what is beautiful? - elmax

chapter 18

hopper came home from work to see the two girls curled up on the sofa watching tv. he noticed their hands intertwined and el's head resting on maxs shoulder.

"hey, girls." he greeted them.

"hey." they replied, turning away from the television to look at him.

"are you sleeping round again tonight max?" hopper asked the girl.

"no, i think i have to have dinner with my grandma." she replied. "i should probably get going." she told el, who nodded.

"do you need a lift home?" hopper asked.

"no i have my bike. but thank you." she added with a smile.

out of all of elevens friends, hopper liked max the most. she was polite and sweet, and unlike mike, hop could tell that she geniunely made eleven happy, and seeing el happy was one of his favourite things.

once max had gone, hopper started to cook dinner for the two of them as eleven carried on watching tv.

when the food was ready, the two sat down at the table. they talked about what they usually did over dinner, hoppers work, elevens summer, any homework that el had, things like that.

"so," hopper started, swallowing his mouthful of food before continuing. eleven looked up from her plate. "max, what is she, like your best friend?"

el's eyes darted to the left as she avoided hoppers eyes, biting her lip as she nodded. "mhm, yeah, best friend." she lied.

"you sure about that?" hopper wasn't blind. he could see how the two girls looked at each other. and as much as he didn't want to force eleven to tell him anything, he needed to confirm his suspicions.

eleven shook her head. "i like her." she whispered. "and she likes me. as more than best friends. and i know it's wrong and if you don't want me any more it's fine and i'm sorry-" eleven started to spiral, completely worried she had messed up by telling him.

"hey, hey!" hopper cut eleven off. "what are you talking about?"

eleven looked confused as her eyes shone with tears.

"i'm not gonna kick you out, kid. all i care about is that you're happy, okay?"

a glimmer of a smile flickered on el's lips. hopper took her hand from across the table and held it.

"nothing you could ever say or do can change this, okay? you're safe here. i want you to feel safe."

a tear slid down elevens pale face and she smiled.

it was at that moment she realised that she had finally found her home. she felt safe, for the first time in maybe her whole life.

and she was contempt.

a/n there we go i wrote a chapter and when i post this it will be thursday but it is tuesday right now wow am i a time traveller