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"Good morning, sunshine."
Chloe slowly opens one eye only to be greeted by the blurry sight of Rachel. She grumbles, planting her face down further into her pillow.
"Oh no, none of that. Come on," Rachel tugs the blanket completely off of Chloe, earning a nice scowl from the sleep deprived girl. "Rise and shine, sleeping beauty."
"Please tell me you're seriously not making me wake up-" Chloe's hand searches around under her pillow, pulling her phone out once she finds it, "at seven in the morning. On a Sunday."
"Okay. I'm seriously not making you wake up at seven in the morning. On a Sunday," Rachel places her hand over her chest, letting a dramatic pause hang in the air, "On God's glorious day."
It's the addition of the last sentence delivered in a breath like voice and straight face that makes Chloe stifle a laugh. Rachel has a funny way of making anything she says sound a lot like she's starring in a Shakespearean play. Chloe likes that about her. (Chloe likes a lot of things about Rachel.)
"Oh, good. Goodnight." Chloe says as she lays her head back down on her mattress, smirking when she hears a whine come out from Rachel.
(Of course, she really doesn't mind be woken up so early in the morning, only because it's Rachel who's terrorizing her sleep. If anyone else tried to pull a brave stunt like keeping Chloe Price from her precious sleep they would have been met with the fury of a hundred wars. But Rachel? Well, she's easily become an exception to many of Chloe's rules. She would happily pull an all-nighter with her wild friend if asked. Truthfully, she just loves to give the dramatic girl a hard time.)
"Chloe." Rachel draws out her name, "Come on, we have a busy day ahead of us. There's plenty of mountains to climb and secret lairs to discover." She says as she grabs a pillow from Chloe's bed and smacks her with it. "Now get up and get dressed!"
"Fine, fine, fine." Chloe relents, sitting up on the edge of her bed. She stretches her arms out wide, glancing at the girl in front of her.
Rachel always looks beautiful, no doubt about it, but she's absolutely glowing this morning. Especially with the morning sun beaming down on her as she stands by the window with her signature feather earring and blue flannel. She looks angelic. Enough of the poetry shit Chloe scolds herself, suddenly realizing she literally just rolled out of bed. She quickly brushes her hand through her short hair, attempting to look less like a haystack as she tames her wild strands down.
"You know, you look real cute in the mornings." Rachel says fondly, purposely tussling Chloe's almost tame hair, laughing when Chloe slaps her hand away.
"I look real cute any time of the day." Chloe cheekily replies, her cheeks growing red.
"But of course."
"How did you get in the house anyway?" Chloe asks as she stands up to walk to her dresser.
"Your mom let me in before she left."
"The step-dick didn't give you a hard time?"
"He was- wait, was that pun intentional?"
"Totally unintentional but I still want credit for it." Chloe replies, smiling brightly when Rachel laughs.
"He was on his way out by the time I got here." Rachel explains as she walks over to the edge of the bed and plops down, placing the pillow down next to her. "Apparently Sergeant Pepper had prior engagements consisting of a cult full of other pornstache step-fathers."
Chloe snorts.
"Well that's one less thing to worry about." Chloe mumbles, pulling out a shirt and a pair of jeans. "Now aside from climbing mountains and infiltrating lairs, what exactly do you have planned for today?"
"Ah, one must never reveal their diabolical plans for the day." Rachel says, wagging a finger at Chloe.
"Rachel."
"Fine, I'll tell you.. in due time. But for now, breakfast. It is the most important meal of the day after all."
"Now you're talking. I'm gonna take a quick shower first and then we'll head out. Stay out of trouble while I'm gone." Chloe says as she walks out of the room.
"Don't drown." Rachel calls after her.
This time Chloe doesn't even bother to contain the laugh.
The surprise visits seemed to be happening more and more often as of late. Rachel had suddenly became a vital part of Chloe's day. Sometimes she would wait for Chloe outside of one of her classes with a ridiculous prop from drama class.
"Rachel, why the hell are you wearing that?"
"You mean my monocle? I'm auditioning to play Sherlock Holmes. Wanna be my Watson?"
"Does Sherlock even wear a monocle?"
"He does now."
Other times she drops by to visit Chloe at the diner when Joyce is working a shift, stealing a fry off of her plate as she plops down at the booth, playfully bumping shoulders with Chloe.
It seemed with each day the girls spent together Rachel would call on Chloe more often to accompany her on more "adventures" as Rachel lovingly called them. (Even if the adventure was as simple as watching a cheesy horror film at Chloe's house or hanging out at the park, giving the people who walked by a backstory as if they were characters in a book.) Chloe didn't mind, really. She would happily spend the whole day watching paint dry if it meant she got to spend more time with Rachel.
"Say what you want about flea markets but they definitely have better finds than most shopping malls." Rachel says, walking down the sidewalk with a little bounce in her step.
