closer to happiness than i've ever been

i hate the beach

a/n yes. sweater weather reference. we love. sorry for the short chapter, i do have a really long one coming out like tomorrow probably so stay tuned. i'm also sorry if this one sucks, i wrote this bc i thought that there was too big of a time jump sooo yeah.

august 16, 1989

max holds her hand against the horn, a prolonged blaring noise interrupting the regular traffic of the late afternoon.

"drive! what are you waiting for, you dumb bitch! drive!" the light had only been green for about thirty seconds, although max was angered as if it had been thirty minutes. i sat in the passenger's seat, never having driven with her prior.

"max gets the road rage," el says from the back seat, as if i hadn't heard her shouting

"i can see that," i say plainly. max honks once more and flips off the driver as she passes them. i look out my window to see dustin, giving an accusatory look to max as she merges onto the highway.

"dumbass... should get his license revoked," max mutters. there's a silence that befalls the car, max having a vexed air about her. the speedometer below the dashboard indicates that she is driving slightly over the speed limit. el takes note of this, lightly slapping her shoulder.

"max! that is dangerous!" el says, shaking at her arm.

"it'll be fine el" i say looking back at her in the messy back seat. "besides, you're not even wearing a seatbelt."

el ignores me, continuing to pester max. "my dad said-" she is cut off by the sound of the blaring horn again.

"why the fuck is he trying to pass me?! he didn't even turn his damn blinkers on! what the fuck?!" she shouts rhetorically. max speeds up.

i knew it wasn't a good idea to let max drive us to the lake, but honestly our whole last-day-of-summer trip wasn't really all that well planned. i guess the best decision was to not put mike in the same car as max, especially with max driving.

"how did you pass your driver's test?" i ask, grasping onto my seatbelt.

"i didn't," she says simply. "all i got was a learner's permit when i was 14."

"that explains... a lot" i say.

"we need to slow down" el insists. "my dad says it is a bad idea to drive so fast!"

"el, hopper drives at, like, a million miles per hour" i state. el rolls her eyes at me. "we'll be fine"

"stupid will" she mutters.

...

after about 20 minutes of max's road rage, kate bush playing over shitty speakers, and el's backseat driving, we arrive at the lake, dustin's old pickup following shortly after. i laugh to myself, noticing how they had forced mike to sit in the middle as the truck only had one row of seating. dustin had parked incredibly close to the water, causing max to make yet another remark on his driving ability.

"max!" dustin shouts upon exiting the vehicle. "what the hell was that for!?!" mike exits the car shortly after lucas, throwing a blue and green beach towel over his shoulder.

"you drive like a fucking idiot," she says, putting her red framed sunglasses on. she slams the door shut, making her way to the trunk to pull out the beach bag.

"at least i have a driver's license!" he shouts.

max scoffs. "at least i know how to drive" she mutters to el who giggles to herself. she plops the yellow bag in my arms. mike kicks off his flip-flops, running through the sand in my direction.