Chapter Text
Chloe’s initial plan had just been to ignore Red as much as she possibly could over Valentine’s Day weekend. It wasn’t an idea she felt particularly great about, and it was a madcap plan easier said than done considering they shared a dorm together, but it was all Chloe could think to do. She just didn’t want to see Red with Luis Madrigal over Valentine’s Day weekend, all over each other. Bracelet or no bracelet, Chloe wasn’t as heartless as she had wanted to believe, and not only was she not heartless but an unlikely, redheaded rebel had clambered into her heart with the same grace and agility she used to scale the parapets and scaffolding and she wasn’t going to be dislodged any time soon. Unfortunately for Chloe, her effortlessly pretty and carefree best friend had won over Luis Madrigal just as quickly and since he wasn’t a goody-two-shoes perfect princess too afraid of her feelings and what the world around her would think, he told Red how he felt about her and now they were… whatever they were. Pink had used the word ‘boyfriend’ with unrestrained glee but, come to think of it, Chloe had never heard Red outright refer to Luis as such. That might have just been wishful thinking or selective memory on Chloe’s part or something. No time to dwell on it, Chloe had to finish packing and then triple-check to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.
Her parents, as doting as they usually were, would have been too wrapped up in their favorite holiday of the year to pay it much mind if Chloe spent most of the weekend moping alone in her bedroom, and Chad liked to spend Valentine’s Day in Auroria with his girlfriend. She could blast Taylor Swift in comfortable privacy without Red coming in and making a big show of covering her ears and pretending that she wasn’t humming along to ‘Fearless’ anyway, and she could mindlessly gorge on as many heart-shaped chocolates as she wanted to without her mother warning her about spoiling her appetite. At least, that’s what she hoped she would be able to do, Chloe still hadn’t completely worked out what the deal was with Cinderella in the revised timeline — with the turn of a pocket watch her mother had transformed from an earnest, if slightly jaded, girl who believed in getting her hands dirty into a perfect princess even more highly-strung than Chloe and then into a mother who had since promised to loosen the reins a little bit. She had packed her bag in secret whilst Red was in Art Club, or trying to spend more time with Pink, or with Madrigal — she knew she was being immature, Luis Madrigal was a nice, just not-so-slightly boastful guy who had always been friendly toward her. Whatever. All of that had come crashing down on Thursday morning en route to History class when a familiar drawl cut through the babble of her classmates.
“There you are, Charming,” Hazel had called out from down the hall. “Glad I caught you now, I was worried I’d have to sit through a Swords and Shields meet or something to find you.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. I figured at least the Swords part of Swords and Shields would draw you in.”
“Too many rules, too many prim and proper royals worried about following the rules. Once you’ve been out on the water with nothing but your hook and your wits, doing whatever it takes to defend your crew, then you’ll know why Swords and Shields could never compare. But that’s not important right now. You have top marks in Chemistry and I have an older brother who’s best friends with the principal and is threatening to confiscate my hook if I don’t pull my grades up. See where I’m going here?” Hazel asked, eyebrow raised and hook-free hand outstretched for Chloe to take. Hazel was just as averse to physical touch as Red once had been, if not more. She must have felt truly desperate for Chloe’s help.
Mounds of homework hadn’t sounded like the worst backup plan either, in the unlikely event that Red tore herself away from Luis long enough to notice that there was once again a distance between them then at least schoolwork made for a believable excuse as to why they barely saw each other over Valentine’s weekend. Of all the days for Valentine’s to have fallen on this year, it just had to be a Sunday, which meant that the usual festivities Auradon marked Valentine’s Day with had ballooned into a three-day event like a small pumpkin into a giant carriage. And with Auradon being Auradon, the literal land of fairytales and true love’s kiss ruled by a king and queen their subjects had once refused to see together, Valentine’s Day was truly inescapable — although Queen Mal had made her preference for Halloween quite apparent. Oh, mercy, that was Red and Luis, wasn’t it? A preppy, heroic golden child who fell bewitchingly in love with a misunderstood villain kid everyone else had written off against all odds. At least, it was to Chloe since in the eyes of Auradon, Red was merely the sprightly daughter of Wonderland’s beloved, ever-baking monarch and the idea of her being a villain’s daughter was laughable.
“Friday 9:30AM at the library. You’re lucky Auradon Prep cancelled classes for Valentine’s Day weekend because now you have all day to study.”
