Chapter Text
The last thing Max remembered was combing through the papers Chloe had printed off of Principal Wells’ computer the other day...and the next thing she knew, she was waking up in Chloe's bed, who knows how much later.
The fact that she was more comfortable passing out in Chloe's room, a place she hadn't been in years (and that looked like one of those indie punk bands Chloe listened to all the time had thrown up all over the walls) than she was in her own dorm room at Blackwell, was strange. She probably should feel like she was sleeping in a stranger's room, but it just felt like she was surrounded by everything that made Chloe...Chloe. And that was comforting, somehow.
Max hadn't exactly been comfortable sleeping in her dorm since someone had spray-painted “NOBODY MESSES WITH ME BITCH” on her wall in angry, red letters. She very strongly suspected it was Nathan Prescott (because graffiti really wasn't Victoria's style). Just the thought of that creep skulking around in her room without her knowing was enough to make sleep impossible. The fact that she'd noticed some of her selfies were missing from her memorial wall didn't help.
Max sat up, yawned hugely, and stretched until she felt (and heard) a satisfying pop in her back.
Chloe turned around in her computer chair at the sound. “Yikes. Someone's getting old. How's the back, gramps?”
“Shut up,” Max yawned. Then she saw the faint shadows under Chloe's eyes, and the guilt finally hit. “Sorry, I didn't mean to pass out on you. And on your bed.”
“No problemo. I conked out, like, a couple hours after you did anyway.”
“You did?” Max blinked at the other girl. “Shit, sorry, I didn't mean to banish you to the floor. Jeez, you should've shook me awake or something–”
“And interrupt the only hours of sleep you're likely to get this week? Nah, I'm not that evil. And I didn't sleep on the floor, dumbass, I slept next to you. No way in hell I'd let myself get kicked out of my own bed.”
Of course. It wasn't like they hadn't done it before. In fact, it'd happened just the other day, after their idiotic--but admittedly fun--after-hours pool adventure. It had been nice to wake up next to her best friend for the first time in five whole years. She was almost disappointed Chloe had gotten up before she did this time.
Max shook her head, silently berating herself for getting lost in her thoughts again. “Then I guess I should thank you?” It came out as more of a question.
Chloe just waved her hand dismissively. “Never mind that. Didja get anything good?” Oh, right. They hadn't had a chance to compare notes before Max had passed out.
Max scooped up her Rachel research from the other night, thumbing through the little notes she'd made. “Not really...”
“Really? We were poring over all this for like, five fucking hours, and neither of us found jack shit?” Chloe pushed back her electric blue bangs from her forehead, sighing. She sounded less angry and more hopeless and dejected, but Max couldn't help but feel defensive.
“Well, we can't really pull together anything conclusive from just this...even with everything we found at Blackwell, nothing's fitting together.”
“I know, I know,” Chloe said irritably. “But I just feel like...every second she's gone is another chance for something really, really bad to happen to her. I don't want to waste time we could be using to find her and bring her back home. You know what I mean?"
If Chloe were any other person, Max would probably be trying to convince her that Rachel was just plain gone, or dead, or that the police could take care of everything...but for some reason she couldn't quite explain, she wholeheartedly believed Chloe when she said she thought Rachel was alive and needed their help. Sometimes Max even felt like Rachel was leading them to her. She didn't know how it was possible, but she really believed it was true, and Chloe really wanted to believe it was true. And so that was enough for her.
She couldn't shake the feeling all of this had something to do with that freak snowstorm and that weird eclipse, either.
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Max said gently. “Maybe once David heads out for work we could snoop through his files some. He's got cameras on everyone at Blackwell. Maybe he's found something and he doesn't even know it yet.”
Chloe's eyes sparked with hope. “Sweet. He left ages ago, so we could go right now. Good idea, Max. I knew I picked you as my sidekick for a reason.”
“Who says you're not my sidekick? I'm the one who got us into the principal's office, remember?”
“Yeah, thanks to your geeky little stalker.”
