Chloe's Bad Day

As Elsie has her breakfast you get ready to go. If you hurried you might just catch Chloe before she went to work. You were determined to move fast on this. The Bailey's becoming a relatively normal family seemed within reach now. You might not convince your mother but if you had everyone else on side it wouldn't matter.

You hug and kiss your sisters and hurry from the house. Chloe lived in an apartment downtown. Unfortunately this meant you get caught up in the morning rush heading into the center of the city. Along the way you wonder if you should just wait for a better time instead of hitting her with this news on the way to work. In the end you decide to follow through. No time like the present. Besides, Chloe would be bummed out but that kooky Cousin of yours never took anything too seriously. Carpe diem!

You finally get downtown and after circling the block a few times you eventually find a parking spot. Fuck, getting late now! You plug the meter and run down the bustling sidewalk toward your cousin's building. You round the corner just in time to see her heading out the front door of her building.

"Chloe!" You call after her. "Chloe Bailey!"

She stops and looks around. Being so small she couldn't see over the other pedestrians. You are almost up to her when she finally spots you.

Her face comes alive with joyous surprise. "Jesse! Oh my goodness!" She hurries to you and jumps into your arms. You hug her tight and she hugs you back. "What are you doing here?" She asks. "I was just heading to work."

"I had some news. Something I wanted to talk to you about." You look around at the passerby. "Um, can we talk somewhere for a bit?"

She takes your arm and pulls you along. "Come on. You can walk me to work. I have a little space of my own there." The pair of you begin walking. Chloe seemed proud as punch to have you with her. She even boasts to passing strangers. "This is my Cousin Jesse. He's walking me to work." They would look at her weirdly and hurry off in a different direction.

You just chuckle. Chloe was going to be Chloe. As with every time you visited Chloe you remind yourself to do so more often. As with Peggy she loved seeing you whenever you found the time.

After a short walk she leads you into a rather plain looking government building and takes you down into the basement where she worked as a records clerk for the city. What precisely her job entailed you really weren't sure. Looking around the drab office though it looked plenty boring.

She was sure to walk you by her coworkers, showing you off. "This is my Cousin Jesse. He walked me to work today. Isn't that nice?"

They nod and smile politely at you.

She finally leads you to a smallish room that didn't even look like it was originally meant to be a room. There was no door in the doorway and no windows at all. The ceiling was sloped thanks to a stairway that went overhead and the place was filled with spare chairs and big metal filing cabinets. In the corner you could see a small desk set up. On it was a computer that looked like it belonged to the mid-90's. Hanging in behind her chair was a bright cheery picture of your family taken during a Bailey backyard barbecue the group of you had last summer.

"Like my office?" She asks with that incorrigible positivity of hers. "The chairs are just here for a while until they find a place to put them."

Judging by the dust on them it looked like the chairs had been there for some time. She tosses her stuff onto her desk then turns back to you. "So what's up Cuz?" She grins.

You look at her beaming face looking up at you. You take a huge breath in through your nose and let it out through your mouth. This was it.

Stepping forward you take Chloe by the arms. "Chloe, it's about the family secret."

Her face brightens even more. Her eyes widen and her grin is almost ear to ear. "YEAH!?"

You chuckle at her flattering assumption. "No, I'm not joining."

She deflates. "Awwww! Come on Cuz!"

You get serious again. "Actually, um, actually it's kind of the opposite."

She looks perplexed but her smile remains. "The opposite?"

"Um...this thing you guys do with each other. It's...it's not healthy. You know that, right?"

Her smile was slowly beginning to fade. "Sure it is. It's plenty healthy."

"No, no it isn't. I've...convinced Elsie and Fiona and your mother that it isn't good. I'm hoping you'll see it this way too and..."

"You convinced them? What?" Her smile was now gone, in it's place an expression of deep concern.

"Chloe. The family way, the Bailey way, it's coming to an end. No more family..." You switch to a low whisper. "...fucking." You bring your voice back to normal again. "We're just going to be a normal family now Chloe. Just a regular happy family."

"Bu...but...what?" She babbles, her mind was having trouble comprehending what you were telling her. "Why? I don't...? Why...?" She straightens up and asks in desperation. "But...like still bj's and handies at least, right?"

You shake your head slowly. "No Chloe. Nothing."

You watch as tears slowly fill Chloe's huge brown eyes. "No! No, what do you mean?" She takes a shuddering breath, her bottom lip sticks out in a huge pout. "Jesse...Jesse I'm sorry about what I did! I'm sorry about Allison! I'm so sorry! Please don't do this Jesse!" She buries her face in your chest and begins to bawl. "Whaaaa! I'M SORRY!!!"

