Life is Stranger

Laid Bare

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max awoke and immediately knew Chloe hadn't come back to bed. "Chloe?" she said quietly. 'Where is she? Awww. Bless her – she remembered the lamp. I must have flaked out first. But where is she now?' Max sat up and looked around, noticing that the window wasn't closed properly – there was a small gap remaining at the bottom. She got out of bed and checked for Chloe's shoes. They were gone. She looked out of the window and saw that the beaten-up truck was still strewn across the drive. 'Is she downstairs or has she gone out somewhere?' Max tiptoed downstairs and saw that Chloe wasn't anywhere down there. 'Where the hell would she go to in the middle of the night? And why? She's gone out all alone. Damn you Chloe Price. I'm worried now. I have to go look for her. She must have gone to the tree fort. But why? Why would she sneak out in the middle of the night? Without me? What's going on?' Max tried Chloe's phone but it went straight to voicemail. 'Wonderful!'

Max slid on her own footwear and left via the window, taking care not to make too much noise as she lowered herself down onto the top of the truck. 'Max the Ninja strikes again.' She had a quick look inside the truck just in case then headed along the road, anxious and lost in thought. 'Chloe Price I am so going to majorly tick you off when I see you. You know damn well how much I care about you. Why would you make me worry like this? You could have taken me with you. Or left a note or something. Anything! What secrets are you keeping from me? And why? What the hell are you up to?'

"BOOYAH!"

Max leapt back away from the hedgerow clutching both of her arms to her chest.

"Geddit? Booyah? Like I'm a scary punk ghost."

"More like a scary insensitive asshole. Chloe, I don't think you need to prank me tonight. After all that I told you earlier? Is this how you're there for me? I nearly wet myself. I was so worried about you. And this is how you thank me? That was so not cool. I'm so upset with you right now."

"I'm...I'm sorry Max. I...I wasn't even thinking. I suck."

"I'm not trying to be a bitch and I love your playful side but sometimes you don't really think things through."

"I know. I don't really know how to handle all that has happened recently so I just...act like an idiot. Please forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you. If you didn't act like an idiot then you wouldn't be you. It just wasn't a good time for messing about like that. But where the hell have you been? And why? I thought we agreed not to keep secrets from each other. Now tell me – what's your secret?"

"I've been...preparing things for our second date, and I didn't want you to know. I have a few more things to sort out tomorrow..." Chloe glanced at her phone. "I mean today, and we're good to go. I think you've waited long enough. I hope you have nothing planned for this evening. Shit is about to get very real for us."

"You mean..."

"Yep. Tonight's the night! Clear your diary."

"Oh Chloe. About freakin' time." Max hugged her tightly. "I've never wanted anything to happen so badly in my whole life. We'll finally be totally complete. I was so sick of waiting."

"Whoa! I know I've said this before but you should spend today thinking about if this is truly what you want. You're still young. I know exactly who I am and what I want to do with my life from now on, but it may be different for you. This is all new to you. I don't want you to feel like I'm rushing you into anything. I'll never make you do anything you're not completely comfortable with. I want you to be totally sure that I am what you want from life. I would understand if you just wanted us to be friends, even though it would really hurt. I just want the best for you. I don't matter. You should think about yourself and put yourself first."

"Chloe, you do matter. You matter to me. I want us to make our love so strong that it will be unbreakable. I want us to join together, to merge, to weave ourselves together in the most intimate way possible. In every single way possible. We each have only one remaining thread still hanging loose. We need to entwine those last two threads together so that we can truly be as one. I will open my heart and let you reach deep inside of me – right to the very core of my being. I want my soul to be laid bare before you, and yours before mine. And when we finally do give all of ourselves to each other, we are going to transform into something incredibly wondrous and beautiful. We will be perfect."

"Max?"

"Yes?"

"That was simply beautiful. You have my heart and soul. I'm yours. All of me."

"Ditto."

The moon hung above as they kissed, bathing them in the softest blue light.