A life less ordinary ||~~Elax/Elmax~~||

Push part 1

A/N  I'm ill, bored, and feel the frustration...so 2 more chapters until Monday, I mean it this time...honest...

El put the experience of the sleep study to the back of her mind, not wishing to think of it until absolutely necessary. Luckily, she was distracted by camping trip that they'd been planning for ages. She packed everything that Nancy suggested, her bag significantly lighter after she told her to ignore Dustin's packing advice. Karen had given them permission to borrow the station wagon, perfect for 6 people and a load of camping gear, plus the food Dustin would bring. Mike and Lucas shared the driving duties as they'd both recently got their licenses and were keen.

They reached the campsite after a couple of hours' drive, deciding to set up the tents as quickly as possible just in case. Max and El's tent was up within 20 minutes. After 2 hours of arguing, the boy's tent was still a jumbled pile of poles, ropes, and fabric. "Guys" said Max in an amused voice, "go gather some wood or something useful, El and I will set up your tent."

They nodded reluctantly and wandered off into the woods, sticking to the edges though as it was unfamiliar and they were splitting up looking for suitable firewood. As they left, Max chuckled on hearing "great, flipping girls putting our tent up...El's never even been camping before" from Lucas.

It only took El and Max another 30 minutes to erect the bigger boys tent, by which time they had at least managed to get a good campfire going, enough to last the hour or so before bed anyways. "Guys, we'll just eat the sandwiches this evening, I'm absolutely tired" said Will. Everyone nodded feeling the same from the journey and setting up camp.

After they'd eaten, secured the rest of the food, and ensured the campfire was out, they said their goodnights and headed to their respective tents. "Here" said Max, "we've got this lantern and a couple of torches" she informed El, just in case they needed to 'pop out' in the night. El nodded and yawned, closely followed by an empathic yawn from Max.

"Come on" she chuckled, "bed time."

They rummaged through their bags and each found their PJs. As she was getting changed, El saw Max glance at her for a few seconds then turn completely away. She was evidently determined not to look at El as she had turned to a very awkward angle and was struggling getting changed herself.

Taking a deep breath, she summoned the courage to ask the question that had been on her mind for weeks, "Max, w-why do you look away?"

Max paused, taken by surprise her mind went into fight or flight mode, "why don't you read my mind and find out" she challenged defensively, choosing fight, clearly not wanting to be pushed to answer.

El was taken aback both by Max's comment and her sudden change in mood, "I...no, I won't" replied El.

"Why?" asked Max, putting the onus onto El.

"I won't because I...I really want to, for selfish reasons, and that makes it wrong" she answered honestly, not really thinking about the meaning of her words.

"Well then, you have your answer" said Max, El shaking her head, not understanding. "I don't look, I don't watch" Max said, closing her eyes, still facing away from her, "because I want to."

El immediately thought back to Mike's reaction to her question and the 'example' he gave, that he doesn't look at Will getting changed because he really wants to, he likes Will, El knew that even if she didn't quite understand it, and he wouldn't want him to feel uncomfortable. What he said suddenly made a lot more sense to her.

"Oh" said El plainly, not giving anything away to a now very upset Max, but she didn't want El to know that, so resolutely faced the other way.

"Goodnight El" she said, before El could continue.