A life less ordinary ||~~Elax/Elmax~~||

Miss you

The end of the school year approached rapidly, the promise of lazy summer days caused the gang to become restless and start to make plans.

It also brought with it the six-month anniversary of the last of Will's 'episodes'. Mike had stumbled into the bathroom at Will's house one sleepover and caught him throwing up and freaking out. He witnessed Will having a vision of the upside down but managed to pull him out of it quickly, something for which Will was eternally grateful. He confessed everything to Mike, who held him in a tight hug for as long as he needed it, and once recovered sufficiently he confessed everything to Dustin and Lucas who had heard the commotion and found them on the bathroom floor. Being natural scientists they monitored and kept track of the episodes, noting the location and time of each one. They also managed to catch one of the slugs as it came out, keeping it in a jar. It didn't survive long, only about 20 minutes. They concluded that the environment was wrong in some way, maybe the toxic air in the upside down being vital for its survival.

For Max, the end of school marked a less desirable prospect, the first family vacation with her new step-dad and Billy. Since he'd arrived in town, a steady stream of doe-eyed seniors had crossed their doorstep, and a steady stream of heartbroken ones had gone the opposite way. Max was disgusted by his behavior, he seemingly only turned up to school as it was the biggest pool of eligible, and not so eligible, girls in the area, and his bad-boy image worked wonders with the sheltered and naïve Hawkins locals.

Her step-father wasn't too bad, although he had an impenetrable blind-spot when it came to his precious son, who, in his eyes, could do no real wrong and was just misunderstood or in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was also absurdly proud of the number of girls that Billy got through, like it was somehow a reflection on his own desirability. Max couldn't understand what her mom saw in him, yes he was pretty good looking for a man of his age, but that was it. He didn't have a great job, wasn't well off, didn't even have a particularly good personality. She ranted about it to El on many occasions, but El could offer nothing but a sympathetic ear as adult relationships were still complicated for her.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

"Max?" El responded one day, a few days before her family vacation.

"Yeah?"

"Maybe...maybe your mom was just lonely" she speculated, "people don't want to be alone, and it is hard to find a person to not be alone with" she carried on thoughtfully. "I know I don't want to be alone...I know have friends now, but I think, maybe, that I want to find one person to not be alone with."

Max was stunned into silence. She'd never really considered her mom's feelings like that before, but what really got her was what El had continued with, for some reason it made her feel very uneasy inside. "Errr, yeah, maybe you're right about my mom, I never thought about it like that" she said quietly. They sat in silence for a few minutes, El feeling vulnerable that she had opened up in that way to Max, and not understanding why she had said it, and Max with her insides churning. "Is there someone?" she asked finally.

"What?" replied El, knowing exactly what Max was asking.

"Is...is there someone that, you know, you like...like?" Max elaborated clumsily. For the first time since they'd met they both felt awkward and uncomfortable and neither of them liked the feeling.

"N...no" said El, unsure why she felt unable to reply more definitely, and doubly unsure why she felt like she was hiding something from herself.

Before she had a chance to really think about it, Max said "what about Mike?"

El's train of thought was completely derailed, "what?" she asked, frowning.

"You know, when you first met, you had like a...thing for each other, Dustin and Lucas told me" Max explained, "and when you came back, when you were in the hospital, I saw how emotional he was."

El sat in silence, she hadn't had to confront these feelings, even with Mike, they'd just let things sort themselves out and were both content with how they had. Taking a deep breath, she said "I had a connection with Mike, the first time, he took care of me, he showed me how people are meant to care about other people, he...he showed me what love was. And when I came back, he did again...but..." and she took a few seconds to consider her words, not wanting to get them wrong, "...but it was like love a family has for each other, not the other kind...I love him like a brother, he will always be special, but he isn't that person."

"Wow" Max couldn't help but say before she fell into silence. She saw that El looked slightly embarrassed and couldn't meet her eye, "hey" she said, grabbing El's attention, "I can ask my mom, do you want to come with me...us? On vacation?"

For a second, El's face lit up but then fell again just as fast, "I'd love to...but I have the entrance exam a few days after, I'll need to study, sorry."

"Oh" Max responded, clearly disappointed. "Well, maybe I could help you study if you came, it's not like I want to spend it getting to know Billy" she said rolling her eyes. El grinned widely, "ok, you go ask your mom, I'll ask mine. Ring me as soon as you know, ok?"

"Yes" said El excitedly, standing up.

"Er, where are you going?"

"To go and ask...I can't wait" El replied grinning again.

Max laughed, "well, go then, what are you waiting for!?" She watched as El left and allowed herself to sink back into the couch happily.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Ring ring...ring ring...

"Hello?" asked Max quietly.

"Hi Max, it's me, El" she said unnecessarily, Max recogniZed her voice immediately.

"Hey" she said, sighing slightly.

"I'm sorry" said El, sadly, "I can't come with you...they said I had to stay and study."

"Yeah, my mom said the same" replied Max. They sat in silence for a minute, "El?" Max said breaking it, "are you ok?"

"Yes...I'm just going to miss you" she confessed quietly.

Max smiled a sad smile, "me too, but it's only a week, ok? And it's your job to study, and my job to think of something awesome we can do to celebrate once you're done...that week away we can concentrate on our jobs, ok?"

"Ok" replied El smiling again, Max always knew how to cheer her up.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*