"Shit," Chloe swore, causing Max to look up just in time to see the food-laden plates in Chloe's hands tumble to the floor.
Max raised her hand and rewound until Chloe was standing empty handed in front of the window to the kitchen. "Chloe," she called out as Chloe reached for the plates waiting in the window. "Only do two at a time. Don't take them all at once."
Chloe turned and made a face at Max. "I can totally carry all of these at once, what would make you thinkâoh. Right," she said as Max made a backwards spiraling motion with her finger.
Shaking her head, Max turned back to her homework as Chloe took two trips to deliver the plates to a nearby booth. Max only had about a second to concentrate, though, because as soon as Chloe was finished she rushed to Max's booth and plopped down on the cushion next to her.
"How's my girl tonight?" Chloe asked, hooking her arm around Max's shoulders and pulling her close to plant a kiss on her cheek.
Max smiled and gave Chloe a playful push. "Trying to do homework. And you're not helping!" she added as Chloe leaned in to give Max another kiss.
"Aw, come on, Max, you have all night to do homework," Chloe whined.
"Yes, but since you insist that I be here instead of at Blackwell, I can't ask Warren for help, so it's gonna take a while."
Chloe put her chin on Max's shoulder and mustered her best pout. She sighed when Max remained focused on the textbook in front of her, leaning against the back of the booth and staring up at the ceiling. A moment later, several people walked in the door and Chloe rose to greet them.
For the next three hours, an unusually steady flow of customers kept Chloe busy and Max was actually able to complete the majority of her science homework. After finishing her last problem, Max rolled her neck and stretched, closing her textbook just as the last group of customers walked out the door.
"Are you done yet?" Chloe asked, practically bounding over to Max's booth.
"Yep. All done." Max smiled at the ecstatic look her words brought to Chloe's face.
"Fuck yeah! Time to thrash this place," Chloe said, running over to the juke box. She flipped through the song titles for a few seconds before settling on a sort of jazzy 50s tune.
"To this music? Really?" Max asked.
"You bet your ass we will," Chloe said with a grin, walking over to the booth and holding her hand out to Max with a slight bow. "May I have this dance?"
"How do you even dance to something like this?"
"Get up and I'll show you."
Laughing, Max pushed herself out of the booth and took Chloe's hand. Chloe extended their arms, placing Max's free hand on her shoulder and hers on Max's waist before leading Max in a few stumbling turns around the diner.
Max struggled to hide her growing laughter as they continued to dance, but after about thirty seconds she lost the battle, busting out laughing so hard she had to let go of Chloe and bend over.
"What?" Chloe asked.
"You're trying to do a waltz, Chloe," Max gasped out through her laughter. "You can't fucking waltz to this music."
"Maybe you can't. But we can't all be as talented as I am," Chloe said with a wink, sending Max into another bought of laughter.
After gaining control of herself, Max walked over to the juke box and switched it to a more modern rock song. "Not that I wasn't vastly impressed by your waltzing skills, but how about we stick with this for a while?"
"Ready for the mosh pit shaka brah," Chloe said in her best imitation of Max's voice, throwing up a peace sign.
Max rolled her eyes. "Are you ever gonna let that go?"
"What do you think?" Chloe asked, walking over to Max and placing a kiss on her forehead before grabbing her hands and pulling her to the middle of the diner. "Now, let's dance!"
Thirty minutes later, they collapsed side by side in Max's original booth, giggling and out of breath.
"I think we're out of rock music," Max said as the juke box turned to a song that heavily featured a banjo.
"That's fine, I could use a break," Chloe said, stretching her arms forward and leaning onto the table.
They sat in silence for a while as their breathing slowed, simply enjoying each other's presence. Eventually Max reached over and began absent-mindedly rubbing small circles Chloe's back. She was staring at the cover of her science textbook, lost in thought, and so missed the small, affectionate smile Chloe gave her.
"Hey, Chloe?" Max asked after a moment.
"Hmm?"
"Why do you think waffles taste so much better than pancakes even though they're, like, essentially the same thing?"
Chloe stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. "Damn, Max, I thought you were gonna ask me about some philosophical shit or something."
"It's a very important question!" Max said, crossing her arms indignantly.
"Well, first of all, waffles are not better than pancakes," Chloe said as she sat up and grabbed Max's textbook. She pulled the book across the table until it was in front of her, then practically laid on top of Max to reach the napkin dispenser and the small ceramic dish of sugar packets that sat on the table near the window.
Max watched with amusement as Chloe stacked her gathered items on top of each other and then reached for the salt and pepper shakers, adding them to the top of her growing tower. "How can you say waffles are inferior to pancakes?"
"Because they are," Chloe said, twisting around to look for more objects for her tower.