Max rubbed her arm uncomfortably. “Oh, come on. Warren's not that bad...when he's not. Uh. You know.”
“When he's not incompetently flirting with you?”
“Um. Yeah. That.” Max wouldn’t have chose those exact words to describe it. After all, she didn’t think she had the right to be calling anyone incompetent at flirting when she herself hadn’t had a boyfriend since the third grade. But still, even she had to agree with Chloe on this one. Warren’s game needed some serious work. Especially if he couldn’t even see how crazy Brooke was about him.
Chloe laughed so hard she snorted. Max tried very hard not to find it adorable, with very little success. She wasn't sure why Chloe loved to bag on Warren so much, though. As far as she knew, Chloe and him had never even had a conversation...
“Aaaanyway, we should probably get on that idea of yours before step-douche gets back.”
Max huffed. “What, no breakfast first?” Joyce's waffles were sounding really good right now.
Chloe lifted a single eyebrow, laughing. “Max, it's like four o'clock.”
“W-What?” Max sputtered. “Chloe, why didn't you say anything? I’ve missed almost all my classes!” She shot up off the bed, grabbing her phone, journal, and camera and shoving them into her bag. Chloe grabbed her by the wrist before she could pull her bag over her shoulder.
“Come on, Max. You can handle missing one day, right? Unless you really want to see that hotshot celeb of a teacher that badly.” At Max's unamused look, Chloe sighed, her fingers falling from Max’s wrist to gently grip her fingers. “You needed the rest, okay? And even if you did go to school, you wouldn't get anything done 'cause it’s pretty obvious that you're hella stressed right now.”
Max was almost surprised. She'd thought Chloe hadn't noticed, since she hadn't said anything about it. Until now. She felt a rush of affection for her friend. That’s right. Even when we were kids, Chloe always had trouble showing she cared, but she always did manage to show it eventually, in her own way. I remember now. She was my rock when Grandma died, and I couldn’t even be there when…no, don’t beat yourself up over this, Max. That’s not gonna help anybody. You’re here now. You’re fixing your mistakes.
“Okay, okay, you’re probably right,” Max said at last. “Thanks, Chloe.” The other girl’s eyes widened, as if she hadn’t expected that response. But eventually Chloe grinned, squeezing Max's fingers with surprising gentleness. Max almost missed the warmth when Chloe finally let go of her hand.
“Awright, little Max Caulfield is all grown up. First breaking and entering, and now she’s playing hooky. I am such a bad influence,” she said proudly.
“This is the first and only time I’m doing this,” laughed Max. “Don’t get carried away.”
“Sure, sure. Let’s just get this thing started. Ready when you are, Nancy Drew.”
“Nuh-uh,” Max said. “If we’re doing this, you’re feeding me. I haven’t eaten in, like, eight hours. I’m fricking starving.”
“You just want free food,” Chloe accused.
“You got me there.”
Chloe snorted. “Come on, you dork. My mom’ll make us both a late-ass lunch and then we can get this show on the road.”
"Sounds like a plan," Max grinned. She heard her phone ping. “One second, I got a text.”
“Kate?” Chloe asked with false nonchalance. Ever since Kate’s suicide attempt, Chloe had been asking Max for updates on the girl’s condition almost daily. Max figured she felt guilty about how upset she’d gotten at Max for taking Kate’s call at the diner.
“No. She hasn’t been given access to her phone yet,” Max said, sighing. She checked the notification on her phone. “Oh. Warren sent me the text.” She scrolled down. “Scratch that. Warren sent me five texts.”
Chloe laughed. “Well, I’ll just head downstairs while you answer your number one fan.” Max stuck her tongue out at the other girl, but Chloe was already gone.
“I guess I should see what Warren had to tell me at 8 AM today,” Max sighed to herself. He was one of her closest friends, besides Kate and of course Chloe, but Dana had been accurate in her comparison of him to an overeager puppy.
