Aaron's house was in a little suburb, almost two hours past Salt Lake City proper. If Chloe had to guess, purely off of the lawn decorations, the neighborhood was primarily made up of old folks. Aaron's abode was extremely plain in comparison as they rolled up to it, as if no one was living there.

Almost as soon as they had parked in front of the house, Aaron opened the front door. Chloe wouldn't have been surprised if he had been standing right behind it, eagerly watching for them through the window pane. "Hey, kid!" he hollered loud enough to be heard clearly over the still running engine, a wide grin spreading across his face as he closed the door. His hair had grown out a bit since Chloe had last seen him, curls bouncing as he jogged out to meet them.

Chloe shut off the car and kicked open her door, moving to intercept him with her arms out for a hug. He actually lifted her off the ground slightly, giving her a little shake that made her feet knock together. "Hey, Aaron," she laughed as he put her back down, reaching over to close her door. "I forgot how curly your hair gets."

He grimaced slightly, running a hand through it. "I meant to get it cut last week, hate how it feels when it's this long." It didn't take long before he started grinning again, obviously excited to see her. "How was the drive?"

She groaned immediately. Max had thankfully taken a turn driving, but they had still been trapped in the car for nearly thirteen hours. She was sure that even Victoria's car would be uncomfortable after that long of a drive. "Long and insufferable. Next time, I'll take up your offer on getting us a flight." Chloe could hear Max closing the hatch behind her, having grabbed their bags and walking towards them.

"Heh, I don't blame you." Aaron's eyes finally shifted to Max, who set their bags down just behind Chloe. There was a little surprised look appeared on his face as he took her in before he took a step forward, arms lifted to offer a hug as well. "Max Caulfield, how the hell are you?"

Max accepted the hug, and had her trademark shy smile affixed to her face when she pulled away from him. "Hi, Aaron."

Aaron had a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he looked her over. "You haven't grown an inch, have you?" he finally laughed. "What, did your parents make you walk around with a brick on your head?"

Chloe snorted, reaching out to give him a little shove. "Hey, watch it. No wonder you can't keep a girl locked down."

"Listen here, you little shit," Aaron started, but he was too busy chuckling to finish his statement. He peered through the nearest window of the car, eyebrows lifting curiously. "Need a hand with anything?"

"Nah, this is it," Chloe responded, grabbing her own backpack by the haul loop and bouncing it on her knee. "Figured it was warm enough that we didn't need hoodies for each day of the we- ow, Max!" she complained as an elbow dug into her side.

Aaron nodded with a chuckle, swinging his arms and clapping his hands together a few times before gesturing to the front door. "Well, c'mon in. It's a bit small, but, you know, bachelor pad," he said before leading them inside.

The front door led directly into the living room - the room was smaller than the Caulfield's, but the lack of walls separating it from the dining room and the kitchen made it feel more open. Most of the furniture looked almost brand new, as if Aaron didn't spend much time there. There was a short hallway with a few doorways visible from where Chloe was standing, presumably the bedrooms and bathroom.

Aaron cleared his throat quietly, swaying on the balls of his feet. She wasn't sure if she had ever seen him so nervous before. "If you want to give me a hand, we can move the futon into the office quick."

Chloe nodded, head turning towards the metal-framed futon. She set her bag down by the door before moving to one end, eyeing it up and hoping she wouldn't drop it on her foot. Aaron counted them down quickly before they lifted the frame up - it was deceptively heavier than she expected.

"Would you believe this is the second couch I helped move this month?" Chloe remarked, stepping carefully to avoid bashing her shin against the coffee table.

Aaron scoffed lightly, head turning back and forth as he maneuvered himself into the hall. "Cool story. Now, pivot!"

"Hey, that's exactly what I said last time too, right Max?" she called over her shoulder, hearing an exasperated sigh in response.

It took some trial and error, as well as a few choice words from the both of them, but they finally got the futon in the center of the room. It was pressed up flush to a small desk, which now would serve as a makeshift bedside table. Aaron pulled the frame of the futon down, looking it over with a little frown. "Sorry, I know it's cramped in here, even without the futon," he muttered, scratching the back of his head.

"Dude, we're not picky. I know I've said it already, but thanks for letting us stay here."

Aaron chuckled as he continued to scratch at his scalp. "Don't mention it." He glanced back towards the doorway they had just entered, frowning a little. "Both of you are adults now. It's just…weird." There was a forlorn note in his voice, almost wistful.

