Strawberries and Cigarettes // Max Mayfield x girl OC

Trying My Best

It was a mid-November day when the party, minus El and Will, of course, took a trip to the arcade. They hadn't been since mid-August, and they decided that it had been too long since their last visit.

The Byers had moved away a month ago, and about four months had passed since Hopper and Billy's deaths, but everyone was recovering to the best of their ability. Or so it seemed.

As for Chris, she looked around and saw all of her friends as happy as could be, but deep down, she could feel herself slipping back into the dark hole she had entered over summer. She didn't want to feel that way again, and Chris knew she should say something, but she didn't want to bother any of her friends. She feared that bringing up the traumatic events of earlier that year would just make everyone sad again, and that's the last thing she wanted.

"Damn it!" Max yelled, kicking the Dig Dug machine.

Chris looked over to see the 'game over' message displayed on the screen.

"Why don't we take a break?" Chris suggested, grabbing Max's hand to calm her down.

"Okay, yeah," Max agreed, stepping away from the game. "Come on, let's go get something to eat."

Chris followed her girlfriend towards the food counter and watched patiently as she ordered.

"One order of curly fries and a large blue raspberry slushie, please," Max ordered, knowing Chris's order by heart.

The two girls always shared fries and a slushie, and as much as Chris protested, Max never let her pay.

After several minutes, the arcade worker handed them their food, and they took a seat at an empty table, basking in the sounds of the arcade for a few moments.

After several minutes, Max noticed that Chris had only nibbled on a single fry.

"Hey, what's up?" Max asked, drawing Chris from her trance. "You normally love arcade fries."

Chris shrugged in response.

"Okay, seriously, what's going on?" Max asked again, this time bringing her voice to a more serious tone.

"I'm just tired," Chris finally spoke. "I guess I didn't sleep well last night."

Max simply hummed in response. She had noticed that her girlfriend was looking awfully tired for the past week or so, but decided it wasn't a cause for concern.

A week passed, and Max noticed Chris seeming to get worse. The girl almost always had dark bags under her eyes. She rarely spoke anymore, and when she did, it was one-worded sentences.

Max knew she had to do something, and the final straw was pulled when the phone in her room rang.

"Hello?" She answered worriedly.

Max's phone rarely rang. Her friends were usually the only ones who ever contacted her, and they almost always did that through their walkie-talkies. The only time the party ever called each other through the phone was when it was something serious.

"Max? It's Mike. Look, something happened, and you need to get over here as soon as you can," Mike spoke from the other side of the call.

Max didn't respond. Instead, she hung up quickly and immediately grabbed her skateboard and made her way to the Wheeler residence.

Arriving at the front door, she knocked and was immediately let it by Mike.

"What's wrong?"

"It's Chris. She hasn't left her bed in two days, and I'm scared things are getting bad again."