So Chloe had told Warren about the kiss. Part of Max wanted to laugh at the fact that Warren actually believed she and Chloe were an item, but another part of her, the part that was beating so fast in her chest it was threatening to burst out of her rib cage, didn’t find it funny at all. She felt her face grow hot. She already had the obligatory “Misunderstanding. Not actually gay for hot, punk best friend” text planned out when she saw that she’d already responded to Warren’s text.
What.
Chloe did it. Had to have. “NO EMOJI” my ass. Dork , Max thought fondly.
Chloe didn’t seem to be correcting Warren’s assumption that she and Chloe were dating. In fact, she seemed to be encouraging his confusion. Max scrolled down to the next few texts, looking for some clarification.
She did not.
...She did.
“Stupid,” Max mumbled to herself. Next time she saw Warren, she’d have to knock some sense into him so he’d finally ask Brooke out. The girl obviously liked him. Maybe Warren didn’t feel the same way? Something to think about, when her mind wasn’t still processing the sentence “Girl is mad into you”.
Max had figured the kiss between her and Chloe was just a...joke thing. Didn’t girls do that? Kiss their friends as a joke? The kiss had certainly seemed harmless enough to her at the time. But what if it hadn’t been a joke? Oh god, was Chloe just messing with Warren or did she actually think that she and Max were dating? Wait, were they dating? No, Chloe would have said something. Or kissed her again. But why did she want Warren to think they were dating? God, this was so confusing. Her head was aching so badly it felt like she’d tried to go too far back in time. But she could always just ask Chloe herself what was going on.
Max opened the door to Chloe’s room and took the stairs down to the kitchen. As soon as she saw Chloe grinning up at her from, she knew the girl definitely had something to do with this.
“So,” Max began.
“So,” Chloe repeated, giving Max what she must have thought was her most innocent, angelic smile.
“I hear we have a date with Warren,” Max said, crossing her arms.
Chloe waved her arm. “Warren has a date with himself. You have a date with me.” She gave Max a theatrical wink.
Max bit down the urge to smile. “Be serious, Chloe. What was this--” She waved her phone in the air. “all about? Warren thinks you and I are actually dating now.” She pulled out the chair across from Chloe and sat down. “Was this some kind of...weird prank?” And if it was, on who? Me or Warren?
“Well, since you’re obviously not into him and you’re too nice to reject him yourself, I figured he’d stop trying to get in your pants all the time if he thought you had a girlfriend,” She gestured to herself with both thumbs. “Namely, me. And it worked. Right?”
Max had to admit, there was a form of twisted logic at work in the other girl’s explanation. Judging by the texts, Warren did seem to have backed off a bit, and even seemed accepting of the fact that Max was suddenly gay and dating her childhood best friend now. He had even invited Chloe to Go Ape with them.
“Okay, it did,” Max said. “But did you really have to invite yourself on my…not-date with Warren?”
“Hey, he invited me first. And I gotta make sure he’s not putting the moves on my woman, don’t I?” Chloe grinned. “Oh wait, Warren has no moves. Boom!” She slapped her hand on the table. “Roasted.”
Max snorted. “Jeesh, you are such a dork.”
“Your dork,” Chloe sang.
“You’re in an awfully good mood this morning, Chloe,” Joyce said, striding into the room from the kitchen. “Anything I should be worried about, Max?”
“No. Not yet, at least,” Max amended. She had the feeling this fake-dating Chloe thing was about to get complicated. Still, it would be nice to be able to hang out with Warren without having to worry about him hitting on her all the time. And it’d be nice going to the drive-in with her two closest friends instead of just one.
“Surprisingly, that does not make me worry less,” Joyce laughed. “Which reminds me. I didn’t see you come in this morning, Max. And if I’m not mistaken, you should be in class right now.” She put her hands on her hips, looking every inch the disapproving mother. Max was reminded of her own mother back in Seattle.
“Uhh…” she floundered uselessly. She’d never been able to lie to Joyce.
“Come on, Mom,” Chloe whined. “One day off isn’t gonna kill her. Don’t you remember how many days I took off when I went to Blackwell?”
