Adeline // Max Mayfield gxg story

8: The Gate

Mike moved in front of Hopper, looking at the girl in front of him. He smiled at her as she smiled back. They both slowly moved towards each other.

"Eleven," Mike breathes. He was so relieved to see her.

"Mike," Eleven responds. Mike pulled the girl into a hug. Both of the kids had wide smiles on their faces.

"That's Eleven?" Max asks, looking up to Adeline.

"Yeah," Adeline breathes out. She didn't think her best friend was actually still alive. She didn't take her eyes off of the girl in front of her hugging Mike.

Mike eventually pulled away from their hug. "I never gave up on you," he tells her. "I called you every night. Every night for--"

"353 days," Eleven cuts him off. "I heard."

"Why didn't you tell me you were there?" Mike asks her with a slightly hurt expression. "That you were okay?"

"Because I wouldn't let her," Hopper cuts in. Adeline looks over to him quizzically. "The hell is this? Where you been?"

"Where have you been?" Eleven retorts back with a small smile. Hopper ignores her and pulls her into a hug.

"You've been hiding her," Mike mutters, staring up to Hopper. "You've been hiding her this whole time!" He shoves Hopper's back.

"Hey!" Hopper yells to the boy. He turns around and grabs Mike by his shirt. "Let's talk. Alone." Mike only stares at him before Hopper pulls him in to a bedroom.

Everyone watches as Hopper leads Mike away. Adeline sighs before turning back to Eleven.

"Eleven," Adeline says softly, grabbing the girl's attention. Adeline smiles at her and walks up to her. Eleven smiles back before pulling her into a hug.

"Addy," Eleven says into the girl's shoulder.

"God, I've missed you," Adeline mumbles, tightening her hold on the smaller girl. Dustin and Lucas then walk up behind Adeline.

Eleven sees them and pulls away from Adeline to hug the boys. Adeline backs away next to Max as she watches her long-lost friend with a smile.

"We missed you," Lucas mutters into Eleven's shoulder.

"I missed you, too," Eleven mutters back.

"We talked about you pretty much every day," Dustin tells her as Eleven pulls away.

Eleven stares at Dustin for a second before putting her thumb in his mouth. Dustin pulls away quickly. "Teeth," she mutters.

Max laughs as she leans her head on Adeline's shoulder. Adeline smiles as well, draping her arm around Max.

"What?" Dustin asks, confused as to what Eleven was referring to.

"You have teeth," the girl clarifies.

Dustin smiles over to Lucas who smiles back at him with a soft laugh.

"Oh," Dustin mutters. "You like the pearls?" He makes a weird purring noise, which causes Eleven to slightly flinch backwards.

Max steps out of Adeline's hold, approaching Eleven.

"Eleven?" She asks, smiling to the girl who only looks at her blankly. "Hey. Um, I'm Max." Max holds out a hand for Eleven. "I've heard a lot about you."

Eleven only looks at Max's hand blankly before pushing past her, no words being spoken. Max looks down in defeat as Eleven bumps into her shoulder.

Adeline comes up behind Max and places a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about that," Adeline tells her. Max turns around to look at the taller girl. "She's doesn't really trust easily." Max only nods her head before walking to sit on the couch.