The Only

M3

Returning home from the restaurant, Max and Chloe headed upstairs after saying good night to Ryan and Vanessa. They had gone out to dinner, to Max's favorite upscale restaurant, on a rare Thursday evening in celebration of her passing GED results. At the insistence of her mom, Max wore her new laced, pale-pink dress, while Chloe refused to dress up too much. Vanessa took the girls out shopping earlier in the week, and Chloe picked out a teal, flannel plaid dress with different sizes of white and black horizontal and vertical lines.

Closing the door to Max's upstairs bedroom, Chloe was relieved to finally be able to spend some time alone with her girlfriend. As soon as the door shut, the petite brunette surprisingly shoved her partner against the wall beside the dresser, grabbed her face with both hands, and enthusiastically slid her soft lips across the girl's mouth. Several passionate moments passed, and Chloe pushed away, inviting a disappointed grunt from her freckled lover.

"Okay, okay, Mad Max. I know I look damn good right now, but I need you to hold your horses. We'll have plenty of time to... well, do whatever we want. By the way, I'm very proud of you, babe, AND you're so fucking hot in that pink dress. I just wanna tear if off and... OKAY, stop! Damn." She took a deep controlled breath and gathered herself. "I need to show you something."

Chloe reached out a hand, lightly clutching her girlfriend's and escorted her over to the computer desk. "It's a big surprise, to be honest, and your dad spent some time helping me with the paperwork and shit. Your parents are super supportive of it... Anyway..."

"What's going on, Chloe?" Max curiously probed.

"I know Valentine's Day is tomorrow, but I want this to be my gift to you. I still feel terrible that I missed giving you something special on Christmas, so I've been working on this since then." Chloe rolled out the small desk chair, assisted Max in sitting down, and leaned over to control the mouse. Max quickly tilted her chin up and pulled Chloe's head down for a quick kiss. "Behave, Max," she reluctantly demanded. "We need to focus; this is our future." She noticed the corners of her girlfriend's mouth curl upward after her last statement.

Chloe wiggled the mouse to close the screen saver, then opened a browser and proceeded to her bookmarks. "Remember when you asked what we're gonna do next? THIS is what we're doing next, and for the rest of our lives, I think." The taller girl took her girlfriend's hand and guided it down to the mouse. With her own hand still on top of the smaller girl's, she highlighted the bookmark titled "TOP SECRET."

"Was I so focused on the GED I didn't notice this before?" Max asked. "You are very sneaky, Chloe Price."

"Don't get mad at the name, I think it's funny as shit - but also beautiful because I, for one, love your name." She proudly patted herself on the chest. "Go ahead, open 'er up." The brunette double clicked the 'TOP SECRET' bookmark, and a browser window popped up leading to a website. In elegant, pink letters trimmed with gold at the top, the website was titled:

MAKING MEMORIES with MAXINE – M3

"Chloe, what is this? And... Maxine?" The photographer's eyes were wide with wonder.

"Just click around, check it out," The taller girl nervously snickered looking over the sitting girl's shoulder. She knew how much time she had put into building the online shop, but she was not sure Max would be happy about it. She recalled a time when her girlfriend was reluctant to enter a contest at Blackwell despite her excellent work. Now that several of her photos were posted online for the world to not only see but purchase, she hoped things would be different.

After searching the site, in silence, for what felt like an eternity, Max spun around to face the sneaky mastermind. "Fuck, say something," Chloe desperately demanded.