Chapter Text
When you awaken, the sun is a little bit higher in the sky. Your ears ache in the silence, and you realize that the truck's engine has been turned off. You hum a little bit, processing your surroundings. You're in a parking lot somewhere and you take a second to blink until your eyes focus before speaking.
"Chloe? Did I fall asleep?", you hear yourself groan. Your voice sounds gross.
"Just for awhile, don't worry about it. We're at a motel. You should get out so we can check in.", Chloe says quietly. She's still holding your hand, and the thought of her continuing to hold your hand while you sleep makes you all warm and fuzzy inside.
You look at Chloe, and she's already got her eyes fixed on you, which takes you by surprise just a little bit. It kills you that she doesn't know how beautiful she is.
"Do you want to go inside?", she asks you gently.
"Yeah.", you answer confidently. You could definitely lie down and relax with your best friend right now. You've been in that truck for a long time. With that thought, you realize that you have no idea what time it is, but you have little concern for that at this moment.
Chloe opens her door and lets go of your hand for a moment. She closes her door as quietly as she can manage while still properly locking it and zips behind the truck to open your door for you. How oddly chivalrous of her.
Before you're even out of the car, she's already grabbed your hand, and that feeling you had a moment ago comes back again. It can only be explained as adoration at this point, you suppose.
She lets you adjust yourself before you start moving, and everything seems a lot brighter than it was a second ago. Fresh air is all you can concentrate on.
"How long were we parked before I woke up?", you inquire, a little bleary.
"I don't know, like ten minutes or so? Not sure, really.", she says calmly. She doesn't appear to be irritated or anything, but you might be wrong.
"I'm sorry I fell asleep. I didn't mean to.", you tell her, looking at her with some remorse. You feel bad because she hasn't slept and it doesn't seem fair that you got to sleep and she didn't. You really hope she isn't mad about it, either.
She looks at you with pity, and she shakes her head. "Max, it's okay. Sleep all you want. Honestly, you deserve it with everything we've been through." She pauses for a second. "Do you want to go check in now?"
You nod quickly and she squeezes your hand a little. Chloe closes your door for you and you both walk, hand in hand, towards the office. When you get there, you decide to let Chloe do the talking and instead choose to study the office booth.
It's got a little glass window that looks pretty old and dirty, almost completely sealing in the office, with the exception of a small opening in the bottom, presumably for sliding in cash. There's a small metal grate of some sort right in the middle, which you believe is so that you and the office attendant can talk to each other comfortably. You pay attention to the peeling paint around the sides, and how Chloe's face moves when she talks. Your ears tune in when the attendant asks her if you want one bed or two and she requests the latter, somewhat to your surprise.
"Unless you object?", Chloe says to you, turning her head to listen to your response.
"What?"
"One bed or two?", she repeats.
"One, please.", you tell her, definitively. You hope she's okay with that. You really don't want to sleep alone.
"One bed, sorry.", she repeats to the attendant for you. She's smiling a little bit, and you think she might be trying to hide it from you. Suspicious. She slips some cash to the attendant, and in return he slides a key through the opening at the bottom of the window.
"Here you are, room 2B, all right?", he says with a little concern in his voice for whatever reason. It strikes you as odd.
"Thank you.", Chloe replies, taking the key and handing it to you as something to fidget with for the time being. You appreciate that immensely.
You both start to walk away when the attendant calls to you and you stumble back to the booth again.
"I don't suppose you two are coming from Arcadia, are you? I've heard of a gigantic tornado on the news, and you kind of look the part. No offense, of course.", he stutters a little. You think he might be nervous, but trying to figure out what people are thinking is making you more tired than you already are.
"Yeah, we are. Why do you ask?", Chloe sighs tiredly. You can tell she doesn't want to have this conversation, but she's trying to be polite.
The attendant shakes his head and opens up a little. "Some of my family lives there. I hope they're okay." You feel awful. Like really, really, awful.
