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Chloe sat on the back of a bench looking out at the water, watching the waves crash against the shore. The lighthouse loomed behind her and served as an anchor holding her in place as her mind was racing with all of the things that had happened in the last 24 hours.
The best friend she thought she would never see again was back! And not only was Max back in her life but she saved her, not once but twice, with some bizarre super power. Her friend, her best friend could rewind time and it was the best thing to ever happened in this town. But if she was being honest it scared her too. Max, at any moment could change the events that were unfolding around her. Chloe wondered if Max had changed things that she didn’t know about, gone back and undone something, stopped another thing from happening and didn’t tell Chloe about. There was so much they didn’t know about what was happening and it felt like it kept piling up. More and more questions and no answers.
Just as her nerves were about to get the best of her she reached her shaking hand into her pocket and pulled out her cigarettes and a lighter. She lit one and watched it burn for a second before taking a drag and exhaled, watching the embers fall to the ground. Taking a deep breath she tried to calm herself.
Suddenly Chloe’s phone began to buzz and it pulled her out of her thoughts. Looking down she saw the name “ASSHOLE” light up her screen. She sighed, really not in the mood to listen to David’s nagging, not after today. Pressing ignore she put her phone back in her pocket. Chloe contemplated if she even wanted to go home tonight.
A few seconds later her phone was buzzing again.
“Fuck.” She swore and checked her phone. It was David. Again.
Chloe weighed her options and decided it wouldn’t be in her favor to ignore his call for a second time.
With a heavy sigh she answered, “What do you want?” before he got the chance to start lecturing her.
“Chloe!” David said angrily. “Why didn’t you answer the first time?”
Chloe opened her mouth to say something smart but never got the chance.
“Ah, never mind. There was an incident at school today.” He said with an edge to his voice.
Chloe’s heart skipped a beat.
Max. Did something happened to Max?
“What happened?!” Chloe shouted, fearing what David was going to say next.
Chloe couldn’t stop picturing Max bent over, holding her head with blood running down her face, over and over again. Regret filled her chest, she shouldn’t have pushed her so hard this afternoon. It was just a stupid game, she just wanted to see what Max was capable off.
“Kate Marsh tried to jump off the top of the girls dormitories.” he explained, his voice gruff.
Chloe was stunned, those were not the words she was expecting. But she slowly felt like she could breathe again. Although there was still an ache in her chest.
Kate? The uber Christian girl with the fluffy hair tried to kill herself? Chloe had met her a couple of times. Kate was always so sweet and kind. She couldn’t imagine what would make her of all people do something like that.
“That’s terrible but why are you telling me this?” Chloe asked tentatively, unsure of where this conversation was going.
“Because you’re….friend, Max Caulfield was the one who talked her down from the edge.”
Of course.
“They’re both safe right?” she asked the worry clear in her voice.
Max’s bloody nose was still stuck in her head. How much of her power did she use to get on that roof?
“Yes. They’re both fine.” he sighed.
“That’s…good.”
“Well… I just thought you should know. She was the first person you’ve brought 'round the house since…“ David sighed. “You might want to check in on her if you have a chance. She probably needs all the friend she can get right now.”
“Even with the pot?” she fired back without thinking.
He was quiet for a while and Chloe mentally punched herself for bringing it up.
“Yeah.” he said finally.
“Well thank you for telling me.” she said, surprised by his response.
“Hmm, well… see you at home.” David grumbled before hanging up.
“Bye.” she said quickly before he hung up.
Quickly Chloe put out her cigarette on the bench and shoved her phone in her pocket. She hopped off the bench and nearly ran back to her truck at the bottom of the trail. Her way to Blackwell took significantly less time than it would have if she had gone the speed limit but she needed to see Max’s with her own eyes. She needed proof that she was ok.
After parking, Chloe suddenly realized she didn’t even know where Max was or which dorm room she lived in. Groaning she got out of the truck and pulled out her phone. As she found Max’s name in her phone, the already darkening evening sky suddenly got even darker.
Chloe looked up as the moon started to cover the sun and the eclipse started.
“What the hell?” she whispered to herself.
Still looking up at the sky she made her way towards the girl’s dorms. As she crossed the front of the school she glanced at the fountain she had stolen quarters out of multiple times and spotted two people sitting on the front steps.
