your lips on my red cheeks

write me a different love story

How in the hell did you get here? This is what you got for wandering at night and being empathetic. It wasn't that you regretted your choice; it was the fact that it brought a lot of pain and trauma. Not only that, this was very time-consuming. Spending five minutes making a choice on whether or not to tell everyone about the possibility that Max is at risk again ? Not what you expected for your spring break. The same questions were constantly uttered from Eddie, the same naggings coming from Dustin, and the same constant whispered screams of "I don't know!" spilling out of your mouth. It was... something, to say the least.

"C'mon," You heard, accompanied by a familiar hand grabbing onto your shoulder. "You two are literally not helping the situation right now." Of course, it was her. When was it not? The universe seemed to push you two together, only to pull you away in times of true desperation. It was okay for the most part. Small moments with the redhead were nice. You remembered spending hours in the arcade because she wanted to beat her high score, sneaking through the mall to end up inside the movie theater, and all of that. But this , this was far from spending time with the girl that was the main character of all of your good dreams. If there wasn't some big bad evil dude crumbling people, this would be special; in an RV for a long period of time with this girl.

"You okay? What were they bothering you about?" Max questioned when the two of you plopped onto the seats, facing each other with your legs criss crossed. You opened your mouth to reply, but nothing came out. How are you supposed to break it to her? Just randomly inform her as if it was some everyday shit? That would be stupid, but considering how talking to her these days rarely happened, didn't your reaction match that? "Tell me." She ordered you, a suspicious look slowly transforming her features. The lips that were formerly shaped into a smile turned into a frown, while her eyes that used to hold what the books would describe as "sparkles" were dwindling by the second.

"I don't know how," You admitted, leaning back into the seat. You were given no reply, and it started to make you feel awkward. After what felt like a whole hour, which was actually only like fifteen seconds, you broke into a ramble, "You see, I want to, right? I just don't know how. It's not because of the usual thing, you know? The whole enchanted by you thing. Not because that feeling is gone, because you're still really fucking gorgeous. It's because- "

Only to be cut off by the girl grabbing hold of your wrists to stop your hands from moving and placing them into your lap. "This is cute and all, but just tell me," The girl instructed. It was definitely hard to tell her like this; she was so close again. You wished you had the time to count each freckle that adorned her face and kiss all over her face, starting from the scarlet cheeks to those soft lips of hers that kissed your cheek earlier. You hated this.

"Dustin and I... We think that Vecna is leading us to a trap or, at least, something like that," You confessed. "But we're not sure! I didn't want to tell you because we also think that means..." You trailed off, wishing a hole appeared below you and engulfed you, so you didn't have to face this girl.

"Because you guys think he still wants me," She finished. "Is that right?" You slowly nodded, unsure of how she'd take the news. Max was, well, always a surprise. Despite hours spent observing her, not in a stalkerish way, she still left you frozen in your spot whenever she did or said something. At the moment, you thought she'd either be angry at you or "subtly" become sad; both options made sense.

"If I'm being honest..." The redhead paused, taking a moment to take in a shaky breath of air, "I had the same feeling. It's like, I'm still marked somehow. Cursed." With the last word, the panic you stuffed down earlier shot through those useless thoughts and filled your brain. All you could think of was Max. Max, Max, Max, Max...

"Listen," She continued as if she could hear your thoughts caving in on you. "I'll be fine. I've been through this before. Things become easier with practice, right? He's in my mind. I'm in control. I'll just go to a memory that makes me feel..." It was obvious what she meant. It was a classic move, right? Vecna uses the bad thoughts, she'll use the good ones. Now that you were thinking about it, what the hell was your plan when you were bait? You didn't even know what you were going to experience because you didn't want to press Max about it. Even without such information, you would gladly fight some Upside Down monster if it meant that Max didn't have to go through it again. But, it seems as if your hands were tied and you were beaten down, leaving Max to face Vecna.