That wiped the smirk off of Hazel’s face pretty quickly, so fast that Chloe couldn’t help but giggle at her expense. But the short burst of amusement faded as it dawned on Chloe that she had just accidentally pushed back her travel by a day, that spending a whole day in Auradon Prep also meant spending a whole day surrounded by the couples of Auradon Prep. But if she were in the library, Red’s least favorite place in Auradon Prep, with a friend then perhaps it would be manageable. And she wouldn’t run the risk of her parents asking why she had chosen to spend the most romantic day of the year alone in her room. Honestly, how bad could it be?
***
Chloe had moved her alarm up from her regularly-scheduled time of 6:00AM to her sleep-in time of 7:00AM — something Red teased her about every noon on Sunday as she slowly rolled out of bed just as Chloe returned from her weekly Enchanted Lake hike. The fact that she slept through her alarm should have been the first warning sign that the first day of Valentine’s Day weekend would be anything but easy for her. Instead, Chloe woke up at the abominable time of 7:45AM and looked over to the other side of the room only to see that Red had already headed down to breakfast. Red! By the time Chloe made it out of their dorm, another half hour had already passed which left very little time for breakfast if she were to make the library on time to see Hazel — unless she gave herself an extra fifteen banking on the assumption Hazel would be late to the library, which knowing Hazel and studying seemed like a fair guess, but then what if Hazel actually was on time and then Chloe would be the late one after specifically telling Hazel to show up at 9:00AM and that would be so rude of her! Never mind, she just had to opt for a slice of toast and a small glass of orange juice and hope she could snag a few extra dinner rolls in the evening.
Much of Auradon Prep’s white lace and red hearts had spread like ivy into the dining room and curled around a long table barely stable underneath the weight of pink meringues and petit-fours and — aw, that was why Red had miraculously risen so early on a surprise day off. Just as quickly as Chloe spotted the Valentine’s Day spread, a familiar wave of red hair cascaded into Chloe’s view, and winning all of her Swords and Shields bouts didn’t put half the smile on her face that the Wonder before her did. Red was stood in line for another serving, knowing how much Red loved little pastries Chloe guessed her third plate, Pink just behind her. But her shoulders were relaxed for once in her sister’s presence and the smile on her own face, whilst not as bright as Chloe’s, seemed genuine as Pink babbled about Godmother-knows-what. That was all Chloe had ever wanted for her, for her to smile freely and not dread Pink’s existence and to enjoy as many cakes as she wanted to make up for everything the Queen of Hearts ever denied her. Oh, she understood now why people always said love made them feel so bubbly — why her parents danced together as though they were floating on air and why people sounded so chirpy when they spoke of love — because Chloe felt as though someone had uncorked a bottle of champagne inside of her, just a sparkly feeling that fizzed from head to toe as she watched Red happily pile more treats onto her plate.
Then Madrigal sauntered right across the dining room, shirt sleeves rolled halfway up so that everybody could see his stupid tattoos on his stupid muscles, which he flexed just as often as his stupid, pearly-white smile. He had spoken of his mother and the Madrigal family very frequently, and very happily, but had kept rather mum about his father — non-zero chance it was Gaston if the swooning as he passed each table told much of a story. But the flaunting of his physique and the flash of his grin were nothing new in Auradon Prep, even if it did take all of Chloe’s restraint to not roll her eyes whenever he did so. It was the large, plush bouquet of red roses tight in his grip that made Chloe’s blood run cold because she knew exactly who they were for. Cinderella’s retelling of Castlecoming usually glossed over precisely what had happened after the stroke of midnight as she trudged back to the Tremaine manor but Chloe had to imagine this was how it felt when the spell broke and the horses turned back into mice. He crossed right over to the desserts table, Pink’s face lit up with a painfully-wide smile as he brought the bouquet up to Red’s face, and— nope, Chloe couldn’t do this.
She knew she wasn’t going to make it back to her dorm without crying, even if she didn’t know why. Red deserved flowers and affection from everybody around her after going her entire life ransacking Wonderland for scraps of love from the Queen of Hearts. The Enchanted Lake was usually Chloe’s go-to whenever she needed to clear her head after class, but King Ben and Queen Mal had unintentionally made it a very popular date spot especially during Valentine’s Day celebrations. Didn’t matter. She just needed to be alone. She was underdressed for February and the fading winter breeze stung her cheeks and fingers more than it cooled her tear-stained face but Chloe bolted through the gardens anyway, as far away from those roses as she could run. Her headphones were still in her gym bag and Chloe had never had a day go sideways so quickly in her entire life — that life-altering day at the Welcome Ceremony didn’t explode into an absolute disaster until closer to 11:00AM — but anything was better than watching Red with him.
