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Today is Chloe's 14th birthday.
Red is sitting down in a chair at the table while Chloe runs around with Hazel. They giggle as they chase each other, spraying each other with water.
Red had forgotten her bathing suit, and didn't want to get her only clothes wet. So she just watched from afar, feeling a soft smile creep on her face as she watches Chloe.
Chloe's hair blows as she runs, brunette curls whipping through the air. She's got a wide grin on her face, tinged with a bit of mischievousness. She sprayed Hazel right in face before snickering and darting away.
Hazel bolts after her, almost running into Chloe when she suddenly stops. Then she smirks and changes direction.
Red laugh lightly at the girl's antics. Hazel and Chloe finally tired themselves out after a little and stood still to catch their breath. Chloe's eyes were on Hazel watching her with that look she always got.
Her eyes softened whenever they land on her, Red could see the way she wanted Hazel just from her eyes. Hazel looked back at her the same way, before spraying Chloe right on the chest.
The curly brunette gasped, beginning to chase Hazel again. Red felt like a third wheel, her bed sounds nice right about now. It would be better than watching Chloe have so much fun with girlfriend.
Chloe runs toward Red, hugging her from behind. "You can't spray me now. You can get the precious rose wet."
Hazel raises a brow, "Says who?"
She sprays Chloe, not caring about getting Red wet in the process. Water drenches Red's shoulder and she gets up with a groan and heads to the bathroom.
Chloe chases after her while Hazel gets distracted by Luis spraying her in the back. "Hey sorry about that. If you want to borrow a shirt I can give you one."
Red nods and Chloe leads her to her room, pushing the door closed behind them. She digs through her shirt drawer, trying to find something that would be closer to Red's style.
She chooses just a plain black shirt, then tosses it at Red. "Would you like me to leave?"
Red shrugs, "Um if you want. I don't care if you stay and just turn around."
Chloe nods and chooses to turn around. Red feels herself flush as she pulls off her shirt. Why did this feel so intimate?
Her heart is racing as she drys off her shoulder and pulls on the other shirt. Then she clears her throat, "I'm done."
Chloe whips around with a smile, "Alright. Let's go back outside and play something. I want to spend some time with you."
Red flushes once more, chewing on the side of her cheek, "O-okay." The stutter is barely noticeable, but she sees the way Chloe's eyebrow lifts slightly in question.
She grabs Red's wrist and pulls her back outside towards the game she wanted to play. Red felt her heart racing at the contact, wanting Chloe to slip her hand down so their fingers could intertwine.
Red bit her cheek at that thought. She had to stop thinking like this. Chloe is with Hazel, and she's said multiple times before she sees a long future with her.
The black haired girl has to accept that Chloe will never like her back, and get rid of these feelings. Chloe turns to her with another beaming smile.
Red has to breathe deeply to dry and slow her racing heart, wanting nothing more than to kiss those lips.
/— — — 15 — — —\
Today is Chloe and Red's 5 year anniversary of being friends together.
They would've been friends earlier, since their mothers were best friends, but Red didn't like Chloe at first. It took her ten years to warm up to the other girl.
One July day when they were ten, she decided to give Chloe a chance. They had a blast and after that declared themselves best friends. Their mothers were surprised to see them all buddy buddy all of a sudden but it was a nice change.
Ever since then, they've celebrated their friend anniversary by doing something special. Since this year marks 5 years, and they are now 15, they planned something extra special.
Chloe planned the first part, saying she wanted to surprise Red. So she said she would pick her up with her dad— since neither of them could drive— at 11.
But it's now 11:10 and Red is pacing back and forth, still waiting for Chloe. It's unusual for Chloe to not show up early, nevermind more than 10 minutes late.
Bridget is watching her pace in her lawn chair, looking between her book and her daughter. She's getting a bit worried herself, it's quite unlike Chloe.
"Red, honey, why don't you come sit down? It's too hot to be pacing." Bridget said, patting the seat beside her.
She smiles when her daughter sits down even if it's with a deep scowl. Red's leg starts bouncing restlessly, impatientness running through her whole body.
"She said 11," Red says, chewing her nails.
Bridget puts the bookmark in her book and puts it aside. She gently grabs Red's hands and holds them in hers, "Listen sweetie, she probably just got caught up in something. Don't chew your nails. I'm sure she'll be here soon, okay?"
Red nods, letting herself lay against the chair. The hot sun beats down on her face, making her sweat. She wipes the sweat from her forehead and turns to her side to look at her mother.
Bridget has gone back to her book, now deeply invested in it. Red groans and flops back on her back, taking her phone out of her pocket to check the time.
11:14
She unlocks her phone and goes to Chloe's contact, pressing the call button and bringing it to her ear. It rings a few time before someone picks it up.
"Hello?" The voice isn't Chloe, it's Hazel's.
That immediately makes Red scowl, "Where's Chloe? She was supposed to be at my house 16 minutes ago."
"Oh yeah, she didn't text you? She's not coming," Hazel said, her words smug.
Red's grip tightens around her phone, "What the fuck do you mean she's not coming?"
There's shuffling on the other side of the phone, like Hazel's moving somewhere. She doesn't answer for a moment, enraging Red even more.
"Well she found out about you and Max. So very sad that you would betray your friend for some guy," Hazel said in a mocking tone.
Red almost drops her phone in disbelief. What the hell was Hazel talking about? Max was an asshole to Chloe and Pink, Red could never stoop so low and date him.
"I would never date him. He's an asshole to Pink and Chloe. What the fuck are you talking about Hazel?" Red yelled at the phone, her grip so tight she's surprised it hasn't smashed.
Bridget rests a hand on Red's shoulder, reminding her to take a deep breath. She had questions but she knew Red would tell her what's ever going on after.
