Flames | Madwheeler |✗|

8 | I'm Fine

"Damn you look so pretty when the sunlight hits your blue eyes."

[ chapter eight ] → i'm fine

     It was hours later, the sun had just set over the horizon and Maxine Mayfield was still holed up in Mike Wheeler's room, she had tried to escape hours before only to find out that his family was downstairs.

     As she went over the events of the day in her head, she felt nauseous as she thought about how she must have looked when Mike found her, bleeding and helpless. She never liked being vulnerable and she tried her best to stay tough and keep a cool composure, but sometimes it was just too hard. She had a certain role to fill, and right now she was doing the opposite of what she was supposed to. She was supposed to be the shoulder someone leaned on, she was never the person crying. So why these last few weeks did it always seem to be her?

     She felt herself become more and more frustrated with herself the longer she thought about it, so she diverted her attention, her eyes scanning Mike's room. She stopped when her eyes fell upon a small shelf filled with pictures, she walked over to it and found out that the pictures were of the party. He had 3 frames up, one was him and the boys as they posed outside of the arcade, big cheesy grins plastered on their faces, another photo was of Mike and Nancy from a few years ago, playing at the beach. When Max saw the last photo, her breath caught in her throat and she felt the familiar tug in her stomach. Mike was holding El in his arms, smiling widely at the camera, as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Max knew the photo was recent, probably only a few weeks old. As she stared at the picture she felt her lips pull up into a watery smile. They were perfect for each other.

     It was like they were destined to be together. It was always Mike and El and she knew it would stay like that forever. They where the type of people who only fell in love once, and when they did it was like everyone else was gone. Just the two of them. Max felt a longing in her heart, she wanted something like that, someone who would give anything to be her everything, someone who would see her for who she was, not the tough girl she always acted like. In the end, she wanted a beautifully exquisite love story of her own.

     She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the creaking of the door, she rushed back to her original position on Mike's bed and had just sat down when Mike came strolling through the door, holding a plate of food in one hand.

     "Hey, I brought this for you," he said, handing over the food.

     She grabbed the plate gently, afraid that if she was too rough it would shatter in her hands.

     "Thanks."

     He gave a small nod before plopping down onto a bean bag next to the bed.

     Once she was done eating she set it down on his desk and stretched her legs out in front of her, racking her brain for something to say to break the awkward silence that had settled over them.

     When she couldn't come up with anything, she decided it would be easier to just leave and go back to her house. She got up and walked over to the window, pulling it up, analyzing how she was going to jump down without breaking anything.

     "What are you doing?"

     Max glanced over her shoulder to see Mike standing behind her, hands over his chest.

     "Leaving."

     "No."

     She looked at him, eyes wide, "No? Why not?"