All Wounds - 10 (Pt.3) (Life is Strange)

Life is Strange
All Wounds

Chapter 10 – Mess
(Part 3)

--

Victoria sniped some snarky thing or another behind her back but Chloe couldn't make it out beneath the DJ set.

As Chloe approached the bar counter and waited her turn, her brain thirsted for an ethanol escape.

How in the hell had Stells in any way figured that inviting that stuck up whore to this thing or on some road trip was a good idea in any universe whatsoever?

Shit, Chloe was halfway tempted to ask Max to...friggin' check. Check some alternate worldlines, check and see if literally any of them had a version of Victoria who was a decent goddamn human being, instead of a sneaky little spider woman trying to weave everyone around her into a goddamn web of snotty tones and expensive clothes and fancy art gallery hipster culture bullshit.

While she was at it, maybe if Max was so fucking interested in keeping that bitch in their lives...like some threesome shit? If it wasn't 'Vickie,' it was Stella who Max was so interested in being around. The two of them seemed to be scheming, huh? Or maybe it was with Stella, maybe she was just waiting to come out, so they could-...Urgh. If Max was so into that idea all of a sudden, maybe she could find a worldline where Rachel was...-

Fuckin' eh.

Nope. Stop. You cut that shit out right this second.

Not allowed to be weird in the head right now, Price.

Max already has the Lion King's share of that these days.
Don't go to that dark, shadowy place, my son – that's where stuck-up pricks like Chase hung about.

That's not even-...How is that even a joke? Why...-?

Goddamnit, Victoria.

“Yep?” grunted the barmaid to Chloe.

“Yea, erh...-!”

Chloe's brain fizzled like a bomb fuse as she made a decision based on what she'd scoped out earlier.

“Can I get an...Angel Island?! And...-” For Max?

“Somethin' else?” the bartender read.

“Yep, gimme a Zelda's Lullaby, too!”

“Lullaby and an Angel Island?!” the tender made sure.

“You got it!”

Chloe's mind was elsewhere as she waited for the drinks and paid for them. She'd...kind of unloaded on them back there. Damn, kind of...more on Stells than anyone else, huh? It was almost like Chloe was bitter that Stella had actually invited Victoria here, knowing, specifically, that Max and Chloe would also be there, and she specifically did not tell either party involved.

Chloe had come to think that Stells was smarter than that.
This left Chloe feeling, well...disappointed.

Disappointed? With a fellow human being? NEVER.

Ah, but booze? Booze could never disappoint you, because it served a singular purpose, and it only failed at that if you failed at using it somehow. The cause of – and solution to – most of life's problems, right? (crap, wasn't that a meme, too?)

Chloe was halfway through her Angel Island when the Zelda's Lullaby was finished. Max and Stella showed up behind Chloe.

Max wriggled her arms around Chloe's waist, leaning into Chloe's back without a word.

Stella set her empty glass down on the counter to Chloe's right. Meanwhile, Chloe slid the Max's drink to her left, watching her fiancé cautiously palm it.

“What...-?” Max started up.

“Just try it! It's, uh-!...It's called a 'Zelda's Lullaby!'”

Max's expression melted with a bit of warmth, which brought out a kindled spark from within Chloe's soured mood.

“Thanks,” said Max. “That's...actually really cute!”

“Yup. I know! I gothcoo, sistah!”

Chloe stared at her own drink, stole a glance at Stella's profile, then avoided eye contact when Stells turned to reciprocate the look. The urban-princess barmaid took Stella's next order (“Can I get a Magus, please?!”) and processed the payment.

Chloe tried to glance over her shoulder toward the rest of their company – Brooke was chilling not too far away, being obviously hit on by some lanky dude she was clearly not feeling. Victoria was bobbing to the music not too far away, alone with her drink. Rrrrright where she belonged, far as Chloe was concerned...

“You OK?” Stells asked, leaning in toward Chloe.

Chloe flapped her wrist with casual dismissal, her head shaking just a little.

“I'll deal,” she replied. “Not gonna lie, though: kinda pissed you invited her here!”

