MARLEY // Max Mayfield

Not good at Goodbyes

Everything was different but the same all in one. Maybe uncanny would be the word. Most of the party had gone back to normal, they'd laugh, joke and smile as if they hadn't all gone through life-threatening events three years in a row - two and one for some - it was strange and confusing. This was especially true for Marley, for the girl couldn't move on from it like they did, she had no doubt the others still thought about, had nightmares and woke up in cold sweats. Still, though, they carried on, it seemed only Marley had really changed. She didn't laugh as much, didn't smile all the time like she had, didn't make jokes to cover up her pain.

Once all smiles and now she couldn't even crack a meaningful joke. There was nothing there making it better either. If anything everything just made it worse, Max and she hadn't spoken since that day, small words and exchanges were made, sure, but never in length. Marley knew it was her fault and that she should be the first to make a move but she couldn't, couldn't bring herself to. The situation with her parents was getting worse, she found herself sleeping in the rubble of Hopper's old cabin more times than not, never really telling anyone for fear of being a nuisance. Marley was just tired, a shell of who she had been, a husk. Didn't help that Joyce was moving away, taking Eleven, Will and Jonathan with her. Another parental figure in her life just disappearing, at least this time she'd be able to say goodbye.

That was what she was doing, Steve and Robin were sat in the front, silence between them as they drove to the Byers residence. They had an interview soon and had offered to drop Marley off, she'd agreed, not really wanting to ride her bike. At some point - in the past three months - she'd stopped riding after several happenings where she'd just stop pedalling and fall into the road, only to lay there and stare up at the sky. It took Steve finding her one time for her to realise maybe Biking wasn't a good idea in her current state of mind.

"So..." Robin broke the silence, tapping at her thighs awkwardly as she glanced at Marley through the rearview mirror and then fully turned around when she saw the girl hadn't looked up. "You think Steve's going to bomb this interview, or what?"

"Robin!" Steve shouted in offence and Robin laughed, looking to Marley expectantly only to see the girl blank-faced and staring off somewhere far away. Somewhere that was definitely not the back of her brother's car. "Marley? You alright back there?"

There was a simple hum in response and of course, the two teens didn't take that for an answer. "Come on, Marsbar," Robin smiled, reaching back to shake the girl's knee, "Use your words."

Silence.

"Look," Steve sighed, his eyes forward as he chose his words carefully, "Marley you've been so secretive lately. You go off in the middle of the night, disappearing for days on end and I don't say anything cause I figured you needed space. I haven't even said anything about you and Max!" Marley flinched at that, a flicker of something darting across her face as her eyes focused for a split second, "but right now I am telling you to talk to me!"

"When are mother and father going away again?" Marley spoke, her voice was gritty, duller and lower than usual, putting a frown on Steve's lips.

"Two days, why?"

"That means I won't be disappearing for days on end in two days," Marley told simply, her eyes following a bird soaring through the sky above. "So you don't need to worry about that."

"What about you and Max?" Steve asked, his eyes flickering up to meet Marley through the rearview mirror.

"Let's not."

"Let's!" Robin urged, turning in her seat so she was facing both Steve and Marley, "Aren't you two together? Why have I not seen you with her in the past three months?"