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“What the hell is this crap? I’m definitely getting an F on my assignment,” Max thought.
She used to be able to almost go back to the moment each picture was taken in her hands, of course, she still can if she really wanted to. But this one? Who would want to go back in time to that?
Max ran a thumb over her most recent polaroid picture, a frown deepening her faint smile lines downwards as she plopped onto her dorm’s bed.
It was a picture of Chloe’s truck, a head on shot of it, and the thing looked almost menacing and angry, she cringed.
Then, a droplet of water fell from her freshly showered hair and on to the polaroid, “Fuck!” Max cursed to no one, smudging it clean.
She was really desperate for things to take pictures of if this was her latest work. No one would want to flip through her portfolio, that’s for sure.
Don’t get her wrong, she loved that raggedy truck and all the rides it has given her and her partner in time girlfriend Chloe, but this was just bad, and she didn’t do the vehicle any justice here, anyway. The lighting was off, there was some kind of dirt in the lenses. It looked… like some dad’s Facebook picture, okay?
Plus, Arcadia Bay was screaming at Max to take pictures of everything the bay provided, the coast, the mountain trees, the good people that lived there… and yet, Max chose to be deaf.
There was a knock on the door, startling her out of her noisy thoughts.
“Knock, knock.”
She was expecting company, good company, and that company might have just prevented her from crumpling up the picture in her hands like a barbarian. Tear the photo in two, just like she did in the bathroom in what felt like ages ago.
Max gingerly made her way to her door, her hand carefully resting on the handle as she pressed her ear on the wooden surface, “Who is it?”
“It’s uh,” Called a familiar voice from the other side, whoever it was, they sounded out of breath yet giddy. “It’s me. Yo.”
Max smiled and rolled her eyes, she knew where this was going, “Yo, who?”
“Yo mama. Who do you think it is?”
“Hmm, I don’t know anyone named like that. Sorry, wrong door.”
“Just open the damn door already, Caulfield,” Chloe sounded like she was trying really hard to sound mad, and Max wished her door had a peephole for once, just so she could see that. “My hands are getting numb, it’s cold as balls out here.”
Max unlocked her door with a snarky grin, and lo and behold, a frozen looking Chloe, trembling just for emphasis. Definitely over-exaggerating. “Hiya, Chloe. Yo mama jokes? Really? What are you, five?”
“Hiya to you, too, Miss ‘I have no humor’,” Chloe harshly shoved the grocery bags onto Max, before making her way past her and into the cozy, warm dorm room. “I wonder what the hell Wells is doing with all you guys’ tuition money if he’s not spending it on heating up this shithole and booze.”
Max could barely see the smug Chloe from the mountain of goodies in her arms as she closed her door with her foot. It banged shut a little too loud, and Victoria who lived across from her didn’t seem to like it, at all.
“Watch it with your stupid door, Max!”
Chloe flipped the double birds towards the direction of that bitchy voice, and Max would’ve done the same but she instead put the bags down, and pointed at them before resting her hands on her hips. “Care to explain what all of this is, Santa Claus?”
Shrugging, Chloe had already made herself home on Max’s couch, “I uh, noticed you were a bit down lately, so I got you some things to cheer you up.”
Hmm, Max was not expecting this, she was instead expecting for Chloe and her to cuddle up in her tiny bed, make-out a bit and go to sleep, aka; the usual Monday night shenanigans. But gifts? She was almost speechless, and she had to get something for Chloe now, asap.
Max raised a skeptical brow at Chloe and kneeled to take a look inside the bags, smiling nervously. “Chloe… You shouldn’t have.”
Instantly, her eye caught a box of chocolate coconut bites. She was delighted but then quickly frowned again, because she had just brushed her teeth. Next to the box of chocolates was a plain looking DVD case, uh oh, definitely Steph’s work.
The other bag had nothing in it except for potato chips, some oregano flavored, some plain salted. Oooh, and Pringles. Awesome. Perfect for the movie Chloe had in store for them tonight.
