When I see You Again ~ Elmax

Chapter 9 ~ I'm Tired

A/N I am already sorry. Enjoy!

Max pulled the letter she took from Els out of her pocket. She walked to a draw and opened it. El walked in. She saw the letter. "Where'd you get that?" El asked frustrated. Max panicked. "I saw it under your bed and I should've told you something. I'm sorry". El grabbed it. "Why didn't you send them?" Max asked. Eleven shrugged. "Oh the phone rang and it was Hopper". El said sadly. "What?" Max asked. "We are going back to California for a couple of months". Max teared up. "W-why?" El looked at Max who was broken. "Apparently so things calm down for us. Hop said maybe they will return fully". Max became angry. "I knew this was too good to be true. I knew that this wasn't going to last. You being here. God I'm so stupid for believing maybe because you came back you'd stay". She picked up a box and threw it at the wall. El began crying along with Max. "Hop said you can visit". Max turned away.

"When's that. Months time? Why can you just stay?" El shrugged. Max looked back. "When do you go?" Max stared at Eleven. "Tomorrow". El burst in tears. "You should go pack then. Call me when you can". She picked up paper and wrote her number down. "That's my number so you hopefully don't forget this time". El held it and hugged Max. "Here". Max gave the letter back. El pushed it away. "Keep it". Max threw it in the draw. El left the room and said her goodbyes. Max stood in her room crying. She had gone as soon as she came back. You can visit. Max wondered if that would ever be true.

She couldn't be mad at El. That's not fair. She was mad at life. "I'm tired". Max said to herself. She would just have to accept that the world was going to turn leaving her stranded.

Everyone was gathered ready to say goodbye to the Hopper-Byers. Mike and Will kissed and hugged. Jonathan said goodbye to Nancy. Steve said his goodbyes to Will and even made up with Jonathan. Robin said goodbye to Will. Hopper and Joyce watched as everyone hugged. Max and El held on to each other. "Call me when you get there. I wanna make sure you're alive". Max tried to laugh through the crying. "I will". El cry laughed. The family got in their car and waved on last time before driving away. Max held tight to Robin. "You ok kiddo?" Robin asked. "Yeah. I'm happy she's safe". Robin smirked at the cheesy thing Max just said. Everyone rode away in their vehicles. Max skated back to her empty trailer. She unlocked it to find her mother. On the sofa with a letter in her hand. "Mom?" Her mother looked up at Max. "I was cleaning your room. And I found this in the draws". Max panicked. "Along with a few of your writing". Max began tearing up. "You have feelings for her?" Max told watching her mother. "Mom. I can't help it". Her voice was slowly cracking. "You're ok. Neil isn't around anymore to hurt us. Now it's going to take me some time to process this. But Maxine. Max I promise I will try and do my best to help. To make up for being an awful mother in the past". Max ran to her mother and cried. Her mother hugged her. She cried into her mothers chest. Not the way she planned that. But at least she would try.

Max was asleep at 6am. The world was slowly waking up. All of a sudden the phone rang. It echoed and made Max jump out of her skin. "Christ". She jumped up and grabbed the phone. "Hello?" She was sleepily trying to adjust to everything. "Hi! Max I'm home". Max cheered up slightly when Els voice rang down the phone. "Oh that's great". She said sounding slightly sarcastic. "Are you ok?" She asked. Max rubbed her eyes. "Oh yeah. Just tired. It's 6am and I had a full nights sleep". A pause. "Oh wait did I wake you up? Oh god. It's 3am here and I'm tired". Max laughed. "How about you call me later. Get some sleep". El was laughing at Hopper in the background. The girl yawned down the phone. "Ok! Goodnight Max. Love you". The phone hung up. Love you. El just said she loved her. Was that in a nice polite way or was that more. Damn her overthinking.

3pm came around and the phone rang again. "Hey". El was the other side of the phone. Max smiled to her mother. "Hi. You seem much more awake". Max laughed. "Well it's 12 here. Oh I have good news by the way". El was giggling. "You know Labour Day weekend? After school starts?" Max was confused. "Yeah?" El was beaming down the phone. "Joyce said you can come to Cali for the weekend!" Max's jaw dropped with excitement. "Really?!" Max asked. "Of course". El was cheering. Max suddenly remembered. "How am I supposed to afford a plane ticket?" Max said. "Hold on. Joyce! She asked the question". El shouted. The phone shuffled and Joyce picked up. "Hey Hon!" Max smiled. "Hi Joyce". There was some movement. "So about the plane ticket. Well we have sorted it. Me and Hop decided it would be nice for El to have someone over here instead of Mike for Will. We have payed for everything. No need to panic. Or pay us back. Just make her happy. That sound ok?" Max was beaming. "Honestly Joyce. That is the most amazing thing ever! Thank you so so much!" Joyce laughed. "Could you put your mother on for a second?" Joyce asked. Max agreed and let the women talk. She ran to her room grabbed paper and wrote another note. She was so excited. California vacation. Hang out with her. She ran over to her calendar and scrolled through the dates. She found Labour Day. She wrote over that weekend. CALIFORNIA VACATION.

She was so excited. She still has months to go. But she would count down each precious minute.