Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Two: I'm Only Me When I'm With You

"Steve, I'm going to the sleepover! See you in the morning!" Annie called as she hurried down the stairs, her backpack full of sleepover essentials slung over one arm.

Steve came out of his room and waved at Annie. "See you. Just call when I need to pick you and Max up."

"Oh," she started. "If it's okay he was gonna bring Max and I to the Byers right after to help them pack up since you and Robin are stopping by Family Video."

Steve nodded. "Works out well, actually. Tell him thanks for me."

Annie nodded and hurried out the front door, not worrying about locking it since Steve would probably come out to watch them drive off. She hurried into the backseat of Billy's new car and slid right next to Max.

"Hey," Annie greeted, closing the door and buckling up as Billy started driving off.

Max leaned over and gave Annie a small peck on the cheek. "Hey. You ready for the most epic sleepover of all time?" she asked.

"You bet your ass I am! Mike won't know what hit him when I start screaming the lyrics to the songs in Footloose which we are watching no matter what anyone else says!" Annie said, punctuating her sentence with a laugh.

The other girl joined in happily. Billy looked in his mirror and let one of the corners of his mouth turn up at the two girls having fun. These past few months, Max has been the happiest he'd ever seen. It's been kinda nice.

He was back for the weekend from a community college in Indianapolis. He had an apartment down there and worked at a garage when he wasn't in class. This weekend, knowing the Byers were moving to California, he decided to come up and help out however he could.

They pulled up outside the Wheeler's house and Billy parked. "All right, I'll be around to pick you guys up at ten and... who else am I picking up?"

"Will," Annie answered, grabbing her bag and unbuckling.

"Right, Will. Have fun." It was still kind of weird to see Billy being an outwardly nice person, but neither Annie or Max minded much. The change was refreshing and made the step-siblings grow so close they sometimes didn't add the 'step.'

The girls hurried out of his car and ran to the front door. Billy waited until Mrs. Wheeler opened the door before he drove off, remembering 'ten am tomorrow.'

"They're all in the basement and pizza will be here in thirty. Have fun!" she said as they made their way to the basement door.

"Thanks Mrs. Wheeler!" the girls said at the same time before disappearing down the stairs.

When they got there, the Party was complete. "Hey, there you guys are!" Dustin cheered when they got down. "Bags in the corner, right now it's movie time!"

Everyone got snuggled into their movie-watching spots. Dustin lounged on the back of the couch, claiming it was "the best seat in the house." Then, El, Lucas, and Mike decided to sit on the couch. It left Annie and Max on the floor between El and Lucas's legs, but they didn't mind too much, getting to snuggle together under a blanket. Will was on the ground, too, on the other side of Lucas's legs.

"Okay, what's on first?" Annie asked as she brought the blanket up to her chin.

"I managed to convince Nancy to rent 'The Terminator' for us!" Mike cheered. Annie smiled, not minding the movie. It was just action packed, not really 'scary.' It was a pretty good movie- Steve took her one day while it was still in theaters to piss off their parents. Again, she didn't mind.