Love Me Back // Elmax Fanfiction

Chapter 20 ~ Darn

TW: MENTION OF SELF HARM

When I woke up the next morning, my arms were sore from swinging the bat. I groaned and turned over to check my clock. Today was Sunday, so I'd have the entire the entire day to myself.
     Well shit.
     Suddenly, my radio went off. It buffered, but it had sounded like El. I practically jumped off my bed to find my walkie. Wow, that was excessive, I thought. I winced as I felt the cuts on my thighs stretch and crack, doing a weird little dance in pain. I looked all over my room for the crackling walkie, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I scrambled, looking everywhere, before I finally found it hidden under my bed. Why the fuck did I put it there? I wondered.
I hold the radio to my face. "This is Max. Sorry, my walkie was hidden under my bed. Is this El? Over," I said, sounding a little too giddy, and releasing the side button.
     "Yes, this is El. How did yesterday go?" She paused for a split second but then blurted our a nearly-forgotten "Over."
     I groaned before pressing the button. "Um, not great. Over."
     "Do you want me to come over? Umm.. over..?"
I was tempted to say yes, but I decided that I should probably hold just a little bit more of a grudge against her for not yet having chosen between Mike and I. "Uh, no, it's alright. Over."
     "Oh. Ok. Over." She sounded sad and startled. I felt bad, but I decided, against everything my heart was telling me to do, that I shouldn't give in to her.
     There was a held out silence, until I said, "I'll see you tomorrow. At school. Over."
     "Yeah. Ok. Over and out." I set down my walkie and put my head in my hands, tears running down my cheeks. I hadn't noticed them previously, but I assumed that it'd happened when I was talking to El. Imagine her not holding my happiness in her own hands. How bizarre, I thought sarcastically. I quickly wiped my tears and walked downstairs for breakfast.
     The fridge was nearly empty, and what was available mainly consisted of beer and suspicious month-old leftovers, so I ended up just having an old banana. It was brown, but not too brown, so I decided to eat it anyway, ignoring the bruises that people were frankly too dramatic about. I went out on my skateboard, banana in hand, heading to the arcade.
I spent the rest of the day trying to beat my high score on DigDug.