"I do too. Good luck, man." Chloe seems sad again, and you want to die so badly right now. Before you can get up the guts to say anything, you're at the door, and she's gesturing for the key. You don't really want to give it back, even though you're pretty sure she'll return it to you. Instead of giving her the key, you unlock the door yourself. She chuckles a little and squeezes your hand again and you feel a bit better.
When she opens the door you can tell it's not paradise or anything, but it's not that bad. Your expectations were pretty low to begin with, so this is definitely a step up. The first thing you notice is that it's very dark. When you step inside, you hold Chloe's hand a little tighter and she looks at you with a bit of concern.
"Are you okay?", she asks gently.
"Yeah, I want to go to bed can we go to sleep now?", you say quickly.
"Woah, there. Slow down for a second, Maximus!", she exclaims, closing the door behind you. "Don't you want to check out the room first, maybe take a shower or something?"
"You can take a shower if you want. I'm just really tired and I thought you would want to go to sleep too. Am I wrong?", you ask softly, confused and a bit frustrated with yourself for talking to Chloe with such attitude. She's going to lash out for sure. You prepare yourself unconsciously by squinting a bit and stepping back, anticipating a lot of sound coming from her.
"Okay, Maxie. Let's go to sleep then.", she says, giving you a small smile. She leans in and kisses your cheek, perhaps testing your limits for physical contact and your willingness to be close to her. You are very surprised. You thought she would be wound up after this, ready to fight with you about everything. She is not, and that confuses you, since that is the new Chloe you've come to know.
She must have kissed you because she wanted you to be at ease. She probably noticed that you were "bracing for impact", so to speak. You try not to think about it further, so you drop your bag by the door and make your way towards the queen mattress laid out before you both.
"Do you want me to sleep on the floor?" she asks you, nonsensically.
"If I wanted you to sleep somewhere else, I would have asked for a room with two beds, Chloe.", you confidently tell her. You feel a little daring for saying that for whatever reason.
Chloe grunts an acknowledgement and gets into the left side of the bed, opposite from you. You realize that it's dark in the room, since neither of you turned on any lights or opened the curtains, but you don't give it any more thought. You are about to go to sleep, after all.
You slip into bed with Chloe, kicking off your shoes and setting the room key down on your night stand, but when you lay down, you realize how unsatisfying it is. You are still cold and damp.
"Chloe?", you whisper into the darkness.
"What?", she responds, just as quiet, even though there isn't anyone else in the room to be quiet for.
"My clothes are wet and cold.", you say, matter-of-factly.
"So are mine.", she replies in the same tone.
"I can't sleep with these on."
"Neither can I."
"Should we take them off?", you suggest.
"Only if you're okay with that. I can keep mine on if you want. That might make you more comfortable.", she offers, a bit too selflessly. She could catch a cold or something if she doesn't take them off. Additionally, she would make the bed soggy.
"No, you can take yours off too. You'll get sick." You hope that she takes your words for face value. The last thing you need is a suspected ulterior motive making her keep her clothes on and potentially coming down with pneumonia or something avoidable like that. Not that you would mind seeing her without clothes on or anything. Oh boy, you should take it down a notch. That got weird quick. It's not like you haven't seen it all before.
"Max? Did you fall asleep?", you suddenly hear Chloe whisper a bit louder.
"No, I didn't. Take off your clothes before you get sick.", you order, kind of by accident.
"Okay then. If you insist.", she replies lightheartedly. Thank god. For a second you thought you might have said that too harshly. You both slip out of bed and she quickly starts stripping to her underwear, clearly eager to get her damp clothes off. You can barely make out her struggling to get her skinny jeans off in the darkness, and that thought makes you laugh out loud, until you realize you're going to have to do the same thing in a second.
