𝕖𝕝𝕞𝕒𝕩 / 𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟𝕒𝕘𝕖 𝕕𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕓𝕒𝕘

the summer of love〔♡〕

(Jane's POV)

After Mike was gone that's when I truly felt free. I was to experience what falling in love is really like. With Mike, it all happened so fast I wasn't able to process my feelings. I didn't ever truly love him, because I didn't know what love was. With Max, I know I love her. What I feel for Max is a completely different feeling than the feeling I had with him. With Mike, I just wanted to hang out in the basement and play D&D with him and the boys, I didn't care much for the kissing or the hand holding part of my relationship with him. I just thought that was how it is though, I didn't think there was much of a difference between a boyfriend and a best friend. With Max, I want to kiss her and run my fingers through her beautiful red hair, I want to hold her hand and cuddle her. This summer has been full of that, I have spent my entire summer with her so far and I wouldn't have it any other way.

(Max's POV)

Jane and I hang out almost everyday, sometimes with our friends and other times it's just the two of us. Well, most of the time it is just the two of us. We usually just hang out at her place and watch movies or play board games with her brothers, but since it's summer we are also out a lot. Bike rides, beach dates, picnics, and some of our activities are as simple as taking walks through the woods. Sometimes after saving up my allowance, I'll take Jane out to do something special.

There was an amusement park opening in Hawkins for the summer, and since Jane has never been able to go to one I decided I'd take her. After a lot of convincing, Hopper allowed her to go. He was afraid it might be too much for her, or she'd get lost, or- the list went on and on. But after I told him I'd be with her the whole time and I wouldn't force her to do anything that was unfamiliar or scary, he approved. 

Once we arrived I let Jane take everything in. This was all unfamiliar to her, I wanted to make sure she wasn't overwhelmed by the amount of people and noise. I didn't want to upset Jane and let Hopper down, so I was being extra cautious. "You okay?" I asked, Jane smiled and nodded in response. She then heard screams from one of them rides, this startled her and she jumped. I held onto her arm, "don't worry" I smiled. She tilted her head in confusion,"they're screaming" she said. "Yeah but it isn't because they're in danger, they're having fun" I explained. I looked at her, trying to see if she got it. She smiled and nodded, "I understand" she verified. That was a relief, I was starting to think this was all a big mistake. "What do you want to do first?" I asked, "I don't know" she shrugged. I thought for a second, I didn't want to take her on anything to extreme, I wanted to let her ease into this. I then looked to my right, there I saw a ferris wheel. "What about that?" I suggested, pointing in it's direction. She agreed, I grabbed her hand and we made our way over to the ride. 

I asked her one last time if she was okay with this, she assured me that she was going to be alright. I know she's capable of making her own choices, but I'm still cautious. We sat in our seat and waited for the ride to start. "Are you excited?" I asked, "yes, before I met you I never got to do anything like this" she responded gleefully. The ride finally started, once everything on land began to look smaller and smaller I looked to Jane to see how she was holding up. I was expecting her to be at least a little nervous but the look on her face was filled with joy. "Pretty!" she said pointing to the lights coming from the other rides and games, "yeah, pretty" I said under my breath. Jane then rested her head on my shoulder and wrapped her arms around me. "I love you, Maxine" she whispered softly, I felt my face getting hotter, I was probably red as a tomato. "I love you too" I said back, placing a kiss on her forehead. She kept her head on my shoulder for the entire ride, and when we were done I asked if she was ready to try one of the roller coasters. 

"Scary?" Jane asked worriedly. "A little, but that's what makes it fun. It's exciting..but if you don't want to that's okay we can just play one of the games or something" I reassured her. She glanced at one of the rides, then at one of the games, then back at me. She then gave me her answer, "I want to try the coaster". 

We were waiting in line, I kept looking at Jane to try and see if she was actually okay with this but she seemed pretty content. What was I so worried about? This girl has saved the world multiple times and I'm worried she won't be able to handle a roller coaster? It was our turn, I helped her in the cart and we got buckled in. "You ready?" I asked one last time, "ready" she said. The ride started out slow, nothing that would really freak her out. Then the ride got a bit more intense, she grabbed my arm and screamed. "You're okay" I said, but when I looked at her she was laughing. When the ride was over I asked her if she was okay, she nodded and said "fun! it was fun!". I sighed with relief, I was just happy she had fun. "Let's play games" she suggested, I knew they were shitty rigged games that were made to steal your money, but I wasn't going to tell her that since she was so excited.

"I got this" I said, I slid the man at the stand some cash. It was one of those games where you have to throw a ball at some blocks and knock 'em over. If I got 2/3 I'd win the mini stuffed bear, and if I hit all 3 I'd win the big one. I threw the first ball, it hit the blocks but they didn't budge. "Whoops" I giggled nervously, I had to more tries. Ball 2 had the same outcome, and so did ball 3. "Damn!" I yelled, the man snickered. Jane glared at the man, then told me to try again. "I don't know Jane" I said, I knew I couldn't do it, maybe my aim wasn't as good as I thought. "Please" she begged, I sighed and slid the man more cash. I tossed the first ball, and to my surprise the blocks fell over. "I did it!" I cheered, the man rolled his eyes. Ball 2 and 3 were the same, I guess my aim is pretty girl after all, huh? Wait- as I gave Jane her bear I saw her wiping blood from her nose. "Nice one" I giggled, we started heading out, laughing the entire time.