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

Sesqui-what?

"Hawkins Ses-qui-cen-tennial Festival" read Dustin from one of the many posters and banners that had been distributed around town. "Ok, what the hell does sesquicentennial mean?"

Lucas whacked him around the back off his head causing his hat to go flying. "Hey!" what was that for!?"

"Idiot!" Lucas said while pointing to the '150 years' written in huge letters underneath.

"Ah...yeah...fair enough" replied Dustin bending down and dusting off his hat. "I didn't know this place was that old."

"Whatever" said Will, "any excuse for a festival and freeeeee fooooood" he added, rubbing his hands together making everyone laugh. "When is it?"

"Ummmm...2 weeks today" replied Mike, reading the smaller print on the poster, "hey, there will be free food! I bet the whole town will show."

As they were laughing at Mike's conclusion, Max looked around to say something to El but realized that she hadn't stopped with them all and instead kept walking down the street. Frowning, she jogged after her to see if she was ok. As she approached she noted her body language, her head was hanging and she was just looking down the whole time, her shoulders slumped. Max immediately knew there was something wrong. "El?" she said softly, but loud enough to know that she heard her. She didn't respond and kept on walking, "El" Max said, louder this time. No response. "El!" she said louder still, this time pulling her to a halt by her shoulder. El stopped but didn't turn to face her. "El, please, tell me what's wrong" Max insisted, positioning herself right in front of her.

El looked up into Max's eyes, she knew that was a mistake. "I...it's nothing...really...I just need to be alone for a while, ok?" she said, hoping that Max would let her go.

"Are you sure? I could go with you if you just want to head home" Max offered, thinking it would be nice to spend the rest of the day together, just the two of them.

"I...I'm tired" El responded, trying not to hurt Max's feelings.

Max stood and looked into her eyes, after a few moments she nodded unsurely but said "yeah, ok." El turned and started walking, hearing Max adding "call me when you feel like company."

El gave her a small smile, nodded, and walked back towards home, her arms wrapped around her body. She felt so tired, she wasn't lying to Max, she'd had nightmares almost every night for weeks and was exhausted, but it was also taking an emotional toll, last night she had a glimpse of 'something' and for the first time she remembered it upon waking, it had disturbed her immensely. She felt as if she was being slowly worn down and thought back to Hopper's report of what Papa...Brenner had said, that something is trying to use her as a bridge from the upside-down.

Arriving home, she slowly made her way upstairs. As she reached the landing, Nancy came out of her room, "Oh hi El, are you ok?" she asked, examining her closely and seeing the dark circles under her bloodshot eyes.

El shook her head, "I'm so tired" she said sadly.

"Come here" Nancy said softly, picking her up and carrying her into her own room and placing her on the bed. She lay down next to El and pulled her gently onto her shoulder, she was already half-asleep when Nancy pulled a blanket over the both of them. A few hours later there was a soft knock at her door, "Nancy?" she heard Mike whisper from the doorway as he let himself in.

"Shhh, El's sleeping" she warned softly.

Mike walked in slowly, careful not to make any noise. "We were looking for her, is she ok?" he whispered.

"She was so tired when she came home, I thought it would help her sleep if I stayed with her" Nancy explained quietly, and Mike nodded. As he did so, Max appeared at the door and laid eyes on El, a small smile forming on her face. She came further into the room and crouched by the bed, looking adoringly at El's sleeping form. "Max?" Nancy said quietly, "I need to get up, can you take my place?"