"C'mon, Jeff is waiting!" Chloe exclaimed, shoving her feet into her boots as fast as humanly possible. She felt one of her socks get buckled behind her heel, but she didn't bother trying to fix it before tying the laces. She'd be kicking off her boots soon anyway, seeing as she was just dropping Max off at school.
Max groaned as she pulled her jacket on, with none of the urgency. "I can't believe you named your car already."
"Why not?" Chloe asked, smiling widely at her girlfriend. "Jeff, with a 'J'," she added, leaning against the door to watch the brunette finish zipping her jacket.
Max gave her a dark look, clearly not amused by her antics. "How else would you spell it?"
Chloe fixed her with a dramatic look of disbelief. "With a 'G'. Duh." Max looked defeated, and Chloe couldn't help but giggle. "I can keep calling it the Viber if you want," she pointed out, drawing the "i" longer than necessary.
Max hesitated for a second, weighing her options. "Fine, Jeff with a 'J' it is." She sighed heavily as Chloe pumped her fist in celebration. "You are ridiculous," Max muttered as she pulled the door open roughly, forcing Chloe to stand upright.
"Max, you're saying that like it's a bad thing," Chloe laughed, pressing a kiss on the side of Max's head as she pushed past her, keys dangling off her finger.
The Vibe that sat out on the driveway made her smile, even if she was still reminiscent of her truck. She had tried to find something that still gave her the option to haul a lot of shit at once, but honestly, she was just amazed at how she could weave through Seattle traffic now. Having a vehicle that's half the size of your old one makes staying in your lane a whole lot easier.
She was buckled in before Max had even closed the front door behind her. Max moved at her own speed, appearing slightly reluctant as she opened the passenger door. "You are absolutely ridiculous, you know that."
Snickering, Chloe pulled the stack of money from selling the truck out of her jacket pocket. She had been keeping it close to her for the last few days, and only on special occasions did she do something stupid, like fanning herself. "You obviously stick with me so you have a sugar momma," she joked, watching Max roll her eyes.
"Any idea of what you're gonna do with that?" Max asked as she adjusted the seat, trying to sit more upright, and pointedly ignoring Chloe's comment.
Chloe hesitated before answering, feeling Max's eyes focus on her as she suddenly became quiet. She had thought about it over the last week, but she didn't know how Max would feel about it. "I was, erm, thinking about, uh, getting some ink," she finally said, focusing on the dash rather than the passenger next to her.
She didn't have to look over at her girlfriend to see if she was still watching - she could almost feel Max's gaze burning into her. "What are you thinking about getting?" Max asked, seemingly interested. She'd almost expected Max to sound disapproving, and wasn't sure if her curiosity was better or worse.
She started rubbing her tattooed arm in an almost subconscious response. "You'll think it's stupid," she muttered, glancing over at Max.
There was a little smile on Max's face as she watched Chloe, shaking her head in polite disagreement. "I bet it's not stupid." She reached a hand out to rest on Chloe's forearm, squeezing over where they both knew her existing ink ended on her arm. "What's the idea?"
"Are you sure about blacking this all out? This is some gorgeous work." The tattoo artist was hesitant at the idea, looking at the colorful design running down Chloe's arm. He had carefully placed her stencil over it as discussed, but was still hesitating from pressing the needles against her skin. There was a fine line between "the customer is always right" and "the customer is stupid", after all.
She automatically looked towards Max, who was sitting in the next chair over, holding her bandaged wrist gently. "Yeah, I'm sure," she responded, never taking her eyes off of her girlfriend, who still seemed stunned. Max was never one for spontaneous actions, so the fact that she had gotten the tattoo at all was surprising.
She had asked Max, multiple times, to make sure she was fine with Chloe's cover up plans. It was less of a cover up, she thought, and more of an alteration. She wasn't trying to pretend her old tattoo hadn't happened, just trying to look at the future instead of the past. No turning back now, she thought as she heard the buzzing and felt the familiar stabbing sensation in her arm. It hurt more than she remembered in the past, but to be fair, she was a glutton for pain back then.
Max eventually made her way closer, pulling up a folding chair so she could sit next to Chloe. "How's it going?" Max asked quietly, glancing nervously toward the artist at work. Her dislike of needles was evident when she had pointedly faced away from the artist during her own tattoo, although she hadn't made a sound. Chloe's hand still hurt from how hard she had been gripping it, though.
"Like I'm being stabbed repeatedly with tiny needles," Chloe joked, and Max smiled a little. Chloe nodded her head towards the bandage. "How's your wrist?"
Max flexed her right hand, the little infinity symbol visible under the wrap. "You were right, it's like a bee sting." Chloe had to fight all of the sarcastic comments she had wanted to make about what Max had selected - it was the most basic design in existence. She thought she knew why Max had been drawn to it, though. It must remind her of the idea of time, of fate and destiny, of the two of them.
Chloe glanced down at her own arm, seeing the black ink starting to take shape. She had made sure the new ink wouldn't touch the blue butterfly on her upper arm, but the majority of the old design wasn't going to be visible for long. She sighed heavily, glancing at the clock for a moment. I'm gonna be here for a while.
She watched over the next few hours as the black lines grew on her arm, an angry swirl of darkness that consumed the color. Max sat on her left, chatting a little with her and the artist as he worked, but mostly playing on her phone and sharing photos with Victoria and Kate. Chloe had been worried that Max wouldn't be okay with the constant reminder of the storm that had taken so much from them, but she had barely blinked when Chloe explained her idea. The storm, Chloe thought, was less difficult to think of than the aftermath, and what had led up to it.
