After Starcourt || 𝙇𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙭 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙈𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣

Chapter 12-Christmas Eve

December 24, 1985
Mike and Nancy woke up at around the same time. Early. After they ate the special Christmas Eve breakfast their family makes them eat, they peddled off to Hopper's. The cold air whirled their hair around as the snow slowly piled.

Finally, Nancy broke the silence, "So, you're in love with El?"

"Yes!" Mike exclaimed, annoyed at the obvious question.

"Have you told her?"

"Yea."

"And she loves you back?"

"That's what she said."

"Yea, it's pretty obvious."

Mike thought for a second, "Really?"

"100%. She looks like she's in a trance when she sees you."

Mike's cheeks turned a light pink.

"Are you in love with Johnathan?"

"Madly." She smiled.

"Gross!"

"Hypocrite!"

Meanwhile at Hopper's, everyone got a triple-decker-eggo-extravaganza, provided by Eleven. All of them were decorated with green and red sprinkles, topped with a chocolate syrup smiley face in the middle. Will set up a record player, and began playing all of the classic Christmas songs.

As the sun rose, Max's eyes began to blink open. She sat up and turned her head to Lucas in his bed. She got up off her air mattress and shook him awake. Was she really supposed to be there? No. Lucas and Max's parents would never. But Max's parents weren't in town, and Lucas's family liked to sleep in. They had already planned this out.

Max would wake up Lucas, and then she would change out of her pajamas and into her clothes. She would wait outside with her bike until Lucas gave her a signal that his parents were awake. Of course, she was welcome for breakfast, and they would carry on their day from there.

After breakfast, Lucas and Max started pedaling towards Hopper's.

It was quite a while from Lucas's house, so they passed by the old junkyard with the bus. Max persuaded Lucas to stop there, and they went running towards the bus once they dropped their bikes.

(Sorry if I get some of the details abt the junkyard wrong)

Max and Lucas started climbing to the top of the bus, "This is where I really fell i-" Lucas abruptly stopped himself.

Max begged in her mind for him to say that he fell in love with her. She desperately needed to know that she made that big of an impact on his life, she needed a reminder that he won't leave. Lucas awkwardly climbed to the top of the bus.

"Um, this is where I realized I had a crush on you." He muttered after a long silence.

"Me too." She sat herself down, only inches away from him.

"I like talking with you Madmax." Lucas mocked himself.

"I like talking with you too, Stalker." Max joined him.

They laughed for a minute before Max pulled him into a kiss.

In front of other people, they acted like an awkward elementary school couple. Only with the party did they really cuddle, but they never made out like El and Mike. They were honestly grossed out by them. But in private, was a whole different story.

Currently, Lucas had his hands on Max's hips. Every kiss was more passionate than the last. All thoughts were wiped from his mind. The packet that's due after the break, getting to Hopper's house, the fact that they left their bikes unlocked, gone.

Shit the bikes.

Lucas abruptly stopped and Max frowned at him.

"I'm sorry, but I just remembered we left the bikes unlocked and I need to check."

"Oh shit we did."

They walked over to where they left their bikes and they were gone. They groaned and accepted defeat.

Mike and Nancy finally ended up at Hopper's house. Of course, El had two plates with triple-decker-eggo-extravaganzas on them. Mike's cheeks flushed pink when he saw the chocolate syrup heart on his, instead of a smiley face. Hopper threw a glare at him. Though he pretended to be bothered, he had to admit that it was a little cute.

Hopper finally came to terms with El and Mikes relationship, now that they weren't crazy obsessed with each other. He still kept his rule on three inches, but they found a way to bend it a little sometimes.

It was 11:30 in the morning when Max and Lucas finally got there. Everyone was already at the table, and both of their eggos were cold.

"Where the hell were you?" Dustin threw his hands up in the air when they came in.

"We stopped somewhere and some bastards stole our bikes."

After the breakfast that had already been dragging on for three hours, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Will needed to go home to help prepare for the Wheeler's Christmas party. This had been a tradition of theirs for years, and according to Dustin, it was strictly for the boys. After half and hour of persuading, Max and Eleven accepted defeat and stayed home.

Max and Eleven got to pick another dress from the bag to wear to the party.

-

After the party, Lucas's parents let Max sleep in the basement. It was 9 and everyone in the house was tossing and turning in their beds.

Unlike everyone else, Max was not excited for Christmas. Every year, she savored the Christmas season, but her parents were never there for the actual day. The first time someone got her a gift for Christmas was last year, when Lucas got a small box of chocolates before having to go home for a celebration. She never got that celebration. Every year her parents left for some trip to get away from feeling obligated to give presents, leaving Billy to watch her, which wasn't pleasant.

Lucas quietly sneaked out of his room and down the stairs, to where Max was sleeping. She had totally forgotten that he was coming, and she jumped a little when he flicked the lights on.

"Oh, sorry."

"No it's fine."

He looked at her face and his heart crumbled. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was red and tear-stained.

"What happened?" He began to walk to the bed.

"Oh, nothing it's fine." She turned her head and started to wipe her face with the comforter.

"Max."

She started to tell him everything. Everything that had been bottled up all month. Everything that had been bottled up every December.

"-And thank god I have you Lucas because I don't know how I would've lasted another Christmas like this." She finished and looked up at him.

Max immediately engulfed him into a hug. After a few seconds, she pulled away and smashed her lips onto his. Lucas kissed her back, and pulled her close.

A/N: So I have lost inspiration entirely for this part of the book, and I'm really trying to continue to spring because it's spring now and I have a ton of inspiration for spring stuff. So I'm gonna skip Christmas. Don't worry, when Christmas time rolls around in a few months I'll write a ton of Christmas things and stuff. Be prepared for drama and plot twists. I've also figured out that people watching is an amazing source of inspiration. I very much recommend it.