MARLEY // Max Mayfield

Marzipan

Sat with her back against the wall of Eleven's makeshift bed, Marley flicked through a deck of cards, shuffling them mindlessly. She stopped on an ace and pulled it out, fiddling with it between her fingers. Steve was having a party tonight, meaning when Marley got home she would be forced to endure Tommy H and Carol's attempts at drawing her into their antics, they picked on her endlessly and never left her alone, often roping her into some drinking game always ending in a horrible migraine the next morning. She hated Steve's parties.

"Hey," Marley looked up to see Mike crouched down at the mouth of the den, eyes set intently on Eleven who was laying against Marley's side. "So...no adults...just us and some meatloaf," he smiled. Eleven continued fiddling with her radio and Marley with her cards, ignoring the boys. After a moment though, she noticed Eleven's tenseness and looked over to her, sensing the change in how she held herself. She followed her gaze, landing on both Dustin and Lucas who were shuffling awkwardly.

"Don't worry me and Mike made them promise to not tell anyone about you," Marley told, nudging Eleven's shoulder gently.

"We would have never upset you if we knew you had superpowers," Dustin babbled, Mike hit him in the shin.

"What Dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared earlier, that's all," Mike corrected. Marley huffed and rolled her eyes.

"How could you be scared of her? Have you seen her little button nose?" She grinned.

"We just wanted to find our friend," Lucas insisted, ignoring Marley's comment.

"Friend?" Eleven asked confused.

"Yeah a friend, like Will," Lucas continued.

"What is a friend?" Eleven said and Marley regarded her quietly a moment, the boys looking between themselves unsure of how to answer the girl's question. After a moment, Marley shifted, Eleven sitting straighter and turning her whole attention on the other girl.

"Well...a friend is someone you'd do anything for," Marley supposed, leaning back on her elbows and swiping at a piece of cloth hanging over her head, "someone you can rely on in tough times."

"You lend cool stuff like comic books and trading cards!" Dustin added. Marley smiled at the way his eyes lit up.

"Someone you can act yourself around, like Marley here, she acts like a total badass when in reality she's a big softy!" Lucas teased, the girl in question flipped him off.

"And they never break a promise," Mike finalised.

"Especially when there's spit," Marley grimaced in disgust remembering all the times she had done spit swears with the boys.

"Spit?" Eleven said, confused.

"A spit swear is where you never break your word, it's a bond," Marley explained. Lucas spat in his hand and grabbed Dustin's, who grimaced in disgust, much like Marley had moments before. She really needed to rethink all of her life choices if each one ended up in her making spit swears with boys that showered once a week at most. Not to mention how unhygienic the whole motion was.

"That's super important because friends tell each other things, things parents don't know," Mike said looking at Marley.

"Like for example, because you're my friend El, I'll tell you my secret," Marley sighed, sitting up and placing a hand on Eleven's shoulder, "I like girls," Eleven looked even more puzzled than before and Marley fell backwards, chuckling to herself.

"It means she would date a girl, kiss and stuff, she finds girls pretty," Mike explained but Eleven only blinked cluelessly, pointing at Marley.

"I think Marley, pretty," She told and Marley grinned, propping herself up on her elbows again.