Max & Chloe's Hella Shitty Coffee (Life is Strange)

Chapter 7

Max awoke to the foul taste of champagne growing in her mouth and infecting insides. Did it taste this bad last night Max wondered? Max had never really drunk before last night and so she was experiencing her first hangover. Her forehead ached and her crown screamed whenever she moved. She wanted to stay curled up in bed but being horizontal only made her stomach angrier. She'd had a nice evening with people she was beginning to consider good friends, and her and Victoria had laughed for hours aided by the bottle of wine she brought into her room, but Max wasn't sure it was worth the price she was paying now.

Eventually Max decided sitting up was better than laying down, Max reached for her phone to check the time – it was 5.30 am. What are you supposed to do when you feel like you're dying but you can't lie down?

Max glanced around her room for water or pain killers or a handgun, but all she saw was the albatross. Chloe's shift started at 6, why not get in early she thought, coffee and food might do her some good. Max brushed her teeth with more dedication than her mouth had ever known, combed her hair and put on the comfiest socially acceptable to wear in public clothes she could find and made her way to her bedroom door. She paused briefly by her camera, taking a quick selfie of her lowest moment, taking it and her new journal with her.

Max arrived at the campus café at exactly 6am as it was opening. The café was empty with the exception of her blue pirate. Chloe noticed the zombie mirroring Max Caulfield enter the café and laughed at her friend's pain.

"I think you can take the albatross off, looks like you're doing penance enough this morning." Chloe laughed.

"A promise is a promise, and why are you so bright, can you dim it down a bit for the suffering?"

"Sorry I think my brightness levels only come with the one setting. So, I guess you found other people you wanted to celebrate your birthday with." Chloe challenged, but with a tone of amusement.

"It wasn't my plan, a friend found out about my birthday and we went out for food but now everything hurts. I need- I don't know what I need."

"I know what you need, go take a seat I'll bring you water, pain killers and a bacon butty."

"That sounds heavenly." Max obeyed. Taking her usual window seat, Max put her new selfie into her journal and captioned it 'the embodiment of death'. Chloe returned with the promised drugs and water before disappearing again for the food. Max noted how the water tasted like rotting toothpaste, but the hydration immediately made her feel a little better. Max scrolled through her phone while she waited and found a dozen photos she didn't remember taking, most of them blurred and the rest less than flattering.

"Here you go, breakfast for the broken." Max muttered a thanks, and felt her stomach settle down with the first bite. To her surprise, Chloe took the seat opposite Max and watched as she ate.

"I miss you Chloe." Max's words were vulnerable, she had exposed herself knowing Chloe's response could destroy her.

"I miss you too Max, and there are moments when I look at you and I see my best friend and life is right again... But the rest of the time I look at you and I remember all the pieces you broke me into. You left me Max, you forgot me, and you built a new life without me. I could never have done that to you."

"That's not true Chloe, I could never forget you. I thought of you every day we were apart, and you were with me every moment of my life in Seattle. Every achievement, every setback, you were the first person I wanted to tell. I handled things wrong and I regretted that constantly, but I mean what I said, I want to make things right. I need you in my life Chloe." Chloe wouldn't meet Max's eye; she kept her gaze fixed on the beanie she held in her hands.

"Did you read the messages I sent you? I kept talking to you even though you stopped talking back. You knew I was hurting."

"I read them all Chloe, I knew I was hurting you and that broke me maybe more than it broke you." At this Chloe finally looked at Max, and an understanding seemed to pass between them. Before anyone else could speak, they were interrupted by the early risers coming in for their morning coffee.

Chloe went back to work and Max returned to her dorm. She met Victoria in the hallway who looked well rested and dressed for a morning yoga session.

"Um, what the fuck." Said Max. Victoria took one glance at the state of Max and laughed. "Why are you fine, you should be feeling as crappy as I do it's not fair." Victoria placed her hand on Max's shoulder and said, "years of practise my friend." And she carried on down the hallway.

Max decided to blow off her lectures for the day and returned to bed where she slipped into a dreamless oblivion until early afternoon when she was awoken by a knock on her door.

"Come in," Max yelled. Max wiped and refocused her eyes, and sure enough a blue angel was standing over her. "Chloe? What- how do you even know where my dorm is."

"I have my ways Caulfield," Chloe responded with a mischievous tone. Chloe made herself at home investigating Max's room. It didn't take her long to unearth Max's dirty laundry, and Max received a raised eyebrow when Chloe routed through her cupboards and found used mugs and plates. "You are very strange Caulfield, and why is there a dead plant in your hallway?" Max simply shrugged and Chloe didn't push.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?"

"My shift just ended, and our conversation got cut short earlier." Chloe joined Max on the bed but neither women could think of the words they wanted to get out. In the end Max just went with:

"So how do you find time to study and work all the hours you work?" Chloe frowned in confusion at this.

"Oh, I'm not a student, I just work in the coffee shop, Rachel is the student. I moved out here with her, between her loan and my sucky wages we just about scrape by."

"Oh. So, you and Rachel are close?" Max asked though she found herself jealous at the simple mention of Rachel's name.

"Yeah, she was really there for me after... well after you left. I don't know where I'd be without her." Max looked down in shame. "I'm not trying to guilt you Max, that's why I came here. I want us to move on from the past, I need you in my life too. Just please don't leave me again." Max was crying and Chloe seemed close.

"Never." The girls embraced each other tightly, their hug conveying the emotions they couldn't express. The moment was cut short by Victoria's entrance.

"Hey Max, just checking you're- oh! I see you're doing just fine; I'll leave you two to it. Don't do anything I wouldn't do Max." Victoria said with a wink as she closed the door.

"Weird." Chloe muttered. Max nodded in agreement.

"Chloe, when is your next day off?"

"Sunday, why?"

"I want you to come somewhere with me." Said Max.

"Can I bring the albatross?"