Life is Better

Chapter Thirteen - Like We Are Cursed

The next day I met up with Max and Chloe in front the diner. "So, I went through David's laptop, I found pictures of Rachel and Frank... being more than friends" Max said carefully. "Right. No way, Max. She was just posing to tease Frank" Chloe said, not wanting to believe her. I did believe her. Frank told me everything about him and Rachel and I wasn't jealous. We weren't dating back then. "I know. She was they were there for each other" I said. "I don't believe you! Not even a bit!" Chloe said upset. "If you're not gonna believe me, why don't we check out what Frank has in his RV?" Max said. "What's that gonna prove?!" Chloe asked. "Frank has Rachel's bracelet. What else does he have in there?" Max said, looking over to me. "I don't know, I didn't find anything of Rachel's in there, if that's what you are asking" I said. "Motherfucker better not have anything. For his sake!" Chloe said upset. "Hey, he's still my boyfriend!" I said, crossing my arms.

"Let's get inside the RV then" Chloe said. "Sure thing" I said and started looking for my keys "If.." I said, closing my eyes "I wouldn't have left them inside" "Our hero" Chloe said. "As if you never forgot something!" I said to her, apparently picking my first fight with Chloe after years. It's really like we are cursed. "I did, but never the keys to my own fucking house!" She yelled back. "I beg to differ! Clare always opened the door for you, because you constantly forgot it!" I yelled back. "How do you know that?!" Chloe asked. "I..um.. assumed" I said.

"I can't believe you hung out with him" Max said. "Not anymore" Chloe replied. "Hello? Girlfriend present!" I said offended. "Sorry, but he's a creep" Max said. "He might seem like that, but he's actually not" I said. Maybe I would have thought the same way, if I had never been diagnosed with depression. "Well, Frank's in the diner right now" I said. "I got this. Be right back" Max said and entered the diner.

"She does know it would have been easier for me to get the keys than her?" I asked Chloe, leaning against the RV, while Chloe looked through the garbage. "What are you doing?" I asked her. "Looking for a distraction for the dog" She replied. "Chloe, Pompidou listens to me! You don't need that!" I said, but she pulled out a bone "Gotcha!" She said. "Chloe, I'm serious! We don't need that!" I repeated, but she didn't listen. She refused to.

"Here you go" Max said and passed Chloe the keys. "I should have known, The Amazing SpiderMax" Chloe said. "You do know I could have done it without any rewind" I said, pushing myself away from the RV. "But then he would have known it was you, you snooped around in the RV, like this, he has no idea" Max said and walked over to Chloe. "She's right there, Ronnie" Chloe said and they got into position, Chloe handing Max the bone. "Give that to me!" I said and ripped it out of her hand. "I seem to be the only one that cares about Pompidou!" I said and Chloe shrugged, then opened up the RV.

"Come here, Pompi" I said and gladly the dog listened to me. I brought him somewhere save and gave him the bone "Pompidou, stay!" I said, then took a deep breath and entered the RV. "If anything happens to him, you save him, got it!" I said. "Yes!" Max promised me.

"Damn, and I thought my room was a shithole" Chloe said. "Hey, I live here!" I said offended. "Yeah, well, you aren't really keeping it clean" Chloe said and sat down at in the driver's seat. "It's not my job. In case you forgot, I'm studying photography at Blackwell together with Max!" I said. "This still looks worse than my room" She said. "You're not a creepy drug dealer" Max said. I was offended once again, but I didn't dare to say anything. "Frank has issues but he's not creepy" Chloe defended him, for like one second "At least I didn't think so until I saw Rachel's bracelet around his wrist"

"Well, Frank and Rachel went through a lot of shit together! They were close!" I said "And you don't have to take it out on Frank, that Rachel didn't care as much about you as she did about him. Do you even know what she did behind your back?!" I asked, freaking out because of my defense mode. "I bet you can tell me" Chloe said, provoking me even more. I let out a laugh "She kissed me! At the junkyard, your hideout place. That is so special to the both of you, yeah, I know about that! She kissed me, right there!" I said taking a few steps towards her, while she walked towards me. "Hey, calm down!" Max said, trying to calm both of us down.

"She didn't!" Chloe said. "Oh, she did! And guess what, she is an amazing kisser! If I was into girls, I would have stolen her from you!" I said, making our fight bigger. "Like she would have gone for you!" Chloe said, acting like she was any better than me. "Yeah, either girl that has her priorities straight or a stoner. Really hard decision there!" I said and Chloe was just about to slap me, when Max held her back. "Chloe, it's not worth it. Calm down and check the computer" Max said and Chloe walked off and sat down on the bench.

"Ronnie, come with me!" Max said, taking me to the bedroom with her. I lied down onto the bed, trying to calm down. "What are those?" Max asked, pointing at something. I sat up to check out what she meant "The vent, but I don't think he's hidden anything inside of it" I said. She looked around, then got a knife from the kitchen counter, then pried it open. "There is something inside" Max said and handed it to me. There were many pictures of Rachel. Rachel with Pompidou, Rachel driving the RV, Rachel and Frank together, Rachel in her underwear an a letter from Rachel. The first photo had a message from her as well.

"Why did he keep this?" I asked, handing it to Max. "Like you said, Rachel meant a lot to him" Max said. "That doesn't mean he can just keep photos of her in her underwear! He hid them from me, he hid all of this from me! He obviously didn't want me to see them!" I said, jealousy and anger coming through. Was he still in love with Rachel and secretly hoping she would come back, just so they can leave Arcadia Bay together and leave me here. Was he really serious about me?