Between an intense Swords and Shields practice and running helter-skelter over all of the sticks and stones in… wherever she had ended up, somewhere along the edge of the woods, Chloe’s feet ached as though she had just run a marathon in glass slippers. The Taylor Swift-and-chocolates-in-bed portion of the day had come earlier than rigorously scheduled but Chloe didn’t have enough energy left to worry about how she had timed everything. The lone upside to Madrigal springing those roses on Red during breakfast time was that he had probably planned more trite activities throughout the day for them to indulge in as a couple — oh, she really needed to get this beast of a jealous rage under control, Chloe used to like Valentine’s Day and she used to like love — and so the dorm room would be perfectly empty for a few hours. A bubble bath sounded nice, followed by a pot of green tea, her mother had sent over the bunny slippers she had left in Cinderellasburg a couple of weeks ago and… oh, Godmother, she was supposed to be in the library with Hazel by now. That was the entire reason she had staved off a much-needed trip outside of Auradon Prep. Oh, Godmother, she had really screwed up. She was a screw-up, no wonder Red preferred Madrigal’s company to hers. Hazel had needed her and she had let Hazel down like she let everyone down in Wonderland and almost destroyed everything and Hazel was never going to forgive her and the absolute least she could do was call Hazel and apologize again and again and again until…
Hey. Can we push study sesh back by an hour? Max’s mechanical peacock accidentally got loose in the hallway. Be on the lookout for large metal birds.
That gave Chloe just enough time to hurry back to the dorm room and dry her face clean before she met up with Hazel. The number of times madcap Hatter inventions ended up accidentally saving Chloe’s life were really starting to add up. Breathing came a little easier to Chloe as she rounded back toward Auradon Prep, the knot in her chest had loosened ever so slightly as she wiped more of her tears away. Just so long as she avoided the dining room, which Chloe did despite the extra three minutes the detour added to her route. After what felt like forever, with her legs stiff and back sore, Chloe made it to the dorm and tried to think about how nice it would be to have a few minutes of privacy and not how far away the library was from their dorm. At least, she did up until she heard a sudden, scratch-like shuffling from behind the door.
That was weird.
This was just the kind of day where there would be a giant mechanical peacock loose in Chloe’s dorm room because of course there would be. She opened the door slowly, barely ajar at first just so she didn’t startle whatever avian abomination was behind it, and then a little more once she was convinced she wasn’t going to be attacked by a robot bird. In hindsight, the mechanical peacock seemed a more likely sight than Red sitting on her bed, wiping away at tears the way a cat aggressively batted at a ball of yarn. Red? Alone? Why?
“Red? Hi,” Chloe began quietly. She liked to think she had gotten better at reading Red’s mood, ever so slightly better but she could never be too certain with the curious inhabitants of Wonderland, unpredictability was to its royal bloodline what charm was to Cinderellasburg. “Are you okay?”
The bouquet of red roses — the stupid, blasted bouquet of red roses Madrigal had brandished around all morning like he had just pulled Excalibur itself out of the stone — laid limp on the bed next to her. Whatever, it wasn’t the time to think about him, not when Red was so unnervingly, suddenly despondent and even worse, pretending that she hadn’t been crying.
“What happened? We can talk about it if you want.” Between the mice, the old hounds, the lame horses, and especially the stray cats that Cinderella had tended to since Chloe’s childhood, she had learned sometimes talking to Red required a similar approach. Small steps and a low voice, she tried her hardest not to sound too condescending but she had better luck with that some times more than others.
“My mother, she- well, my old mother. All of the roses had to be red. All of them. Painted if they weren’t already red. And if the paint didn’t stick then the roses had to be torn straight from the ground and burned. Thorns and all. After the thorns were poked in the gardener's eyes. Duh.”
