𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 - 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧

20. the case of the missing life guard

STRAIGHT FROM LAST CHAPTER

Aubrey dropped Dustin back off at his house and unlocked the front door of the cabin, shocked to hear music coming from El's room. She wondered if Mike was here now. El never really listened to music on her own. Her door wasn't open three inches however.

She walked up to El's door, trying to listen for Mike, instead she heard another girl. She knocked on El's door then, "El?"

The door opened on its own, to her surprise, "Max?"

"Told you I'd keep her safe." Max smiled at Aubrey.

Aubrey chuckled, "What are you guys up to?"

"Max wanted to have... a sleepover. Do you think Hopper will be okay with that?" El asked her.

"Oh, yeah. He's just gonna be happy to see you hanging out with someone other than Mike." she smiled, just then the front door opened.

Aubrey turned around to see a disgruntled Hopper, he heard the music and his expression instantly dropped, "Hey! Hey! Hey!"

"Dad, no." Aubrey said as he stormed past her.

"Geez, it's just me." Max said as Hopper was in shock.

"Yeah, geez, it's just Max." El said, Aubrey chuckled slightly.

"Oh, hey." He didn't even know what to do, "I'm sorry. I thought that, uh—"

"Mike's not here." Aubrey told him, "You can relax."

"Max wanted to have a sleepover." El said to him, "Is that okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah." He was still dumbfounded, "Your parents know about it?" he asked Max, she nodded, "Yeah, yeah, it's cool. Yeah." he nodded, "That's... that's really cool."

The girls just stared at him, "Did you need something?" Max questioned him.

"No. No. Uh, I'll leave. I'll just let you.. I'll leave you..." he quickly shut the door, leaving Aubrey in there as well.

"Is he okay?" El asked her.

"Yeah, I think he'll be alright?" Aubrey snickered, "Uh, I'm gonna leave you two be."

"You can join us if you want." Max said.

Aubrey shook her head, "Come on, you don't wanna hang out with me-"

"Yeah we do." El said.

"It would be fun." Max smiled.

Aubrey smiled, feeling so sweet that the girls wanted to hang out with her. "Okay, sure." she nodded, "Just let me go get changed and I'll be back."

"Okay, good, we had a game we wanted to play so we'll set up." Max told her.

"Fun, okay, I'll be right back." Aubrey walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. She found Hopper sat happily in his chair, drinking wine out of a coffee mug.

"Can you believe this?!" He asked her excitedly, "She's having a sleepover!"

Aubrey chuckled, "I know, dad, pretty cool." she played along.