Disclaimer: Anything familiar to you, I don't own. This is a work of fanfiction for personal amusement, fulfillment and a bit of self-therapy. I make nothing from any of it.
Chapter Thirty-Nine: When Helios Stopped Time
September 24th, 2011 11:53 AM
"Max! Maaaaaax! Wakie wakie!" Max rolled over in her bed but shut her eyes the moment they opened. She had left her blinds up the night before and sunlight was spilling in, bright sunlight. Oh god damn it. For a moment it was easy to imagine ignoring the voice entirely. There was a pillow beneath her head that if she tried hard enough, she might be able to put over her head and block out the world. The quilt covering her was heavy and seemed to hold her, to whisper soothing promises in her ear that sweet, sweet sleep was waiting for her if she just closed her eyes and sent Rachel away. Somewhere downstairs, someone was playing music with the bass up a little too loudly but that, too, was no match for a pillow over the head. Oh, Rachel was great and all, but it was Saturday and she desperately wanted a little more sleep after this damn week. After a moment of relative quiet during which she could imagine Rachel listening, ear pressed against her door, the blonde began to knock.
"Go away," Max yelled, once, loud enough she thought it might be audible through the closed door. "Just half an hour!" You sound like you're begging, she told herself. Because I am begging. The philosophical 'they' said that talking to yourself was only a problem if you answered, but Max was coming to find it a familiar practice. The banging did not cease. Grumping, Max tried again. "Going back to sleep, goodnight Rachel!" Max kept her eyes closed and shifted against her bedding.
"Maaaaaaaaaaax," Rachel sing-songed through the door. "If you don't let me in I'll start thinking I need to come in there, crawl into bed with you and start-"
"Stop, stop!" Max scrambled from the bed. She had no clue what Rachel was going to say next but it was either going to be lewd, embarrassing or both. While not particularly against whatever idea Rachel was having, she wasn't quite in the mood for it to be screamed to the whole student body. She hissed in frustration as, wrapped up in her quilt, she stumbled trying to get out of the bed and slammed into the floor. For a moment, dazed, she lay on the floor blinking at the carpet. How did that happen again? She acknowledged conflicting ideas: first, that maybe she had been down there the whole time and next that her head hurt.
"Max, are you okay?" the thespian called. I'm tired, she wanted to complain, go away. Instead, with some difficulty, she extricated herself from the quilt and left it lying half on the floor as she stood up. Her cheeks heated up at the realization that she had, in a half-awake state, managed to throw herself to her floor. No one saw that. Max took a second to look down at herself and, while she wasn't in a state where she would want to walk out into the hall looking like this, she was fine opening up for Rachel. Sleepily she wiped brown hair back from her forehead and, rubbing at the spot where her skull had met the ground, opened the door in time to see Rachel preparing to knock again.
"What is it?" Max asked, almost immediately, without the good graces to feel bad about her crabby tone. Rachel was dressed for the day, unlike Max herself. The blonde had clearly just gotten out of a morning shower, as her hair was still wet, but otherwise she looked to Max like someone who had been up for a while: wide eyed, smirking a little derisively at Max's attitude and even wearing her jacket. Meaning she's about to try to drag me outside. Max sighed when, instead of answering, Rachel took one big step forward, bumped against Max's hip with her own and pushed her way into the room. But... but sleep.
"It's almost noon," Rachel informed her in a tone that sounded rather close to complaint. Oh, well, shit. "What's with your head?" the girl asked, before turning away from her and toward her closet door. Max was going to answer when Rachel pulled it open, reached in and began to sift through her shirts. She hadn't even had time to argue and with the revelation that she had slept in longer than she thought, she was going to be embarrassed if she tried. Max yawned over her first attempt to speak. Perhaps suspecting that she was trying to make a point, Rachel turned back toward Max, looked her dead in the eyes and then hurled a shirt at her. Max recognized it as having originally been one of Rachel's meaning it was a little bit on the bulky side for her, but she took it anyway.
"If you toss jeans at me next, I'm tossing something back."
"Is that a promise?" Rachel asked, cheekily before rummaging about for a pair of jeans. God damn it, Max thought again before stumbling across the room toward her. "Well, you can't exactly go out in boyshorts, can you?"