“Hey, cut her a break!” said Max inbetween sips.

“Sure,” said Chloe, her chest bubbling with frustration. “I'll just do that – once you both stop trying to force me and that Abercrombie flunky to get along! 'Cuz we never will! Cats and dogs, man!”

Neither Max nor Stella had anything to say. Stella's drink arrived: a purple, smokey looking thing, served in a tumbler glass on the rocks. Chloe couldn't help but admire the dark violet hue. Something about it drew her in.

“You wanna try?!” Stella offered, noting Chloe's stare.

Chloe's expression wrinkled sheepishly and she shook her head, but Stells nudged her glass toward her.

Stella insisted, “Go on, take a sip!”

Chloe ruminated on Stella's offer. Fact was, she was pretty pissed at the girl. And Stells totally knew that, and was trying to, like...make amends? With booze?

Well, she knew the way to calming Chloe's mood, anyway.

“What's this one called?!”

“A Magus!”

“A Magus!” Chloe repeated, befuddled. “Some Lord of the Rings crap?!”

“Ha! Nope, like from Chrono Trigger!”

“Huh?”

“Chrono Trigger?! I thought you guys were big into time travel stories. That one's a classic!”

“Ohhhh, dude!” Chloe's brain could picture the pixelated graphics. Had she ever finished it? She definitely borrowed it from someone back in school, eons back. Well, Brooke...wasn't allowed to see her 'nerd' side, but...Stells was cool enough. She could. “That one with the BAMF frog with the sword, and the DBZ-lookin' dude...with the sword? And the robot who plants the forest?! OH OH and the top hat man waiting at the edge of the fuckin' universe?!”

Why did Chloe specifically remember that part? The robot...planting a whole forest of trees...
Why'd she remember a man in a top hat, for that matter?
What was it about some old dude standing by an old-timey lamppost that seemed...awesome?
Chloe couldn't really recall.

“You guys talking about Chrono Trigger?!” Max checked, partway through her Lullaby.

“Dude, yea, you ever play it?!” Stella asked.

Chloe saw a lump form in Max's throat as she coughed on a hearty gulp of her cocktail.

“Uh, y-yea, I think?! Would've been middle school, though.” Max smacked her lips a bit, wiping some booze from her chin. “Good game!”

“Right?!” Stella agreed. “You remember Magus?!” Stella asked through the noise clutter – and through Chloe.

Max shrugged. “Wizard vampire guy?!” she vaguely guessed.

“Yea, exactly! This drink?! Named after 'im!”

Chloe shrugged and took the tumbler glass in hand, reluctantly sniffing at it. She took a quick swig. Curacao, some sake, maybe? Like Brooke's drink. Ah, Lychee stuff. Stella liked the Lychee shit, huh?

With an ominous rasp that sent a shiver down Chloe's spine, Stella said into in Chloe's ear:
“The black wind begins to blow...”

Simultaneously, something turned in Chloe's stomach. She couldn't put her finger on it.

It was almost like...time-sickness, but...different?

Off-put by this sensation, Chloe set the glass back down, pushed it Stella's way, and gave the little weirdo an offended glance.

“You are a bonafide nerd, Stells!”

“You are!” Max agreed with a bit of cheer. The swingset was heading back in the other direction. “You totally are!”

At this, Stella giggled a bit – Chloe couldn't hear the actual laugh too well, but the expression was adorable enough. Stella rubbed at her eyes a bit, shoving her glasses up and about before readjusting them.

“Takes one to know one!” Stella proclaimed, giving Chloe a bump on the back.

“I hear that!” Max chimed in, assaulting the other half of Chloe's back with a much softer hand gesture. Max proceeded to initiate a toast, and the other two obliged.

Max finished off her drink, as did Chloe, but Stella was taking her sweet-ass time with her purpley concoction.

“Y'know,” Max declared, shoving herself up off the table. “Uhmm...Vic...toria's looking kinda...lost?! Out there? Right?!”

“Oh, yea!” Stells insisted. A bit too...quickly. “Brooke doesn't know what to do with her. Maybe you can, like...pull her back into the circle?!”