Max snorted. "You're high."
"If only," Chloe said with a grin. "Unfortunately, it's against company policy."
They went back and forth like this for almost an hour, burning through several conversation topics as Chloe occasionally wandered around the diner looking for more objects to stack on her tower. Every once in a while she would place something in the wrong spot and the whole thing would topple over, causing Max to rewind and advise her against it.
"We should play Jenga sometime," Max said after rewinding for the seventh time. "I'm pretty sure I could beat your ass."
"What do you mean? I haven't knocked my tower over once," Chloe said, frowning when she caught sight of Max shaking her head. "Really? Damn." She screwed up her face as she decided where to place another salt shaker. "I wouldn't want to play Jenga with you anyway. Too easy for you to cheat."
"Your faith in me is astounding," Max said, grimacing as Chloe reached out to place the salt shaker in the same unstable place as before. "Please don't put that there again, my head is starting to hurt."
Chloe lowered her hand and surveyed her work. "I think it's done anyway."
"Beautiful," Max said, trying not to laugh as she looked at the collection of napkin dispensers, salt and pepper shakers, ketchup and mustard bottles, and other assorted items balanced on top of her textbook.
"Yeah," Chloe said, looking at Max. "She is."
Max groaned, covering her face with her hands and sliding down several inches in the booth. "You did not just say that."
"What, I can't compliment my girlfriend?"
"No, I mean you did not just use that cheesy-ass line that's always used in romcoms and shit."
"So what if I did?"
"Well," Max said, sitting up and taking her hands away from her face, her eyes flicking to Chloe's lips. "I can think of one way you can make it up to me."
Chloe grinned. "I dunno, I still haven't really forgiven you for saying that waffles are better than pancakes."
"Don't I at least get a chance at persuading you to forgive me?"
"I'll give you plenty of chances," Chloe said, grabbing Max's shoulders and gently guiding her down to lie on her back on the cushion. Max swung her legs up so she was lying flat with Chloe above her on all fours.
"Plenty of chances," Chloe breathed as she lowered her head toward Max's. Their lips connected and Max reached up to tangle her hands in Chloe's hair. A moment later her hands slid lower along Chloe's body, forcing Chloe to lie flat on top of her.
"Good thinking, Super Max," Chloe said, shifting to kiss along Max's neck.
"Thanks," Max said breathlessly, moving her hands underneath Chloe's shirt. She skimmed her fingers up and down Chloe's back, grinning triumphantly when Chloe shivered.
Her grin disappeared as Chloe moved her right leg so it was resting directly between Max's.
"Shit, Chloe, you're leg," Max gasped.
"I know," Chloe said before kissing Max fiercely.
Max broke away from the kiss, gasping again as Chloe shifted to put more pressure behind her leg. "Fuck you."
"You first," Chloe said in a low whisper, gently biting Max's lower lip.
A second later the bell above the diner door chimed and Chloe all but leapt off of Max.
"Welcome to Two Whales," she said smoothly as several customers walked through the door. The customers looked confusedly from Chloe's messy hair to the tower of random objects that was still on the table, but luckily didn't see Max, who was struggling to quiet her breathing as she lay motionless in the booth.
Chloe smiled and led the group to a booth on the opposite side of the diner, quickly fixing her hair before taking their orders.
"Fuck you, Chloe," Max said in a hoarse whisper as Chloe walked past her on her way back to the kitchen. Chloe winked in return and Max was tempted to try to kick her.
After delivering the customers their food, Chloe bustled around behind the counter cleaning, giving Max a chance to calm down. Eventually she was able to relax, even dozing off while Chloe dismantled her hodgepodge tower and returned everything to its proper place.
Max was sound asleep by the time Joyce walked through the door an hour later. After briefing her mother on what she needed to know of the night's events and gathering her things, Chloe approached Max, gently shaking her knee to wake her up.
"Mmph, go away," Max mumbled, rolling onto her side and putting her arms around her head.
"Come on, Super Max," Chloe said. "I'll drive us back to my house and you can sleep there until your first class."
Still grumbling sleepily, Max sat up and got out of the booth. Chloe put her jacket around Max's shoulders, reaching around her to grab Max's bag and textbook.
"Let's go," Chloe said, wrapping her arm around Max and steering her out of the diner.
Chloe guided Max through the parking lot and over to her truck, opening the passenger side door for Max to clamber inside before jogging around to the other side and getting in herself. She turned her keys in the ignition, smiling when Max scooted as close to her as possible and laid her head on her shoulder.
"Chloe?" Max asked, yawning hugely.
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
Chloe glanced away from the road to look at Max, whose face was softly illuminated by a streak of sunlight coming through the window. "I love you, too, Max."