Chloe woke up with the sun, stretching appreciatively before realizing she was in an empty bed. Max must have slipped out earlier in the morning without waking her up, which was a miracle. She frowned at the ceiling for a moment before rolling out of bed and quicklygetting dressed. She could hear voices from the other side of the door, and once she had opened it, could also smell coffee.
Aaron and Max were both sitting at the table, in the middle of a conversation. Aaron lifted his mug of coffee in greeting as he saw Chloe coming down the hall. "There should be more in the pot if you want some. Cups are right above the coffee maker."
She nodded, holding back a yawn as she opened the cabinet and grabbed a cup. She only half listened to the two of them discussing something about Parsons as she poured the last of the coffee into her mug. "How am I the last one awake?" Chloe asked, joining them at the table.
Aaron shrugged casually, lips twitching. "Don't know, but you must have been sleeping hard. Max said you were snoring," he added slyly as he loudly slurped his drink.
"I did not," Max laughed, rolling her eyes. She had shifted in her chair a little, no longer directly facing Aaron. "So, what's the plan for the day, now that everyone's up?"
He took another drink before nodding towards a cabinet in the living room. "Got a couple of board games if you're interested. Otherwise, I'm sure we can think of something."
Chloe had already opened the cabinet, her own coffee completely forgotten as she glanced through their meager options. "Ooh, Monopoly?" she called out excitedly.
Max had materialized behind her, gasping, trying to get her hand on the box to keep it firmly on the shelf. "Chloe, no, not after you cheated last time!"
"I always liked Monopoly," Aaron commented rather sadly behind them. He had also gotten up from the table to stand behind them, quickly starting to snicker. "And I might have been the one who taught her how to cheat."
Max's eyes were wild as she forced herself between Chloe and the cabinet, shaking her head violently. "No, absolutely not, I'm not dealing with two despicable landlords."
Chloe crossed her arms, pouting dramatically. "Aww, come on, Max, it'll be fun!" Chloe pleaded, and although she was trying to keep a straight face to match her pout, she could feel a smirk begging to come out.
"Yeah, Max, it'll be fun!" Aaron echoed, laughing even as he spoke. He rested his forearm on Chloe's shoulder, pointing between the two of them enthusiastically with his other hand. "How can you say no to family bonding time?"
Max was looking between the two of them, eyes narrowed, before finally sighing and pulling the box out of the cabinet. "Fine. But I get to be the banker, and you two have to be on the opposite side of the table from me. Stop that," she added quickly as the two of them fist bumped.
"Alright, fine," Chloe sighed, holding back a snicker as Aaron winked at her before letting Max pick her side of the table.
The game went about as well as she had been expecting - Max spent most of it trying to focus on anything and everything that Chloe and Aaron were doing, to the point where she was almost forgetting to play the game herself. Chloe bit her lip and played on her phone when she saw Aaron failing to add his dice together properly a few times, and he in turn said nothing when she managed to sneak her hand into the box once when Max had ducked under the table to pick up a dropped property card.
The two of them couldn't maintain eye contact as Aaron finally declared himself the winner, having successfully forced Chloe and Max into foreclosing on almost all of their properties. Max stalked off to the bathroom, probably just to get away from them, and it was all the two Prices could do to not start laughing.
After a minute of repressed snickers, she heard Aaron sigh rather heavily. She finally glanced over at him, although his gaze was focused on the game board. "About last night…"
She chuckled nervously, working on sorting the money. "Oh, so you weren't black out drunk, that's good."
He gave her a little mocking sneer before shaking his head. "You're funny, Price." His expression softened immediately though, thoughtful. "I know it sucks that I'm so far away, but I really do want to be a part of your life, more than I have been."
She nodded, dropping the last of the paper back into the box. "I know. I appreciate it."
"Maybe it doesn't mean as much coming from your deadbeat uncle-" she rolled her eyes dramatically as he smirked a little, before growing serious again, "but I'm proud of you, kid."
She felt her face growing a little warm, and she rocked side to side in her chair. "Thanks, Aaron."
There was a loud sigh announcing that Max had finally come back, her crossbody bag in tow. "Are you done pouting?" Chloe asked, biting her lip to avoid laughing at Max's eye-roll. "I'm sorry, I swear, I only cheated once."
"You- okay, you know what, I don't want to know." Max sat down at the table again, carefully pulling out the stack of photos from their day at Arches. "Aaron, you wanted to see these, right?"
An excited smile had spread across his face, a hand automatically reaching out. "Oh, right, I forgot about these." He grabbed the first handful offered to him, flicking through them slowly. "Damn, Max, you're good."
Max was focused on sorting the rest of the stack, a satisfied smile on her face. "Oh, thanks."
Chloe abandoned her current chair next to Aaron to sit by Max, leaning into her personal space to watch the Polaroids. Having been there when the photos were developed, she didn't find many surprises, although she did snag one of the photos Max had taken of the two of them. She definitely needed to do something with her hair - green really wasn't her style.
Max angled the other picture of them towards her, the one where Chloe had enthusiastically planted a kiss on her cheek. "I might like this one a little more," she commented, a little grin on her face.
"Note to self - photobomb more of your photos." Max giggled quietly, glancing up at Aaron, who was still consumed with his first stack of photos. Chloe wasn't sure what he was getting out of them - he'd been to Arches himself, probably had pictures of the exact same landscapes, but she did appreciate that he was trying to have an iota of interest in it.
Speaking of trying… Chloe gently waved the Polaroid still in her hand towards Max. "Can I send this one to David? I know he wanted us to send pictures, and I don't think this is what he meant, but…"
Max sat up a little straighter, surprised, but started nodding almost immediately. "Oh, sure. Do you want to send the original, or just scan it in?"
"Scanning's fine, I don't even know where to send it otherwise. Think he's in Arizona now?" She wasn't trying to keep up with David much - he was a grown ass man, after all, but he seemed to be genuinely interested in what the two of them were doing.
Aaron had finally looked up, eyes moving to the remaining stack that Max had finished organizing. "What are you doing the rest of the summer?"
Chloe shrugged, fingers running over the corner of her Polaroid. "Friend of ours is doing a D&D one shot for us next week. Other than that, I don't know."
Max had been in the process of swapping out Aaron's photos, stopping suddenly to snap. "Right, I forgot to tell you. Victoria's parents invited us to Wild Waves."
She tried to picture the group of them running around an amusement park, and she couldn't help but laugh at the image. "I can't see any of the Chases or Kate on a roller coaster," Chloe commented, leaning back into her chair. "Are we just going to hang out in the wave pool all day?"
"I didn't ask for specifics. But they do have one of those dumb pirate swing rides," Max responded, looking at Chloe expectantly.
"Just because there are pirates involved doesn't mean that I'm going to do it." Max had lifted her eyebrows, and Chloe sighed, caving. "Yes, I want to ride the dumb pirate swing ride."