camp love ~elmax story~

pt. 9

el's pov:

"are you sure she's okay?" i asked the boys as i stared into the back of max's head as she walked away from us. "yeah el, trust me my sister is like that all the time," lucas told me. "she just needs space." he continued. "but she seems really upset.." i said in a sad tone. "just leave it be, you should be happy she's not hanging out with us again," mike told me. "she's annoying." he continued. i swung around to face him, and i could feel the anger rise inside of me. "don't talk about her like that!" i yelled at him.

"what the hell is wrong with you? you've been so different ever since she came into our friend group!" mike snapped back. "no i haven't!" i yelled. "guys, everyone is staring at you." dustin wisper yelled. i looked around and everybody's faces. "whatever.." i muttered. "okay, how about we go to the lake so we can just get our minds off everything, alright?" lucas suggested. "i wanna go check on max." i told them. "just come to the lake with us, alright?" lucas said. "no, i'm going to check on max." i told them as i walked away from them. i could hear mike calling my name out, but i didn't care.

~

"max?" i called out as i entered the cabin. "go away.." i heard a fimular voice say inbetween sobs. "no." i simply said as i shut the cabin door. "max, please tell me what's wrong." i asked as i sat down at the end of her bed. max brought her knees up to her chest, and set her head down on top of her knees as she spoke. "i can't tell you." max told me while still sobbing. i stayed silent as i rested my hand in her shoulder, causing her to look up at me. "max.." i simply and softly said as i gazed into her red puffy eyes. "i can't tell you.." she muttered again.

without thinking twice, i wrapped my arms around her, and hugged her really tight. "i'm here." i softly told her as i brushed my fingers though her long curly red hair. max hugged me back, but tighter and continued to cry into my shoulder. a feeling that i had been feeling a lot around max recently, came back once more. my heart started to beat faster and faster by the second, and my stomach was doing summersaults, and my knee's felt weak. i can't explain this feeling, all that i know is it comes back whenever i'm around max. it's almost like a spell she casts over me, only releasing me from it, when she is no longer around.

~

after a bit, max fell asleep, which she had been doing a lot. i guess she likes sleeping, or she could just be tired. i glanced at her one more time and couldn't help but smile. for whatever reason i couldn't pry my eyes away from her soft pink lips. i mean.. they do look really soft, and kissab- no el, what are you thinking? max is your FRIEND. or is she..? i mean, do friends feel this way around eachother? i've never had a girl-friend before, so i can only assume it was how i was supposed to feel around her.

my eyes shifted from her lips, to her cheek. the more i stared, the more i could feel myself getting closer and closer to it. it's almost like a magnet was bringing my lips closer and closer to her face. when i was barley an inch away from her face, i retracted my head. what am i thinking? what would max think if she found out i tried to kiss her? she would certainly hate me.

after a few minutes of hesitation, i decided i should go to the lake to see what the boys wanted, and so i could let max sleep. plus if i stay, i don't want to loose control of my emotions and end up doing something i will regret later on, like trying to kiss her again, or something. i carfully stood up off of max's bed and tiptoed to the door, trying not to wake her up.

~

as i approached the lake, i could hear kids screaming and laughing as they swam around in the lake. my eyes skimmed the water, untill i eventually saw four boys. i walked towards them and called out to them. "why did you guys want me to come here?" i asked them as they swam towards me. "so you decided to come after all?" mike asked as i they got out of the water. "yeah," i answered. "i'm not going to swim though." i continued. "i thought you were gonna stay with max?" dustin asked. "yeah, but max is sleeping, i didn't want to wake her up." i told him.

once i mentioned max's name, mikes smiled faded. "uh, el can i talk to you alone?" he asked. "uh sure?" i responded confused. mike grabbed my hand and tried to hold it, but i quickly retracted my hand away from his. "what is it?" i asked him. "are you sure about max?"he asked nervously. "what do you mean?" i asked him slightly confused. "well you have been spending so much time with her recently, and she seems really mean and rude." he told me. "maybe to you? just get to know her," i told him. "she is kind, funny, sweet, caring.." i trailed off as his expression turned to annoyance.

"well not to us, she is only nice to you." he told me. "please just get to know her mike, she is amazing." i told him while softly smiling and blushing. "she is a bitch el." mike snapped. my smile fadded, and quickly got replaced with an angry expression. "don't talk about her like that mike!" i yelled. he groaned and then crossed his arms. "fine, but if she is mean one more time-" "for the last time she's not mean!" i snapped.

mike sighed again, and then spoke. "okay i'm sorry. i'm just having an off day, can you pretend i didn't say that stuff?" he asked in a nicer tone. "fine." i said while sighing. we walked back over to will, lucas, and dustin, and then dustin spoke. "are you two lovers done talking yet?" he teased. "don't say that dustin." i told him in an annoyed tone. i glanced over at eill and he looked obviously upset/uncomfortable. "why don't we go back to our cabin for once?" lucas suggested. "yeah that sounds good." dustin said. "yeah i guess, i just want to go quickly grab some sunscreen." i told them. "alright, see you soon." will said as he followed the boys.

~

i carfully snuck into my cabin, and dug though my backpack trying to find the sunscreen, when i heard a soft voice. "el?" max asked as she rubbed her eyes and sat up. i turned around and immediately smiled. "hey red." i said as she slightly giggled at the name i just gave her. "red? what kinda name is that?" she asked while still smiling. "you have red hair, so red should be your nickname." i told her while also smiling.

by accident we made eye contact, but neither of us broke it. i could feel my heart starting to beat faster, and my face warm up as i gazed into her ocean blue eyes. her face was slightly getting red aswell, but i assume just because of the heat. after a few seconds she looked away, and looked at the sunscreen in my hand. "where are you going?" she asked me as she got out of her bed. "oh i'm just gonna go to the boys cabin." i told her, as a sad expression washed over her face. "oh." she sighed. "do you maybe wanna come?" i suggested.

the sad expression vanished, and got replaced with a happy one. "yeah, sure." she said with a smile on her face. "great— i'm just gonna put on some some sunscreen quickly though." i told her as i opened the bottle. "alright." she agreed. i quickly put the sunscreen on, and then turned back to her. "let's go." i said as i walked towards the door.

as we walked side by side, both of our arms were swaying back and fourth, and a few times our hands would touch, and each time one of us would look at the other, and awkwardly smile as their face turned bright red.