dark red; max mayfield

I

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                  THE DAY STARTED out ordinary. Benjamin woke up and was greeted by Steve making breakfast once again. Their parents were out so often that his brother, Steve, decided to learn how to cook for himself and Benjamin. Steve saw Benjamin walk downstairs and greeted him cheerfully. "Good morning Benji." The smile on his brother's face made Benjamin smile.

"Morning Stevie, pancakes again?" The younger boy noticed that all Steve knew how to cook was pancakes and eggs but never complained, since he knew Steve was trying his best. Steve dropped his plate in front of his brother and poured some syrup over the pile. Sprinkling some chocolate chips on top. He ruffled his hair as Benjamin chomps down the pancakes. "Any plans for today? Arcade as usual?"

Benjamin swallows his food before answering. "Yup, just want to try to beat Dustin's high score on Dig Dug." The younger Harrington usually hangs out with his small group of friends on the weekends but today they decided to do a campaign for D&D since it had been a while since they played. Granted the last time they played Will was taken into the Upside Down.

"Alright if plans change just give me a call, don't stay out too late. And be careful." Benjamin rolls his eyes and he starts getting up to leave. "Yes dad, I'll see you later for movie night?" Steve smiles at getting called dad and nods at the kid. Benjamin gives Steve a quick hug and makes his way into the garage where his skateboard was leaning against the wall.

Making sure he had his keys and some money, Benjamin makes his way towards the garage door. Giving Steve one last wave, he makes the small trip to the local arcade. The arcade was the usual hangout spot for the party, besides Mike Wheeler's basement. So it was no surprise that the employees knew the Harrington boy.

Benjamin stepped off his skateboard and carried it inside the small arcade. He saw a familiar face eating a bag of chips. "Hey Keith, mind giving me some change? I'm trying to beat Dustin's high score on Dig Dug." Keith didn't look interested in what he had to say and simply took the five dollar bill and exchanged it for quarters. "Good luck, there was a girl over there and I don't think she has left Dig Dug."

Benjamin took his change and after saying thank you, made his way towards Dig Dug. And to his amusement, there was a girl there. A pretty girl at that. Her fiery red hair and pale complexion was breathtaking. After mucking up some courage, Benjamin made his way towards the girl. She was too focused on Dig Dug that she didn't notice Benjamin.

"Hey." The girl got spooked at the sudden boy standing next to her. "Hey?" Benjamin looked at the floor as he cleared his throat. "Sorry if I spooked you, I didn't mean to, I'm Benjamin." He smiled and held his hand out for her to shake. She looked at him before grabbing his hand. "Max, nice to meet you."

He quickly noticed the new high score screen on Dig Dug and his jaw dropped to the floor. He quickly took out four quarters and gave them to Max. Max was confused about the gesture but put them into the machine and started to play. "Sorry if that was weird, it's just that no one has been able to beat Dustin's record on Dig Dug. I was actually going to try to beat it today but it looks like you beat me to it." The smile on his face didn't leave.

The girl, Max, just smiled at him. "Yeah, I would say it wasn't very hard to beat it but I've been here since the arcade opened." Benjamin took this chance to look at her face, bright blue eyes with freckles sprinkled onto the bridge of her nose and cheeks. He seemed to have spaced out looking at the pretty girl because Max was snapping in his face. "-jamin? Hello? Benjamin?"

Benjamin snapped out of the trance and looked down in embarrassment. "Sorry 'bout that Max." She giggled and pushed him slightly. That laugh is so angelic, he thought to himself. As he looked down, he noticed the girl's own skateboard. He picked his head up and smiled at her. "You wanna go out and skate for a bit?"

She bit her lip and nodded. "I know the perfect place to skate." He grabbed her hand and his own board and dragged her out of the arcade. The arcade machine long forgotten as the two teens made their way towards the empty parking lot not far from the arcade. Both teens just missing as the other party members made their way into the arcade. 

[later]

As the two teens spent the whole day skating and messing around, they didn't notice a camaro making its way towards the both of them. Familiar rock music was coming from inside the car which made Max look up. Her smile wiped off of her face. "Oh crap." Benjamin looked at her with a frown. "What's wrong Max?" Not aware of the car slowly coming to a stop.

The rock music got louder as the car came closer to the both of them. Benjamin grabbed his skateboard from the ground and stared at the older teen in the driver's seat. The guy looked around Steve's age. He looked at Benjamin first then at Max. "I've been waiting at the arcade for the past hour Maxine. Get in the car." His tone was aggressive. Max was instantly looking at the ground. She gave Benjamin a quick hug and started to take off his jacket. "You go to Hawkins middle right? Just give it to me there, I'm there pretty early. Don't sweat it, pretty girl." He gave Max a smile and waved her off.

Max got into the car with a sad smile and waved goodbye to Benjamin. As the car sped off Benjamin put his skateboard on the ground and started the short journey home. That was weird. The whole way his thoughts were focused on Max and how she seemed scared because of the guy who, Max had explained, was her step-brother.

The rest of the night was ordinary. He had his movie night with Steve, he attempted to get help from Steve with his math homework. And then it was off to bed. Benjamin went to sleep that night thinking about Max. He didn't realize how much she would affect him. 

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