xx

Fridays with Chloe were the best!

Any day with Chloe was the best but Friday we got to spend the whole day together right after school. Fridays meant no homework and a whole weekend to explore.

(Actually weekends with Chloe were probably the best)

William picked us up this time to take us to the park, and Chloe and me raced to his car to see who'd win. Chloe was always taller than me so she won.. Like always. But I cheated and got a head start… and still lost. Fudge. I'll beat her one day. Chloe said I never would though.

"No one beats Captain Chloe!" I always rolled my eyes when she said that. Cuz I was gunna beat her one day. One day.

"Look, Max! Our ship!" Chloe squealed, throwing a finger at the playground. I heaved behind her, trying to keep up while our little legs pumped us toward the sand. My breathing and my heartbeat rang and thudded in my ears while the wind whipped around us.

Ah! I love the wind.

Chloe and me were pirates through and through; sailing the open seas no matter what stood in our way so we brought our ship anywhere and everywhere we wanted. But at the playground, the whole place was our ship and everything that stood inside the sandy square. The slides, the swings, the bridge, the bars; everything transformed into tunnels and cogs and sails and masts. And the big tall jungle gym in the middle was the crow's nest and Chloe's favorite spot. Even though she was the Captain and the Captain's supposed to take the wheel.

"That's what you're for, Max." she told me once. "You'll always take us to great places. Besides, that's why I'm the lookout. I can guide you the right way from up there."

But she liked going to the crow's nest because it took her real high, higher than the swings and I didn't like climbing up there like she did. Especially not as high as Chloe likes to go. She goes all the way to the top. Up on the round part that juts out higher than the rest. Only the brave kids go up there, and Chloe-but she didn't go up there when we were together. When we were together we went somewhere else and made a forest or a mountain or an ocean and we'd explore on our own.

Chloe's converse pattered against the concrete like a drum beat. Our ship was closing in fast and the crow's nest kept growing and growing.

"Ship, ho!" Chloe yelled.

"I think that's just for land, Chloe!"

Chloe exploded into laughter and my tummy started tickling. We weren't racing this time but Chloe was beating me, again. She would've hit the sand before I did, and the first thing she'd go for was the jungle gym. I could hear her laughing over her breathing and over mine. It bunched my tummy up and after a while I burst into laughter too, I couldn't help it, it tickled too much. William called out from behind us but I couldn't hear what he said. He probably told us to be safe though. He always did that, and Chloe never listened, and William always had to come and check us at least once. But never more than twice. Chloe was wild, but she loves him too, so she never made him have to scold us too much. She saved that behavior for when we were alone. Which didn't work out for me because then I had no adult figure to protect me from her shenanigans. I liked it most of the time though. We never got bored that way.

We were so close to the sand now, and the bottom of Chloe's converse kept flashing in front of me. The wind built up and blew through us, squeezing between the gaps and it frumpled through my hair and against my skin. It felt really good and if I could I would've started purring. Was this how cats feel?

Chloe's laughing changed colors in the last stretch to our ship and happy triumph seeped into it. "I'm gunna beat you again!"

I growled a little bit, because no she wasn't and when Chloe's foot hit the lip of the playground I bunched up all the energy I had and lunged.

"Ahhh!" the squeal was mostly cuz I was scared, because I could land on my face and it'll hurt. And also because William was probably watching and he might come running. I was also kind of scared of something going wrong but when I crashed into Chloe's back I hit a warm wall that smelled like bubble gum shampoo and laughter zipped through me so there wasn't room for fear. Chloe was still laughing when I hit her and we only laughed harder while we rolled and everything turned into sand and swirls.

"Max you cheater!" she cried but she only sniggered more and I couldn't do anything else.

"You're a cheater, your legs are too long!"

"I'm built like a champ, Max! Blame my dad for that."

"I blame you, you grow too fast."

Chloe's hair danced in the wind, chestnut curtains that looked orange when the sun shined through it so low in the sky. Her happy face was kind of like the sun too. It always made me happy to see her smile, like it made me happy to hear Mama Joyce make popcorn for movie night.

