The Long Game, Lucas Sinclair

a day free of girls! (for the most part)

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"Angel" by Madonna played on El's radio as the girls were in her room. Sam and Max decided to treat El to her first ever sleepover. The sun had officially gone down, signifying the night, and now Sam was using El's hairbrush as a microphone. She and Max were dancing around El's room, jamming out to Madonna.

"You must be an angel," Sam and Max sang along, Max twirling Sam into her. They swayed together, both singing into the hairbrush, "I can see it in your eyes! Full of wonder and surprise..."

The song continued, but Max stopped jumping up and down when she saw the magazine El was staring down upon. Sam and Max had gathered together magazines from their own houses, along with anything else they felt was necessary for a sleepover, and brought it to El's so she could fully experience a sleepover. The magazine her eyes were currently adoring was one that made Sam stop dancing and singing, too.

Max chuckled at El's reaction, amusedly said, "Oh, you found Ralph Macchio."

"Macchio?" questioned El, intrigued, as Max sat down next to the side of El's bed and threw her arms over the top of it. Sam elected to sit properly on the bed, diagonal from El.

"He's the Karate Kid," explained Max.

Sam nodded vigorously. She wiggled her eyebrows, then enthusiastically added, "And hot."

"Hi-yah!" Max chopped her arm down, mimicking a karate move. El flinched back in surprise before laughing with Max at her action.

But, Sam wasn't laughing. She was still staring at the magazine El was holding. Visibly swooning, she stressed, "He's so hot, right?"

"I bet he's an amazing kisser, too," Max agreed. Sam nodded rapidly, but El looked at Max totally scandalized. "Hey, uh," she started, leaving the floor and sitting across from El on the bed so that the three made a triangle with Sam at the point of it, "is Mike a good kisser?"

Sam's face screwed up, because she did not want to talk about her best friend's kissing abilities.

El scoffed, "I don't know. He's my first boyfriend."

"Ex-boyfriend," Max corrected with the tilt of her head.

Sam nudged Max with a disapproving look when the grin fell from El's face. She said, "Way to be gentle about it, Mayfield."

"I'm just saying!" Max defended herself half-heartedly.

The blonde shook her head, sighing critically. She placed a gentle hand on El's knee, wanting to cheer her up. "Hey, don't worry about it, alright? Everything happens for a reason. It's probably better for you to be single — to experience the world on your own — and Mike clearly needs to work things out for himself. This is a good thing, El."

"You really think so?" El said in that timid voice she used when Sam first met her.

"Yeah," Sam nodded, using that soft tone she adopted with her friends. "Yeah, I really do."

"And look at you, El!" Max motioned to El energetically with an impressed smile. "You look great! Imagine Mike — who's probably, like, totally wallowing in self-pity and misery right now." El giggled at that, while Max ignored Sam's sad, puppy-dog look that Sam gave her when she insulted Mike. "God, I would give anything to see his stupid face."