Home ||~~Elax/Elmax~~||

Read between the lines redacted

El and Max were sat in Max's house, having a lazy day watching tv. El couldn't do too much during the day as she got tired very easily, but she was steadily improving, enough to be allowed away from home as long as she was careful.

"It's so unfair" stated Max, pouting at El.

"What?"

"You've practically been prescribed pie, ice cream, chips, and chocolate by the doctors" she said, handing over another bowl of chips to El, who smirked in reply.

"Awww, are you jealous of my special medicine?" she teased, wafting a handful of chips past her face before stuffing them in her own mouth.

Max laughed, happy to see El relaxed and joking around, finally starting to look more like the El of old. Her laugh petered out, replaced by an affectionate smile, one filled with adoration. "What?" El questioned.

"I love you El" Max said in reply, "thank you so, so much for coming back to me, I...I struggled so much without you, I never want to feel that way again."

El looked down, they'd avoided talking about everything that'd happened in any detail, just cherishing the time they were spending together before they did. "I'm sorry, I never wanted to leave you, I can't say sorry enough times..."

"No!" Max interrupted. "No. You never have to say sorry, never, do you hear me! You came back to me, I have you back, and that is all that matters, that you're mine, again, forever, for the rest of our lives." She paused and looked into El's eyes, "I love you so much."

El wiped away the few tears that had fallen on her face and pulled Max close, kissing her softly, "no matter where you are, I will always find you."

They pulled away, smiling at each other, when they realized that Max's mom had returned and was watching. She gave El a small smile, "hi El, I...um...Karen rang a few minutes ago, she's just about to leave to come pick you up."

Max frowned slightly whilst El answered, "oh, ok, I should get my jacket from upstairs then."

"I'll get it" Max offered, "you're looking a bit tired."

"Thanks."

Max reached the top of the stairs before stopping, she didn't know why but she had an uncomfortable feeling about her mom and the expression she'd been wearing, it didn't seem right to her. Crouching down, she was just about able to see and hear El and her mom. "I don't think you should come here anymore, El" her mom said. Max watched as El frowned and shook her head slightly, not quite understanding why she was saying it. "Max doesn't need you in her life anymore, you hurt her badly, she was just getting over whatever you did to her and then you come back and confuse her all over again." Max clenched her jaw tightly as she watched El's face fall, having no reason not to believe Max's mom, an adult who'd always been kind and supportive, she clearly thought that Max was trying to protect her feelings. Max could read her like a book.

"I'll wait outside" El said quietly, before standing and letting herself out, head down, desperately keeping the hurt inside. Before Max could intervene, Karen had pulled up and collected El, she didn't wait for a goodbye, instead telling her to drive off straight away.

Max stormed up to her mom, fury emanating from her very core. "What the hell, mom?" Max challenged her angrily, "how could you speak to her like that?"

"I don't want you seeing her anymore, do you understand me?" she replied calmly, despite not expecting Max to have heard what she said.

"What!? Since when don't you like El?" Max asked, not understanding why her mom was acting this way.

"I liked her when I didn't know what she had done to you."

"What she'd done to me..." Max asked, utterly confused, "what..."

"You were normal before her, she did...something to you, she's a...a freak, who made you like her..."

Max suddenly understood what her mom was saying and was furious, "oh my god, this isn't about her, this is about me liking her...loving her...loving a girl...isn't it? ISN'T IT?" she shouted when she didn't get a reply.

"It doesn't matter, you stay away from her and then things can get back to normal" she ordered.

"No" Max responded plainly, "I love her, I'll spend every minute of every hour of every day with her if I can, and you can't stop me."

"While you're under my roof you'll live by my rules!" she yelled.

Max was taken aback and paused for a few seconds before nodding her understanding, "fine...ok, fine" she said, her voice suddenly calm. She turned and walked away from the argument and made her way upstairs, her mom watching her with narrowed eyes as she went.

20 minutes later, Max unceremoniously shoved her bag out of her window, watching as it landed with a thump on the floor. Once she was sure that no-one had heard, she carefully climbed out herself, silently wondering how El had managed to climb into her room the previous year and vowing to ask her. Dangling down from the window sill she kicked out and dropped ungraciously to the ground, checking herself over straight after for injuries and finding none. She hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and, taking one last look at her house, walked into the woods.

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El was lying on top of her bed just staring at the ceiling and deep in thought. She was shaken from her reverie by the sound of small pebbles hitting her window and went over to investigate. "Max? What are you doing here?" she whisper-yelled down to the ground.

"C...could you let me in, please?"

El nodded, her mind racing with possible reasons why Max was standing below her window with what looked like a pretty big bag. She hurried downstairs and opened the front door, "why didn't you just ring the bell?" was her first question.

"I didn't know if Holly was in bed yet" Max explained.

"Oh...makes sense. Actually, Holly is spending a couple of weeks at her cousin's house, they've always been really close, they're really cute together" El said half-smiling, thinking of all the games of hide and seek, all the make-overs, and fashion shows she'd been roped into.

"Hmm" Max hummed in understanding, "well, anyway, can I come in?" she asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, of course" El said, "shall I help you with your...really big bag? ...say, what's with the really big bag?"

Max's control started to slip and El saw the almost imperceptible wobble of her chin, betraying the hurt she usually hid so well from the world. Not waiting for an answer, she pulled her close and held her tight, not saying a word, waiting for Max to feel ready. "Turns out...turns out my mom is a homophobic bitch who...blames you for corrupting me" she said with a bitter laugh.

El didn't know what to say, but she felt incredibly guilty. All she managed was a pathetic "oh" whilst at the same time realizing that's why it'd been 'arranged' for her to leave.

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