voyager // max mayfield

TWENTY FOUR: NO!

Chapter Twenty Four: No!

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It had been around four months since Eve had last seen her parents - after everything her dad had said to her that morning, she vowed never to return. She'd moved in with Steve only a couple doors down from Max, and it was going great. The girls rarely spent time apart, which for some people would be too much, but they just couldn't get enough of eachother.

Max was doing a lot better after what had happened to Billy, but she still had her bad days, everyone did. The Byers had moved a month ago, and life seemed to resume as normal, just with a couple people missing.

Eve was currently sat with Steve his bedroom, she was sat on the bed, looking down at her hands as Steve paced up and down. They'd had a call from their mother, who never really meant any harm, she had invited them round for dinner, promising their father wasn't going to be there.

"Just one dinner," Steve bargained with her, still pacing up and down. Eve shook her head, keeping her gaze on the ground, "why not!"

"Because..." Eve mumbled with a shrug. Steve stopped for a second, looking down at her and sighing.

"She's not the bad guy," Steve said to her, bending down so he was at her level. Eve wouldn't make eye contact, not looking up at him since the phone call. She couldn't look at him, feeling like bursting into tears as soon as the thought of her family came into her head, "she covered for you when you took the cash from dad, you know. She still cares."

"She cared," Eve argued, still staring at her hands, "she stopped as soon as Brad told her to. I just wish she grew some balls and ended the shitty marriage, she's not happy with him anyway. I don't know how anyone could be."

"It's just her tonight," Steve says to Eve, taking her hands as he saw them start to shake, "She wouldn't invite us if she didn't have something important to say."

"It's pointless," Eve sighed, moving her hands away and standing up, "don't you have a shift anyway?"

"Robin said she'd cover it," Steve said to her, "please Eve. It's hurting her just as much as it's hurting you."

Eve finally looked up at him as she headed towards the door. She sighed to herself, thinking over her options in her head.

"If you don't go you'll never know what she has to say," Steve says to her, and she looks away from him, closing her eyes for a second as if the words pained her, "Eve?"

"What time did she want us over again?"

-

It was now seven at night, and the Harrington siblings were on their way to their old home. Eve was panicky, but Max had seen her just before she left and that had helped calm her down. Max always managed to calm her down, it's one of the reasons Eve loved her.

"I'll be over as soon as your home. And we can cuddle and talk, listen to music, whatever. If it goes horribly, Steve will be there to take you home."

Max's words repeated in Eve's head as they finally arrived at their old home. The car was parked, but neither of the Harrington's made any signal to move, both wrapped up in their own thoughts.