Looking closer she realized it was Max, and she was sitting with some guy who had his arm around her shoulders. Chloe felt relieved to see Max and felt like a weight had been lifted. But at the same time her stomach fell at the sight of her with someone else and suddenly she felt like she didn’t belong there at all.
Just as she was about to turn around and leave not wanting to interrupt, Max spotted her.
“Chloe?!” Max called out. “What are you doing here?”
Max got up off the steps and walked over to her, the guy followed.
“I uh heard about what happened. With Kate.” Chloe stammered, still feeling out of place. “I wanted to see if you were alright.”
“Chloe-” Max said softly clearly touched that Chloe had been so worried.
“Hey, you’re the girl who ran off with Max yesterday.” The guy said interrupting whatever Max was going to say next.
Finally looking at him Chloe noticed his wicked black eye.
“Yeah and you must be the one who took an ass beating for Max back there. For what its worth I’m glad you were there to stand up for her.” Chloe said, feeling thankful and annoyed at the same time.
“You guys I can take care of myself, thank you very much.” Max protested.
“I know that Max. Doesn’t mean I have to let you.” The guy said.
Chloe felt her stomach twist and her grin falter. Why was she bothered by that punk so much?
“Alright Warren I’ll talk to you later. It’s been a crazy day I think I’m just going to go back to my room.” Max said sheepishly, glancing back and froth between them.
“Oh, alright. Guess I'll catch you later, Caulfield.” Warren said, thankfully taking the hint that he was no longer wanted and walked away toward the parking lot.
“Come on.” Max said and grabbed Chloe's hand forcing her to follow.
Chloe swallowed and allowed herself to be pulled along, silently across the campus not sure what to say now that she was finally with Max.
“How did you find out about Kate?” Max asked.
“David called me.”
“Really?” Max said, sounding understandably surprised.
Chloe nodded. They were quite the rest of the way to Max’s room. There was a somber energy that hung in the air like a fog, especially the closer they got to the dorms.
When they got to Max’s room Chloe took a moment to take it all in while Max sat down on the edge of her bed.
“I didn’t know you played guitar.” Chloe said when she spotted the instrument leaning against the couch. She walked over and ran her fingers over the strings gently.
“I had a lot of free time when I first moved to Seattle. My parents thought I should get a hobby besides photography so I taught myself to play.”
“That’s so cool.” Chloe said softly and turned around to look at Max and all the photos behind her. “You took all of those?”
“Yeah, those are just the good ones too. I have boxes full at home.”
“I’d love to see that.” Chloe said softly.
Chloe sat down on the couch across from Max, they both were silent for a while dreading the conversation that was to follow.
“So, on the roof….did you have to use your power?”
Max hesitated. “Sort of?”
“What do you mean? “
“When I ran to the dorms and saw Kate on the roof, it was just in time to see her jump. To see her falling…and...." Max's voice trailed off and her eyes got distant. Chloe felt her chest tighten thinking about the horrors Max probably saw but was to scared to say.
"I tried to rewind but I couldn’t get back far enough, my head was aching, and my nose…” Max made a face.
“So what happened? How did you get on the roof?”
“…I think I managed to stop time all together.” Max admitted.
“What? How is that even possible?”
“It was like I was trying to rewind but I got stuck and I managed to hold it still until I got on the roof.”
“So you have a whole new power now? That’s insane.” Chloe said, breathlessly as she tried to process what her friend was telling her.
“I don’t know, maybe? But all this using my power stuff is starting to put a strain on my body. I need to get stronger in case anything like this happens again.” Max said with a fierce determination.
Chloe felt for her friend. Max had seen Kate, her friend, fall from the roof. That would be traumatic for anyone but to be the only one to have seen it must be a heavy weight to bare. Chloe understood Max’s desire to get stronger to save her friends but it worried her too.
“Max, you have to be careful. What if this power can hurt you?”
“I thought you said my power was a toy.” Max said with a smug yet sad grin.
“I was wrong!” Chloe shouted and stood up. Chloe regretting this morning, she didn’t realized the gravity of the situation at the time, but she did now.
“Chloe, this power is bigger than me, it’s not something I can just ignore.” Max protested.
“But if it hurts you, Max… The pain, and the nosebleeds. And if you might drain yourself…”
Max got up from her bed and walked over and stood in front of Chloe. “I’m fine we’ll figure this-” she said and reached out to hold Chloe's arms.
“Max.” Chloe said sternly as they just stood in front of each other.