Max picked out the DVD case and stood up, waving it in her hands to get Chloe’s attention off of the fugly polaroid.
She wondered what pirated film could be in there. Blade Runner? Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within? Then again, she already had both of those films in her collection, and that made her all the more curious. Looks like Captain Bluebeard was back at it again, and Long Max Silver was a hypocrite, by the looks of it.
“You shouldn’t… have bought pirated movies, Chloe,” Max shook the case, and the DVDs rattled inside. “Geez, what’s in here anyway?”
“DVDs, obviously,” Chloe scoffed and pushed herself up from the couch, “Look, if you don’t want it I’ll very happily take it off your hands,” She raised an open palm, but Max turned her back on her like the Grinch. “Chickenshit.”
“Alright, alright, chill out, I’m only teasing you, dude,” Max didn’t really understand why she was hesitating, so she slowly opened the case with a dull clack, and written with sharpie on the DVD were some titles she hasn’t heard of in forever, “Arr, so you got me, wait… Ghostbusters, and… Men in Black?”
Wow, Max wouldn’t have picked these movies in a thousand years, but they are iconic classics, really, really old classics, but classics nonetheless, so she was excited, not as excited as Chloe though, it seemed.
“Who you gonna call?” Chloe sang from behind her, followed by a bad acapella of said movie’s theme song.
Max turned around just in time to see Chloe practicing her new air guitar moves, rocking out to the 80’s song in her head.
She couldn’t believe they were both adults now, but who was she kidding? Max heard that catchy tune in her head, too.
“You’re such a goofball,” Max chuckled, gently tossing the DVD on her bed to pull Chloe closer into a wobbly hug that led to an equally wobbly and messy kiss.
Chloe didn’t hesitate to go all out with the kiss, “And you’re a big sci-fi nerd.”
Yep, Max couldn’t argue with that, Chloe was spot on,
“This is great, Chloe,” She mumbled after they parted for oxygen, nuzzling her nose deep into Chloe’s shoulder length blue hair. “I don’t know what to say, really-”
“You don’t have to say anything. Max,” Out of all the things Max imagined Chloe doing after that, grabbing her by the hands and spinning both of them around in the small room, was not one of them. Chloe had a big goofy grin on her face, and her flowing hair smelled faintly of lavender. “Live in the moment for once! Also, don’t you dare rewind this.”
She was always unpredictable like that, and Max loved everything that came along with it. With Chloe, she wasn’t scared of anything, not even the inevitable big fat F she’d get tomorrow. “I won't, not when I’m with you.”
When they stopped spinning around like a record, Chloe pouted her lips in thought, and Max almost leaned in for another kiss.
“On second thought, you could tell me about what’s been bugging you,” Chloe’s smile disappeared just as Max did at the mention of that, “Come on! Tell me all your deepest worries, that’s what hot as fuck girlfriends are for, right? Vent to me, girl.”
Max didn’t know where to start from, from the fact tons of people had way worse problems to worry about, or that she really, really, disliked every single picture she has taken lately? Photography lost its spark for her.
She rubbed her shoulder anxiously, avoiding Chloe’s worried bright blue eyes, “It’s just… I really hate every picture I take now, every, single, one. Taking pictures was supposed to be my escape, my own little world through the lenses, but now… it’s the opposite of that, and I don’t know what to do, since there’s nothing else I like to do, anyway.”
Chloe seemed at a loss for words for having such a big mouth most of the time, and Max didn’t really blame her, “A-Alright, show me the picture that’s been on the top of your shit list, then.”
Max laughed as she picked up the DVD again, making her way towards her desk to pop the disc in her laptop, “If I show you which picture it is, I am going to be on the top of your shit list. No can do, Price.”