She was only slightly bitter when she thought about when she had originally gotten her arm done - how she and Rachel had gotten a little too drunk to really get inked, how she had egged Rachel into getting the dragon on her leg, how Rach had tried to convince the artist that letting her do part of Chloe's tattoo would be a good idea. They were two entirely different experiences, and although Chloe missed the carefree attitude, she didn't miss the melancholy that constantly haunted her. That time felt like a bunch of kids fooling around. This time, she felt like an actual adult. It was an odd concept to try to get her mind around, and fortunately she had nothing but time.
Her body was aching as the artist put finishing touches closer to her wrist. The new twister shape covered almost all of the previous sleeve, but the old design still poked through in places, where the ink either couldn't cover it or they had predetermined something would sneak through. It felt oddly poetic, just as she thought it would. It marked the end of something, and the beginning of something new, something better.
Max watched quietly as the artist finished up, starting to clean up Chloe's arm and wrap it. Chloe over at her, the corner of her mouth pulling up. "What do you think?"
There was a thoughtful look on the brunette's face for a minute, studying the cover up. "It's definitely different. A good different," she added on quickly, eyes flashing back to Chloe's. Those wide eyes watched her for a second, as if scared she had insulted Chloe. "It's your arm, right? How do you feel about it?"
Chloe nodded, glancing back down as it was covered. "It's a good different," she agreed, watching Max's shoulders relax slightly.
They laid in bed silently that night, both staring up at the ceiling. Chloe could see Max tenderly touching her wrist out of the corner of her eye, followed by what she assumed was a scratching motion. "Don't itch it," she commented, smirking.
"I'm not," Max responded sharply, but her hand jerked away as if she had been caught red handed. Liar. Max wiggled in bed for a moment before turning to look her way. The little bit of moonlight that snuck into the bedroom reflected in her eyes. "I never asked why..."
Chloe sighed heavily, staring up at the ceiling. It was a question that she knew was coming - even though she had cleared the design with Max, she hadn't felt comfortable sharing her reasoning. "It sounds a little stupid," she admitted, recalling she had said the same thing earlier this week.
Max snickered. "You're a little stupid."
Chloe gasped at her dramatically, pushing Max's shoulder gently. "Hey now." Max was giggling at her, and she let the joyous sounds fade out as she thought about what she should say. Fuck, there's a lot I could say.
"When I got my tattoo," she started, her left hand reflexively moving to touch her right arm, resting carefully on her bicep. "I was in a bad place. Mentally, not that Arcadia Bay was that great either." She turned onto her side so she could look at Max, who had already turned onto her side to watch. "I was fucking my life up, and then you just..." She trailed off for a second, glancing up towards the ceiling. "You came back, you know? And then that week happened, and I just...I was literally walking to my death in that bathroom, and I didn't even know it." She shook her head, feeling a little laugh bubbling out. Her eyes were stinging, but she pushed forward, trying to keep her voice steady. "You saved my life, god knows how many times, but you also saved me, from myself."
"Chloe..." Max's eyes were getting watery, her lip quivering a little at the admission.
"Max," she responded, staring back into those blue eyes. She raised a hand to brush the overgrown bangs out of Max's eyes, tucking them behind her ear. "You gave me a second chance. You came back, and you stayed." She shook her head again, closing her eyes as she tried to keep those pesky tears out of her way. She ran a hand over her arm again, wincing at how sensitive it was. "I'll never be able to pay that back, and I don't want to keep dwelling on those five years you were gone."
She heard Max's steady breathing, and forced herself to open her eyes. Max was looking at her with her own watery eyes, with such a passionate look in them that Chloe forgot how to breathe for a second. Max's hand went to grab Chloe's, holding it tightly. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, just a pair of blue eyes locked on each other.
She wasn't sure who moved first, but they came together quickly, lips locking. Max's hand was already creeping up her shirt, and Chloe couldn't help but grin at her boldness. The young grasshopper has come far. Chloe tried to keep her own hands to herself, or planted on safe zones that wouldn't cause Max to panic. A hand gripping in her hair, for example, or resting along her waist. As revved up as Chloe felt, she wasn't stupid.
That didn't mean her hands were stationary. It wasn't long before they had both lost their shirts, and she had to keep herself extra careful to avoid spooking the younger girl. At one point, Chloe grazed her hand along Max's stomach, feeling the muscles tighten as she moved across it. Max's hand grasped her own, and for a split second Chloe thought she had overstepped the boundaries, that the moment was over. She didn't realize that she was holding her breath until she realized Max was, too. Then, slowly but surely, she pushed Chloe's hand lower.
Chloe couldn't help but reflexively swear. She looked up at Max, who had her eyes closed. "Max, are you sure?" She so desperately wanted Max to say yes, but at the same time felt somewhat terrified of Max forcing herself to do something.
Max responded with a hungry kiss. "Yes," she whispered against Chloe's lips, and it was so full of trust and desire that Chloe couldn't help but groan in response.
A perfect amount of time later, she held on tightly to Max as she came down from her high, lips pressed against Max's forehead. She could feel Max's heart still pounding, and couldn't help but smile at that. Chloe thought she had known everything she could have ever known about Max before that day, but she knew better - now she knew Max better than anyone ever could.
As that heartbeat gradually came to a calmer rate, Max's hand started wandering along Chloe's stomach, and she inhaled reflexively at the touch. It tickled, but it mostly fueled the fire Chloe had been feeling for a while. Max didn't need to say a word - Chloe knew what she was doing. Or, to better phrase it, was going to do.
"Max, you don't have to, really," Chloe said quietly, not quite willing to believe her luck.
There was a moment where Max's fingers paused on her stomach, hand laying flat, and she propped herself up for a moment so she could look Chloe in the eye. "I want to."
And Chloe couldn't say no to that.