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

Chapter 17

The weekend ended and hell week started, and it left Max on the verge of a vitamin D deficiency. She didn't go outside, she didn't cook, she barely stopped to shower, finding time only to study and panic over her poor work ethic throughout the semester. Her room had become a slaughterhouse of trees and the home to chaos. Pages of notes flooded her desk and covered her floor, books lay open on top of them, laundry was piled up to the height of her sink along with takeout boxes, the sink was covered weeks' worth of dried toothpaste, and Max somehow had more dirty plates and cups in her room than she had taken to university with her.

Chloe dropped by throughout the week to bring coffee and support, though she was hardly able to get a word out of Max, her pouting and puppy eyes doing little to change Max's mood. As the days progressed Chloe could no longer handle Max's declining hygiene and decided it would be best for their relationship if she took a step back until the exams were over.

The final Friday of the exam period rolled by, and with it Max's exam. This came as a relief to those around Max as much as Max herself. Victoria slipped a note under Max's door that morning. It read Good luck Max, I left some bleach and air freshener by your door for when you're finished. I can smell the takeout you've been living off from my room. Max frowned and looked around, she agreed it was a mess but had acclimatised to the smell beyond the point of recognising it.

Max arrived at her exam 30 minutes early as she had done for all the others, just in case something happened along the way, her getting lost along the route she had memorised for example. This meant of course that she had waited through 30 excruciatingly slow minutes with nothing but the pounding of her heart and doubtful thoughts of her mind to keep her company. Today, however, Kate was sitting the same exam, and so Max had someone to be anxious with. They wished each other luck as they were called in, and they celebrated together 140 minutes later when they each walked out smiling.

Max made plans to meet Kate for lunch the following day, for now, however, she decided that for Victoria's sake, she would bleach the contents of her room. Now that the envelope of exam anxiety was over and sense returned, once she arrived back at her room, Max better understood the need for bleach. "Shit, did something die in here?" Max exclaimed.

"At first I thought you had!" Victoria returned, exiting her room to meet Max in the hallway. "But I could hear you banging your head against the wall from the hallway." Max blushed slightly, embarrassed by her recent behaviour.

"OK, so I don't handle exams very well." Victoria rolled her eyes at Max.

"Come on, I'll help you make this place liveable again."

"You seriously don't have to do that," Max protested.

"I'm offering, come on loser let's get started."

They started by carrying Max's dirty clothes to the campus laundrette down the road from their accommodation, it was enough to fill two machines and leave Max and Victoria sweating from the labour. "That was more clothes than I came to university with Max!" Victoria complained.

"You've bought more clothes than this since you got here Victoria!"

"Touché."

"Besides, I figured the more I came out here with, the less often I'd have to do laundry." Victoria gave Max a 'no shit' look before leading the way back to Max's room. They grabbed a bin bag for Max's no longer needed notes and old takeout, and a box for her kitchenware. Max's bedroom floor was just beginning to crack through the chaos when Max heard Victoria squeal in a pitch higher than Max thought her voice could go.

"MAX THERE'S A RAT IN YOUR ROOM." Max followed Victoria's frantic pointing and noticed that there was indeed a rat in her room, closer inspection revealed that there were in fact a family of rats in Max's room.