Chloe furrowed her brows and slumped back onto the couch, bringing the small coffee table on the middle of it so Max could set down the laptop, and as soon Max met her eye, Chloe went all puppy dog eyes on her. Damn, Max was ready to melt into a puddle of sweat right then and there.
“Pretty please?” Chloe clasped her hands together in front of her, “I’ll let you have every single damn Pringle if you tell me.”
Max didn’t buy it as she crossed her arms, but bargained with her anyway, “Promise?”
“Promise,” Chloe smiled a shit eating grin.
As promised, Max sighed and reached for the polaroid that had managed to tuck itself underneath one of the couch pillows, even the truck in the picture looked nervous as it got handed over to her owner, Chloe.
Max sat down, dropping her head deep in her hands, waiting for Chloe to laugh at her, but the girl instead looked perplexed as to what was wrong with the picture and looked blown away, instead. “Damn, that’s one badass shot of my truck, what’s wrong with it?”
Max felt her heart drop all the way down to her stomach, not really knowing how to phrase what she wanted to say.
The assignment was to take a picture… of something you love, yeah, Max felt really stupid for being a nervous wreck when it came to asking her girlfriend to pose for her. Why was she overthinking and worrying about the simplest things in the world?
Suddenly, there was a hand waving in front of her, nails painted blue, fingers decorated with punky rings, a silver one was out of place from the rest of the rings.
“Hello? Earth to Max, are you there?” Chloe shook her shoulder, and it was not enough to ground her down on their lovely little planet, “Look, if you don’t wanna talk, it’s fine, we can just watch a movie, or whatever.”
“The assignment was to take a picture of something we, uh, love,” Max finally collected herself and pointed at the picture, her finger landing on where Chloe was supposed to be in the driver’s seat. “Fuck, Chloe, I don’t even know why you’re still with me at this point.”
“Max,” Chloe’s voice was monotone and calm, but with a tinge of disbelief, “We’ve been dating for two years now.”
Max sighed again, “I know.”
“I even got you a ring, didn’t I? Unless you saw an alien around Blackwell and you got neuralyzed?”
“The only aliens in this world are you and me, Chloe.”
Max stared down at the ring braced around her finger, it was a simple silver ring, nothing fancy. Just like them.
Max remembers the day like it was yesterday. The both of them on the same bench up at that lighthouse, the summer wind flowing through their overgrown hair, the salt in the air from the sea, the taste of burger on Chloe’s lips from back at Two Whales Diner, the weed in her breath, and Max didn’t need a joint to get high if she had Chloe around.
It was perfect, because it was unlike any other way she had imagined that happening.
Yes, she imagined her and Chloe getting engaged more than she’d like to admit. Now calm down.
“Let’s be aliens together, then,” Chloe dragged a loose strand of Max’s half-way dry hair behind her ear, urging their eyes to meet once again. “Take a picture with me, you big dork, come on! Busting ghosts can wait.”
“Chloe-”
Before Max could protest and groan into one of her pillows in embarrassment, Chloe had already picked up William’s camera off of the cluttered desk, and pressed it onto Max’s chest, not long before taking her hand, forcing her to stand up, pushing her to stand infront of the mirror right next to her door.
The lantern like lights hung over her wall ‘o photos gave their skin a nice glow, and Max’s finger finally didn’t shake on the button for once when Chloe rested her arm over her shoulders, striking a pose and throwing a peace sign.
“Chloe, I love you, you know that, right?”
“Yes, I know, Max. No need to remind me everyday.”
“I’m just- I’m just really glad I don’t have to reverse time when I’m with you.”
“You better.”
Max was dressed in her chicken pjs, and Chloe was dressed like a rebel from head to toe.
They looked like polar opposites, yet so perfect together as they smiled and posed in the silliest way, giggling along the way, and a bright flash filled the room as the retro camera captured that moment forever.
Who would’ve thought? Max got an A the next day, and the next, and the next, no doubt about it when she had Chloe cheering her on.
No doubt at all, and taking photos felt like a breeze once again.