Crush Culture [M.Wheeler]

[45] SLEEPOVER

Later that night, Nori had decided to visit El and Max back at Jim's cabin. To say the least, Max was definitely proud of her best friend.

While Nori sits on the bed next to Eleven, looking through some magazines, Max dances around to the music, singing along with a brush as a microphone.

El seems to be interested in one of the photos in the magazine. Nori peers over, chuckling. It was a photo of Ralph Macchio.

"He's cute, right?" Nori comments, leaning her head onto El's shoulder. This seems to catch Max attention, who laughs. "Oh, you found Ralph Macchio." She comments.

"Macchio?" El questions. "Yeah, he's the Karate Kid." Max nods. "Hai-yah!" She slams her hand down, accidentally hitting Nori on her arm. "Ow." She pushes Max away.

"Sorry, Ellie. Anyways, he's so hot, right?" She adds. "Right." Nori chuckles. "I bet he's an amazing kisser, too." Max continues.

El and Nori send her a strange look. "Hey, Uh.. is Mike a good kisser?" Max asks, looking to Nori. She purses her lips for a moment, attempting to hold in any emotion.

"I don't know." She shrugs. "He's my first boyfriend." She reminds. "Ex-boyfriend." Max corrects. Nori nods, looking back down at the magazine as she still continues to lean her head on El's shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Okay? He'll come crawling back to you in no time, begging for forgiveness." Max assures.

"I guarantee you, him and Lucas are, like, totally wallowing in self-pity and misery. And they're like, Oh I hope they take us back." She says in a tearful voice, causing Nori and El to chuckle.

"God, what I wouldn't give to see their stupid faces." Max states. El's eyes seem to widen as she has an idea. "What is it?" Max asks.

"I know what she wants to do." Nori smirks, standing up and walking over to her dresser, pulling out a sock so she could cover her eyes.

While El ties it over to block her vision, Nori also turns off the music and leaves the static from the radio.

"Is this really gonna work?" Max asks excitedly as she takes a seat on the bed. El nods. "Holy shit, this is insane."

"Max." El says, wanting to silence the girl. "Yeah, quiet. I'm sorry." She apologizes, turning to Nori. El takes a deep breath, focusing.

"I see them." She tells. Quickly, Max and Nori come sit on the floor beside her, listening intently. "What are they doing?" Max asks.

Nori was unsure of this whole situation, spying on Mike, but nevertheless, she decided it wouldn't be the end of the world.

"Eating." Eleven responds. "They say we are species." She repeats, causing Nori to furrow her eyebrows. "What?"

"Emotion, not logic." She adds. "What?" Max raises her eyebrows. Suddenly, El takes off the blindfold, then looks to her friends.

"What happened?" Nori questions. She stares at them for a moment, then begins to laugh, falling onto the ground.

They laugh along with her, until they hear a car approaching outside. "Hey! Hey! When I say three inches, three—" Jim barges in, startling them.

"Do you knock? Jeez!" Max shouts. "Yeah! Jeez!" El repeats. "Oh, hey. I'm sorry. I thought that, Uh—"

"No one else is here." Max tells. "Max and Eleanor wanted to have... a sleepover." El informs. "Is that.. okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Your parents know about it?" He nods. "Yup." Both Max and Nori nod. "Uh, Yeah. It's cool." He slurs.

"That's— that's really cool." He pauses, leaving them in silence. "Did you need something?" Max questions. "No, no. Uh, I'll leave. I'll just let you.. I'll leave you.." he shuts the door.

"Holy shit, I can't believe we're really doing this." Max chuckles as Nori writes down names onto yellow sheets of paper, placing them onto cardboard with a bottle in the middle.

"Ready?" Nori asks Eleven while she sets the marker down. "Ready." She nods, spinning it. It spins for a few moments, until it pauses on "Mr. Wheeler."

"Ugh. Boring." Max comments. "Yeah, boring." El chuckles. "Spin again."

"Against the rules?" She looks up at Max. "We make our own rules." The red head smirks, watching while El spins one more.

"Billy." They read. "Okay, look, I should just warn you, if he's with a girl or doing something gross, just get out of there right away before you're scarred for life." Max warns as she takes the blind fold and radio.

"Max—

"No, I'm just saying, I'm serious." She cuts her off.  "He's really gross."

"Max!" She raises her voice. "Okay, shutting up now." She chuckles. "Be careful, El." Nori nods to the girl. "I know."

"I found him." She states. "What's he doing?" Nori asks, leaning forward. "I don't know."

"He's.. on the floor... talking to someone." She trails. All of a sudden, El gasps, pulling the blindfold off in a hurry.

"What is it?" Max questions. "What happened?" Nori adds, watching as she cries.