Regular People [Elmax]

Chapter 12 - Trust

[Song of the Chapter: Sweater Weather by The Neighborhood]

Eleven was holding on tightly to Max's waist as she tried to keep her balance stood on the back of the bike. They were wobbling a bit due to the added weight, wind and rain. Max was trying to focus on keeping the bike steady, the last thing she wanted was El to fall and get hurt. Usually she'd be super stressed trying to pedal through these conditions, but feeling El's hands wrapped tightly around her waist helped her feel strangely calm.

"You okay back there?", Max yelled back to El.

"Yes", El yelled back.

"You're not going to fall?"

"I'm good. How much further?"

Suddenly they hit a rock and wobbled. El yelped in surprise and grabbed onto Max tighter.

"Shit!", Max yelled as she tried to concentrate on keeping them upright. She manged to even them out but El didn't loosen her grip.

"Eleven? You good?"

"I'm okay", she didn't sound phased, yet her grip maintained strength.

"You sure? You're gripping onto me really tight"

There was a pause.

"El?"

"I just don't want to let you go", she muttered, going slightly red.

She thought Max didn't hear over the rain but she did, she smiled at how adorable El was and continued to pedal.

They pulled up at the pool. People were running around like headless chickens, clearly caught off guard by the sudden downpour. Eleven hopped off the back of the bike as Max parked it out front. When they got inside they approached the front desk where two young lifeguards were sat reading, waiting for the rain to pass.

"Excuse me", Max said in an attempt to get their attention.

"No one in the water until thirty minutes after the last strike. And don't try to argue with me. You wanna get electrocuted? Go climb a tree", the male lifeguard said without even glancing up from his magazine.

"Yeah, we don't care. We're not here to swim...or get electrocuted"

El pulled the fanny pack out of her pocket, "we found this"

The two lifeguards looked up at the fanny pack but didn't say anything. Max decided to poke further.

"Does that belong to anybody here?"

"Oh yeah, that's Heather's. I'll get it back to her"

"We could give it back to her", El interjected.

"You could, except she's not here. Bailed on me today"

El and Max looked at each other, concerned but not surprised by this. Things were looking worse and worse. The lifeguard looked up at them, not understanding why they hadn't just handed in the fanny pack and left.

"What is this? You girls want a reward or something?"

"No. We're just...good Samaritans", Max retorted with a flash of a sassy smile.

El was looking around when her eyes eventually landed on a display board across the room that contained pictures of all the lifeguards. She walked over to it determinedly, Max followed, not sure what she had seen. They found a specific picture of a girl with a beaming smile and shoulder-length brown hair, she was wearing the fanny pack they'd just left at reception. Underneath the picture, in all capital letters was the name,