Her Mixtape (Extended Version), Stranger Things

𝖝𝖛𝖎. The Pollywog

"That's... good?" Max says. The air feels awkward. "Yep, that's great."

Impulsively, Max punches Will's shoulder. It's supposed to be playful. She regrets it when he stumbles and clutches his arm. His smile wavered as he let out a nervous laugh, leaning closer to Rue.

"Uhm..." He huffs, looking away from Max, "your dad dropped me off today."

"Did he?" Rue raises her eyebrows. And Max lets out a breath, glad that the conversation has steered.

"Yeah, he told me about the time you flooded the bathroom because you believed you were a mermaid."

Rue laughed nervously, glancing at Max before she defended herself, "I was four."

"No. Bob said you were six. You were six and stupid."

Max can't help the surprised laugh that slips past her at Will's unexpected remark. And the look on Rue's face only makes the situation funnier. "Shut up, Will. You're not funny."

"But I am, though."

"Shut up."

"What are you emmbarssef or something?"

"As if you never did something stupid when you were six."

"No, I haven't. I wasn't six and stupid."

"Who was six and stupid?" A new voice had joined the conversation. It was Lucas Sinclair. He grins as he walks up to the group, dropping his arm around Rue's shoulder.

Max narrowed her eyes into darts, watching Rue lean closer to Lucas. And while Will retold his short story, Lucas had burst into laughter by the end of it. Rue, the poor thing, flustered and embarrassed, had tried to defend herself while going on a long rant about mermaids and the creativity of a child's mind once they are a certain age. The whole thing had Lucas smile at her fondly, and Rue hid her face in his shoulder out of shame once Mike Wheeler had also appeared and demanded to know what was so funny.

The relationship between Will Byers and Rue Newby was platonic, and Max could see them as siblings from miles away. And that was possibly the whole reason why it drove her so insane. Why the fuck couldn't she have what they did?

Max lingered behind Lucas, Rue and Will as they strolled down the school hallway. Mike was at her side, but he didn't speak to her.

Lucas kept his arm thrown lazily over Rue's shoulder as if he were her sworn protector or something like that. And while Max continued to overthink it, she nearly missed how Lucas had his other warm wrapped around Will's shoulder after someone shouted, "Hey, Zombie boy!"

Without thinking, Max reached to tug on Lucas's bag. "Stalker," she called.

"Woah!" He dramatically stumbled, dropping his arms. "What's up, MadMax?"

"Can I talk to you for a second?" She dropped her voice to a whisper. There was one other thing that had been bothering Max all night, something she desperately needed answers for and thought Lucas was the one who could give them to her. "I need to ask you something. Alone."

Lucas glanced at his friends for a moment. Mike and Will brushed it off and told him they'd meet in class while Rue stared at the two like a kicked puppy. She didn't say anything when Will locked arms with her and pulled her away.

In her defence, Max had already tried asking Rue about what happened to Will Byers the night before as they watched The Shining. Rue had only given her a bland and clueless answer: "He told me he went missing last year. That was about it. I never asked him about it, and he doesn't seem like he wants to talk about it. Which is understandable."