It was the first time in two months that Max woke her up in the middle of the night.
Thankfully, it wasn't the full screaming experience that had once plagued them - she was only tossing and turning, muttering to herself when her hand had hit Chloe in the face. It took Chloe a minute to realize what was happening before grabbing onto Max's flailing wrists, shaking her a little.
Max woke up almost instantly, looking alarmed before catching sight of Chloe. She slumped back into the bed, exhausted. "I-I'm sorry," Max muttered, gently pulling one of her arms free so she could rub her eyes.
Chloe sighed, laying back down on her side to face Max. "It's been a while since we've had some excitement, huh?"
Max sighed as well, staring up at the ceiling for a moment. "Yesterday wasn't a field trip, that's for sure." She responded slowly, as if she was trying to speak very carefully.
Chloe slowly slipped her arm over Max, resting it on her stomach."You okay with it? I mean, besides it triggering nightmares. Obviously."
Max exhaled, a humorless laugh slipping out. "It's...it's weird, I guess?" One of her hands was gently rubbing Chloe's forearm mindlessly. "I mean, I felt bad for Kate when she was on the stand, that's not weird. But he's, you know, there." She shuddered to punctuate her point, her hand clenching for a second around Chloe's arm. "And he has no idea about..." She trailed off, and Chloe pulled her tighter.
"Fuck him, right?" Chloe suggested. She wasn't sure what else to do about it, as hiring a hitman seemed out of the question.
"Yeah. Fuck him." There was a moment of quiet as they breathed, sleep threatening to take them again, before Max suddenly shot upright, alarmed. "Shit, today's Tuesday."
Chloe frowned, raising an eyebrow as she propped herself up on her elbow. "Glad you know your days of the week, Max."
"No, it's Tuesday. March 11th." She felt her own jaw drop, counting the days in her head. "Happy birthday, Chloe."
She blinked for a minute, staring back at her. "Dude, I totally forgot."
Even in the darkness, she could see the worry on Max's face. "Does it make me a bad girlfriend that I did, too?"
Chloe shrugged, reaching over to pat her on the knee. "Only comes around once a year, can't entirely blame you." Hell, if I didn't remember, I can't expect anyone else to, either.
There was suddenly a panic to Max's voice as she spoke. "And I made you come down here, on your-"
"Max, no. Don't start that." She sat up quickly, grabbing both of Max's upper arms firmly. "You didn't make me go anywhere, okay?" Chloe gave her a little shake, stilling holding on to her arms. "This trial shit was going to happen wherever we went, and that's not your fault."
Max was quiet for a minute, and they stared at each other in the darkness. "Okay," she whispered, and Chloe could feel her body start relaxing again.
"If you're really feeling guilty, you can give me a nice birthday week, all next week," Chloe commented as she let go of Max's arms, reaching down to grip one of Max's hands.
"Don't get greedy. It's not a good look on you," she teased weakly, but there was the smallest of smiles on her face. "We should probably go back to sleep."
Chloe groaned, but laid down next to her. "I hate it when you're responsible," she grumbled, but as Max started snuggling up to her, she decided she would allow it. She felt wide awake, though, and decided to take advantage of a cuddly girlfriend while she could.
Happy big 2-0. It was crazy to think how much had changed in the last year. Precisely one year ago, she had woken up, pissed at David, burned time at the junkyard waiting for Rachel to get done with school, and spent the rest of the night high and drunk. She really didn't remember much after the first bottle of cheap vodka.
It seemed like it was definitely going to be a different kind of birthday this year.
"No, no, no, you got it all wrong, Vicky. You gotta stick with the classics."
Victoria responded to Chloe with a single finger salute from across the table. She lifted up the lid on one of the pink boxes as she looked for her next conquest. "I can get a raspberry filled donut anywhere. Why would I wait in a line for it?"
"You can get Coke anywhere too, but it still tastes better out of a glass bottle." She watched in dismay as Victoria selected her donut. "Fucking - seriously Vicky? That's literally a plain donut with cereal on it!"
"I think they're all good," Kate chimed in quickly, looking a little alarmed at the argument. She still had bags under her eyes, but seemed in a better mood than she had been after her testimony the previous day.
"Thank you, Kate." Victoria glared at Chloe for a second, but there was a shadow of a smirk at the corners of her mouth. She glanced over at Kate, who was grinning back at her.
