In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

Max sighed and Chloe raised an eyebrow. Her tone of voice made it evident that she was being playful, and Chloe decided to go along with it.

"Right in half, huh? You should totally show our parents tomorrow then. I bet they'd get a kick outta that," she said teasingly. When Max asked about the pasta, Chloe smiled sheepishly. "Whoops. Was I not supposed to? I wasn't really thinking about how much to make. You were being all distracting," she chuckled.

Chloe slid her hands up to Max's waist and gave it a final squeeze before guiding her a few steps backwards and stepping out of her grip. She walked over to where they kept the utensils and opened the drawer. She picked up a spoon and closed the drawer before spinning on her heal and returning to the stovetop. She stirred the water gently and then scooped up a single noodle. Careful not to touch the spoon, which was hot as hell after being in boiling water, she picked the noodle up and put it in her mouth. And, after deciding it was too firm and needed maybe another minute, she placed the spoon on the countertop and turned around to face Max again.

"It just needs, like, another minute or so. I think now's probably a good time to start cooking up the sauce though," she suggested.

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

Chloe grinned as Max's arms wrapped around her torso. She tilted her head questioningly, looking down at Max, and her smile just grew. That's all she seemed to do nowadays. Smiling, smiling, more smiling. Max definitely had something to do with that. "Oh, really?" she raised both eyebrows. "I have good news for you then. The feeling is totally mutual!" Chloe wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and squeezed her, lifting her a few inches off the ground before setting her down gently. She planted a kiss behind her ear before letting go and kissing her nose. It was terrible. They had become the exact thing Chloe used to despise as a teenager. Pet names, nose kisses, staring wistfully at each other from across the table. All while being so sickeningly in love. Again, it was terrible. So terrible, in fact, that she had been briefly considering marriage only around a week ago. Actual marriage. But Max was graduating tomorrow. Popping the question would just overwhelm the both of them even more, right? Right. She sighed through her nose and rested her hands on Max's hips. "Did you get the sauce opened?" she asked. "I, uh, noticed you were having a little trouble over there."

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

Chloe nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I think you're right."

After Max kissed her, they stayed silent for a moment, enjoying each other's company. Chloe then let go of Max, slowly setting her on her feet again, and took a step backwards. "So.. guess we should get this shit going now. Can you, uh, open the sauce? I'll get the noodles," she said, vaguely gesturing to the items on the counter.

A smile still lingered on her face as she picked up the box of pasta, opened it, and walked towards the stove. She poured in the noodles, straight from the box and all at once, causing some of the boiled water to splash. "Whoops," she said quietly. It wasn't a big deal or anything, even though the sizzling noise from the water hitting the hot burner was kind of hard to ignore.

Chloe set the empty box on the counter. Afterwards, she just stood and watched the water bubble around the noodles. The noodles were definitely easy part of the dish. Pour them in, wait, strain the water. All in a span of, like, eight minutes. But, although easy, not fun at all. She got bored, of course, so she turned around to lean on the counter and watch whatever Max was up to.

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

“I love you.”

Chloe couldn’t even estimate how many times she had heard that from Max in the past five years– and how many times Chloe had said it back– but she knew the number was definitely way up there. Even so, nothing changed. Her heart still did backflips, she still smiled. For Chloe and Max, the words I love you never went ignored; the sentiment was always returned.

Sometimes, however, words weren’t necessary. And when Max said I love you and assured her things would be fine, saying something about “the next step”, “you and me”, and Chloe kissed her girlfriend harder and pressed herself closer, words seemed to be pretty useless.

To add to the off-the-charts cliche factor of this entire situation, Chloe didn’t want the moment to end. The boiling water on the stove and pasta sitting idly on the counter were forgotten as she wrapped one arm around Max tightly, sliding her other hand up to the back of Max’s head and tangling her fingers in her hair.

They continued like that for a moment or two, kissing passionately despite the completely backwards height difference, before Chloe secured both arms around and under Max and picked her up off the counter. She stepped backwards, trying to stifle a laugh, and kissed along Max’s cheek and then jaw. She trailed her lips down to her neck, planting only a few kisses before smiling obnoxiously and finally letting out a laugh over how completely extra this was. She pulled her head back to look at Max, eyes full of love, and said, “I love you too, Max. So much.” She chuckled again. “Like, a horrifying amount.”

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

Chloe laughed at Max’s sarcasm. “While I do have a way with words, that’s definitely not why you’re in love with me,” she smirked. Chloe jolted suddenly, an all-too-late attempt at evading Max’s pinch, and then Max asked her another question.

