Chloe woke up suddenly, her normal weekday alarm having still been active. She fumbled to find the facedown phone in the darkened room, knowing it was sitting somewhere on the desk. As soon as the noise was eliminated, she rolled back over and moved to pull Max closer before realizing that her girlfriend was on the opposite side of the futon, slowly stirring. "What are you doing all the way over there?" she said quietly, chuckling.

"You were too hot," Max mumbled, rubbing her face.

"You don't need to tell me what I already know, but thanks." Max grumbled a little, clearly unimpressed even while half asleep. Chloe glanced up at the clock on the wall, sighing as her head hit the pillow again. "Think we have the house to ourselves. Aaron said he'd be leaving by six."

Max hummed in acknowledgment, although her eyes had closed again. "Give me five more minutes."

Chloe watched her girlfriend gradually fell back asleep, but she still felt wide awake from her alarm. She rolled out of bed, groaning a little, and grabbed a change of clothes before heading into the bathroom.

The shower's water was harder than what she was used to - Aaron had warned them that even a water softener couldn't get it close to Oregon. She had noticed it last night as well, when she had hopped in to rinse off a layer of travel grime, but it was more pronounced when she was actually trying to get clean. It definitely helped keep the shower quick, short enough that the mirror didn't have the chance to collect condensation. As she dried off, she caught a glimpse of her green hair - the dye depositing conditioner Paige had recommended had definitely kept the blue around longer, but she knew she had only prolonged the inevitable. Part of her wanted to keep growing it out until she could start fresh, all blonde.

By the time she was dressed and reentered the makeshift bedroom, Max had propped herself up against the wall, tapping on her phone. "What, texting your other girlfriend?" Chloe joked as she tossed her dirty clothes into her backpack.

"Kate sent a picture, it's actually really cute." Max turned her phone around to show Chloe the picture of a sleeping Victoria, with Alice snuggled up next to her face.

"That is pretty fucking adorable. Any picture of Alice is, really." She sat down on the bed, sliding so she could lean next to Max and give her a quick kiss on the temple. "You gonna get ready? It's a bit of a drive."

Max groaned, head thunking against the wall as it fell backwards. "Not gonna lie, sitting in the car for any length of time sounds like torture right now."

"But just think of the pictures, Max!" Chloe teased, knocking their knees together. "If we stay here, you can't take a million Polaroids of things that other people have already taken pictures of!"

Max rolled her eyes, but shifted so she could get out of bed. "Fine, smart-ass. You can make breakfast then."

"Aye aye, first mate!"'

Chloe could feel how wide her eyes were, but she couldn't find it in her to tear her eyes away from the landscape to see what her girlfriend's reaction was. "Holy fucking shit, that's cool."

Chloe's words were met with a snort. "Real classy, Chloe."

She finally glanced back at Max, who was carefully lining up a shot on her Polaroid. Chloe patiently waited until the telltale whir sounded to speak. "Imagine what I'd be saying if we ever make it out to the Grand Canyon."

Max laughed, grabbing the photo and tucking it away into her bag. "I'm sure you'd have plenty more words to say about that." She was absentmindedly playing with the strap of her bag as she continued looking around. "And this was all just from, what, water erosion?"

"A lot of it. Nature's hardcore, that's for sure." She offered a hand out to Max, who stared back at her with a confused look on her face.

"I can't leave the Polaroid out in the sun, you have to wait until it's done developing," Max almost scolded, crossing her arms with a pout.

Chloe couldn't hold back her laughter, which echoed oddly in their surroundings. "I wanted to do a cutesy stroll with you, not look at pictures of what I'm actively looking at."

"Oh, sorry," Max giggled, reaching out to take Chloe's still outstretched hand.

They walked around the park for almost a half hour, pausing occasionally for Max to take her pictures. Chloe found herself starting to get bored by the scenery, no matter how impressive it was, but she was certainly not bored with her partner's eager expression. Max, being Max, definitely did not notice how little Chloe was paying attention to their surroundings.

"Can we take a picture out here? Of the two of us, I mean." Max asked suddenly, fidgeting with her camera while her eyes continued soaking in the scenery.

Chloe snorted, leaning to give her a peck on the top of her head. Max and her selfies, should have expected that. "Do you even have to ask, hippie?"

The two of them posed, Chloe throwing up devil horns quickly before Max could catch it and try to convince her otherwise. Max whacked her once with the Polaroid as Chloe snickered, side stepping before she could get a paper cut from concurrent hits.

"How about another one, a nice one?" Max asked, pouting even as she laughed as she stashed the photo.

"You bet." This time, she swooped in to give Max a kiss on the cheek just as her finger pressed the shutter button.

"Chloe!" she exclaimed, a giggle escaping her.

"I think that one'll be a keeper," Chloe commented before the picture had finished printing.

There were a surprising number of vehicles in the small parking lot of the Mexican restaurant, and Chloe was once again relieved to have a much smaller vehicle than she was used to. Max pointed out Aaron's car as Chloe did a lap, trying to gauge which spot she was most comfortable with. "Think he's inside already?"

Chloe shrugged, finally parking in one of the empty spaces and getting out of the car. She felt about twenty years older as she stretched, not sure if their walking or if yet another drive was the cause for her discomfort. "Probably. Taco Tuesday must be a big hit here."

Sure enough, Aaron had managed to grab a booth, waving them over as they walked in. "How was your photography session?" he asked as they approached.

Max's eyes were sparkling as she nodded enthusiastically, sliding into the booth first. "I can show you once we get back to your house. It was really cool, thanks for suggesting it!"

"No problem." He pointed at the menus in front of them as they got comfortable. "You gotta try their street tacos, they're to die for," Aaron stated enthusiastically. "That or their chicken quesadilla, either would blow your mind."