A strong gust burst past us and made everything shake, the trees the swings, Chloe's hair, my skin. My heart sang a little when it happened cuz it felt so good, I wanted to tell Chloe about it but she cackled over me and clawed her hair from her face. Chloe's body blocked most of the sand when it flew up but some of it snuck into my overalls and I cringed. Yuck.

"Blast," Chloe shouted. Shoving her hands on her hips while she looked down at me. Her pink princess shirt widened with her arms until the picture stretched and I grinned. Chloe hated that shirt and she already got mud on it at recess to get her mom to throw it away sooner. "The wind is a-coming strong, First Mate Max. Quick, we better switch course!"

"Aye aye,"

We scrambled up and Chloe dashed for the jungle gym. I started for the big plastic pirate wheel on top of the green platform that led to the slides but Chloe grabbed me and tugged me with her.

"You gotta help me move the sails first," she said and we started climbing. The jungle gym was cold and my muscles got all tight. The wind picked up and made everything noisy and tickly. My hair clung to my face and for a while I climbed without seeing anything. Sometimes I caught Chloe's hair flickering above and other times I caught the soles of her old converse climbing up and up and up.

"We should steer the west sail so we can cruise into safety."

"No way, Max! We sail with the wind. So we can fly!"

We finally reached the top, at least the part that I wasn't too scared to climb, and Chloe went on while I gripped the bars. She wrenched up, grunting as her muddy converse found the right places to pull her up. Her hair went all wild and pretty and my hands got clammy while she lifted further away from me. Chloe sat on top of the dome like she won something and clapped her hands together like she was cleaning off dust, and beamed. She looked down at me, thrilled. Chloe's smile was like a campfire you could make s'mores with; it could warm you up and make you fuzzy inside.

"Come on, Max it's time to fly," Chloe encouraged, gleaming with excitement.

I shrunk and my muscles locked up and the jungle gym became a tall building and I became a bug and Chloe became the sun that I couldn't look at too long or I'd have to close my eyes.

"Max?" Chloe said, and when I got myself to look, the sun beamed down on me through happy eyes and grinned really big. "Come on Max, you gotta keep up if you're gunna be my First Mate!"

"Nagh!"

I jolted and the world tumbled. Everything blurred into sound and colors until I crashed into the floor. I wheezed as the air gushed out of my lungs as if someone came and smacked me in the back with a brick wall.

Fudge.

Functioning became a foreign apparition I couldn't comprehend and for a while I flailed like a fish until my body pulled my shit together by itself. To be honest, if most of my mechanics didn't function automatically, I probably would've dropped dead a long time ago.

"Ugh," I groaned. Grimacing against my alarm piercing through the room. "Sleep… no.. my precious sleep. Betrayed."

I wanted to burrow back into the warmth and darkness of my sheets and escape the treacherous noise but I reeled back to when I laid here last just yesterday, lethargic and hopeless and I forced myself to my feet. The room swayed a little before I found my balance and stumbled to the clock beside my bed. I lifted my head after switching it off and jumped.

"Wah," I yelped, gathering myself from the electric tremor that pulsed through me and leaned against my cushions. Clenching my heart. "Oh jeez."

After catching my breath I glared at the disheveled and half dead reflection loosely gazing at me above the nightstand. "It's gunna take a real trooper to wake up to that every morning and not run."

I sighed, rubbing my eyes. It helped a little with the sleep but not much. It kept me stimulated at least. "What a dream."

What a memory was a more fitting term. I hadn't thought back to it in years. That was one of the best days we had, because we followed it up with movies and a sleepover. And Joyce made us waffles for dinner. It was one of our best sleepovers too, Chloe was so happy to have me over even though I slept over every other day. She came to my house the rest of the time. We were almost never apart and she always grinned and cracked jokes and so did I but mine were never as funny as hers. Chloe always laughed though like a good best friend. Sometimes I thought they were so real she'd tickle me pink and I'd grin for hours knowing I made her cackle that hard.

