When I see You Again ~ Elmax

Chapter 8 ~ Maybe

A/N Hope you enjoy!

Max sat down on Els bed. They laughed and smiled until midnight. The talking. Max felt happy to be with her. Eleven came home. Max was whole again. They had found peace. Eleven heard Hopper come home and told her should would come back in a second. Max stayed smiling and looking around. Max walked to her mirror. There was all sorts of weird things. A picture of the boys in their halloween costumes. Drawings. Spelling practice sheets. A dictionary. But she saw something which made her smile more. A picture of Max at the Snow Ball. Convenient Jonathan was on photo duty. Max smiled. There was even a picture of the two girls taken by Joyce. But what was nice is that she would keep things that max gave her. She had the green scrunchie.

El walked back in and saw what Max was looking at. "You kept all this?" Max smiled. El smirked. "Maybe. Of course I did". Eleven laughed. The girls stood in front of the mirror. Max was still looking around and El looked at the pair of them. "This reminds me of that night". Max looked too. "What one?" She looked at El. "When Billy hurt me. And you cleaned my nose and we laughed at the boys". Eleven laughed. Max did too. "I remember what you said". Max smirked. "What did I say?" Max laughed. "There's more to life than stupid boys". Max smiled and blushed slightly.

"I'm tired". El disclaimed. They check a nearby clock. 1am. El tucked herself in and Max stayed on the floor awake. Hopper forced her to sleep on the floor. Max turned towards the bed and looked under. There was a box. Max silently picked it up and looked at it trying to figure out what was inside. She opened it to find paper. Or letters. She picked up the top one.

Dear Max,
California is great. It's hot. Will is having a lot of fun painting and Jonathan's room smells of funny plants. I can't tell Joyce. It's a bit boring without new friends or you. I can't wait to come home again and see you. There are so many things I want to talk about. Hope to see you soon,
Love El

El had written to her. But never sent anything. She rummaged through and found another one.

Dear Max,
I hate school. It's stupid. Homework forever. Classes that teach nothing. And the people are horrible. They don't talk to you. They laugh at me. It sucks. I wish you had wrote to me. Or called. I can't call you because I don't have your number. These letters apparently can't be sent because Joyce thinks Russians are checking the house. I wish you were here.
Lots of Love El

Max realised that El was lonely. Lost. California wasn't some happy place where her dreams were a reality as she displayed. She really missed her. Max felt awful reading them. She stuffed a few things back in the box. She threw it under the bed apart from one. The letter she just read. She kept thinking about it.

El woke up and Max had barely slept. The pair got breakfast and changed and headed out for the day. "How did you sleep?" El asked. Max was spaced out. "Max?" El waved her hand. "Oh hmm. Uh good I guess". The pair began slowly breaking down the walls again. Max almost became normal until her radio went off. "Little red. I need you". Robin. Max told El to wait there and she walked over to answer. "What?" Max sighed. "Umm essentially Eddie hasn't spoken to anyone and his trailer is locked and I'm scared. Steve won't answer and I don't know anyone else really". Max bit her lip. "One of his episodes?" Max asked. "I think so. Can you help?" A pause. "Yeah I've got El with me but I'll just let her in my trailer. See you in 5". The pair shut off their talkies.

"We need to go to the trailer park". Max walked slightly faster. "Oh ok". El caught up before falling behind again. "And I need you to stay in my trailer if I give you the keys. I'll be literally 10 minutes I promise". Max grabbed Els hand. She nodded. Max smiled in thanks.

Max handed the keys and walked over to Eddies trailer. El let herself into the trailer. She sat down but soon got bored. She walked to Max's room. She saw all her things. Pictures. A Michael Myers mask. She saw a picture of her with the group on halloween. A calendar. Her bike in the corner. The skateboards. There were little cards stuck to the wall with little notes. Pick up groceries. Chrissy and Eddie are closer than usual. That kind of thing until she saw a column. No letters. Does she hate me? She's home. She smiled at me. We held hands. Does she hate me now?

Eleven realised she plastered her thoughts out on the walls so she could see the problems instead of keeping them in her head. El felt guilty for not sending a letter. She lay down on Maxs bed. She stared at the ceiling. Was it her fault Max had lost touch with everyone?

Max walked back into the trailer. "El?" She shouted. "Eleven?" Max walked into her room. El sat up and looked at the wall signalling what she knew. Max panicked. "T-those are just some you know thoughts". She ripped a few down. "You write everything down?" El got up and looked again. She saw one that truly broke Els heart. He's dead because of me. El knew Max felt guilty about Billy. But it was deeper than that. "Maybe". Max fidgeted again. El could see she was tense. El hugged her. Max froze. She stared at the wall. "I'm going to pee". El said. Max grabbed a pen and paper and wrote a new note down. She grabbed sellotape and stuck it on the wall. Eddie needs his friends. She grabbed another piece of paper. He feels guilty. Because he let Chrissy go.

She knew the exact feeling. The pain when Billy died. The pain when El left. The pain when she kicked El out. Max just needed to face the music. She liked El. And that was what she wanted. To ease the pain.