Bzzt. Bzzt. Max’s phone was ringing, vibrating across the desk on the other side of her dorm. It didn't make much noise, but Max was a light sleeper. Her eyes fluttered open, drawn to the bright light illuminating a single corner of her dorm. Dragging herself out of bed with a groan, one thought went through her head: Chloe. It seemed to take a millennia, but Max finally made it over to her phone, picking it up and pressing answer before making her way back to bed.

“Hello?” She asked groggily, her eyes still half shut.

“Hey Max.” The other voice said back.

“Chloe? Are you okay?” Max asked immediately, more awake than ever. There was no reason that Chloe would call her at 4 in the morning unless something bad had happened.

“Yeah… no-I just…” Chloe started. She was so quiet…

“Is everything alright?” Max was seriously concerned now. Chloe wasn't acting her normal, punk self. She was calm, sad, tired. She was Chloe, but she wasn't Chloe at the same time.

“Yeah, I'm okay.” She replied, quieter than last time.

“Hm? Then why-”

“I was just thinking about you.” Her voice was little more than a whisper, but every word rang through Max like it was being played at a concert. Thinking about you…

“Oh.” Was all Max could manage, her face glowing bright red in the pitch black room. There was silence for a full minute as tears welled up in Max’s eyes.

“You still there?” Chloe asked, a bit louder than before. Max just nodded, afraid that any words would bring on a barrage of tears that would wake up the entire girl’s dormitory.

“Max, I… I really don't know what to do. After you kissed me yesterday, I felt… I felt like I had someone in my life that I really loved… not the kind of love William and I had… hell, not even the kind of love Rachel and I had. A different kind of love, y’know?” Max just nodded again, sniffling as she let a couple tears roll down her cheeks, biting her bottom lip so hard she was sure she tasted some coppery blood.

“I've been thinking about the storm. About chaos theory, about your power… I think I know what we have to do to stop it. Stop the storm.” Once again, Chloe’s voice dropped to just a whisper.

“Chloe, I… I'm not gonna do that. If Arcadia Bay has to die for you to live, then so be it. But I'm not letting you...” Max whispered, barely holding back sobs.

“We don't know for certain if that's what we need to do. We have to find Rachel first. She might know the answer to all of this.” Chloe spoke softly, and Max could almost see her, lying on her bed with the phone to her ear.

“C-Chloe, what if Rachel is…” Max didn't want to finish the sentence, couldn't finish the sentence. The other line went completely silent. Even Chloe’s soft, gentle breathing seemed to vanish. A minute and a half passed before Chloe spoke again.

“I know. We’ll get to that when the time comes. I'll let you go to sleep now.” She said, some sniffles barely audible.

“Okay. G-good night.”

“Night.”

“I… I-”

“What?”

“I love you…”

“…I love you too.”