"Don't you think that's a bit of a biased statement? 'Cause you know, you're a hippie and all."
"Shut it, Price." Rachel says, laughing as she gives Chloe a playful shove. "I am not a hippie."
"You literally bought three Fleetwood Mac records." Chloe says as she gestures to said records secured tightly under Rachel's arm.
"They're a good band! And besides, you found a pretty sweet necklace." Rachel points out, lightly tugging on the corded necklace hanging around Chloe's neck to emphasize her point. "Tell me, have you ever found anything so kick-ass like that at your precious mall? Highly doubtful."
"Hm," Chloe grabs the three pendants from said necklace, tilting the bullets around. "Okay, fair point. But still, you actually bought records. Vinyl records."
"You have to appreciate the classics! Vinyl records are timeless and anyone who is lucky enough to hear a song playing from a record player should understand how fortunate they are. Kids these days." Rachel says, sighing dramatically. "You hurt my feelings, Chloe Price. Now you must woo your way back into my broken heart."
"Luckily I know the best cure for a broken heart." Chloe says.
"Oh? And what might that be?"
"Ice cream." Chloe says triumphantly.
"Hmmm, I suppose that shall do for now. But you're treating."
"Fair enough. Lead the way, Stevie Nicks."
The day has turned well into early evening as the girls head to the park to cap the day off. They find a nice spot next to a tall oak tree and decide to settle there for the time being. Chloe leans back on her elbows, legs stretched out far in front of her as Rachel sits upright, staring intently at nothing in general.
"This was nice." Rachel says suddenly, looking up at the stretched trees surrounding the park. "Well, every time we hang out is nice, but.. Still."
"Yeah, it was." Chloe easily replies.
"We just always have the best time, you know? And, well... " Rachel trails off. Her eyes are looking everywhere except at Chloe as she tucks a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear.
Chloe sits up, looking straight at the fidgety girl. This is new, Chloe is often the most nervous of the two. (It's not her fault, really. It's the way her name rolls off of Rachel's tongue and the way her face brightens up when she laughs at one of Chloe's stupid jokes. And that smile, that damn warm smile. You'd be nervous around her too if that one hundred watt smile was directed at you.) But Rachel? Rachel is always confident in everything she does, yet Chloe sees hesitance in her eyes. She's unsure of what to do, so she patiently waits.
"What I'm really trying to say is thanks." Rachel says finally, voice strangely quiet.
"...thanks? For what exactly?" Chloe asks slowly. She's completely puzzled.
"Just thanks for hanging out with me, for being true, for putting up with me. I know I'm definitely not the easiest person to deal with on most days but you always put up with my shit anyway." Rachel explains, glancing at Chloe.
"Oh. Rachel, you really don't need to thank me. I mean hell, if anyone should be thankful here I think it should be me." Chloe replies.
"I don't think you completely understand what I'm trying to say. Look, Blackwell is full of shit. Most of the students are pretentious snobs with a superiority complex. Especially the Vortex members, they fake it the most. I could fucking see it clear as day, Chloe. They pretend they want to be my friend only because of some social hierarchy bullshit when in reality they just don't give a fuck. They really don't. I could go missing and none of them would even bat an eye. They're all just.. so fake." Rachel sighs, turning her head up towards the darkening sky.
"Yeah well, that's Blackwell for you," Chloe replies, knocking her shoulder against Rachel's. "It's full of nothing but juicy teenage gossip and artsy vultures with ulterior motives."
"Not you though. You're not one of those bullshitters." Rachel says, turning her head to look at Chloe, a small smile on her face. "You're as genuine as they come, Chloe Price. That's why I like hanging out with you so much. You don't care for social statuses or any of that other popularity bullshit. You like me for me, flaws and all. And that means the world to me. So, like I said before I started to ramble on, thank you."
Chloe smiles, laying her hand down over Rachel's. "Hey, what are partners in crime for?"
"Listening to mushy shit, obviously." Rachel replies, picking Chloe's hand up to interlace their fingers.
They sit side by side in a comfortable silence, looking up at the dimming sky. Chloe glances over at Rachel only to see her looking right back, an easy smile on her face. Chloe wonders for a fleeting moment how incredibly lucky she is to be right here in this exact moment with her favorite person, she wonders if there's another universe where her problems come pouring down like a raging storm, where her problems are tenfold and filled with misery and agony. A chill runs through her body as the thought leaves her mind and floats with the wind. Fuck it, Chloe thinks, all she knows for certain is how incredibly happy she is at this moment, the what-ifs don't mean shit.
"You know, I'm only hanging out with you so I can get close enough to learn all of your secrets so I can blackmail you and steal all of your roles in drama club." Chloe says, ruining breaking the comfortable silence.
"Really? And here I thought you were just using me to get to my Fleetwood Mac albums."
Chloe let's out a rambunctious laugh. Yeah, life is fucking great.