𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑎 𝑏𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 | 𝑒𝑙𝑚𝑎𝑥

2) reaching out ༻

dear max,

i'm sorry. i'm sorry for ignoring you and i feel bad that we haven't talked. i miss you a lot. mike and i are still doing well, i guess i was just very focused on him. i wish i would have  wrote back sooner!! how are you? i miss you and our sleepovers. well, write back soon!

love, el

"i thought you were going to bed?" mikes voice comes out of no where. el spins her head around, "oh, hi."
"hey, whatcha doing?"
"just writing."
el turns back around to her desk and starts putting the letter in an envelope.
"writing.. what?"
"to max."
"oh! cool, cool."
mike stutters, "hey..um..we're good, right? like there's no problems between us? you can talk to me yknow."
eleven's mind wants to say no. to tell him that something feels off, and that this doesn't seem like a good idea. but she simply says, "yep."
and follows up with, "do you need something?"
"oh uh no! no, i guess not."
"well, goodnight!"
"goodnight, el" mike shuts the door softly.

eleven lets out a sigh as she turns around to confirm that he's gone. she knows that she's being distant, but she can't help it. having enthusiastic conversations with mike doesn't come naturally anymore. maybe she doesn't like him. but that sounds crazy to her. he's the only one she's ever loved, being without him would be..weird. it's always been mike.

she shakes these thoughts out of her head and begins to seal the envelope. el doodles little hearts on the front with a pink marker, and draws stick figure versions of her and max. she starts to think of max, and tries brainstorming ways that they could see eachother. she could go back to hawkins with mike when he leaves, but then she would miss school. then again, she doesn't want to have to put up with it anyway.

eleven gets the idea to find max, in her mind. it's not like she has anything better to do. she turns the radio on, and blindfolds herself. after a little while, she sees her. max is laying down in her bed, and as el walks to the other side of it, she can see that her eyes are closed. she's sleeping. her bed looks different than the last time el saw it, maybe she moved. her hair is braided and she's in a big t-shirt and shorts. el thinks she looks pretty. really, really pretty. after staying there for a few more seconds, she takes the blindfold off, and gets in bed.

max - next day

usually, a voluntary group hangout isn't max's scene. but, it's spring break, and when she told her mom that the group (lucas, dustin, steve, robin, nancy, eddie) was planning some sort of hangout today, she insisted that max go. "it'll be good for you to get out and see your friends! you can't just rot away in your room all spring break" her words exactly. so she decided it couldn't hurt. she'd never admit it out loud, but she did miss them.

she gets up and assumes it's probably about time to get ready. she throws on a random colorblock tshirt, mom jeans, and black hightop vans. she tosses her hair in a low ponytail starts to head out of the house. "max! it's lucas! do you copy?" lucas's voice bursts out of her walkie talkie. "what.." max mumbles, walking back into her room. "what do you want, stalker?"
"are you still coming to nancy's? i've- we've been waiting!"
"what are you talking about? i was literally walking out the door."
"it's been like ten minutes, you're late!"
max laughs sarcastically, "jesus lucas you're ridiculous." she turns the walkie off and walks out of the house.

skating up to the wheeler's, she leaves her skateboard in the front yard next to the boys' bikes. she pounds on the door. nancy appears on the other side shortly after, "max!" she says with a smile. they hug for a couple seconds, then nancy ushers her in. walking into the basement, eddie is the first one to spot her. "oh hey red." he says, in the middle of his sentence. (probably droning on about some dnd stuff) dustin and lucas whip their heads around to see her. she greets them with her signature "max face": lips pressed together and eyes wide, kinda like a sarcastic smile. steve waves.

she notes the seating arrangement. steve is sitting on the couch with eddie beside him, and lucas and dustin are sitting in chairs in front of them. then there's robin, sitting on the floor next to steve's legs. nancy goes and sits next to robin, who's waving max over.

max sits down on the floor in front of robin and nance.  "this would be better if mike and will were here." lucas says. "and eleven. everything would be better if she was here." max replies quickly. robin glances at her. "what?" max says. "nothing! nothing." steve looks at robin and then to max. this catches eddie's attention, too. "okay. what just happened." dustin asks, confused.