Hazel chuckles, "Well that's just what Chloe believes. Talk to you never, Heart."
The hang up sound rang through her ear, and Red immediately attempted to call back. But the call went straight to voicemail, Hazel had blocked her.
Red feels tears start to fall from her eyes and her mom immediately wraps her in a hug. She cries into her shoulder, mumbling what happened.
Bridget gently makes Red look at her, wiping her tears, "I can't hear you with your face buried in my shoulder, hun. What happened? What did Hazel say?"
Red sobs, closing her eyes tightly, "She somehow convinced Chloe that I'm dating Max."
Bridget's face is immediately shocked, "Max? The boy who's always rude to Chloe and Pink?"
The redhead nods, trying to stop her tears from falling. It does nothing though, the tears still pour from her eyes.
— — —
Red feels miserable as she stares up at the ceiling. There's an ache in her chest whenever she thinks of Chloe, one that use to be warmth.
Every time she thinks of Hazel she feels her chest burn in anger. She's not sure how she managed to convince Chloe that Red would ever date Max of all people.
Did Chloe really trust Red that little? Did you seriously just listen to whatever Hazel said?
A few more tears slip from her eyes that she quickly wipes away. There's a light knock on her door then Pink enters the room. She doesn't have her usual smile on her face, instead she's frowning. She's the only one who knows about Red's true feelings for Chloe
"I heard what happened," Pink said, sitting down on Red's bed. She moves closer to her sister, unsure if Red wants to cuddle or just be left alone.
"Would you like me to talk to Chloe? I have no idea how she even believed that in the first place," Pink said, already pulling out her phone.
Red turns over on her side away from Pink, "No just... leave me alone."
Pink sighs, putting her phone back in her pocket. She knows anything she says right now won't change anything. So she leaves the room, closing the door softly behind her.
Once she's back in her room she immediately calls Chloe, feeling angry. The phones rings for a while, to where Pink almost thinks she isn't going to pick up. But she does.
"Hey Pink," Chloe says softly, like she wasn't the reason Red was crying in the other room.
Pink's hand clenched around her phone, "Are you serious?"
"What are you talking about?" Chloe questioned, sounding genuinely confused.
Pink scoffs, rolling her eyes even though Chloe can't see. "You actually believe Hazel? You think my sister would date Max?"
Chloe sighed, sounding pitiful. "I didn't believe her at first. But she showed me a photo."
She sounded like she was starting to cry, "I'll send it to you."
Pink's phone buzzed in her ear and she quickly opened it, putting Chloe on speaker in case she spoke again. The picture showed Red and Max kissing.
She zoomed in closer, realizing that the jacket looked edited on. The person in the photo couldn't be Red, even if they looked like it.
Pink shook her head, "No that can't be Red. That jacket looks edited on."
Chloe appruptly stops crying, quickly looking at the picture closely. The jacket was obviously edited around the edges meaning that person very much wasn't Red. Chloe dropped her phone in disbelief, feeling disappointed in herself and angry at Hazel.
Pink sighed, “I’ll leave you to process this."
The hand up dial rang through the room.
— — —
A day later Chloe shows up at the house.
She's carrying a bag full of stuff and a packed backpack. Pink lets her in, watching her go up the stairs before knocking on Red's door.
Chloe's nervous as she knocks, feeling horrible for believing Hazel. Red opens the door looking annoyed, then freezes when she sees her. Instantly her eyebrows set in angry lines.
The brunette holds up her hands, "Wait before you slam the door in my face. Please just let me explain."
Red glares at her, but doesn't shut the door. "You have 2 minutes."
"I believe an edited photo of you kissing Max. I'm really sorry. That was super dumb of me. I didn't realize it was edited until your sister pointed it out. I'm so sorry, Red. I didn't mean to ruin our day. I was thinking I could stay here for a few days... and make it up to you." Chloe rambled, looking desperately at Red when she finished speaking.
Red takes a moment to process her words, then leans forward and pulls her in for a hug. "For the record, I'm still mad at you."
Chloe chuckled lightly, "I wouldn't expect any less."
/— — — 16 — — —\
Chloe had her guitar set up on her lap. Red had her pen and paper in head but for some reason they were both stumped.
“So… what do we write a song about?” Chloe asked, gently strumming cords but just to play, not really forming a song.
“I don’t know. Usually people write about emotional stuff. We can write about our fight last year?” Red suggested.
Chloe shook her head, “No thanks. I don’t really wanna think about it. It’s done and over with.”
Red nodded in agreement, that song would probably haunt her. She thought for a moment tapping her chin.
“How about we just write about being teenagers?” Red suggested, writing it down her notebook.
Chloe shrugged, “Sure. We can try and see what we come up with.”
They both got to work, Chloe strumming her guitar to find a rhythm and Red thinking up some lyrics. After about a half an hour, Red springs up.
“Okay listen to this; Milkshake and cat eyes. Lipstick and french fries. Internalize so much but so little. Don't make us feel belittled, world.” She sung the words with her heart, not looking Chloe in the eyes until she was done.
“That’s great Red. Do you mind singing it again? I’ll try and find a rhythm.” Chloe asked. Red nodded, signing again while Chloe played along.
It took a few tries but Chloe found a rhythm she liked. By the end of their session, they had two verses and a rhythm.
“Alright well this may be edited later, but it sounds really good so far.” Red chirped, excited on how it had turned out.
Chloe smiled, “Yeah I’m really glad it’s working out. You have an amazing voice, Red.”
The black haired girl flushed, “Oh please you’re just biased because you’re my best friend.”
Chloe shook her head, “No, no. I’m not biased. You’re amazing, you just don’t wanna admit it.”
Red flushed harder, turn her face toward the ground. “Whatever Charming.”