"Says who?" Max asked, just looking to be contrary as Rachel playfully fought to keep her from having access to her closet. "Look, if you just wanted to see me changing, there were less annoying ways to go about it and I could've slept longer."
"If you don't meet me outside in five minutes," Rachel promised, freeing a pair of jeans from Max's hands just to jokingly toss them at her immediately after. "There'll be trouble."
"What's even happening?" Max asked her, throwing both the shirt and pants onto the bed. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for Rachel to answer. Her breath started to catch in her chest as the girl approached her, one eyebrow quirking as if she were about to tease Max, or come in for a kiss, or both. On the other hand, she thought, a good morning kiss. She leaned in, arms unfolding and reaching for the blonde. All Max got, though, was a cheeky wink as the girl pulled back at the last second and the sight of Rachel positively swaggering out of the room. It wasn't that Max didn't love the hell out of Rachel, it was just that in the moment she really wished her door opened out so it could hit her on the ass on the way out. As it was, Rachel gave it a quick pull and it swung shut behind her.
Only slightly woken by Rachel's antics, Max dressed and brushed her hair more slowly than she intended. She was just groggy enough that she far surpassed the five minute deadline the blonde had given her. There was no immediate banging on the door or attempt to embarrass Max, so she continued to take her time. About seven minutes after Rachel had left the room, however, she began the whole gimmick once more. It started with a hard and heavy knock at the door and spiraled into Rachel's sing songy voice calling for her to get out there.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Max insisted when Rachel began to suggest she was worried she would have to go and get Chloe or someone sooner or later. Is Chloe here? Max thought blearily as she opened the door. There was the familiar click of a camera and a flash almost immediately. Max blinked against the spots in her vision to see Rachel holding her phone up at eye level, now examining a photo of a very surprised Max with a grin on her face. Assuming that that was her punishment for being late, Max closed the door.
"Excellent," Rachel told her. "I've got a new Facebook photo." For a moment Max thought about asking her to 'please don't' before deciding she wasn't going to give the blonde the satisfaction. At least I brushed my hair and everything. There was no one in the hall to witness Rachel's antics, either. As the thespian slid away her phone and grabbed Max by her right hand, Max was left to wonder if it wasn't because the majority of people were sleeping in. The sane ones, at least. Another stubborn urge to dig her heels in very literally came and passed before she entertained a less shitty thought.
It felt like forever ago, but Max could recall with surprising detail the sensation of Rachel pulling her down this very same hall last September, the morning of the day after Max moved in. At the same time Rachel had been something of a stranger to her and, frankly, Max had been a stranger to herself. Now I feel like a stranger again, she thought. She could recall feeling so confused and concerned, suspicious that there was some hidden agenda in Rachel's actions, in how friendly she was being. Technically speaking, she had been right, but not in the way she had suspected. It felt like that was an entirely different world, a different Max and a wildly different Rachel to boot. In some ways, she guessed that's was very so. Everyone changed with time, with exposure to ideas and thoughts and feelings. Rachel couldn't be that big of an exception.
Speaking of Rachel, she was doing her best not to give away whatever hidden agenda had forced her to annoy Max into opening her bedroom door and getting dressed. Every attempt Max had to get a word out of her was met with silence. By the time they slipped through the front door of the dorms, she was done trying. At the very least, the urge to resist was gone and she was ready to go along with whatever Rachel was about to get her into. Max quickened her pace, intent on matching Rachel's stride and then wrapped one arm around Rachel's waist. When she pulled the blonde close to her side, Rachel's neutral expression split into a grin. My girl's definitely up to something today but that's okay.
Unlike the lifetime ago that was last year, Max knew now that Rachel would never try to hurt her. Perhaps Chloe was waiting down by in lot and the three of them were going to get a calm afternoon together. Max could go for that. There was not much time left before they would have to start thinking about things that were not pleasant, were not calm, again. In just over three and a half months, Jefferson was scheduled to stroll into Arcadia Bay. I think it's time I start giving them a crash course in Mark Jefferson.
