Sweet Misery~Max Mayfield

I Feel Safe With You

Mike POV:

I bet tonight will be so much fun. The party didn't spend that much time all together since the events of starcourt. Everyone was kind of focused on themselves. None of us has senn Max in weeks because she wasn't in school and let no one in when the doorbell rang. But today she finally agreed to come over. I never really liked her but I kind of feel sorry for her now. I just finished cleaning up the basement when I heard my mom scream my name, so I walk up the stairs.
"Michael would you please open the door?"
The door revealed Hopper and El. Oh God I love that girl so much, she's just perfect. Down the road I spotted Lucas with his bike making his way to my driveway. Hopper said his goodbye and I greeted El and Lucas.

The moment we reached the stairs, a knock is heard at the door.
"You guys can go downstairs already, I'll answer the door." I told El and Lucas.
I opened the door wich revealed Max. She looked kinda uncomfortable. Almost scared. When she took notice of my asking expression she quickly shot me a smile.
"Hey Mike" she simply greeted me. I can tell that something is up with her but we're not that good friends after all so I decided to let it be.
"Hi Max, come in. Long time no seen"
She just nodded and stepped inside.
I think it's best if El talks to her later. She's Max's best friend, so maybe she will be able to find out what's going on with her. It wouldn't bother me, if it would be the first time I see her like this. But almost every time I look at her, she seems very strange like something is on her mind. I also took notice of some kind of bruises on her skin sometimes, but I never told anyone. Maybe I should do that tonight because I've got an unsettling feeling about that in my stomach.

I helped her to carry her stuff down the stairs, where Lucas and El already waited for us. The moment El hugs Max I could tell that Max winced. I made eye contact with Lucas who also seemed like he saw that his girlfriend winced. We both share a worried expression. When I was about to sit on the couch, I hear another knock on the door. The door reveals Dustin and Will with tons of sweets and snacks in their hands. I also helped them carry down their stuff and we finally could start planning tonights events.

"We could play D&D" Will said in an excited tone. I didn't really want to but Will has gone through so much pain and we've always ignored him last year, so I said :
"You know what, I'd love to play D&D again with ya'll"
Everyone agreed with me, so I got up and started spreading the game on the table. The party sat down on the chairs around the table after I finished building everything up.

We've played for hours now, so we decided to stop playing D&D. Now it is finally time for dinner. My mom made some great lasagna which we all started eating at the kitchen table. Everyone but Max. She just sits there, staring at the table. Not even touching the food. That's a new weird habit. She always ate as much as we did. I guess I will tell El about that too. I've never been close to Max but even I get that something is off. After we all finished eating Max stood up and said:" I'll go use the bathroom" and left. I took that as my chance to talk to El about Max's weird behavior and took her to my room quickly. I turned around after closing my door facing El's asking expression.
"We need to talk" I said
"About what" asks El who is still confused.
"About Max. Uhm I noticed some changes and I think these changes aren't good. She always looks stresses out and she's got some kind of bruises on her arms and legs. When you hugged her earlier she winced at your touch. Something is off but I don't wanna bring it up myself because we're not that good friends, so I thought you as her best friend could do that. " I informed her. She took the information in and remained silent for a while. Then she finally says:
" Yeah I've also seen that marks on her wrists earlier. And she didn't eat. I'll definitely talk to her tonight. Maybe it's about Billy. Or even worse... Neil. He abused Billy physically a lot. And now that Billy is gone he might take all his anger out on Max." she sighs looking down on the floor.
" Don't worry El. We'll take care of that problem. It'll all gonna be okay.
I love you" I said while cupping her face in my hands and kissing her forhead softly. " Let's go back to the basement.

" Where were you two? " Dustin asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"We were just talking about something." El answers.
"Hey guys let's change into our Pj's and watch some movies" Lucas suggests.
"Yea good idea, let's watch Ghostbusters then." Will adds.
After everyone agreed El and Max left the room to change in their Pj's and went to the bathroom while we changed in the basement instead.

Eleven POV:

While Max and I changed in the bathroom I carefully glanced over to see her arms, legs and her stomach being in bright red and purple colors. It's time to talk to her. She can't deny Mike's point from earlier now. When we finished changing, I took a deep breath and cleared my throat.
"Hey Max uhm what are that marks on your body? What happened to you?" I asked her.
" I... Uh I fell from my skateboard yesterday. Multiple times "
" Max... Friends don't lie. Who did that to you? "
" No one did, I fell. I'm not lying. " she said and turned away from me. I took a step forward and touched her shoulder to turn her back around. She winced at my touch again. Her eyes are red now and I can see a lump forming in her throat. I opened my arms to embrace her for a hug. She didn't hesitate to hug me and fell right into my arms breaking down into tears. As I'm rubbing her back softly she slowly manages to calm down. So I let go of her to face her again.
"Neil", she choked out, " it was Neil. He did this to me!" Max slid down the wall to the ground. I sat down in front of her and held her hand thight
"I'm going to kill this asshole. How can he do that to you. You didn't do anything wrong. How often did this happen before?" I say
"Since that night at starcourt. But things are getting worse every day. I'm scared El. I'm so fucking scared." she cried into my shoulder.
"Shhhh it's okay I'm here for you now. you're safe now. It's gonna be fine." I try to calm her down.
"Thank you El."
"For what, I didn't do anything"
"You're here. I feel safe with you"
After a long lasting teary hug we finally went back to the boys.

"There you are", Lucas exclaimed, "Let's start the movie then. Everyone sat down on the couch watching the movie and enjoying the snacks that Will and Dustin brought. When it was already 2am we decided to go to sleep, so everyone got out their sleeping bags and spreaded it on the floor. At 2:30 we finally turned the lights off and drifted into sleep.

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A/N: So here is chapter 2. As I promised it's longer than the other one. I hope you guys like it so far. If you have any suggestions for improvement, please let me know.
In the next chapter chaos will break loose.
Word count: 1346