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LUCAS SAT AT the park picnic table, picking at a loose bit of rough, faded wood. His friends were all spread out in various positions: El on top of the table, lying on her back and peeking at clouds; Dustin, (Eileen was a counselor at her former summer camp, and was absent from the table,) sitting with his legs stretched across the bench opposite from Lucas, his feet touching Mike's weirdly long legs that were shoved uncomfortably in between the tabletop and the seat, as Mike glared ominously down at the spot on the table underneath which Lucas knew Will and his boyfriend Matthew were holding hands.
It was the first week of summer vacation, and it was already scorching hot in Hawkins, the sun beating down on their backs as a comfortable silence had fallen over the teenagers. The heat made them feel drowsy, and they were still worn out from exams.
It had been two weeks since Lucas had written the letter, two weeks without a word from Max. Two very worrisome weeks full of Lucas's mind thinking about all the possible terrible outcomes of his letter to Max. He had said exactly how he felt and now it might blow up in his face.
A fair amount had gone down while this time had passed. Mike and El had broken up, and neither of them seemed upset, which was weird, after three years of being together. Mike was now being very, very, hostile to Matthew. He'd always been weirdly rude, but Lucas had just suspected it was like when Max first joined. This was different, and Lucas was completely confused. But time marched on. School had ended, summer had began. To Lucas, however, everything felt empty.
"Lucas?"
His head whipped around at the sound of his name. That voice, he knew that voice, knew it as well as he knew that the sun rose in the east and set in the west, as well as he knew the leaves grew back in spring. He knew it as well as he knew the lips it had come out of, as he had kissed them time and time again, until it was overwhelming and impossible to count the number of nights he had spent under the stars with the owner of the melodic sound.
Max Mayfield stood before them, eyes glistening in the summer sun, wearing a faded graphic tee and denim shorts, a bohemian headband stretched across her forehead and over her fiery hair, a streaming red waterfall gleaming gold in the light.
Lucas ran towards her before he knew his legs were moving, and a smile fell naturally across her lips as he wrapped his arms around her in the most romantic embrace of his life.
She smelled like sweat, tanning oil, ashtray, and faintly of coconuts, the smell of Californian summer.
"You came all the way to Hawkins to see me?" he mumbled, and Max grinned, the same grin he had seen a thousand times before. It was beautiful, Max was beautiful, everything was beautiful.
"Of course I did, stalker." she replied, arms around his neck. "Sometimes you can't say stuff like that over a letter."
"You got that letter?" he asked, and she nodded. He felt his cheeks redden.
"I didn't run away in my friend's shitty car back to my old town, without my dad knowing, just to talk to you casually." Max said with a laugh.
"Oh." His throat felt dry, nervous. He swallowed as a brief silent pause passed.
"Lucas?" Max whispered, almost lost in the warm breeze of Coca-Cola and oak tree.
"Yeah?"
"I love you too."
And she kissed him, and she tasted of strawberries and cherry cola and very faintly of cigarettes, and he didn't care about anything else. He didn't care that he could feel his friends' eyes burning into his back, or that half of Hawkins could see them.
The world melted away, and everything fell perfectly into place, because Lucas Sinclair was kissing the girl he loved.
THE END.
AUTHOR'S NOTE. Hello. I wanted to thank you for reading this story. Max and Lucas's letters have been snippets of a life I have really enjoyed writing about. I don't really know what else to say here, so thank you so much for going on Max and Lucas's pining-filled journey with them— and with me. I hope you loved reading them as much as I loved writing them. Now, THERE WILL BE AN EPILOGUE, so stay tuned for that, and then it will truly be over, but just, thank you guys. So so so much.
