confused. So uncertain now. "Hey. Shit, dude. Are you okay?"
He shakes his head, his facade crumbling, in the face of his shame, and too much scotch. "No. I'm not. I have not been okay, Chloe. For a long time now." The dam begins to burst, and it pours out of him. Steady. Even. "Oh God, she wanted to write you, Chloe. So many times. She wrote letters, knowing you'd never read them. Begging us to send them off to you. At least until I...more or less convinced her to stop. For her own safety."
Chloe pales, remembering something from a while back. Leans in low and then hisses.
"Okay. Fuck. Tell me! Whoever you are. Is Max okay?! Is she in trouble? Because a few months back, at Christmas, I went to her folks, and they were like...like fucking pod people you know? They barely remembered they even had a daughter. And two months later, they moved away. Said something about Arcadia Bay being too sad for them."
He can only nod, tears running down his cheeks.
Chloe is all but begging now, desperation coloring her voice. "Please! Please tell me! You make it sound like she's a prisoner!"
Reese cries out. "Because she is! She...she is. I'm sorry!"
He grabs her hand suddenly, and Max can feel the double-edged regret in him. Regret for having spoken to her. Self-loathing for having to take it all back. Commit yet another violation. He stares hard at her, burning her face into his memory. Knowing that when the time comes to give these memories to her, it will be the first time in almost four years that Max has seen her best friend.
Chloe shakes her head, waking up from a daze. Glances over at the drunk-ass guy suddenly sitting in her both.
"Fuck are you doing, man?"
Reese rising up, turning away from her, completely spent. Shuffling off and muttering, "Nothing. I'm not...I'm just. Nothing. Sorry. Wrong...wrong booth." He throws a handful of twenties at his table, far too much for the bill, and shuffles out, mug still in his hand.
He barely hears a second girl walk out of the bathroom. Almost misses their reflection in the window, as they hold hands. Makes out only a few snatches of conversation.
"Who was that?"
"Dunno, Rache. Some drunk asshole."
His eyes...her eyes. He and Max together. Framed in the rear view mirror.
"S-sorry Max. I probably just made things worse. I didn't think we'd run into her. But...maybe part of me was hoping for it. I couldn't let her keep the memories though. She'd start asking questions. They'd make me do it to her anyhow. Or worse, now that I'm not going to be around anymore. Max, I am so sorry! I am so sorry for what we've done. And twenty four hours of freedom through another man's eyes will never make up for it!"
She's back in her body again.
They were tightly embracing, and Max was uncertain whether he was trembling, or she was. Maybe both.
But then she gathered him close, crushing him tight. "Chloe!" she whispered. "Oh my God, oh...my. Fuck! I saw her. And...and..."
She's still processing it all. Her brain reels, as it slots so many hours of experiences into her mind.
"Thank you." She sobbed, biting down on her bottom lip. "Th-thank youuuu." She turns to regard him. "Reese...you are...you're the nicest, kindest man. I've ever met. I won't...forget..."
Reese shook his head, grabbed her arms, and whispered harshly in her ear. "Don't say it! I am not kind! I am not nice. I am...a bastard, Max. We're all bastards. And the only thing we deserve is hell. And I will spend every day praying that you can forgive me for the role I played in roping you into yours."
Letting go of her, Reese stormed off at last, towards the van that awaited him.
Max reached out, forced him back. Rewinding the way things play out.
She grabbed his hand before he could go.
She smiled at him; a shadowy echo of the one she wore that day, when she was thirteen. "Wait! Wait hey...hey. Uh...look. Meredith? I...I always thought it was a cool name. Really cool. Don't let them give you shit about it."
He laughed through the tears, and gave her one last hug, before trotting to the van.
This time, she let him go.
May 2012
Chloe bent her head down, focusing so intently on packing the bowl of her bong that she didn't notice Rachel enter the room until she spotted the other girl's reflection in the colored acrylic.
She lifted her head up, and then smirked. Tried her best not too look too pleased to see her best friend, after she'd up and suddenly disappeared from her life. Rachel, at least, had the decency to give her warning, even if Chloe absolutely despised the reasoning behind it.
"Sooo...you're back to slumming it with me, babe?"
"Don't be shitty, Che. I did miss you, asshole." Rachel flopped back onto the bed, careful not to disrupt her from her task at hand. "And don't think I'm only using you for your bong, but I could really use a huge rip from that after the last couple of weeks."
"Mmmmhmmm? Your new charity project blow up in your face?"
"Ugh, Che. What did I just say about being shitty?"
