Afterwards: A Life Is Strange Fan-Fiction <A Choice Story>

Chapter 14

"Nathan, what are you talking about?!"

"I said kiss me, Caulfield." Why would Nathan ask me to kiss him? What the hell?

"No! Nathan, I-" I protest while getting off of the couch and backing up into the wall.

"You asked if there was anything to do to help. Well, this is it!" He snaps. Why the fuck would I ever want to kiss Nathan? After everything he did, plus he's just an all around asshole.

"No, Nathan! I'm not kissing you!" I try my best to sound loud and scary, but I bet I just look stupid. His eyebrows start to slant downward. "Look, I'm going to go check on Chloe. I'll come back when you're not acting like such an asshole." I start to walk out of the darkroom.

"Uh, wait Caulfield!" He yells. "I'm, uh, I'm sorry." He pulls a pill bottle out of his pocket. "These pills I'm on, they have side effects." Is one of the side effects being an asshole? I leave the darkroom and go up the stairs. At least he apologized, but I think I should talk to Chloe for a while. I walk up the stairs and see Chloe standing in the doorway smoking a cigarette, staring off into the distance. I can tell she's stressed, so I should definitely talk to her. After all, we are best friends. I tip-toe up to her quietly. She hasn't turned around yet, so I think I'm good.

"Boo-Ya!" I yell jumping up next to her. "Get it, like a scary punk ghost?" I say mocking what she did to me a few days ago. She doesn't even jump. "That didn't scare you, did it?" I ask.

"Nope. I heard you coming up behind me." She says while blowing smoke out of her mouth.

"Why didn't you check to see who it was?"

"I don't know. It's more fun this way." She says with a slight smile. Under this light I can really see the bags under Chloe's eyes. I guess it shows that she's tired and stressed out.

"...So, did you figure out what that noise was?" I ask.

"It was a tree. I think. I didn't really check too much. Plus, I needed an excuse to get the hell out of there in case you and Nathan got it on." Gross, no way in hell I would do that with Nathan.

"I would never, not with Nathan at least."

"Oh, so you admit there's someone else that you'd rather get it on with?" She while smiling. I feel my cheeks getting warm.

"No, I just, I-"

"I'm just messin' with ya Caulfield." She says while pushing my shoulder slightly. "You're a little red in the cheeks there, I see." She says while looking dead at me, with a huge smile. Smoke slowly drifts out of her nose. If she isn't the definition of punk, then I don't know what punk is. She turns to face the outdoors. "You know, we still have to talk about what our plans are after this." She inhales on her cigarette. What are we going to do? Leave? Stay? If we stay, where are we going to live? If we leave, where are we going to go?

"I don't know what we're going to do." I say while staring off outdoors. We can't live here, can we? It's completely destroyed. I still have school, but who knows, the school may be completely destroyed. Now isn't exactly the time for this, because we have a seriously injured person below us. "Maybe we should go back down to the darkroom. Nathan is really hurt." She stares off outside.

"Fine, but I'm bringing my cigarette." We walk back down the stairs and into the darkroom. Nathan is laying there on the couch muttering to himself.

"Max, this guy's hella crazy." She whispers. If talking to yourself make you crazy, then I'm crazy myself. Though, I do it in my head, not out loud. I guess I just assumed everyone talked to themselves in their head. We walk up to him. I sit on the couch arm that I was sitting on before, and Chloe stands in front of the couch, puffing her cigarette next to me.