STARCROSSED ▷ steve harrington

08. dear billy - part two

"Oh," she relaxed. "It's just you."

"Yup," Max's smile was small, but it was still visible. "Just me. Mind if I join you?"

Jackie was surprised by the question, but nodded regardless. Max took the open spot next to her, and followed her line of sight—up to the sky. "So, what were you writing in there?"

Max swallowed. "Letters."

"Letters?"

"Yeah. You know, incase I don't... incase I don't make it. They're filled with everything I want to say, but can't."

"Max," Jackie violently shook her head, refusing to even let those thoughts in. "You're not going anywhere."

"It's just a precaution."

Jackie buried her face into her hands, and Max fell silent besides her. Finally, she sighed, and lifted her head to look at her sister. "Max, I am so sorry for leaving you there. You're right, I was embarrassed. I didn't want people to think of me differently if they found out that I lived at a trailer park. But... all this almost dying crap? I'm learning not to give a shit. I mean, I never really have, but I guess some things still got to me."

"It's okay, Jackie," Max reached to squeeze her hand. "I'm sorry, too. I had no idea you were helping mom pay rent. I should've never said those things to you."

Jackie leaned forward to kiss her forehead, she wished they could stay right there, like that, forever. "I love you so much, Max."

Max nodded against her chest. "I love you, too." Smirking, Jackie took the sleeve of Max's jacket and wiped her nose on it. Her sister shrieked and pulled her arm away. "Jackie! What the hell?!"

It was the first stomach-hurting laugh Jackie had emitted in a long time. "That's what you get for making me cry, you asshole!"

Max rolled her eyes, but she was laughing too. Once the giggling had dialed down between them, Max shifted on the concrete. "Steve looked really upset when I came back into the living room. Did you guys get into a fight or something? I'm surprised he didn't come after you like immediately. I couldn't tell if he was constipated, or debating internally with himself on getting up to check on you."

Jackie snorted, but it felt less genuine than her laugh just a few moments before. "We're not fighting. We are, um..."

Max eyed her suspiciously. "Yes?"

She sighed. "I broke up with him. Unintentionally, intentionally."

Her sister blinked in astonishment and shook her head. "That makes zero sense."

"Like, look, okay," Jackie struggled to find the words, and Max nodded at her encouragingly. Jackie shoved her. "Shut up."

"I said nothing."

"I don't want us to be over, like, for good. I just needed a break. I still do, everything that is going on... I need to focus on you, not a boy. And that's not fair to him. I didn't want to feel like I was stringing him along but.. that's what it feels like I'm doing now, anyway."

"You haven't even looked in his direction in the last seven hours," Max scoffed. "I think you're good." Jackie pursed her lips and said nothing. Max blew a strand of hair out of her face with a huff. "How do you feel about going to East Hawkins?"

"Absolutely not," Steve had dismissed Max's idea the second she brought it to light. But Max was known for her stubbornness if not anything, and pulled Jackie by the arm, out the door, and ignored his calls of protest behind them. "No!"

"If you think I'm going to spend what is most likely the last day of my life in the armpit that is Mike Wheeler's basement, then you're out of your mind."