The Life You Deserve

Chapter 32: California Dreaming

AN: Now the angst rollarcoaster is over, let's have some fun!

Warning: Smut in the middle of the chapter :-)

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August 1987

"Are you sure you have everything?" Hopper said, his voice gruffer in the early morning and his eyes a little sterner before his first coffee of the day.

"Yes." El and Will reiterated for the tenth time.

It was almost 6am and all of the moms of the party and Hopper were stood outside of Dustin's house to wave them off on their California trip to visit Max's family.

Claudia Henderson had allowed them to use her large station wagon for their road trip because she was due to buy a new car and didn't mind them putting mileage on her older one. The party would all take it in turns to drive, although El was hoping to skip her turn as she still wasn't keen on driving even though she had passed her test.

The car was packed, and all of the teens were excited for their 31-hour drive to San Diego. Max had planned it all out, their first stop would be in Missouri for lunch and to fill up the tank, then another stop in Oklahoma for the restroom and more fuel, then a motel stop in Amarillo, Texas.

The next day would be another early start from the motel and they would have lunch in Albuquerque, New Mexico and dinner in Phoenix, Arizona. They were due to arrive at Max's dad's house around 10pm.

"Have fun you guys," Jada Sinclair said in a warm tone as she hugged Lucas and Max in turn.

"Thanks Jada," Dustin grinned moving forward to also get a hug whilst Lucas cringed at his best friend for being too familiar with his mom.

"And make sure you ring at every stop, okay?" Karen was saying to Mike, gripping his arms and panicking about letting her baby boy go on his first trip without her.

"Yes mom." Mike huffed feeling embarrassed at being treated like a baby in front of his girlfriend and friends. He tried to pretend he didn't see the devilish smirk on Max's face when his mom smothered his face in kisses.

"El honey, I made you some cookies for the journey." Karen said smiling at her future daughter in law when she finally released Mike from her hold. Her son now looked at her aghast.

"What? Where are my cookies?!"

El gladly took the cookies with thanks and grinned at her boyfriend with amusement. Karen smiled at Mike and rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm sure El will let you have some." She patted his cheek lovingly whilst El debated with herself if she was nice enough to share the cookies or not.

"Have a good time everyone and stay safe." Joyce said sighing with nerves at letting her son and daughter go on their big adventure. She flitted around the group, giving them all a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

When it hit 6am Max announced that they needed to get going if they wanted to stick to their schedule and Dustin took the first shift of driving with Will next to him, reading out the directions from the map that Max had illustrated.

The two couples went in the back and the group all waved to their mom's and Hopper as they finally got moving.

"We're free!" Max laughed with glee, her legs on Lucas's lap.

"Let's run away." Mike joked, his arm around El as she tucked into his side comfortably.

"As long as we pick up Maggie and Jen along the way." Dustin called from the front.