The Next Day
     El and I had decided to walk to school together this morning last Friday. I was still a bit upset from the weekend's events, but I didn't want to blow her off like a jerk, so I stood on the sidewalk in front of my house, waiting. I lived closer to school, so naturally, she was meeting me at my house.
     Joyce didn't usually like either of them walking to school, for obvious reasons, but El had a bit more lenience within that rule, because, well, she had literally close the gate to an alternate dimension with her mind.
     I still hadn't told her about what'd happened with Lucas; I assumed I would on the way to school. I was still a bit upset about her not breaking up with Mike or even thinking about it. I tried to tell myself that it was probably a hard decision and needed time to think about, but I honestly felt pretty crappy.
     I guess it's not like I really deserve her anyway. But does Mike, either? Does anybody really deserve to date such an adorable, innocent girl like El? I didn't think so.
     Then, she walked up, interrupting my thoughts. She had a grin spread across her face; she appeared genuinely happy to see me. Like... she missed me? Hm.
     The top layer of her hair was pulled back with a neon pink scrunchie that clashed, yet somehow also matched, her light pink collared t-shirt. She had on a pair of deep blue jeans, and baby blue suspenders, covered in silvery stars, which pulled her whole outfit together.
     My prior annoyance and conflict melted away along with my heart. She was so effortlessly beautiful.
     I was in a simple band tee tucked into a pair of black denim jeans. I wore a belt that I'd stolen from Billy around when I'd first met him; it was black with two rows of metal-lined holes wrapped around the entirety of the belt. I was lucky he'd had a duplicate, because, I would've most likely been dead otherwise.
     I returned the smile, physically unable to make any other facial expression, and let my hands down from the loopholes of my jeans where they'd been resting and silently giving El the opportunity to grab my hand as she ran up. She didn't catch my drift, and instead attacked me with a hug. I hesitated a moment before hugging her back.
     Confused, I questioned her. "Is everything alright?"
     "Of course, why wouldn't it be?"
     "You just... well, you don't usually hug me," I let out. I couldn't sense any sarcasm in her voice, which left me a bit befuddled as I tried desperately to sort out this puzzle.
     She was still in my arms. "What, I'm not allowed to hug you unless something's wrong?" She teased. I could tell she was grinning simply by the tone of her voice. She pulled away then, and I could see then that she was indeed smiling. My face was painted red, which made El giggle.
     We began walking our way to school. Her hands were dangling, so I reached for one and took it in mine. I saw her smile look at her feet out of the corner of my eye, causing me to do the same.
She never initiated any conversation, probably not wanting to say something wrong, so I chose to instead. "So... the thing with Lucas."
     "Yeah," she sighed. By the way she said it, I could tell that she had been thinking about it too, and a lot. Why, exactly, was a mystery to me. I still don't think my brain can process the idea of people actually caring about me.
     We walked along, our hands swinging rhythmically. "I uh.. I may or may not have told him that I'm gay."
     "Max, what?! Why? Why didn't you just break up with him like normal?"
     "I didn't do it on purpose, I just.. blurted it out."
     "Oh, Maxie, no wonder you were so upset. Are you ok?"
     "Yeah, El, I'm fine," I assured her, surprisingly convincingly in my opinion. I really didn't want her to think I was some baby.
For a few moments, she said nothing. Then, as if she'd read my mind, replied, "I know you're not, but it's ok. We don't have to talk about it anymore if you don't want to. But I'll never judge you for having feelings, Max." With that, she gave my hand a little squeeze.
     "Thanks, El," I said, smiling again.
     Eleven makes me really smiley.
     We walked in comfortable silence for a while, until I blurted out of the blue, "He called me a dyke."
     El didn't say anything. Instead, she let go of my hand and wrapped her arm around my waist, pulling me closer to her. She leaned her head into my shoulder and mumbled quietly, "Do you want me to kill him for you?"
I laughed and nodded jokingly. "You're a dork," I teased her, my heart fluttering just by my own flirting. She's the dork? I thought, causing me to chuckle a little. I took my arm and wrapped it around her neck, since her backpack was huge. I had put most of my books and things in my locker the week before, as I hadn't had a lot of homework. I was quite grateful, too, because El's hand around my waist made me feel heavenly.
     "I know I am, but you love it," my crush responded wittily, making me blush.
     I bumped her gently with my hip, having fun messing with her. "How exactly would you know what I love, smarty-pants?"
     "Are you, Max Mayfield, saying that there is something that you don't love about me?" She asked, sounding baffled and wearing an overly-appalled expression.
     "Yup. I just hate you with a passion, El Hopper."
     "Well, that's too bad, because you're not getting rid of me any time soon," she shrugged, smiling at her feet.
     "Darn," I said sarcastically.
Soon enough, we arrived at school. El and I parted once we walked into the building, our arms dropping to our sides in fear of judgement, and went to our lockers. Unlike in all of the movies, our lockers were unfortunately across the hall from each other, so there was no talking amongst ourselves.
     Once I got everything sorted out, I walked over to Eleven. I saw her smile smittenly as I did, causing a wide grin to spread across my face. I leaned on the locker next to hers, watching her get funnily nervous at my presence. She dropped a book, causing a loud, echoing boom to sound through the hallway. I went to pick it up, but then so did she. No, our hands didn't touch, you dummy. This is quality content, not just some average relationship. I looked at her, both of us squatting on the floor and our arms outstretched for the book and said, "Just finish what you're doing, Ellie. I've got it." With that, she smiled gratefully, mumbled a small "thank you," and continued to sort out her backpack. I put the book into her locker, and she finished up.
El was surprisingly far along with school. Over the summer, Hopper had taught her all of the basics of everything. After he died(little did they know, teehee), Joyce eventually took on the teachings, and taught her everything she could remember; Will had helped her with a lot of the rest. Therefore, the only class that I didn't have with her was English. So far, it was the only thing she hadn't easily grasped, so she was put in a grade level below us.
     We looked at each other and linked our arms, walking to class.

Hi.

Can I just ask a question real quick? A survey, if you will?
Do people actually skip chapters?? Like that's a thing people do? I've seen notes from authors saying, "Make sure you read the last chapter," and I'm confused and concerned?? We don't judge in this household so I won't judge you but I must know.

And don't judge my music choices. An old lady sang it with her dog and now I love that song because I love the old lady and I'm rambling so just shUT UP

Also I really don't mind if you comment. Not that you have to, but I have the tendency to comment a lot and feel bad about the poor author's notifications, but I actually enjoy reading comments(on all fanfics, not just mine), so comment away. Blow up my phone.

The area that I live in is getting shut down completely! They're gonna bring in national guard to make sure we don't leave our housessssss ✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️

Coronavirus is fun.

Word Count: 1579
The actual one after editing ONCE. ONCE I TELL YOU: 2000
                                                                        Would ya look at that^^

I think I need help.
Ok seriously I'll leave now.
Bye.

-eight