Any further thoughts about Mark Jefferson and the potentially dark times ahead evaporated from her head as Rachel turned them around the corner to the front of the main building instead of leading them toward the parking lot. Their favored picnic table was full and someone had moved one of the others right up next to it, which was surprising as frankly, Max had always thought that they were bolted down. Can't say as I've ever tried to move them before, though. Arrayed around these combined tables, right now, were Kate, Brooke and Stella. This meant that it was neither related to their typical study group or their tabletop game as there were members of both present. She glanced sideways toward Rachel. God, please don't let this be some sort of intervention.
The attempt at humor was mostly dry, as she had been for the last few days. Her girls had more or less put enough pressure that Max turned over her bottle of cheap ass vodka. She suspected it was hidden in Chloe's room at the moment, but hadn't bothered to care enough to even ask. Looking away from Rachel's grin to a table of people so distracted they had not yet noticed her yielded no answers, but at least there seemed to be little chance that this had anything to do with alcoholic beverages. I kind of wish it had to do with drinking 'alcoholic beverages', though.
"'Morning, sleepy," came a voice from behind her, practically at the top of its owner's lungs. The people arrayed around the extended picnic table definitely noticed her, causing Max to flush a bit at the sudden rush of attention as she turned back. Rachel was forced to pull to a stop beside her as Max first glanced back and then released the thespian to turn around completely. Her mouth hung open for a moment. Chloe was approaching holding what looked to be a plastic container for a cake, which more or less filled in the blanks on what was happening as far as Max was concerned. They had had a night of cuddling and television and all to belatedly mark her birthday the night before, but this seemed to be a "real" birthday celebration in the making.
While cake was certainly an appealing thought, what Steph was hauling along with her was somewhat more exciting to see. It wasn't the plastic bag hanging loosely from Steph's wrist that Max meant, either. Trekking along behind Steph as if he was somehow unfamiliar with the grounds of Blackwell Academy despite being a past student, himself, was Mikey. Some people continued to grow fairly late and it looked like Mikey was going to be one of those as at fourteen he had not broadened anymore at the shoulder but had finally surpassed Chloe in height by the looks of things, if only just. Beyond that, he still walked with the gait of the slightly nerdy boy she had made friends with a year prior. The nerdy boy who knows part of my secret, Max thought, remembering the encoded text Chloe had asked him to help her decode. That one was my fuck up, though.
Chloe pretended to look affronted when Max dipped around her and greeted Mikey first with one tight hug. For Mikey's part, he played it fairly cool if one discounted the surprised 'oof'. She felt one of his long arms tighten briefly across her shoulders and pulled back. Perhaps, she thought as she pulled back from the boy, herself, it was seeing Mikey again that she had needed to push her over the edge but as much as this impromptu birthday party struck part of Max immediately as being too much, she found herself too happy to fight it. There was about to be cake and almost all of her friends in Arcadia Bay were waiting for her. The boy laughed and said something that Max missed over Chloe complaining that she never got spontaneous hugs. A lie, a damnable lie. Oddly enough, the hug was enough to trigger a thought she had not had in some time, of a quick shared hug not with Mikey but with a friend of hers from back in Seattle. Okay, tonight you're texting Fernando and Kristen.
It was time, Max decided, to learn from her mistakes when it came to Chloe. I'll look them up online first, see if everything's okay. Next time I'm in town I'll try to hang with them. For today, though, it's okay to just be happy and eat cake with your friends, right?
Right?
One day, Max told herself, she would understand that and embrace it as a natural part of life. It was the kind of thing you were supposed to do when you turned sixteen and while her actual birthday had passed sitting out behind Steph's house with her girls, Steph and Pompidou, it hadn't been precisely the same as a party. Besides, we had to watch what we said around George. The guy was nosy as all hell. Together, Max and Mikey moved to join the rest of the group forming up around the table.
"I'm really glad you came," she told him in an undertone. I feel like I should probably talk to him about our 'DC-tier superpowers' as he calls them. "If there's time later, can we talk about the uh, document Chloe sent you?" Apparently understanding her conspiratory tone as they neared the rest of her friends Mikey answered in the same near whisper.
"You better believe it. I've got questions. Lots. Chloe talked about some things in the car, but I want to hear all about you going all 'WaveRider' from you."