Before she could stop herself, Chloe’s eyes dropped down from Red’s blotchy face to her fingers as Red toyed with her hands. They’d held hands a few times, very few times, one time Red had even been the one to initiate touch when she saw how distressed Chloe had been, but Chloe had never really looked at Red’s hands until this moment. She usually looked at Red’s eyes or lips whenever their hands touched, at least until she felt the heat rise in her cheeks and had to turn away before Red noticed it too. By Godmother, she wished she had looked sooner. Up and down Red’s hands were faded, crimson nicks and scars — some of them looked more recent than others, suspiciously, worryingly fresh crescent-shaped marks but Chloe’s mouth had formed a gape she couldn’t close and no words were coming out. How had she not noticed this sooner? Red must have felt Chloe’s eyes trail down to her hands because she curled her fingers inward and pulled the sleeves of her jacket as far up her hands as she could. But she at least didn’t shout or snap or push Chloe away like she had before, so, baby steps. Chloe could live with that.
“She never had me poke them in anyone's eyes," Red added quickly. "I was too weak and small, it wouldn't hurt them enough if I did it. I just had to gather the thorniest, worst roses. By hand. Nothing but red roses in Wonderland, except for the Flowers outside the kingdom walls. You know, I didn’t even know the Flowers in Wonderland could talk until I was seven. Everyone was afraid to talk, everyone was afraid to be seen. When I saw the red roses again for the first time I just, I don’t know. It’s stupid. Just forget any of this happened.”
That was just how Red was, at least on the very few occasions she opened up about the original Wonderland and especially the original Queen of Hearts. Either she clammed up completely and refused to talk about her childhood and the old, miserable timeline or everything she had to say came out in one big, choppy gush. Sometimes Chloe didn’t even think Red wanted to talk about her actual life at all, but that all of her emotions swelled up inside of her with a tsunami’s force and eventually, accidentally spilled out of her like a waterfall. Usually when it spilled out like that a part of Chloe felt a little guilty, as though she had eavesdropped on a conversation she had never meant to hear or accidentally caught a glimpse of Red’s diary entries. But Chloe knew that she needed to hear everything, that it was better to sit with just a little bit of guilt and a reluctant Red rather than have Red try and usually fail to deal with her emotions alone.
“It’s not stupid, Red. The timeline change has been really, really hard, especially since you’re dealing with so many changes in… Wonderland. And changes and new people here too who don’t always get it.”
“It’s not Luis’ fault. He couldn’t have known and I couldn’t really explain any of this. All of the Flowers in this Wonderland talk now, they’re actually pretty mean.” Red laughed mirthlessly, and Chloe tried to follow suit. She had heard Red’s laugh, her genuine, full-bodied laughter, and not since she had first heard her mother sing ‘So This Is Love’ to her as a soothing lullaby when she was a child had Chloe ever heard something so pretty or something she so desperately wanted to hear again. The hollow, tired version of a laugh so beautiful clawed at Chloe’s heart like nails scraping down a chalkboard.
“I mean, that’s why we changed the timeline, right? So the Flowers could talk in Wonderland.”
Red smiled at that, a small and weak smile, but a genuine one at least, unlike her earlier laughter. She shifted slightly against the bed in quiet contemplation, and Chloe was content to let the silence linger between them until Red felt better, only for Red to open her mouth again.
“I’ve barely seen you around this week. Where have you been hiding from me?”
“Uh, hiding? No, no, um, I’ve just been busy.” Liar. She was a liar and she had lied to Red’s face just after coaxing the other girl to open up to her. Godmother, there wasn’t enough chocolate in the world for how horrible Chloe felt in that moment. “Homework and Swords and Shields and stuff.”
“Okay,” Red said eventually. “If you say so.”
Red never asked for hugs, not outright, but she had developed a couple of tells since Chloe had known her and one of them was a small, subtle twitch of her fingers like she wanted to reach out and touch but didn’t know why or how. Underneath her sleeves, where they just peeked out, Chloe watched them flex or curl around invisible air for a minute or so before she pulled Red into her body. The little sigh that Red let out as she curled into Chloe’s frame and rested her head against her shoulder trilled through Chloe’s body like the warble of a songbird. Chloe didn’t even realize she had closed her eyes until her homework, her mud-flecked sneakers, and the horrible red roses disappeared — all the world was Red’s soft hair tickling the side of her face, her steadied breathing against her skin, and her fingers clasped in Red’s own, her thumb had started grazing over the top of Red’s hand. Oh, she was so lucky to get to see Red so at peace and so calm, and she was so in love with Red of Hearts. What had Chloe been so worried about, what could tear them apart if not everything Maddox had thrown at them? Who could—
“Uh, I better get back down to Luis,” Red murmured but she didn’t move from Chloe’s side. “I just sorta panicked a bit and left him hanging, he’s probably so confused.”