"Well, growing up is a real bitch, let me tell you," Chloe responded. Thankfully, it got Aaron to snap out of whatever state he had entered, and he started laughing as they walked back into the living room. Max turned to look at them from her spot by the bookshelf, gingerly putting a snow globe back in its place.

Aaron clapped Chloe on the shoulder quick before pointing towards the front door. "Well, I was terrible at time management today, still some stuff I need to do outside. I'll give you two some unwind space, yeah? Bathroom's the first door on the left."

Chloe nodded. "Sure, thanks Aaron." He gave the two of them a little salute, a wide grin on his face, before ducking out of the house, closing the door carefully behind him.

"He reminds me of your dad," Max said quietly as soon as the door closed. With him gone, she suddenly looked rather exhausted, shoulders slouching. Chloe wasn't sure if she was tired from the drive as well, or if there was something else else bothering her. Plenty of time for gentle interrogations later, though.

Chloe exhaled heavily out of her nose, head nodding again. "Yeah, a little bit." It was less pronounced to her now that she'd seen him more than once - not to mention that she wasn't sure she had ever seen her dad nervous. She bent over to pick up her bag, standing back up to see Max chewing on her lip, eyes distant. "Want to get settled? Probably won't take long, but might as well."

It took a second for her girlfriend to turn and look at her, squinting while her brain processed the question. "Hmm? Oh, yeah." Max grabbed her own backpack, following closely behind to the makeshift bedroom.

As predicted, it only took a few minutes to empty their bags into semi-neat piles on the desk and office chair. Chloe ducked in to the bathroom to put their toiletries down, taking the opportunity to splash water on her face and neck while she was in there. After all that traveling, even lukewarm water felt refreshing.

She came out to find Max back in the living room, fingers dancing along the spines of the DVDs on the shelf. "Looking for anything in particular?'

Max jumped a little, a nervous giggle escaping her. "Oh, no, just seeing what he's into."

"And the conclusion is…"

A much more natural laugh came back in response. "There's a lot of old western movies. Like, old old, 'Clint Eastwood was young' movies. I think there's a horse in every single one on this shelf."

"Well, that figures. Him and Dad were cowboys for Halloween numerous times, as kids and adults." She took a few steps closer so she could rest her hand on Max's back, moving it slowly. "You okay? What's going on?" she asked quietly.

Those blue eyes flashed to hers for a moment before moving back to the shelf. She could feel Max taking a deep breath before quietly exhaling. "It's not just one thing, it's…complicated."

"When is anything not complicated?" Chloe supplied, hand still moving slowly.

Max inhaled sharply, a little smile flitting onto her face for a moment before disappearing again. "Part of it is he reminds me of your dad. It's…having seen him, when I-" She cut herself off for a moment, eyes closing. Chloe ignored the dull pang in her chest, trying to stay focused on Max. "There's a lot of 'what ifs', I guess. It's a spiral."

"I can imagine," she responded quietly, shifting her hand so it was resting on Max's shoulder instead, arm laying across her back. "Anything else bouncing around that beautiful brain of yours?"

There was another flickering smile on her face. "It really is nice to see him. He was always cool when we were kids."

Chloe nodded, feeling her own shoulders relax. "Yeah, it's good to have him around again. Sucks he's so far away, though."

The front door opened suddenly as her uncle appeared, and both girls jumped as he closing it rather loudly. Aaron was shoving his phone into his shorts pocket, a scowl etched into his face, although it softened when he noticed the two of them watching. He leaned against the closed door before sighing, staring down at the vinyl floor. "So, you know how I said I was gonna be off all this week?"

"Assuming you just got a call from work?" Chloe guessed, trying not to let the disappointment flooding through her also leak into her voice.

He nodded forlornly. "Just for tomorrow. I'd tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine, but…"

She held back a groan, aware that there were enough upset Prices in the house. "It's fine, we can go do some sightseeing or something, right?"

Aaron was nodding, his gaze shifting to the ceiling. "There's plenty to see, that's for sure. Maybe go out to Arches, it's about two hours away. Makes for some pretty pictures."

"Max does like taking pictures," Chloe mused, ignoring the little disgruntled noise that her girlfriend made.

Aaron seemed to brighten up a little, standing upright again. He pointed towards the front door with his thumb. "I got the grill heating up right now. Figured burgers would be easy enough to whip together."

Chloe automatically followed him to the kitchen, watching him starting to pull together ingredients. "Need any help?"

He shook his head quickly, waving her away as she approached the refrigerator. "You're guests here, I got it."

