Running up that hill

Chapter 4: Memories

Everyone was looking at me with compassion, pity and sadness in their eyes, I hated that. 

"Why are you staring at me?" I said annoyed. 

"You don't remember last night at all do you?" Mike asked. 

"No not at all last night was a blur what happened again?" I asked while trying to not fall from the headache. 

"You said deep stuffs Max" Dustin whispered. I looked at them very confused until they started explaining. Every single memories came back to me. It was bad, terrible even. I had to fix it.

"Listen that was a long time ago it happened like twice in the summer but it wasn't that bad. Sorry for worrying y'all but I'm fine" I lied. Eleven was about to say something but Mike stopped her. They all looked at each other. 

"If anything's wrong tell us" Will insisted. 

"I told you I was fine." I said in annoyance. 

Lucas who I didn't noticed wasn't there when I woke up due to my head spinning around, came back and looked at me guilt in his eyes. 

"So Lucas you didn't told us, where'd you go?" Dustin asked curiously. Lucas rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. Suddenly I remembered the conversation we had earlier in the morning. 

"Tell me you did not encounter Jason, Lucas?" I said worryingly. 

"I'm sorry but I went. I kicked his ass though!" Lucas declared. 

"What? Why? How do you-" Dustin rumbled. 

"Doesn't matter I told you not to go Lucas. Fuck you don't listen." I whispered to him.

"You always expect me to obey everything you say! I make my own decisions Max!" he yelled making big gestures while walking towards me. I was now against the wall and he was still screaming and walking to me just like last night.I started trembling, my breath was getting harder and harder to catch. He suddenly realized it and came to me slowly and tried to grab my hand that I quickly removed. 

"Hey it's just me it's okay" I whispered lowering his head to my level. 

"Okay...okay." I whispered back throwing myself in his arms. We stayed like this for a minute but then Dustin cleared his voice. 

"Who wants to go ton the arcade?!" he asked. We all agreed, took our bikes and board and started going. Once we arrived it was very crowned so we decided to go to the mall. There was people in it but not that much. They reconstructed it during the summer very quickly, it looked exactly the same as before. We started walking in it, memories coming back from the first time of El in the mall. We headed to a music store. I looked at different cassettes and saw "Living on a prayer" by Bon Jovi which brought back memories of Lucas and I.

*flashback*

Billy yelled and threw things very close to my head so I ran and left. I saw the stalker go to his house last time, it wasn't far and I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I headed there. I knocked on his window and he opened to me his eyes wide open. 

"What are you doing her?!" he said extremely confused. I walked towards him and just sat on his bed my eyes going back and forth. "Max?" he said quietly lowering his level to see my eyes. 

"I just wanted to hang" I whispered. 

"Are you okay?" he asked touching my hand making me look up. 

"Yeah I'm fine I was just bored" I lied. 

"Well let's "unbored" you if that's even a word. That way this hang will be "totally tuuubularrr" he spoke laughing. 

"You know no one says that right" I said wiping a tear away. I couldn't help but think about how violent Billy was and even worse how violent Neil was towards Billy. The screaming, the fighting, the insults...

"Hey hey why are you crying?" he asked sitting next to me. 

"I don't wanna talk about it" I sniffled. 

"Okay no problem but I'm here if you need madmax" he whispered. 

"I don't doubt it stalker" I said smiling. 

"Okay I know something always cheers me up" he declared quickly getting up. He turned on the radio waiting for a song to start playing. "Living on a prayer" started playing as he started lip syncing the lyrics dramatically. 

"What you can't sing stalker?" I teased him. He turn the volume up a little and started singing, he was actually pretty good. 

"You know the lyrics common sing with me!" Lucas yelled so I could hear him. 

"Woah we're alway there!" Lucas sang then pointed the pen that he used as a "mic" towards me.

"Woah livin' on a prayer!" we sang together. We spend the rest of the night singing along to the songs on the radio, it was the first time in a long time that I felt so happy. 

*end of flashback*

"Brings back memory doesn't it?" he said taking it into his hands. 

"Sure does!" I laughed. He walked towards the cashier and bought it. 

"You have a walkman?" I asked. 

"No it's for you" he said handing it to me. 

"I can't accept it" I declared backing up. 

"Take it, it's my gift to you" he explained smiling. I took it and he side hugged me. We walked and entered another store full of clothes. El and I wondered around like we did last time suddenly she stopped in front of a dark purple overall. 

"Oooh I like that!" she exclaimed. She tried it on and it suited her very well. 

"What do you think?" she asked looking in the mirror playing with her hair. 

"You look bitchin'" Mike said approaching his girlfriend before kissing her deeply. 

"I'll but it for you!" Mike said. He had been working at the end of the summer so he had a little bit of money. We got out of the store and headed to scoop ahoy downstairs. Once we took the escalators, we were found in the big hall where everything happened. We all stopped memories flashing. I was standing at the exact place were Billy died. 

"Guys can we go out?" I asked suffocating. 

"Yeah good idea" Will said taking me by my shoulders and dragging me outside. I felt the fresh air entering my lungs, it wasn't a good idea it was way too soon. 

"Well it wasn't a good idea but you did it Max. And you didn't like melted down, you're very brave." Will said trying to make me feel better. I remarked that he looked kind of sad but he was smiling. 

"You know Will, you've been through hell and back, you never talk about it. You never talk about anything, people just don't ask but you're genuinely just there for everyone. If you need Will, I'm here forever and always." I said to him looking into his eyes. He hugged me tightly before looking back at me tears in his eyes. 

"You don't know how much I needed to hear that" he declared wiping his tears away. 

"I have an idea, why don't we go back on that hill and just sleep there under the stars?" I proposed. 

"Cause it's fall in Indiana and it's 2 degrees outside" Mike declared. 

"Yeah but if we take blankets and lights...It could be fun!" Will explained excited. 

Everyone agreed we took everything we needed to take and went on the hill it was gonna be an interesting evening for sure. 

To be continued...

A/n: Hope you enjoyed the chapter, like always if you did please vote! Tomorrow will be coming the next chapter normally! Bye! Thank you for reading!