"Duly noted," Chloe said, smirking at his excitement as she perused the menu for herself.

"Their margaritas are pretty good, too." His eyes narrowed at the two of them suddenly. "Wait, when do you two turn 21?"

"Not until March of next year for me, Max has another year and a half after that," Chloe responded with a shrug. "Sorry, dude."

"Damn." He scratched at his beard thoughtfully before shaking his head. "Well, maybe I can see about coming out to the city for your birthday next year, buy you your first drink."

"Cute how you think I haven't had many, many drinks already."

"But the first one when you can legally drink is still special," he shot back, trying to hide a smile on his face.

"What, no spiel about underage drinking?"

"It'd be hypocritical of me if I did," he commented, sitting back in his booth. "Lord knows how much I snuck out of my parents' liquor cabinet. Way I see it, you're an adult, do what you want."

"I mean, if you really wanna, we can just pick up some drinks and chill at the house, right?" Chloe suggested hopefully, looking at her uncle with what she hoped was a winning smile.

There was a hint of a grimace on Aaron's face as he shook his head, leaning back against the booth. "I mean, I'd love to be the cool uncle and all that, but you are still underage."

"Talk about a buzzkill," Chloe loudly whispered to Max, who was rolling her eyes.

Chloe woke up in the middle of the night, her mouth parched. She slowly slid off of the futon, watching Max the whole way to make sure she didn't accidentally wake her girlfriend up. Once she had escaped the room and closed the door, she exhaled in relief.

"Chloe?"

"Fucking shit." She had to fight from yelling, able to cut her volume to a whisper as her head whipped around to see her uncle sitting at the dining room table. "Aaron, what are you still doing up?"

"Drinking," Aaron admitted rather obviously, rotating a beer bottle by the neck in her direction.

She padded into the kitchen, crossing her arms. Now that she was closer, she could see three other bottles sitting next to him, all presumably empty. "Ouch, you tell me we can't drink together, and then you get wasted without me?"

"Drink if you want, I'm not stopping you." It was said so callously that Chloe wouldn't have dared to even think about it.

Chloe made her way to the sink, grabbing a glass from the cabinet next to it and getting the water she was still craving. "So, what are you drinking to this evening?" she asked before sitting down on the opposite side of the table.

"I should have been there," he muttered, his shoulders drooping. His voice was wavering as he spoke, eyes closed tightly. "I should've moved back to Portland, I shouldn't have stayed here."

"Whoa, hey, it's okay, Aaron," she said quickly, leaning her forearms against the table.

"No, it's not." He was scoffing and shaking his head repeatedly, setting the bottle down with a solid thud. "For fuck's sake, I went home the night of the funeral. I didn't even stay to make sure you and Joyce were okay."

Chloe didn't know what to say to that, choosing to take a long drink instead. She had, honestly, barely remembered that he was at the service, let alone that he left right away. "I get it, I really do," she finally said, staring at her glass. She could feel his eyes on her, but refused to look up to meet them. "Mom and I weren't the only ones hurting."

He hummed in response, fingers twitching around the bottle still. "I've wondered, many, many times, if I had stuck around, how things would have turned out. For me, for you, just…everything."

"Well, can't change the past, can we?" Chloe muttered, a bitter humor buzzing in her head.

"No, no we can't."

She lifted her glass across the table towards him. "But here's to not fucking up the future so much, yeah?"

He finally had a smile starting to stretch across his face as he clinked his bottle against the glass before draining the last of it. "I can drink to that. Although, maybe not much more tonight," he commented, frowning at his bottle collection.

"Yeah, you're definitely going to need to stay on your side all night," she agreed, smiling back at him.

He watched her for a minute, his smile slowing fading. "So, David."

Chloe had taken a gulp of her remaining water, and needed a minute to stop choking on it. "What about him?"

"What's he like?"

"An asshole." He stared back at her in surprise, and she couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, force of habit."

"Well, is he?"

"I think our relationship is best described as 'complicated'," she explained, snagging both her glass and a couple of the empty bottles as she moved into the kitchen. "He's done some pretty fucked up shit over the years."

"Like what?"

She glanced back after setting the glassware in the sink, seeing the concern in Aaron's expression. She didn't really want to get into the details, regardless of Aaron's inebriated status. "It's nothing," she said with a shrug, hoping to skirt past any further conversation.

Even a drunk Aaron seemed more perceptive than she hoped. "That sour look doesn't look like 'nothing' to me."

"We just kinda rubbed each other the wrong way. It's better now," she amended. "Think the storm and distance makes it a lot easier to be friendly, stop us from fighting all the time."

Aaron didn't respond immediately, tapping his fingers against the table in an uneven rhythm. "If there ever is an issue, just let me know, alright?"

Chloe laughed, probably louder than she should with Max sleeping in the next room. "What, are you going to beat him up for me?"

The corner of his lip twitched, even as his eyes started drooping. "Maybe."

She walked back to the table and offered a hand out to him. "C'mon, let's get you to bed. No need to pass out at the table."

"Fine," he groaned as he let her pull him to his feet. He stumbled a little, and she was barely able to help keep him upright. They shuffled their way into Aaron's bedroom - Chloe couldn't see much of it without turning a light on, but once they crossed the threshold, he seemed to have enough wits about him to make it to his bed safely. She watched for a minute, making sure he did in fact lay down on his side, before moving to grab the door knob.

"You're just like him, you know."

Chloe paused with her hand on the knob, frowning. "Who, David?"

Aaron scoffed as he pulled a bedsheet up to his chin. "No, your dad." He fidgeted for a minute before sighing contentedly. "He'd be so proud of you, kid."

Chloe watched him for a second, making sure he didn't immediately roll onto his back, before pulling the door closed. "Goodnight, Aaron."