"You sure? I got my cooking skills from my mom, I promise."

Aaron laughed, shaking his head again. "You can watch me click tongs if you want to keep me company, otherwise sit your ass down and relax."

Chloe and Max were able to get the table set before Aaron had the chance, much to his chagrin. They waited patiently for him at the table, checking out the Arches park he had mentioned on their phones. They were still doing research when he came in with the plate of now-done burgers, carefully setting them down in the center of the table.

"Did you burn them this time?" Chloe asked, keeping a neutral look on her face as she stabbed a patty with her fork and began inspecting it.

The glare she received from her uncle, on the other hand, was far from neutral. "Hey, I didn't like it when your dad teased me about that, and I don't like when you do it, either." He glanced over at Max, who was looking a little confused as she slowly prepared her own burger. "I may or may not have started a small fire at their house once."

Max's lips curled up in a smirk as she glanced between the two of then. "How small is 'small'?" she asked before taking a bite.

"Mom wanted to call 911," Chloe supplied, grinning as Max rolled her eyes.

Aaron made a dismissive noise, waving a hand towards Chloe. "You guys had two fire extinguishers in the house, we were totally fine."

Max had a spark of recognition in her eyes, swallowing quickly. "Was that when Bongo-"

"Got covered in extinguisher junk and I had to give him a bath? Yeah, I think I still have scars from that," Chloe lamented, starting to check her arms.

"You do not." Aaron's eyes were rolling as he picked up his burger. "So damn dramatic."

She couldn't hold back one last snicker at his displeasure. "Anyways, Dad wouldn't let him near the grill after that."

He exhaled loudly, shaking his head. "William made the better burgers, anyways."

The trio fell into a rather awkward silence, focused on eating rather than trying to maintain a conversation. "It's really good, thanks for cooking," Max said after a few long minutes.

"Least I can do." Aaron had a frown on his face for another long moment before clearing his throat. "So, Max, Parsons? Pretty nice college, if my research is accurate."

Max's whole demeanor changed, sitting up straight as her face lit up. Chloe would have laughed at how sudden it was if it wasn't also incredibly adorable. "It is. I'm excited for it. It still feels a little surreal, that we're actually going."

"Eh, when I had to write the check for the deposit on the apartment, it got pretty real to me," Chloe joked under her breath, chuckling while Max rolled her eyes.

Aaron, on the other hand, flinched slightly. "Do I want to know how much it costs to rent an apartment in NYC?"

"No, no you do not. Ryan and Vanessa had to cosign to make sure we could get it," Chloe responded, sighing. "It's expensive, even with a roommate."

"You're at least somewhat close to your schools, right?"

Chloe nodded. "The apartment's about a half hour to Parsons by subway. It'll be closer to an hour for me to get to Lincoln, but oh well." She leaned back against her chair, tapping her foot against one of the legs. "I should be done in less than two years, at least."

"I'm still angry about that," Max muttered, taking a particularly large bite in protest.

"Not my fault that trade school doesn't make you take a bunch of crap classes. 'Well rounded', my ass."

Aaron was squinting as he finished his burger. "I thought Lincoln Tech was one of those, what, scam schools? Charges a million bucks and isn't that much better?"

"If you saw the scholarships I got for being an 'unfortunate youth', you'd have gone for it, too." Maybe it had been the wrong thing to say - she could see Aaron flinch, and even Max shifted uncomfortably next to her. "Anyways, figured once I know a little more than what I managed to learn in a scrapyard, I'll have a much easier time finding a job."

"You mean working on taxis all day," Max joked.

Chloe gave her finger guns in response. "Damn straight. Well, for as long as we stay in New York," she added with a shrug.

Aaron had gotten to his feet, starting to grab dishes to bring to the kitchen. "Well, if you go to school out of state, you're more likely to stay in that state, right?"

"We're just trying to take this one step at a time. We have a few years before we have to worry about that," Max answered, handing her empty plate over.

Chloe was only able to push her chair back a few inches to help before Aaron shot her a glare. "Chloe, sit your ass down."

"You know, there's nothing stopping us from cooking dinner tomorrow before you even get home," she pointed out, feeling a grin starting to stretch across her face.

He groaned loudly from the kitchen. "And if you do, I will be grateful, but I wanted to take you to Amigos tomorrow."

"What, do they do a Taco Tuesday?" Max asked, giggling as she watched Chloe roll her eyes.

Aaron chuckled, nodding as he started putting plates into the dishwasher. "Well, yeah. Nothing beats a taco happy hour."