“Yes, and look how that turned out,” Joyce said flatly. “Well...alright. Not much I can do about it anyway, other than tell David, and he’s liable to blow this way out of proportion. Just don’t do it again, okay, sweetie? And you,” Joyce pointed her spatula at Chloe. “try not to be such a bad influence on Max.”
“Awh, but if I don't, how will she ever have any fun?” Chloe grinned. Max covered her laugh with a cough.
“Hush, or you can make your own lunch, missy,” Joyce warned. “Max, sweetie, could you come and help me in the kitchen for a tick?”
“Sure thing, Joyce,” Max said, following her into the kitchen
“I’ll hold down the fort while you’re gone,” Chloe yelled.
“Godspeed,” Max called back, laughing.
“The way you two carry on sometimes, I swear,” Joyce shook her head fondly.
“What was it you needed help with, Joyce?” Max asked.
“Nothing, actually. I can manage making a couple of sandwiches on my own. I just wanted to talk to you one-on-one, Max.”
Max tried to look vaguely curious instead of mildly panicky. “What about, Joyce?” she asked with false nonchalance.
“I can understand why you’d be hesitant in telling me about you and Chloe,” Joyce began as she prepared two sandwiches. “But you’ve two’ve been two peas in a pod since…well, about as long as I can remember. No one’s been there for her like you have, except for Rachel, God rest her soul. Poor girl doesn’t have many people in her corner nowadays. I’ll always be glad you’re here for her, whether it’s as her best friend or her girlfriend. Definitely better than all of those boys she used to try to sneak into the house all hours of the night. Least I don’t have to worry about her getting pregnant anymore,” Joyce sighed.
Max was too struck dumb to respond. She blinked stupidly at Joyce, who just smiled understandingly.
“Didn’t think I noticed, did you? I’m sharper than you think. But that being said,” Joyce added, handing Max two plates that the girl was surprised she had the presence of mind not to drop. “I sincerely hope you take better care of her than Rachel did, or I might have to have a few choice words with you. But for now, you and I are copacetic.” She gave Max a sunny smile, squeezing her gently on the shoulder. “Keep Chloe company, will you? I’ve got to do a quick grocery run.”
“Sure thing,” Max heard herself say.
“Thanks, sweetie,” Joyce said, and with that, she was gone.
Max’s feet took her back to the dining room in autopilot mode. “Hey, Chloe?” she asked faintly, sliding the girls sandwich to her and sitting down next to the her. “Did you maybe, uh, accidentally CC your text to Warren to your mom, too?”
Chloe took a generous bite out of her sandwich. “Uh, no. Why?” she asked around a mouthful of ham and cheese.
“She thinks we’re dating.”
Chloe choked on her sandwich. “Uh, what?”
“She thinks we’re dating,” Max repeated.
“What.”
“I think she just gave me a shovel talk,” Max said wonderingly.
“But you corrected her, right? You told her we aren’t dating?”
Max thought back. Oh, god. She’d never actually corrected Joyce’s assumption, had she? “Uhh…”
“Holy shit,” Chloe said. “This is just like Pretty Woman.”
“I guess. Except you’re not a prostitute,” Max reminded her politely.
“I totally fucking could be, though. Wait, you’ve actually seen Pretty Woman?”
“You’ve actually seen Pretty Woman?” Max shook her head. “Wait, we’re getting off topic here. Why does Joyce think I’m your girlfriend?”
Chloe sat silently for a minute. “She saw us sleeping in the same bed this morning, didn’t she.”
A spark of realization went off in Max’s brain. “That explains the comment about not seeing me come in this morning. I bet she thinks I climbed in your window last night.”
“And spooned me until morning,” Chloe laughed. “Oh my god. My mom ordered you to protect my virtue. That is fucking priceless. No pun intended. Fake-dating you was the best idea I ever had.”
“Chloe?”
“What?”
“I...think you’re forgetting something.”
Chloe blinked. “What?”
“David kind of hates my guts and thinks I’m corrupting you,” Max said timidly. “And since he’s got secret cameras set up all over the house, there’s pretty much no way he isn’t going to find out about this.”
“...Shit.”