unconditional love story - Elmax

Chapter 8 - Study buddy

~ (Eleven) Jane Hopper POV ~

"El, I think that girl you were talking about arrived at the front door. Do you mind to get the door?" Joyce, Wills mom and my stepmom shouts up the stairs. "Will be right there!" I shout downstairs as I quickly fix my hair. I don't know why I did, but I did. I rushed downstairs as I pass Will on the stairs who held a bowl of chips. "Careful El or you'll fall." He chuckles as he goes up to his room were he was hanging out with Mike. I almost stumble downstairs as I clumsily open the door as I meet the eyes of Max who was staring at me with that same blank stare. Her face was colored red of the cold. She was shaking slightly, but her face didn't give away any emotions whatsoever. "Hi! Hope you found it okay? Come in, it's freezing outside." I ramble as I open the door a little further for her. "Hey. Yes it was pretty easy." She says as she steps inside.

"Hello, you must be the girl El- Jane told me so much about." Joyce walked up to us to introduce herself to Max. My cheeks burn up slightly as I look at Joyce. "Am I?" Max grins softly as she meets the eyes of Joyce. "I'm Joyce, Jane her mom." Joyce smiles as she gave the red head a hand. "I'm Max, Jane her-classmate." Max introduced herself with a slight fake smile. " Well it's nice to meet new friends of Jane! If you need anything I'll be here in the living room working on some papers." She smiles as she walks back to the living room. Max her eyes looked sad for a second, but It quickly faded to that same blank stare she had before. I felt slightly embarrassed about what Joyce said, but I tried to not let it bother me too much. "Come on, let's go up to my room. We can work on the project there." I suggest as I saw her shiver. "And I have some blankets up there to warm you up." I add as I took the lead and led her up the stairs. "I'm fine, I don't need a blanket." Max states as she had laid down her skateboard in the hallway and followed me upstairs.

When we enter my room I saw the eyes of Max scan every corner. "Pretty cool room." She states as she looks around. "Thank you." I smile as I felt kind of relieved. Max took a seat on the edge of my bed as she put down her backpack next to her. My eyes were locked onto her. She was still shivering. I walk over to my pile of blankets and grab the softest of the bunch. I didn't care that she said she didn't want a blanket. I didn't want her to get sick and she was shivering. Max her eyes were focused on her back back, but when she looked back up at me she shook her head. "I told you I don't need a blanket." She states with a slight frown. "I'm not going to let you get sick in the vacation." I reply with a soft smile as I hand her the blanket. "What do you care what happens to me?" She asks as she refuses to take it. I didn't know if it was a joke or a actual question. "Because I care." I simply reply as I open up the blanket and want to wrap it around her. "No- Jane." She playfully fought my arms that held the blanket. "Common Max." I chuckle as I try to wrap the blanket around her. Max her hand pushed mine away, which made me come back harder. A little harder them expected, since I fell forward onto Max who was now caught into the blanket. I start laughing as it looked like Max was struggling to get out and it looked pretty funny. When Max found the end of the blanket her head popped up. Max chuckled slightly when she looks up at me. At that moment I took a second to realize where I was. I was laying on top of Max with now Max staring right into my eyes, our faces not to far away from each other. My face was burning up. As did Max her cheeks, since they turned a slight red. But that could have been the cold from before. I quickly got up, but before I did, I wrapped the blanket around Max. Correctly this time.

I look at Max for a second as smile. "Was that a chuckle I heard just now?" I ask her as she looked like a cute and angry burrito, but she knew I wouldn't give this up so she just let it happen. "Shut up. Take the win Jane." She states with a slight grin. I smile in responds. "Should we work on the project then red?" I grin as I grab my sketchbook from my desk. Her eyes slightly light up by hearing the nickname. "Sure, doe eyes." Max replies. This nickname thing  made me weirdly happy. It was kind of our thing.

After working on the project for a while we finished the sketches we had to get done for art class after the vacation. It didn't even take an hour. Which I found a bit disappointing, since I wanted Max to stay longer. I don't know what it was about her. We pretty much worked in silent the whole time, but I weirdly enough enjoyed that too. Now that the project was done, she was probably going to go home. Which made me pretty sad. Since I was starting to enjoy her company more and more.

"So, my mom talked with the school and I have to make some extra assignments to catch up or something.-" Max states as she was laying down on her back on the ground. I sat on my bed and looked at her. "And I have till the end of the vacation to finish it all so that sucks." She continues. "I could help you if you want? I mean if you want too." I suggest a bit too quickly. Did I want her to stay that badly? "You would be up for that?" She asks as she looks up at me a bit surprised.  I blush slightly as I quickly look away. "Yeah, why not." I smile slightly. "You really would want to work on my assignments in your vacation instead of hanging out with your friends?" She asks confused. Like she didn't expect me to say yes. "I mean, I can still hang out with them and help you. We'll be done more quickly with the two of us and then we could hang out after! I-if you want ofcourse." I ramble in excitement. Max sat up as she stares at me. And for the first time I saw a actual smile on her face. Just for a second. "Sounds good. Thanks peaches."

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//AN: New chapter! Hope you like it! Let me know what you like to see next! <3

LOVE YOU!