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“Explain to me how this is a good idea,” Max huffed, trudging her way up the hillside path despite the churning of her gut and every ounce of good sense she possessed.
“You tell me how it’s a bad idea,” Chloe challenged, sounding way too relaxed and not at all winded.
“Oh, I dunno,” Max grit her teeth, swinging her flashlight down toward the ground. She tried to keep her steps in line with the faint tracks Chloe left behind, but trying to match Chloe’s longer stride made Max’s gait uneven and awkward. She kept at it - one set of tracks certainly couldn’t hurt, right? “I mean, just off the top of my head… breaking and entering is really fucking illegal and you already have a record.”
“Wow, dude, you are being super fun-”
Logically, Max knew you couldn’t actually hear someone roll their eyes but with Chloe-
“Also, Oregon doesn’t have breaking and entering. So, this is technically criminal trespass or burglary depending-”
“Chloe, I am not about to become a fucking burglar!” Max hissed, heart thumping wildly in her chest.
Oh god. She was 18 now, she’d be tried as an adult. She’d be kicked out of Blackwell, she’d have a criminal record, no college would want her, goodbye every scholarship.
Her parents would be so disappointed.
“Dude, chill, okay? People sneak up here all the time, it’s not even a big deal.”
“Chloe, come on,” Max protested. It was so dark out here. Living in Seattle for so long, she had forgotten how dark nights were without the sickly glow of light pollution. The canopy of trees on either side of the path obscured whatever light the night sky was giving off - it was just Max and Chloe in the dark with their weak yellow flashlight beams the occasional distant strobe of the lighthouse up ahead.
Chloe stopped, finally; she swiveled on one heel, until she was facing Max. Standing slightly in front of her on the hill made their height difference even more pronounced. “This is really freaking you out, huh?”
“Y-yeah,” Max admitted, tucking a strand of hair self consciously behind one ear. “Yeah. Chloe, I really don’t want to get in trouble.”
“Max…”
Chloe sighed, reaching forward and gently taking Max’s hands into her own.
“Don’t be such a fucking pussy!” She yelled, yanking Max’s flashlight out of her hands and tearing up the hill.
“Fuck!” Max shouted, after a moment of shocked hesitation. She could stand in the middle of the forest in the dark until Chloe grew a conscience (or more likely, got bored without her) and wandered back or she could give chase up the hillside and kick Chloe’s obnoxious ass.
Neither option presented Max with much dignity, but one of them involved Chloe getting her ass kicked, at least.
Max took off, gaining on Chloe faster than she expected. The cold, wet ocean air burned her lungs and stung her cheeks as she raced up the hill. The night was filled with the explosive crunch of leaves and twigs beneath their feet, the ragged rasp of Max’s breathing, the distant music of Chloe’s laughter.
“Ah-ha!” Max lunged when she was in range, fingers just brushing the fabric of Chloe’s hoodie before she twisted out of Max’s grasp.
“Nice try, nerd,” Chloe gloated, breathless. “Missed me, missed me, now you gotta whoa-!”
Chloe’s foot caught against something on the uneven ground and she went down like a ton of bricks, one of the flashlights flying out of her grip and rolling several feet away in the dirt.
Max, hot on Chloe’s heels, barely managed to avoid trampling her by awkwardly leaping over Chloe’s prone form, but she stumbled landing and nearly careened into a tree.
“Fuuuuck,” Chloe groaned, rolling onto her side. “That was some fucking ninja shit, Max-attack.”
“Chloe,” Max panted, pushing herself off the tree and stumbling over to her fallen friend. “Chloe are you okay?”
“Hmm? Yeah,” Chloe laughed, pushing herself up onto an elbow. “Yeah, I’m fine. Are you-”
“Good, I won’t have to feel bad about this, then.”
“What are you-? SHIT.”
Max uncapped the water bottle she’d stashed in the voluminous pocket of her hoodie and poured its contents out over Chloe’s head.
“You’re dead, hippie!” Chloe called, scrambling to her feet but Max had already scooped up her fallen flashlight and taken off for the lighthouse.
The pursuit was over quickly enough, they were already near the peak of the hill and Max ran out of room to run quickly enough. Chloe slammed into her, nearly bowling both of them over. She wrapped her arms around Max’s shoulders, shaking her wet head like a dog.
