𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐲 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐞

𝟗.

Jane Hopper

Walking into the bathroom, I instantly notice Max's bag on the floor by the sink. I walk in slowly, narrowing my eyes as I speak.

"Max?..." I say, hearing panicked shuffling in one of the stalls. "You okay?"

"Yeah, sure." I look down with a shaky sigh, leaning against the wall with my arms loosely crossed.

"Your presentation today was really good, y'know..." I compliment, being granted with her silence.

"Listen, I know how things have been. But I still want to feel like you can talk to me."

"What is there to talk about?" Max snidely echoes back and I open my mouth to say something, being interrupted by the toilet flushing and stall door opening. Me and Max just stare at each other for a moment, and I'm not surprised when she breaks the eye contact. I lower my gaze to her blouse, my eyes widening at the blood stain.

"Are you okay?? What happened?" I take a step closer, fixing my gaze to the stain.

"Yeah, just a nosebleed." She replies flatly, grabbing a blue shitty school paper towel and dampening it in the water, dabbing it on her blouse. I cringe at her lack of knowledge on how to clean her shirt, walking closer and grabbing her waist.

"If you won't let me help you with your problems, at least let me help you with this." I insist and Max parts her lips in defeat. I flash her a small smile and undo the bottom four buttons of her blouse, grabbing the part of fabric with a mark of blood on it. As my fingers subconsciously touch her skin, I can feel her heart rate faintly quicken in her stomach. I arch my brows and look up at her expression, and that's when our eyes meet again.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Nothing..." Max responds, shifting her eyes to her stomach and my fingers. I quickly back away a little in realisation, shaking my head.

"Sorry- I didn't mean to um..."

"N-no. It's fine. Just- just go, okay?"

"Max..." I frown. She ignores me by buttoning her blouse and tucking it into her trousers. When she throws her bag over her shoulder and walks past me, about to leave, I quickly turn around by instinct and grab her arm desperately.

"Max... talk to me, please?"

"I already said... nothing to talk about."

"Listen I know why you feel this way. What I did was a shitty thing to do and I just- I shouldn't have done it because it probably made you feel worse about the situation!" I blabber, not being able to tell if my mouth is moving faster than my brain or vice versa.

"I mean yeah- you kissed me knowing that I like you and knowing that you don't feel the same way." She bluntly tells me, but something about what she says doesn't sound entirely true.

"I-I know. I know. But I don't want this to ruin our friendship." I helplessly take her hands, my lips trembling.

"Yeah well... it's a little bit more complicated than that." Max pulls away from me and exits the bathroom, leaving me alone in the dim-lit area.

. . .

The school day has ended and I'm sitting alone in the quiet library in attempt to collect my corrupt thoughts. Earlier when Max said the feeling wasn't mutual, something about that sentence made me sick to the stomach, and I'm trying to figure out why. I mean just generally- there's a certain way that I feel when Max is around, sending butterflies to my stomach. Like Mike would. But why am I feeling this with a... girl?

It's just all so crazy to me.

But like...

Maybe I do feel the same.

Oh my god.

Wait.

Do I feel the same?

I feel the same.

I feel the fucking same.

I have to tell her.

I jump up to my feet, grab my bag and quickly leave the library, speed-walking across the halls to my dorm. I hastily unlock the door, walk down the corridor and open the bedroom door, flinching when Max's hand is on the other side of the doorknob.

I waste no time to grab her nape and crash my lips against hers.

And hers push against mine with even more desperation.

It's like this kiss has been long-awaited. Not like the one from last week. That one was barely valid.

This one feels so right.

To Be Continued...

a.n.
not even an authors note but like- elmax is just- 😩🖐🏻

I said I wouldn't write much but after watching vol 2, I realised that this is my coping mechanism to stop myself from crying abt anything that happened.

Anyway I might not be AS frequent but the other day I was being dramatic by saying I would take a full on hiatus lmao.