FREAKS

10: Havent I Made It Clear?

That night, we took Max back to Mike's basement and we took turns keeping watch over her. Max and I were in Nancy's bedroom, borrowing her pyjamas for Max as her clothes got muddy from falling on the grass.

"Are you alright now?" I ask, hoarsely.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Max replied, finding some comfy clothes, "You?"

"Me? I wasn't the one being haunted by Vecna." I replied, sitting on Nancy's bed.

"Yeah, but uh, you know. It must've been hard. I saw you sobbing." Max replied, sitting next to me.

"I just, didn't like seeing you possessed." I nervously chuckled.

She smiled, "Yeah." She was looking at me, differently. She was looking at my eyes, then my lips, then back at my eyes, "Thank you, by the way. How did you know what my favourite song was?"

"Oh, I kind of read the letter." I replied, "I know I wasn't suppose to but Steve-"
I stopped talking.

"Steve? Steve, what?" Max replied.

"I read the letter to find out if you liked me." I blurted out.

"Liked you? Deena, you're my best friend." Max replied, putting her hand on my thigh.

"I know that." I chuckled nervously, "I wanted to know if you... liked me."

Max furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

I took a deep breath, then started to waffle, "Look, Max. I like you. Like, I really like you. Not as a friend, but... as, you know, a girlfriend. But, I totally get it if you don't because I know you were with Lucas and I see the way that you guys act around each-other. I don't want to ruin our friendship either because you're literally my best friend but-"

Max moved her hand from my thigh and put it on my cheek, moving the hair behind my ear, smiling.

"What-What are you doing?" I asked.

"Haven't I made it clear enough?" Max smiled. Suddenly, she moved her face closer to mine and kissed my lips for a very long time. She pulled away, with a smile on her face, still keeping her hands on my cheeks.

I opened my eyes, "Uh.." I smiled, I didn't know what to say, "Aren't you with Lucas?"

"Lucas? No. I mean, I do like boys still. But I like girls too." Max whispered, "I like you."

I smiled, "When this is all over, I'm going to take you on a date-"

Suddenly, the door barged open, Max and I jumped around to see Steve standing in the door way.
"Jesus Christ!" He sighed in relief, "I thought Vecna had.... Hold on."

Max and I giggled.

"Oh. Oh!" Steve realised, then closed the door behind him.

  ~

I awoke to a familiar voice on my walkie-talkie. I was sleeping downstairs, in Mike's basement, with my friends. The truth is, I kept my eyes closed, I hadn't slept properly in days and I needed to sleep. Eddie could wait for his breakfast.

"Hey, Deena, this is Eddie the Banished." He spoke, "You there?"
He paused, "Deena? Dustin?... Anyone?"

I heard footsteps, "Hey, Eddie. It's Nancy."

Eddie replied, "Hey, Wheeler. I'm going to need a food delivery, like really soon. Unless you want me going out into the world."

"No, no, no. Don't do that." Nancy replied, "Just stay there and we'll be there as soon as we can."

"Can you bring me a six-pack? I know it's stupid as shit drinking right now, but cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves." Eddie added.

"No." I groaned.

"Deena? Is that-Deena. Where the hell were you when I was in need of food?" Eddie replied to me.

Nancy turned around and gave me the walkie-talkie.
"Eddie, I've had other problems to deal with then your breakfast deliveries." I replied.

"Wow, I see how it is." Eddie replied sarcastically, "What's more important than me, huh?"

I rolled my eyes and looked over to the couch, where Max was suppose to be sleeping, "Max! I'll call you back-"

"No! No! No!" Eddie panicked, "Deena, don't you dare, you little shit!"

"Dustin! Dustin!" I nudged Dustin, who was still sleeping, "Dustin, wake up!"

"What?" He groaned.

"Where's Max?" I asked.

"What? She's right there-" he replied, pointing to the empty couch, "She was right there! I swear, I dozed off for... an hour."

"Shit, Dustin." Nancy sighed.

I sprinted up stairs, with Nancy and Dustin. I stopped when I saw Max drawing on paper, sat at the kitchen table.

"Morning, guys." Mrs Wheeler greeted us, "I think it's sweet that you guys are sticking together like this."

"Could try sticking together at a different house, for a change." Mr Wheeler added.

I sat down next to Max at the table, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, just couldn't sleep." Max replied, "People kept blasting music in my ears, for some reason." She smirked.

I looked down at the scattering of paper across the table, they were all coloured in red, "Is this what you saw last night?"

"It's supposed to be." She shrugged, "I thought it would be easier to draw it out then explain it."

Nancy sat down opposite us, "Don't you think Vecna's trying to scare you?"

"With Billy? Yeah." Max replied, "But when I made it to the red fog. I dunno, something was different. He seemed surprised almost, like he didn't want me there."

Dustin joined us, with a pile of pancakes on his plate, "Maybe you invaded his mind? He invaded your mind, right? Is it that big a leap to suggest you somehow wound up in his?" Dustin paused, "Like Freddie Krueger's boiler room!"

"Freddie Krueger?" Holly Wheeler questioned. She's Nancy's younger sister.

"He's a super burned-up dude with razors for fingers, and he kills you in your dreams." Dustin explained.

"Dustin." I whispered-yelled, "Seriously?"

"Sorry." Dustin whispered, then turned to Holly, "It's a movie, it's not real."

"Wait, Dustin does have a point. What if you somehow opened a backdoor into Vecna's world?" I explained, "Like, the answer is somewhere in these drawings."

"Incredibly vague drawings." Dustin added, "God, we need Will."

Max scoffed, "No shit."

A/N:
heyy, i hope you've been enjoying my story so far. sorry i haven't published a new chapter in a while, I've just been really busy <33