One in a Maximillion

Once I Met You

We drove off to the closest city to Arcadia Bay, passing every destroyed memory Max had chosen me over. We had stopped cuddling up together and sat in silence for awhile. My mother, and stepfather, her parents, our friends. We lost an entire town because Max deemed me more important than anything. Maybe that kiss influenced her a little bit. Maybe she just didn't wanna lose me a second time. Well, seventh time since she's left me once, seen me shot in the bathroom, accidentally shot by myself, run over by a train, and shot by Jefferson. There was even a time in an alternate timeline she told me about where she watched me die in front of her, because I asked her to kill me. She wouldn't do it for me, but she said I was dying on the inside... and slowly on the outside.
If she would have just accepted my death from the start, the storm that demolished the town wouldn't have started. No one would have gotten hurt. She wouldn't have known it was me, and that bastard Nathan would have got what was coming to him, along with Jefferson. There were so many more people in Arcadia Bay that deserved to live more than me. My mother didn't deserve to die in a diner, while I was busy watching it happen.

Max was given a power. She had the ability to change everything and anything she wanted. She could have saved my mother. In that alternate timeline, she saved my father. Kate deserved to live, and if I wasn't around to do so, I'd want Warren to treat Max like a queen. Not just because she's all powerful and can probably unbirth you, but because she's special. From every little freckle on her face to the legs that ran away with my heart. I love her. My only regret is not getting to announce it to everyone. Explain to them that I loved Rachel and I love Max. I never got to tell my mother a big secret in my life I wish I never hid. Rachel died before I could tell them about her, and they're all dead so it's too late to tell them. It would be too late, but with Max, you've always got a second chance. She saved so many lives along the way, and left them all die in the end. She saved the one who didn't deserve it at all. 'Why did you save me?'

I spoke with sudden urge to know exactly why she cared so much about me when we didn't talk even once for five years. 'Do you mean, why did I choose you over everyone in Arcadia?'

'Yes, Max.'

'I saved you more than anyone in Arcadia combined. I saved William, and Kate.'

'You could have saved a lot more people who deserved it way more than I did. Why'd you choose me?'

'Because you're all I need.' She was looking at me, but I kept my attention on the road because I didn't want us to have destroyed a town for nothing. She put her right hand on top of mine, which was on the steering wheel, and I just glanced down and back up to the road.

'I'm gonna pull over.' I turned the wheel and she pulled her hand back to her side. We were stopped on the side of the street, and I got out of the car, and went her side and opened her door. She got out, and I shut the door behind her.

She leaned against the truck, 'Chloe, I...' She choked on her words. 'I love you... in more ways than one.'

'Max, you act like I don't already know that. You literally chose me over an entire town of people you loved.' I chuckled, 'You kissed me when I dared you to. That's not exactly something you do when you just wanna be friends.'

'It was your dare, so I think there's something you're not telling me.'

'Back to what you were saying, you love me in more than one way?'

'Chloe, when you forced me to make a decision on whether to choose you or the town, I chose you. You gave me a heartbreaking speech to try and get me to choose the town, and when I thought I was going to lose you, I was gonna kiss you. Like, as a final goodbye.'

'That's... uh... I don't know what to say Max.'

'I do. I wanted to kiss you because I love you. I wanted you to know that I do before you died, and then I couldn't bring myself to save Arcadia Bay by leaving you behind.'

'I know, Max.'

'I don't think you do. Chloe, I don't just love you. I'm in love with you.'

'I know. I love you too, Max. There's no doubting that I do. I've wanted to be with you since you got back. You made my heart do these things even Rachel couldn't do to me.'

'Wait, was Rachel your...'

'Go on. Say it.'

'Girlfriend?'

'Yeah, she was.'

'I'm sorry.'

'I know... but you came along, and you made me feel these things that I've never felt before. You made me fall for for you, and all I really wanted was my best friend to be my girlfriend.' I smirked at her and stared at her lips.

She started analyzing me. Her eyes did that thing where they shook around with amazement, and before I knew it, she had thrown herself onto me.
She felt so soft, and tasted so sweet. Her arms wrapped around my neck, my hands barely able to process this moment, were sitting on her waist. I love this little brunette. She pulled away and started blushing, 'Sorry. You're just... I was staring at your lips and...' She trailed off.

'Ditto.' I said, looking into her eyes almost breathlessly. God, she was everything I wanted. I grabbed the door next to her, and pulled it open. 'Hop in.'

She did as I said, struggling with the height of my truck. I went around the front and climbed in my side. I had one hand holding the wheel, and immediately slid my hand to intertwine with hers.