“Yep,” she nodded. “Everything’s totally ready on my end.”

She was just about to ask Max if her clothes were ready– jokingly, of course. she knew Max had probably checked and triple-checked everything already– but then Max said she was nervous. Chloe turned around in Max’s embrace. “I know, babe,” she started, resting her hands on her girlfriend’s thighs in an effort to be as comforting as possible. “Honestly, I’m kinda nervous, too. This is a big thing for you. But..” she trailed off. Her eyes went elsewhere for a moment as she chewed the inside of her lower lip. Her eyes returned to Max now, and she nodded sincerely.

“I just.. We’re all super proud of you, Max. Me, your parents, my parents. Me especially,” she grinned and lifted her right hand to cup Max’s cheek. “I just want you to know, whatever happens tomorrow– good or bad– we’re in it together. I’m not leaving your side tomorrow. Even if they have to pry me away from you during the ceremony,” she laughed, then looked Max in the eye. “Seriously though, I’m here with you. Always will be.” She smiled and leaned her head up to kiss the underside of Max’s jaw once, twice, three times, before moving to press a tender kiss to her girlfriend’s lips.

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

Gotcha.

Chloe pulled a relatively small pot out from underneath the counter and stood up. She listened to Max, who was now perched on the counter-top like a little kid, swinging her legs playfully. Chloe couldn’t help but to smile at the sight, stepping away for a moment to fill the pot around halfway with water. “Uh-huh. Noon is good,” she nodded and set the pot on the stove. She cranked the temperature up and turned to face Max, who was teasing her about getting up early.

Chloe faked a groan and rolled her eyes. “I guess,” she said, mock-annoyance coating her tone. It was only a second later when she cut the act and grinned. “Duh! Can you actually see me sleeping through my girlfriend’s college graduation? No way.” She walked back over to where Max sat. “Yeah, they’ll be here around the same time as your folks. I think. I’ll have to double-check and make sure.”

She squeezed herself into the space between Max’s dangling legs and leaned into her girlfriend's body, resting the back of her head on her chest. If someone had told Chloe five years ago that this was going her future– living with her best friend slash girlfriend, making shitty pasta, everything actually being okay– she would’ve laughed. Or maybe cried.

But here it was: Chloe leaning into her best friend slash girlfriend’s embrace comfortably, shitty pasta on the counter waiting to be boiled, everything actually being more than okay. And Chloe just sighed. She tilted her head up to look at Max. There was a spark in her eye and she snorted. “I can see up your nose.” She tried to stifle a smile but, of course, ended up failing miserably.

two kinds of people ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

idk where the fuck that came from

but i hope they don’t sleep on the max/chloe parallels lol

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

"That's specific." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Ha-ha," she droned, but it was with more humor than heat, because Max did end up helping her out, plucking the restaurant's name off the tip of Chloe's tongue and throwing it out there. Chloe clapped her hands together and glanced over her shoulder at Max. "Mamma Melina's, yeah! That's it." She pulled the refrigerator door open, peering inside. She sucked some air through her teeth, examining the contents, as few as there were, and tried to formulate some kind of combination in her head. There was literally nothing. Nothing they'd want to eat, that is. Chloe furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance. At the same time, she felt a pair of arms snake around her torso and heard a voice behind her, Max's, say something about how they desperately needed to go grocery shopping. Chloe nodded vaguely in response. "There's a lot of things we really need to do," she said, smirking. Max's arms left her waist. She turned around and watched as her girlfriend searched the cabinets for whatever she could find. Chloe opened her mouth to add to her previous and purposefully way-too-ambiguous statement, but Max turned around, box of pasta in hand and asking about sauce, and Chloe just smiled. "Hm. Let me check," she responded. She spun on her heel, suddenly remembering she still had her shoes on, but taking off her shoes could wait because holy shit they actually did have sauce. Chloe pulled the container out of the fridge, swung the door shut, and turned to look at the brunette, baring her teeth in a grin. "Looks like things are starting to work out today after all." She strode towards Max and set the container on the counter. Then, after crouching down to search the lower cabinets for a pot, she said, "Anyways, back to things we need to do. We should probably talk about tomorrow."

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

The feeling of Max running her fingers through Chloe’s hair elicited a content hum from the taller girl as she pressed herself closer to her girlfriend. At the same time, Max stepped backwards and leaned against the door, teasing Chloe about her greeting method. Chloe smiled into the kiss and savored the feeling of closeness and being with Max again. Then Max pulled away. She said something but Chloe was distracted and breathless. She was sure her eyes looked lost at sea. Did the room get brighter? It almost seemed like it had.