“Y-yea, I can try that!”

Jesus. Make it more obvious, why doncha? Maxie, you're a terrible actress...

“I'll watch your girl while you're gone!” Stella joked, tapping the back of her wrist against Chloe's.

Max pushed hair back over her shoulder, bent over, and kissed Chloe on the neck, scratching her fingers against Chloe's back. Chloe sighed, a gesture deafened by the club's pounding rhythm, but gave Max a little farewell-for-now peck on the lips.

By the time Max was out of earshot – which was, like, six feet in this dump – Stells scooted herself a bit closer.

“Brooke'll keep an eye on them, don't worry,” she assured.

“Yea,” Chloe shrugged off the concern. Brooke wasn’t the person whose judgment she was worrying about.

Rationally, with the thinky-thinky part of her brain, Chloe knew Max would never choose fucking…’Vickie’…over her. She knew this. Logically.

But this wasn’t about logic. That was the whole goddamn point of jealousy. It didn’t have to make sense, but it sure as hell had to make you feel like garbage. And Victoria Chase already did that well enough, but the fact that Max was bending over backwards to accommodate to that…-! That…-!

“Yo!” Stella was tapping her wrist against Chloe’s shoulder, trying to pull Chloe out of her own brain through the haze of noise.

And...this was the part where she'd been set up, and Stella was gonna try to convince her about this whole 'road-trip-back-to-the-bay' crap.

“Wanna go take a smoke break with me?!” Stella asked, having finished up her drink pretty quickly.

Chloe tried to read the woman in the dimly lit, increasingly tiring mess of shouting and noise and bass and...-

“We should talk!” Stells added, pushing up her glasses a bit and fussing her hair behind her shoulders. “Like, somewhere with normal speaking decibel levels!” She stuck a couple of dollar bills beneath her empty glass for the tender.

Chloe paused with hesitation. Was she really in the mood for that kind of 'talk' right then? The serious kind? The kind where someone would try to convince her of some shit?

“C'mon!” Stella insisted, starting to leave the bar with a flick of her head.

Chloe huffed, shook her head begrudgingly, and dug up a fiver to tip the tender for her and Max's drinks.

Trying to move, and through the crowd, at that, made Chloe realize how warm her face was. She followed Stella, who patiently checked over her shoulder every few seconds to make sure Chloe was still there. They found their way to some back door – a chunky dude wearing a yellow cap with a...mustache...-? Nah, it was just makeup. Like he was supposed to look all grungy on purpose. Well, pudgy guy in yellow and purple was checking bracelets, letting peeps in and out the backdoor. Chloe and Stella maneuvered by, making their exit. A dark concrete hallway with a stairwell leading outside met them – by the time they got to the top and beneath the yellowed street lamp meeting them in the parking lot, Chloe realized by the peak of the stairs that the stairwell was painted to look like a warp pipe. Rad.

The parking lot was actually kind of crowded with cars, but not many right near their specific corner. There was a small group having at a bong across the way, a couple of duded makin' out hardcore against one of the lamp posts...Ah, and – of course – a trio playing hackey-sack a ways off.

Real classy place Stella picked to 'have a serious talk.'

The pair found a comfy if unclean wall close to the back door. The pounding music felt more like gentle nudging from within the brick and mortar.

Stella's phone 'Ticka-Ticka-Tick'-ed as she sent a text. Chloe was close enough – and curious enough – to notice that it was just telling Brooke where they'd gone off to. Prolly smart, given the whole...environment.

Chloe realized it was maybe a good idea to text Max, as well.

(Chloe) – (yo babe me and stells are getting some air out back)
(make good peer to teen life choices)

The familiar flick of a lighter had an almost Pavlovian effect on Chloe's mouth as Stella lit up a cigarette.

Stella settled against the wall, then extended her pack of cigs Chloe's way.

“No, thanks,” Chloe dismissed the offer with a casual toss of her hand. “Quit those a while back.”

“Oh, right,” Stella breathed out with self-directed frustration. “I should-...I should know that already, sorry. Lame move, my bad. I just, um-...'Cuz with the mary jane, ya know?”

