𝙴𝚕𝚢𝚜𝚒𝚊𝚗 ~ 𝙴𝚕𝚖𝚊𝚡

《𝟷𝟹》

August 25, 1985
10:25 AM

Like the day before, Max was closing the door of her house, heading in the direction of the cabin. With El sick, the two spent the day before watching soap operas and reading comics. That was pretty much it. Max wasn't complaining though. It was fun even if they didn't get to go outside. Hopper even warned her that El might pass the germs to her, but Max stayed anyway, too happy to spend some time alone with the brunette to care. El seemed to be doing better though and Max was hoping that Hopper allows her to go outside because today was the redhead's favourite day of the week. Even if it was Sunday and the school was starting the day after. On Sundays, Max would usually meet up with Benji and Sam to go skating. And today, she was thinking of bringing El with her if she's allowed out so they could have some fun. Since Max talked to the twins about El a lot, Benji wanted to meet her. Max wasn't sure if it's a good idea at first because Benji was always teasing her about spending way too much time with El to be just friends with her, but she came to the conclusion that if El's there, he would keep his witticisms to himself. Once the redhead finally saw the cabin in front of her, she rushed up the stairs and knocked on the door with her own secret knock that El and her came up with the day before and that Max was very proud to be allowed to use for some reason. When El heard the knock, she went to open the door with a smile, already knowing who it is. She opened it and...

~ "Hey Max! You're six minutes late." El informed her, smiling nevertheless. Max looked at her wrist watch and read ~10:36~. She said she'd be there at 30 yesterday. She smiled back at the brunette.

~ "I'm just fashionably late, you know?" She heard El laugh a little and it made her own smile widen. The girls then both walked to the couch, sitting on it. Max then waved to Hopper, who had a day off so he was by the kitchen counter, making his coffee.

~ "Hi Chief!" She greeted with a smile, earning a yawn and a wave back from Hopper.

~ "Hey Max. You're here earlier than yesterday. You could wait for us to wake up at the porch tomorrow, what do you say?" He joked with a chuckle. The corners of Max's lips quirked up into a light smirk at that.

~ "Nope, not tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll be waiting at the school parking lot, way earlier than today." The girl answered with a light shake of her head, making Hopper smile and nod.

~ "Okay, Mayfield. You win." He said, sipping his morning coffee after. Max was excited to get back to school this year. Not exactly because of school though. When El announced to the party that she'll be going to school with them, Max was overwhelmed with joy. She didn't let that show too much though. She couldn't wait to show El around and just...spend more time with her than she already was. The thought made her smile show every time.

~ "Are you excited for tomorrow?" Max asked the girl in front of her. El shrugged a bit.

~ "I don't know...I mean, yeah. But I'm nervous too. I've never gone to school before." The brunette said with worry in her eyes. The closer that tomorrow was, the more nervous she felt. And Max could clearly see it.

~ "Don't worry. I'll be there, Dustin and Lucas will be there. Will and Mike too. I'm sure that you have every class with at least one of us. We'll all make sure you're okay." Max attempted to make El feel better, and it worked. Hopper wasn't done with his jokes though.

~ "Yeah. I'm sure nothing can happen with Max glued to you like this." He chuckled, making the redhead roll her eyes and cross her arms on her chest. She was feeling light blush coming to her cheeks and panicked inside a bit, hoping nobody noticed.

~ "What? I'm NOT- I spent all night at home! Just to let you know!" She argued, her smile not fading. Hopper laughed now.

~ "You spent all night at home? Didn't know you were able to survive that long without at least peeking in here through the window." Hopper said, making El laugh and worry less.

~ "Come on, Hopp! I love my Maxie glue!" El laughed, leaning to Max and wrapping her arms around her shoulders from behind before resting her chin on one of them, smile not leaving her face while Max felt her breath hitch at the unexpected touch and El's face so close to her's. She was grateful for her long hair now. They perfectly covered her ears that she was sure were completely red by now. The hug felt nice. Too nice. And even though she was feeling her heart racing from how flustered she was, she turned her head a bit to see El's face better while her surprised expression slowly turned into one of softness. She didn't know if she should be happier about the fact that El actually said that she loves her, even though she knew that she didn't really mean it like that, or about the way she said her name. She wouldn't admit it, but she liked when El called her that. It would annoy the hell out of her if anyone else said it. She was sure of it. But coming from El, it felt...different. After a few seconds, she realised she's probably being weird, so she rather started talking again.

~ "You know...you're being an Ellie glue right now." She said, voice low and soft. El laughed again and unwrapped herself from Max, the redhead immediately missing the feeling of closeness.

~ "Are you feeling better today?" Max asked, hoping for a positive answer. And she got it. El nodded.

~ "Much better. Hop said that I can go outside if I want. And I really want to." The brunette said with a smile, being closed in the cabin for past two days again making her feel an unpleasant kind of nostalgia that she wanted to forget.

~ "That's actually what I wanted to ask Hopper, soo...may I take your daughter out?" Max said with a sarcastic voice that made the Chief laugh.

~ "Take her wherever you want, but be back 'till 6." The man said seriously, pointing at Max with the spoon he had in his coffee before.

~ "Alright. We'll be back at 6...am." Max smirked a little, reaching out with her arm towards El so she can take it. El of course did so, and stood up, chuckling.

~ "Grea- wait no! 6pm! Mayfield! I'm warning you!" He shouted after them, but the two were already running out of the cabin, leaving the sound of laughter behind. He just shook his head with a sigh. Max didn't have her bike with her today, just her skateboard, so the girls had to walk. None of them minded though.

~ "Where are we going today?" El asked, curious as to where is Max taking her.

~ "Well...I was wondering if you'd want to...maybe meet two of my friends?" Max asked, not sure how El will react. If she learned something about the brunette, it was that she doesn't trust new people easily and is usually quiet and very cautious around strangers. And she was right. When Max offered her that, El started feeling uncertain and started thinking about just going back to the cabin. Max noticed that and decided to continue talking, hoping to change her mind.

~ "You know, we meet every Sunday at this little skatepark. They're really cool and one of them even asked if you want to come someday. We could teach you to skateboard too if you want?" The redhead tried to convince the other girl to come with her. El knew that anywhere she went, she was always considered a weirdo. But now, that her powers were gone and she was like everyone else, maybe that would change. Maybe people would actually want to talk to her instead of whispering about her behind her back. Maybe...this wasn't a bad idea.

~ "...Okay." Was all the brunette said, looking in front of her as she continued walking. She was still slightly uncomfortable at the thought of being surrounded by starangers but...that's pretty much how she survived after escaping the lab afterall. So she decided to give it a try. Plus, Max is gonna be there with her, right? It's gonna be just fine...

~ "Wait, really?" The redhead's face lit up when El said that. The other girl nodded.

~ "Yeah. It's gonna be fun." El tried to act like if it was a normal thing for her to do, but in reality, she was scared of making a fool of herself once again. She still had a lot to learn about the outside world and sometimes just...zoned out. It was often making people think low of her.

~ "Yeah. Yeah! It's gonna be great! Let's go!" Max said, all excited as she took El's arm and started running in the direction of the skatepark.