Unexpected Ways | Madwheeler

Chapter 17.

Max's knuckles clenched tightly at the sound of the bell, announcing Mike and Sarah's arrival in the diner. She shrunk away, attempting to hide herself from their view, watching intently as Mike and Sarah took their seats at a booth near the entrance. They were engrossed in what seemed an important conversation. "You should go and say hi" Max jerked as Steve came to her side, notepad and pen ready. "No, I'm good" she managed, feeling her heartbeat increase at the suggestion. Steve tutted and placed a hand on her back, giving her a gentle push out her own booth.

Max felt her whole body freeze as she saw Sarah reach across the table to give Mike's hand a small squeeze. Her legs numbed, and she stood rooted, staring at the two teens in the booth. Steve, as always, came to her rescue, quickly dashing in front of her to distract them, asking for their order. Max took the opportunity to scramble her way to the kitchen, the farthest place from their sight. What she wasn't expecting however, was the only other person she could talk to besides Steve.

"El?" Max sighed, rushing into the girl's arms. "Oh El! Where were you?" Max choked, sniveling her questions in El's shoulders. The other girl hushed soft reassurances, stroking the back of Max's head. They parted and Max rubbed her cheek with the back of her sleeve, drying her face. She scrunched her face, taking in the situation. "Wait? What are you doing here?" El smiled "Hop wanted some take out and well here I am" Max pouted, causing El to let out a small chuckle "but what are you doing in the kitchen?" El's smile dropped, "same reason as you" she said quietly, looking towards the door nervously, she looked back at Max who was silently trying to process the whole ordeal. "She's the girl... Max" El said quietly. Max whipped her head up, her eyes growing wide. "Sarah's the mystery girl?" Max said with disgust, instantly regretting her tone as she saw El wince. "You've met her too?" El said, barely containing her excitement. Max felt her heart sting, as she envisioned another friend Sarah was slowly taking away from her. "She's not that great El, honestly you could do way better" Max said desperately, hoping El would understand. "She's pretty" the other girl replied simply, a lovesick smile on her lips. Max groaned inwardly, her stomach churning. "Yeah but not everyone is nice on the inside" Max warned, again wishing that El would pick up on her hints. "Dustin likes her, and so does Mike" Max felt a wave of nausea hit her, she grabbed onto the side of the kitchen counter. "Dustin likes any new girl" Max spat bitterly. "He's our friend Max" El chastised softly. Max nodded, her head swimming. "It's been a tough week and Sarah's arrival hasn't been the best in terms of timing" Max confessed truthfully, avoiding any mention of Lucas and Mike. "Why?" El asked, it was a short and simple question but Max didn't have an answer, instead she shrugged her shoulders and excused herself. "I need to talk to Steve" she said rushing out the kitchen and the diner altogether.

Max let out a shaky breath, squatting on the sidewalk not far from the diner. She mulled over all her options, she could go back to her empty home, or she could take up Steve's offer, and either go back to the diner and wait for him, or make her way to his empty house. She let out a frustrated groan at her situation, blinking back heavy tears. She picked furiously at her sleeve, chewing her bottom lip. "I wonder what your poor sweater did to piss you off?" Max jumped and swivelled around to find Mike, staring down at her.

Max got up and tried to shove past him but Mike, having the advantage of height, blocked her way, his lanky frame standing solidly in front of her. "What is it, Wheeler?" Max hissed. Mike raised his eyebrows in surprise, which annoyed her even more. "Max, I should be asking you the same question, what's wrong?" Max gaped at him, not believing her ears. "What's wrong?" She mimicked, her voice raised. "What's wrong, is that Lucas is mad at me for something I didn't even do, what's wrong is that El and Dustin and you are so up Sarah's ass that you've all gone blind, and what's wrong is that, you Mike-" Max cut herself off as her voice wobbled menacingly. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Whatever it's me just being dumb" she mumbled, embarrassed of her outburst. Mike came closer, squeezing her shoulder "hey it's okay, you're not being dumb" he soothed quietly. Max grabbed his hand and pulled it harshly off her shoulder. "Don't be so patronising, Wheeler, it doesn't suit you" she said coldly. Mike opened his mouth to say something but thought against it, clamping it shut.

"Anyways, thanks for your help these past few weeks" Max said curtly, "but now that you've passed your Maths test, you can stop showing me your concern" Mike's fingers curled at his sides. "If you think that I was helping you just because you were tutoring me then..." Mike trailed off, his eyes travelling from Max's face to behind her head. Max turned around and saw El and Sarah walking towards them. She felt her stomach knot painfully and turned back towards Mike, her nerves calming at the mere sight of him. "You're right" he said suddenly. Max stared blankly back at him. "It was only because you were tutoring me" he said rigidly. Max didn't know how to respond, deciding to nod shortly, almost business like. She wanted to leave before the two girls approached them. "Well thanks for letting me know" she said, her voice dropping with fake cheeriness, something she had mastered. Mike mirrored her short nod from before but seemed to falter. He instead grabbed her by the crook of her elbow, pinning her in her spot. Max cursed mentally and glanced back to where El and Sarah should have been but were now gone. "Where did your friends go?" Max squeaked. "El is your friend too Max" Mike said lowly. She squeezed her eyes shut, her state worsening with every judgmental comment from her friends. "Mike, why did you stop me from leaving" Max questioned, opening her eyes and casting them towards Mike's hand on her arm. Mike's eyes followed suit but he didn't remove his hand, instead his grip became tighter. "Why don't you like Sarah?" he countered back. Max bit her lip nervously. "I don't know" she confessed "there's just something off about her" she continued, not fully knowing why she even got bad vibes from the girl in the first place. "You didn't like her right from the beginning" Mike pondered, more to himself. "Right when she was flirting with me" he grinned. "Eugh" Max groaned "if you're gonna boast about it, then let me go so I can hurl on the road" Mike's grin grew wider "why does it bother you so much?" he asked tentatively. "I don't know, it just does okay? I don't get good vibes from her and that's that!" Max said flailing her arms dramatically in the air, breaking Mike's hand away from her elbow. Mike nodded slowly this time, his eyes lowering to his feet. "Can you trust me on this Mike? I know you like her and all but please I don't think she's-" "Wait? I don't like her" Mike said matter of factly. "Pft of course you do, it's cool, El likes her too, maybe you guys can both date her instead of each other" Max joked to ease the tension growing, it however fell flat when she saw Mike's face. "El likes her?" Max cringed, realising she had just stupidly blubbered El's secret. "I mean she still likes you as well? I mean she's still dating you right? That's gotta count for something?" Max said desperately, not wanting to give her friends another reason to hate her. "Yeah" Mike said quietly. "Shoot" Max whispered "I'm uh... sorry" she said, her voice sounding fake even to her own ears. Mike shook his head, his brown curls bouncing around his ears. Max decided to tear her gaze away. "It's fine... guess we both like to give each other fake concern right?" he joked coldly. Max felt her blood thicken "Mike wait-" she started but Mike had already started taking long strides away from her. Max felt her throat tighten and wished that she had been successful in shoving past Mike.

"Hey kiddo you ready to leave?" Steve asked but stopped when he took in the scene. He wrapped his arms around the younger girl's shoulders, pulling her in for a sideways hug. "You wanna talk about it?" he asked, his voice filled with genuine and actual concern. Max shook her head into his chest. Steve sighed placing a cheek on the top of her head, his heart hurting for the poor girl.

Sorry guys for making you wait so long and then giving you all this angst! I guess I'm more evil than the demogorgan (or sarah heheh)