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

Starting to slip

El and Max made their way giggling to El's room in order to get changed out of their wet clothes. "Did you see Dustin's face when Lucas made him fall in?" said Max, struggling to stay upright, laughing at the mental image. El couldn't even speak for laughing and just nodded.

After a few minutes, they'd calmed down enough to start sorting out some clothes. "Help yourself to anything" said El generously, Max smiling in return. El picked out some jeans and an old shirt of Mike's that she liked as it felt so soft from the many washes it had been through, she always found it comforting to wear. Max eyed the shirt and couldn't suppress the look of slight disappointment that flashed across her face. "What?" El asked her, confused by the look.

"Oh, um, it's nothing..." Max tried to reassure her, "I was just thinking about something else" she added, smiling sincerely.

"Okay" El said, shrugging. "We'd better hurry, you know how the guys always say girls take forever to get ready, so annoying."

Max nodded, grabbing the clothes she'd chosen and starting to change. El glanced over at Max when she heard her curse, falling over in her haste whilst putting her jeans on, and almost managed to suppress her giggle. Realizing that she was under scrutiny, Max looked over and gave El a mock unimpressed look, which lasted all of 3 seconds before they laughed in unison.

"Hey! Are you girls ever coming down!?" yelled Lucas.

"Only if you ask nicely, mouthbreather!" Max yelled back, smirking at El. She watched as El started removing her wet clothes that were stuck to her body in revealing ways, suddenly realizing that she was staring, she whipped around fast and faced the wall. Her move wasn't very subtle and El couldn't help but notice her friend staring at a blank wall, her shoulders looking tense, and it made her feel uncomfortable.

"Max?" said El, "are you ok?" she asked, confused by her actions. They'd gotten changed together plenty of times so she couldn't work out why this time was any different.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine thanks" answered Max. She knew that El's grasp on reading emotions and situations could be sketchy at times and, mentally kicking herself in shame, she tried to take advantage of it. "I'm just feeling a bit self-conscious...like, you look so slim and, you know, and...I'm...not" she finished weakly.

El didn't buy that for a second, since when did Max ever care about such superficial shit? Never, and El knew it, but, being her closest friend, she decided to let Max hide whatever was bothering her for now, confident that she would tell her eventually as always. She hugged Max and said "I hope you don't really think that, you look perfect to me" she said smiling, meaning every word.

All of a sudden, they heard banging on the door, "come on, why do girls take so loonnggggg!?" asked Lucas, drawing out the last word to make his point even more.

"Dammit" Max heard El say under her breath.

"Sorry El" she said apologetically.

"No, it's fine...now he's done that, I intend to really take my time" she stated winking, making Max laugh out loud. Another 5 minutes, and some shouting later, Max and El finally made their way down to the basement where they found the four guys sat around Mike's square table, a D&D game in full swing.

"What the fuck guys!?" said Max, more statement than question, "you harassed us for ages just for us to come down and watch you play this!?" she asked incredulously.

Mike looked at them both, going slightly red in the face, "I'm really sorry, I just wanted to show Will part of the new campaign...and I guess it just kinda snowballed" he said with an awkward grin.

El shook her head affectionately, whereas Max genuinely looked pissed. Grabbing Max's hand, El started pulling her upstairs gently, "come on, let's go to the movies or something, leave these mouthbreathers to it" she said, raising her voice to ensure they heard her insult, "my treat" she added, feeling guilty that it was probably her fault they'd taken so long.

"Allllriiiiight" replied Max rolling her eyes, pretending that El was having to force her to go. "So, what's on?" she asked, seeing El pick up the local paper.

"Ummm, we have a choice between Labyrinth and Top Gun, it's up to you."

"Wow, that's quite a choice...my head says Top Gun, coz it looks kick ass, but" she said, putting her hand over her chest, "my cheesy heart says Labyrinth...soooooo..."

"Labyrinth" they said in unison, laughing at themselves.

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

They arrived at the cinema far too early, so decided to just hang around in the warm afternoon sun, sitting on a bench nearby. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, watching the world go by, Max spoke. "Can I ask you something?" she said.

"Yeah, sure, anything" replied El, looking at Max expectantly.

"How are you so amazing...I mean, given everything that's happened to you?" she added, realizing how weird her question sounded, coming out of nowhere. "Sorry, that was weird, I don't know why I asked" she quickly said, not liking how fast El's serene expression fell from her face, "you don't have to answer...I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up...maybe I should go" she said, getting up and starting to back away.

El just sat there, completely nonplussed at the rapidly meandering sentences coming from Max. Seeing her stand and start to walk away she finally found her voice, "uh, Max, wait!" she commanded. Max stopped and looked at her awkwardly. "What's wrong? You've been acting weird all day" asked El ignoring the question, concerned for her friend.

"Honestly, I don't know" replied Max, "sometimes it just pops into my head...like we're sat here, it just feels, I don't know, idyllic, and then I start to think about the day I found you, and...and how is it that you're so kind, and thoughtful, and funny, and great, and, well, normal."

She sat down again next to El, staring straight ahead, trying not to look at the thoughtful expression on her friend's face. "I...I guess you help a lot" she said, "um, I mean all of you" she added, suddenly very self-conscious about her words, for some reason thinking that she should choose them very carefully. "I don't want it to define me, what happened, I can't let it consume me, else I needn't have bothered escaping, I'd still be in a prison...just one made of my own bitterness and...and fear and anger. I need to be more than that." She paused for a long time, "I need to prove that I am more than just a freak" she trailed off, feeling slightly ashamed. She'd never told anyone any of this, never felt as if she could reveal her darkest feelings to anyone, even when she opened up to Max during the past few years she'd kept the worst of it to herself, but sitting here with Max today she truly felt able to talk freely, and reveal everything, for the first time in her life.

Max just looked at her, not in horror, nor pity, not even sadness, no, she was surprised to find a feeling of admiration building up inside. Understanding that El probably felt very vulnerable right now, she gave her shoulder a slight bump with her own and softly stated "see? Amazing." El felt herself blushing for some reason, again saved by Max when she said, "come on, movie time" and she grabbed her hand and pulled her gently inside.

"What snacks do you want?" asked El tentatively, secretly praying she had enough money on her to treat her friend knowing that Max had a voracious appetite that she easily burnt off with her skateboarding.

"Hmmm, M&Ms and a coke...we can share if you like?" she stated.

"Yes, that sounds good, although I'll get popcorn too" replied El happily. She gave the order and, ignoring Max's hand next to her, clutching some money, paid for everything.

"You didn't have to pay, I've got money" said Max.

"No, I wanted to treat you" said El smiling.

"Cool, thanks" said Max.

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