I gathered my sheets back onto my bed and a flimsy film whittled to the ground. A big black pirate hat waited for me when I knelt to pick up the photo and when I brought it to eye level Chloe beamed up at me, glowing. Her smile was always like the sun to me, and her eyes were also because they burned with life. The sun made seeds grow and flowers bloom and it made everything feel warm and soft and Chloe did all of it even through the photograph. Eyepatch and all. It was one of those cheap costume ones we got for halloween once. It got itchy if we wore it too long. Chloe raised hell to get her dad to get it for her. But it never took much to get him to do anything. Chloe mostly just had to ask, and even in her wildest moments, she never did more than furiously tease him.

My heart felt like electric wire wrapped around it and squeezed and I winced. "Today Chloe. I promise. I just gotta figure out how I can reach you."

Which was a pathetic excuse to be honest. I knew where she lived, and where Joyce worked and if neither of them moved in the five years I went Castaway and lost contact with every form of civilization from my past life then I could march up to either one of those and say, "Hey Chloe look! I found my way back on the face of the earth and waited three whole months to tell you, forgive me? Yay! Put your eyepatch on we're going sailing."

She's going to kill me.

I groaned, collapsing back on my bed. I'm so so so dead. Where do I even start? What do I even say? My insides got all burbled and I grabbed my whole face in frustration. I need more time to think this through. It's been less than thirty…?-I looked at my clock-less than thirty minutes into the day and I already made up most of my mind to put this off until tomorrow. I needed more time.

"Ugh, no! Bad Max, that's how procrastination starts." that's how three months starts.

But still, five years was a long time. Chloe could've forgotten about me by now, or developed a burning hatred of me. Though honestly the first one plucked a little harder on my feelings than the last one. Ouch. Why did I have to get back in contact with her anyway, why should I want to?

'Because you'd be a major dirtwad if you just stick around without letting your bestfriend know.'

I winced. Former best friend.. Possibly. Sadly? She was the closest friend I ever had. I didn't feel as comfortable around anyone else as I did with Chloe, even now.

Sadly then.

And I did want to reach out to her. To at least apologize. She deserved that much. At least to hear me call myself shitty a couple hundred times because it's true. She needed me when I left, and I just disappeared.

Sigh.

No, putting this off until tomorrow is just not going to fly. But strolling up to her house wouldn't either, my guts were way too noodly for that. Her house would have to be the last resort. But how would I find her number? I doubted Chloe would be in the phonebooks… her house phone probably would be… crap.. Calling her house? Ugh.. would that make me more of a tool or less?

"Calling her cell sure isn't going to do much to gloss your shittiness either."

I sighed, and literally the end of the world fell out with it. If she'd agree, I'd have to ask her to meet up.

"I have to find a phonebook."

Kate's room always smelled like eucalyptus. Which is funny because she brewed different teas every morning unless I put in a special request or she was in the mood for the same one twice. She always started the tea before I got there.

One: because I got up late sometimes and Kate rose early as it is.
And Two: because she knew I loved coming in to her room saturated with it.

Every day she invited me in I'd push through the cold dorm hall and into a cloud of warm jasmine or hibiscus or cinnamon. I think her father sent her assorted teas from back home. I usually walked in right when the tea was ready and a tuft of steam danced up from the kettle in the corner right by the door.

Whichever kind she brewed the tea always went well with her rich green walls. I helped her paint it a little while ago and I could still smell the chemicals. Principal Wells said it was okay as long as we painted it back by the end of the year when we graduated. The thought made my heart hurt, the color was so perfect for Kate's room.

Unlike mine Kate didn't hang her work up on her walls except for the couple framed ones above her bed and next to her desk. All her finished work were filed up in a neat little brown portfolio that she'd fish out sometimes to share with me. She tucked her easel up in the other corner next to her computer. Some unfinished paintings were usually clipped there, drying or waiting for her to return. It was my favorite part of her room, I could tell she spent most of her time there, from the paint stained newspaper spread under it and the color splattered stripes all over the easel itself. I took a photo of it, with and without Kate, and hung it on my wall.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind."