“Pffff. You can call it 'weed,' gurl.”

“R-right, figured you were...um...-”

“Nope. Different kinds of smokes, Stells.”

“Gotcha. Anyway, sorry.”

Chloe shook her head slightly, insisting it was fine. She could tell the girl didn't know what to do with her already lit cigarette now.

“It's cool, I'm good,” she assured. “Go for it.”

Stella glanced with a guilty look of 'You sure?' and Chloe just nodded back with an amused smirk.

Stells took a drag. Chloe watched that intense orange glow swell at the tip, the thin stream of smoke that Stells slid from her lips...The satisfying way the smoke dissipated into the chilled evening air. Shuffling her hands a bit in their hoodie pockets, Chloe adjusted her position against the brick wall. She took in a deep breath, the whiff of nearby cigarette smoke alluring in the worst of ways.

Stella froze up for a second after her phone buzzed.

“No...No,” she grunted with some desperation.

“What?” Chloe wondered. “'Sup?”

“It's my...-” Stella's nose twitched and wrinkled. “-...fucking brother, he...-”

“The, uh...the brother brother?” Chloe warily poked.

Stella looked-...Yikes. Pretty goddamn livid.

Yea, the brother brother, Chloe figured.

“You mean the asshole brother?” Stella hissed under her breath, feverishly typing away a text message. “The brother-who-tore-my-family-apart brother? Yea, that brother...”

“What's up with that dick-bag now?”

Chloe honestly didn't really want to know. But...she'd just gone off the handle at Stells back in the club, and the chick didn't really deserve it, so...-

“Says he's in town now!” Stella spat incredulously. Her phone vibrated. “Flew into SF a couple days ago?! What?” She typed another angry reply, hissing her writing aloud in quiet fury. “Why-in-the-fuck-are-you-here?”

Soooo, yea. Stella's brother brother. The older one. The asshole one.

The one who'd fucking done unmentionable shit to her during their childhood, which, on top of all the other crap that guy had been up to, had caused a marital rift in the Hill household once it had all come to light. Near as Chloe had heard from Max, Stella's 'big bro' was a person Stells did her best to keep away from with a twenty-foot pole duct-taped to another twenty-foot pole, but couldn't outright excommunicate from her life lest she sever her relationship with her own mom.

Family politics. And to think that Chloe had used to think hers were so horrible...

There was always someone who had it worse off.

“Oh, my god,” grunted Stells, locking her phone and shoving it fiercely into her hoodie. “Just...-! Douchebag. Thinks he can bum a place at my house? Nuh-uh. Not happening, Kam...”

“That sucks, dude,” Chloe weakly tried to sympathize. “Sorry...”

“He fucking...-” Stella was started to tear up, sucking courage from her cigarette, which was shaking in her hand. She shook her head with disgust. “Says he wants to meet my roommate! Can you believe that shit? 'See you soon?!' That's what he just texted me. 'See you soon!' Uhhh, how about no? Urgh.”

Chloe shook her head disparagingly, her chest tight and her stomach filled with butterflies from just seeing Stella so shaken up. Chick stamped out her quickly-consumed cigarette and lit another one right up.

“Man, forget that ass-clown,” Chloe blew the matter off. “He shows his face? You call me. Swear to fuck, I will drive over and deck him, square in the jaw.”

“Heh.” Hella nervous laugh. “Y-yea, now, that I wanna see...I will hold you to it.”

“Seriously,” Chloe pressed. “I mean it.”

Stella's face quivered at Chloe's earnest expression and she nodded after a moment, shifting her hair around a bit and taking a long drag.

“Thanks,” said Stella solemnly.

She worked her way through a few more puffs of smoke as someone re-entered the club. A noisy group exited, laughing and slapping each other's backs as they made their way across the parking lot.

All right, Chloe. Suck it up.

“Anyway,” Chloe started up with a grunt. “Yea, so...-“ She scratched an itch at the base of her neck. “Sorry for…-“ She bobbed her head toward the basement behind them. “-...goin’ all Freakazoid back in there.”

