it could be worse ~ lumax

sleepover

Regret and embarrassment plague Max's mind throughout the school day. She can't begin to fathom the fact that Lucas saw her crying last night. It wasn't just a few stray tears. Max balled her eyes out and screamed into her pillow while Lucas was on the phone.

El noticed Max's odd behavior. She was constantly zoned out during class, and the redhead looked like thousands of thoughts were racing through her head. El couldn't help but bring it up at lunch.

"Max, you good?" She asked, trying to get the redhead's attention. "Max!"

"Huh?" Max snaps out of her haze.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Max replied with her go-to answer.

"Liar. You've got circles as dark as my hair under your eyes," Mike comments.

Max sends him a glare and tells him to shut up. "I was just up late."

"Were you talking to someone?" El raises her eyebrows teasingly, and Max lets a little laugh escape her lips, taking the glum expression off her face.

"Heather decided to have a get-together with her friends last night. None of them seem to have jobs, so they were at my house till like one a.m."

"Gross," Mike mutters. He is so glad his mother doesn't act like she is still a teenager.

"But yeah, I may have been on the phone..." El squeals in response.

"We will have a sleepover tonight, and you're going to tell me everything!" El exclaims happily as the bell rings.

The school bell finally rang three hours later, and Max met El at her locker.

"I'm so excited to see your new house! Oh, and the neighbor! I need to meet him!" El practically skips out of the school as they make their way to the pickup line where Susan waits.

"Do not mention him to my mom," Max whispers as they slip into the car. Talking to Susan was easy but Max did not like sharing her emotions, especially to her parents. 

"Hey, girls! How was school?" Susan asks.

El rants to Susan about her day at school, and Max is glad the focus is not on her. The redhead is dreading going to her mom's house. The mere reason is that Lucas might be outside, and she does not want to face him today. They barely know each other, and she has already embarrassed herself in front of him.

"Right, Max?" El asks.

"Yeah," She responds, not knowing what El is talking about.

"See! If Max thinks Mike is acting weird, then there is definitely something wrong!" El exclaims. Max's eyes widen at El's words.

"I mean weird is like his default so..." Max tries to play it off. She knows El likes to overthink Mike and his behavior in their relationship. If there was something wrong, Max would know. Mike is as loyal as a dog, so cheating shouldn't even be a thought in her mind.

"Well yeah, but don't you think he has been a little quiet?"

"El...he is the most annoying chatterbox to exist. You're just overthinking." Max tries her best to reassure her best friend. "I wouldn't lie to you if I thought he was acting strange."

El groans and continues her conversation with Susan as they pull into the driveway.

"Which house is his?" El whispers in Max's ear as they make their way inside. The redhead points to the light brown house across the street. "Cute."

They rush into Max's bedroom to discuss what had happened the night before.

"And he literally heard the whole conversation," Max sums up the event.

"Oh shit." El is shocked. It took Max years to share any emotions with El, let alone cry in front of her. "And you haven't talked since?"

Max shakes her head. "I mean, we barely even talked, to begin with. I've had maybe five in-person conversations with him."

"Max," El deadpans. "We have to go over there and talk to him!"

"Are you delusional?"

"Why not? He is probably just confused about what he witnessed." El is desperate to convince her friend to talk to him. She rarely talks to boys, and from what Max has told her, Lucas sounds like a decent guy.

"El," Max gives her a stern look.

"Okay fine," El backs off. "Is he cute?" The smirk on her face makes Max's lips curve upward, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. "Holy shit! I've never seen you blush before!"

"I'm not blushing," Max tries to defend herself while laughing.

"You like him," El teases.

Max can't help but bury her face in her hands. She doesn't know what she feels toward Lucas. Is she supposed to feel something for him?

"I barely know him," Max points out. "What if he is one of those charming guys at first and then quickly becomes a scum bag that only wants sex?"

The brown-haired girl completely understands where Max is coming from. They're at the age where guys stare, ask for nudes, and only want sex. However, that should not prevent Max from getting to know someone she might be interested in.

"Enough about my life. What do you want to do tonight?" Max changes the topic.

"I don't know. We live in the suburbs of Indiana and don't have cars to drive, so we are extremely limited activity-wise." They both rack their brains trying to come up with different ways to entertain themselves.

"We could paint our nails," El phrased as a question. The two looked down to realize their nails were already done.

Max sighs, crashing back into her bed. "I wish we lived somewhere cool, like Greece or Hawaii. Hell, even Florida sounds more entertaining than this shit hole."

"You're telling me you don't adore being surrounded by corn and farms?" El asks sarcastically.

Max laughs, "I'm ready for graduation."

"Me and you both."

"Only three more years," Max cheers in a joking manner.

"To be fair, it'll go by fast. The semester is almost over, so it's more like two and a half. Plus, I don't want to think about college." El expresses.

"True. The thought of college stresses me out." They both lay on Max's bed, looking up at the ceiling. "I like the thought of the future but not having to orchestrate it."

"Let's just run away to some island and teach surfing classes," El imagines.

"One problem, neither of us knows how to surf." The two laugh at the thought. "I'd be down to learn though."

"Me too. We need to vacation together!" Excitement runs through El's veins at the thought of a tropical vacation with her best friend.

"I know where we could go!" Max and El spend the rest of the night organizing their trip. They started with places to stay and researched things to do and restaurants to eat at.

Do you guys like the length of these chapters? Are they too long? Too short? Lmk! I swear the next chapter will be better than this one!