October 31st, 2013 – First Choice Timeline
Dana Ward: It’s been 5.
10/31/13 – 7:25 pm
Dana Ward: 10.
10/31/13 – 7:30 pm
Dana Ward: MAX! MAX! MAX! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!
You can do this. PAH-TY!!!!!
10/31/13 – 7:35 pm
Warren Graham: Yo, Maximus! Dana says you’re coming. I’m on the dance floor.
10/31/13 – 7:26 pm
Warren Graham: Sort of. Beside it. Toeing the waters.
10/31/13 – 7:28 pm
Warren Graham: Ready to nerd up this party with you. Meet me by the diving board?
10/31/13 – 7:31 pm
Warren Graham: Don’t leave your geek bro hanging.
10/31/13 – 7:38 pm
Warren Graham:
10/31/13 – 7:39 pm
An image popped up: Warren dressed in a tweed blazer pouting out a puffy lower lip, his scruffy hair hidden beneath a red fez, while his free hand tugs at a bow tie.
Kate Marsh: I’m really worried. You’ve been so down, Max. Now, Dana tells me you said you were going to meet her almost an hour ago. Are you okay?
10/31/13 – 7:28 pm
Kate Marsh: You don’t have to come, tonight. I know Dana can be
Dana can come on strong. Real strong. But its just because she cares. I don’t think she would mind if you miss tonight. Not really.
10/31/13 – 7:32 pm
Kate Marsh: How about we just hang out in my room? We can have tea and you can have some bunny cuddles. Alice misses you.
10/31/13 – 7:34 pm
Kate Marsh: I miss you.
10/31/13 – 7:35 pm
Dana Ward: Just spoke to Trevor. Coming to u.
10/31/13 – 7:38 pm
Dana Ward: Where u at?
10/31/13 – 7:41 pm
Dana Ward: U were smoking with Victoria? VICTORIA!
10/31/13 – 7:46 pm
Dana Ward: Wait! SMOKING!!1!
10/31/13 – 7:47 pm
Dana Ward: Dorm room incoming!
10/31/13 – 7:49 pm
Kate Marsh: Please answer me.
10/31/13 – 7:52 pm
Kate Marsh: I’ll be in my room if you need me.
10/31/13 – 8:03 pm
Dana Ward: Now u figure out how to lock your door?
NOW!
10/31/13 – 7:56 pm
Dana Ward: Kate and I are worried.
10/31/13 – 8:00 pm
Dana Ward: We know you’re in there.
10/31/13 – 8:04 pm
Warren Graham: Yo, Maximus! Dr. Graham, again.
Justin says you bailed.
10/31/13 – 8:02 pm
Warren Graham: Sounded bad. Need some cheer?
10/31/13 – 8:03 pm
Warren Graham: Got my flash drive. White Knight to the rescue with a movie marathon?
10/31/13 – 8:12 pm
Warren Graham: Could totally laugh it up to some Cannibal Holocaust?
10/31/13 – 8:14 pm
Warren Graham: Too much? What about some Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! ?
10/31/13 – 8:17 pm
Victoria Chase: THX FOR LISTENING STILL NOT FRIENDS
10/31/13 – 8:13 pm
Victoria Chase: CAN HEAR YOU CRYING. COMING OVER.
10/31/13 – 8:18 pm
Victoria Chase: WHATEVER. WALLOW THEN.
10/31/13 – 8:20 pm
Victoria Chase: WHY IS KATE CRYING!?
10/31/13 – 8:31 pm
Victoria Chase: HEAD OUT OF YUOR ASS, CAULFIELD!
10/31/13 – 8:32 pm
Victoria Chase: LET HER IN OR I END U
10/31/13 – 8:43 pm
Max never made it inside the gym. She had remained outside finishing the stub of a cigarette that Victoria had left behind, then just stayed there rocking on her haunches for another ten minutes or so, as her phone blew up with unanswered text messages. She rocked and she cried and she even managed to pull a mostly intact cigarette from the bushes, still trying to get her Chloe fix; and she smoked and cried some more until she realized that the skater boys at the far side of the alley had taken notice of her. Justin and Trevor and their posse were nice enough, so she knew that she didn’t have to worry about bullying, but she didn’t want their pity either.
Plus, Trevor was dating Dana. If he’d recognized her, Dana would be descending on her any minute. And sure enough, when Max had cast a second glance over at the skaters, she’d noticed Trevor was no longer there. Sure, it could have been a coincidence, but Max doubted it. She’d promptly made her exit.
She hadn’t been locked away in her dorm room ten minutes before Dana had been knocking at her door. It wasn’t the same chipper knock that she’d used that afternoon either, but softer this time. How did someone imbue a knock with concern? However it was done, Dana knew how to do it.
She’d pleaded for Max to open the door, but Max had stayed silent. She’d promised not to make Max go to the dance, and still Max had remained silent. Finally she’d tried to force her way in, only to find that for once Max had actually remembered to lock the door. From there she began with the knocking and the pleading all over again. Throughout it all, Max held her own, refusing to answer.
Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and even if she could keep it together, she knew that she wouldn’t have been able to hide that she’d broken down earlier ( at least three times today, so far ); and yes, she knew that Dana already probably knew, that surely Trevor had noticed and told her, but that didn’t matter. Max had no intention of facing anyone else today. She had already dealt with Dana Ward and Victoria Chase once each, and felt like she’d run two social marathons too many.
Over the next hour, after Dana gave up, a steady stream of new knocks and new voices graced her door. Warren came, stammering and stuttering about bringing her some movies; but she was pretty sure he was also trying to invite himself in with her, having somehow still not understood that she was in no way interested in him. Juliet came by next, although Max wasn’t sure if she wanted to help or just to poke at Max the witness, probably one of the biggest Blackwell stories in history. Hard pass. Dana made attempt number two after that, followed by an oddly semi-apologetic Victoria. Still Max said nothing. Alyssa even came by, but the social butterfly that she wasn’t, she uttered Max’s name a couple of times, then, with nothing else to say, gave up and wandered off, probably to read a book in one of the lounges. Max had actually been the most surprised at Alyssa’s visit, and though Max had refused to answer her, it had touched her that Alyssa had cared enough to try despite her own social anxieties.
Nearly fifteen minutes had passed since that last aborted attempt to cajole Max from her room when a very familiar, very soft knock stirred Max back to the present and away from thoughts of Chloe. Max knew she had to let her go, had to stop thinking about her all the time, but Max’s wardrobe choice for the evening had done Max no favors and now, no matter what she did, she just couldn’t focus; she always found herself pulled back to that week and to that final decision. Had there been another way? A way to stop the storm and save Chloe? Had she sacrificed her for nothing?
Stop sanitizing it, Max! Did you murder her for nothing?
She couldn’t be sure. Everything had happened so fast and as far as she and Chloe had been able to deduce, those had been their only choices: save the Bay or save Chloe, but not both. Yet that decision had been made with a freak storm bearing down on the town and with no time to spare — no time to think through all the possibilities. Now she had plenty of time, and she knew she should be thinking through other options (she could always go back, right?), but all that she could think about was how she had let Chloe die alone on that filthy floor.
That soft knock sounded again, stirring Max once more from her thoughts. This time, an equally soft voice followed.
“Max. It’s me. Kate.”
Max hadn’t needed Kate to speak to know that it was her. She’d recognized the timidness of her knock, that almost apologetic hesitation with each tap upon the door. She also knew that she should let her in. As much as Max was loath to admit it, Victoria had been right earlier. Max was not the only one hurting right now; Kate needed her friend as well.
Another buzz from her phone (now on silent) alerted her that the text barrage had not ended.
Victoria. Whatever.
Max ignored her, and hesitated a moment more, Kate shuffling her feet in the hallway. Max knew if she just stayed quiet for one more knock or two, Kate would leave, and she could return to the quiet dark of her room.
“One moment.” It came out no more than a whisper, raspy and muffled. Max’s throat ached from a day spent shedding too many tears and she wasn’t even sure that Kate had heard her, but no matter. She rose on wobbly feet and staggered to the door. It was time to put on her big girl pants.
The bright fluorescents of the hall piercing the gloom of her hideaway, Max found herself shielding her eyes as she cracked her door open.
“Hi, Kate.” The words came still at a whisper, yet the rasp of her voice had diminished slightly as she attempted to fill her words with more life.
“Hi, Max.” Kate smiled at her. Max had expected to see Kate waiting there with another cup of tea – her usual peace offering. Instead, one hand cradled Alice, her bunny, to her side, while her other hand scritched the bunny’s head between her floppy ears.
Noticing Max eyeing her bunny, Kate’s smile brightened. “I thought some Alice cuddles might do you good.”
For perhaps the first time that day, Max let a genuine smile pierce through her melancholic exterior. “That sounds… nice. Thanks, Kate.”
She pulled her door open wide and gestured for Kate to come in. If she was going to survive, she had to start living. She had to let someone in; that someone might as well be Kate.
As she sat on her bed, taking Alice from Kate’s outstretched hands, Max thought that she might be able to try after all. She just needed to start small and Alice cuddles seemed as good a place to start as any. Pressing her cheek up to Alice’s cute bunny face, before lowering her back down to her lap and scritching her head, much as Kate had been doing a moment earlier, Max felt, even if just briefly, a sliver of peace crack through her grief. She couldn’t help but to think that it would have made Chloe happy.
For the first time in three weeks, Max thought that she might be able to make it without her best friend at her side. She didn’t know if that made her sad, or guilty, or angry; but it did make her feel, feel something other than the emptiness in which she had been stuck. She smiled at Kate, she pet Alice, and she settled back against her futon to enjoy a quiet evening with a friend.
