further apart // max mayfield x oc

3: i (suzie, do you copy?)

"she just wants to feel something, and i don't think that's asking for too much"

——

"this is gold leader, returning to base. do you copy? over! i repeat: this is gold leader, returning to base. do you copy? over!"
"dusty!" claudia exclaimed, "relax, for goodness' sake!"
"i'm in range, they should be answering!" he complained. felicity sighed, pulling off her headphones. "they're probably just busy. you know, like they have been all summer."

of course, the siblings had been busy too. for some reason, felicity had agreed to attend camp with her brother. she loved science, but god, that place was a bore. to make matters worse, dustin had abandoned her almost every evening to go hang out with some girl. although, mind you, she wasn't exactly ecstatic about returning to hawkins either.

"you've been away a whole month, honeybun, maybe they just... forgot?" their mother attempted to reassure him. dustin raised his eyebrows, poised to argue back. felicity pulled on her headphones again and hit play.

——

tapping open the door with her foot, she stepped into her room. just how she left it, thank god, her bed only half made and books sprawled across her desk. she flopped down onto her bed, dropping her heavy bag on the floor. the brief peaceful moment was interrupted, however, by a robotic voice from the other room. "dustin?" she called. no reply.

"dustin!" she shoved into his room, to find him surrounded by his old toys. at first she assumed- hoped- it was a prank, that he'd messed around with the remote controls and it had gone wrong. although she tried to suppress it, she could her heart rate start to pick up as panic ran through her body. the pair cautiously followed the trail of toys through the house, grabbing anything that could be used as a weapon as they went.

when they reached the living room, the noise spluttered and stopped, filling the room with tense silence. "what are you doing?" felicity hissed, watching in pure horror as her brother knelt down and started to examine a robot. "i don't know what happened. maybe it was a signal interfering? i'll be able to tell if i can just take this ap-"

"SURPRISE!" came a loud chorus from behind them, along with the ear splitting sound of several streamers being blown at once. startled, felicity quickly whipped around, and came face to face with the girl she'd been avoiding all summer.

——

"so... what exactly are we looking at here?" mike asked, staring perplexed at the duffel bag full of metal and wires. "an unassisted, unassembled, one of a kind battery powered radio! this baby carries crystal clear connections- i'm talking north pole to south- so i can talk to my girlfriend whenever and wherever i want!"
will let out a sharp cough. "girlfriend?"

——

"so her name is suzie?" mike repeated in confusion. "suzie, with a 'z'. she's from utah!"
"girls go to science camp?" felicity let out a loud sigh. "no but, like... other girls?" mike continued, earning a playful slap from el. "suzie does. she's a genius!"
"is she cute?"
"think... phoebe cates, but hotter." he exclaimed as he reached the front door.

beside the kitchen sink, max and lucas watched the party drag the heavy equipment. "come on lovebirds. we're going to talk to dustin's girlfriend" felicity smirked, grabbing her jacket.
"girlfriend?" they asked in unison.

——

"aren't we high enough?" will panted, leaning on felicity's shoulder to catch his breath. "cerebro works best at a hundred metres!"
max groaned. "don't people in utah have telephones? couldn't you just call her instead?" she snapped. "suzie's mormon."
"shit! she doesn't have electricity?" lucas piped in. "no, that's the amish."
"what are mormons?"
"super religious white people. dustin's not mormon, so her parents would never approve. it's like the next romeo and juliet." felicity teased.

"hey guys!" mike called from the back of the group. "this has been fun and all but el has to go home. curfew, you know?"
"good luck though!" el smiled, before they walked off hand in hand down the hill.

"curfew at four pm?" dustin questioned.
"they're lying. it's been like this all summer." will muttered, "it's gross!"
"it's romantic!" max argued, before felicity cut in. "it's bullshit. we just got back, and dustin hasn't heard from them for a month."
"their loss. onwards and upwards! suzie awaits" dustin cried, setting off again.
"will! you coming?" felicity called, noticing he hadn't followed. "uhh, yeah!" he said, running up to join her.

——

"made it!" dustin grinned, throwing down his share of equipment onto the grass. "yeah, only took five hours. god, i'm so thirsty." lucas gasped, unscrewing his water bottle. he then proceeded to down the entire thing in about twenty seconds whilst a frustrated max watched him. "did you seriously just drink all of our water?" she scowled. slowly, he spat some back into the bottle and handed it to her. the two girls exchanged a brief glance and for a second felicity almost felt whole again. but max only shook her head and walked away.

piece by piece, the five assembled the cerebro, attaching wire after wire and pole after pole. "pretty impressive, right?" dustin marvelled, and they had to admit, it was.
"suzie? this is dustin. do you copy?" he spoke into the receiver. when his only answer was the crackle of static, he tried again. and again.

——

"this is dustin. do you copy? over." nothing. "suzie! this is dustin. do you copy? over." static.
"give it up dusty" felicity whined, almost tearing out her hair after hours of him repeating the same message. "maybe she's not there?" max tried, "she might be... busy?"
"or maybe she doesn't exist!" lucas mumbled.
"she exists!"
"come on. a genius and hotter than phoebe cates. no girl is that perfect!"
max sat up abruptly, shoving his arm from around her shoulder. "is that so?"
"i mean, you're prefect, like, perfect in your own... special way?" he stammered.
"relax. i was teasing. i'm obviously perfect, lucas obviously doesn't know how to treat his girlfriend and dustin is obviously lying."

there is was again. the familiar tug in her chest whenever she saw max and lucas, except this time it was ten times worse. she was perfect. fuck, she was the most perfect girl felicity had ever known. everything about her was just... incredible. the way she talked, her giggle that she tried to avoid doing, the way her eyes contrasted her hair but matched it so well.

max and lucas strolled down the hill and in hand, and felicity tried not to think about how much max would always mean to her. and max tried not to think about how she wished the hand in hers was someone else's.

"i should go too, it's getting late." will apologised. "hey, tomorrow maybe we could do something fun, like d&d, how we used to?"
"yeah, sure."
"welcome home" he smiled, embracing each sibling before leaving them too.

and so they stood on the hilltop, watching the flickering lights of the town below. "this sucks." felicity sighed. "yeah, it does"
the radio of the cerebro started to crackle, piercing a hole in the dark cloud above their heads. "shit!" dustin swore, "suzie? is that you?" felicity turned up the volume.
"dustin... that doesn't sound like english..."

——

1225 words!
long time no see... oops :/

i hope you enjoyed this though! i have several ideas on how this story could go from here. let me know if there's any preferences you have...

feel free to vote and comment :)
~bee 💜