Chloe leaned into Max’s soft touch and their lips met again, this time lacking the fierceness that the preceding kiss harbored. It was a kiss that pretty much spelled out i really love this and i really love you but we can’t get carried away because we need to eat. Basically.

When they pulled away again, a light blush colored Chloe’s cheeks. She smiled lovingly at her girlfriend and shook her head. “I didn’t even look,” she breathed. “I just kind of assumed we still had some shit from, uhh..”

She tried to remember. Some Italian restaurant they went to almost a week ago. Pretty good food… Yeah, nothing was working. Chloe’s memory was completely vaporized at the moment.

“Erm. That one place,” she finally said. “Guess we should go take a look.” She smirked, stepping out of Max’s embrace and making her way into the kitchen.

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

Chloe’s eyes flicked around the room as she listened to Max talk about how good it felt to be finished with college. She hummed in response, even though she wasnt necessarily able to relate.

Six minutes had barely passed when Max told her she was just about home. “Kay,” Chloe responded, smiling to herself. The call ended and Chloe rested her phone next to her head. She ran her fingers through her blue hair again, reminding herself she needed to touch up her roots. They were starting to revert back to her natural blonde, even though it seemed as if she had just treated them a few weeks ago. Time flies..

Speaking of time flying, there was Max, standing in the doorway all too late but also too soon, Chloe not even having moved off of the stairwell yet.

The first thing Max said was something sarcastic, of course, and Chloe broke into a face-splitting grin. She stood immediately and stepped towards Max, placing her hands on her waist before crashing her lips into her girlfriend’s with gusto, almost knocking both of them down in one single motion. Because of this, Chloe broke the kiss abruptly. She still held onto Max, seizing the opportunity to catch her breath for a second, then leaned down to reconnect their lips with vigor.

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

Chloe could practically hear Max rolling her eyes over the whole colleague affair, and while she agreed with everything that was said during Max’s mini-rant reguarding the situation, somewhere in the back of Chloe’s mind laid mild disappointment. She wouldn’t be able to stay home and bide her time doing whatever she wanted anymore. She was going to have to live by someone else’s schedule now, and that wasn’t exactly a desired circumstance. Especially since Max had a job too.

And now Max was graduating in less than 24 hours. Chloe did her best to ignore the fact, but Max started talking about being off tomorrow and nobody being able to cover her shift tomorrow, and it got hard to ignore it.

And then Max told her she missed her, and Chloe’s heart swelled. “I missed you too, baby.” She absentmindedly ran a hand through her hair. “God, I can’t believe you’re graduating tomorrow.”

There it was again. Yep, Max was going to be done. Finished with school and on to doing whatever she pleased. A small roar of thunder raced through Chloe’s chest whenever she thought about the countless opportunities Max would receive to go somewhere else. Meet interesting people, get recognized, get serious..

If Chloe thought things were serious now, how would she handle all that? Every single one of Chloe’s anxieties would be put on blast. Being separated for an entire week? Nervousness flooded through her at the mere thought of being apart for that long. It’d be a nightmare. But, for the most part, she kept her concerns hidden. Max already had plenty of nerves concerning her career and, as of recently, choices– knowing how Chloe felt would just magnifiy Max’s worries by a million times two.

So Chloe supported her in everything, and rightfully so. Max deserved to be recognized and published and commended far more than she already was. And if Max was given an opportunity to put herself out there, like, out there out there, Chloe would never let anything get in the way of that. Even if it meant sacrifice.

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

Max assured Chloe that she’d be home soon, but her voice faltered. Chloe ignored it and nodded, a response that, again, went unseen by Max. Because they were on the phone. Duh.

And then Max brought up strip poker. And Chloe grinned like an idiot as Max recounted the whole fiasco. She knew it wasn’t one of Max’s favorite things to bring up because it was kind of a disaster and undoubtedly embarrassing. Nevertheless, it was a fond memory shared between the two, and if Chloe could go back, she would do it again in a heartbeat.

When Max was finished, Chloe chuckled. “Ditto,” she sighed into the phone. “We were so fucked up, but somehow I remember the whole thing.” Then, after a beat, she added, “Almost.”