Chloe held up a finger, requesting a pause, before grabbing a cheap disposable lighter, and flicking it until it finally caught, then applying the flame to the herb in the bowl. Took as large a hit as she could, filling up the chamber before removing her finger from the carb hole, and sucking it in. Ten seconds later, she blew it out in a luxurious stream over Rachel's face, before murmuring, "Uhhh...not...too?"
Rachel inhaled in a long breath and sighed. "Geezus that smells like absolutely awesome weed. Don't go sucking it all down in one hit." She took the bong from Chloe, grabbing one of the stirring rods as well. She then churned up what was left in the bowl until fresh material rose up to the surface.
Chloe gave a delicate sigh, removed her beanie, and tossed it lazily to the side. "Fine. Remind me why the hell you and Victoria Chase are suddenly buddy buddy? You were telling me something about it but...I'll be honest, I was kind of stoned at the time. I mean, like even for me, so..."
Chloe watched Rachel take an equally large hit, sucking the resultant smoke greedily into her lungs, before carefully putting down the pipe. The other girl then cupped her cheeks and tenderly shotgunned it past her lips, turning it into a kiss.
Chloe melted, sucking the smoke back, and blowing it out anew, casting a hazy nimbus around Rachel's hair and face. She smiled giddily, and reached out, taking her hand to interlace their fingers together. She and Rachel had formed a close, fast friendship since the previous Christmas, but it was only in the past couple of months that it'd turned into more than that. She wasn't exactly sure she'd call Rachel her actual-factual girlfriend, but the two had become intimate as of late. Best friends with significant benefits, at the very least.
Much to Chloe's surprise, it was Rachel who'd initiated taking their relationship to that next level. Granted, it'd been on her eighteenth birthday in March. A lot of booze and even more weed were involved. She assumed, the next day that it was a one time thing, a brief flirtatious experience. But Rachel sat her down, and assured her otherwise, much to her surprise and confused delight.
There was just something about her that turned Chloe to putty in the other girl's hands. She had style. Grace. Joie d'vie. Was that the right term? She lived life, and didn't fucking care who judged her.
She...she was different from Max, but she had a glow of her own, in the same way.
"Right," Rachel breathed out. "Where was I?"
"Icky Vicky. And why you suddenly felt the need to bury the hatchet, other than in her back." Chloe tamped out some of the ashes from the bowl, adding a bit more fresh bud to the mix, taking another hit as she let Rachel explain.
"Yeah. Oh, God. So about two and a half weeks ago, the weirdest thing happened. I was hanging out at the quad near the girl's dorms, right after class, and Victoria comes out. But just...upset. Like honestly. Losing her cool. I had no idea at the time what was going on, but I never saw her so unnerved. You know she and I, we never got along, I never had time for her and her fake-ass trying to get into Vortex club BS, which only got worse when she did make it, but." Rachel sighed. "I actually felt the need to go up and ask her if everything was okay. Didn't get a chance though, because coming out, right on her heels are Taylor and Courtney...
"...right, the fucking cronies. They weren't licking her shoes hard enough?" Chloe croaked out, as she coughed her way through another large hit.
Rachel blinked. "Uh...no. It was a lot weirder than that, really. They were having a cat fight. Over her."
"Wait. Fuck. What?"
"Swear to God" Rachel held up her hand for effect. "They were demanding Victoria 'pick one' of them, and tearing the other down, as being unworthy of her. I thought it was just a joke, at first, you know? Stupid shit and what not, but the two of them were literally getting down on their knees and professing their undying love. All Victoria could do was start shouting at them to stop it, that it wasn't funny anymore. And then Zarchary...or...oh shit, maybe it was Logon. One of those football sasquatches. Walks up to see what the hell's going on. Victoria tries to explain how she thinks something's wrong with Taylor and Courtney, or how they're taking things too far. So he's about to maybe tell the two of them off, when all of the sudden, he's talking about how Victoria needs to be his woman. Coming on strong...scary strong."
Normally, Chloe couldn't give two shits about Victoria Chase. By the time she got bounced from Blackwell, she was so over and above all that bullshit. Still, there was something about the image in her mind that Rachel was painting, something that struck her curiosity or...it was hard to describe it. Maybe more a sense of rising...she couldn't call it fear. Dread? A sort of instinct, like the hairs on the back of her neck rising, being out in the woods in the middle of the night.
A feeling of wrongness she'd experienced not all that long ago.
"Uhhh. Wow. You know, normally I'd think they were all trying to fuck with her, but I've seen...well...a few weird things over the past few months. One or two, I mean."
Rachel paused. "Oh yeah? Like what?"
"Uh...uh." she blinked, her head starting to swim from the weed, as she lay back.
Like the Caulfields acting all fucked up and weird, barely remembering their own daughter, before suddenly moving away.
"...nothing important. So what did you do?"