"Oh, ha ha.", she says, right before hitting her elbow on the wall next to her and groaning. You laugh again, because she's obviously having a hell of a time trying to get them off. Feeling merciful, you walk over and stop her from hurting herself again. When you turn on the lamp atop the night stand, you can see Chloe's eyebrows furrowed in irritation, with her pants only down to her lower thighs. Her pride is so damaged, it's hilarious. You suddenly have an idea.
"Go sit on the bed.", you say, holding in a laugh.
"Why?", she inquires without trust in her tone.
"Just do it. I'm feeling merciful.", you chide. She seems to trust you a bit more, and obeys, waddling over to the foot of the bed and letting herself fall onto the edge. She doesn't take her eyes off of you.
"Stick your legs out."
"Um. What?"
"Do you want my help or not?", you ask her, knowing the answer already. Chloe groans and sticks her legs out, putting her hands behind her to support her weight. She stares at her feet instead of at you.
You take a couple steps until you're in front of her and grab the waist of her jeans. When you're sure you have a tight grip on them, you slide them straight down her legs, turning them inside out. You toss them on the floor, and she bolts up from the bed, newly free from her denim prison.
"Oh my god, you're a genius, thank you!" She does a little dance and you laugh at her. She comes over and looks at you.
"Come on Maximus I'll do the same for you!", she offers.
"Uhh, okay." You unbutton your pants and slide them partway down your thighs. When you sit down, you realize your underwear is damp as well, but you'll live until tomorrow. Chloe slides your pants off almost as easily is you did and throws them onto her own inside out jeans.
You take a moment to appreciate the ease with which your legs can move now, and gather both pairs of pants. When you're finished taking everything out of all of the pockets, you hang them up to dry in the bathroom over the shower curtain rod. Hopefully they'll be dry in the morning.
Chloe has already taken her tank top off by the time you enter the room again, and you catch her just in time to see her slipping back into the bed, getting warm under the covers. You can barely see her face, and she's watching you like a playful cat. You are suddenly very jealous of her warmth, so you quickly drop your phones and wallets on the ground. You slip off your shirt and toss it to the floor next to the small pile of stuff you've just made, not bothering to hang it up to dry.
She giggles at how quickly you get into bed and curl up into a ball for warmth. You both lay on your side, peeking out over the blankets at each other. She's still watching you like that, and it makes you laugh too. You feel like you're both kids again.
"We have to get a cat.", you state out of the blue.
"Where did that come from?", Chloe laughs.
"Well, I came out and you were looking at me. It reminded me of a cat under the covers, and they're really cute when they're playing with something. Then I really wanted to pet a cat, plus I think you would love having a cat, and so I've decided we need to get a cat.", you ramble proudly. Chloe is a little speechless, but she's looking at you with amusement.
"Then we will get a cat, Super Max. Whatever you want." Chloe is looking you right in the eyes, and it isn't making you uncomfortable. You stare back at her for a second before you suddenly wrap your arms around her neck and kiss her. When you let go, she's looking at you in shock, and she isn't saying anything. You are so stupid, why would you do that? Being so impulsive ruins everything, now she won't-
Your thought process is completely cut off when she kisses you back hard. You feel your muscles tense and your eyes go wide, but as soon as you process what this means, you relax and kiss her back. When she breaks away, she's blushing hard and grinning ear-to-ear. You close your eyes and take a deep breath.
"I love you, Chloe Price. I have loved you since we were kids, and the wind blew my eye patch into a tree and you tried to get it by climbing onto the roof of your house, but you fell down and broke your arm, and you laughed while you cried. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you for five years, I never returned your calls or your letters because I was afraid I would never see you again and I didn't want our friendship to slowly fade away, and I'm sorry I hurt you but I thought it would be better that way."
When you open your eyes again, Chloe's expression has changed. You don't know what it means until she suddenly engulfs you in a tremendously tight hug.
"I love you too, Max. I forgive you, okay?", she whispers in your ear. Her breath is hot on your skin. You nod silently and close your eyes again, feeling her warmth burn your exposed skin. You both stay like that until you fall asleep, and you feel warm and fuzzy inside again.