“Yeah, yeah. I better get going too, I have a study date with Hazel coming up, so…”
“Date?” Red asked quickly as she snapped away from Chloe, painfully sharp. No matter how many moments had passed through in Chloe’s mind since she started hugging Red, it had only truly been a couple of minutes since they started cuddling but the loss of warmth cut through her body immediately.
“Well, you know, not a date-date, obviously. We’re just going to head down to the library and see if we can salvage her Chemistry grade. I’m sure if she can kill a Kraken with just a napkin she can fight off Mr. Deley’s harsh marks.”
“Yeah, sure,” Red replied vaguely. The mirthless laugh followed again and the room felt even colder. Red disappeared again a moment later.
***
There was no fighting off Mr. Deley’s cutthroat grades, even after allegedly being put in his place by Queen Mal’s lady-in-waiting some ten years ago he still held some lingering resentment toward villain kids that tended to sink their scores pretty quickly. Not that Hazel had made it any easier on herself with the little revision she had completed despite the three hours they had spent in the library, but just getting the restless pirate to spend that much time in the library had felt like enough of an accomplishment for Chloe. Hazel had been just enough of a challenge that she didn’t think about Red and Luis, well, not constantly which was welcome relief. Unlike Hazel, Chloe didn’t want to leave the library at all, it was the one place in Auradon Prep she was certain that she wouldn’t see Red. That had felt a lot more comfortable before she saw Red wiping away tears over a bouquet of roses alone in her bedroom, but the familiar writhing sensation in the pit of her stomach had grown tenfold in the absence of homework to distract her and she wasn’t sure that her body was done moping and crying over Red yet.
“The Smees have texted me eight times since we sat down asking about lunch. Ugh, I rue the day they ever got their hands on a mobile phone. At least on the Isle they had no way of tracking me down when they were hungry. You wanna come with?”
“Uh, thanks but no thanks, Hazel. I have some History homework I want to finish before the weekend.”
“You sure? You didn’t stick around for breakfast this morning.” No one villain kid was the same, but just like she had with Red, Chloe had slowly learned there were nuances to how Hazel spoke and carried herself around her friends that clued her into whether Hazel intended her observations to be malicious or if she had just wanted to tell it like it is. Thankfully, it was just a tell-it-like-it-is moment for her, no cruelty intended, but that didn’t make Chloe feel any better, least of all as Hazel’s eyebrow flicked up into the slight fringe of her curls.
“I’m really just, um, tired from Swords and Shields today. I’ll just grab a quick bite to eat in my room and finish up there maybe. Thanks for sticking around, Hazel. Good luck with Chemistry.”
***
Their dorm was empty the second time around, save for the roses Red had left on her bed. Chloe had to wonder whether Red realized that cut flowers needed water to survive or if she had intentionally left them there, but she didn’t touch them either way. Just looking at them was enough to drag Chloe’s mood down to the horrible, bottomless lows she had felt this morning, so she kicked her shoes off without a second thought and clambered into her bed, back turned to the roses. Cue the music, cue the tears.
Three-quarters into her sad Taylor Swift playlist and far too many cheap candies later, Chloe heard the lock click in the door. In the split-second between Red opening the door and coming face-to-face with Chloe, she yanked her earbuds out of her head so quickly it hurt and shoved what was left of her second chocolate box underneath her bed, one of them rolled out and smudged the carpet slightly. Just another problem for her to worry about, a problem for another time. If she held her breath a little and squeezed her eyes shut for long enough, Chloe figured she could pretend to be asleep and then she wouldn’t have to hear about whatever Red and Luis did together all day. She just wanted to hold back the next wave of heartache for a little longer, preferably after her body eased up a little. Blame it on the ‘Speak Now’ album or blame it on the obscene number of chocolates she ate on a lovesick, otherwise empty stomach that had churned up uncomfortably — oh, her mother was right, too much sugar really did spoil her appetite — but Chloe didn’t want to talk to anyone, least of all anyone who had just spent the day, now apparently the third-most romantic day of the year in Auradon, with Luis Madrigal. Godmother, she had spent her first night in Merlin Academy crying herself to sleep because Red had sentenced her mother to death and somehow ended up crying herself to sleep, completely heartbroken and distraught over the girl that had nearly executed her family. She didn’t deserve Red, Luis never shut Red out and Luis never ran away from Red. Luis wasn’t a hypocrite who chided Red for ignoring her and then pretended to be asleep so she wouldn’t have to talk to her. That didn’t help, another couple of thick tears welled up behind her eyelids and then she really, really, really had to pretend to be asleep before Red saw and asked what had made her cry.
