𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑, elmax [ discontinued ]

ch. 12

The detention went fine, kind of.
El knew how there would've been an awfully awkward tension between them if they'd had to clean the same rooms.
To El's relief the two girls had gotten a hallway to clean each, pretty far apart from each other.

The whole afternoon El had just wanted to get off to go see Beverly.
Bev was one of the most comfortable people to talk to, El had ever met. And El
- who's head was filled with thoughts and frustration - hoped to get some of her confusion off her chest.
Besides Bev said she held a lot of emotions in too, and that itself made El feel less alone.

The girl put her cleaning supplies back in the janitors closet before she left. Max had clearly already been there; a bucket with a cloth was placed on the floor by the door.

El locked the door and headed out the school.

She walked all the way to the diner, since she didn't own a bike. She would always sit on the back of Max bike, with her arms tightly around the other girl's torso.
The thought made El smile for a short second, before she felt the usual wave of sadness flow over her.
She missed her.

When she arrived, she was met with a smile and a little wave from Bev, who was already standing by the door of the diner.
El immediately smiled back, speeding up a bit as she walked up to her.
"How long have you been waiting?"

"Not long, don't worry," Bev replied, still smiling, "how did it go?"

El was confused for a second, being too distracted by the redhead's smile and beaming eyes.
"Oh- right! It was fine. We didn't see each other, so..." El shrugged.

Beverly lifted a brow.
"You didn't see each other?"

"Well, we were cleaning to separate halls. And she was out of there, before I was even done."

Beverly didn't say anything. Just nodded, keeping eye contact with El.
El could feel how the girl was genuinely interested, though. That was the thing with Bev; she was always understanding and supportive, yet she didn't even have to respond with words.

Beverly then - after a few seconds of silent eye contact - took Eleven's wrist and dragged her through the doors.
"Come on. Let's get something to drink."

The two girls sat for hours, talking their feelings out, over several milkshakes.
They had deeper conversations than El had ever had with anyone - even Max and Mike - and Bev and her just met a few weeks ago.
Beverly didn't feel like a stranger whatsoever.

They rounded all topics of which Eleven had been carrying around like a burden, for years:
She talked about her parents who'd passed, her uncle, her haircut and her runaway.
Not once did she dare to mention Max, though. She didn't want to talk about it too much; their little talk about her detention was already enough.
Every time anyone brought up Max, El felt like looking away and fighting with her hands.

Beverly herself told Eleven about her dad. How he was abusive to her - and that she cut her hair short, just to annoy him - and that was why she'd moved to live with her grandma in Hawkins.

"So yeah. That's how I ended up here," Beverly ended her story with a deep sigh.
The two girls looked at each other before Bev went:
"So, who's that girl then?"

Eleven was pretty sure who she was talking about, but tried and act unaware.
"Huh?"

"The detention girl, of course," Bev smiled rolling her eyes. "how do you know each other? What happened between you two?"

El turned her gaze away automatically.
Why did she get nervous whenever she thought of Max?
"We were best friends, but then I messed it up..."

She could glimpse Beverly smiling softly, in the corner of her eye.
"Yeah, I know that. Gimme the entire story. From the beginning."

The brunette girl hesitated for a bit, but couldn't help but blurt out their whole story. How Max had just suddenly been there when El returned from her runaway, and how they'd disliked each other. How they finally became friends because of spin the bottle, and that the situation was pretty much how it had been a few years back, when they first got to know each other.

Beverly nodded and listened closely to every word, like she always did.
And when El finally finished up the story and Bev was about to reply, they were interrupted by a waiter walking up to their table.
"Can I get you girls anything?"

Beverly turned to El with a questioning look, as El softly shook her head.
"Then I'll like to pay, please."

Eleven's eyes widen.
"No Bev, you don't have to do that! I can pay for myself, I-"

The smily redhead put a hand on top of El's.
"Don't worry about it, please just let me pay for you."

El felt bad. "What can I do to make it up to you?"

The other girl thought about it with a smirk, before pulling out a little pencil from her pocket and grabbing a tissue from a tissue box on the table.
"I'm hosting a little party next Friday," she said while quickly scribbling something onto the paper tissue, "you should come."

El smiled as she was handed an address and a time, written down in a very neat-looking handwriting
"That's not making it up to you." Eleven grinned, studying the little paper.

"It is, just make sure to be there," Bev winked her usual, charming, irresistible wink.

a/n
tysm for 1k reads<333 ily
again, it's late night and i'm tired, so i'm sorry if this is all fucked up