Taking another puff, Stella nodded thoughtfully, her eyes glazed with curiosity as she continued to listen to Chloe’s words. She was calmed down by that point, at least.

“Just wish you'd uh, ya know...-” Chloe sighed, slicking her half head of hair through her fingers. “Wish you’d thought to maybe mention that was gonna make a cameo appearance in tonight's episode.”

“Mm,” Stella hummed contemplatively. “If you'd known, though...would you have come?”

Her hand still in her hair, Chloe's lips opened, but she caught herself before speaking. A disgruntled huff spilled out of her fluttering lips as she let her arm fall into her thigh.

“Prolly not,” Chloe confessed in a mumble.

“Yea, see?” remarked Stells, pointing her orange-tipped cigarette in Chloe’s direction. “Chloe…” She inhaled another breath of nictoine through her lips and exhaled smoke through her nostrils. “You can't just...pretend like she doesn't exist,” Stells expressed warily.

“Pff,” scoffed Chloe with raised brows. “Been workin' out for a long-ass time.”

“Has it?” Stells proposed with a kind of forced doubt that rubbed Chloe’s skin weird. “Sure doesn't seem like it's been 'working out.' I've been thinking, Chloe, and-...Now, hear me out on this.” A defensive flash of her hands, a thin trail of smoke left from the gesture. “What Vickie did back in the summer was totally out of line. You have every right to be angry with her. But...-“ She leaned back against the wall with another drag. “And, like, this is just a thought, but...if you had actually been spending time with her, with Max, I dunno-...If you were friends with her, too, I just-...I guess I figure nothing like that would've built up between them, is all.”

“You for real?” Chloe quietly, skeptically shut down the notion. “This is my fault?”

“No-no-no,” came a hasty course-correct. “That was-…I’m tryin’ to open your mind a bit, is all.” Stella swallowed down one last puff, sighing out the vapors as she dropped the remains to the tarmac and stamped them out with her boot. Having re-positioned herself in front of Chloe, she elaborated. “I’m saying you don’t live in a vacuum, even if you pretend you do. I know you like your alone time and – shit, this whole little ‘group’ of ours? We all do. But you, like…you take it to this extra level where it’s not just introversion, it’s like you…want to be lonely?”

Chloe’s stomach churned. This conversation was quickly making her uncomfortable.

Stella added, “And it just, well, it kinda...makes it hard for people to like you, Chloe. I mean, on the surface level, sure, everyone 'likes' you, thinks you're 'cool,' but-...Whenever someone tries to work their way in, you just shove 'em back out?”

“I don’t do ‘BFFs’, Stells,” Chloe cited plainly and with as convincing a shrug as she could manage. “I've got Max, and...that's all I need. Not gonna stop her from being a social butterfly n’ shit, but…I just ain’t gettin’ dragged along for the ride. The very cramped, smelly, awkward ride of…adulting-social-life. It's a stupid road trip where the big destination is, like…the world’s biggest rubber band ball or whatever crap.”

“…What?”

“’N everyone pretends to be impressed like it was worth the three day long drive when it’s all just bullshit.”

“Uh…”

“So, like, that kinda road trip is stupid enough when it’s just two people. But five? And one of them’s Victoria? Psh. Yea, good fucking times...And then, yea, so, the metaphorical version, where life’s a crappy road trip, same thing. Crowded enough with two people in the damned car…And like, I mean, I like driving by myself here and there, thank you. Put what I want on the radio, go where I wanna go, take what roads I wanna take, 'cuz sometimes the highway traffic is ridiculous...”

“Chloe, babe, buddy, pal.” Stells grabbed Chloe by the shoulder and squeezed roughly. Pinched a little. Was she riffing on the 'Max/Maxie/Maximil' bit? “We all like you, but ya gotta stop pushing us all away. If not for you, I mean…fuck. Do it for Max, at least.”

“The hell does my social life have to do with her? It doesn’t have to be her problem if I don't make it. And her drama shouldn't have to become mine, either.”