Rachel took one more hit, blowing it out through her nostrils before pulling Chloe back to join her on the bed. "I tried to go over, put a stop to it. But Victoria is just freaking out, totally at this point. Running, and the three of them are chasing after her, and she's screaming. Makes it to her car, and tears out. Almost runs over one of them."
"Talk about taking the joke too far, huh? Couldn't happen to a nicer queen bitch."
Rachel glared at her, eyes narrowing.
She relented. "Okay, okay. Soooohhreeeee. So you went and visited her or something?"
"Yeah, 'cause she didn't show up for class the next day. Went to her house. She'd practically locked herself up in the room, still upset. Took me a while to convince her that I just wanted to listen. I didn't care we'd been catty and bitchy in the past, all I saw was someone really hurting and needing someone else to talk to."
Chloe reached out, running her fingers through Rachel's long, dirty blonde locks. Kissed the side of her nose and whispered. "That's because you're awesome, sweetie. A lot more than me. I would have pointed and laughed but...anyhow. So you spent the next two weeks helping her out?"
"In a way. I had to coax her out, convince her that whatever it was, it wasn't the end of the world. Just a stupid joke, right? A stupid, shitty joke her so-called friends were playing that they pushed too far. I convinced her to come back to classes with me the next day, and of course, Taylor and Courtney are just fucking besides themselves apologizing. Like they had no idea what came over them."
Chloe offered, "I heard there's some new club drug blowing through the county. Maybe they got their hands on some, fucked themselves up?"
Rachel nodded slowly. "Y'know? Just might have. Never gave it much thought. I spent the time helping rebuild Victoria's confidence a bit. And...um. I guess we're friends now? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to get sucked into that Vortex Club shit, but...Victoria Chase is complicated, babe. She's got a lot of weird stress going on in her life, social shit, an image to uphold. I think she feels like it chains her down, in a lot of ways. But finals are almost here, and I convinced her to talk her folks into taking a summer trip somewhere...you know...else. Let her clear her head, figure out who she really wants to be, come next year."
"Wow. Sounds...um...like." She blinked. "You've got pretty eyes. You know that, right?"
Rachel swatted at her. "Thanks. I grew'em myself. But yes, I need to finish up quickly because you're stoned, and I'm...yeah. Just about there, too." She started to giggle, a wobbly smile emerging on her lips. "But we talked about a lot of her life, hanging out together the past two weeks at school.. Personal, private shit." The tone in her voice made it clear she wasn't about to share. "There's a decent person, I think, somewhere in there. Hopefully, she'll figure out how to let that person out more often."
Chloe continued to run her fingers through Rachel's hair, tangling it, burying her face against the strands and inhaling the floral scent of her shampoo, mixed with the muskier undertones of her perfume, and the weed.
"Cool story, babe." she whispered. "Welcome back. Now give me some sugar?"
Rachel burst out laughing. "Oh my God, you are so fucking easy sometimes."
Chloe gave a roguish smile. "I thought that's why you liked me. It's not like I'm complicated. You know, like Victoria."
"Oh geezus, stop it. You're deeper than you like people thinking you are, Che. Mmmm, but no. Scintillating intellectual conversation isn't on my agenda right now."
Rachel pushed her back, straddled her hips. She then reached up, starting to unbutton her shirt. Chloe smiled as she leaned in to kiss her hungrily.
Despite the weed fogging up her brain, or maybe because of it, Chloe couldn't quite push away the sudden memory of Max, as it burbled up from the wellspring of her subconscious. No doubt, because Rachel's story had gotten her thinking about Christmas last year. About why she was going to the Caulfields, and how creeped out she was by their behavior.
She shook the image out of her mind, and focused on the girl in front of her, the one who's lips currently mingled with her own.
Sorry, Max. We had a lot of great times, but I guess you belong to the past now. I hope you're happy, wherever you are.
A/N: Hi folks! Welcome to..um...Max-imum Monday! As I warned would eventually happen, we're a bit off track. I've been sick, and Corentin IV has a lot of stuff going on in her life right now. Crazy, ultimately awesome stuff, but busy all the same. We'll need to pull a hiatus eventually, but I didn't want it to happen smack dab in the middle of an in-depth story arc. So here's the thing: I'm going to take over editing for this chapter, and the next two, and THEN we may need to go on a small break. But we'll be at a good "pause" point as it were, between arcs.
So I apologize in advance. I'm okay, but I'm not as good as Cory. The chapters will probably lose a bit of polish, but I'd rather keep the rhythm going at this point than break our stride before we hit the appropriate point. And by the time we hit the hiatus, it should JUST be about time for Chapter 5 anyhow *hee*.
So with that said, I should be putting up the next chapter on Saturday. See you then!