She listened to Max ask her about her day, and she closed her eyes. She tried to imagine Max’s voice being closer, because the tiny speaker on her phone just wasn’t cutting it. “Mm, it went okay. Jason finally emailed me my schedule, so I don’t have to threaten to kick his ass anymore,” she smiled, then continued. “I, uh.. I don’t know. I wanted to take my truck to the shop for an oil change today but I ended up just staying home.” Her tone shifted to somber. “I guess I can do it tomorrow..”

She was running out of things to say, and only a minute had passed. Time was moving at a fucking snail’s pace, and it annoyed Chloe to bits. But she swallowed the feeling and said, “What about you? How was your day?”

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

Chloe smiled at her girlfriend’s sarcastic retort. “Hmm, yeah,” was all she said in response.

And then Max went quiet, and Chloe sighed as she cracked the front door open. She stepped inside and Max asked if everything was okay. She shrugged after swinging the door shut behind her.

“Yeahh,” Chloe said, drawing it out longer than she should’ve, spelling uncertainty. She wandered toward the stairs. Normally, when she was a lot younger, she would have sat on the first step. But now her height served as a constant reminder that she was an adult, and she had to settle for the second step. She let the heels of her shoes rest on the floor before her and leaned back on the steps that led further upstairs. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, with the next step up digging into her shoulderblades almost painfully, but it was endurable.

She shook her head. “I’m fine. Everything’s okay. I just miss you. I think your,” Chloe paused, twirling her hand in the air as she searched for the proper word, “presence here is long overdue.”

She frowned at the phrasing. Needless to say, she wasn’t known for articulating her feelings properly. But, if not proper, at least she was earnest. There was never a reason to not be earnest, even though it was sometimes difficult. Chloe trusted Max with everything she had. Her feelings, her body, her life. And she knew Max felt a mutual sense of trust in her. So what was the harm in being a little vulnerable from time to time?

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

Chloe listened as Max explained just how much work she had and how everything was fine, that she was fine, and Chloe chuckled softly despite herself. A moment after she heard the car start through the speaker, Max assured her she was on her way. Then, ironically enough, she asked if Chloe was starving.

Chloe felt an easy smile tug at her lips. “I wouldn’t say starving. More like casually withering away while I wait forever for my beautiful girlfriend to come home.”

She took one more long drag from her cigarette before dropping it on the concrete of her front porch, stepping on it, and flicking it into the grass with the rightmost edge of her boot. She idled for a second before speaking again.

“I dunno. I’m sure as hell ready to eat, and I think we have some leftovers already in the fridge. You could just come home, we’ll figure something out.”

Her voice was uneven without being agonizingly obvious. Still, Max could probably see straight through it. They’d known each other for what, like, forever? And sometimes Chloe wondered if Max knew her better than Max knew herself. It didn’t matter how subtle Chloe tried to be, there was no way her girlfriend would interpret what was said as just a simple, casual suggestion.

In an Awestruck Night [Max and Chloe]

Schwink. Schwink. Flame. It’s fine.

Chloe pulled the flame closer to the cigarette that rested lazily between her lips and held it there. Set the lighter down. Inhaled, exhaled. It was fine. Yes, she promised to cut down on the terrible habit. And yes, she understood how problematic smoking proved to be in the long run, but she had only just started to care about the long run around five or so years ago. So it was fine.

Nope. Not fine. Chloe was on her third cigarette and it was dark outside and Max was pretty much completely late. And, as usual, Chloe’s mind ran rampant. Thinking, maybe she was killing time so she didn’t have to deal with Chloe so soon. Or maybe there was an accident. Or maybe she was just hung up at work, what with projects and tasks stacked higher than the goddamn clouds because Max has always been a procrastinator and Chloe knew that.

Either way, the reason was left to Chloe’s imagination, and the scenarios in which Max needs help and Chloe isn’t there were endless and hard to not think about. So she ended up worried. Of course.

She pulled her phone from the back pocket of her skinny jeans. She clicked it on, ignoring the displayed time, and tapped at the lower right corner of the screen. Names and numbers were listed and Chloe selected her girlfriend’s contact immediately. And then she tossed around the idea of sending a mere text, some kind of half-assed complaint about starving that subtly urged Max to come home or at least to reassure her that she was going to come home.

No. She’d definitely rather have Max’s voice as confirmation. So Chloe tapped the phone icon and waited for an eternal couple of seconds. And when Max finally picked up, Chloe let out the deep breath she didn’t realize she was holding in. “Hey, I was just..” She was quiet for a short moment, then continued. “I was just thinking about you. It’s kinda late. You okay?”

More pricefield doodles

“It would be so cool if you and me were going to school here together.”

anyhoo, idk, happy valentine’s day