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Chloe walked down the halls. Her pace was fast. Her breathing was fast. Her mind raced picking up on everything around her, every sound, every poster, every door and every student. It felt like everything required her attention, like everyone was calling out her name, needing something. Then she got to the door. Why did she come here? And why didn’t she knock? She opened the door, half violently and half hesitantly. It was Max’s room. He was at his desk working on some project and his attention immediately snapped to Chloe as she opened the door. She knocked on the open door.
“Sorry, I don’t know why I didn’t knock.” she said between ragged breaths that seemed to be getting faster, “I don’t even know why I’m here bothering you. I’m fine! Everything is fine!”
Was it? She kept rambling and her breathing kept getting faster, she didn’t even notice Max slowly get up and walk towards her gently grabbing her shoulders and lowering his head to meet her gaze. When she looked at him his face was full of worry. Why? She was fine! Down the hall she heard someone calling her name, probably needing her opinion on something or needing her to do something or to see something or… Max quickly pulled her inside as she was about to turn around and leave. He closed the door behind her.
“Wait, what are you doing? Someone needs me, I need to…”
“No you don’t.” His voice was firm, no room for argument, but also so gentle and soft, full of understanding and worry. She started to protest but he quickly put his hand over her mouth.
“Hey, did you see Chloe? No? Okay, well if you see her tell her I was looking for her.” A voice was heard from the other side of the door, followed by footsteps leading away from the room.
“Whoever it is, whatever they need, it can wait. Now you just need to breathe, okay? Just, please, relax and breathe and I promise everything will be alright. We will figure out whatever that is later. It can wait. They can wait."
He put his hand back on her shoulder and was looking in her eyes. We will figure it out? But she always figured it out all by herself. Oh, but if that ‘we’ didn’t sound nice. She relaxed in his hold leaning forward onto his shoulder and he just wrapped his arms around her, holding her in place so she barely even had to stand. He just held her there, not needing anything, not expecting anything, he was just there. Her shoulders relaxed, her breathing slowed, and her heart sped up a little.
They stayed like that for several minutes? Half an hour? An hour? She had no idea. But however long it took she hadn’t felt that relaxed in a while, if ever. She stood there feeling his breathing and mimicking it to calm herself.
“Hey princess, you back with me?” He asked quietly.
The term ‘princess’ should've made her tense up but the way he said it didn’t sound like a title of someone who needed to be somewhere right now doing something important, it came out soft, caring, like a name only he could call her, like a secret and, oh, did it do wonders to her heart.
“Hey, Chloe?” He lifted her chin so she was looking in his eyes, his eyes, usually full of mischief, now drowned in concern.
“Yeah, I’m here.” she said almost out of breath.
“You okay?”
‘The best I’ve been in a while’ but she wouldn’t admit that outloud, not yet.
“Better than I was. Thank you.”
“You have nothing to thank me for princess.” A smile crept up his face but his eyes didn’t change.
“I should probably go see what that person wanted…” she sounded hesitant.
“You could always stay a little longer… you didn’t look the best when you came in.” It wasn't an insult, it was soft and kind and it sounded so full of…
She brushed it off “You’re giving me fashion advice now?” with a joke that got a chuckle out of him, that worry not once leaving his eyes.
“Okay you seem way better now, Charming.”
She missed the nickname. Why did she miss it?
His hands weren’t on her shoulders anymore but one did hold hers. He looked down and his thumb brushed the back of her hand.
“I’m always here princess. That door is always open for you. No matter when. No matter what. Remember that the next time everything is ‘fine’.”
She smiled. “I will.”
He hesitantly let go of her hand and she turned to leave, stopping as she opened the door and glancing back.
“Could I… stop by later, when I’m done with my schedule? I wanna know what you were working on before I came in.” Lame excuse Chloe but okay. We’ll brush it off as your brain still reloading.
He smiled, not his usual smirk, a smile that made Chloe wonder why anyone ever chose a prince over a mad hatter.
“Like I said, the door is always open for you.”
“I’ll see you later then?”
“Looking forward to it.”
She walked out, closed the door and stopped to breathe. The last thing she wanted was to go figure out who was looking for her and what they wanted. But she had to. She was a Princess, that wasn’t gonna change any time soon, or ever. But now she had something else on her schedule that didn’t feel like a chore, like it was a necessity. Something to look forward to at the end. A place where she could be no one instead of a Princess. No one and yet someone worth worrying about. A place where she felt…
She never thought she’d say this but she felt… safe. And with no other than Max Hatter. People would call her crazy. But she didn’t mind going crazy with him.