“Chloe? Chloe. How did your ‘study date’ with Haz- oh.”
Muffled footsteps shuffled across the carpet, louder and closer to Chloe. All she could hear was the thud of her own pounding heartbeat in her ears and Red moving throughout the room, until a hand landed softly on her shoulder and her heartbeat tripled its pace. Red had rolled her body over ever so slightly and gingerly put her hand to Chloe’s forehead. “Hm,” Red tutted to herself. She must have tried to check her temperature the same old-fashioned way Cinderella used to, and it was so tender, so sweet that Chloe couldn’t help the blush that spread across her cheeks despite how hard she tried to pretend to be asleep. She just hoped Red didn’t mistake her red face for a fever but her best friend had retreated entirely, the door quietly closed again a minute later.
***
The rest of Valentine’s Day weekend went by in fuzzy, pink blur of roses, hearts on the walls, and boxes of chocolates Chloe couldn’t look at without feeling a little queasy. At least food was banned in the library, even if dozens of streamers and reams of red bunting weren’t, and that was where Chloe spent most of Valentine’s Day weekend. She was alone more often than not, surrounded by neat stacks of paper and a dozen pens, but occasional company showed up too. There was no getting Hazel back into the library after the “torturous” hours she had spent there, and Red barely trotted into the library on a weekday — usually to drag Chloe out of there by her curls — but Felix liked to have a quiet space to practice his card tricks and Robbie was surprisingly dedicated to his studies despite the demands of Tourney practice. Of everyone, no surprise it was Pink who Chloe saw the most over the weekend, she was almost as dedicated to her studies as Chloe. Pink was usually sweet, so sweet — well, she preferred thoughtful and thoughtful was just as accurate — that Chloe barely registered Pink had spent a lifetime with her she had no recollection of because she was just that easy to talk to… for Chloe. But for some reason Pink just kept looking at her most of the time they studied together, she probably looked at Chloe more than she looked at her own Botany homework, although she never said anything — she just made a little squeaking sound every time Chloe made eye contact with her and brought a book up to her nose. Godmother, Chloe wondered if she had any romantic feelings for Red in the new timeline — the photographs of Red that dotted the Cinderellasburg castle made Chloe think so, Red still had such a beautiful smile in any reality that her grin alone made it feel impossible for any version of Chloe not to develop feelings for her. But was she as carelessly obvious about her feelings for Red as she felt she was? Did other people know, or at least suspect anything? And of all people, did it have to be Pink? Probably not, the one consoling thought Chloe had was that Pink probably would have accidentally let something slip by now, and nobody seemed to treat her any differently. Maybe they were all afraid of her after the Midnight Chloe incident and she had accidentally changed the chemistry of her entire social circle in the new timeline without even knowing it. Nope, that made it worse, she had to clear her head.
Come Sunday evening, the actual Valentine’s Day, Chloe had successfully avoided Red for the better part of the weekend. Or that was what Chloe told herself, Red had probably just been too busy with Luis to notice Chloe’s absence from her weekend. From Monday onward, once the banners had been pulled down and the roses had died, Chloe would act like nothing abnormal had happened over the weekend and she would try to be normal around Red. And Luis. Luckily for her, she had the long walk back from the library to convince herself that wasn’t gaslighting, it was just… making peace after a brief period of strained mental health. Well, nothing in her dorm room was amiss, it was a little comforting to know that the universe agreed life should carry on as normal especially after the horrible week Chloe had. She had one more night of crying to Taylor Swift before she switched back to her motivational playlist and the plush cotton of her duvet felt like a cloud as Chloe skittered her fingers across it and… oh.
Left on the stack of books on Chloe’s nightstand was a small, handpicked bunch of forget-me-nots loosely tied together with a burlap string. “Hey, Red. Did you…” Chloe began but the words died in her throat as she looked around the dorm room.
No Red.