Cherry Wine| Max Mayfield

.one ᵐᵃᵈ ᵐᵃˣ

☡

"Clove, Clover! Come in!" Mikes voice was heard over her radio as Clover quick grabbed it.

"I'm here." She said while throwing her jeans around as she searched through the pockets for change.

"How much you got?" he asked as she counted it quickly.

"Enough for many rounds, be there in a sec." she said before turning the walkie off and running down the stairs after sticking the coins into her pockets.

"Dad! I'll be back soon, I'm meeting- hey... you okay?" she asked as she saw her Dad quietly wiping his face and looked her way.

"Yeah honey, sorry... heading to the arcade? Need a ride?" he asked while forcing a smile, she noticed he'd been looking at photos of her mother. Stella Reyes had been taken by the Demogorgon last year and they never heard or seen her since... the two were extremely beaten up over it,

"I'm gonna meet Mike and ride over together, I can stay in if you want though. Watch movies and eat popcorn," she offered while he smiled.

"I'll be okay sweetie. Go have fun with your friends, don't be home too late though okay?" he asked while Clover smiled and peeked his forehead.

"Love you!" she called out while running out of the house and hopping on her bike before riding down the street to meet Mike who was rushing out the driveway to her as Nancy ran after him.

"Hurry!" he called out as he swung his leg over the bike while the two rode side by side.

"Asshole!" Nancy yelled at them while the two laughed.

"Piss off older sister? I think that's a point." Clove laughed as she smiled over at Mike.

"Mike one, Clover zero." he said with a proud smirk.

"You're gonna be eating your words when I kick your ass at Dragons Lair!" she said with a laugh while they rode to the arcade, making the ride there a competition as well.

"Hey!" the four friends called out as Will showed up in Joyce's passenger seat. Ever since what happened last year he didn't ride his bike alone much, which Clover understood and agreed with fully. Wouldn't want anything to get him again.

"C'mon Byers!" Clover grinned as he jogged over to them as they entered the arcade.

"To slay the dragon, use the magic sword." The blonde animated character on the screen.

"Oh jeez, I'm in the military territory." Dustin said as he tried to focus on the game.

"Get em! Get em! Get em!" the four yelled at the boy who was struggling with the game. They continued to shout and edge him on as he tried to shut them up before sadly the guy on the screen died as they all fell silent.

"Ugh, I hate this overpriced bullshit! Son of a bitch! Piece of shit!" Dustin shouted as he hit the game.

"Dustin! Cool it man." Clover laughed from where she stood between Mike and Will.

"You're just not a nimbalum! But you'll get there one day, but until then Princess Daphne is still mine." Lucas teased while he patted Dustin on the back.

"Whatever, I'm still top at centipede and dig dug." Dustin rolled his eyes.

"You sure about that?" Keith; an odd guy that works at the arcade said as he continued to eat Cheetos.

"Sure about what?" Dustin asked annoyed but the taller guy ignored him and continued to bite into his Cheetos.

"No! No!No!" Dustin shouted as they all ran to the Dig Dug machine and saw someone beat Dustin's high score... by a lot.

"Seven hundred and fifty-one thousand three hundred points!" Will shouted as they peered down at the machine.

"That's impossible."Mike shook his head.

"Clearly not." Clover said with a laugh as she peered at the screen.

"Who's Madmax?" Dustin asked while turning to Keith.

"Yeah, who's Madmax and could I get their number?" Clover asked while Mike elbowed her.

"Better than you." Keith said to Dustin who flipped him off.

"Is it you?" Will asked the man.

"You know I despise Dig Dug." Keith said as he scrunched up his eyes.

"When who is he?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah spill it Keith."Dustin shouted back at him.

"You want information? Then I need something in return."Keith said as he looked over at Mike.

"No! No! No way! You're not getting a date with her."Mike shook his head as Clover nodded.

"Yeah! She's way too good for you." Clover glared up at him as he gave her a weird look.

"Mike, c'mon just get him the date." Lucas pried.

"I'm not prostituting my sister."Mike argued.

"But it's for a good cause." Lucas said back.

"And this is why you will never get a girlfriend Lucas."Clover said as the boy mocked her.

"No no no don't get him the date, you know why? He's gonna spread his nasty ass rash to your whole family." Dustin said as he glared at Keith.

"Acne isn't a rash, and it's not contagious you prepubescent wastoid," Keith said.

"Oh, I'm a wastoid?" Dustin asked with a laugh.

"Yeah apparently so." Mike shrugged as Dustin began to argue with him Clove looked around and noticed Will wasn't there.

"Mike," she said while grabbing his arm.

"What's wrong?" he asked while looking down at her.

"Did you see where Will went?" she asked while looking around.

"No, no I thought he was right here. Let's go cheek outside, c'mon."Mike said as the two-headed out the doors.

"Will," Mike said as they walked outside seeing he was staring up at the sign, he gasped and turned to them.

"You okay?" Clover asked as she eyed him.

"Yeah I just, I needed some air."Will said.

"Guess it does get pretty suffocating in there between all the odd smells." Clover joked while Will chuckled.

"C'mon, you up on Dig Dug. Let's take that top score back huh?" Mike asked him as he put an arm around the smaller boy along with his arm around Clover as the three walked inside.

That night while Clover laid in bed she tossed and turned throughout the night. With a sigh she sat up and grabbed her walkie talkie, using the channel Mike taught her how to use.

"Hey, I don't know if you can hear me or even if you're there but it's worth a shot. What is this? Night 360 maybe? I don't know somewhere around there I guess. I just hope you're okay, we miss you... I miss you so much El."Clover spoke into the radio as it was only static heard as she sighed and listened to it for a moment, shutting her eyes letting the noise fill her ears until she opened her eyes again and saw a musty figure in front of her, like a ghost. Frowning her eyebrows she eyed the mist while she slowly stuck her hand out to it but the second her fingertips brushed along theirs it disappeared. Clover jumped back in fright while she quickly hid herself under the covers.

•••••

so chapter one is up and i'm so excited to introduce a LGBT character! I hope you all like Clover so far and you'll see a lot of her this season and learn so much. Like for example how she came across her sexuality and I can tease that Max will not be the only love interest throughout this book;)