Episode 2: Out of Time

                                    

                                          
I wake up to footsteps entering Chloe's room. Looking up, I see that it is Chloe, coming to wake me with a cup of cold water. She is fully clothed in her regular punk tank top and black jeans. I wonder how long she has been awake.
                          
 "You were not going to douse me, were you?" I ask, pushing the blankets off.
                          
 "I was," my friend admits.
                          
 "Well, be grateful that your stomping woke me, or you would regret dousing me," I tell her.
                          
 "Cool. Don't care," Chloe replies with a shrug. "Get up already. We're meeting Max at the diner for breakfast."
                          
 I get up with a groan and dig a clean t-shirt and pants out of Chloe's mess. I need a shower.
                          
***
                          
 When I finish my shower, I put on my binder and clothing. Today's t-shirt is black, like yesterday's, but its caption is I wasn't born with enough middle fingers. I grab my hoodie from Chloe's room and she puts on her leather jacket and beanie. I take my phone from its charger and slip it in one pocket of my pants and put some change, a pen, and my lighter in the other pocket. Joyce is at the diner already and neither of us care to bid goodbye to Madsen, so we slip out of the house silently and get into the truck.
                          
***

                          
 Chloe starts the engine and we are on our way. I turn on music and start humming. My friend notices.
                          
 "Happy this morning?" she asks.
                          
 I shrug. "Not as bad as yesterday..."
                          
 "Yesterday you looked like sh*t and probably felt even worse," Chloe comments.
                          
 "Shut up, Che," I hiss. "Especially around Max. I don't want her to know about... ye know."
                          
 "'Ye'?" Chloe queries. "You sound like a pirate! Max would be proud. We used to play pirate games, when we were little." She looks wistful.
                          
 "They said 'ye' in Victorian times, too," I inform her.
                          
 "Big whoop," Chloe responds. "I never cared much about history. Or language cr*p."
                          
 "No," I agree, "you preferred blowing things up in the chem lab."
                          
 "Who doesn't like a cool explosion?" the punk wonders. "When I was thirteen, Max and I blew up my old dolls because my mom said to get rid of my sh*t. That was fun."
                          
 "You have good memories of your childhood with Max," I observe.
                          
 "And then she left when I needed her most," Chloe says angrily. "My dad died that day. And it was Max's last day in Arcadia before her family went to Seattle."
                          
 We pull up in the diner parking lot. Chloe composes herself quickly and then we go in.
                          
***

                          
 Max is already there, eating a bacon omelet. She is talking with Joyce. They look happy together.
                          
 "Speak of the devil..." Joyce says to her, seeing us walk in.
                          
 "Which one of us is the devil?" I ask. Nobody answers.
                          
 "Mom and Max, together again!" Chloe announces.
                          
 "And Chloe, looking for a free meal," Joyce says. She sounds annoyed at her daughter. "You've put your whole damn college fund on your tab. Hello, Jules."
                          
 "I'm treating Chloe for breakfast," Max interjects. "Jules, too."
                          
 Joyce, Chloe, and I share a look that says I will not eat breakfast anyway, so Max's generous offer is meaningless.