Trust -|- An Elmax Story

VII

Eleven

Mike and I walked into the school together. He takes his arm off my shoulder and grabs my hand. We walk to science hand in hand together. I rest my head on his shoulder.

"Hi, Mrs. Hughes," Mike says when we arrive at class. Mrs. Hughes, the science teacher, says good morning back. We take our seats at the front. I sit to the right of Mike. Shortly after Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Max arrive. Will sits to the left of Mike, with Lucas behind Will, Dustin behind Mike, and Max behind me.

"Hey, El," I hear from behind me.

"Hi," I respond, turning around. We make eye contact, and I smile at her. I notice her blush but think nothing of it.

----------------------------------------------

After school, the Party met up outside. We stood in a circle. Max and I linked hands.  

"Why don't we all come over to my place and play DnD?" Mike offers.

"El and I already have plans," Max lies.

"Oh. What are you guys doing?" Mike asks.

"Just gonna hang at her place," Max says, casually.

"Why don't we play DnD in my room then?" Will offers.

"I'm just gonna shoot some hoops," Lucas says, walking away after giving Max one last smile. Max, once again, ignored him.

"I'm going to hang out with Steve and Robin at Family Video," Dustin stated, walking away. Both Will and Mike looked upset. 

"We're gonna go now," Max says, dragging me away.

We walk towards my house together. She puts her arm around my waist and lies her head on my shoulder. I put my arm around her neck. Her neck is hot on my skin.

We make it to my house, and I pull out the key from my pocket. I unlock the door, and Max rushes in. She heads straight to my room, while I'm locking the door.

"Hurry up, slow poke!" Max shouts.

"Coming!" I yell back. I run to my room and keep the door three inches open. Max was lying on her stomach on my bed. She was giving me a big smile.

"I have a question," I state.

"Shoot," she responds.

"Why do you seem so distant from Lucas?" I ask.

"I just want to be friends; he wants to be more," Max explains.

"Why do you not want to be his girlfriend?" 

"I don't like him that way."

"Oh. Do you love Dustin now?"

"Definitely not," Max laughs.

"Do you love anyone?" I ask.

"N-no," she stutters, blushing.

"You stuttered," I point out.

"Fine. Maybe I do love someone."

"Who?"

"He, um, is really sweet and cute and funny."

"Who is he?"

"You don't really know him."

"Oh."

I crawl onto the bed and lay next to Max. Our shoulders were touching. I lie my head on Max's back.

"Do you want to go get ice cream?" Max asks me.

"Yes!" I exclaim joyfully. I get up and pull Max up. I keep my hand in hers and drag her outside to Will's bike. I guess Will decided to go to Mike's house. Max hops onto the bike, and I get on behind her. I wrap my arms around her waist so I won't fall off.

We arrive at the mall and put the bike in the bike rack. The redhead takes my hand and we run into Starcourt together. We went to Scoops Ahoy. The server has blonde hair, grey eyes, and glasses. She's about the same height as us. I miss Steve and Robin working here, but the mall fire forced them to get a new job. Now that the mall has been rebuilt, there are new Scoops Ahoy workers.

"Can I have strawberry in a waffle cone?" Max asks.

"Vanilla in a waffle cone, please," I say. 

We're given our ice cream, and Max pays for both.

"You don't have to pay all the time," I tell Max as we walk off.

"I want to," she replies.

"But I have money," I claim.

"I'll pay," she persists. I grab her hand, and we sit outside Scoops Ahoy on the floor. We sit there in a comfortable silence until we both finish.

When we finish, we go outside and get on Will's bike. We ride home together and find Will, Steve, and Robin there.

"Hey," Max says, with no care in her voice.

"Hi, Max and El!" Will happily says.

"Hi!" I say, walking over to him to give him a hug.

"Mike invited everyone over to his house tomorrow. Everyone's going. Do you guys want to come too?" Will asks.

"Yeah!" I say. I look back at Max.

"Fine," she groans. I smile at her, and she gives me a half smile back.

Max and I walk to my room and chill in there until Steve's ordered pizza arrives. We leave my room to get two slices of cheese on each plate. We go back into my room and sit right next to each other. I looked over at Max, and she looked deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" I ask her.

"Nothing," she responds, blushing. She lies down and gently places her head on my lap. My stomach feels fuzzy, like how it feels when I'm around Mike. I don't know why that happened. I smile down at her and continue to eat.

Max finished before me. She got up on the bed and yawned.

"Are you tired?" I ask her.

"Yeah. Very," she says.

When I finish my pizza, I pick up Max's plate and throw away the two paper plates. I make my way to the bed to find Max already asleep. The blankets were pushed to the end of the bed. I climbed into the bed and cuddled up next to Max. I lie my head on her chest and pull the blankets up on us. Her soft breathing warms my face. Her body heat comforts me and puts me to sleep.