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“Max!”
Max jolted awake at the sensation of strong hands gripping onto her arm, the panic of being awoken so suddenly making her heart beat solidly in her chest. She mumbled a confused noise that sounded a bit like “what’s going on” as she blinked away the sleep still holding her eyes shut. When she finally had fully opened her bleary eyes, the soft glow of multicoloured fairy lights lit up her vision. The colours danced around in her eyes for a moment until the dark shape in front of them swam into focus.
“Maaaaax?” Chloe sing-songed, her voice low and quiet. Max rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes and stretched, letting a long sigh out at the sight of Chloe’s grinning face. She relaxed into the pillows again, blearily looking over to Chloe, who was kneeling on the bed, her hand still on Max’s arm.
“What time is it?” Max mumbled, knowing it was still night from the darkness out of the window and the thick feeling of sleep still clouding her brain. Chloe sat back on her feet, not releasing Max’s arm, jostling Max a little.
“Midnight.” Chloe replied, shoving Max a little excitedly. Max groaned at the answer, turning on her side to face away from Chloe. She felt Chloe shuffle up the bed until she was kneeling directly behind Max.
“Midnight?” Max whined into the fabric of her pillow. “Why have you woken me up at midnight, you shit?”
“Because…” Max heard Chloe say before there was a long pause. Then, suddenly, there was a loud bang that made Max jump nearly a foot in the air. She flipped over to find out what had just happened but was met with a stream of rainbow coloured confetti landing in her lap. She looked at the brightly coloured paper that was now all over her and then looked up to Chloe, who promptly burst into laughter, dropping the empty party popper to the floor.
“It’s your birthdaaaaay, Maximus!” Chloe announced cheerily, arms wide in the air. “Happy birthday!”
Max looked at her best friend for a long moment. Her ridiculous, dumb idiot of a best friend who was sat with a huge cheesy grin on her face. God Max had missed her. Sure, they’d been back in each others lives for nearly a year now but that didn’t mean that Max wasn’t in awe of her every opportunity she got. Such as how she had woken her up just to be the first to wish her a happy birthday. God, Max loved her.
“Thanks.” Max smiled, the overwhelming feeling of love removing any tiredness that remained. “Couldn’t have waited eight more hours to say that?” She joked, her left hand coming to shove Chloe’s leg playfully. Chloe didn’t move and neither did Max’s hand when it landed on her friend’s thigh.
“And have Warren beat me to it? No way.” Chloe replied, picking up the bunch of confetti on Max’s stomach and sprinkling it in her hair instead. Max scowled but let her nonetheless, knowing it was easier to just accept it than put up a fight, lest Chloe shove it down her shirt or something worse.
“Well, thanks all the same.” Max smiled, her thumb running a pattern into Chloe’s skin on her leg. Chloe’s hand dropped into Max’s hair and she stroked through it a few times, making Max sigh contentedly whilst reminding Max of the tiredness that she had momentarily forgotten. With a sleepy sigh, she held her arms open in invitation to Chloe, expecting a quick hug before she could go back to sleep.
Instead, Chloe smiled mischievously and Max had about half a second to steel herself before Chloe flopped forward, landing in a pile atop Max. Upon impact, she knocked the breath out of the smaller girl, leaving her winded and groaning. Max’s arms came down to hold her still as she tried to catch her breath and she shook her head at how Chloe laughed as she wriggled atop Max until she was lying completely on top of her. Blue hair was in her mouth and she could feel Chloe laughing into the crook of her neck, the feeling of both making her heart skip - although that could have been the lack of oxygen.
“Your elbows are so sharp, oh my god.” Max wheezed. The fact that Chloe, who was considerably taller than Max, was lying completely on top of her had left her breathless but she would not tell her to move as this felt pretty nice, despite the sharp elbows and knees that poked at her. Chloe just chuckled, wrapping her arms around Max and squeezing her tight. Max wrapped her arms around Chloe, holding her just as tight. Her eyes shut and she nuzzled into soft blue hair, dropping a kiss there and hoping that Chloe didn’t notice.
They lay there for a while, just holding each other and listening to the quiet whirring of the fan in the corner of the room. Max felt sleep creeping back into her brain and she thought that she’d be perfectly content to fall asleep like this, with Chloe in her arms and nearly did until Chloe readjusted her head to lay on Max’s shoulder.
