"Alright, are we sure we have everything?" Will asks for the third time, causing annoyed groans to fill the room.
"For fuck's sake, MOM, yes! We looked around this hotel room 1500 times," Max says snarkily, the 10 a.m. check out (and 9 a.m. wake up call) far too early for the redhead. "Hey, don't talk to your mother like that," Lucas chides playfully, surprisingly chipper.
Max simply flips him off and, with one final survey of the room, all six teens go down the hall to the elevator to check out and get the car.
The salty, California air fills their senses, the hot sun and sound of waves crashing in the distance really making it manifest that the long-awaited "1988 Senior Year Road Trip" is over. The two-day ride home will pass and before they know it, college acceptance letters will come in the mail. They'll wear the green and white cap and gowns and go to graduation parties just to leave early and play a final round of D&D.
But for now, they decide on a quick breakfast at The Waffle House before hitting the road. They drive the three miles in a relative silence, watching the palm trees and ocean horizon pass them by. The restaurant is fairly empty apart from a family with two young children and an older couple eating quietly.
"Table for six!" Dustin proclaims, his silence from just moments ago vanishing. "He's literally right there," Mike says quietly, referring to the male host, "you don't have to yell!"
The older man must've heard him, giving the dark-haired boy a grateful smile with a shake of the head. "Right this way," he says, leading them to a booth.
Will, El, and Mike take one side with Lucas, Max, and Dustin on the other, the six quickly coming to a decision about their meals.
"Who remembers when El literally stole 800 boxes of Eggos from Bradley's?" Will says, humor in his tone.
The whole table bursts out in laughter, just imaging the dirty, bald-headed girl with piles of Eggos in her hands.
"You were such a crazy bitch!" Max says, "look at you, so domesticated now," she says playfully, gesturing to El's light pink dress and her arm brushed against Mike's side, his own lanky one around her.
"No...more...bad," the brunette makes the words out slowly, able to keep the conversation light-hearted after years of dealing with what used to be so traumatic.
She stuck on to the idea that she was "bad" for quite sometime after, the constant reassurance from Hop and Mike and Joyce and really, everyone in her life that she was the complete opposite: a loving, strong woman who has people to support her no matter what.
Mike snorts and kisses the side of her head lightly, his thumb unconsciously rubbing over the soft skin of her shoulder.
"Okay no, how about the time she almost KILLED me," Lucas says with mock outrage. The rest of the breakfast is filled with swapping memories of what Max calls 'badass fetus Eleven'.
The group is packed back in the minivan by around 11:30 a.m., Lucas and Will in the front, Dustin and Max in the middle row with the two lovebirds snagging the back. The two boys up front are chattering about the routes they'll take home as Lucas merges onto the parkway before their interrupted by Dustin.
"I'm getting mushy here you guys and I don't even care," he says abruptly, "I'm so proud we didn't kill each other and this trip was awesome, you guys are my best friends." Mike and Lucas burst out in laughter at the same time Will and the girls squeal, all three of them jumping from their seats to envelop the smiley boy in a hug.
"This is so unsafe!" Lucas says, his laughter halting while his three friends are standing up in a moving vehicle, "sit the fuck down before we get pulled over again and mister emotional over here gets us arrested!"
"Speaking of emotional," Mike interjects, "I have an announcement!"
Four heads turned to look at him, Lucas's eyes in the rearview mirror as they await the boy's words. The curly-haired boy takes a dramatic deep breath before exclaiming, "I finished our comeback campaign!"
An unsuspecting girlish squeal leaves the driver's mouth before he can contain himself, "no way!"
"Actually, there's no way that sound just came out of your mouth," Max cackles loudly, her comment going ignored while the boys excitedly discuss the logistics (time, place, snack prep, post-game movies, the important things in life).
"Look at this shit, El, we're not even off the trip yet and they've left us in the wind!" "Good riddance," she says back playfully, "I need a break from them anyway." The two girls giggles and listen to their boys gush over D&D.
They're still in the car at sunset, an unusual quietness in the car as they all reflect on the trip. They don't know what their lives are gonna be like around this time, next year; but they do know they'll always remember this trip and will always have one another's friendship. A bond like there's isn't something that just fizzles out, it's something special each of them will hold with one another forever.
Or at least for the remaining moments of silence, because the whole car is groaning in anger when the next words are uttered.
"I have to pee."
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A/N: Finishing this story was definitely a challenge but low and behold, it is done! I want to thank all of the readers that have stayed interested in the story despite my extremely infrequent updates! I hope you all enjoyed it nonetheless and as always, appreciate all of your votes and hilarious comments. With school starting up (and a normal schedule returning), I'm hoping to get back into writing as I had completed the first chapter of a miniseries about them going to Disney which I'll probably post along with this and can now be found on my profile :)
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Road Trip 1988 - Stranger Things Fanfiction
Fanfiction(Complete) It's the summer before senior year and Mike, El, Dustin, Will, Lucas, and Max hit the road for an adventure they've been planning since they started high school. Between 10 hour driving days, sketchy motels, and corn fields as far as the...
