voyager // max mayfield

TWELVE: I KNOW A GOOD LAWYER

It had been an hour after Eve and Max had talked, and there was a very awkward energy covering the room. Eve had ended up sitting back in her little corner, while Steve, Dustin and Lucas occupied the sofa. No one really had anything to do, so instead, they were all staring at that back of Max's head, as if that was going to do anything.

Max was back to writing her letters, currently writing the last one to Billy, when Steve decided to get up and sit next to Eve.

"I'm proud of you, you know," Steve told her quietly. She didn't react to his presence, or to his words, not wanting him to feel pride or anything for that matter. She didn't want to be praised for saying something that deeply upset her, she wanted him to pretend he had never heard it. It was for Max's ears only, "I mean, it must feel good right? To get it off your chest."

"She deserved to know," Eve mumbled, still staring at Max. Steve nodded his head at her words, realising he wasn't gonna get much out of her.

"Is she really going to die?"

Steve felt a little taken aback by the question that fell so quietly from his sister's lips. He didn't want to tell her the truth, for obvious reasons, but she wasn't a little kid he could just lie to or pretend everything was fine to. Eve had had her fair share of near-death experiences, even thinking that she was going to die at moment, but for some reason, she feared it for max more. With herself, it felt fine - she'd feel bad for Steve and her friends, but at the end of the day, she wouldn't be too scared. With Max, it was completely different - she was absolutely terrified.

"If we don't do anything, maybe," Steve says to her, "But remember we have Nancy and Robin following a lead, and we'll be with her all day. We'll be here when she needs our help."

"Eddie couldn't help Chrissy, what makes Max different from her?" Eve asked then, looking from Max to her brother, her eyes were glassed over.

"Well... we know Max well, and Max has connections to us, and we've dealt with things similar before," Steve says to her, "Have a little belief."

He then got up, Leaving Eve be and sitting on his spot on the couch again. Eve watched him for a second, before turning to watch Max again, who was putting a piece of paper in an envelope.

"I know you guys are staring at me," Max says to them, turning her head slightly. The accusation made Steve, Lucas and Dustin all look in different directions as if they were kids who had been caught.

"What, sorry?" Steve asked, feigning confusion as Dustin breathed out a, "huh?"

"You said you needed something?" Lucas asked, grabbing a newspaper and pretending to read it.

"Just hanging out," Steve added, throwing a ball into the air and catching it - the whole display made Eve roll her eyes at them. Clueless boys.

"How you think your eyes boring into the back of my head is protecting me from Vecna, I don't know," She commented, getting out of her seta with the brown letters in hand. She walked over, standing In front of them to notice they were doing anything they could to keep their eyes off of her, all of them apart from Eve - the stupidity of them made the two girls share a look.

"You can look at her, weirdos," Eve said to them, making them all nod and look at Max, almost relieved that they could now do it. They all said a small apology to the ginger girl, once again acting like little kids being caught doing something they shouldn't.