“You like that?” she taunted, pressing the wet side of her head against Max’s cheek and neck, rubbing vigorously, heedless of Max’s shrieks of protests. “You like that?”
“Fuck, no,” Max groaned, finally pushing Chloe off, red faced and out of breath. “God, you’re like a-a golden retriever.”
“Fuck that, I’d be a way cooler dog,” Chloe wheezed. “Jesus, Max you really need to get into better shape.”
“Fuck off, you’re winded too,” Max protested, shoving Chloe’s shoulder. The powerful flash of the lighthouse and the dim orange glow of the restrooms behind them let Max see what a mess Chloe was. Her damp hair was plastered against her face, water and dirt leaving muddy brown smudges along her jaw and chin and a thin red scratch marred her cheekbone. There were leaves in her hair.
“I smoke, what’s your excuse?” was Chloe’s flippant reply.
Max rolled her eyes, reaching out to pluck a twig from the hood of Chloe’s sweater. “Here, you’ve got-”
She reached up without thinking, carefully running her fingers through the tussled blue strands of Chloe’s hair to remove the forest floor detritus. Max had to raise herself up on the tips of her toes and lean in to reach; Chloe was so annoyingly tall. She had great hair, though. Super soft. Max wondered what kind of conditioner she used, she should ask Chloe.
“Hey, what-”
Oh.
They were nose to nose like this, Max suddenly realized. She was leaning up, with her hands in Chloe’s hair and they were practically breathing the same air and Chloe was looking at her like-
Like-
“Sorry,” Max stepped back abruptly, inadvertently tugging Chloe’s hair.
“Ow.”
“Sorry,” Max apologized again, weakly waving a soggy leaf between her fingers. “You had some-”
“It’s, uh, it’s cool.”
Shit.
That had been happening kind of a lot lately.
Things would be fine. Normal. They’d just be doing regular friend stuff until suddenly they weren’t.
Chloe would look at her like that; like she was the only thing that existed in the entire universe. Or Max would suddenly wonder about the most inappropriate things like what Chloe’s tongue tasted like, or what was the appropriate waiting period after reuniting with your best friend before you were allowed to wonder about things like how their tongue tasted.
And then one or both of them would realize that things were suddenly weird and they had to deal with this awkward standing around thing.
“So,” Max coughed. “Uh, lighthouse?”
“You want to?” Chloe’s face lit up, wide ridiculous grin brighter than any lighthouse.
Nooooo.
“Yep,” Max grinned. Or tried to. Chloe’s dubiously raised eyebrow told her it was probably a grimace.
Fuck it, she was trying.
“Fun Max,” Chloe chuckled, shoulder checking her playfully as she stepped past her. “I was wondering when she’d make an appearance.”
“What do you mean Fun Max? Regular Max is fun. Max-Max. I’m fun, Chloe.”
“You’re fun,” Chloe’s doubtful tone was not at all reassuring. “But, like, fun like a... like a kindergarten teacher.”
“What? That's so not a thing. Give me one example.'”
“Well, for one, you are actively recycling as we speak.”
Max shot Chloe an affronted look, dropping the empty water bottle in the recycle bin next to the bathroom. “Recycling is fun, Chloe… Fundamental to saving the Earth.”
“Oh god,” Chloe laughed, angling her body in front of the door so Max couldn’t quite see how she was committing this possible felony. “Point number two, you say shit like that.”
“I refuse both of these points on principle,” Max shot back, grinning. “As far as I’m concerned that only proves that I’m a great person and you are actually the worst.”
“Alright, alright, come on, Captain Planet,” Chloe reached out and grasped Max’s hand.
“No one’s here at night?” Max asked remembering her nervousness. The building was narrower than she remembered. More drab. About a billion times creepier in the dark.
“Nah, we’re alone,” Chloe squeezed Max’s hand before tugging her along. “Come on. It’s fine, I promise.”
Max let Chloe lead her up the spiral metal staircase toward the top of the lighthouse. The fell into silence, broken only by their quiet breaths and the echoey clang of their steps on the stairs.
“Hey, close your eyes,” Chloe instructed her when they finally reached the room at the top of the spire.
Max did, fighting her natural instinct to protest because they were at least 40 feet off the ground and it was probably slippery outside but, dammit, she could be fun.