Neither one of them said a word as Chloe broke out of Max's grip and took Max’s face gently in her hands. With her left hand on Max's cheek Chloe brought her other hand to the shorter girl’s forehead and brushed her bangs out of the way. Max closed her eyes at the touch and as Chloe inspected her face.
Max’s face was flushed a bright pink but there were no marks, no sign that anything was out of the ordinary. All this crazy shit going on, visions of the future, rewound time that Chloe would never know about, and Chloe couldn’t see any evidence of it and it drove her crazy.
There was nothing she could do. There wasn’t anything she could fight or throw a punch at. Everything was just out of her control. She thought about Rachel and how helpless she felt when she first disappeared.
The image Max collapsing in front of her and the bloody nose flashed in Chloe’s mind yet again. All of these emotions wreaking havoc in her body and she felt like she was finally about to break from the weight of it all.
Before she could think about another thing Chloe bent down and kissed Max on the forehead. Gently her lips brushed Max’s soft skin and a moment later she brought her forehead down and rested it against the other girl’s.
Max’s eyes fluttered open.
“What are you doing?” Max whispered.
“I don’t know, I don’t know anything anymore. I doubt I ever did.” Chloe said helplessly.
She was on the verge of tears. She could feel the familiar stinging in her eyes. She hadn’t cried in months and it ached in her chest like a dam that was about to burst.
Max reached up and grabbed Chloe’s hands in her own and held them gently down at her sides.
“It’s ok, we’re going to figure it out, together. I promise.” Max said softly.
“But what if we don’t. I can’t lose you! Not again. Not after everything else.” Chloe said panicked. She pulled away to see Max’s face.
Max tried to look reassuring. They were still holding hands and Max squeezed them gently.
“Chloe, I’m right here. You’re not going to lose me.”
Chloe couldn’t explain what she was feeling. She was so happy when she looked at her friend but there was a sadness there too. There was too much loss associated with that kind of happiness. It made her scared to feel it at all. With her dad, with Rachel…it always ended in grief and Chloe didn’t think she could live through a loss like that again.
“I just got you back.” She whispered. “I’ve lost too many people. Rachel, my dad…you.”
“Chloe,” Max said sternly as she dropped Chloe’s hands and raised them to the taller girls face making her looking the shorter one in the eyes. “I’m here and I won’t leave you again.” Max was looking at Chloe with such tenderness it made her heart skip a beat and breath catch in her throat.
“How many times do I have to tell you that?” Max asked, breaking out into a small smile.
Without hesitation but without much thought, Chloe brought her face down and their lips met. Chloe’s arms wrapped around Max’s waist and held her close while Max’s hands were already tangled in blue hair.
The kiss was gentle and hesitant at first, both of them testing the waters but soon Max eagerly kissed back adjusting their faces to the side to deepen the kiss. Chloe’s heart and mind were racing, not able to focus on anything but the sensation of Max’s mouth and hands.
They paused only for a second to catch their breath before crashing their lips together more enthusiastically. Chloe’s hands roamed Max’s back and ended up slipping on hand under her shirt causing Max to gasp and grab Chloe’s collar pulling her closer gently directing them back a few steps toward the bed.
A few more steps and they both tumbled down on the bed. Max on her back still holding on to Chloe’s collar tightly. Chloe placed gently kisses along Max’s jaw and down her neck. Max let go of Chloe’s shirt and once again ran her fingers through Chloe’s hair.
Breathing heavily Chloe chuckled and placed one more kiss on Max’s collar bone and laid down on top of Max’s chest. Chloe closed her eyes and focused on the sound of Max’s heartbeat. As long as she heard that she felt calmer, knowing Max was right there alive and well.
They laid there in silence for a while, Chloe was starting to feel sleepy as Max started to play with her hair.
“Chloe?” Max asked in the quietest whisper.
“Hmm.”
“…do you love me?”
The question was a shock. Even being so tired Chloe knew Max wasn’t just asking about the spontaneous kiss and what it meant. There was an uncertainty in her voice that made Chloe think that Max was actually asking if she was forgiven.
Forgiven for the 5 years of silence when Chloe had needed her most. The anger Chloe had been holding on to for so long, she realized now, was gone. All that was left in its absence now was fear, the fear that she would lose Max somehow and it would happen again.
But as she closed her eyes she listened to Max’s heartbeat again.
“Yes.”