Oh man! You knew she was going to take it hard, you didn't know it would be this hard!

You stroke her thin shoulder and hold her in your arms. "Chloe, it's got nothing to do with Allison. This is for everyone's own good."

"No it isn't! It's awful! Whaaaaa!" She wails.

One of her coworkers peeks his head around the corner. "Is everything okay in here?" He asks.

She looks at him, inconsolable. "NOOOO! Everything is horrible! Whaaaa! I ruined everything!" She looks back at you and grips your shirt in her small hands. "I'm sorry Jesse! I'm so sorry!"

"Oh geez." You cringe. You pet Chloe and speak to her soothingly. "Calm down Chloe. Hey, nothing is horrible. You didn't ruin anything. Shhhhh."

Her coworker fades away again as he sees you were having a family moment here.

You take Chloe and cradle her face in your hands. She looks up at you with her big magnified teary eyes. "Chloe. Listen to me. This has nothing to do with what happened with Allison. Absolutely nothing. I'm done with her, I've even got myself a new girl already. You know that. Chloe...please believe me...I was never mad at you. I keep telling you that. Quit beating yourself up about it, okay? You didn't do anything wrong. This was our own decision."

She blubbers. "B-b-but why then? Why are you taking my family away from me? Why are you doing this?"

"Oh Chloe, no one is taking us away from you. We all love you so much. We're just not doing..." You look worriedly toward the open doorway, wondering if there were prying ears just outside. "...we're just not doing that anymore. That's all. At least your Mom and us kids. What you and Helen do is your business."

"But...it's not fair." She whimpers. "Auntie Helen only likes some stuff, I like LOTS of stuff. And there's stuff I can't do with her on account of I'm so little. Ohhhh Jesse! Me and Elsie were going to play Harem for you, remember? I didn't even get to bone you yet!"

Crap, you really hoped there were no snooping coworkers outside that open doorway. "Chloe..." You sigh. "You're Daddy, he likes lots of stuff. Doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but he's not always around. And he's not family. I love him but it's different with him." She sniffles. "It's loads of fun dumping a big nut on your Mama's face or..."

You scramble to cover her mouth. "Jesus Chloe. We're in public!"

She looks forlornly at the door. You uncover her mouth. "Oh yeah. Sorry." She says in a small trembling voice. She stared at your chest with a power pout the likes of which you'd never seen. She looked so...beaten down. So pathetic. Your tiny Cousin looked utterly heart broken. She pulls away from you and slowly walks for the door.

"Where are you going?" You ask.

"I'm quitting." She says. "I'm going to move to Vietnam and just live on the beach with Grandma and Grandpa and fuck lady boys until I die of old age."

"Oh geez!" You hurry to grab her by the shoulders. "Chloe stop. Don't do that." She stands in front of you, her head bowed in defeat. "Grandma and Grandpa love us, but I think they like their space and freedom even more. Don't quit your job for that Chloe. Besides...I think lady boys are in Thailand, not Vietnam."

"They are?"

"I think so."

"Shit."

"Chloe..."

She reaches up and wipes her wet cheeks. "Go away Jesse. Just...go away. I don't want to see you right now."

"Chloe, come on now." You try to hug her again but she holds you back. "I love you Cuz." You say.

She shudders again and lets out small sob. "I want to be alone right now. Just leave me alone. You hurt my heart Jesse, you really hurt my heart." She clutches her hand to her chest. "It hurts inside. I don't like this feeling very much."

"Oh no, Chloe sweetie." You were at a complete loss as to what to do here. You were kicking yourself for not bringing Peg or Elsie along. Or at the very least waiting for a better time! Fuck, you'd really taken her feelings for granted here. "I didn't want to hurt you. This is for our own good. Don't you see? We're going to be a normal family finally."

"I never wanted to be normal." She whispers through her tears. "Now, go away!"

"Chloe...I...Chloe..." You stammer. Seeing you weren't leaving she pulls away from you and bolts for the room. You can hear her crying as she runs. You start after her only to see her dart into the women's washroom.

You stand there staring at the door to the ladies washroom. Finally you sigh. You hurt your Cousin. Far worse than you had expected. This must be how she felt after she heard about her role in hurting you. It wasn't nice. In fact, it was pretty fucking horrible.

You wanted to make it better somehow, but you had no idea how. And she had made it quite clear she didn't want you here anymore.

Your shoulders slumped you turn and walk silently from Chloe's work place.