“Dude, you’re getting married. Two lives become one, all that jazz?”

“All that jazz n’ sax…”
All that jizz n' sex...
Jazz.

“Look.” Stella took a deep breath. “I didn’t wanna bring this up-” Sure, which is why you’re specifically saying that right before you bring it up? “-I mean, I don’t know the details and all, but-…Whatever is going on with you and Max? I can tell it’s bad. I haven’t forgotten how things ended up last time. And we both know you can’t help Max through this all by yourself.”

Stella had a point that was so sharp but so tiny and easy to ignore, like a bee stinger.

“I can take care of Max,” said Chloe with defense. “Been doin’ it for a few years now.”

“And it’s wearing you down,” Stella observed bluntly. “Don’t tell me it isn’t. You’ve got people who are here, who can help you, who can be there for the long haul. But you’ve gotta open the door.”

Chloe finally gave Stells the decency of a glance. Her eyes glinted with sincerity, to which Chloe had no reply.

“Ya gotta let us in,” Stella insisted.

Chloe raised her brow, a smirk setting up shop on her face.

“Know who else says that?” Chloe goaded. “'Let me in, let me in.'”

Stella smirked back, shrugging her head around and knowing a punchline was coming.

“Vampires, dude,” Chloe stated, referring to that old-fashioned bit of vampiric lore.

“Pff, but seriously,” Stella moved things along. “No one can open that door but you. Max has opened the gates for us, we've welcomed her in, she's helped us, and we've helped her. And it’s not easy to hear this, I know it isn’t, but…that includes Vickie. She’s more like you than you give her credit for: you both care about Max, for one, and for another, you both put on this tough act and keep people at a distance.”

Chloe could feel her eyes getting damp at the edges, and she didn’t really know why. Emotions. Bleagh. Ulgh.

“Gah.” Stella ran her palm across her face, shoving her glasses around before resetting their position. “I'm not trying to get on your case. I mean...Whatever’s up with Max right now, that’s not my business maybe. I get that, I appreciate that. But it’s clearly something fucked up based on what I’ve seen and what you’ve told me. She needs help. But so do you. Max needs her social life to be stable right now. And if you were more a part of that, I think – really, honest-to-shit, I think it would help both of you. That’s why we’re here tonight. That’s why I invited both of you, it’s why I invited Vickie and Brooke, even though I know maybe you don’t all get along – because Max needs this. She needs us. We need each other. You know?”

“Ulterior motives behind the social planning?” Chloe teased half-heartedly. She murmured with an accent, “Sneaky, cheeky, lil’ bligh’er.”

“Fff,” puffed Stella in what amounted to a shaky laugh. “With the Arcadia memorial thing on the horizon, I just…figured we could all use a night out. Have some fun. Clean our palettes beforehand. Remind ourselves that we all got through that crap. That we’re all here on the other side, and we're better people for it.”

“God damn,” Chloe chuckled, rubbing the gunk from her eyes before it had a chance to grow. “No wonder it’s been so hard for me to shake that childish, happy-go-lucky shit from Max: she’s been hanging out with you so much.”

“Be careful, Chlo,” Stells taunted back, nudging Chloe’s elbow with her own. “This ‘hope and optimism’ mushy stuff? It might be contagious.”

“Kill me now,” Chloe grunted flatly.

Stella shook her head playfully, then wiped fog from her glasses on her hoodie sleeve.

She joked, “Think I'll leave that up to Victoria, huh?”

“Jesus,” sighed Chloe. “Yea. If we're seriously gonna be stuck in the same car for that long...I wouldn't put it past her.”

“Uh-huhhhh...” Stells waggled her eyebrows. “Is that your way of saying you're up for that sucky road-trip, after all?”

Chloe smiled, rolled her eyes for good measure, and shrugged up one shoulder.

“For Max's sake?” Chloe checked.

“For all of our sake. But yea. Especially hers.”

“...Fair enough.”

--

“If history is to change, let it change.
If the world is to be destroyed, so be it.
If my fate is to die, I must simply laugh.”

~ Magus, Chrono Trigger