Kate said, handing me my steaming cup and rolling closer in her computer chair. "Well, a lot more than just photography anyway."

I frowned a little as I sipped, the steam moist against my face and my fingers were warm. "Photography isn't the only thing in my life." I defended. "I think about other things."

Kate grinned, amused. "Yea? Like what?"

I opened my mouth to answer.

…

"Air."

"Air.."

I tried a smile. "I like the wind."

Kate blinked, a wide good-natured grin taking her face. "Right." she said, giggling then sipping.

"I.. I did have something else on my mind today though. Would you happen to know where I could find an updated print of the phonebook?"

"The only place I could think of is the General Store. The market doesn't print them anymore, or you could try the library. The one in town not on campus. The campus library doesn't have any phone books."

I nodded, great. I could try the general store first. I was on my last bundle of films mom and dad packed me off with and the General Store was the last place I remember selling any. I'd have to go there after classes are over.

"Trying to get in touch with someone?"

I blinked. "Huh? Oh, yea. Chloe Price. My best friend. Well.. she was. Until I sucked one day and left her behind. I'm kind of nervous about it." by nervous I meant horrified.

"I see. Did you want me to come with you? To find the phonebook, I mean."

"No that's fine, I wouldn't want to disrupt your bible study."

"You're not disrupting at all. We actually rescheduled for tomorrow because the lead got sick. I was going to work on my paintings, got struck with a great idea this morning."

"Then I definitely don't want to take you away from that, Kate. But thanks for offering. You definitely have to show me when you're done."

"Always, Max." Kate beamed. "We should work on something together one day, it'd be great."

"Definitely."

When Warren caught wind that I was planning on leaving campus for the first time in three months I had to come up with major excuses for him not to come. He ran on and on about taking me out on the town and showing me what's changed. Which was most likely nothing-which is nothing from what I'd seen of it. And he wouldn't stop rambling about taking me to all the 'cool' places…. Which I did not recall ever existing growing up. He'd only drag me off to go who knows where until just before the sun went down and I really needed to contact Chloe today before I lost my nerve and got sucked back into my shell like an imprisoned turtle. The General Store was.. Dusty. More in the rhetorical sense seeing that every flat surface was glossy clean and even the wooden cashier counter was polished. Everything looked top notch and neat, like it was eager to be touched. To be moved. The old bald man watching the shop only greeted me with a grunt and continued with his little radio pouring jazz into the air. I kind of liked this place. Like it was hidden away, I used the last film I had on the man and his radio.

His store had everything. Which was ironic considering it seemed like most of its existence was spent empty. But I found everything here. Tall towering aisles of Notebooks and utensils and crafts supplies and chips and hardware tools and candles and animal collars and canned goods. This place was full of all sorts of stuff, why weren't more people in it? Though I wasn't complaining. I liked that it was empty. Quiet, peaceful. Everywhere else felt excessively populated. Even if only one person shared my space. Even if I saw someone pass by, too small and too far to even make out a face. Maybe I'm an eternal douche for it. But I just liked not being around people.

I found the photo films in the very last aisle, in the back of the store behind the home hardware supplies on the other side. Which was surprising on its own. I hadn't known certain things that counted as home hardware until I passed through it. There were weatherproof ponchos there, and sewing kits. And needles for tattoos in a little plastic kit that said 'Inkredibility!' across the top. That one made my eyebrows raise. Intense. I don't think I'd want to be tatted by anyone who'd gotten their tattoo supplies out of here. Or anywhere really because my skin's as sensitive as wet paper.

"Ooh, hundred bundle!" I marveled, fishing up the hefty, generously sized box and heaving under the weight. My arms were noodles, there was no way I'd take this home by myself. "Downsize." I told myself, and set it down with a strong thud and picked up the 50 pack instead. It was a little weighty, but I could manage.

I checked the price, $70. Wowzers, that's just out of this world.

