denial ⚠︎ madwheeler

arcade gone wrong !

"Didn't you have a crush on her?" Mike spoke a little anxiously as he sat down with Lucas in a booth at the arcade where they had met Max.
"Yeah, a little bit, but you guys are a better match then we would be," Lucas smiled kindly, he was a pretty chill guy and the whole situation didn't bother him. Mike nodded and let out one of his rare happy smiles, once he got together with Elle he never felt great. He was always trying to be perfect for her, and it was exhausting. Soon Dustin and Max walked in with Will following shortly behind, they had all decided to meet up at the arcade and play some games, Max slid in next to Mike and smiled sweetly, she wasn't one for pda so she just held his hand under the table.

As the party chatted with cokes and cheese pizza there was a figure approaching their table, Mike was the first to look up and the sight made him choke on his drink. Elle grinned looking down at him smugly, she slid in the booth next to Dustin, right across from Max. The red haired girl spoke up first of course, she was confused as to what was going on, but she certainly didn't like it, she sighed loudly
"What're you doing here Elle?"
"What? We're all friends aren't we guys! Just because me and Mikey broke up doesn't mean we can't be friends, right Mikey?" She smirked, Max was about to get out of her seat and strangle the girl from saying 'Mikey.'
"Y-Yeah of course.." Mike choked out nervously
"What?" Everyone spoke in unison, shocked at his words. She just smirked smuggly and took a piece of pizza from the tray. Max's blood was boiling, she let go of Mikes hand, annoyed.

The truth was, Mike was scared of Elle. He had tried to break up with her before and it went horribly wrong, he swore to himself he would never talk about last years retched summer day. He took a deep breath and just started up the regular conversation once again, everything was soon fine and everybody adjusted normally. Everyone except for Max of course, it's not that she wouldn't be okay with Mike being friends with Elle, she wasn't the jealous type (at least that's what she told herself) she just hated the way Elle had treated her, and Mike knew all about it. She didn't like the girl, and knew the feeling was mutual between them. Elle continued to bluntly flirt with Mike, but he just casually, more so nervously laughed it off. Max was completely done with the situation, and annoyed with Mike. She slid on her backpack and ran a hand through her hair, knowing that it always got Mikes attention. She stood up from the booth and plastered on a fake smile.

"I've gotta go, Billy needs me." She sighed softly, Mike was of course the first to perk up.
"C'mon Max, so soon? I'm sure he can wait."
He didn't want her to go, he was just distracted,
"Nope, I gotta go. See you guys later," She smiled at her friends, she didn't want to leave the fun arcade day, but she couldn't be around Elle for a second longer, her anger was growing.
"Want me to walk you back?" Will spoke up,
"No it's okay, thanks Will but i've got my board."
She smiled once again and gave a little wave before leaving the Hawkins arcade. Elle couldn't help but smirk as she watched Max leave, feeling like she had done her job properly, she knew she had gotten to her in the perfect most way. She turned back to Mike sipping her coke,
"Well that's to bad but now it's just the originals back again right Mikey?" She smiled sweetly, 
"Yeah, I uh, I guess." Mike choked out nervously, his three best friends knew he didn't handle Elle very well. He never had, so they didn't say anything and they continued on with there day.

When Max arrived home she was tired, angry, and certainly not in the mood for any of her family's bullshit. She walked in the door and looked to Billy standing in the living room with a cigarette in his mouth, she rolled her eyes in annoyance. He looked over at her and just smirked like a douche, "What's up little shit?"
"Not now Billy." She scoffed and set her backpack down on the table, going through it to find her walkman. Her older brother walked up and snatched the blue device from her hand with a grin, usually she would just push him and fight for it back, but today she couldn't handle it. Her crystal blue eyes filled with tears and she began to cry into her hands, Billy was surprised, yeah he acted like a dick almost all the time, but he truly cared for the people he loved. He pulled the redhead into a hug and she accepted, letting out her silent tears. He pulled away after a few seconds and handed her the walkman with a small smile, gently patting her shoulder as he walked away to let her be peacefully alone

She walked up the stairs and into her bedroom, locking the door she pulled her headphones over her ears and plopped down on her bed, she was upset that Mike was letting Elle walk all over him. She laid flat on her bed and just listened to The Clash, letting thoughts overwhelm her head. Mike had known that Elle was so rude to Max, he knew all about it, and that's what made her upset. She closed her eyes and tried to push away her thoughts but it didn't work, she stood up and grabbed a little black notebook, covered in stickers. She grabbed her favourite pencil and just began to write about how she was feeling, it always calmed her down when she was angry or sad, and at the moment she was definitely both.

Meanwhile downstairs Mike was approaching the Mayfield/Hargrove house, it had taken Max about an hour to get home, so Mike finished up a bit early with his friends telling them he had to watch his baby sister. Of course the three other boys of the party knew he was going to see Max, but Elle didn't need to know that. The dark haired boy knocked on the door and took a step back when he saw Billy standing in the doorway, he knew he wasn't liked by him. He knew he didn't like any of Max's friends, but he wasn't quite sure why that was the case "O-Oh! Hi," He spoke quickly, Billy leaned in,
"What do you want Wheeler?" He smirked, he had gone through Max's emails before on her computer, he knew all about Mike Wheeler.
"I uh, I wanted to see Max..talk to her about our science project." He nodded to himself, anxious
"Alright kid, leave the door open." His smirk grew, watching Mikes face turn red as he ran upstairs.

((almost cried multiple times writing about billy i miss him sm ahsvuahuiabsigwuagisnap))