She felt Chloe’s palms slip against her face anyway covering her eyes. Chloe stepped in close behind her, brushing against Max’s back with every step forward as she guided her out the door to the narrow platform that ringed the top of the lighthouse.
“Okay,” she hummed, breath hot against the shell of Max’s ear. “Open ‘em.”
“Wow,” Max exhaled shakily.
Arcadia Bay glittered before them in the darkness, spread out like a diorama. It looked totally unreal, like some artist’s creation - Generic Small Town #8. Max leaned against the railing, ignoring the icy press of the metal into her stomach and peered down at the town. She could see landmarks now, the nighttime trickle of traffic along the main road, the 24 hour glow of Two Whales’ massive neon sign, and the faint dusting of light from houses out past Arcadia Bay’s meager downtown.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah,” Chloe sighed, Max tried to ignore the spike of heat that shot through her when she felt Chloe’s chest heave against her back. “Almost makes you not hate it, right?”
This place had been hard on Chloe. Max tried to be sympathetic, but it wasn’t easy to hear her talk about the town this way when so many of the good parts of Max’s life had come from here.
“Why’d you bring me here?” she asked carefully, shifting around to look at Chloe’s face.
“I dunno,” Chloe swallowed, it was dim but Max could swear she saw a pink tinge to Chloe’s cheeks. Whether that was from a blush or the sharp sting of the ocean wind was another matter entirely, but still. “I guess I just wanted to see you look that way.”
“What way?” Max pressed, voice soft.
“Like… like you’re glad to be back.”
“Oh,” Max exhaled softly, she felt a little dizzy which was probably not great because at least 40 feet up but she steadied herself by wrapping a fist in the fabric of Chloe’s sweatshirt. “Chloe, this view is gorgeous, but it’s not why I’m glad to be back.”
This was it.
Now or never.
She came in maybe a little too fast and a little too high, because she mostly ended up catching Chloe’s upper lip and the force was enough to be kind of unpleasant.
She held the awkward angle for half a moment while Chloe did nothing and then, tentatively, trying to ignore the mounting panic in her chest, she slipped her mouth lower until-
Bingo.
Max brushed her lips against Chloe’s gently and pulled away.
Well.
There.
It had been brief, because she hadn’t gotten verbal consent first (she probably should have asked but, well, it had seemed-) but it lasted long enough to convey intent (that being: this is a deliberate smooch upon your mouth, via my own mouth, and if you’re cool with it I’d like to do this more times). And, okay, it was a little sloppy, but well - first kisses were never perfect, except for movies.
Like, if this were a movie Chloe would have totally kissed back. At the very least she would have said something by now.
Max had to admit, the stunned look and total silence was a bit worrying.
“Sooo,” Max released her grip on Chloe’s sweatshirt, stepping back until the metal rail dug into the small of her back.
“So,” Chloe repeated, tone unreadable.
“I, uh, just kissed you,” Max coughed into her hand.
“You did.”
Of all the times for Chloe to be painfully unhelpful, she really had to pick now, huh?
“Sorry?”
“You’re sorry you kissed me?” Chloe asked, taking a step closer.
“Well,” Max swallowed, heart pounding wildly in her chest. Chloe was still slowly leaning in. “I don’t know yet. Should I be?”
“No,” Chloe whispered, cupping Max’s jaw. Her hands were freezing. Max honestly didn’t mind.
Chloe’s lips were cold, but her mouth was warm - it stoked the fire in the pit of Max’s belly, heat filling up the center of her chest, pumped through her pounding heart, sent racing through her veins to the tips of her fingers, the top of her ears.
Cinnamon gum. And cigarettes.
That answered that.
Max draped her arms around Chloe’s shoulders, letting her fingers drift upwards again to toy with the ends of Chloe’s hair.
Chloe pulled back just slightly, pressing another sweet, lingering kiss to the corner of Max’s mouth, the curve of her cheekbone, the tip of her nose before settling her forehead against Max’s.
“So,” Max whispered, still twirling a lock of Chloe’s hair absently between her fingers.
“So,” Chloe chuckled.
“You just kissed me.”
“Yeah,” Chloe’s voice was as soft as Max had ever heard it. “I’m not sorry.”
“Good,” Max murmured, leaning in again. “Me neither.”