Strawberries and Cigarettes // Max Mayfield x girl OC

"there's nothing like doing nothing with you"

"'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo, lying on the rug," Max read to Chris, as the latter rested her head in the redhead's lap.

The two of them were sitting on the couch in Chris' basement. Well, Max was sitting, Chris was lying down. Max and Chris had planned on having a date—a picnic in the park—but it was late autumn, and the weather had begun to get chilly, so the two girls opted to move it indoors. Chris' parents had taken Holly to the movies, and Mike was at the arcade with Dustin and Lucas, which meant the two had the house all to themselves and no one would pester them. 

They had finished their lunch fairly quickly, and it wasn't long before Chris began to feel antsy with being cooped up indoors. She suggested the idea of Max teaching her more skating tricks, but Max reminded her that Chris' sprained wrist still wasn't fully healed, so it wasn't a good idea. Chris was about to suggest another dumb idea when Max saw Little Women sitting on a shelf.

"Read to me," Max suggested to Chris with a shrug.

"No, I don't feel like forcing my eyes to concentrate on words," Chris replied as she hung upside down on the couch, her hair just barely grazing the floor.

"Fine then, I'll read to you."

At Max's words, Chris sat up, an amused smile on her face. She loved the sound of her girlfriend's voice, so she was excited at the opportunity of listening to her girlfriend talk for a while.

"Okay!" Chris agreed, getting off the couch and running to grab the book.

And so that is how they ended up in this position; Max reading from the first page, Chris' head resting in her lap, her legs stretched out along the length of the couch. 

"'It's so dreadful to be poor!' sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress," Max continued to read to the brunette, although if Chris were being honest, she wasn't really paying attention.

Well, she was paying attention, just not to the words that were coming out of Max's mouth. No, Chris was more focused on the sound of Max's voice. The way her words sounded orotund, yet soft at the same time. The way the syllables effortlessly rolled off her tongue and the way she paused every few moments to take a breath.

Chris focused on how Max's face moved as she read through the pages. The way it seemed to perfectly portray the same emotion that the book was currently describing. The way Max subconsciously changed her voice to match each different character. 

The entire experience was pure bliss, and eventually, Chris let her eye's heavy lids drop, finding herself somewhere in the twilight zone between wake and sleep. Suddenly, Max stopped reading, and the room grew silent.

"Why'd you stop talking?" Chris asked, peaking open her eyes to see Max looking down at her.

"Talking?" Max echoed. "Chrissy, I was reading. There's a difference. And from the looks of it, you weren't even paying attention," she teased.

"Oh, I was paying attention," Chris argued playfully. "Maybe not to the exact words coming out of your mouth, but I definitely was paying attention."

Regardless of Chris trying to encourage her girlfriend to keep reading, Max closed the book and set it down next to her, allowing her hands to move through Chris' hair. Chris allowed her eyes to shut once more, enjoying the feeling of Max playing with her hair, braiding it, and then unbraiding it again just for fun.

"Have I told you lately," Chris broke the comfortable silence, her eyes still closed, "that I'm grateful you're mine?"

Max couldn't help the smile that formed or the blush filling her cheeks.

"Where'd that come from?" Max asked, curious at why Chris was suddenly being all sentimental.

"I dunno, I just was thinking about how much I love you, and how much I love being with you," Chris shrugged.

"I love you, too," Max smiled.

She leaned forward and gave Chris a quick kiss on the forehead before speaking again.

"I am, you know," She said.

"Hm?" Chris hummed.

"Yours."

Chris beamed at Max's words, feeling ever so lucky to have such an amazing girl in her life. Someone who loved her more than anything else.

The two of them sat there for a bit longer, Max still playing with Chris' hair, the latter still staying just barely awake enough to be aware of everything going on around her. Finally, the brunette couldn't take anymore, and she began to drift off into a light slumber. Little did she know, but the redhead beside her was unwillingly doing the same.

"Get up," Max said unexpectedly, pulling Chris from her sleep.

"What? Why? No, I don't wanna," Chris whined, opening her eyes but not moving.

Max laughed slightly at the grumpy look on Chris' face before pulling herself together again.

"Just get up," She repeated. "I promise it'll only be for a second."

Chris huffed again but did as Max told her, nonetheless.

Max adjusted her position on the couch to lie down on her back, a throw pillow supporting her head, and a light blanket draped over her.

"Okay, come back," She said, lifting one edge of the blanket into the air.

Chris grinned and climbed back onto the couch, settling her lower body between Max's legs and resting her head on the girl's chest. Max lowered the blanket back down to cover both of them.

The last thing Chris heard before she slipped into a deep sleep was Max's voice saying, "There's nothing like doing nothing with you."

——

Chris and Max had been asleep for who knows how long when Mike came home from the arcade, immediately going down to the basement, intending on playing his Atari. However, when he reached the bottom of the stairs and saw the two lovebirds, he ran back upstairs and into his room, searching for his polaroid camera. Once he found it, he hurried back into the basement and snapped a picture of Chris and Max cuddled together, fast asleep. 

The picture quickly printed out, and he placed it on the coffee table, where he knew Chris and Max would find it when they woke up. He turned to leave, wanting to give them peace and privacy, but right before he went out of view, he turned back and smiled at the sight. 

Mike had always been protective over his twin, so when Max and Chris started dating, he protested the relationship as much as he could, feeling as though no one was good enough for his slightly younger sister. But as time wore on, he realized more and more that Max indeed was perfect for Chris. Max was everything Chris needed and more. And he was thankful for that.