NOCTURNE » Nathan Prescott

» x. chloe

The next morning I woke up to my phone ringing -- I had gone home shortly after Nathan brought Kate to the hospital.

"Hello?" I asked as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, checking the clock. 08:30am.
"Hey, it's Chloe." -- "I know," I sighed which caused the blue-haired girl to chuckle.

"Can we hang or are you too hungover?"
Letting out a huff of air I sat up and, since the room didn't start spinning, I told her I'd be there in an hour.

I'd hung out with Chloe a bunch of times since I came back, but usually not for long since something always got in the way. It was alright though, I wasn't too big a fan of spending longer periods of time away from home. As much as my whole mental situation had gotten better, I still needed a lot of time for myself in order to function.

CHLOE
Junkyard, cool?

ME
Omw

I got dressed in some jeans and an oversized hoodie and skipped down the stairs, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. Since it was a Saturday I assumed my dad was still asleep, especially since mom was going to get back home later today.

Scrolling through social media I finished eating and downed half a glass of water along with my pills. I left a note on the fridge, saying that I was out meeting with Chloe, and slipped into my shoes.
The car ride to the junkyard didn't take as long since it wasn't necessarily in the centre of Arcadia Bay.

I already spotted Chloes truck from afar and parked next to it, strolling around until I found her near the train tracks.
"So what's up?" I asked her as she took a drag from her cigarette. "The sky." -- "C'mon, you'd hit me for a joke like that."

Sitting down on a pile of car tires I looked at her as she dropped down next to me, handing me the cigarette. I held up my hand to reject it at which she raised an eyebrow.

"Just needed to get away from home again." -- "Like I said, you can always stay at my place. Hell, you can even get my sister's room if you don't wanna hear me snore."

She chuckled at that. "Thanks for the offer but I wouldn't fit in there. That whole rich people thing. It's all just so out of my league." She trailed off towards the end and stared at the train tracks.

"You're talking about Rachel, aren't you?" --"Where the fuck would she go without telling me? We wanted to get out of here together! No explanation. Nothing!"
I remained silent while Chloe vented and got rid of at least some of her anger for at least a bit. Somehow, every single time I saw her, she always ended up talking about Rachel at one point or another.

"Were you happier? After you left?" she wanted to know all of a sudden. I just shrugged. By now, lying about it had become so easy for me that it almost felt like the truth -- and I hated myself for letting that happen again.

"It changed a bunch of things. I guess. I just know that things here don't suck as much anymore as they used to." -- "Well it's still the same awful shithole for me..."

I stared down at my feet. "I know you're probably sick of hearing this, but things do get better. It may take time and effort and a lot of patience, but things will get better. Trust me, Chloe." -- "What do you know about a bad life?" she scoffed and threw the stump of her cigarette on the ground, stepping on it.

"Money isn't everything." -- "Yeah right." -- "Do you think just having money would help you?" I asked and tried to not get mad at how she just completely ruled out the possibility that other people -- no matter how much money they possessed -- could possibly be suffering too.

"Hell yeah it would. I could pay off Frank, I could get my ass out of here and start a new life. I could find Rachel!"
Chloe jumped up at that and looked at me.

"What? Don't you want to see Rachel again?" -- "Of course I do," I replied.
"Then why do you look like somebody just hit you?"
I shrugged, getting up as well and walking towards the train tracks, watching a small bird picking at something in the gravel.

"Well well well, good thing I find you here, Chloe," somebody spoke and I turned around to find Frank Bowers standing nearby.
"What do you want, Frank?" she spat and I stepped away from the tracks again, walking over to the two.

"I heard somebody talk about money and thought I'd drop by. Madeline, right?" I nodded.
"What, you two know each other?" Chloe asked, raising her eyebrows at me.

"That's not why I'm here, anyway, do you have the money?" He asked the girl and she shook her head. "Not yet. I just need a little more time."
Frank took another step towards the two of us and raised his finger in front of Chloes face, as we suddenly heard a car honking from the other side of the junkyard.

"You're lucky I'm here on business, Price. You better have the money next time."
With that he stepped away and Chloe sighed, placing her hand on my shoulder. "Didn't know you knew Frank." I shrugged again, as she continued talking. "I mean, figures, you still hang with Prescott? You know what, don't answer that."

MOM
Sweetie <3

MOM
I'm home and I've got some designs ready.

ME
Let me guess - you need my highly professional expertise?

MOM
Always.

Good, there was my escape plan.

"Uh, Chloe, sorry to cut this short but i need to get back home." -- "Sure, go ahead. I'll stay here some more. Don't have anything else to do anyway."
I gave her an apologetic smile and waved as I jogged back to my car.

×

A/N: Shorter chapter this time because I'm still in the middle of exams. Anywayー thank you guys for 1k reads♡♡