"Who is that?" she asked, unable to suppress a laugh. She was forced to roll her eyes at his response, but as always Mikey took it all in stride, recognizing it for the good fun it was.
"A DC time traveler," he replied. Of course it is. She stepped behind Mikey and reached up to push him onward toward the table. Their conversation could be continued later, when it was quieter and there were not people waiting on the two of them to sit down. To Mikey's credit, he only put up a perfunctory struggle before he gave up, sighed dramatically and allowed himself to be guided to the table. To that end, Max was able to step up beside him just in time to see the boy's eyes land on Kate and face light up. Oh yeah, they've basically been long distance friends for the last few years. This time, Max pushed him toward Kate and he complained a little but eventually sat down, a wide smile on his face. It was rather goofy looking. Max thought she liked the look on him. Better than being upset. There would be time to catch up with him later.
The two shared a greeting and Max turned to give a quick hello to the table at large, trying to remember her manners. That being said, she settled herself happily between beside Chloe, looking past her and Rachel both to Steph. The other brunette shot a speculative look over the table toward Mikey, then Kate and raised an eyebrow. As much as she might normally be down for playing matchmaker, Max shrugged noncommittally. On one end of the table beside Brooke, Stella seemed to be gesturing toward the football field.
"Everyone's going to the game tomorrow but I don't think I'm going to feel like being around that many people. Especially whoever comes with the visiting team." The conversation seemed to be between her and Steph but open to the table at large, so Max jumped in, resisting the urge to look toward the big plastic container sitting just in front of Chloe.
"I totally get it," Max said, scooting on the bench until she was comfortable where she sat, pressed almost right up against Chloe. The bluenette's response was to stick out her tongue and shift the cake slightly farther toward Rachel. Max decided to retaliate by laying her head against Chloe's shoulder. If they were going to drag her from bed on a Saturday, she was going to use one of them as a pillow, damn it.
"Hi Max," Stella greeted all at once.
"Hi," she responded before sitting up straight again and looking about the table. "Um, I'm glad to see everyone. Thanks for coming." The truth was she wasn't sure what social protocol dictated for this situation, but a direct 'hello' only felt polite. It did, notably, earn her rolling eyes from at least three people at the table.
"Hey, Stella," Rachel said, cutting across what might have grown into an awkward silence. "Max and Chloe are dragging me hiking at this park nearby tomorrow. If you wanna come with us, I think we'd all enjoy it." Max had almost forgotten about their agreement to go hiking. Suddenly feeling tired all over again despite just waking up, Max contemplated what if any retribution there would be if she turned off her phone and slept through the hike.
"I'll think about it, thanks," Stella replied. That seemed to be good enough for Rachel but Max couldn't help but watch the girl's face. It wasn't shyness the brought out the reply or caused the brunette's voice to trail off, her eyes to shift away from Rachel. It was, judging by the look on her face, discontent, uncertainty. Mad had to admit that she hated that Stella lived like that.
Before she could think of anything to say to Stella, Steph or Brooke (Mikey and Kate were absorbed in catching up, still, which was fine by Max) Steph spoke up.
"Alright, everyone. Figure out how to weigh down a paper plate." The bag Steph had been carrying earlier opened and a box of plastic forks and package of paper plates were pulled from the opening. Cake, Max remembered, grinning despite herself. Simultaneously embarrassed by the whole situation and eager to break the rules and have birthday cake for breakfast, Max reached out and took the plate Chloe passed to her as soon as it was in reach. Her method of keeping the wind from picking the thin plate up and blowing it away was to rest her elbow on the edge of it.
Watching as the rest of the table awkwardly tried to weigh theirs down Max couldn't help it, she started laughing. She wasn't sure about the last time she laughed seriously and it wasn't tainted by sadness, or by being tired or even bitter. She was just happy watching Brooke fumble to weight her plate down with her phone while reaching for a fork, or Mikey almost immediately losing his and overreacting by choosing to hold it down with both hands.