Thank you scholarship. I said to myself as I thought about the hundred dollar bill in my pocket. Now to find a phonebook. The shop door jingled and the jazz music cut off with a scratchy squeal. The man's old chair squeaked against the tiled floor as he roared from the front of the store.

"Oh no no! You're not allowed here anymore!" it ricocheted through the store so profound it actually shook me. I heard footsteps patter across the floor unhindered and a distant scoff splatted through the aisles.

"Bite me old man, you haven't had any customers since the Cold War and you're so hopped up to kick me out?"

My heartbeat was still subsiding from the shopkeep's outburst and my knees actually buckled, but the second voice managed to shake me even more. It burned like fire. Lashing and wild and-even with three aisles separating me from it-gushing out heat that threatened to devour anything that touched it. My heart jump-started when I heard the steps approaching, from closer up I picked up on clinking metal. Like boots. Oh shit, forbidden trespasser storming straight for me. Be cool Max, she's not going to just walk up and decide to punch you in the face for just being here.

"Get out kid you ain't stealing from my shop anymore," his voice approached, her steps approached and now his loafers were pounding across the store right up behind her. I silently praised that the aisles were so tall because I did not know how to handle this.

"No I ain't stealing from your shop anymore," the woman-girl-retorted, sharp and hot and angry. Her voice was flame, heating my skin like it was pressed against me and I shrugged away from it. How much shit must she have gone through to sound like that? To sound my age, and yet sound like that? Her words bounced across the other side of my aisle and I might've passed out in my head. All the films hung up on my side vibrated with her heat. I heard rummaging. "What makes you so sure I'm not buying this shit off you?"

"You never buy! Get out of my shop!"

"Yo, you're hella psyched old man, go take an Advil and play some bingo before you give yourself a hernia."

From sheer stupidity-because it definitely wasn't courage-I willed enough nerve to slide my head past the edge of the aisle to peak over.

The old man seethed, bulbous and livid. His temple throbbed and his face twisted in sharp disdain. I caught a jacket sleeve; worn ebony leather cuffed at the end by bracelets and a pale hand and blue nail polish. The man roared after her even as she slunk off to the other end of the aisle, rummaging through something else and returning.

"I'm calling the police if you don't get out of my shop. And if I find anything missing, I'm sending them after your ass,"

Laughter bubbled out then, but it was twisted, tainted, and hot, like her words. Marred, somehow. I shrunk back into my aisle when fierce blue hair flashed past and a gust of burnt cigarettes hit my nose.

Gross.

"I saw you pocket those needles you little shit, put them down and get the fuck out of my shop!"

Even her walk was hell. Searing and sharp. Like you'd bleed if you brushed her and the wound would sting like alcohol, but something else lurked in her gate too. Something I couldn't place. She nearly passed the register, only a few feet from the exit when the man looked back and spotted me.

"I'm calling the cops and I'm getting your ass locked up and I got a witness now!" he roared and the thin woman flinched but she didn't freeze. Her slender shoulders bristled and the pale hands at her sides balled up. The nicks on her jacket were a wounded canvas and the tears in her tight jeans were testament to how sharp she could be. She spun, face of flames chiseled sharp with a burning glare that sliced right through me. My heart seized.

Fuck, when did I get this far out of the aisle?

My throat closed up, and steel blue eyes reared up to attack.

Shit shit.

Then they froze and flickered.

"Max?"

"Max?" Chloe said, and when I got myself to look, the sun beamed down on me through happy eyes and grinned really big. "Come on Max, you gotta keep up if you're gunna be my First Mate!"

What the fuck?

"Who-...Chloe?"

But was it Chloe? She looked like wildfire.

"What the- you know this delinquent?" the man demanded, turning on me. His rage boiling. He could've been seething but I didn't catch any of it. Too caught up in this unfamiliar image I couldn't put into focus.

No way, no way was this Chloe.

"Nobody in connection with this criminal is allowed in my shop."

