𝙴𝚕𝚢𝚜𝚒𝚊𝚗 ~ 𝙴𝚕𝚖𝚊𝚡

《𝟿》

August 23, 1985
2:45 PM

~ "So... how to explain this. You just kinda have to...lay on the water and spread your legs and arms. And then you just float. Here. I'll show you first." Max stepped froward, making El let go of her forearm. The redhead wanted to bring her to different thoughts after the whole 'Mike situation'. She just laid on the water, moving her arms and kicking her legs.

~ "See? It's fun." Max stated, starting to circle around El, who watched her with scrunched eyebrows.

~ "But...what if I fall into the water?" El said, turning as Max swam around her.

~ "That's why I'm here. I'll make sure you won't." Max said as she stood again and went to El, who gulped and looked at the water around them. She felt cold and didn't know if it was because of the water temperature or because she was scared at the moment. Max gently took El's arm again.

~ "It's okay. If you fail, I got you. Promise." The redhead smiled gently, subconsciously rubbing the other girl's arm with her thumb to try and encourage her. El recognised the familiar feeling and looked down at Max's hand, then back up at her. Max now realised what she was doing and quickly stopped, not wanting to make El feel uncomfortable.

~ "Uh...sorry." Was all the redhead could say. El looked at her as if she didn't know what she was apologising for. And really, she didn't. Max wasn't hurting her. There's no need to apologise.

~ "...It's okay. It's just...Mike used to do that. It feels...safe." She shared and Max didn't know if she should feel happy or sad. El felt safe but...just because of the fact that Mike did what she's doing now. It felt like getting shoes that were already tattered by someone else. By Mike. She hated that she thought like this. But to be honest, it just made her want to scream.

~ "...Oh...yeah. Do you-...want to try now?" Max asked, ready to do anything to change the topic to something...with no Mike in it. El nodded, feeling of Max's hold on her arm making her feel more secure. She looked behind herself before slowly starting to lean down onto the water. She felt the little waves around her now, feeling the cold on her back too. When the water reached her head and her ears started sinking under the surface, she could hear the burble of the water, the sound of bubbles going up. Just...quiet noise. It was peaceful and she closed her eyes, actually enjoying it. Suddenly, she felt that Max was slowly pulling her arm away from her grip and let her float on her own. This really wasn't that bad. She even cracked a little smile, just letting the water take her whenever it wanted. That was until she felt something move under her. It was making the water stir a bit. She opened her eyes, searching for Max. She saw her just few steps away. She was proudly smiling and giving her a thumbs up. Nothing seemed off. So El smiled at her back before two arms suddenly emerged out of the water on each side of her, seizing her and pulling her deep down into the water. She screamed, soon being muffled by the water as she felt bubbles of air go up in a stream. She started to kick around herself in panic and tried reaching out to the surface in hopes it can somehow save her. The oxygen was quickly escaping from her lungs and soon, there was none and she was gasping for air. Instead, she started inhaling and swallowing the water that was all around her. Because of that, she started squirming and kicking around herself more, soon feeling the grip around her loosen as a hand grabbed her forearm, pulling her up and finally letting her take a deep breath in and start coughing out the water she inhaled. She felt a hand rubbing her back up and down and looked up to see Max looking at her with her eyebrows pinched together and giving looks of fury to someone behind the brunette. Once El calmed her breathing down a little, she looked around, her eyes still wide with fear.

~ "You okay? I'm sorry..." Max said in a low voice, sounding somewhere between relieved and angry. She didn't even know what she was apologising for, but felt like she should. El looked at the redhead, one last cough escaping her throat before she just nodded and looked around.

~ "There- there's something...in the water." El kept looking around before her eyes landed on one of the boys...Lucas. He was standing not so far from them with a confused expression. He was just trying to have fun here...

~ "What the hell, Lucas?!" Max frowned at the boy, still standing on El's left side while the boy raised his arms up in surrender.

~ "It was just a little joke Max, c'mon..." He said.

~ "Well, it was a terrible one. She could've drowned or inhale some water!" It was maybe for the better to not tell Max that one of those things happened.

~ "She's not a little baby! She's fine! Sorry for wanting to have a little bit of fun!" Lucas frowned too, extending his hands to each side.

~ "Sorry for ruining your 'fun', but this really wasn't the right time!"

~ "Oh yeah?! And when IS the right time? Tell me... You can't because there's never a right time anymore! You're always busy doing something else! We don't spend any time together anymore because you're always with her and to be honest I don't even understand why!" He finally just burst and pointed at El. He might've crossed the line by saying that and he knew that. But he just needed to let it out finally. First, Mike was spending less and less time with the party because of this strange girl and now, his girlfriend too? He needed to put an end to this somehow. Max kept staring at him for good 10 seconds while El was starting to feel guilty. They were arguing because of her. She gulped and quickly glanced from Lucas to Max before looking down, fiddling with her fingers under the water.

~ "...There's one thing I don't understand either." Max finally said and Lucas motioned for her to continue.

~ "Why are we still together? Everything you said...is pretty much true. Might as well just get it over with and end this." The redhead said, loud and clear. She was done with this. She couldn't do this anymore. And even though she felt like shit for letting him go like this, it was him who started it. And Lucas didn't say anything. He just stood there with a frown growing on his forehead as he realised what this means.

~ "I'm...glad we're on the same page..." Max added before turning to El and taking her arm into her hands. The brunette didn't say anything and went with her to the shore, glad this was over. She was starting to feel sick though. She could feel her stomach gurgling. And it wasn't from hunger. The two girls took all their stuff before getting on Max's bike again and riding away from the quarry, followed by Lucas's gaze.