The lid of the cake container opened and the impression Max got from openly standing and stealing a look was white frosting with pale blue lettering spelling out her name and the number sixteen. There were no candles. That was alright. If Max was honest to herself, she had already gotten a wish that was honestly beyond her wildest dreams when Chloe and Rachel had not decided they were done with her in LA. That didn't stop Max from wishing for a piece of cake, though. Rachel was just pulling the first piece from the box (and passing it to Max when Max's first instinct was to gesture for her to hand one out to someone else first) when a loud, masculine voice sounded from a few feet away.
Hayden was dressed a little more casually than usual, wearing an old tee. One look at his face suggested that he was high off his ass and though she could not tell what it was the boy had taken, his face was lit with a large smile as he approached. After making Chloe insistently place the first piece of cake down in front of Max, Rachel raised a hand and called him over. Hayden didn't need to be told twice and by the time Steph had dug out an extra plate and fork for him the boy was dropping into a seat beside Mikey.
"I thought you were going to be off campus."
"Plans changed but I totally forgive you all for trying to cut me out of the cake." Max laughed.
"Hey, Hayden."
"Maximillion, happy birthday," the boy lifted his hand. She was not sure anyone had ever called her that before but what she was sure about was that if she did not high five him he was going to give her crap until she did. A resounding smack sounded from the point of contact and then Hayden turned to Mikey. "Mikey North, what's going on?" Gratified at his arrival, she glanced sideways at Rachel.
"I invited him and Dana too, but they both told me they'd be off campus."
"Well, surprise, I made it," Hayden shot back.
"Thank you," Max told the boy. "Oh, have you got the photo chosen for your next photo essay?"
"Yep," he replied immediately, "And are you going to join us for the next Vortex Club shindig? You, Rachel and Chloe are welcome any time." Victoria, Nathan and their cronies would have something to say about that. Even if Taylor is polite to me when Victoria's not around. Taylor pissed her off sometimes and today she did not feel guilty admitting that, as long as it was not out loud. Her only response to Hayden was an ambiguous noise. The boy chuckled in response as if he expected it and, irises almost as large as his plate, he took his first bite of the rich chocolate cake rather than give Max any shit for it.
Max decided to do the same. Sweet, sweet heaven, she thought as the cake hit her taste buds. Perhaps playing it up a bit she melted against Chloe's side. She wasn't sure who she had to thank for organizing this, much less bringing the cake, but whoever it was was her fucking hero.
For a while, Max sat with Rachel and Chloe and almost all of her friends. The sun was high in the air, the day exceptionally for September, if a little humid. Brooke and Steph pulled Stella into a conversation about tabletop gaming. Mikey and Kate talked about experiences when they were at school together while younger, despite an age gap or how their families would hold barbecues together. Chloe, Rachel and Hayden were mostly talking about happenings around the school that Max sometimes didn't hold much of an interest in, but at any point she might be called into one of the discussions.
Max turned to Rachel at one point as things quieted down a little. The girl looked to be having fun. Perhaps noticing her looking, Chloe spoke up from beside her.
"Have you had any luck, you know, thinking about the things that you learned in LA?" Chloe asked in an undertone.
"Not really, but I mean, it involves changing how I think about the last two years almost. That's kind of intense." It was certainly more than she was going to do in under two weeks and Chloe seemed to understand this, by the way she patted the back of Max's hand and told her to try to take it easy.
"When things get rough, come to one or both of us," she told Max. "If you can't, talk to Steph. No more facing it alone, okay?" Max was going to verbally agree before, on Chloe's other side, Rachel clapped her hands once, loudly. Both she and Chloe turned to look at her. Max wasn't sure what she expected, what else Rachel could be about to say or do that might add even more reason for her face to turn red, but she definitely hadn't had what Rachel said next on her list of possibilities.
"Alright," Rachel declared, reaching down to take hold of a bag at her feet that Max could not especially remember Rachel carrying out of the dorms with her. "Present time." Immediately and incredibly uncomfortable, Max opened her mouth to say that it was okay, that they shouldn't, but it felt stupid and childish as soon as she thought it. Chloe understood. Max knew she understood by the slight nod of her head as their eyes met or the way the girl's left hand worked into Max's right, fingers interlacing. These were her friends and one of the things she wanted to do was be as normal as possible.
This was part of being normal, right?