Chloe watched across the table them in shock. "Hey, it's my birthday, why are you all teaming up on me?" She looked over at Max, who had been quietly working on her own donut. "C'mon Max, aren't you supposed to be on my side here?"
Max raised her hands defensively, eyes darting to the pink box. "Chloe, you're the one that started it," she muttered as she leaned over to grab one of the colorful pastries. "Besides, I agree with Kate."
Chloe gaped at her for a moment. "My own love has betrayed me, and on my birthday of all days," she said dramatically, raising the back of her hand to her forehead.
Victoria was snickering to herself as she polished off her own donut. "Sucks to suck, Price." Her eyes narrowed for a second, as if she was considering a fourth donut, but shook her head before diving in again. "Does the fact I paid make up for it?"
Chloe shrugged, scratching the back of her neck. "At least you actually got me somethi- ow!" Max had smacked her shoulder, shooting a death glare in her direction. "Joking, babe, joking."
"'Birthday week' my ass," Max muttered, but by the way she was holding her napkin, she was hiding her own grin. She turned her attention across the the table at Victoria and Kate, who were both snickering at them. "Anything else you guys wanted to do today while we're out?"
Kate shrugged, glancing around aimlessly. "I've never been to Portland, so I don't know what I've been missing."
"If we didn't just consume our body weight in sugar, I would have said hit up Ichiza, but I don't know if I can eat anything else today," Victoria commented, staring at the pink boxes with a slight look of disgust.
"We could always go to the art museum. At least three-fourths of this group would enjoy it," Max commented, glancing over at Chloe nervously. As kids, they had regularly argued over whether science museums or art museums were better - but back then, Chloe almost always won the argument. Then again, Max would agree to just about anything she said when they were kids.
"Hey, watching you get all nerdy over art is worth the price of admission, I'm sure," she commented, watching Max's cheeks get a little rosy at the thought.
Victoria coughed dramatically. "Gross."
Chloe grinned, watching Victoria's expression change from slightly humorous to concerned. "Say the girl who's trying to- ow, that was my shin!"
"Next time, it'll be your face," Victoria responded smugly as she pulled her foot back, but her eyes still seemed panicked as she made an obvious attempt not to look over at Kate. Kate was looking down at the table intently, but Chloe thought she saw a smile on her face.
Chloe felt like Max had made an excellent selection in their afternoon activities. She tailed behind her companions, pulled along by Max's firm grip, but hearing the three of them chatter back and forth in hushed tones brought a smile to her face. With all that was going on in their world that week, a little spark of happiness went a long way.
Even if Chloe wasn't excited about a Jesper Just film, watching the almost obsessive gleam in Max's eyes was entertainment enough. It reminded her of their younger days, watching her shy best friend coming alive behind whatever disposable camera she had that week. No storm, no Jeffershit, no care in the world. She wondered if, once the trial was over, things would start calming down again.
She was so lost in thought that Max had to elbow her in the ribs to get her attention, jerking her head over at Victoria and Kate, who were whispering to each other about a hyper realistic sculpture. It took Chloe a minute to realize what was unusual about the pair.
"Okay, who took who's hand first?" she whispered, surprised but yet not surprised at all. She felt a grin spreading across her face as she watched the two blondes, oblivious to the peanut gallery.
Max's eyes were sparkling mischievously as she looked up at Chloe. "Totally Kate."
"Dang, girl's got moves." She wrapped an arm around Max's waist, feeling like her birthday was almost the perfect day. "So much for that week grace period."
Max was leaning back into her, her hand gently rubbing Chloe's back. "I think we both knew that wasn't going to last."
"I figured Victoria would be begging on her knees by the end of the week." She grimaced as she heard herself spea.k "And now I have an image in my head I don't think I wanted to have."
"What are y- Chloe!" Max jerked away, swatting at her. She saw Victoria glance over at them out of the corner of her eye, but Chloe was too busy trying not to get hit a second time to care. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Sorry, I'll behave myself the rest of the day," she promised, offering her pinky, even with a shit eating grin on her face.
Max shook her head, sighing in defeat as she pushed Chloe's hand away. "No you won't."
Chloe grinned, quickly stepping forward to wrap both arms around Max. "Absolutely not," she agreed, kissing Max's cheek.