Blue eyes watched me, hard like ice but they melted a little. Softened by recognition and disbelief and a lot of other stuff that flashed too quickly to catch. I felt like she could've scorched me bare until my clothes felt useless. And she probably would have if not for the incredulity in her stare. Her mind started racing. I could only tell because her eyebrows puckered in the middle like they always did. Her body went lax and I watched as the flames in her eyes receded into wide, doe eyed shock.

"You!" it hit me like a gust of needled air, and the loud, flashing stare broke away from me. "You, get the hell out of my shop too,"

"What, I didn't do anything!"

"You know this girl! That's all you had to do. You ain't suckering me again I've lost enough money from the likes of manipulative little girls like you!"

He stomped toward me, a wall of vibrating rage. He mostly overshadowed Chloe but I saw enough of her to catch her shaking her head. Her eyes fluttering as her face pinched into forced focus. She didn't look at us, eyes and mind somewhere else.

"Sir I only came to buy photo sheets for school."

Hard eyes found me again, still shadowed with shock but Chloe was slightly more coherent. The shopkeep steadied himself to start yelling again, but Chloe stormed over and yanked him by the arm.

"Hey man, you're hella overreacting. I don't even know this chick." Chloe said, still not sounding completely here. But she put a lot of lead in her voice and it was enough to make me shy away. "I thought she was someone else."

The man turned on her. "Don't bullshit me."

Every inch of her face sharpened to a deadly point and I just wanted to leave. Why? Why did everything have to be so loud and stressful and hostile?

"Just let her buy her shit old man. She has nothing to do with me."

"She knows you. She has everything to do with you."

They stared each other down-glared each other down-for ages while I kept busy feeling itchy in my own skin and confused and overwhelmed. Eventually Chloe sighed, but it was sharp and her whole face drowned in agitation.

"Fuck, here then." Chloe snapped. Yanking something out of her jacket. She slammed what sounded like glass on the counter and amazingly it didn't shatter. But it sloshed. The shopkeep eyed every move as Chloe jammed her fist in her other pocket and held up a plastic square between her fingers, gaze flickering to me then to the man. My eyes fell to the floor and zeroed in on her aged black boots, the buckles at the top were loose. She held the plastic out to him and the metal inside glistened, he reached up to grab it and she cannoned it past him with such disdain most of my flinch had nothing to do with the fact that she threw it in my direction. It slid at me, spinning before it stopped and I read the fiery wording at the top, upside down: 'Inkredibility!'

"Now chill your shit, old man. Just let her buy her stuff." she caught my stare again and the flames were recovering. "She's not here with me."

"Get out,"

Chloe clicked her tongue and chopped him down with her stare and walked away.

"Fuck off."

The entrance door jingled in her wake.

xx

Thanks for stopping by guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks to those who reviewed! Thanks for the critique! I wanted Mrs. Davies to be real whacky character, one that stretched the normal form of behavior since there were so many heavy elements in the game (which were beautifully done I'm not hating) I just wanted someone/something that would break up and shake the melancholy. Also I had a question on whether or not this is a Pricefield fic. I haven't read any fics regarding LIS and just came to put my own little story up but through the summaries I skimmed through I'd imagine there are some people who prefer not to read Pricefield and some who do. Now, I DO have an answer to your question my friend but I'm still debating on whether or not to disclose it as the anticipation of whether or not Max and Chloe were going to be a thing was really what made the growth and fruition of their relationship really enjoyable to me. But at the same time I don't want to waste anyone's time who may be or may not be into it. Still debating! Gotta make up my mind, I'm sorry! (not on my decision but on whether to let you know about it). But I WILL say that there IS going to be same sex romance in this fic so anyone disdained to it, go on ahead and move on.

Lastly, I've got a very distinct direction I'm planning on taking this fic and I'm going to be shining light and adding light on our favorite girls in the direction I'm planning on taking them. My fics going to take from the original traits in the game but also to add some of my own and chopping off what I don't like to create my Own story. I'm real excited for where it's gunna be going and I hope you enjoy the ride. Have a great day!