“Happy birthday, Max.” She said softly, squeezing her affectionately once again. Max felt her lift her head off her shoulder and opened her eyes to find her face very close to her own. Chloe had a nervous look in her eyes, that Max knew well, but it was shadowed by something else entirely. Max looked at her for what seemed like hours, trying to figure out what it was but got distracted by the way the fairy lights cast shadows on her face that only made her seem even more beautiful than usual. Just as she started to formulate some ideas, Chloe moved forward slowly and Max drew in a sharp breath.
Chloe pressed her lips to Max’s softly, the kiss so brief that when Chloe pulled away, Max was still holding the breath she had taken in. The two girls looked at each other for a long moment as Max processed her internal freakout.
Chloe had kissed her. Chloe. Had. Kissed. Her ! After god knows how long of crushing on the girl, her best friend had kissed her. And sure it was short and they had technically kissed all that time ago in October, but this was enough to have Max’s heart beating even harder than it had been when it was oxygen-starved a moment ago. Her internal thought track was interrupted by the feel of Chloe shuffling off of her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think.” Chloe mumbled, her arms beginning to lift herself from her place atop Max. “I’ll sleep downstairs, I’m sor-”
Max cut her off by pulling her back down, making her land with a grunt back in place. Before Chloe even had a chance to question her, Max leant forward and kissed her clumsily, her lips landing barely on her top lip, catching more of her philtrum than her lips. Max cringed internally, panic rising over how lame she was. That panic dissipated as Chloe lifted herself slightly on her arms, raising her lips to Max’s level and righted the kiss, capturing Max’s bottom lip with hers softly. The soft pressure drew a stuttering breath out of Max, who swallowed it as Chloe began to move her lips against Max’s, prompting her to do the same. The gentle movements created electric shocks all along Max’s skin, coming out in sparks wherever Chloe’s body was pressed against hers.
They kissed for what seemed like an eternity until Chloe pressed a final lingering kiss to her lips and withdrew just enough to allow Max to let out the breath she had been holding in as a raspy exhale that made Chloe laugh quietly. Nailed it, Max, way to go, she thought as she blushed, grateful for the darkness of the room to hide it.
“So…” Max breathed, staring at the older girl in surprise. Chloe smiled- almost smirked- back, her hand coming up to brush some hair from Max’s face before she cupped her cheek carefully.
“Go on, say it.” Chloe smiled, with a roll of her eyes. Max tilted her head in confusion.
“Say what?” She asked confused, her hands coming to rest on Chloe’s waist. Chloe chuckled under her breath.
“Wowser.” Chloe said in an insultingly bad impression of her best friend. She laughed at her own joke, laughing harder when Max used her leverage on her to shove her promptly from atop her and back onto her side of the bed. Max crossed her arms and lay staring at the ceiling as Chloe’s laughs died down into small chuckles again.
“So mean. It’s my birthday.” Max reminded her, turning her head to look at the smiling punk. Chloe shuffled back over, lifting Max’s arm and sliding in next to her before dropping it. She lay her head on Max’s chest and slung an arm over her waist as well as a leg over hers, well and truly trapping Max in an uncharacteristic cuddle. Not that Max minded at all, her arm lying on top of Chloe’s body pulling her in closer and her other hand coming across to find one of Chloe’s so she could entwine their fingers.
“You’re right, sorry,” Chloe spoke, pulling the duvet back over them. “Happy birthday. I’ll be sure to make it up to you in the morning.” She said in a low and suggestive tone. Max began to splutter a little but Chloe cut her off. “With birthday pancakes. God, get your mind out of the gutter.” She joked, making Max thwack her lightly on the shoulder.
Chloe laughed, settling further into Max’s arms. Max held her soundly as they lie there, trying to process all her thoughts but found them all to be fireworks and celebrations and disbelief that the ridiculous blue-haired girl in her arms loved her back. Max lay there for so long that Chloe fell asleep, the sounds of snoring becoming the new backing track to Max’s internal monologue. Deciding she would let Chloe sleep, she tried to move her back onto her side of the bed but to no avail, as Chloe gripped tighter onto her waist in her sleep at the feel of it. Max laughed softly at how cute she was, even when she was unconscious.
“Such a goop.” Max whispered as she lay back on her side of her bed, still holding the sleeping girl in her arms. She kissed the top of her head, leaving her nose nestled in amongst soft blue strands.
Best birthday so far , for sure. Max thought as sleep began to take her again, helped along by the softly snoring girl in her arms who would still be there when she woke up, much to her excitement.