Regular People [Elmax]

Chapter 1 - Day of the Dead

They went to her house after every day spent together. It was out in the woods, secluded, quiet, perfect. They enjoyed each other's company, so much so that they spent every waking hour together so far that summer. They would do some kind of activity during the day, something far away from civilization, partly because she wasn't allowed near large crowds of people but also because they wanted to be completely and utterly alone. He wanted her all to himself. Now, they sat on the bed, random new songs playing on the radio in her room, they weren't listening to them though. They were too busy focusing on each other's lips, exchanging sweet and tender kisses, savouring each one as if they were going to lose each other again.

The door was open just three inches, they could hear the faint hum of the TV outside. Part of her was scared to get caught but the rest of her was too happy to care. He didn't care at all if they got caught, he had no respect for Hopper after he kept her away from him last year, he just wanted to spend every moment with her for the rest of time.

"HEY!"

They broke apart to see Hopper watching them through the gap that they were required to keep in the door when they were alone in her bedroom together. In shock, Eleven quickly slammed the door shut with her powers. Mike scrambled around to try and find something inconspicuous to do.

"HEY! THREE-INCH MINIMUM! LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN THREE INCHES!"

The door still wouldn't open, El was keeping it shut with her powers.

"Jane, open the-"

After quickly fixing themselves up, El allowed the door to open once again. Her dad stumbled into the room, as red as a tomato, ready to yell and break them apart.

"What's wrong?", Mike smirked.

When Hopper saw that they were occupying themselves with separate tasks on opposite ends of the bed he stammered before huffing and leaving the room. Of course, he still left the three-inch gap. Mike, trying desperately not to laugh, checked the time on his watch and saw that he was going to be late to the mall to meet the rest of the party.

"I've got to go", he said.

"Okay. Call me?", El gestured to her walkie-talkie that Mike had gifted her a few weeks after the winter dance.

"Of course", he smiled at her.

She walked him to the front door and watched him cycle away into the darkness. She went back inside and flopped onto her bed, fiddling with the knobs on her radio to switch to her and Mike's special channel where no one else could hear what they were saying.

"Mike, are you there?"

"Yeah I'm here"

She sighed contently down the radio.

"Oh my God that was priceless. Did you see his face?", Mike asked in smug disbelief.

"It was like a tomato", Eleven laughed back.

"Yeah, a fat tomato!"

"I wish I was still with you", Eleven sighed.

"I know, me too, but I'll see you tomorrow alright? First thing"

"Tomorrow.", El repeated

"I'm about to get to the mall, I have to go. See ya El"

"Bye Mike".

Max was waiting at the mall with Will and Lucas. Mike was late, again, but they expected that of him now. He'd been spending all his time with El this summer. The others felt abandoned but didn't dare say. Max used to spend a lot of time with Lucas but nowhere near as much as Mike and El had been spending together. The thought of spending any time alone with Lucas now made Max feel a kind of irritation she'd never experienced before. They didn't work out. Max found Lucas loud and obnoxious after too many hours spent in each other's company. They'd already broken up 5 times and she knew that he thought that this break-up would only be temporary too but really, she was done with him for good. She vowed to herself that, no matter how many times he came crawling back with a present or a half-assed apology, she wouldn't take him back. He clearly didn't care enough.

When Mike finally arrived they started making their way to Scoops-Ahoy. They rang the bell and got Steve to let them go through the employees-only corridors of the mall. From there they snuck into the Day of the Dead showing at the movie theatre. Lucas went and sat next to Max despite her disapproving glares. He was acting as if nothing was wrong, like if he ignored the fact that they broke up again that it wouldn't be true. Max tried her best to ignore him, despite the fact that he kept quite obviously staring at her. Suddenly, the movie shut off out of nowhere and everything went black. Everyone groaned in annoyance but Lucas jumped and grabbed Max's hand, maybe out of habit, maybe to test the waters to see where they were at. Max snatched her hand away from his without even looking at him. When the power came on she caught a glimpse of a shocked look on his face.

'What is wrong with him?', Max thought, 'we're over. He can't keep pulling shit like that'.

After the movie was over the party went back outside to their bikes. Will and Mike said goodbye and started to bike away. Lucas was about to do the same when Max stopped him, he had a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"Lucas, we're over. You know that yeah?"

"Yeah but for how long?"

"What? Are you serious?", Max scoffed.

"Yeah, I am. Is it going to be two weeks like last time? Or a month like the time before that? Or-"

"You're unbelievable"

"What do you mean?"

"Stop being so stupid Lucas. This time isn't like the last few times. We're actually done, for good"

"What? Why? You never said that!"

"Bullshit! I told you everything last night! I said that I'm dumping you for good because you're inconsiderate, obnoxious and I don't think you actually care about me. We've never clicked, I just thought we did at first because we rushed into everything. I hadn't been in Hawkins long and then all of a sudden we were going out. I didn't get a chance to get to know you. And now that I do know you, I don't like you like that. If we're going to continue to be friends you need to understand that."

"I need to get home."

"Wow, really Lucas?"

"See you tomorrow Max."

Lucas rode off quickly before Max could try and stop him. She felt that she had done all she could, she had told him plain and simply that she didn't want to date him anymore and why. If he couldn't get his head around that, that's his issue.

Max hopped onto her bike and started the ride home under a blanket of nighttime summer heat. She needed to get some rest for Dustin's welcome-home surprise tomorrow.